Zongwu: Aspiring to be the mastermind behind the scenes

Chapter 279 High-ranking officials and Murong fall into another trap
As truckloads of supplies were sent into the golden portal, Dongfang Bubai's heart clenched.

These are all her supplies!

"You absolutely have to pay me back someday..."

"Dongfang Bubai said."

Jin Jiu waved his hand: "Don't worry, all of this stuff combined isn't even worth a fraction of my reputation. The organization is just temporarily holding it for you; they won't take these supplies. This is all for your own good."

Besides, if it weren't for the organization's help, where would you have planned to store so many supplies?
Frankly speaking, no matter where you put it, there's a risk the Murong family will find out.

Dongfang Bubai said, "Within the alliance, four major families and more than fifty minor families have already defected to my side, joining forces to deceive Murong Fu. How could the Murong family know about this?"

"Heh, how could you possibly know whether any of those families that turned against you were secretly colluding with the Murong family?"

"Have it?"

Dongfang Bubai said, "I've been keeping an eye on them the whole time!"

"Then, have you sent anyone from the other major power in this city?"

"Which one?"

"Government!"

Dongfang Bubai frowned: "The government? Indeed, they have been somewhat negligent."

Jin Jiu said, "You can't apply your past experiences in Ming to Song. Moreover, what you're doing now is vastly different from what you did in Ming. You can't ignore the Song government just because they're weak."

In fact, the authorities have long been aware of your current actions!

"What? How did they know?"

"With so many merchants frantically collecting supplies, the prices of all kinds of goods in the entire Song Kingdom have increased by several times, and in some places they have even doubled. How could the government not have noticed?"

"Since they've noticed, why not do nothing about it?"

"Why should they care? Even the emperor doesn't care, so why should they bother? In the Song Dynasty, the most important thing for an official isn't to do anything, but to protect oneself!"

Upon hearing this, Dongfang Bubai sneered: "The ministers under the Song emperor are all such scoundrels. How fortunate they are!"

"Although it was a matter of self-preservation, everyone in officialdom has connections, so they had already reminded the Suzhou prefect through letters."

"The Prefect of Suzhou?"

Dongfang Bubai frowned: "According to what you've said, in this country, merchants and powerful families in various places often need to pay tribute to officials in order to do business peacefully. So, this Suzhou prefect must be the protector of the Murong family, the Wang family, and other families?"

"Yes."

"If that's the case, they... shouldn't have informed the Murong family about this yet, right?"

"No."

"Why is this again?"

Jin Jiu said, "Merchants pay tribute to officials because they need the protection of the officialdom. However, if a force is so powerful that it can intimidate all its surrounding enemies, meaning that no enemy dares to cause trouble for it, then does that force still need protection?"

Dongfang Bubai raised an eyebrow: "Could it be that the Murong family has never paid tribute to the government all these years?"

"No, they still make offerings. However, they don't need the government's protection; they make offerings so that the government won't cause them any trouble."

"Would those greedy officials be willing to do that?"

"Of course we don't want to, but the Murong family is not to be trifled with. They could easily plunge Jiangnan into chaos and then use their extensive connections to bring the matter directly to the emperor's attention. Do you think the officials would fare well in that situation?"
To be even more ruthless, the Murong family is a martial arts family; they could sneak up to the official's bedside in the middle of the night, hold a knife to his throat, and threaten him. Or even more simply, they could kill him outright.

With this whole scheme in place, the government had no choice but to comply!

Dongfang Bubai nodded: "In that case, no wonder the government didn't inform the Murong family. But after all these years, doesn't the Murong family have many close associates? Or perhaps they have officials under their control?"

“Two or three generations ago, in addition to the violent methods mentioned above, the Murong family also had a softer approach. They would befriend officials in Jiangnan, or simply fabricate various crimes against them, and then obtain evidence to use as leverage to control them.”

"Two or three generations ago? That means they stopped doing this kind of thing starting from the Murong family two generations ago?"

"Yeah, I don't know what they're thinking."

Jin Jiu said, "Now that so many years have passed, those officials who had connections with them have either been transferred or died of old age. Basically, there are very few officials who have any connection with the Murong family anymore."

Dongfang Bubai curled his lip: "I thought only Murong Fu was a fool in the Murong family, but I didn't expect that his father and grandfather were not smart either."

Even so, they managed to survive for three generations and still maintain such a great reputation. Heh, the foundation laid by the Murong family's ancestors was truly substantial.

Gin was also quite speechless about this.

He had long known that Murong Fu and Murong Bo were both people with unusual thought processes, but he didn't expect that Murong Bo's father's generation was no better.

"Right now, the government is watching from the sidelines, observing how the battle between your Sun Moon Divine Sect and the Murong family unfolds. If the Murong family encounters difficulties, they can raise the price on the spot, and if the Sun Moon Divine Sect wins, then they can renegotiate the price."

Dongfang Bubai sneered: "I'm afraid they think that my Sun Moon Divine Sect's foundation is far inferior to that of the Murong family, and therefore they need the protection of their government. They're probably all preparing to make a killing right now, aren't they?"

"Yeah, almost."

Jin Jiu asked, "How do you plan to solve this problem? If you say you won't give them tribute, the government will probably keep causing you trouble."

Dongfang Bubai snorted coldly and said, "Once I take over Jiangnan, they will have to consider whether I will cause them trouble."

I remember you said before that the value of the Sun Moon Cult was to help the Ming Cult attract attention in order to cover up the existence of the Ming Cult.

Then why don't you guess why I considered these supplies as a token of goodwill from those merchant families, and why I had them delivered to Suzhou instead of Qingxi County, south of the Ming Cult's territory?

Jin Jiu was taken aback, but quickly realized something and looked at Dongfang Bubai: "You are not planning to... Hahaha, as expected of Dongfang Bubai, you are indeed bold!"

A hint of pride appeared in Dongfang Bubai's eyes: "It seems you've already guessed it."

“I do have a guess,” Jin Jiu said. “You don’t need to tell me, and I won’t reveal my guess. If what you’re trying to do is exactly what I’m thinking, then I can make you a promise: if you really succeed, I can apply for more support for you within the organization!”

"Then... it's a deal!"

Jin Jiu stepped into the golden light gate: "Now that we have these sincere gifts, let's get moving. Yi Jifeng has been eating wild game outside the city for more than half a month."

Dongfang Bubai nodded: "Don't worry, it will be resolved soon."

To be honest, according to Jin Jiu's original plan, it would probably not be easy for the Sun Moon Cult to take over Jiangnan.

Even after negotiations, a long period of preparation is needed before a complete victory can be achieved.

However, with Murong Fu's entry, the original plan was abandoned, and the possibility of the Sun Moon Cult occupying Jiangnan became increasingly likely, and the time required was much shorter than originally planned.

In fact, during this process, Dongfang Bubai developed even greater ambitions.

This was entirely thanks to Murong Fu.

If it weren't for his help, none of this would have been so easy.

As the greatest benefactor of the Sun Moon Sect, Murong Fu himself was actually quite easy to deal with.

If Dongfang Bubai hadn't needed time to win over the various families and for them to show their sincerity, Murong Fu would probably have lost his life a month ago.

Now that everything is ready, it's time to retrieve the head that's been stored on Murong Fu's neck.

Soon, the Murong family discovered clues about Dongfang Bubai.

"Young Master!"

Deng Baichuan realized something was wrong and advised, "Dongfang Bubai has been hiding for a month, and now he has suddenly revealed his whereabouts. I'm afraid it's a trap!"

Murong Fu hesitated, then said, "Right now, as the alliance leader, I'm locked in a stalemate with the Sun Moon Sect. There's been a lot of discussion within the alliance. Now that we've discovered clues about Dongfang Bubai, if we turn a blind eye, then I'm afraid..."

He was determined to eliminate Dongfang Bubai, end the war as soon as possible, and salvage his reputation. However, after the previous ambush, Murong Fu was clearly worried, fearing that this would be another ambush.

Deng Baichuan thought for a moment and said, "Now that we have found out Dongfang Bubai's exact location, why don't we hide nearby and send people to check first? If it really is Dongfang Bubai, then we can call everyone to attack together, what do you think?"

Murong Fu thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.

In his mind, Suzhou was still his territory, and Dongfang Bubai was not strong, which was why he had been hiding and not coming out.

Little do they know that a person's control over a territory is achieved through other people acting as their tentacles.

Murong Fu had long lost the support of the people. He thought that Suzhou was still firmly under his control, but little did he know that half of the alliance members had already defected.

The remaining half either belong to families with such close ties that it's impossible to turn them against their own side.

They are either small families, not worth turning against.

The plan was devised in less than a quarter of an hour, and it had already fallen into the hands of Dongfang Bubai.

night.

Murong Fu led a group of experts and hid in a private house about a mile away from the Sun Moon Sect's stronghold.

Then Bao Butong led more than ten people to investigate the stronghold.

After waiting for a quarter of an hour, Deng Baichuan's expression changed slightly, and he whispered, "Young Master, I'm afraid this is not good!"

Murong Fu's face also turned ugly, and he hurriedly said, "Withdraw!"

He then led everyone out of the house, preparing to evacuate.

A group of people suddenly appeared in the darkness, led by Tong Baixiong.

He also had Bao Butong with him, and he used acupressure on him.

Tong Baixiong shouted, "We've been discovered? Never mind, let's attack!"

There were responses from all directions, and shouts of battle erupted immediately.

Deng Baichuan hurriedly said, "As expected, there's been another mistake, young master, run!"

They then took the initiative to cover the rear.

Murong Fu gritted his teeth, and Gongye Qian quickly pulled him away, leading him out of the encirclement.

As the saying goes, "A fall into a pit, a gain in your wit."

After suffering a loss once, Murong Fu realized that the information he had obtained about Dongfang Bubai might be a trap, and his four great generals naturally understood this even better.

Although last time they shifted the blame to the Pu family, it was a baseless accusation on their part.

But this time, there might still be traitors.

Therefore, after making the plan, the four of them secretly made another agreement.

That means that after you have seen the specific situation, you must report back within 15 minutes.

If there is no news within 15 minutes, it means something unexpected has happened.

This agreement was known only to Murong Fu and the four great generals; no one else knew about it.

Bao Butong accepted the mission and stormed into the stronghold of the Sun Moon Cult.

If a conflict were to break out between the two sides, there would certainly be some commotion in the wake of a major battle.

However, there was no response whatsoever in the vast darkness.

It was precisely because the hidden forces within the stronghold were too powerful that Bao Butong and the dozen or so experts had no chance to resist and were easily captured.

In a moment of quick thinking, Bao Butong immediately knelt down and kowtowed, expressing his willingness to pledge allegiance to Dongfang Bubai, thus attracting Murong Fu to the stronghold.

After all that trouble, the time was delayed until fifteen minutes later.

This made Deng Baichuan realize that something was wrong, and he reacted first.

Even though a large number of Sun Moon Cult members had already begun to surround the houses, the encirclement was not fully formed because they reacted in advance.

Murong Fu escaped precisely because of this flaw.

"not good!"

Tong Baixiong was shocked to see this. If Murong Fu escaped, all his plans would be in vain.

"Murong Fu, don't even think about escaping!"

Tong Baixiong immediately wanted to chase after him.

Deng Baichuan, however, charged forward as if his life depended on it, trying to stop Tong Baixiong.

After being deliberately trained by Dongfang Bubai, Tong Baixiong's strength was higher than Deng Baichuan's, but he did not cultivate any profound martial arts or have any powerful special skills.

Furthermore, Deng Baichuan was now fighting for his life, launching an extremely fierce attack, and for a time, he managed to stop Tong Baixiong.

Tong Baixiong was extremely anxious.

But then a figure in red appeared.

Under the cover of night, amidst the firelight, they appeared like gods and demons.

"Dong... Dongfang Bubai?"

Upon seeing this figure, Deng Baichuan's eyes widened in surprise, and he suddenly became bold and lunged at Dongfang Bubai.

A streak of crimson-gold light flashed past, and Deng Baichuan, with the momentum of his charge, fell to the ground with a thud.

Tong Baixiong quickly bowed and apologized: "This subordinate is incompetent and let Murong Fu escape. Please punish me, Master."

"It's alright, he can't escape."

The red figure moved swiftly, instantly leaving the area illuminated by the firelight and disappearing into the night.

Murong Fu and Gongye Qian ran wildly, but their hearts were filled with extreme frustration.

It's only been a little over a month, and I've already fallen into an ambush again.

Even more tragically, Gongye Qian was left all alone by his side.

He originally had four major generals under his command, but they were all killed in a storm and there was no news of them for a month. The outcome was self-evident.

Today, the scouts we sent out lost Bao Butong, and with Deng Baichuan covering the rear, their chances of survival are slim.

Only Gongye Qian remained by his side.

He thought that he was born into a noble family, of Xianbei royal blood, and shouldered the great responsibility of restoring the country. He should have had a long and prosperous life. Why was there so many difficulties and obstacles on the road to restoring the country?

Murong Fu was indignant.

Gongye Qian didn't think that much. He glanced back and said, "Young Master, we didn't see any firelight behind us. It seems that the Sun and Moon Divine Frames were held up and didn't catch up. Let's take this opportunity to go back to Yanziwu first."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a voice came from in front of him.

"Young Master Murong, wait!"

(End of this chapter)