The Grand Void – Becoming a Dragon

An hour later.

"My lord."

The man in black hurried over with a dignified expression. He gave a salute, but hesitated a little, and dared not speak directly.

Chen Wang closed his eyes slightly, took a deep breath, and then responded, "How is the situation?"

The man replied in a low voice: "Thirty-five water workers and craftsmen, and fifty soldiers were all killed. None of them survived. The other party did not leave any clues."

Chen Wang clenched his fists and looked over with a gloomy expression.

The man's tone was lower, and he said bitterly: "All the records that have been surveyed in the past few days have also been taken away."

Chen Wang remained silent.

The Dongsheng Dynasty had a vast land and rich resources, and it was a peaceful and prosperous age. For many years, the court was stable and the people lived and worked in peace and contentment.

Under such a peaceful situation, capable people emerge in large numbers from all walks of life.

It is a pity that the thirty-five water workers and skilled craftsmen under his name died, but if we search for more manpower, we can easily gather such a group of capable people.

However, the records of these surveys were also taken away.

In other words, his efforts these days were wasted.

To him, eighty-five lives are not important.

The important thing is that even if a group of people are invited again, they will have to re-survey, which delays precious time.

"Have you found out who it is?"

"No leads."

"Those thirty-five water workers and craftsmen are rough people, not weak scholars. But even if we don't mention them, these fifty elite soldiers alone are definitely not weak." Chen Wang said with a solemn expression: " To be able to annihilate these fifty elite soldiers, the opponent must have used a lot of manpower, and the fact that they can be cleaned up so cleanly proves that they did not suffer many casualties, presumably most of them are masters."

"My lord is in the court hall, and the tree attracts the wind. There are many enemies in the open and in the dark." The man whispered: "Could it be someone who mobilized the elite and annihilated our manpower to delay us? After all, this is the emperor's order. If there is a delay, the prince will inevitably be blamed by the emperor..."

"It's not like the old ghosts in the court." Chen Wang said: "These old ghosts are messing up the situation in the court, using various laws and regulations within the Dongsheng Dynasty, and setting up conspiracies and tricks. When it is necessary, we will never use our troops to intercept and kill these eighty-five people... The so-called plan to see the poor is the end of the road, and it is the worst policy."

"This..." The man vaguely understood something.

"These eighty-five people are all from the government. They do things without authorization. Once this king catches them, they can't turn around." Chen Wang paused and said: "The most important thing is that they have no reason to take such a risk. The big risk is only for the lives of eighty-five people."

"My lord means..."

"At this moment, if these eighty-five people are killed, if they are found out, they will surely ransack their families and exterminate their families. To this king, this matter will only delay me for a few days, so how much benefit will it bring to them? "

"If it's not the old ghost in the court, who is it?"

"This king also finds it strange."

The atmosphere in the pavilion is solemn.

Whether it was King Chen or the man in black, his first thought was to guess that it was those officials in the court who also controlled power and opposed King Chen.

They thought of many people, including local officials in the Sixteenth Mansion of Huai'an.

The only thing I never thought about was Zhuang Ming, who was like an ant.

Even if this young man is wealthy, in terms of background, he is just a merchant, a mere commoner.

The so-called people do not fight with officials!

The gap between the two is really too big, almost the difference between cloud and mud.

He is the prince of the dynasty, aloof, like a god.

As for Zhuang Ming, he was just an ant-like mortal.

There were many black hands behind the scenes in Wang Chen's mind, but Zhuang Ming did not exist in his first thought.

Zhuang Ming has no guts, no selfish soldiers, and no status.

It wasn't that Zhuang Ming was bold in attacking private salt before, but that Zhuang Ming didn't necessarily know that he, a king with a different surname, was behind it. Moreover, Zhuang Ming had to rely on the power of the government to destroy his private salt business.

What's more, although the Zhuang's firm has strong financial resources and has recruited several martial arts masters, they are ordinary people after all and cannot raise private soldiers, so how can they have the strength to ambush and kill eighty-five people?

What's more, in anyone's mind, it is inevitable to think that how can a commoner who is a businessman have the courage to ambush the government?

——

After half an hour.

A white dove flew in the sky.

The man in black took it off, his face changed slightly, and he said in a low voice: "My lord..."

Chen Wang said in a deep voice: "What's the matter?"

The man in black said solemnly: "The three hundred horses that were on the way to be escorted all died suddenly on the way."

Chen Wang suddenly turned around and looked at him fiercely.

The man in black said in a low voice: "There are more than a hundred elite soldiers escorting the horses. No one was injured or injured, and there were no foreign enemies. It seems that they suddenly fell ill... However, at present, I am afraid they were killed by poison."

Chen Wang took a deep breath and said, "Eighty-five lives were lost, all records of surveying the waterway were lost, and three hundred horses died suddenly?"

His face was ugly, and he said in a cold voice: "Either this king is really unlucky, or...someone has taken action against this king."

Those who dared to openly ambush the government, secretly poisoned three hundred horses.

This is a blatant provocation to him.

The other party is absolutely extraordinary.

And to be able to do this, after all, the power is huge, and there are many elites under his command.

In the court, who is crazy, who dares to be so frenzied, is it to tear his face completely, and kill himself?

"Report!"

At this moment, someone stumbled and came to report in a hurry.

Chen Wang's heart sank.

He had just learned from the past, and he didn't think this urgent report would be a happy one.

"What are you panicking about?" The man in black wanted to dodge, but he was relieved when he heard the voice was the prince's attendant, and shouted again: "Come in and talk."

"My lord..."

The servant ran in in a panic and shouted: "Just now, the news came that the ore brought to Huai'an was robbed, and none of the thirty elites who escorted the ore survived..."

After he finished speaking, he suddenly found that the atmosphere was extremely quiet.

Both the prince and the man in black were silent, but their expressions were extremely ugly.

This servant has also been with Chen Wang for five years, and his heart skipped a beat, his face turned pale to the extreme.

At this moment, the lord seemed very angry, and now he added another matter of anger. With the lord's usual disposition, he was so angry that he might draw his sword and kill himself to vent his anger.

"The king knows."

Chen Wang's voice was unexpectedly calm.

It's just calm, with a little tired feeling.

The servant didn't know why it was like this, but he felt a sense of survival after a catastrophe in his heart, he saluted hastily, and left in embarrassment.

The man in black's face changed slightly, and he said cautiously: "My lord..."

King Chen reached into his bosom, threw something, and said: "Before leaving, the emperor gave me a soldier talisman that can dispatch the Zhennan army. With this soldier talisman, 50,000 Zhennan troops in Huai'an can be mobilized."

Seeing this, the man in black was slightly startled, and said, "This..."

Chen Wang said: "The opponent is so arrogant, I'm afraid he won't let it go, so as to avoid the next change, all the guards on this trip will be sent to Zhennan Army."

The man in black said seriously: "This subordinate will do it now."

Chen Wang said: "When the Zhennan army is transferred, no matter how many people the opponent has, no matter how strong the master is, it will be difficult to destroy it, but this king will never let this matter go, we must investigate carefully, I want to see it, Which bastard who doesn't follow court rules dares to be so unscrupulous?"

Before he finished speaking, he saw a white dove descending from the sky.

Chen Wang's voice froze suddenly.

He looked at the white dove in front of him, but couldn't think of picking it up.

"Come and see."

Chen Wang's tone was slightly lower, as if he was very tired.

The man in black sighed, but still went forward, took the letter paper from under the carrier pigeon, glanced at it, and suddenly stopped.

After a while, the man in black looked up at King Chen, hesitant to speak.

Chen Wang forcibly calmed down, and finally asked: "What happened again?"

The man in black smiled wryly and said, "Suddenly a big fire broke out at the Armory Workshop. It is said that during the smelting process, there was a mistake, and many things were ignited, and the fire spread. "

Chen Wang suddenly punched it on the stone table in the pavilion, shouting angrily.

"Mistakes? Mistakes!"

"One thing after another happened within a day, do you really think it's a coincidence?"

"No matter how unlucky my king is, it's impossible for me to lose all the big things I want to do in a day, right?"

"Check it out for me! You must find out which bastard is behind it, and he is determined to use this barbaric method to stop the king from doing things?"

"If it is found out, no matter who he is, this king will definitely report to the emperor and punish his nine clans!"

He roared for a while, but was still out of breath, stretched out his hand and swept across, and swept all the tea utensils on the stone table in the pavilion to the ground, smashing them to pieces.

The man in black was trembling. He had followed King Chen for many years and had seen him lose his temper. However, in recent years, King Chen has become more and more calm and stable with his heart in mind.

"My lord..."

Another voice came from outside.

Whether it is Chen Wang or the man in black, they can't help but mention it again in their hearts.

King Chen gritted his teeth and said, "What's the matter? This king came here under orders. Three of the four major events were implemented, but all of them were destroyed, but one of the new policies has not been implemented yet. How can the other party destroy it?"

The man in black wanted to dismiss the man outside the courtyard, but he heard the voice. It was not the confidant of King Chen who came with him, but the subordinate of Master Zhao in Fengcheng.

Chen Wang calmed down a little before he said, "Come in."

The person outside the door came in in a hurry, and it was the servant from just now again.

It's just that after what happened before, he seemed a little timid at the moment, and he was even more frightened to see the fragments of the tea set all over the floor.

At this moment, this officer actually has a lot of uneasiness, he used to be in awe, but now he is mostly afraid.

"What's the matter?" Chen Wang remained calm and asked, "It's the matter of my eighty-five people being ambushed and killed earlier, have you found any clues?"

"Report to the lord." The guard hurriedly responded: "There are no other clues at the scene, but in another place, some burnt paper ashes were found, and there was something in the paper ashes."

"What thing?" Chen Wang felt even more uncomfortable when he heard the words "paper dust". These are most likely the records of the thirty-five skilled craftsmen surveying the waterway.

"This thing is very strange, but..." the guard hesitated.

"But how?"

"However, Zhuang's firm came to report this morning. A few days ago, a group of bandits in Huaibei robbed their truckload of goods. The token left at that time was quite similar to the token in this ashes." The guard was cautious. road.

"What did you say?"

King Chen stood up suddenly and shouted, "Zhuang's firm?"