"Thank you, Your Majesty, I will definitely obey your every command and help Your Majesty take Leping County." Zuo Nian said.
"Among these people, there should be your subordinates, right?"
Chen Mo pointed at the kneeling defectors and said.
Zuo Nian nodded.
"Then take your subordinates and go seize Leping County." Chen Mo said.
"Huh?" Zuo Nian was startled.
"What, were you lying to me just now?"
"I wouldn’t dare."
Zuo Nian said hurriedly.
What shocked him was that Chen Mo was letting him take his own men to capture Leping County—was he not afraid he’d run off with them?
Or was it that the other party simply wasn’t afraid of him running?
He thought of the poison in his body.
"I know what you’re thinking. Everyone here saw you surrender to me. All I have to do is let a few slip through the net and spread the word to your Khan’s ears." Chen Mo whispered in Zuo Nian’s ear, just enough to make his point.
Hearing this, cold sweat broke out all over Zuo Nian’s back.
By then, even with a hundred thousand mouths he wouldn’t be able to explain himself.
"I... will definitely not disappoint Your Majesty." Zuo Nian promised in a trembling voice.
Chen Mo twisted his brows, moved a little farther away from him, then
He went down first to tidy himself up; he’d been scared so badly he’d even pissed himself.
"You’re just going to trust him like that?" Nalan Yiren frowned.
"He’s just a slightly bigger small fry. Even if he runs, it doesn’t matter. If it really gets to the point where he takes action and helps me seize Leping County, that means he has some use. In Jin Xia, he can be of help to me." Chen Mo wasn’t afraid of him running; he was certain the man wouldn’t dare.
"Right, Yiren, you just said his latent blood and qi were activated by medicine—what exactly did you mean by that?" Chen Mo recalled the moment Wanyan Xiaji’s strength had surged, and the words Nalan Yiren had said to him then.
"It’s exactly what it sounds like. There’s a kind of medicine that can forcibly trigger the latent blood and qi in the body. It’s somewhat like taking a person whose Spiritual Qi is nearly depleted and forcibly detonating the Spiritual Qi embedded in blood and flesh that maintains bodily functions. This is generally used to gamble one’s life at a critical moment between life and death. Once all the Spiritual Qi in the flesh and blood is consumed, the body goes into severe overdraft; and this kind of overdraft damages the very foundation—it’s completely irreparable.
In other words, once he used it, not only would his path on the Martial Dao end here, his own Realm would also decline year by year. And the medicinal ingredients for this drug are extremely rare; even my Poison King Valley couldn’t gather them. I didn’t expect he actually managed to refine it." Nalan Yiren was somewhat astonished.
"I think I heard him say something about a True Man’s elixir just now. Clearly it wasn’t refined by him, but by someone helping him." Chen Mo thought of something.
"But he’s already dead now." Nalan Yiren felt Chen Mo had been a bit too hasty in killing.
"It’s fine. Once we fight our way to their Capital, we’ll know everything."
At this point, Chen Mo remembered there were still some things he hadn’t asked Zuo Nian.
But just then, Sun Meng brought him good news.
"Your Majesty, this general has captured the culprit behind the plague, and the bombs of Jin Xia were also copied by him."
Sun Meng came before Chen Mo with an excited look; his face was flushed with excitement, clearly feeling that this man was of immense value and could be used for taking credit.
After speaking, Sun Meng waved his hand. Two Imperial Guard soldiers brought up a man wearing a Daoist Robe, hair in disarray and face swollen and red.
"Your Majesty, according to testimony from the defectors who protected him, this man is named Yue Puzi. Wanyan Xiaji addressed him as True Man and valued him greatly."
As he spoke, seeing Yue Puzi being brought before Chen Mo yet not kneeling, Sun Meng immediately kicked him in the legs, forcing him to kneel in front of Chen Mo.
Chen Mo and Nalan Yiren exchanged a glance.
Chen Mo raised his brows. He had just promised Nalan Yiren that once they found the person researching the plague, he would hand him over to her.
He hadn’t expected the man to be found so soon.
"True Man, was the latent blood-and-qi-activating medicine that Wanyan Xiaji swallowed refined by you?" Chen Mo asked Yue Puzi.
"Your Majesty is asking you a question, don’t play dumb. Answer honestly." Seeing Yue Puzi staring blankly without speaking, Sun Meng immediately snapped at him.
Chen Mo waved his hand and asked how his face had become so swollen.
Sun Meng laughed and said, "Your Majesty, we captured him in the Stone-Throwing Battalion inside the city. He was being stung by Poisonous Bees at the time."
Chen Mo nodded and asked Nalan Yiren, "Do we have anything for the swelling?"
"It’ll have to be compounded on the spot." Nalan Yiren said.
Hearing this, Chen Mo thought for a moment, then ordered, "Sun Meng, take him down to rest for now. Get him a clean set of clothes. Once his mental state is a bit better, bring him back to see me."
To Chen Mo, Yue Puzi didn’t seem to be pretending to be stupid; he genuinely looked terrified.
"Yes."
As Sun Meng led Yue Puzi away, the latter’s gaze remained fixed on Wanyan Xiaji’s already blood-drained severed head.
...
Chen Mo did not give Zuo Nian much time to think. Once he had cleaned himself up, Chen Mo pressed him to lead his subordinates and head for Leping County.
Zuo Nian really did not disappoint him: after only a single day, Zuo Nian took Leping County without a battle.
Chen Mo didn’t ask how he’d done it; he didn’t care about the process.
Though he could imagine it—it was nothing more than a few possible scenarios.
Since the commander of Leping County’s garrison was Zuo Nian’s cousin, and Zuo Nian had spoken of it so confidently, it showed that their relationship was especially close, or that their interests were deeply bound together, the type of "honor and disgrace shared alike."
Zuo Nian had already fallen this far.
Even if his cousin stubbornly resisted and returned to the Capital, he wouldn’t meet a good end.
And in fact, things turned out exactly as Chen Mo had imagined.
When Chen Mo received this news, he was in the middle of seeing Yue Puzi.
Yue Puzi’s ancestors were not Jin Xia People at all, but Song People.
Over three hundred years ago, his ancestors committed some offense. In order to avoid being sentenced by the Great Song Court, they fled with their whole family to Jin Xia and thereafter put down roots there.
From a young age, Yue Puren loved to delve into all manner of strange and unusual things, and in this area he had considerable talent, producing some results through his research.
At thirteen, he apprenticed himself to the Daoist of a certain Daoist Temple. From this Daoist, he learned Alchemy and how to Recognize Medicine, and even surpassed his teacher.
At twenty-five, when he accompanied his master to refine elixirs for Wanyan Xiaji, he came to Wanyan Xiaji’s attention and became one among Wanyan Xiaji’s many Guests.
The plague released throughout Jin Xia’s territory came about when Jin Xia attacked Gao Liao and a small-scale cholera outbreak occurred there; at the time, the Jin Xia Army was also infected.
So Wanyan Xiaji sent Yue Puzi to treat the cholera.
Yue Puzi was very capable; he not only cured the cholera, but on that basis, researched a highly contagious poison.
And when he researched this poison, it was not with the intent to harm people, but because he found it highly challenging—or perhaps his personality was simply fond of studying such things.
When he succeeded, he was delighted and reported his results to Wanyan Xiaji.
Wanyan Xiaji felt the thing was useful and kept it.
Until not long ago, in order to slow Great Wei’s development, they used the route by which Wei merchants came to Jin Xia to purchase cattle and sheep, and released this poison onto the livestock, thereby further triggering the plague outbreak in Youzhou.
Yue Puren told Chen Mo that he had tried to dissuade Wanyan Xiaji at the time.
It could be said that Yue Puzi wanted to live.
Furthermore, he explained that he was only a researcher, not an executor.
He even argued that if a knife kills someone, you should go after the one who used the knife to kill, not the blacksmith who forged it.
As for whether this was true or false, Chen Mo could not know.
After all, Wanyan Xiaji was already dead.
However, Chen Mo could consider sparing his life.
The man was useful to him.
Judging from his ability to copy explosives.
He had talent in that area.
Perhaps he could help enhance the power of black gunpowder yet again.
Besides that, he was also useful to Nalan Yiren.
And Chen Mo was a very realistic man.
...
From this major victory at Jinshuang City, Chen Mo obtained a great deal of useful information.
So not long after Zuo Nian seized Leping County, Chen Mo ordered Chang En, who was stationed in Gansha City, to bring troops to join him.
He was going to strike directly at Jin Xia’s Capital—Yu Xi.