Zongwu: Aspiring to be the mastermind behind the scenes

Chapter 156 Killing Two Birds with One Stone: Planning Overseas
"I haven't finished speaking yet, these are just the cause and effect!"

Pei Ju said: "Zhu Wusi was originally just an ordinary prince. Later, he traveled around the martial arts world and had an opportunity, which greatly increased his power. After returning to the court, he was highly regarded by the late emperor.

Before he traveled the world, he practiced martial arts in the imperial palace, and the person who taught him martial arts... was none other than a master of the imperial family! "

"Is that so?"

Zhou Ming thought about it and it was normal.

The martial world is treacherous, and Zhu Wusi, who travels alone in the martial world, must have martial arts skills. Otherwise, how could he dare to leave the capital?

Even at that time, when he was only in his twenties, he already had innate cultivation, and his talent was no less than that of Lu Xiaofeng, Li Xunhuan and others today.

You know, Tianchi Weird Hero was also a grandmaster in the past. The two martial arts he left behind must be the essence of martial arts. How could ordinary people learn them?
The fact that Zhu Wusi was able to learn the energy-absorbing technique he left behind already demonstrates his talent and understanding.

Pei Ju said, "When the royal family cultivates loyal masters, they naturally prioritize their own family members. After all, no matter how loyal an outsider is, it cannot compare to the ties of blood. Zhu Wusi, due to his outstanding talent, was designated as a future royal family powerhouse from a young age, and therefore was able to receive the careful training of the masters of the imperial palace.

However, after Zhu Wusi grew up, he became rebellious and didn't want to be the one who had been hidden in the palace for decades. The late emperor was furious and immediately withdrew all the training resources.

This is how Zhu Wusi later left the capital and ventured into the martial arts world."

But who would have thought that this time of leaving would become the most correct choice in Zhu Wusi's life.

He inherited the legacy of the Tianchi Strange Hero, and his skills increased greatly. When he came back, he had already become a master-level powerhouse, and was invincible among his peers.

With this strength, Zhu Wusi was able to enter the court and begin to gain power.

Until the last moment of the late emperor's death, he promoted Zhu Wusi, Pei Ju, and Cao Zhengchun successively, forming a three-pole power in the court.

With the help of this power, Zhu Wusi often went deep into the palace to communicate with the masters of the palace.

"So now, all those masters in the palace who are supposed to be loyal to the emperor are now loyal to Zhu Wusi?"

"Zhu Wusi doesn't have that much ability yet, but he can already influence those inner court masters to a certain extent."

Pei Ju said, "If it was just the Prince of Nanping who was plotting these things, there would be no need to worry at all. But since Zhu Wusi is involved, Your Majesty is a little suspicious..."

Zhou Ming understood.

Zhu Wusi is on good terms with many masters in the palace.

But it is not certain whether these masters will be loyal to Zhu Wusi.

However, for the emperor, even just suspicion was enough.

Since it concerns his own life, he naturally cannot be so careless.

"So that's why Your Majesty came to seek help from my foster father?"

"Yes."

"Even so, my godfather has so many experts under his command, why should I go?"

"Because you can represent me."

Pei Ju said, "Your Majesty is extremely wary of Zhu Wusi, so how could he not be worried about me? If I let my men go, if one of them attacks Your Majesty, I'll have room to evade responsibility. But if it's you, that won't work."

It is said that father and son are one body. The son pays for the father’s debts and the father pays for the son’s sins.

If it was only Pei Ju's men who attacked the emperor, Pei Ju would have plenty of ways and excuses to shirk responsibility.

But if Zhou Ming took action directly, Pei Ju would have no room for shirking responsibility, and the crime of assassinating the emperor would fall directly on his head.

The entire Ming Dynasty will become his enemy.

Including Wudang!

Since the founding of the country, the royal family has continuously provided tributes and resources to Wudang for many years, but it was not given in vain.

Zhou Ming thought for a moment and said, "If I were to take action and ruin Zhu Wushi's plot, then I'm afraid you, my godfather, would become Zhu Wushi's biggest enemy."

Pei Ju said, "Your Majesty, indeed, has such a plan in mind."

Before this, it had always been Zhu Wusi and Cao Zhengchun who were fighting head-on, and Pei Ju seemed to be isolated from both.

But now that Cao Zhengchun was demoted, the emperor immediately took this opportunity to guide Pei Ju and Zhu Wusi into a direct confrontation.

Therefore, the emperor's request for help now is really killing two birds with one stone.

Moreover, since the emperor has control over a force that allows him to check outside intelligence without the help of the East Factory and the Hulong Villa, it is obvious that his safety will be completely secure even if he does not ask for help.

Not to mention preventing possible crises, it is always possible to avoid them.

On the night of the decisive battle, the emperor might not even be in the palace.

"Prince Nanping... is so stupid!"

Zhou Ming shook his head.

Looking at the whole process, not only did he come up with a plan that was impossible to succeed, he also had Zhu Wusi and the Emperor successively carry out his own plan on the stage he had set.

Although he was a powerful prince with a fiefdom, he still didn't understand the royal family's background well enough, let alone the complicated court today.

Without enough information, you are doomed to fail.

It’s just a pity for Ye Gucheng.

"It's really stupid."

Pei Ju nodded, agreeing with Zhou Ming's words: "Prepare well. Tomorrow night, before the decisive battle, you should go to the palace."

"Godfather, you're not going to let me go alone, are you?"

"Of course not. Bring your maids with you. And the Dragon Girl from the Tomb Clan. Doesn't she also have a magic weapon? Take them along too.

Pei Ju said, "If you want to do it, do it well. The emperor does have a trump card, but I hope that when the time comes, he won't need to use it."

"Why is this?"

"Of course, it's to allow the emperor to be more confident in dealing with Zhu Wusi. If the trump cards he has are exposed now, Zhu Wusi can immediately take countermeasures and destroy them."

"I understand."

Zhou Ming nodded.

He finally understood Pei Ju's plan in this incident.

The emperor wanted to bring Pei Ju in to confront Zhu Wusi.

But for Pei Ju, he held the power of a minister and was not at the point of directly opposing the emperor.

However, Zhu Wusi and Cao Zhengchun had been fighting with the emperor for the rights that originally belonged to him.

This is the direct reason why Zhu Wusi and Cao Zhengchun have always been fighting against each other, while Pei Ju was able to roam around.

Same now.

Zhu Wusi and the emperor are the most direct opponents. Only after either of them wins will they face Pei Ju.

Then why did Pei Ju want to enter now?

This time, if the emperor had not come directly to him, asked for help, and forced him to enter, he would not have cared about this matter at all.

But since he has already entered, Pei Ju should indeed do something.

Between Zhu Wusi and the emperor, it is obvious that the emperor is the weaker one.

Therefore, Pei Ju wanted to make Zhu Wusi suffer damage, while letting the emperor preserve his strength as much as possible.

Only by making the two people's strength close to each other can they fight longer.

After leaving the study, Zhou Ming returned to Wanjin Pavilion, thought for a while, and took out the Tianji card.

Zhu Wusi's actions were covert, and he was just following the current, so he probably couldn't get any solid evidence. But it was different for the Prince of Nanping. Afterwards, the Prince of Nanping would definitely be eliminated by the court.

Once the King of Nanping falls, the countless interest chains corresponding to him will be broken, and a void of interests will appear, which will just facilitate the development of the Giant Whale Gang!

At this moment, Zhou Ming was about to contact Mu Dao Ren to make preparations in advance.

If Zhou Ming could think of this, I'm sure others could think of it too.

But apart from Zhu Wusi, no one can be faster than him.

"Once we take down the Nanping King's forces, the Giant Whale Gang will be able to dominate the southeast. If we want to continue expanding and developing, we can only head west or east..."

To the east is the sea area of ​​Song State.

If you go west, there are two major forces in the southwest that should not be underestimated.

Mingjiao.

Sky Eagle Cult!
Since the founding of the Ming Cult, it has been forced to retreat to the southwest. For decades, it has been facing overt and covert attacks from the Ming Dynasty, and its development has been very unsuccessful in recent years.

After the death of the former leader Yang Dingtian, many high-level leaders fought among themselves and could not choose a new leader. In the end, Yang Xiao, the Left Protector of Light, became the acting leader.

The other senior executives were dissatisfied and left one after another.

Among them is the White-browed Eagle King, Yin Tianzheng, one of the four Dharma Kings of the Ming Cult!
After he separated from the Ming Cult, he founded the Sky Eagle Cult, which grew increasingly prosperous and even had the potential to surpass the Ming Cult.

This is because the imperial court was secretly helping.

As for the imperial court, they wished that the Ming Cult would perish.

However, the Ming Cult had a deep-rooted foundation, and due to historical reasons, the Ming Dynasty could not send troops to eliminate it openly, and could only use some dirty tricks in secret.

The emergence of the Sky Eagle Cult was good news for the imperial court. They secretly provided assistance in the hope that this Ming Cult traitor would be able to fight against the Ming Cult.

However, this expectation was not met.

Zhou Ming was even more clear that although Yin Tianzheng had betrayed the Ming Cult, he actually just couldn't stand Yang Xiao. Deep down, he still considered himself a member of the Ming Cult.

In the original novel, the six major sects besieged Guangmingding, and the Ming Cult was in danger of destruction. Yin Tianzheng directly brought the entire Tianying Cult to support, and in the end he had to live and die with the Ming Cult.

Therefore, it is probably wishful thinking for the imperial court to want to make the two families fight each other.

"Song Kingdom is not a concern. Besides, Dongfang Bubai has almost completely reorganized the Sun Moon Divine Sect. She has no chance of development in Ming Kingdom and is planning to develop in Song Kingdom, so Dongfang doesn't need to be considered for the time being.

As for the West, in the Sky Eagle Sect, Yin Susu might be able to play a certain role, but I'm afraid it's impossible to make the entire Sky Eagle Sect serve me..."

Zhou Ming pondered and said, "...Yin Tianzheng is loyal to the Ming Cult, but the other members of the Sky Eagle Cult may not be..."

He was not very interested in the development of power, but he was very interested in the boundless ocean.

Although all the martial arts stories take place on land, many of the rare treasures come from overseas.

Zhou Ming was planning to expand his forces to the sea and directly find the birthplace of those rare treasures.

Moreover, there are many islands on the sea, all of which contain hidden opportunities.

The legendary island of knights hides the supreme magical skill Taixuan Sutra.

The mysterious Shenlong Island is home to the existence of divine dragons.

However, it is not easy to find these islands in the vast ocean.

We can only keep expanding and use human hands to explore the sea charts to find it.

However, the foundation of any power is still land. It is impossible to completely abandon land and simply develop maritime power.

Only by laying a solid foundation can we expand outward better.

After giving instructions to his subordinates one by one, Zhou Ming put away the Tianji card.

"As our influence gradually expands, the number of official members will also increase. I'm afraid I'll have to look for new organizational leaders..."

Zhou Ming pressed his eyebrows.

With Mu Dao Ren in the lead, the new organizational cadres should also have the strength of a grandmaster so as not to lose face.

There is no need to think about the ready-made grandmasters, but we can find a few more people who are unable to break through to the grandmaster level due to their age.

Speaking of which, Yin Tianzheng happens to be one of them.

When he quit the Ming Cult, Yin Tianzheng was actually only a second-level master, but with the secret help of the imperial court, they traded some skills and cultivation experiences to him. Now, after so many years, he has relied on time to gradually reach the level of three-level master.

But because he was too old, not only was he unable to break through, his strength even declined, and he could only exert the combat power of a Three Flowers Grandmaster.

In addition, Wu Ming, the old man from the Nameless Island, is also an option.

There are so many other options that you can’t even count them on one hand.

For example, the second island master, Longmu, on the Xiake Island is probably also at the level of Sanhua Juding.

However, when Zhou Ming selected organizational cadres, in addition to the strength of a grandmaster, he also had requirements for the power of his subordinates.

Yin Tianzheng has the Sky Eagle Cult under his command.

Wu Ming has the Nameless Island under his command and has a close relationship with King Taiping.

Although the two island masters Long Mu are powerful, they only have one Knight Island under their command. Moreover, they are obsessed with martial arts and have never left the island for decades. Therefore, they are not good subordinates.

As for the loyalty of these people... haha, Zhou Ming doesn't care about loyalty at all, as long as they can get the job done.

If they rebel one day, just kill them.

"Nameless Island is located in the sea. We haven't found its location yet, and the imprint hasn't been passed on. However, once the Giant Whale Gang expands into Nameless Island's sphere of influence and touches upon their interests, Nameless Island will take the initiative to intervene."

Zhou Ming thought.

He then looked at the future computer in his portable space. Its spirituality had increased a lot under the influence of enlightenment.

However, the magic of enlightenment cannot be effective indefinitely. Once it reaches its limit, it will basically be ineffective.

After using the enlightenment technique, the intelligence of ordinary cats and dogs can only be increased to the level of an eleven or twelve-year-old child at most.

Only some spiritual beasts with strange blood can achieve the wisdom comparable to that of a normal adult through enlightenment.

And this is the limit of enlightenment.

"At this rate, in three or four days, the spirit of this computer will be fully enlightened, and we can perform the deification technique."

By that time, Prince Nanping's conspiracy would have been exposed, and the imperial court would have had a legitimate reason to take action against Prince Nanping.

This was also the time when the Giant Whale Gang took action.

This incident is a good opportunity to experiment with the computing power of future computers.

And before that...

"The Imperial Palace...Ye Gucheng?"

Zhou Ming knew that if he took on this task, he would inevitably confront Ye Gucheng.

But he was not afraid at all.

Being in this world, Zhou Ming has also thought about fighting with those celebrities.

It’s just that his previous realm was slightly lower, only the Innate True Qi realm.

Ye Gucheng is the most outstanding person of the younger generation, and has already reached the state of innate perfection.

However, after practicing the Art of Immortality, Zhou Ming drew the power of heaven and earth and refined it into true energy, and his strength increased rapidly.

Although he is only at the Xiantian Gangqi realm now, with the power of the Changhong Sword and the strength of the Changsheng Jue, he is not unable to fight with Ye Gucheng!
(End of this chapter)