Chapter 236 “The weasel makes a visit”
By the time Alpha made his way back to Anglia City alone, the battlefield was already swept clean of the dead with only several vultures circling above the sky. Nevertheless, a strong scent still permeated the air due to the deep saturation of blood in the soil.
As he drew closer to the city, the first thing Alpha saw wasn’t Du Wei’s welcoming presence, it was something else entirely unexpected.
From the site where the native army made their camp, hundreds of cross shaped wooden posts were erected into the ground with a captive tightly bound to each one.
Out of curiosity, Alpha decided to take a closer look, but when he did, the scene caused him to skip a beat!
Stripped of their clothes, every single one of these prisoners was drenched in blood while their palms were nailed against the cross shaped posts behind them with wooden stakes!
Though a majority of these people were still alive, many had already passed away due to the searing sun above their heads – this is the main reason why there are so many vultures in the sky.
And sitting nearby is Du Wei and his 10 guards, each with a face full of murderous intent.
“My Lord, this is the last batch.” One of the Tulip knight whispered these words from the back.
“Good, load the carts.” Du Wei nodded: “Remember to give them some food along the way so they don’t fall dead, understand?”
Bowing in acknowledgement, this cavalry knight then moved away to carry out his orders.
After closing in on horseback, Alpha first dismounted before coming up to Du Wei.
“You are finally back.” With eyes full of warmth, Du Wei gave a welcoming smile towards this uncle Alpha: “I thought you had left me.”
Alpha was silent for a moment before shaking his head: “Young master, since I promised Mr. Raymond, I will not leave your side until the day of my death.”
Du Wei may be smiling at the reply, but it was obvious his smile carried no happiness in there. Walking up to Alpha, he then looked over the loyal retainer of the Rowling Family and noticed how exhausted Alpha was: “Let’s talk inside. I think your disappearance these past few days must have some special reasons behind it, right?”
Nodding, Alpha then suddenly looked over to the prisoners: “They…..”
“It was I who ordered them to do this.” Du Wei softly uttered these words: “Since these animals invaded our home, I don’t intend to keep them alive to waste our food. I had them pinned to these posts so the patrolling soldiers can take them along to the villages scattered across the province. This way, we can send a clear message to everyone what the consequences are when they harm our people!”
Indeed, this idea is a good method to win the hearts of the citizen and build up prestige.
Sighing inside, Alpha somehow found his heart getting mixed feelings over the change in Du Wei. Unlike the young master that would hide away in the library, this young man before him was getting colder and colder with each passing day.
And now the lives of thousands of prisoners were decided by him on a whim.
Then again, Alpha isn’t the type to show mercy to his enemies anyway. After a few glances at the group of dying men, his eyes quickly returned to normal: “Young master, I was pursuing that Gold Wolf Head.”
“Oh?” Du Wei eyes lit up. After sweeping clean of the 20,000 soldiers, this battle could be called the first big victory in the Northwest after 20 years. The only pity in it was the escape of that Gold Wolf Head: “You chased……”
Du Wei was just about to ask if he managed to catch the guy, but looking at how empty handed Alpha was, he quickly changed his words: “It must have been hard on you, let’s go back to the city first.”
Alpha shakes his head: “I can’t claim it was difficult. I did manage to catch up to the target, but the chance to take the target’s head never presented itself. However, I came across something even more amazing.”
Inside the former governor mansion of Anglia City, Du Wei and many more carefully listened to the entire story from Alpha’s mouth.
When they heard how the Northwest Army intercepted the fleeing Gold Wolf Head, everyone present began to make indignant rants about the whole ordeal.
“What a crafty Northwest Army!”
“How hateful!”
“Despicable!!”
For a short time, the one to yell the loudest was Guptad – also known as mini 250.
Unlike everyone else, Du Wei remained indifferent after hearing the story: “This is not surprising. Switching to me, I would also do the same….. This General Rugaard can be considered responsive if he can move so fast, humph!”
It wouldn’t be much if only a small contingent force was allowed into the empire to search the villages like before because there wouldn’t be any evidence afterwards, but this time is different. Not only did they let a whole army containing tens of thousands of troops into imperial territory, the enemy even besieged a city! This is treason, a crime that warrants death!
Such big news cannot be hidden for long and the central command will definitely get wind of this!
Although the capital’s grasp over the Northwest have been waning these past years, but at the very least the Northwest Army can still be considered honest thus far.
Therefore, this maneuver the Northwest Army made is an obvious danger signal. Though it’s not open rebellion, but it’s just a matter of time now.
Since it’s like this, General Rugaard’s move of taking the enemy general’s head is likely a stall tactic to gain some more time until he is ready to make his move.
Watching his outraged subordinates, Du Wei buoyantly smiled: “Hmm, if my calculations are correct, the ones to take credit for beheading the enemy general should already be on the way to the capital.”
“Take credit?!” This mini 250 suddenly growled aloud in frustration: “They still have the face to take credit? Our brothers wouldn’t have died if not for those bastards, yet they still have the nerve to take credit? Those treasonous bastards should be hanged!”
Du Wei didn’t get angry as he watched Guptad: “They had long betrayed the empire. If we really had the ability to hang them, do you think the military would put up with them for so long?”
“But…… They shouldn’t be able to swing it into a reward, right? No matter what, letting the native army in is treason, a crime that warrants death!” Guptad’s face was pink red with anger.
Du Wei laughs coldly: “And what else can we do? Humph! Don’t you know that Gold Wolf Head is one of the four great generals of the grassland? Let me ask you Guptad, do you remember the last time someone achieved such a feat in the last 20 years?”
“But the enemy was killed by us! The city was defended by us! And even those that died are our people! If anyone is going to take credit for this, it should be us!” Speaking up to here, Guptad added in another sentence: “Also Governor Bohan too because he sent his own troops to help us!”
“So what … … Gold Wolf Head died under the Northwest Army’s hand.” Du Wei sighed again: “Both the central command and the Northwest Army doesn’t want to fight, as such, this gesture of taking credit is just a way for both party to come to an understanding…… Don’t worry, they will only get a few complimenting words and maybe some money as a reward.”
Guptad is after all a ruffian, the only way he can release his frustration right now is to stamp the floor with his feet: “Damn it, I just don’t get it!”
With that, this fierce warrior waltz out of the room to vent his anger.
Looking at Knight Robert, Du Wei said: “Robert, go follow this mini 250, don’t let him do anything rash……”
Smiling at his words, Robert replied: “Commander Guptad may have a bit of temper, but he’s not one to be rash. At most he will just whip some of the prisoners to vent his anger.”
“Then that’s good. If he’s going to whip the prisoners then let him, even better if they die because of it.” Du Wei’s finger began to knock at the table, his lip showing a weird smile: “Oh Rugaard ah Rugaard ah, what exactly is in your mind. You may be able to quell the anger back in the capital, but there is still the prairie king. Even if you can calm that beast, there is still the Shaman King; are you not afraid of the Shaman King’s vengeance? Oh snowy mountain….”
Thinking of this, Du Wei looked at Alpha: “Uncle Alpha, are you really sure that Rugaard’s son was able to use Ice Dou Qi? The Ice Dou Qi of Rodriguez? But from what I heard, Rodriguez is self-taught isn’t he?”
Alpha shakes his head; Rodriguez had always kept a low profile so his origin is not well known.
Du Wei sighed and thought: he can only wait till he meets Rodriguez to get a proper answer.
Back when Hussein returned from the Frozen Forest and brought back the legendary sword “Beauty under the Moonlight”, this saint knight also brought news of how the dragon prince’s intends to come seek revenge and how Rodriguez will swear allegiance to him after being persuaded by someone.
But just who is that mysterious person? To be able to convince a saint knight, that person’s ability must be in a league of his own.
What Du Wei didn’t know yet is that the mysterious person is in fact Mr. Blue Ocean, the famed scholar back in the capital.
Aside from this, he also didn’t know that Mr. Blue Ocean’s real name is in fact Blue Ocean’s Moon, also a disciple of the Snowy Mountain!!
But more importantly, Du Wei is still unaware of the fact that the book he found in the secret tunnel is in fact written by Mr. Blue Ocean’s teacher, also known as Gu Lanxiu the former Shaman King!!!
“I understand then … … To think Rugaard’s son is a master martial artist….. What’s your opinion on this Uncle Alpha, do you think he reached the saint level?”
Alpha shakes his head: “Probably not, but…… Compared to me, I’m afraid I won’t be his opponent. From my initial assessment, I can say he’s at the ninth level while I’m only at the eighth rank.”
“Oooh, what a young genius.” Du Wei smiled oddly: “Our Hus…” At this word, he suddenly coughed once: “The traitor of the temple, Hussein, wasn’t even at the eighth rank when he was that young, and he was said to be the strongest knight on the continent. If Rugaard’s son was so powerful, why didn’t we hear of this before?”
Alpha lowers his head: “It’s my fault young master, I wasn’t thorough enough when gather intel on the Northwest Army.”
Du Wei shook his head in disagreement: “It’s not your fault, maybe it’s because the other party was too low key up till now. If they wanted to hide this fact, it would have been extremely difficult for you to know.”
After staying in Anglia City for the next few days, Du Wei finally got word from his men that the Northwest Army stationed outside Loulan City has finally withdrawn. Like him, Longbottom and Hussein also heard of the big battle in Anglia City, therefore, the two quickly hurried over with their group to meet up with Du Wei.
Everyone was just as angry regarding the backstabbing actions of the Northwest Army, but what else can they do? The other party is simply too strong right now.
Going over the matter with all his men, they decided to have Longbottom and Guptad lead two forces to scour the entire Desa Province for any remnants of the native army.
And in the end, Du Wei made one other strange command.
“Have someone ready a carriage … … I’m heading out. Then send the order down to have a banner made for me! It must be as gorgeous as possible without any room for doubt…… As for the content of the banner, I want a couple of big words on it!”
Alpha wondered: “Young master, what do you want to write and what’s the banner for?”
“Of course as a gift.” Du Wei sneered: “Hero, and a model to follow, the bigger the better!”
Alpha can already vaguely guess his intent by now: “Young master, you…..”
“I want to make a visit to meet the infamous general Rugaard.” Du Wei smirked; “It’s impolite of me to not meet him in person even after spending one year here. Since he’s not willing to come to me, I might as well go to him.”
With that, Du Wei gave no room for Alpha to object and simply waved his hand to send the knight away.
“Du Wei, what are you planning?”
Only Hussein and Du Wei remained in the room.
“I want to see that old bastard.” Du Wei smiled: “We really suffered a heavy blow this time because of that blasted Northwest Army. If we don’t give them some trouble for all this, how am I supposed to keep my head high in this place?”
Hussein frowned: “But you going in person to meet him…. Aren’t you afraid that you will become a sheep in a lion’s mouth?”
Giving a strange smile, Du Wei explained: “Since the Northwest Army took the initiative to kill that Gold Wolf Head, it means Rugaard doesn’t want to rebel yet….. Although the move is very clever, but it also exposed his limit! Instead of harming me, he will even do the opposite and try to protect me at all cost. If I were to get hurt in his place, you can damn well expect his plan to fall apart!”
At this point, Du Wei slowly and casually said his next words: “Thinking about it, another month is about to be here…. If I’m correct, the next Dragon prince should be making his entry in the next few days. Why not let the 200,000 soldiers in the Northwest Army act as my bodyguard?!”
Letting out a sinister laugh, Du Wei looked absolutely evil right now: “Have the men spread the word, say Duke Tulip is making a personal visit to General Rugaard of the Northwest Army. I want to make sure that dragon prince knows I’m there!”