Chapter 379: It Could Only Have Been Robbery

Shao Dengyun turned his head and watched Zhong Yangxu leave. Then he looked back at his son lying on the couch. Faced with this son, he truly did not know what to say.

There was one thing, however, that he could not deny. This son's abilities far exceeded his own. Looking at Beizhou's current momentum of development, Shao Dengyun knew that if he were the one in charge, he would never have been capable of achieving it. He said nothing more and turned to leave. Shao Sansheng hurried after him to see him out.

Shao Liuer, standing beside the couch, did not move. Looking at the elder brother who inspired such tangled love and hatred in her, now reduced to this state, filled her heart with a hundred different emotions.

She knew how this elder brother had protected her when they were young. But she had also witnessed with her own eyes how heartlessly he had hurt her. These days, she rarely saw him. Whenever she did, he reminded her of Tan Yaoxian.

At this moment, she thought of Tan Yaoxian again. Her gaze grew somewhat lost. She did not know where he had fled, where he was now, or whether he was living well.

"Safe journey, Master," Shao Sansheng said outside, cupping his hands in farewell.

Without turning around, Shao Dengyun said mildly, "Come with me for a moment."

"Yes!" Shao Sansheng answered and followed.

When they reached an open, secluded place, Shao Dengyun stopped and turned. He stared at Shao Sansheng in a way that made the older servant uncomfortable from head to toe.

"Speak. What exactly happened?" Shao Dengyun asked.

Shao Sansheng froze, then pretended ignorance. "What does Master mean?"

Shao Dengyun said, "In front of Zhong Yangxu just now, you weren't telling the truth."

Shao Sansheng hurriedly replied, "Every word this old servant said was true."

Shao Dengyun leaned forward until his face was almost pressed against Shao Sansheng's. "Do you really think I've retired to spend my days growing old? The news from Qingshan Commandery didn't arrive today."

Shao Sansheng's heart tightened. He understood what Shao Dengyun meant. If Eldest Young Master had merely been jealous of what happened in Qingshan Commandery, he would not only have collapsed in anger today.

He hurriedly changed his story. "Master, it was this old servant's negligence. I only reported the news to Eldest Young Master today."

Shao Dengyun said slowly, "I'm not dead yet!"

Shao Sansheng's expression changed drastically. With a thud, he dropped to his knees. "Master, please quell your anger. Eldest Young Master forbade this matter from being leaked. Otherwise, Dachan Mountain may become displeased."

Shao Dengyun reached out and hauled him upright with one hand, fully displaying the strength of a military man. "I didn't expose you in front of Zhong Yangxu. Do you still not understand? Speak!"

"The batch of warhorses in Qingshan Commandery may have been robbed from our Beizhou warhorses..." Shao Sansheng was helpless, but there was nothing else he could do. He could only honestly explain the general situation.

After hearing everything, Shao Dengyun clasped his hands behind his back and looked up at the sky. Slowly, he breathed out.

This son of his truly was remarkable. He had never imagined the boy had made such an enormous move in secret and almost succeeded. Unfortunately, he had encountered an opponent and fallen short at the final step.

"Niu Youdao again. Heh. And the horses fell into the hands of Prince Ning's son. Heh. Retribution... truly retribution..."

Shao Dengyun gave a bitter laugh and slowly turned away. It was because Prince Ning had raised him up with one hand that he possessed today's wealth and status. Breaking the oath he had once sworn to Prince Ning and betraying the State of Yan had always weighed heavily on his heart. Unlike his son, he could not summon the slightest hatred toward what Qingshan Commandery had done.

At Among the White Clouds, Su Zhao and Qin Mian sat facing each other in Su Zhao's private bedchamber, neither speaking.

Ever since Qin Mian entered, she had simply stared at Su Zhao in silence, and her complexion was not good.

"What's wrong with you?" Su Zhao finally broke the silence. "Did something happen?"

Qin Mian's face was bitter. "Proprietress, the thirty thousand warhorses being sent to Beizhou were robbed by Niu Youdao!"

Su Zhao jolted in shock. Her voice sank. "What happened? Weren't the warhorses already transported over to the State of Han? Didn't Shao Pingbo say he would handle everything from there?"

Qin Mian shook her head weakly.

Su Zhao clenched her teeth. "Where were they robbed? Thirty thousand warhorses can't be moved away all at once. They can't travel fast. There should still be time to intercept them!"

Qin Mian smiled bitterly. "They've already reached Qingshan Commandery. They're already in Shang Chaozong's hands."

Su Zhao stared in disbelief. "That's impossible! Thirty thousand warhorses couldn't move that quickly by land or by sea."

Qin Mian said, "Proprietress, it isn't what you're thinking. Judging by the timing, the problem probably didn't occur over in the State of Han. We most likely lost them here in the State of Qi. Niu Youdao returned to Qingshan Commandery together with the warhorses."

Su Zhao's face was full of disbelief. "Our warhorses had already been gone for quite some time before Niu Youdao disappeared from the capital. How could he possibly have gone to Qingshan Commandery together with them?"

Qin Mian shook her head helplessly, her expression even carrying grief and indignation. "That Niu bandit is too treacherous. Staying in the Qi capital must have been a smokescreen. It must have been to attract everyone's attention while he secretly sent people to act. He got Linghu Qiu thrown into prison, spread rumors that he himself had been arrested too, and deliberately made a feint in one direction while striking in another. He lingered in the capital until our warhorses had already been shipped away before he finally left. He must also have done that deliberately to lower our guard, to make us confidently believe the warhorses were already gone and that the matter could no longer have anything to do with him. Only then could he strike. He hid the truth beneath everyone's eyes! It was a trap he designed with painstaking care! We were still here fighting him back and forth, never realizing he had fooled every last one of us! The methods of this thief are so brilliant it's infuriating!"

Su Zhao still refused to believe it. "How is that possible? Every ship had people from Xianyin Mountain aboard, as well as our own people. More than a thousand cultivators! How could he silently seize all the warhorses? How many people would he have needed? At the very least, both sides should have fought until the fish died and the net tore, with the ships sinking into the sea. There is no way he should have been able to bring that many horses back!"

Qin Mian said, "Proprietress, there can be no mistake. I only learned of it after receiving word from above just now. Among the fleet we so carefully assembled were vessels belonging to our own organization. Not long after the fleet left this side, it had already changed course toward Qingshan Commandery."

"The higher-ups have now explicitly identified Xianyin Mountain as the party that tampered with the operation. They've ordered us to investigate exactly what happened with Xianyin Mountain, and to investigate whether there's a problem with the buffer around the Prince of the Western Court, whether it might expose us. With the higher-ups spelling it out this clearly, how could there still be any mistake?"

Su Zhao staggered backward. Her face looked terrible. She struck a chair and slowly sat down. At that moment, her face and heart alike were filled with a crushing sense of defeat, a frustration almost impossible to describe. Never in her life had she lost this badly.

She had wanted Niu Youdao dead and failed to kill him. Then the organization itself had acted against him, yet he still escaped. Everyone throughout the organization had been led around by the nose as Niu Youdao toyed with them.

Letting him escape would have been one thing. But he had also robbed them of the warhorses they had spent several years painstakingly arranging. She had once wanted to stop Niu Youdao from obtaining warhorses.

Now who had stopped whom?

Once again, she deeply understood Shao Pingbo's warning that she was no match for Niu Youdao. At first, she had refused to accept it in her heart.

Now she was utterly convinced.

"Are we really going to let him act this arrogantly?" Su Zhao suddenly raised her head and demanded.

"The organization has suffered such a huge loss. How could it possibly let matters rest? You and I no longer need to concern ourselves with that. The organization will definitely settle this account with him!" Qin Mian said through clenched teeth.

She knew somewhat more than Su Zhao did. It was not merely this incident. It was not merely that Linghu Qiu had been rendered useless. Even Wei Chu, such an important chess piece, had been destroyed because of Niu Youdao. How could the higher-ups possibly let that account go unsettled? Yet after her anger, Su Zhao became deeply worried again. What was she supposed to do about Shao Pingbo? How could she explain this to him?

Because of what had happened with An Taiping, she already felt somewhat guilty toward Shao Pingbo. She had wanted to do everything in her power to handle this matter properly for him. She understood perfectly well how important these warhorses were to Shao Pingbo.

This was no longer merely a question of horses. Their loss had delayed the golden opportunity Shao Pingbo had fought to secure for Beizhou. If they had to organize another shipment of warhorses from scratch, who knew what year or month they would finally arrive? What were they supposed to do now?

Within the imperial palace.

Hao Yuntu had just finished his meal at the table. He accepted the water handed over by a serving eunuch, rinsed his mouth, turned his head and spat into the basin held out for him, then took a towel and wiped his lips. Tossing the towel back, he rose and left the table. As he stepped through the doorway, he encountered Bu Xun coming up the stairs.

Bu Xun immediately moved to one side. Only after Hao Yuntu had descended did he fall in beside him.

Once they were down the steps, Bu Xun reported, "Your Majesty, Niu Youdao has already returned to Qingshan Commandery. He also brought back nearly thirty thousand warhorses!"

Hao Yuntu stopped and looked back. "Thirty thousand warhorses?"

Bu Xun said, "Yes. News from Qingshan Commandery says all thirty thousand were taken out of the State of Qi under a plan devised entirely by Tianyu Sect. Niu Youdao was merely an errand runner."

Hao Yuntu said, "I don't care who devised the plan. The token I gave him covered only ten thousand horses! What happened? So many horses left the country in one stroke, yet your Office of Investigation knew nothing at all and is only reacting now?"

Bu Xun replied respectfully, "It may have been a failure on the part of the Office of Investigation. This old servant has already ordered a thorough inquiry."

"But there is another possibility. As matters stand, no shipment of warhorses on this scale left the country during this period. If there was one, the only possibility is the batch smuggled out toward Beizhou."

"The strange thing is that whether we compare the timing or the number of horses, the batch that reached Qingshan Commandery roughly matches the one meant for Beizhou. I'm afraid that may not be a coincidence."

Hao Yuntu folded both hands over his abdomen. His gaze flickered. "You're saying Qingshan Commandery robbed Beizhou's warhorses?"

From his position, looking at the larger picture, he naturally would not describe the affair as Niu Youdao robbing Shao Pingbo's horses.

Bu Xun said, "If those truly are the same warhorses, Beizhou's circumstances make it impossible that they gave them to Qingshan Commandery or sold them to Qingshan Commandery. It could only have been robbery."

"Whether they are the same batch will become clear with time. If no large shipment of warhorses appears in Beizhou later, then Qingshan Commandery must have been the one that struck from the shadows."

"Heh!" Hao Yuntu shook his head repeatedly. "If that's really the case, Beizhou is in danger. Qingshan Commandery is forcing Beizhou toward death! How are the negotiations between the State of Han and the State of Yan over jointly attacking Beizhou going?"

Bu Xun replied, "Our agents report that no agreement has been reached yet. The main reason is that the State of Han regards Beizhou as territory that already belongs to it and therefore wants the larger share, while the State of Yan regards Beizhou as originally belonging to the State of Yan. The two sides are still arguing over how the territory will be divided after Beizhou falls."

"Either side fears the consequences of acting alone. And Beizhou isn't helpless. It seems to be secretly interfering with the negotiations, spreading rumors inside both states and creating resistance. The courts of the State of Han and the State of Yan have now both been pushed into positions where neither can afford to yield. Whichever side yields will be branded a traitor selling out the country and will be unable to answer domestically. So the two states are unlikely to reach an agreement anytime soon."

Hao Yuntu gave two cold chuckles. "That son of Shao Dengyun truly is no simple man."

[End of Chapter 379]