Chapter 761 – Scheme within a Scheme
"Many thanks! Are your injuries okay; do you need to treat them first?"
Caiyun Zinan cupped his fists; this was the first time he felt some friendliness toward Qiyue Wuyi.
Ouyang Shuo shook his head and smiled, "It's just a small injury. Lord Caiyun, this person tried to assassinate the Financial Director of Shanhai City. Based on our territory law system, I'll need to bring him back to the territory and hand him over to the Procuratorate Division. You won't oppose that, right?" As he spoke, Ouyang Shuo looked toward Caiyun Zinan with deep meaning.
Caiyun Zinan was stunned; his brain worked quickly, and he managed to understand what Ouyang Shuo was referring to.
If Lin Fen was moved to Shanhai City, he would not be able to suicide and return to his territory. With that, Fire City would be like a piece of juicy meat, there for the taking.
Previously, Zhang Liang had suggested to Caiyun Zinan that they merge internally in the City-State to reduce internal problems.
However, the matter was easier said than done.
When it was time to execute it, Caiyun Zinan was unable to find a suitable target. Any target he tried to merge with would cause a storm in the City-State.
Wasn't Lin Fen City the best choice?
"Lin Fen has done such a matter. Naturally, he should be handed over to Shanhai City." Although these were Caiyun Zinan's words, he felt a shiver run down his spine.
Caiyun Zinan was not sure how much consideration or how much Qiyue Wuyi was plotting with that suggestion. Not mentioning other matters, Shanhai City had dug up their merger plan at the very least.
"Terrifying!"
At that moment, Caiyun Zinan felt an unprecedented darkness for the future of the City-State. He could feel that a giant shadow covered the skies of the City-State, ready to swallow them at any moment.
Along with Lin Fen's betrayal, the City-State was simply a battlefield.
"The skies are going to change!" Caiyun Zinan sighed.
Ouyang Shuo smiled; he roughly knew the exact emotions that Caiyun Zinan was currently feeling. He did not say anything; he just waved to Xu Chu at the bottom and told him to come up.
When he saw Xu Chu, Lin Fen truly felt that he would not be able to escape. In fact, there was a chance that he would be locked up for the rest of the game. If that really happened, what was the use of the escape route planned for him?
"Caiyun Zinan, you're a coward! I'm a member of the City-State, how can you let an outsider do this? Traitor! Coward!" Lin Fen scolded; he had already lost his rationality.
"You're a traitor of the City-State. What rights do you have to say such words?" Who knows whether Lin Fen's words had hit the right spot or if Caiyun Zinan's embarrassment had turned into anger? His words were not as calm as before.
"Coward, the City-State is going to be destroyed in your hands."
Caiyun Zinan turned around, not bothering to speak to Lin Fen anymore.
Ouyang Shuo looked on coldly and finally spoke, "Bring him down!"
"Yes Monarch!"
Xu Chu was like an iron tower, locking up Lin Fen to the point where the latter could not even move, much less kill himself. This person dared to harm the Monarch, so Xu Chu was definitely going to teach him a lesson.
Lin Fen's face was ashen white; he scolded as he was walked away.
Since he had fallen into the hands of Shanhai City, with the personality of his backer, he definitely would not try to save him. To that person, a useless chess piece would be abandoned.
The more he thought about it, the more he regretted.
Ouyang Shuo looked on at Lin Fen's fading figure in silence, unknowingly smirking.
"Lin Fen really helped us there."
Ouyang Shuo wanted to punish Lin Fen mainly to shake the foundations of Xiangnan City-State rather than for revenge.
"A leader of the City-State chose to abandon an ally and merge with his territory for a piece of juicy meat." If such a rumor spread out in Xiangnan City-State, who knows what interesting thing would happen.
Caiyun Zinan truly lacked composure; Ouyang Shuo and easily baited him. He lost his judgment and committed a grave mistake in the end.
If Zhang Liang was present, he would have stopped Caiyun Zinan.
When Lin Fen scolded him, maybe Caiyun Zinan felt that something was not right, which caused him to be furious. Unfortunately, it was too late for him to turn back at that point.
"This assassination was the best assist!"
There was a certain phrase, 'Gaining fortune from a calamitous encounter.'
Thinking about that, Ouyang Shuo instantly felt that the gun wound was not as painful anymore. The western gun that Lin Fen had used was kept in Ouyang Shuo's storage bag.
...
No one would care about a failure.
Ouyang Shuo smiled, "Let's continue to sign the agreement!"
"Great."
West Gate Big Official, who had remained silent throughout all this, smiled.
Caiyun Zinan also smiled; however, his smile contained a trace of bitterness.
Only when the trade agreement was signed did West Gate Big Official give out a long sigh of relief. He was really afraid that the entire agreement would go up in flames.
West Gate Big Official was located in the north of Chuanbei Province, which was near Zunyi in real life. The most famous item in the territory would be Maotai Wine.
Maotai Wine had a long history and was one of the top three white wines in China. In reality, Maotai could be compared to Scottish Whiskey French Cognac as the world's top three famous alcohols.
In comparison, Shanhai City's Three Flowers Wine was far too lacking.
The tragedy was that although he had the Maotai Wine Brewing Technique, he was located inland and could not find a way to sell it.
Hence, this was a big worry to West Gate Big Official.
The trade deal with Shanhai City was undoubtedly a saving grace for him.
Although there were restrictions on exports of similar products in the agreement, West Gate Big Official was actually aiming to borrow Shanhai City's trading paths to link to imperial cities like Quanzhou and Jianye.
If one thought of it in a certain way, this problem could definitely be solved.
"Happy cooperation!"
After the agreement was signed, West Gate Big Official took the initiative to shake hands with Ouyang Shuo.
"Happy cooperation!"
Ouyang Shuo smiled.
Ouyang Shuo had hopes of recruiting West Gate Big Official.
Along with Bai Hua merging into the Shanhai City System and the matter with Xunlong Dianxue, Shanhai Alliance was going to face a cruel test.
Ouyang Shuo had considered injecting some fresh blood into Shanhai Alliance.
West Gate Big Official was one of the people he was considering. If he could, Ouyang Shuo did not mind using such a method to peacefully merge with Chuanbei Province.
However, this matter involved so many things, and Chuanbei Province was not West Gate Big Official's alone. In the province, the various powers had all buried some hidden chess pieces within the City-State.
Not talking about the things far away, news had it that Liu Bei and Feng Qingyang, these two allies, had already turned their eyes to Chuanbei Province.
Internally, it was also really chaotic.
Hence, for this matter to truly come to fruition was extremely difficult.
"Everything will fall into place!" Ouyang Shuo laughed to himself. At least the meeting today was a good start.
At this point, the agreement signing had come to an end. The ripples this caused would last for a really long time.
************
As the whole show had come to an end, Ouyang Shuo hurried back to Sanjiang Town for a doctor to help tend to his wounds. Only now did Ouyang Shuo realize that his entire hand had lost feeling.
The western gun was truly special, and the killing strength was shocking. If it was Fan Li who was hit, he definitely would not survive. That night, Ouyang Shuo took a look at the stats of the gun.
Name: Western Flintlock Pistol (Dark Gold Rank)
Maker: unknown
Shooting Type: fixed fire
Power: low average
Range: low average
Accuracy: average
Reloading Speed: slow
Shooting Speed: average
Evaluation: the pistol first appeared in the mid to end parts of the 15th century. Its recoil is huge, but the power is relatively low. The barrel of the pistol is bigger than a rifle, slow to shoot and has poor accuracy.
Compared to a rifle, a pistol was more convenient to carry and could be hidden for assassinations. Lin Fen's assassination attempt made use of the strength of the Western Flintlock Pistol.
If he did not possess super strong sensory abilities, the assassination would have succeeded.
After the matter, Fan Li was exceedingly touched by Ouyang Shuo, and his loyalty increased by 15 and broke through 90.
This also meant that after returning to Shanhai City, in terms of territory matters, Fan Li would be more focused and passionate.
Thinking about this point, it was another case of good fortune from a calamitous encounter.
Actually, thinking about it afterward, Ouyang Shuo felt that taking that bullet was for nothing. As the Business Saint, Fan Li was in the Confucius Temple, so he could be revived there even without a similar 'General Soul'.
However, since the situation was an emergency, Ouyang Shuo had no time to think and just stood up.
He truly regretted it now.
Since Ouyang Shuo did not bring a substitute doll, if he had died on the spot, he would have returned to Shanhai City.
With that, he would have to start his cultivation from scratch.
The reason why he did not bring a substitute doll was not out of arrogance or forgetfulness. It was because he did not want to leave a way out for himself as that would impede his cultivation.
If not, with the substitute doll, it was like having a protection talisman, making him fight recklessly.
If one did not fear death, they would not be able to truly understand the meaning of death.
Be it the Yellow Emperor Internal Cultivation Technique or the Tianmo Spear Code, they were both top class skills that could affect real life. Ouyang Shuo did not want it to affect his true cultivation because of substitute dolls.
Hence, he did not want to bring them along.
If he really died then, his cultivation would not be only matter affected. Based on how tense the situation was, if Ouyang Shuo was killed, no one would be able to calm down Xu Chu and the others.
A chaotic battle would be unavoidable.
If that was the case, the enemy would have achieved their goal.