Red Mansion: Seizing Jiangdong, starting with pirates

Chapter 312, Fang the Cunning

What wicked thoughts does Zhaolin have?

She was only focused on gaining favor.

"looking at what?"

Fang Yong asked.

Kong Zhaolin then seemed to wake from a dream. Upon seeing Fang Yong, her face showed three parts surprise, three parts joy, and three parts excitement.

"Your Majesty!"

A voice called out, soft and charming; every gesture was a mixture of reluctance and attraction.

"I'm watching..."

Fang Yong wasn't interested in what Kong Zhaolin was looking at.

His purpose in coming here was very simple: to use his own strength to maintain the stability of the country.

Soon, the important business began.

After a while, Kong Zhaolin collapsed onto the table, exhausted.

Her slender, long legs draped limply to the side beneath her skirt, unable to move.

Fang Yong straightened his clothes and prepared to leave.

A weak voice came from behind.

"Your Majesty, may I spend some time with you?"

Fang Yong paused, thought for a moment, but still couldn't bring himself to leave.

"it is good……"

Fang Yong stayed with Kong Zhaolin for a while until she had recovered enough before leaving.

To be honest, Fang Yong didn't have many feelings for Kong Zhaolin.

The relationship between the two was primarily based on mutual interests.

The Kong family needed to curry favor with Fang Yong to maintain their wealth and status.

Fang Yong needed to leverage the influence of the Kong family to consolidate his rule.

So Kong Zhaolin was sent to Fang Yong's harem.

In order to win Fang Yong's favor, this legitimate daughter of the Kong family even underwent special training before entering the palace.

However, Fang Yong didn't pay much attention to these things.

He is quite magnanimous in many matters, as long as you don't cross his bottom line.

A few days later.

The envoy sent by Chu Yuqi has arrived in the capital.

He also carried many gold and silver treasures, as well as several beautiful Korean women.

Fang Yong displayed a lecherous demeanor, directly demanding in court that Emperor Longqing bestow all the beautiful women of Goryeo upon him, and then generously agreed to reconcile with Chu Yuqi.

The envoy sent by Chu Yuqi was both pleased and astonished.

This man was named Tan Yitong, courtesy name Susheng. He was a famous scholar from Zhili. He was once demoted to Liaodong for remonstrating with the government. Although his official position was reduced, he was very famous among scholars. Later, after the country was in turmoil, he took the initiative to join Chu Yuqi and was highly valued by Chu Yuqi.

Before coming, Tan Yitong conducted a detailed investigation into Fang Yong's deeds. He believed that Fang Yong must have had extraordinary abilities to rise from a nobody to a powerful warlord who controlled half of the country. He also believed that the rumors about Fang Yong being a womanizer could not be taken entirely seriously.

Ultimately, through investigating Fang Yong's deeds, Tan Yitong came to two major conclusions.

First, Fang Yong was very good at bewitching people.

This can be seen from the fervent attitude of the people in the areas he ruled towards him.

Secondly, Fang Yong appears loyal and righteous, but is actually cunning and treacherous.

This man accepted the imperial amnesty twice, and then rebelled twice. Under the pretext of rescuing the emperor, he entered the capital and used the emperor to command the feudal lords, which shows that he was extremely cunning.

To this end, Tan Yi prepared a number of talking points specifically for Fang Yong's characteristics, and anticipated various possible scenarios. He was confident that no matter what unexpected events occurred, he could remain calm and handle the situation with ease, and strive to achieve peace talks to the greatest extent possible.

He just didn't expect that none of what he had prepared would be of any use; money and beautiful women were all it took to win over Fang Yong.

Could it be that the rumors about this person being a lecherous man are true...?

Tan Yitong returned to the inn with great doubt. After waiting for two days, Tan Yitong discovered that although Fang Yong had verbally agreed to peace talks, there was no follow-up. He neither sent an envoy to mediate nor issued any public announcement.

Tan Yitong had no choice but to go and inquire.

All they got in return were words of delay.

On this day, Tan's old friend from the capital invited him to a gathering at Juxian Pavilion.

Tan readily agreed to go.

At the dinner table, a friend was talking about the capital city and asked Tan Yitong how the prosperity of the capital city compared to Liaodong.

Tan Yitong smiled bitterly and said, "Liaodong is bitterly cold and far inferior to the capital."

His friend smiled and chatted with Tan for a while about their old friendship. In the end, both of them were a little drunk, and his friend tentatively asked Tan if he had any plans to stay in the capital.

Tan Yi shook his head and refused.

Although the capital city was prosperous, he had already served Chu Yuqi and did not want to easily change sides.

Upon hearing this, his friend gave Tan Yitong a complicated look but said nothing more.

However, his words were filled with regret.

Tan Yitong instinctively felt that something was wrong, and asked his friend why, but the friend wouldn't say and only gave vague answers.

Next, the friends reminisced about the past and lamented the passage of time. What was supposed to be a gathering of friends turned into a farewell as if they were facing life and death.

At the end of the banquet, his friend even paid extra to let him choose a girl from Juxian Pavilion so he could enjoy himself.

No, no, there's definitely something wrong with this!

Recalling his friend's reaction, Tan Yitong felt that something was wrong.

He lost all interest in enjoying himself, so he made an excuse to send the girl away and quietly slipped to the door of his friend's room to eavesdrop on what was happening inside.

Instead of the expected sounds of pleasure coming from her friend's room, she could hear the sounds of a conversation between two people.

"Something's definitely up!"

Tan listened intently, only to hear his friend and the mysterious man say:

"So, is this person worth pursuing?"

"No, he's a die-hard fan of Chu Yuqi."

"Well, if that's the case, then forget it. Anyway, his absence won't affect the overall situation."

"Alas, it's such a pity about Susheng; he was a truly talented person!"

"Hmph, a talent? He followed the wrong master. It's no loss if a talent dies."

The sounds in the room grew fainter and fainter, and Tan Yitong quickly hid when he saw this.

Then a person came out of the room, looked around, seemed not to have noticed Tan Yitong hiding, and left.

Tan Yitong was utterly shocked.

Judging from what they just said, I'm going to die!

Is the peace talk a sham?
In the following time, Tan Yitong hurriedly used his past connections to begin investigating the matter.

The investigation was incredibly difficult. Years had passed, and his connections in the capital were no longer as effective. In addition, many people deliberately kept things from him, making it very difficult for him to find anything.

But with his continued efforts, coupled with some "lucky coincidences," some clues slowly surfaced.

For example, they learned from merchants from other provinces that many soldiers were secretly gathering along the way.

This indicates that Fang Yong was secretly mobilizing troops.

Secondly, the recent bumper harvest of grains should have led to a price drop, but grain prices have risen unexpectedly.

This indicates that someone is buying large quantities of grain and fodder...

As various clues emerged, although it was not yet entirely certain, Tan Yitong had gradually deduced a fact.

That means Fang Yong wants to wage war against Liaodong!
This despicable man wants to use the pretext of peace talks to lull Commander Chu into a false sense of security, and then launch a surprise attack on Liaodong.

No wonder they kept stalling for time.

Based on rough calculations, Fang Yong has mobilized no fewer than 200,000 soldiers this time, making it a true major battle! Although the specific route of deployment is still unclear, there are only a few routes for attacking Liaodong, and they are unlikely to deviate much.

He had to quickly relay this message back to Commander Chu so that he could prepare!
(End of this chapter)