Chapter 166: Boiling Fury

In the evening, Yuan Zhao stood by the window, quietly gazing at the bustling Anyang outside. The lights outside An Yang had not gone out all night, seemingly competing with the stars in the sky for brilliance.
Here, Yuan Zhao did not feel the desolation of the post-war period; instead, there was an indescribable sense of vibrant, upward momentum.

The next day, Xia Qingqing met with Crown Prince Xia Shu. However, Xia Qingqing only made a brief appearance before quickly leaving. Xia Shu was not like Xia Xu; Xia Qingqing and Xia Xu were the children of the Empress, while Xia Shu was born of a “beauty,” giving him a naturally lower status.

After Xia Qingqing left, Li Xian officially made his appearance.

Upon meeting Li Xian, the Crown Prince’s anger erupted. “Li Xian, what do you have to say about the letter from last time!”

Yuan Zhao sighed faintly behind them. This was not a question the Crown Prince should have asked; what he should have done was greet them with a smile that hid a dagger.

But Li Xian, his face serious, spoke up, “Your Highness, I read the letter, and somehow the content is different from what I originally wrote! I checked how the letter was folded, the sealing method, and even the paper, but nothing had changed. However, the content of the letter had been partially altered.”

The Crown Prince’s eyes instantly turned cold! He slightly turned his head, glancing at Yuan Zhao.

Yuan Zhao’s heart skipped a beat. How could this be?

Li Xian, watching the performance between the two, inwardly sneered, not believing that they hadn’t tampered with the letter. That letter was meant to be opened by you!
Beside them, Xu Ren nodded slightly. The young master’s words were spot on.

Yuan Zhao suddenly stepped forward. “Xian brother, would it be possible to take a look at the letter?”

“Of course. This matter must be investigated to find out who secretly tampered with it!” Li Xian’s words only deepened the Crown Prince’s suspicion.

Soon, the letter was retrieved, and it seemed to have the appearance of having just been opened.

The Crown Prince carefully examined the envelope, which was fine, but the letter itself had a problem. In fact, no one had actually seen the contents of the letter before.

Yuan Zhao, puzzled, took the letter to inspect it. Just as the envelope and paper landed in Yuan Zhao’s hands, they suddenly turned to ashes!
Yuan Zhao froze for a moment, but being unlike the Crown Prince, he casually clapped his hands. “Xian brother, you’re really bored. Is making a fake letter that interesting?”

“Heh heh…” Li Xian chuckled heartily without explaining. “Your Highness, please take a seat. To entertain Your Highness, I specially bought a lot of seafood from the Sea Clan. I hope Your Highness won’t find it lacking.”

The Crown Prince, still confused and frustrated, had no idea whom to trust. Did Li Xian tamper with the letter, or was it the Yuan family’s doing?
If it was the Yuan family, that didn’t add up, because Yuan Yong had said that the letter shouldn’t be sent, and it would be best if it got lost. For the first time, the Crown Prince was anxious about his own intelligence.

Dazed, he sat down and was soon distracted by the fresh seafood. The Crown Prince was used to luxury, but how many people could taste seafood like this?

The desire for food intoxicated him, and as the wine flowed and more seafood arrived, the increasingly frustrated Crown Prince became intoxicated. He lost track of how much he had eaten and drunk, and only when he couldn’t eat or drink anymore was he carried back by the guards.

That afternoon, Yuan Zhao led his people to stroll around both inside and outside Anyyang City. Anyang’s development model made Yuan Zhao feel a sense of crisis. Perhaps it was due to insufficient exposure, but Yuan Zhao could feel an unprecedented societal trend, something seemed to be germinating, though he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

In the evening, Yuan Zhao saw school buses, large vehicles carefully delivering children home. He also saw the textile factory finishing its workday, with countless female workers laughing and dispersing.

At that moment, Yuan Zhao saw a happy and positive Anyyang.

Just then, a conversation caught Yuan Zhao’s attention. As he listened, his expression changed dramatically! It turned out that these people were the ones who had been recently relocated from Lüliang County, and Anyyang had fully delivered on the promised treatment, which made them very happy.

Watching them walk further away, Yuan Zhao suddenly sighed. “Xian brother, what a clever move! While making a big show of entertaining the Crown Prince here, they’re quietly emptying out Lüliang County. Heh, I wonder how many people are still left in Lüliang County now?”

After returning to his residence, Yuan Zhao hesitated for a moment, but in the end, he still did not tell the Crown Prince about these matters. Instead, he sent someone to urgently deliver a letter south. However, what Yuan Zhao did not know was that the guard who had just left Anyang was thrown into the sea.

The next day, on the eleventh day since the Crown Prince and his entourage arrived in Anyang, Li Xian had a new trick up his sleeve—he invited the Crown Prince and Yuan Zhao to watch a cannon demonstration! Li Xian had already decided to start the arms trade, and since cannon technology was easy to replicate, he no longer kept it a secret. However, the topic of firearms was never mentioned.

It goes without saying that after personally operating the cannons, both the Crown Prince and Yuan Zhao were stunned by the power of this weapon of war. The two finally understood why Anyang was able to quickly suppress the rebellion in Zhongshan County.

On the twelfth day, Li Xian took everyone to visit the motor vehicle—only the warehouse section. This was their first close look at the “battlefield motor vehicle” that had already gained fame throughout the Great Xia Empire, and they couldn’t help but marvel. Despite having an engine, the motor vehicle was still not being produced in the outside world. The reasons were many: insufficient basic technology, high costs, and issues with the spirit formation arrays.

On the thirteenth day, Li Xian began negotiations with the Crown Prince and Yuan Zhao. “The cannons are good, aren’t they? But if you pair them with motor vehicles, that’s a perfect match. Would you like them? Then let’s talk business.”

The negotiation lasted two days. Yuan Zhao purchased five motor vehicles, and the Crown Prince purchased ten, along with corresponding cannons and ammunition. The price? One motor vehicle + one cannon (105mm) + 20 shells, for 500 liang of gold, no bargaining.

By this point, the Crown Prince had stayed in Anyang for 15 days.

After the negotiations were concluded, during the fifteenth night’s banquet, Yuan Zhao asked Li Xian, “Brother Xian, I heard you also have ironclad warships?”

Li Xian smiled faintly. “The ironclad warships are expensive. There are only three in Anyang at the moment. If you want to buy one, it’s 5 million liang of gold. If you want after-sales service, naval training, and other related services, it’s 8 million liang of gold.”

Yuan Zhao was dumbfounded. “Brother Xian, this price is too outrageous, isn’t it?”

Li Xian smiled faintly and didn’t explain further. “5 million liang of gold is actually a bargain. Do you know how the Sea Tribe bought theirs? They paid directly with spirit stones!”

The price of 5 million liang of gold left the Crown Prince and Yuan Zhao too scared to speak. On the sixteenth day, the Crown Prince finally… did not depart. Because the motor vehicles, including the Crown Prince’s caravan, needed someone to operate them, Anyang had to urgently train drivers for the Crown Prince and Yuan Zhao. This delay added another three days.

By the time the Crown Prince officially began his journey south, he had already stayed in Anyang for a full 19 days! The RV moved slowly, and since the Crown Prince still wanted to assert his authority, they made a leisurely journey south.

When the Crown Prince reached Luliang County, it was already the twenty-first day.

But once they left the borders of Anyang and entered Luliang County, the surroundings grew eerily quiet—there wasn’t a single person in sight along the way.

“This isn’t right!” The Crown Prince instinctively felt something was off.

Yuan Zhao remained silent.

Yue Qingfeng said, “Your Highness, if you go ten more miles forward, you’ll reach Qingniu Town, a very prosperous town in the northern part of Luliang County. Perhaps everyone has gone there.”

However, when they arrived at Qingniu Town, the Crown Prince was utterly dumbfounded! The entire town was empty, with only about three to five hundred households and more than three thousand people remaining.

After questioning several of the townsfolk, the Crown Prince’s face turned pale, and then darkened with anger!

With a swift motion, he drew his treasured sword and let out a long howl into the sky, “Li Xian, I will not rest until I have my revenge on you!”

This was the second time—Li Xian had deceived him for the second time! How much could one endure? This was no longer tolerable!

Previous chapter | TOC | Next chapter