Chapter 139: Old Luo, Do You Want a Wife?

Outside the side gate of the Fragrance-傾 Fragrance Palace, three hundred of Wang Cheng's core personal troops were hauling away large quantities of valuables, every single one of them beaming with joy.

They had nearly emptied one of the large storehouses. The goods were worth close to one hundred thousand taels, enough to purchase more than thirty county-level talents like Zhang Wu of the "Ill-Fated Grinding Stone."

The agreed-upon monthly interest rate was twenty percent.

Waiting outside the gate without going in, Wang Cheng was also beaming.

"My esteemed eldest brother is quite generous. It seems he has truly embezzled quite a bit over the years."

Using fixed deposits for "financing," then "lending" the money out, spending Mao Haifeng's money to buy off his men while building up his own prestige—Mao Haifeng probably thought he was a fool, killing several birds with one stone.

This empty-glove-white-wolf trick was played with exceptional flair.

Both the "Golden Evil Lord" and the "Silver Benevolent Servant" were anchored to legends beyond the Divine Land, making it difficult for local Registrars of Merit and Physiognomists to appraise them.

Ordinary officials were even less likely to spot anything wrong with these contaminated riches.

As for whether Mao Haifeng would secretly confiscate the money in the end, that was not something Wang Cheng cared about; he didn't need to track the fund flows of his loan clients. Anyway, no one could owe him money and get away with it.

Relying on this trick, given sufficient time, he could silently prune the large and small wings of the Black Peak Banner, eventually plucking Mao Haifeng until he was a bald chicken, unable to fly ever again.

"Divine-path officials walk the path of gathering the masses.

Especially the promotion rituals of the 'White-Water Lad' and the 'Registrar of Merit,' 'All Rivers Flow to the Sea,' both rely on power and wealth to uplift the Daoist path. If one falls from grace overnight, their cultivation might plummet on the spot.

Even Upper-Third-Grade 'Living Ghosts and Gods' might not be able to withstand a coordinated siege by Middle-Third-Graders.

The longer this drags on, the more live up to its name the Battle of Incense Temple I have reserved for you will be.

Regardless of who is orthodox and who is a rebel, at least the proportion of rebels in your ranks definitely won't be low."

Wang Cheng was just about to summon his personal troops to head for the water寨 military camp garrisoned by the Black Peak Banner.

Suddenly, he saw the corner gate on the other side of the Fragrance Palace's courtyard open, and a team of people carrying a sedan chair walked out.

The "Eye in the Mind" pierced through the sedan curtain fluttering in the wind, seeing a peerless beauty sitting inside and hearing a maidservant call her "Mistress."

"Eh? This is..."

This was the first time Wang Cheng had ever laid eyes on his nominal eldest sister-in-law.

Clad in a kingfisher-green ru skirt, she was stunning beyond compare, truly deserving of a man hiding a beauty in a golden house.

Of course, no matter how pretty she was, it had nothing to do with Wang Cheng.

The crucial issue was that this eldest sister-in-law looked identical to Wang Cuiqiao, the wife of Luo Wenlong, the chief envoy of the diplomatic mission!

During this period, his physical avatar "Wang Fugui" could see flocks of beauties drawn in paintings surrounding Luo Wenlong every day, all modeled after the exact same woman.

The only differences were their attire and expressions.

Everyone on the ship thought this chief envoy was consumed by a deep obsession, fallen gravely and hopelessly ill with lovesickness.

Therefore, Wang Cheng could not possibly be mistaken.

"This is no coincidence; my eldest sister-in-law is none other than Wang Cuiqiao, the missing wife of Luo Wenlong, Xu Hai, and the nameless wealthy merchant—the famous courtesan of Qinhuai!

No wonder she vanished after the great battle between the Five Peak Banner and Xu Hai; she was secretly hidden away by Mao Haifeng all along.

Only he has the clout and the motive to hide such a great beauty without letting anyone else discover her."

At the same time, in a fleeting glance, "The Rarity is Worthy of Hoarding" had already taken in all the information about her.

Especially the astonishing effect of her "Official Star Peach Blossom Grid."

"Middle-Third-Grade official rank elevated by half a grade!"

Cold sweat instantly drenched Wang Cheng's back.

Mao Haifeng had misjudged his official rank, but hadn't he also misjudged Mao Haifeng?

When engaging in a direct face-to-face showdown at the critical moment,

he would suddenly jump from the seventh rank to the sixth rank, while Mao Haifeng on the opposite side—already at the peak of the fourth rank—would advance yet another step. Which one was more fatal?

It went completely without saying.

Wang Cheng finally understood why this Qinhuai courtesan, married four times in her lifetime, was held in the palms of every man's hands.

"When time comes, heaven and earth lend their strength together; when fortune departs, heroes are not free.

Before one's own fortune and solid official rank, what did marrying a low-born courtesan matter?

Even after coming out of a pleasure house and having already been married four times, for certain special groups, this might even be a plus.

If I hadn't come to borrow money today, I probably never would have known that my good eldest brother was hiding such a trump card.

No! This sister-in-law cannot be allowed to live."

Wang Cheng realized that the money he had scammed was still not enough, and the speed at which he was pruning Mao Haifeng's wings was not fast enough.

In just an instant, he made up his mind.

The number one undercover agent of the Five Peak Banner came online right on the spot!

"I want to report a crime!"

On the other side, in the mission fleet still drifting on the sea, the physical avatar "Wang Fugui," sitting on the edge of the deck fishing as usual, abruptly raised his head and looked toward Luo Wenlong's room on the aftcastle.

The diplomatic mission, consisting of a flagship five-masted sealed boat and more than ten giant vessels of over five-hundred-liao battle-seat ships, had not rashly headed to the Nine Domains Island, which was mostly occupied by the Eastern Sea Kingdom.

Instead, they went to the Four Domains Island, separated by a narrow strait—the Bungo Channel. This large island was named because it consisted of four domains: Awa, Sanuki, Iyo, and Tosa.

Sitting beside Wang Cheng was another fishing companion, the chief captain of the mission's large ship sent by the Regional Defense Commander, a fifth-rank water-squad official, "Tower-Ship General" Li Jingjiang.

"Hundred-Householder Wang, let me give you a hint. This barbarian land outside the sphere of civilization is completely different from our Divine Land.

The one who truly holds power is not the lord, but the Seii Taishogun of the shogunate.

Actually, I can't figure out how they themselves are already remote barbarians deep in the vast ocean, yet they still look for even wilder barbarians to conquer.

Over the years, when I followed Regional Defense Commander Yu on campaigns east and west, I came into contact with quite a few wokou.

I know Yingzhou is currently under the Muromachi Shogunate—you can also understand it as the Muromachi Dynasty. In terms of administration, everything is managed by the generals of the Ashikaga clan.

Beneath them, 'kanrei' are appointed to assist the general, usually held in rotation by the three clans of the Ashikaga family: Shiba, Hosokawa, and Hatakeyama, known as the 'Three Kanreis'."

"However, just like the late period of our Divine Land's dynasties, this system has long been powerless to restrain the whole country.

Nowadays, across these four islands of Yingzhou, it is the world of various daimyo. Not only does the Japanese king have no power, but nobody even gives a damn about the Shogunate's Seii Taishogun; he is merely a withered bone in a tomb.

In the second year of Shaozhi, the Hosokawa clan of the Three Kanreis family and the Ouchi clan fought over tribute, killing and injuring many of our Great Zhao soldiers and civilians. His Majesty ordered the tally trade with Japan to be cut off, which led to rampant smuggling.

Without the War of Tribute Contention, there would have been no rise of the Five Peak Banner and the Pacifying the Seas King.

Although we are a diplomatic mission sent by the Great Zhao court, seeking out those puppet kings and generals is just asking for humiliation. To get things done, we still have to rely on ourselves..."

Ever since they encountered the Yunmeng Ghost Master earlier, Li Jingjiang, as the chief captain of the mission's fleet, had moved to the five-masted sealed boat to closely protect chief envoy Luo Wenlong.

This man was passionately fond of fishing, yet he was terribly unskilled while hopelessly addicted, returning empty-handed eight times out of ten.

After witnessing Wang Cheng's miraculous fishing skills, he insisted on dragging this fishing master along to accompany him.

Oddly enough, ever since he started fishing with Wang Cheng, fish frequently took his bait, allowing him to wash away his past shame and rave about how exhilarating it was.

Naturally, through this back-and-forth, his impression of Wang Cheng, a mission intelligence officer, was exceptionally favorable.

Little did he know that ever since he began mingling in official circles, Wang Cheng had honed the art of "catering to one's preferences" to absolute perfection.

It wasn't quite to the extent of diving underwater himself to hook fish onto his superior's line.

He merely used the art of "gathering beasts and taming birds, transforming all kinds" to drive fish to take the bait on Li Jingjiang's hook voluntarily.

Relying on this trick, he immediately became a lucky star in the other man's eyes, treated with special regard.

In fact, apart from Vice-Envoy Jiang and the pure-stream faction whose interests were irreconcilable, most people in the mission had a very good impression of Wang Cheng.

After all, this pugilistic world was not about fighting and killing; it was about human relations and sophistication.

Li Jingjiang very enthusiastically imparted his experience to Wang Cheng so he could avoid some unnecessary trouble.

"Therefore, the shogunate cannot be relied upon. This time, Chief Envoy Luo directly reached out to Tosa Domain, which had earlier trade connections. The daimyo seems to be called Chosokabe Motochika.

From him, we borrowed Shimizu Port, a harbor at the southern tip of the Four Domains Island. The advance guard I dispatched last night has already arrived ahead of time.

When the time comes, we will first go ashore to rest and reorganize for a day before contacting those Five...

Eh? What is it?"

Sitting side by side at the edge of the boat, Wang Cheng simply raised his head, and the highly vigilant Li Jingjiang immediately sensed an anomaly.

Holding the trump card of being the "Number One Undercover Agent of the Five Peak Banner," Wang Cheng naturally had a reason ready if he wanted to leak information.

"Lord Li, it's news sent back by my 'Dharma-Protecting Spirit General.'

When we approached Yingzhou, I sent them ahead to the Eastern Sea Kingdom on Nine Domains Island.

I just discovered an important piece of intelligence and must hurry to request an audience with Chief Envoy Luo."

Although Li Jingjiang found it strange that urgent intelligence couldn't be shared with him, the chief envoy held the highest authority in the mission, so he didn't inquire further and waved his hand to let him pass.

Inside the cabin, ever since his previous failure to contend for the immortality medicine "Liver Flower," Luo Wenlong's complexion had remained somewhat gloomy.

Holding a talismanic magical treasure, the "Divine Brush," he sketched the looks and expressions of his beloved wife Wang Cuiqiao on Xuan paper, infusing this emotion into his work. The beauty in the painting accidentally matched Wang Cuiqiao's true state of mind at that moment.

Luo Wenlong gazed at the stunning beloved wife in the painting, his expression gradually dazed as he muttered to himself:

"Fame, fortune, and power are good, but if there is a day when I can see Qiao'er again, what would be regrettable even if I were a confidant of a Grand Secretary, favored by the Emperor, possessed the elixir of immortality, or held this vast family fortune?

Fame, fortune, and status are all like floating clouds to me! I am willing to give them all up in exchange for my wife!

Qiao'er, where on earth have you gone?"

Luo Wenlong was clearly at a much higher realm than his "brother-in-law" Mao Haifeng.

The latter wanted everything and was reluctant to give up a single thing, while the former was willing to sacrifice everything to achieve his goal!

And right at this moment, a voice suddenly came from outside the window:

"Lord Luo, is that true?"