Chapter 64: Infighting in the Scarlet Furnace (Part 2)

  "What's wrong with that? You're too naive! I'm telling you, it's very unwise, seriously unwise! The Mashan country has wolf-like ambitions, and they want to swallow up all the territories of the Tangchuan Empire. They even dream of unifying the entire Yilan continent! They won't be sincere with us, this is something even a fool can see!"

  Mu Zi Xun coldly smiled and said: "Of course, I know that Martha's intentions are not good. We're just using each other. I need their help to resist the imperial court, they need our help to deal with Loona's Tangchuan expeditionary force. Actually, I don't need them, but if we have their cooperation, our momentum will be greatly enhanced."

  Geng Sang Lang said in a low voice: "What conditions did the country of Martha open up?"

  Muzi Xun said nonchalantly: "It's just a collaboration with them to occupy Luona."

  Geng Sang Lang Hu said with doubt: "Is that all? I don't believe it. They must be hiding something more sinister."

  Mu Zi Xun said coldly, "As far as I know, the only requirement of the Ma Sha country for now is this. This was personally told to me by Yu Wen Fen Fang, and I believe my ears won't mishear other people's words."

  Geng Sang hesitated for a moment, shook his head slightly and said: "No, Second Brother, I think we should not agree to her request. Cooperating with Yuwen Fenfang is like plotting with a tiger, if we are not careful, all of us will be dragged down. Yuwen Fenfang is a woman with extremely deep schemes, she swallows people without spitting out bones, I strongly suggest you consider this carefully. What we need to overthrow is only the imperial court, not the Tangchuan Empire, we should not cooperate with the Mashan people."

  Gong Yang sneered, "Exactly. What if the people of Mashe suddenly turn against us and stage a 'borrowing a road to attack Guo' play? Wouldn't we die a terrible death?"

  Seeing Mu Zi Xun's changing expression, Geng Sang Luan said sincerely: "Second brother, even if the country of Martha really needs us, it is also their attempt to obtain our country's territory through us. Although Loona is not our territory, it is also one of the affiliated countries of our Tangchuan Empire. How can we sell them out to Martha?"

  Mu Zi Xun remained silent, his face changing unpredictably. Suddenly, a young man rushed up from the mountain below, charging straight towards them, and shouted from afar: "Master, Master, something's happened, something's happened!"

  Geng Sanglan and Gou Yangliu glanced at each other slantingly, recognizing that the young man was one of Mu Zixuan's disciples.

  As expected, Mu Zi Xun's face fell, clearly displeased with his disciple's flustered appearance in front of others. He coldly rebuked, "Inexperienced thing, what are you panicking about? What exactly happened? Has the sky fallen?"

  The young man swallowed hard and said in a broken tone: "Master, Shakya brother was seriously injured while attacking the prefecture yamen and is now unconscious. Please go take a look at him."

  Mu Zi Xun's face sank, and he sternly shouted: "Who allowed him to attack the county government office? What kind of people are inside the county government office? How could he get injured?"

  Young people under Mu Zi Xun's scolding, some shrinking back, said in a low voice: "Sha Ke didn't know where he heard it from, but the yamen of the governor has a huge sum of money, so he organized over a thousand people to go and see what's going on. Who knew... there was a naval lieutenant general named Yang Suo Fen leading a group of people guarding the place..."

  Geng Sanglan and Gou Yanglie were slightly surprised, looking at each other in unison, and asked in chorus: "Yang Shuangfeng? Are you sure it's Yang Shuangfeng?"

  The young man nodded and said, "Indeed, it is Yang Suofeng, the leader of the Yang family in Minis. Someone had seen him at the Lucky Inn before. He also had a big fight with Xue Feng, another lord from Minis, at the Grand Hall of Jialan because of jealousy, and was ridiculed by the female journalist Die Si as a worthless person."

  Mu Zi Xun looked at Geng Sang Lang and Ge Yang Lie with a hint of surprise, and asked suspiciously: "Do you know Yang Suo Feng? What's your relationship with him?"

  Gang Yang Leng coldly said: "Mu Zi Xun, don't think that we're behind this again. Yang Shuang Feng is indeed the leader of the Yang family in Meini City. We had someone who took a liking to his wealth and used a trick to frame him, but he values money above his life and refused to hand it over even if it means losing his life. Later on, we let him go to avoid making things too big."

  Mu Zi Xun still looked suspicious and said: "The lord of the Yang family? A young master also has such great abilities? Lian Feng, report to me briefly on the situation of attacking the prefecture yamen. One thousand people can't take down a small prefecture yamen, it's simply absurd!

  Geng Sang Kuai and Gang Yang Lie are also big frowners.

  That young man named Lian Feng looked at Geng Sang Rong and Gang Yang Lie with difficulty, obviously not wanting to talk about this matter in front of the two. Mu Zi Xuan didn't mind, however, and said calmly: "They are both your senior uncles, just speak the truth."

  "Yang Suofeng's gang is actually not that many, no more than three or four hundred people," said the wind-tousled man, "but they somehow got their hands on three big cannons... But the most despicable one is Yang Suofeng himself, his Turetsky rifle is too ruthless, his marksmanship is very accurate, always hitting our Holy Teach brothers... Sha Ke Shixiong was hit in the head because he wasn't paying attention for a moment..."

  Mu Zi Xun's face was getting uglier, and he said gloomily: "You're really a bunch of trash. I know, you go find Dr. Hu immediately and have him treat your Shixiong. Pass the order to all Shixiongs, lead those slaves out of Bao Ying Fu as soon as possible, don't be greedy for wealth, otherwise when the enemy arrives, we'll fall into a passive situation."

  He hastily agreed and went.

  Mu Zi Xun paced back and forth, lost in thought. Geng Sang Lang and Jie Yang Lie were about to leave, feeling out of place, when they saw Tang Zhi rushing over, panting and sweating profusely, with his hair plastered to his forehead from the cold wind. The four guards behind Mu Zi Xun simultaneously drew their swords, eyeing him warily.

  Geng Sang frowned and said, "Tang Zhi, what are you doing here? Why aren't you staying in Bao Ying Fu? If Butterfly Dance arrives and can't see you, won't it be easy to expose your identity?"

  Tang Zi stood panting, eager to say something, but couldn't get the words out. Mu Zi Xun said somewhat impatiently, "What is it that you want to say?"

  Tang Zī rolled her eyes in exasperation, took a deep breath and urged: "Quickly, quickly, send someone to attack the Magistrate's office! If we're late, it'll be too late!"

  Mu Zi Xun said coldly: "It's already too late now, we don't have time to waste."

  Tang Ziyi was anxious and couldn't care about the hierarchy, repeatedly saying: "No, you must send someone to attack the prefectural government office, it must be attacked immediately."

  Mu Zi Xun turned around and left, too annoyed to bother with him.

  Gong Yang Lie Hu's doubtful inquiry: "Tang Zhi, can you explain clearly what this is all about? What reason do you have to attack the prefectural yamen? I also cannot think of any reason to attack the prefectural yamen. We've already lost many people there."

  Tang Zhi took a deep breath, almost crying as he said: "You know what! On the roof of the prefectural government office are hidden over 8 million gold coins in ransom that we've collected from Rou Xuan's body over the past few months, and over 6 million gold coins in profit from the Bao Ying Fu slave market this year. There are also countless gold, silver, jewels, and securities... all of which I ordered Mu Shunying to hide away, but now they've all been taken by Yang Shuangfen!"

  Geng Sang Kuai and Gou Yang Qi were shocked and exclaimed: "What? How can this be?"

  Mu Zi Xun also stopped in his tracks, turned around and said in a deep voice with piercing eyes: "Why didn't you say it earlier?"

  Tang Zī's eyes became distracted, and he muttered to himself: "Do I have a chance to speak?"

  Geng Sang and Kou Yang were also sighing with regret, lamenting to the extreme.

  Mu Zi Xun looked towards the north, where the faint sound of horseshoes was already audible. He let out a long sigh and said quietly: "It's too late, the Dragon Rider Battalion led by Die Feng Wu has arrived. Although we have an army of 100,000, it is still disorganized and cannot compete with regular troops. This fund will only benefit Yang Suo Fen."

  Tang Zhi suddenly sat down on the ground, muttering to himself, and then suddenly stood up like a madman, running down the mountain while gritting his teeth and shouting: "Yang Suofeng, I'll make you look good!"

  The sunset finally sank completely behind the mountains, and the last wisps of clouds wove a desolate yet beautiful rainbow in the sky.