Ita Era

Chapter 146 Loyal Minister Line

The inner room was small, a tea room, with a beautiful woman serving at one side. Wang Meng said, "You leave. No one is allowed near the council hall without my permission."

The beautiful woman responded and left.

Ding Shi clapped his hands: "Overwhelmingly domineering!" and gave a thumbs up.

Wang Meng: "Spit it out, hurry up, I have a ton of things to do."

Ding Shi leaned closer and whispered in Wang Meng's ear, "I need the defense map of Yong'an Pass."

Wang Meng was taken aback and asked, "Do you know what you're saying? Where did you get a defense map? You only have a sand table."

Ding Shi said disdainfully, "The black technology must have given you the defense plan. Draw it for me."

Wang Meng looked at Ding Shi for a while and then asked, "What do you need the defense map for?"

“I just met with Prince Qi.” Ding Shi didn’t hide anything and explained the situation in detail, adding, “If we switch sides at the last minute, we’ll become part of the Second Prince’s faction. As for the benefits, I can discuss that with Prince Qi.”

Although Ding Shi perished alongside Wang Meng, and although Ding Shi was an undercover agent, their six-year brotherhood was genuine. They supported each other through hardship and sang together in triumph; they were each other's saviors. Their bond was neither purely enemy nor purely friend, something Yu Yuan and his group could never match.

After saying that, Ding Shi picked up the iron kettle on the stove and made tea for the two of them.

Wang Meng pondered for a moment, then said, "Second Brother, your strength is that you're clever, and you've often gained an advantage through your wit. Your weakness is also your cleverness—you lack foresight. Don't rush to refute me. Just tell me, aren't the Dragon Gang's main projects very important? Which project did you come up with?"

Wang Meng: "For example, with Yixia Company, your clever trick was to use Mimi to sow discord between Sister Zhen and me. While I was pursuing Sister Zhen, you secretly killed Lao Qi and Lao Shisan and took control of Yixia Company."

Ding Shi protested: "This is my job."

Wang Meng said, "You're just following orders, and you're using underhanded methods in doing so. Do you have any plans to destroy my Dragon Gang? Not only do you not, but I bet you're not even interested in how your superiors plan to destroy the Dragon Gang."

Wang Meng said, “This matter is the same. I know that Fireseed is newly established and lacks cohesion. But have you ever thought that this is the best stage? If you were on another stage, would you have your current status? Could you find such clean members? Think long-term. The Era Dungeon is the true dungeon of the Ita World, and the Era Dungeon is based on tribes. If you want to go further, you must protect Fireseed. Even if you participate in the Resurrection Dungeon, you should prioritize protecting Fireseed. At least everyone can see your contributions.”

Wang Meng: "Why don't you try switching to another tribe? If you temporarily join someone else's tribe, how much time and resources will it take to integrate? As a newcomer, you not only have to be obedient, but you also have to do the dirty and hard work. Take the first round for example, you didn't do well, but no one said anything to you. Everyone was trying to find a solution."

Wang Meng was pleased that Ding Shi could approach him directly, but not out of happiness that he spoke the truth. When Wang Meng spoke of Ding Shi, he was also speaking of himself; his situation was the same as Ding Shi's. Ding Shi treated the fire seed as a dispensable tribe, which was definitely not a good thing for Wang Meng.

Ding Shi pondered for a long time, picked up the teacup, took a sip, then put it down and angrily said, "You don't even know how to brew tea anymore? Are you trying to make me freeze to death? Humph!" Before turning away, he casually took a plate of pastries from the table.

Wang Meng was speechless. He'd clearly accepted his point of view, yet he still insisted on spouting nonsense. He picked up his teacup, took a sip, and then spat it out. "Damn, it's so hot! What a jerk!" he thought. "Even this is a trap? I've never seen such a childish person."

……

Inside the county government office, the man in red received the birth and death statistics for the previous year, submitted by the village chiefs, and was currently conducting a comprehensive survey. This data was to be submitted to the Ministry of Revenue, which would periodically conduct random checks on the prefectures and counties to determine whether the officials were truly fulfilling their duties.

Ding Shi sat down next to Hongyi, placed a plate of pastries in front of her, and smiled, "Sister Hongyi, you are so beautiful."

The woman in red shuddered, pressing her brush down to leave a thumb-sized ink mark. The thought of having to rewrite it filled her with murderous intent.

In Hongyi's eyes, Ding Shi can be a warm-hearted man at times, such as when she cut someone in half at the waist; Ding Shi's companionship warmed her heart. Most of the time, he's clever and mischievous. Human nature is complex, especially Ding Shi's; he displays different personalities depending on the situation, and his bottom line and values ​​are unpredictable, making him hard to fathom.

To put it bluntly, he's cunning, has a heavy heart, and is unpredictable. He's also shameless and unscrupulous, but his act of protecting Daya shows that he has inner convictions and a bright future.

As Su Su said, it's not a good thing, but it's not a bad thing either.

Ding Shi smiled obsequiously, took the brush from the woman in red and put it aside, hooked his foot on the stool and sat down: "Neutral person."

After she explained her purpose in one sentence, the woman in red immediately became serious: "What's wrong?"

Ding Shi recounted the matter of the King of Qi, and finally stated that he suspected the Crown Prince might have also recruited someone within the Fire Seed organization.

The woman in red said, "Speculations based on conjecture cannot be taken seriously, otherwise it will make everyone in the team feel insecure."

Ding Shi originally wanted to say that only when everyone in the team felt insecure would they not suspect him. Then he laughed. He wasn't an undercover agent, nor was he Qi Wang's spy, so why was he subconsciously thinking that way?
The woman in red stood up and paced around the room, seemingly radiating the light of a goddess of wisdom. She had a carefree and easygoing personality, but her mind was exceptionally sharp.

After a long pause, the woman in red said, "Give me four hours, no, three hours. I need to talk to everyone." She wasn't sure if the others had any important information.

Judging from the situation at Yong'an Pass, the outcome of the succession struggle seems to be in the players' hands. However, as Ding Shi said, the lack of any news about the Crown Prince is a major variable, especially since the Prefect is the Crown Prince's man. Although the Prefect cannot directly manage Yong'an Pass and Yong'an County, he can arrest people directly if he has certain evidence.

Furthermore, based on Hongyi's experience of watching two hundred palace dramas, those vying for the throne are all cunning and scheming. You might be working for the princess today, but she might be working for you tomorrow, because you don't know what kind of pawn you are in her eyes. After all, in the first round, both sides attempted to assassinate each other.

Ding Shi had no objection; he still preferred to carry out orders or complete a task.

The woman in red said, "Make a copy for me."

Ding Shi said, "Copying is no problem, but are you sure you want me to calculate the numbers for the contaminated area?"

Hongyi's heart skipped a beat. She said, "Forget it, go play by yourself." With her mind preoccupied, she ignored Ding Shi and left in a hurry.

In a small courtyard in Yong'an County, the handsome and extraordinary Crown Prince grasped Hua Shan's hands and said sincerely, "The Great Shrimp Kingdom must not fall into internal strife, otherwise, countless lives will be lost and corpses will be left everywhere. I would rather be a dog in times of peace than a person in times of chaos. For the sake of the people of the Great Shrimp Kingdom, I kneel down before you, young lady."

Hua Shan thought to herself: Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap... It's so heavy, I can't pull it.

After finally helping the Crown Prince to sit down, he began to cough, covering his mouth with a handkerchief as he coughed up blood. He said to Hua Shan, "I believe in you, Miss."

Hua Shan looked both amused and exasperated, and said, "Let me think about it some more."

The crown prince hurriedly said, "No, we can't think about it anymore, for the sake of all the people."

Hua Shan was in a dilemma: "The common people?"

The crown prince nodded: "If there is internal strife, the people will suffer."

Hua Shan nodded and left, seemingly agreeing. Once outside the courtyard, Hua Shan took out her walkie-talkie and switched to the red-clothed woman's private channel: "Red-clothed woman, I need a neutral party."

Red-clad: "What happened?"

Hua Shan: "Some people are using patriotism to blackmail me and don't respect me."

The woman in red: "Disrespectful to you?" She dared not comment on the former.

Hua Shan: "He vomited chicken blood." Hua Shan was initially a little moved, but as a medical student, she was quite familiar with coughed-up blood, and she almost couldn't hold back her emotions.

……

The second round, first day, lunchtime.

Everyone first inspected the restaurant to avoid any martial arts masters hiding inside before they started eating hot pot.

The neutral man in red reported: "The Second Prince asked Ding Shi to spy on the military situation at Yong'an Pass. The Crown Prince asked Hua Shan to revise the official roster."

Everyone understood the meaning of the first sentence and looked at Hua Shan. Hua Shan said, "The Crown Prince asked me to assign someone to be my deputy." As the county magistrate, Hua Shan had two NPC deputies.

Hua Shan: "Based on the details of the conversation, I believe that the people arranged by the Crown Prince will poison the military rations at the appropriate time. It's a slow-acting poison."

Yu Yuan said, "B attacked Yong'an Pass, which was guarded by A. A's soldiers ate poisoned military rations and fell down. B then captured Yong'an Pass. So, does this mean the Crown Prince supports B? That is, the Second Prince."

Hua Shan: "No, the Crown Prince's greatest interest as a third party is to make them both suffer heavy losses. He wants the Second Prince to break through Yong'an Pass, but also wants Yong'an Pass to inflict heavy casualties on the Second Prince's forces, preventing his army from advancing north quickly. I suspect it's a drug that reduces the soldiers' combat effectiveness. There might be another move here; after the Second Prince occupies Yong'an Pass, he might take away the remaining military rations."

Ding Shi raised his hand: "The Crown Prince ordered a spy to replace the person next to you. The spy poisoned the military rations at Yong'an Pass, which means that you and the spy became the Second Prince's men. It was you who helped the Second Prince break through Yong'an Pass. The Second Prince's army repaired at Yong'an Pass for several days. The spy then poisoned the military rations again. The Second Prince took the poisoned military rations north and was doomed."

Ding concluded: "Of the three groups, the Crown Prince is the worst. He wants to cause trouble with the lowest possible cost. But are you sure the other side is the Crown Prince?"

Hua Shan shrugged: "I've never met the Crown Prince, but he said he was the Crown Prince and had the Eastern Palace seal."

Chu Yu asked, "Do you think the fake crown prince might be working for the second prince?"

No one answered; everyone was confused about the Crown Prince's true identity and his stance. The second and third princes were both in the capital, while the Crown Prince alone had gone to Yong'an County—what did that mean?
Wang Meng noticed that Ding Shi's eyes, which had been looking up at him, suddenly straightened up, and knew that Ding Shi had something on his mind. However, seeing that Ding Shi had lowered his head and buried himself in his food, seemingly unwilling to speak, Wang Meng found this type of person the most annoying. He kicked Ding Shi's chair, and Ding Shi glared at him. Wang Meng then widened his Sharingan to signal him, but Ding Shi remained somewhat hesitant.

The woman in red said calmly, "Are you trying to flirt with me? Do you think we're dead? There are already more women than men in the Fire Seed, and you're still playing this game. What do you mean by that?"

Su Su chuckled and said, "Red Robe, your approach is very similar to Ding Shi's; neither of you is on the right track."

The woman in red wasn't being irresponsible; she was just reminding the two that it was too obvious.

Ding Shi said, "I'm thinking about a possibility: could the dog system want us to be loyal subjects?"

Everyone looked at Ding Shi, who explained: "First, in feudal society, the emperor's power is supreme. Second, feudal society highly values ​​loyal ministers. Third, loyal ministers have the greatest difficulty in surviving. In other words, we need to defend Yong'an Pass without using the princess's power, relying on official forces."

Ding Shi said, "Let me explain it this way. As loyal subjects, we must be loyal to the Emperor and the Crown Prince. Whether it's better for the country to be on the throne after the Crown Prince takes the throne is not within the scope of a loyal subject's consideration. There is one condition for loyalty: the Crown Prince must win the struggle for the throne in the capital. In that case, whether we support the Second Prince or the Third Prince, we will only die. The only way to survive is to support the Crown Prince."

Yu Yuan nodded: "That's right, the focus is still on the capital, but we are far from the capital, so we can only take a gamble."

The original mission lines were clear: either help the Third Prince defend Yong'an Pass, or help the Second Prince break through it. Ding Shi didn't want to introduce the "loyal subject" path for two reasons: first, he worried about making a wrong judgment, and second, he didn't want to confuse everyone. What if there wasn't a "loyal subject" path? After all, the "loyal subject" path was something he came up with himself, without much supporting evidence.

Ding Shi added, "If there really is a loyalty line, the Crown Prince is definitely a fake. He is either a man of the Second Prince or the Third Prince, and their goal is to make us fall apart."

Yu Yuan said, "The Loyal Minister route is hellish difficulty. Wang Meng has a thousand soldiers, but they are all ordinary soldiers without heavy armor. It will be extremely difficult to stop 20 enemy troops. Moreover, the Second Prince will definitely send a large number of spies to sabotage during the war. To stop the Second Prince, we must ask the prefect to send two hundred armored soldiers. But if we send the armored soldiers, we will be on the Third Prince's pirate ship."

Su Su asked, "Could we discuss with the Crown Prince whether we can feign friendship with the Princess and borrow her troops to resist the Second Prince?"

Yu Yuan said, "We haven't even seen a shadow of the Crown Prince."

Ding Shi asked, "How can we defend Yong'an Pass without relying on the princess's armored soldiers?"

Chu Yu: "We've already gone very deep with the princess. Is it too late to turn back now?" She wasn't really supportive of the loyal subject route because she couldn't see it at all right now. Besides, they had just reached an agreement with the princess that morning to use her to resettle refugees and solve their predicament. Were they really going to turn their backs on her now?

If the loyalty line no longer exists, and you offend the princess too much, she will definitely make things difficult for everyone in the second round.

Su Su: "Maybe the Second Prince and the Third Prince are in cahoots? The Princess's armored army isn't meant to deal with the Second Prince, but rather with us, to seize Yong'an Pass and open the city gates to welcome the Second Prince's army."

After she finished speaking, everyone stared at Su Su in astonishment. Su Su looked left and right, asking, "What's wrong?"

Yu Yuan said, "I feel that Su Su's version is the correct answer."

Everyone else nodded in agreement. The dog system was always inhuman and loved to surprise players.

Chu Yu said, "Then we're in big trouble. There are 20 troops outside, 200 armored soldiers inside, plus the Princess's mansion's soldiers, and maybe several hundred mountain bandits. We only have one hundred city guards, twenty quick-witted men, several dozen yamen runners, and one thousand garrison troops. Aha, the first round, Ding Shi... I'm wondering why Ding Shi's first round of work is so disjointed and has nothing to do with us."

Chu Yu said, "Now that I think about it, the case of Da Ya's disappearance was meant to make us discover the existence of the Ironclad Army. Ding Shi killed several Ironclad Soldiers, but no bodies of them were found in the simulation. However, I think Ding Shi may have done one thing right: he truthfully reported his encounter with the Ironclad Soldiers. Ding Shi is also being investigated by the Censorate and the Criminal Investigation Department, so the Crown Prince and the Emperor should know about the Ironclad Soldiers. They just haven't made a countermeasure yet."

Those in lower positions have too little information to understand the thoughts of those in higher positions.

Yu Yuan asked, "What are everyone's thoughts?"

Ding Shi said, "I remembered someone."

"Who?"

Ding Shi said, "The prefect of Yongkang Circuit is the only person we know of who is affiliated with the Crown Prince. He has two thousand city guards under his command."

Yu Yuan said, "Alright, I'll go to the prefectural capital after dinner."

(End of this chapter)