Two reports were placed in front of Gu Shenwei, one from Zhong Heng and the other from Xu Xiaoyi. Despite the differing details, the suspicion of betrayal was placed on the same group of people.
In the group of more than fifty, all of them shared a common characteristic: their families had escaped from Xiaoyao Lake that had been under the control of the Dragon Army in the past few months.
Most of the troops have never managed a country before, including Dragon King. Both Zhong Heng and Xu Xiaoyi established their respective independent intelligence networks but mainly focused on tracing the Golden Roc killers and the popular support. Though they had placed spies around the main generals in the army, their scope was not large enough to encompass their families.
However, both systems were highly efficient. After they received a secret order from Dragon King in the front, it took four or five days to hand in reports in tandem. Besides, they classified them for Dragon King to look through quickly.
By investigating the traces of their families, Gu Shenwei narrowed down the scope of suspects. It was not an accurate way to do so because of the high possibility of accidental omission. Fortunately, he found something.
But those people who were close to Dragon King had no family or their family were not residing in Xiaoyao Lake. Therefore, they could only use the most awkward way to investigate: to observe what they were doing and saying.
Gu Shenwei almost summoned all his early followers with various excuses but got little information out of them. After all, everyone had a reason to betray him but had a better chance before, but they withstood the test.
Gu Shenwei did not care for them but he must choose to trust a group of people before he could deal with another group of people.
There were more than fifty suspects, several of whom who were crucial to the battle of the Dragon Army. Gu Shenwei knew he must immediately identify the suspects.
“I’m leaving,” Gu Shenwei said, surprising Zhong Heng and Dugu Xian.
The war of the second defense line was about to start. The fact that Dragon King would abandon his army and leave at this critical moment confused them.
Zhong Heng had just arrived at the frontline camp from the capital of the An Kingdom and knew nothing about what he would do. Even so, he was shrewd. He merely frowned without making an immediate response.
On the contrary, Dugu Xian said at once, “Those soldiers are anxious at this time. You mustn’t leave, Dragon King.”
“I believe you can calm the soldiers.” Though he was surrounded by betrayal, Gu Shenwei must choose to trust someone.
“But…” Dugu Xian had always been conservative and often thought of the worst case scenario. He greatly doubted his ability to calm the soldiers.
Gu Shenwei waved his hand to stop his Left General from persuading him, indicating that he had made up his mind. He knew the reason, so he did not have to waste time. “General Dugu will be entirely responsible for military affairs after I leave. I asked Prime Minister Zhong to take care of my troops and other affairs.”
Zhong Heng bowed to him, understanding that he was not only responsible for being Dragon King’s regent but also balancing Dugu Xian’s power.
Dugu Xian could only agree with Dragon King, but he cared about one question. “Would everything go according to the original plan?”
“Yes, I will appear with troops on time.”
According to the plan, the Dragon Army still would not fight a decisive battle with the Golden Roc Army in the second defense line. Instead, they would try to buy time and then retreat to the third defense line to fight in the selected place. The outcome would then depend on whether the soldiers on the flanks would appear in time.
Gu Shenwei would take charge of Tuo Nengya’s army in person because several people on the list of suspects were related to that army.
Had their plan been already exposed so that the Golden Roc Fort needed to bribe these people? But Gu Shenwei immediately denied this speculation because Shangguan Yun had already bribed them since several months ago. Meanwhile, intelligence showed that the relatives of the suspects left Xiaoyao Lake at that time, but Gu Shenwei had not worked out this sudden attack plan.
Either way, Tuo Nengya’s army was indispensable because the betrayer of the army would produce larger destructive power.
As for the rest of the suspects, Zhong Heng had a list in his hand and he would prioritize monitoring them.
Dragon King suddenly left the frontline in the public name of returning to the capital of the An Kingdom, but people thought that he was going to the north shore. Some said that he would return to the Land of Fragrance, causing a great commotion in the barracks.
Dugu Xian tried his best to appease soldiers. Apart from the official news, he said nothing about Dragon King but went to the barracks to ask something carefully. He had decided to fight a second battle with the Golden Roc Army tomorrow.
It was actually a battle for delaying time, but Dugu Xian changed his mind and intended to fight a hard battle to show his strength. Therefore, he temporarily brought more troops from the rear.
In terms of calming the soldiers, the victory was of equal value to Dragon King.
Many people thought that Dragon King headed to the north shore by crossing Xiaoyao Lake because someone saw Chu Nanping boarding a small boat.
In fact, many people had no idea that Chu Nanping had begun guarding Right General Shang in the past few days.
This time, they headed to the north shore with a task.
The Golden Roc Army had hardly deployed soldiers in the water region. Therefore, Shang Liao’s warships had little influence but served as a guard. He planned to carry out his agreement with Dragon King: to organize another army.
Unlike Shangguan Fei and Long Fanyun, the two men were much more serious. Shang Liao needed Chu Nanping’s protection, but he also understood that this young man was someone Dragon King dispatched to keep an eye on him.
They left for the capital of the Hui Kingdom after landing. Nearly every royal family was gathered there, including the person Shang Liao wanted to look for.
Shang Liao was more careful than Shangguan Fei. After arriving at the destination, they were provided with horses and uniforms of the Golden Roc Army, so they disguised as common people and then arrived in Hui City without any trouble.
However, they could feel the strange atmosphere before even entering the city.
The soldiers were all walking hastily. One officer yelled at them when he saw Shang Liao and Chu Nanping wandering and asked them to return to their armies immediately.”We’ll be soon at war. How dare you two wander around!”
The people in the street pick up their speed and lowered their heads as if they were preoccupied.
The second battle between the Dragon Army and the Golden Roc Army came to an end while they were still on the boat.
It seemed that the Golden Roc Army had won the war because the Dragon Army had to give up the second defense line and continued to retreat. However, it was unexpectedly difficult for the Golden Roc Army to continue the battle and they lost a lot more than people could imagine.
There were nearly 10,000 casualties in the war. Shangguan Jianyi expected the decisive battle to happen in the last defense line of the Dragon Army, but Dugu Xian’s counterattack shocked him. He had to admit his fault for he had not fully prepared for the war.
However, he did not retreat. He ordered his soldiers to fight to the death, causing a disastrous result.
Before long, Shang Liao and Chu Nanping heard the remarks in the city. Even soldiers thought that their general wanted to win with using the lives of soldiers. Moreover, the Golden Roc Army had many more soldiers. Even if they lost 10,000 soldiers, they still had the upper hand and the Dragon Army had also suffered casualties. It was a profitable business to exchange one life with two lives.
Therefore, though the soldiers of the Golden Roc Army were confident in winning, they began doubting about their own safety.
Shang Liao was so overjoyed that he even took the initiative to speak to Chu Nanping. “This is great! This is the kind of atmosphere I want.”
After that, Shangliao met with a cousin of his. Although the Golden Roc Fort was at war with Dragon King and the royal families of Xiaoyao Lake had been divided into two factions, they were still in contact with each other. In terms of their families, they were working for their own interests, and some people would certainly enjoy the fruits of victory.
Due to this reason, Shang Liao was not wary of his cousin, but he ignored an important problem. He was not a common son of royal families, but the new king of the Kang Kingdom conferred by Dragon King.
It was a secret talk, so Shang Liao decided to met his cousin alone and asked Chu Nanping to stay in the rented inn.
In fact, Shang Liao had misunderstood Chu Nanping. The youngster had never tried to monitor his words and deeds.
In his life, there was only one thing in his heart—improving his swordsmanship. He cared about nothing else, not how high the status of Left General was nor who the man was loyal to.
After Shang Liao left for a while, Chu Nanping found himself surrounded by troops.
Chu Nanping was disguised as a commoner, as were those people. However, they were a group of strong youngsters. They had forgotten that the eligible men in Xiaoyao Lake had all already been recruited into the army.
Although Chu Nanping had only been trained as a killer for several months and had not learned a lot, it did change some of his habits and thoughts. This time, he did not use his sword to fight against his enemies in a siege. He pretended not to know it and fled through the window after returning to the room.
Walking in the street, Chu Nanping thought that there were certainly no Golden Roc killers among those people.
He was simple but not at all stupid. At this time, the Kings and royal families of all countries were forced to gather in a place like prisoners. So it was natural for Shang Liao to go there to discuss with his cousin.
Chu Nanping sneaked into the palace when night fell. His idea was simple. Since Dragon King asked him to protect Shang Liao and kill him at a critical time, he would strictly follow the order.
The Kings of the Hui, An, Sha, and Kang Kingdoms all stayed in the royal palace under extremely strict supervision.
Chu Nanping, once prisoned in the underground secret chamber of the royal palace, knew that it was a place to prison people. So he went to the back palace first, only to find that the entrance to the secret chamber had disappeared. Besides, the former queen’s bedchamber had been razed to the ground, replaced with flowers and plants.
But Chu Nanping was not discouraged and walked carefully in the dark. He had enough patience. Since the royal palace was not very large, it would just take him a few days to find the person he was looking for.
It was out of the sudden that he came across the intruder in the latter half of the night. Both of them were trying to avoid the guards and happened to choose the same route.
Chu Nanping did not have the time to unsheathe his sword and decided to directly hit the man. He then made a surprised noise after discovering that that man seemed to have learned Wayless Qigong.
The other man behind him asked in a small voice, “Is that Little Chu?”
“Yes.”
These two men were Shangguan Fei and Long Fanyun who finally managed to escape from house arrest but met acquaintances before leaving the royal palace.
It was not a good place to talk, so they left the royal palace. Shangguan Fei asked excitedly, “Did Dragon King send you to save us?”
“No, I’m here to look for someone.”
“Oh.” Shangguan Fei was a little disappointed. “There are spies around Dragon King, so we must return and inform him.”
“But Dragon King has left and we don’t know where he has gone.”
“Ah, could he have entered Wushan? There’s a trap waiting for him there!”