Chapter 677: Play Along, Then Kill Them All
Clop, clop, clop—
The horse hooves beat like drumbeats.
Three riders galloped swiftly through the night, just turning the corner of the official road.
Suddenly, one of them felt a sudden tightness around his neck, as a rope flew out of nowhere and dragged him off the horse back and into the woods.
The other two were shocked, about to draw their swords for a fight, when a shadow flickered in the woods. A fierce man charged out with a loud shout, raising his hand to deliver two punches.
That man screamed miserably, his body making cracking sounds as he fell off the horse, collapsing on the ground and spewing several mouthfuls of blood, seemingly on the brink of death.
"This is it? You can't take a punch at all."
The fierce man casually walked up to the two men collapsed on the ground, and with two muscular arms resembling iron, picked them up like straw, and they hung in the air, staring in terror at the fierce man in front of them, who looked like a ghost or god.
The fierce man glanced at the waist card on one of them, sneered, "It's you!"
He then threw the other person out with a flick, crashing them against a tree with a "snap."
On the spot, bones shattered and internal organs ruptured, resulting in a grisly death.
The Golden Country envoy still in the fierce man's grasp turned pale with fright, babbling in the language of the Golden Country.
"Cut the crap, it's your luck that the Fist Tao God caught a small fry like you personally. Keep babbling, and I'll eat you."
The fierce man landed a solid slap, knocking the Golden Country envoy unconscious like a chick. Then he hoisted the person up, roughly tidied up the scene, tamed and pulled the three horses to a nearby bend in the official road.
In a corner here lay another Liao Country envoy, who had been disabled by acupoint sealing, lying by the roadside corner. In the night, only two shining eyes brimming with anger and fear could be seen.
Seeing the Fist Tao God return so quickly with another person, the Liao Country envoy was even more terrified.
"Come over here!"
The Fist Tao God didn't bother with trifles, grabbing the person as one would grab a chick and threw him onto a horse.
Then he mounted one himself, controlling the envoys of the Golden and Liao Countries to ride one each, hurriedly galloping southeastward.
"Hyah!!"
Clop, clop, clop, clop—
The official road sent up dust, with clods of dirt flying everywhere under the iron hooves as the three riders swiftly rode away.
Meanwhile,
Inside the military camp, Jiang Dali leisurely drank a cup of hot tea, set down the gilded invitation, and suddenly stood up. Donning his cloak, he strode into the courtyard outside, letting out a long whistle.
The Demon Hawk circling in the sky received the signal, diving down quickly to carry Jiang Dali's figure rapidly away from the military camp.
This scene immediately triggered the blare of a police whistle within the camp.
Zhang Xian promptly exited the tent, watching Jiang Dali leave the VIP Building on the hawk, showing a puzzled expression, and immediately pulled over a lieutenant to inquire.
"Why is Master Jiang going out so late?"
The lieutenant, equally baffled, waved his hands unknowingly.
Zhang Xian could only stride immediately to the VIP Building for inquiry.
Outside the military camp.
Two Dark Pile agents of Qin Gui, watching the Black Wind Village Chief indeed ride the hawk away in the night, exchanged looks and were overjoyed. They immediately got up to fetch their horses to relay the news outwards.
…
Half a cup of tea later.
Amid the crevice of a canyon's mountain road not far from the Capital City.
A group of people clandestinely made their way here, hiding in a natural stone cave atop the canyon cliff.
After two people walked the rugged mountain path to arrive here, they were both panting heavily and highly dissatisfied.
One person snorted, "I don't even know if the intel you, Wang Ciweng, got is so accurate. If I don't see any Golden and Liao Countries' envoys meeting secretly with the Black Wind Village Chief here this time, I'll go complain about you to Prime Minister Qin."
The other coldly retorted, "This might just be the intel Prime Minister Qin received, right? Wang Ciweng, you brought us here to be witnesses so that Prime Minister Qin can complain to my father about the Black Wind Village Chief secretly meeting with the Golden and Liao Countries' envoys.
Hmph, Wang Ciweng, as this king sees it, even if the Black Wind Village Chief privately meets with the envoys of the Golden and Liao Countries, so what?
As long as he isn't colluding with enemy countries and planning to rebel, do you think my father would punish him, given his abilities?"
Wang Ciweng hastily appeased with a smile, "Prince, General Zhang Jun, the information I obtained this time is precisely that the Golden and Liao Countries' envoys intend to entice the Black Wind Village Chief with lavish gifts. Allegedly, the Golden and Liao Countries may even open their doors, allowing the Black Wind Village to expand in both countries.
What this move means, Prince and General, you should be very aware."
The two turned pale upon hearing this.
If this is indeed the case, it truly is no small matter and cannot be ignored.
As everyone knows, the Black Wind Village Chief is ambitious, having long intended to expand the influence of the Black Wind Village to multiple vassal states, and indeed has achieved some results recently.
If the Golden and Liao Countries indeed make such offers, it could indeed entice the Black Wind Village Chief.
Normally, if any other country were to poach like this, Song Country wouldn't need to pay much attention.
Because the influence of the Black Wind Village in Song Country is indeed too massive. During wartime, it can even be considered a powerful and useful volunteer army.
But once the war ends and peace returns, such a force capable of toppling the world would undoubtedly cause the Emperor sleepless nights.
If the Black Wind Village could develop in other countries, dispersing its influence and engaging in a tug-of-war with officials in other vassal states, it might actually be a good thing.
But at this moment, only the Jin and Liao countries are out of the question.
Both countries are enemy states and are now in the midst of a crucial battle with the Song country.
Once the Black Wind Village Chief, a great hero of the Song state, gets too close to these two countries, it makes the issue extremely sensitive.
Wang Ciweng saw the two big figures becoming more and more serious in contemplation and inwardly sneered.
This time he wanted these two to witness something not as simple as the Black Wind Village Chief secretly colluding with the Jin and Liao countries' envoys.
After all, this was entirely impossible.
The Jin and Liao countries did not offer such conditions to the Black Wind Village Chief.
Even if they did offer conditions, if the Black Wind Village Chief didn't agree, it would be useless and wouldn't trap him.
This time, what he wanted the two to witness was the Black Wind Village Chief personally meeting with the envoys of the two countries.
Subsequently, whether or not the Black Wind Village Chief kills the two envoys, he had already arranged for people to kill the envoys of the two countries to frame the Black Wind Village Chief for their deaths.
Then, when the Black Wind Village Chief returns victorious tomorrow, the experts from the Jin and Liao countries will come forward to demand the envoys.
With the explosive temper of the Black Wind Village Chief, there will surely be a conflict, and amidst the chaos, cold arrows will be aimed at the Emperor.
As long as the Emperor gets dragged into it and falls from power, this whole affair will be a great success.
In the end, both the Emperor and the Jin and Liao countries will be furious, and no matter what injustice the Black Wind Village Chief has, he won't be able to explain it away.
After all, even when countries are at war, they don't kill envoys.
No matter the situation, killing the envoys of the Jin and Liao countries, causing the relations among the three countries to become more tense and intense, is a grave sin.
In this situation, even if the Black Wind Village Chief has the power to escape unscathed, it will be difficult for him to stand firm in court and gain the trust of all officials, let alone win the Emperor's favor, making it impossible for him to plead for Yue Fei.
At this moment, the Jin and Liao countries exert pressure on the Song country over the envoy incident.
When the Emperor is utterly troubled, Qin Gui steps forward to pacify the two countries' emotions and further promotes the peace talks, thus completing all plans successfully.
The entire plan was to frame the Black Wind Village Chief, plunge Yue Fei into despair, and further promote the peace negotiations, achieving a perfect completion described as hitting three birds with one stone, extremely vicious.
Feeling proud, Wang Ciweng's heart filled with sinister laughter, eagerly wishing to see the humiliated Black Wind Village Chief Jiang Dali spit blood in anger in front of everyone.
At this moment.
The sound of hooves came from outside the canyon.
Everyone was suddenly invigorated and immediately looked towards the entrance of the valley.
Three riders charged into the valley.
The first two, one wore the official attire of a Jin envoy, and the other wore the official attire of a Liao envoy, followed by a burly Jin soldier.
"They've actually come!"
Zhang Jun stared in shock at the three people appearing at the entrance of the valley.
The Prince beside him also frowned.
Wang Ciweng, however, looked at the three with slight surprise and suspicion.
"How did the envoys from the Jin and Liao countries come at the same time? And the Liao envoy came alone without any attendants..."
Despite his thoughts.
Wang Ciweng used his eyesight and saw the faces of the two envoys, affirming their identities, so he suppressed his inner doubts.
Suddenly, a loud eagle's cry pierced the night sky.
Wang Ciweng's heart jolted, and he quickly reminded Zhang Jun and the others beside him to crouch and lower their heads to avoid being noticed by the highly skilled Black Wind Village Chief, aware of their presence.
Chirp—
A cry that shattered gold and split stone.
The Demon Hawk, with a wingspan of over four zhang, dived down from the sky, stirring a fierce gale.
Jiang Dali's imposing figure, like that of a Demon King, overlooked the valley below from the high sky.
He immediately saw the Fist Tao God and the envoys of the Jin and Liao countries already in the canyon, and couldn't help but curl his lips into a slight smile.
Then his gaze unintentionally glanced at an inconspicuous corner on the canyon's inclined side.
The corner was overgrown with shrubs, seemingly ordinary, but occasionally a few striking red glows emerged, quite conspicuous.
This was practically alerting Jiang Dali that enemies were lurking there with ill intent.
"What a clumsy trick. If I hadn't been on guard, I might have been trapped, but now that I'm alert, I'll play along with your sham, let you think you've won.
When you celebrate your supposed victory, I'll strike all of you down!!"
Jiang Dali's eyes carried cold cunning and mockery, his mouth parted to reveal a set of white teeth.
The envoys of the two countries below, seeing Jiang Dali riding the eagle, showed confusion and anger on their faces but were powerless to move or make a sound due to their sealed acupoints. Their expressions seemed to scream, "Don't come over here!!"
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(Begging for monthly and recommendation tickets! At the end of the month, I need to push up the count, come on. Next month I plan to release more updates!)