Chapter 235: Whose head will it be recorded on?

Bai Yang, upon hearing it was snatched, dismissed the rest, saying, "You haven't offended the Wang clan badly?"

The Great King didn't care, saying, "I've long offended them badly—I offended them when I threw Wang Tu out of the Northern Border Academy… No, I should have offended them completely since I was born."

His mother, Lady Wei, the sole daughter of Marquis Wei Ting, had the Southwest Army behind him; from birth he offended Lady Wang and the eldest brother. After Lady Wei died, his foster mother was Empress Cui, of the Cui family, the dead rivals of the Wang family, and the Great King has always stood opposed to the Wang clan.

He also didn't care this time.

Bai Yang felt the Great King had a clarity beyond his years, saying, "There must be some reason—how could you raid them for no reason? Don't tell me you've opened a new world's gate; Great King, you now have a warlord's air, let me tell you."

The Great King protested, "This time it's really not my fault. I wasn't gathering some male slaves in the south to send to Liaodong to dry salt, secretly forming a military unit, was I? This time, when two or three thousand were transferred to board at the East Sea Commandery, Bai Li Jin found out and detained them in the name of the Glorious King—how could I not be angry? I can't leave, so Zhu Ti personally handled it; judging by the warehouse refresh speed, she likely lured them to Glorious to beat the Wang clan—hahaha~"

As for the Great King, this elder brother, Bai Yang could only sigh in exasperation.

"At this point, the northern border is about to go to war, the Western Regions also merit attention, yet you, my elder brother, are still fixated on me—your vision is truly lacking. Shouldn't your focus be on the Capital Wild? Instead you're stirring internal strife, showing no concern for your father at all!"

"The eldest brother won't change, so I hardly hope Father Emperor selects him. Looking ahead, if he ever becomes crown prince, once the old man dies he'll immediately turn to attack You Province and Guangling—oh, and the fourth brother too, none can be left out." Although the Great King feels somewhat wronged, he still holds this basic understanding.

He has already become a major headache for the future crown prince.

Besides the second brother taking power, everyone else probably isn't at ease with him staying alive.

As for the fourth brother, if he could decide for himself that would be fine, but I fear the Cui family will still have the final say, and he won't escape that.

The Great King has a clear mind.

Think about it—his father's main rivals back then are also long gone; the surviving Wang uncles are those who didn't make the cut back then.

Bai Yang's concern was the eldest brother's backing: "You snatched the Wang clan—will they put the bill on Bai Li Jin's head? Will that create hostility?"

The Great King is confident about this: "No, about eighty percent will be blamed on me, the remaining twenty on Bai Li Jin. You don't know—Lady Wang is the sister of the current head of the Wang clan, so internal feuding isn't possible. As for what others think, I have no idea."

Seeing Bai Li Jin suffer makes the Great King happy; getting rich makes him even happier.

The Great King opened the warehouse, took out the item that had just refreshed to first place—a piece of tentacle-oil Jade Cong. Refreshing again, a newly appeared Jade Boshan furnace appeared—truly worthy of the Wang clan, so particular. Others use copper; they use jade, and high-quality ink jade at that.

The Great King and Bai Yang excitedly picked three items to send to the spring auction; the Great King isn't unwilling to liquidate them all at once—it's that Brother Bai doesn't dare to sell stolen goods in large batches.

He's merely a merchant; his family's background is only middling. Producing too many good things at once would attract the attention of relevant departments. Being watched isn't a big deal in itself—he just fears people suspecting him of grave robbing…

The Wang family patriarch's study held a human-height Auspicious Crane floor-standing incense burner, which that very night appeared at the Great King's small stall.

On seeing him display a heap of imperial-made items, someone asked about the bronze crane, assuming it was the same; the Great King generously replied, "That? It comes from a thousand-year-old great clan—it's not imperial-use, so it's not valuable. Take it for 2,000 cash!"

That customer glanced at the Great King's 'homemade' goods, then at the 'great clan's' items, and said, "I'll still take the eight-thousand one." He spent the money—problem solved in one go.

"All right!"

The Great King sealed the deal with a crisp snap.

Brother Bai's bronze wares don't sell well; placing this alongside his 'homemade' line works quite well.

Qiao Yi, off to the side, has already gone useless—what should he pair with his beast-feeding pill to make it work? Waiting online.

The East Sea Commandery Governor Chen Kuo, upon being fished out, fainted at once; after soaking in the winter sea for a while, upon returning to the city he fell ill with fever and lost consciousness. When he woke, he hurriedly sent word to Prince Yu.

Who knew another disaster awaited him? His subordinate reported that on the Wang family estate only a field of corpses remained—apparently all were men ambushed by Prince Yu.

"What? Everyone Prince Yu sent over died? Huang and Huang Chong?"

"Even Deputy Commander Huang is among them."

As Chen Kuo's fever-induced trembling began, his body shook even more—one of the two deputy commanders of Prince Yu's personal guard, the one who had broken the East Sea, was dead!

With so many dead, Chen Kuo collapsed face-down on the bed; his subordinate shook him awake, asking, "Sir, what should we do—should we notify Prince Yu?"

Chen Kuo now finally regrets it—it's all effort for no reward. After that ordeal he earned no merit, and Prince Yu logged a demerit against him; he truly feels wronged to death.

"... Send someone to report back, tell the truth."