knife

Chapter 651 One whale fall, all things come to life
Na Wei's gaze sharpened slightly, his eyes piercing Zhu Chi, who was sitting opposite him, like a needle.

After a long pause, he said in a hoarse voice, "Do you know that Xiang Ying is a master of the Innate Realm, and that he entered the Innate Realm twenty years ago, with profound cultivation?"

Zhu Chi bowed slightly and smiled, "This humble official also knows that the shaman under Your Highness's command is no less skilled than Xiang Ying, and the shaman's other methods are even more mysterious and unpredictable!"

“Even so, I cannot allow the shaman to fight Xiang Ying!” Na Wei shook his head and said.

"Your Highness, what if Xiang Ying returned from Tong'an County this time severely injured?" Zhu Chi asked.

"Seriously injured? How did you know?"

"Your Highness, I have some connections with some people in the Beiting Protectorate. I've spent a lot of money on them over the years, so it's not difficult to get some harmless information from them!" Zhu Chi said, "The information I received this time is that Li Dachui will not allow Xiang Ying to return to Danyang unharmed."

At this point, Zhu Chi paused for a moment, hesitated slightly, and then continued, "Because of their assessment, they believed that if Xiang Ying returned unharmed and joined forces with Xiong Yi, the Prince would definitely not be a match for the two of them. Li Dachui and the others hoped that the Prince and Xiong and Xiang would fight to a standstill so that they could obtain the greatest benefit!"

Na Wei's face darkened; this was blatant disrespect!
"You think so too? I wouldn't be a match for the two of them combined?"

"Your Highness, I believe that a dead Xiang Ying is more in your interest!" Zhu Chi said. "Why not seize the opportunity to kick a dog when it's down? Even if a sickly Xiang Ying returns, he will still cause you great trouble. Your Highness, you should know the influence of the Xiang clan!"

Na Wei stood up and paced back and forth in the room. After circling around a few times, Na Wei suddenly stopped, looked at Zhu Chi, and said with a forced smile, "Minister Zhu, why are you so interested in killing Xiang Ying?"

Zhu Chi smiled slightly and said, "Your Highness, do you know how large the Xiang family's business is?"

“It’s been a family for hundreds of years, so naturally we have a large and prosperous business!” Na Wei said, “Do I need you to remind me of that?”

"I'll just tell you what I know. Your Highness, you are a hero in the Southwest, yet you can't compare to the Xiang family!" Zhu Chi said.

“Okay, tell me about it!” Na Wei sat down and said.

"The Xiang family owns approximately five million mu of land across the country!"

"How much?" Na Wei's eyes widened instantly, becoming as big as saucers.

"Your Highness, these are all top-grade fields," Zhu Chi said. "There are hundreds of thousands of tenant farmers cultivating them for the Xiang family. In addition, there are more than a hundred silk weaving workshops, producing hundreds of thousands of bolts of fine silk every year. Moreover, the Xiang and Xiong families control the pricing power of all industries in our Great Chu silk industry, both upstream and downstream. They can make the price rise or fall as they please. Just by manipulating the market every year, they make enormous profits!"

Na Wei blushed. He himself was a powerful local tycoon, so he was naturally prepared for the Xiang family's wealth. However, Zhu Chi had only mentioned a few things, which were already far beyond his imagination.

"Your Highness, this pig of the Xiang family has been raised for hundreds of years, and it's become incredibly fat!" Zhu Chi walked up to Na Wei and said through gritted teeth, "If we slaughter this pig, we can all celebrate the New Year. Your Highness, your tens of thousands of soldiers will not need to plunder the people or impose additional taxes; they can be given generous salaries, and you can even distribute land and shops to them, making them even more loyal to you."

Na Wei's breathing gradually became heavier.

“But this pigsty has a powerful guardian. We couldn’t touch it before, and even now, with tens of thousands of soldiers under your command, you don’t dare to move against them casually. Why? Isn’t it because Xiang Ying is a master of innate cultivation? If you don’t kill the snake, there will be endless trouble. Now we have an opportunity. As long as Xiang Ying dies, won’t this pigsty be yours, Your Highness?” Zhu Chi said.

"You want a piece of the pie too?" Na Wei asked Zhu Chi with a smile. Zhu Chi made no attempt to hide his feelings and nodded, "Of course, Your Highness. Over the years, our Zhu family's assets have been almost completely wiped out. When Jiang Qian came to power, we lost seventy percent of our wealth. After Jiang Qian's downfall some time ago, the Xiang and Xiong families took advantage of the situation to seize some of the wealth I had painstakingly accumulated over the years. Naturally, I want to get it back with interest. If he comes back, I won't have a chance. If he wins, my Zhu family won't even have a chance to recover! So, I want to kill him, I want to completely destroy the century-old Xiang family!"

Zhu Chi became more and more excited as he spoke, his face flushed, waving his hands and shouting, "Your Highness, with one whale fall, all things come to life!"

"What a wonderful saying, 'One whale falls, and all things come to life!'" Na Wei laughed heartily, looking up at the sky.

Zhu Chi left excitedly.

"Have you made your decision?" The shaman slowly emerged from a side room.

“When a whale falls, all things come to life!” Na Wei said, enunciating each word clearly. “Divine Shaman, the Xiong family is royalty, so it’s not easy to deal with them directly. But the Xiang family is different. As long as Xiang Ying dies and we discredit them, we can rightfully take everything from them. You heard what Zhu Chi just said. With the Xiang family’s wealth, we can truly gain a foothold in this prosperous land, give back to our hometown, and then have the soldiers from our hometown consolidate everything we have. This forms a virtuous cycle!”

“Zhu Chi is probably not that simple! He must be colluding with Li Dachui and his people. It’s possible that Li Dachui deliberately had him leak this information to us! If we really kill Xiang Ying, then it will be a fight to the death with the Xiang family.”

“What does it matter, Shaman? We’re going to turn against them anyway,” Na Wei said. “Besides, as long as we plan things out perfectly, we can make Xiang Ying die silently, and even make everyone think that Li Dachui killed Xiang Ying, right?”

“That’s a good idea. I’ll set off now,” said the shaman.

“Divine Shaman, bring more men!” Na Wei said, “I’m starting to make arrangements here as well. We need to monitor the Xiang family’s main branch as soon as possible. As soon as you return, Divine Shaman, we’ll take action in the city. The Xiang family’s main branch is in Danyang. Once we take down these key figures, those outside won’t be able to cause any trouble.”

"Zhu Chi hates the Xiang family, so let him lead this operation!" the shaman said. "Firstly, this person is familiar with the Xiang family and was a high-ranking official in Tianluo in his early years. He is meticulous and thoughtful, so if he takes action, he will definitely plan carefully and leave no loopholes, which is much better than us, who are unfamiliar with the place. Secondly, this will also firmly bind this person to us, letting everyone know that he was the one who led this attack on the Xiang family. In this way, he will have no choice but to follow us closely from now on!"

"The shaman has thought this through thoroughly!" Na Wei laughed. "Let's do it that way!"

Zhu Chi returned to the house, where his younger brother Zhu Cheng had been waiting for a long time.

"Did it work?" Zhu Cheng asked.

"Of course it's a success," Zhu Chi said. "If I'm not mistaken, this time we'll probably be the ones to take the lead!"

"Huh?" Zhu Cheng's eyes widened. "In that case, we have no way out! The Xiang family has many followers. I'm afraid we won't have a good life from now on!"

"No pain, no gain!" Zhu Chi said calmly.

"Brother, have you decided to bet on Li Dachui? What if Li Dachui loses?"

"Can't you see I'm now tied to Na Wei?" Zhu Chi laughed. "If Li Dachui loses to Linghu Ye, can't we just stick with Na Wei?"

(End of this chapter)