Rebirth As a Fatuous and Self-indulgent Ruler

Chapter 131: Why Did You Come Here? (II)

Translator: Storm in a Teacup

Zou’s expression changed a little. Then, he said with a wry smile. “Okay, we will continue to follow up.”

“Qingyuan, thank you in advance. We still have some business to do today. If there is something urgent, you can send someone to tell us,” Shi said.

Long nodded. “That’s right, Qingyuan, if you need anything, feel free to tell us.”

Hearing this, Zou immediately said, “No problem.”

After saying a few words, Shi and Long left with the two things.

The bamboo slip and the list.

Long and Shi didn’t say much about Zou on the road.

After they arrived at the imperial palace safe and sound, Hu Qingyuan had been waiting there for a while.

Hu asked for an audience with the emperor according to the regular procedure. After Long returned to the palace, he ordered the guard to lead Hu to the imperial study.

When Long got to the imperial study, Hu was already waiting there.

“Greetings, Your Majesty. Long live Your Majesty.”

“You may rise.” Long sat down in the dragon chair in the imperial study before speaking.

Hu stood up and Long asked him to sit down.

Then, Hu sat down nervously.

Long didn’t waste any time and directly asked, “You must have come because of the Liu family case, right?”

“Yes, Your Majesty, I have found some clues.”

“Oh?” Long raised his eyebrows. “Tell me.”

“I found it in a basement of Liu family’s mansion.” Hu carefully put a yellow paper bag on the tray and then a eunuch handed it to Long.

Long looked at it. “What is this?”

“Sulfur powder,” Hu said firmly.

Long was slightly shocked. “How could there be such a thing in their family?”

“I don’t know. I found the sulfur powder in a very secret box. If it weren’t for a subordinate of mine who is an expert in mechanisms, I’m afraid I would miss it.”

Long pondered.

Hu did not speak anything when Long was thinking.

A moment later, Long said, “What’s your opinion?”

After thinking for a moment, Hu said, “Your Majesty, I doubt that the master of Liu family was hinting at something.”

Long was confused. “What do you mean?”

“Your Majesty, I didn’t find anything unusual in that mansion, but this sulfur powder was hidden so secretly. What’s more…”

An hour later, Hu left the imperial study and Long was still thinking.

Long was oblivious of the passing of time, until Shi’s voice rang in his ears.

“What are you thinking?”

Long suddenly came back to earth. “Qingzhou? When did you come?”

Shi said, “It’s been a while.”

Long pursed his lips. “Qingzhou, Hu Qingyuan found something in Liu’s mansion…”

Long told Shi those clues without any subjective conjecture. Then, he looked at Shi.

After thinking for a moment, Shi said slowly, “So, Minister Hu suspected that someone in Liu family deliberately put the sulfur powder in a secret place in order to give us a hint when we found it?”

“That’s what Hu Qingyuan said,” Long said.

“What do you think?” Shi asked.

Long carefully touched the sulfur powder with his fingers and said, “Plus what was written on the bamboo slip… I’m afraid Eastern Darkness must be after something big. Don’t you think so?”

Shi fell silent. Long continued, “According to the information on the bamboo slip, private soldiers are being trained all over the country of Eastern Darkness, while the real owner of those soldiers is the imperial court. When their imperial court decides to attack our country, those soldiers will become official troops.”

Shi slowly walked to the back of Long. “Mhmm… However, according to that information, they don’t have a large number of private soldiers by now. It is impossible that they will play a crucial role in the battles.”

“That’s because Tianji Sect hasn’t got all the information. Perhaps some of them are extremely powerful,” Long said.

“It is possible, but… After all, Eastern Darkness is far away from us. It’s difficult for us to destroy those private armies. If we ask some sects for help… maybe we can annihilate them one by one.”

“Qingzhou, do you want to do this?” Long took Shi’s hand and pulled him to the front.

Shi slowly shook his head. “This is just one possible way, but we’ll pay a heavy price for this and it’s hard to find powerful martial artists.”

“Yes, it’s hard to find enough experts. The Shadow Guardians can undertake this task, but they are not enough.”

After a pause, Shi said, “We can hire some.”

“Like what we do with Tianji Sect?” Long slowly shook his head. “Many people in the martial arts world are powerful, but they are not loyal. Even if we pay them, they may still betray us. No way.”

“Betray us?” Shi frowned. “If we ask them to fight against someone in our nation, maybe they’ll betray us, but I don’t think they’ll betray our nation.”

Long still shook his head. “Qingzhou, those people are like sharp blades. If we’re careless, we will hurt ourselves. So don’t ask them for help unless we have to.”

Shi frowned. “Then… since we know that Eastern Darkness is ready for war, we have to prepare for it.”

Long nodded. “Yes, we need to prepare for war. However, during this period of time… we need to speed up the process of causing trouble for them. Rumors have been spread in their country and what we need to do now… is waiting them to take effect. It’s a pity that we can’t go there in person.”

Shi’s eyes widened. “You want to go there in person?”

Long smiled bitterly. “It’s not that I want to go there, but that there’s no one I can trust…”

Just then, the eunuch outside said that Fang Shuoyang was asking for an audience.

Long was slightly stunned.

Shi narrowed his eyes.

“Fang Shuoyang? Is Mr. Xu with him?”

“Your Majesty, Mr. Xu is not here.”

Shi looked at Long and found Long’s eyes brightened. “Qingzhou… I think I know why Fang Shuoyang came here…”

Shi was stunned. “What?”

Long smiled. “After Xu You told him everything… he must have made a decision.”

Those words shocked Shi.

Long waved. “Let him in.”

“Yes!” Fang came in and knelt down to greet the emperor.

Long said at once, “Don’t do this, Mr. Fang, please get up.”

Fang stood up. He didn’t look very good and his face was a little pale, but his eyes were filled with determination, as if he had made a decision…

Looking at the resolute young man, Long said slowly, “Why did you come here?”