"Has there been any news from the lord yet?"
Inside the main hall of Liuzhou, Shen Shiyi appeared quite agitated, but the others in the hall, especially the Shen Family, seemed indifferent to him.
Everyone knows this kid is just looking for an excuse to stay here and avoid his messy affairs in the Underworld. Giving him this position in the Underworld is a real waste.
"Has there been any news from Ao Zhen and the others yet?"
Tian Heng began to ask serious questions.
Wei Gongcheng glanced at the other party discreetly and said in a low voice, "According to my men, Ao Zhen and his group arrived under the cover of a merchant ship. Judging from the distance, they should have been there in a day or two at most. It's normal that we haven't received any intelligence in such a short time. After all, long-distance communication consumes a lot of Power of Faith. They wouldn't contact us unless it was important information."
This explanation seemed reasonable, and everyone else nodded in agreement. Wei Gongcheng, used the opportunity of drinking tea to observe the crowd.
He did receive the news, and the news was quite shocking.
The South Sea is surrounded and will surely be breached within seven days; changes are brewing in Jiangnan; high-level officials may collapse; be extremely careful!
There were twenty characters in total. Wei Gongzhan knew them. Ao Zhen didn't have much Power of Faith, and these twenty characters were probably the last remote intelligence message he would receive!
When the news was first received, even a composed person like Wei Gongcheng couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine. This crisis was probably no less serious than the Liuzhou rebellion, and might even be more severe!
Something did indeed happen in the South Sea. My lord's worries were unfounded, which means that the trouble he encountered in Cloud Capital was definitely not minor.
Ao Zhen's next words were that something was going to happen in Jiangnan. This intelligence was a prediction, and he said it with absolute certainty. There would definitely be a major change in Jiangnan. Combined with the incidents in the South Sea and Cloud Capital, Jiangnan was bound to be in trouble. This Celestial Master Assembly was probably aimed at all forces!
Who is behind this?
Is the Celestial Master Mansion inviting everyone?
Even if he wiped out all the leaders of all the factions, where would he get the military strength to conquer them all?
Surely they don't all rely on turning people to defect?
Speaking of defection, who in Jiangnan would be the one to be turned?
Frankly, Wei Gongcheng felt that anyone was a possibility. The Shen Family seemed to have a lot of power now, but the Underworld was a rotating system. Would a family with the power of the Shen Family so easily give up this divine position after tasting its benefits?
The Lord of the Underworld not only helps the Shen Family accumulate resources, but also allows his own cultivation to advance by leaps and bounds. Just look at the members of the Shen Family; in the years since their rise in Jiangnan, their strength has increased at least tenfold.
Who would easily give up such a desirable priesthood when they've already secured it?
As for the others, Xu Hu seems honest and kind, but his prestige in Jiangnan is now second only to the emperor. If Chen Qing were to get into trouble, he could rally most of the respectable young men in Jiangnan to his cause.
Throughout history, there have been many instances of people wielding immense military power who later reaped the rewards and seized the empires built by others.
Putting everything else aside, take His Majesty for example. Didn't he seem loyal, honest, and kind before?
Who could have imagined that a mere upstart from the family would later harbor such ambitions?
Finally, there's Tian Heng. As a member of a warlord family who brought troops here, Tian Heng's performance over the past few years has been mediocre, neither outstanding nor lacking in brilliance, but he has been proactive in his work. Clearly, he has chosen to keep a low profile to avoid being targeted.
After all, he didn't have the entrepreneurial achievements of Xu Hu, but the preferential treatment he received was no less than that of Xu Hu. Not only did he bring strong figures like Ao Zhen under his command, but he was also put in charge of maintaining the newly conquered southeast, which was obviously intended to establish the prestige of the West Sea Army in the southeast.
Such preferential treatment even caused dissatisfaction among many of Xu Hu's deputy generals.
However, this also gave Tian Heng the power to rebel.
However, the probability of him rebelling is not high.
First, he lacks prestige. If he were to launch a rebellion, not only would there be no external response, but a large portion of the West Sea Army itself would likely not respond.
The only ones who would respond would probably be his own direct descendants from the Tian Household.
But that's not necessarily true, because the direct descendants of the Tian Household family have all benefited greatly from the Jiangnan platform, and they may not necessarily heed Tian Heng's call.
Moreover, the surrounding forces were quite hostile towards the West Sea Army, so in his view, the success rate of a rebellion was not high.
But it's not entirely true that he has no suspicion whatsoever...
In Wei Gongcheng's view, the other party had a very good motive. He came from a prestigious family, yet he was being overshadowed by Xu Hu, a peasant.
Thinking of this, Wei Gongcheng looked at Tian Heng: "Have you noticed anything unusual lately?"
Upon hearing this, everyone in the hall looked at Wei Gongcheng in surprise.
"What do you mean by that, Brother Wei?" Shen Lao'er asked quietly.
Wei Gongcheng calmly replied, "For some reason, I've felt a little uneasy these past two days."
"Uneasy?" Shen Lao'er frowned. "Now that you mention it, I feel a little uneasy too. I can't quite put my finger on it, but these past few days I've occasionally felt a slight chill or unease."
"Is that so?" Shen Shiyi asked in surprise, "Why didn't I feel anything?"
"You think everyone's like you? So heartless."
"Where is General Tian?" Wei Gongcheng, looking at him. "Has he shown any unusual behavior lately?"
"I didn't think so..." Tian Heng frowned. "Everything has been going very smoothly lately, especially in the southeast. The West Sea Army's reputation there is growing stronger. As soon as the recruitment news came out at the beginning of the year, a large number of young men and women signed up. It is estimated that recruiting 100,000 new soldiers in the spring will not be a problem."
He paused for a moment, then continued, "As for the West Sea, things are going very smoothly recently. The relocation of people from the West Sea is also progressing well. A large number of people from the Southeast are willing to trust the West Sea Army to carry out the relocation, and it is estimated that filling in those important mineral islands should not be a problem."
"Business hasn't been very friendly lately; the soldiers stationed in the West Sea responsible for escorting merchant ships have had nothing to do."
His rambling, conversational style immediately lightened the atmosphere in the lobby.
Even Shen Lao'er couldn't help but laugh, "Our Lord of the Sea God is indeed very busy lately."
"No, no," Tian Heng chuckled, clearly in a good mood. "I just think that since there's no news yet, there's no need to scare ourselves. What storms hasn't our lord weathered? When has he ever disappointed us?"
"Indeed." Seeing the atmosphere lighten, Shen Laosan also stood up and said, "Our lord hasn't sent any distress signals, which means the situation in Cloud Capital isn't that dire. We'll wait for news from Ao Zhen regarding the South Sea. Everyone should return to their respective territories and focus on the matters at hand."
Everyone else nodded in agreement, but Shen Shiyi looked miserable; it seemed he wouldn't have a chance to slack off here.
But Wei Gongcheng's eyes held a strange glint in them.
As Shen Laosan stood up and told everyone to return to their seats, two voices entered his mind.
They belong to Tian Heng and Shen Lao'er respectively.
And they were all saying the same thing!
The Shen Family has something going on!
Tian Heng has a problem!
The two voices entered Wei Gongcheng's ears at the same time, making his heart turn to ice. He couldn't be sure who was at fault, but it was probably true that someone in the upper echelons of Jiangnan had been bribed!