Jiapingguan Chronicle

Chapter 2674 Still Vigorous in Old Age 58.0
After listening to Shen Cha's words, Chu Han poured himself a cup of tea and took a sip.

He didn't actually have much contact with the Japanese. Several of the major cases he had been investigating in recent years were related to the Japanese, so he had dealt with them to some extent, but he didn't know them particularly well. Even so, he knew what their greatest wish was.

The reason why the Japanese pirates were so rampant at sea, fighting to the death, was partly because the island's resources were too scarce. They had to buy many things from outside the island, but the cost of buying them was too high. It was better to do this kind of business with no cost. They could not only use the looted supplies themselves, but also sell them at high prices to their compatriots on the island and make a fortune.

Of course, those with such strength and brains are usually high-ranking officials on the island. Ordinary people can only act as henchmen, risking their lives to serve as tools for the powerful and wealthy just to have a bite to eat or for their families to survive.

If such a person survives, their family can at least have enough to eat; if they don't survive, their family might still be taken care of. Either way, it's better than doing nothing.

On the other hand, the island where they lived was really unsafe. Natural disasters were too frequent. Every now and then, there would be earthquakes and landslides, and there would also be sea disasters from time to time. All year round, the already poor families were made even worse off. In the worst cases, they were left with nothing but broken roofs.

Therefore, they want to find a safe place to live, at least one without so many natural disasters, so they don't have to live in constant fear.

After much deliberation, they chose the inland region, separated only by a narrow strip of water. However, they knew their strength was insufficient to conquer the Great Xia, but they could still covet the Liao and Jin dynasties. Unfortunately, without inside help, they had no way to seize it by force.

“If Little Mudskipper appears in front of them at the right time and negotiates the terms of the deal, asking the Japanese to be his henchmen in exchange for a place to live after the deal is done, the Japanese will definitely agree without hesitation.” Chu Han sneered. “Even if these Japanese know that the process will be long, at least they will have something to look forward to.”

“Grand Uncle is right,” Shen Cha nodded. “That makes sense. Besides, the young prince didn’t break his promise. Even when the Qinglian Sect was besieged by the Great Xia and he was forced to flee, hiding on an archipelago, he didn’t forget to arrange for his most capable Japanese to infiltrate the Jin Kingdom and Yiqing Prefecture, and then to lie in ambush beside Wanyan Qingmu.” She took a sip of tea, sighed softly, and said, “Unfortunately, these Japanese don’t know that even if the young prince successfully obtains the Jin Kingdom, he won’t really keep his promise.”

“Yes!” Shen Haolin nodded. “They will all die one after another before and after the occupation of the Jin Kingdom.”

"Why is that? What's the reason?"

Song Yaojia and Xia Chen exchanged glances, then exchanged a look with Ying Bao and Ying Jun. The group couldn't understand what kind of riddle the two of them were speaking in.

“Because they were poisoned by Little Mudfish, they will all die from the poison if they aren’t given the antidote regularly.” Seeing Shen Haolin, Shen Cha, and Xue Ruitian looking at him, Chu Han tapped the table and said, “We’ve captured many Japanese before. The ordinary henchmen weren’t poisoned, but all the ones with names had taken the drug. According to their own confessions, Little Mudfish initially told them it was a tonic, and the longer they took it, the stronger they would become.” “The Little Prince wasn’t exactly lying to them; the drug does have that effect,” Shen Cha chuckled and said, “However, there’s another hidden effect that the Little Prince didn’t tell them.”

“But they also discovered it.” Chu Han nodded and said, “The first onset was about three years after taking the medicine. When the poison took effect, they found themselves weak all over and unable to get up. If only one or two people experienced this, it might be an isolated case, but almost everyone who took the medicine experienced this, which means that the medicine is problematic.”

"Aren't they going to hold the Little Prince accountable?"

“Of course we searched, but what good did it do?” Shen Cha spread her hands. “The prerequisite for getting the antidote is that they obediently listen to whatever the little prince says, otherwise they’ll just have to wait to die suddenly.”

“Yes!” Chu Han nodded. “These Japanese who were sent abroad all had people monitoring them. For example, the antidote for the person you captured is definitely in the hands of the person monitoring him. However, this time Wanyan Qingmu caused too much trouble, and it is estimated that the people in charge of monitoring him have already perished in this mess.”

“That’s right. So when he came here, he was already at his last gasp.” Shen Cha sighed. “Fortunately, Miao Miao is an expert in poisons and helped him suppress the poisoning temporarily. Otherwise, let alone being able to return to the little prince’s side, the seven-day mourning period would have already passed.”

"Where did he get this medicine?" Song Yaojia stroked her chin. "Could it have been given to him by those people who run the dance studio?"

“Most likely.” Xia Chen stretched and said, “Hearing you say that reminds me of when I encountered them at sea. Their kung fu was beyond my expectations, completely different from the Japanese pirates I encountered many years ago. I thought they had evolved, but it turns out they used drugs. However, their complexions were not good at all, pale and bluish, and they didn’t look like living people at all.”

“That’s right.” Shen Cha nodded to Xia Chen. “Yan You was like that. The poison had already penetrated his lungs and internal organs. It took us a lot of effort to save his life. He was in a coma for half a month due to his serious injuries.”

"That serious?" Xia Chen was shocked. "Although these Japanese are scoundrels, the fact that they developed this drug and came up with the idea of ​​using it to control others is no good either."

"It's just dogs fighting, all for nothing," Chu Han sneered. "The Japanese thought they'd found someone to leech off, but they never expected they were dealing with a tiger for its skin. There's always someone more powerful. They just wanted to use them as pawns, and after the deed was done, they had no intention of sharing the spoils. It's a pity they found out the truth too late; they're already under control. Otherwise," he raised an eyebrow, "who knows, we might even have been able to get involved, right?"

“It’s not too late now. These Japanese aren’t hard to guess.” Shen Cha smiled. “Even if we can’t completely cure them, it’s not impossible to suppress the poison’s effects and make them turn against us at a crucial moment. What they want now isn’t to live to a ripe old age, but to witness their greatest enemy being brought to justice within their limited lifespan.”