Chapter 25: Counter-Espionage

West of Yancheng.

An inconspicuous small courtyard; this is the home of Wang Yanzhong.

It is already midnight.

Moonlight shines on the window paper, as if covered in a layer of frost.

Inside the room, Wang Yanzhong and his wife and child are sleeping soundly.

At this moment, several black shadows suddenly break through the door.

Wang Yanzhong wakes up in a start, instinctively reaching for the Dagger placed at the head of the bed.

But he suddenly feels a chill on his neck and dares not move again.

Through the faint light, he sees that it is a blade.

"Don't make a sound!" the man in black barks.

Wang Yanzhong's wife and son have also woken up; just as they are about to cry for help, they shut their mouths.

"Who are you people?" Wang Yanzhong asks in a cold voice.

Working at the Agency, he is considered half a person who walks the world of the rivers and lakes.

It is inevitable to use force when competing for business, so there are always a few enemies.

He assumes these are enemies coming for revenge.

"Come with us and you will know," the man in black says nothing more.

They escort Wang Yanzhong and his wife and son out.

Pushed into a carriage, Wang Yanzhong only feels it turn several corners.

After getting off the carriage, they are escorted into a courtyard.

When he sees the person inside, he is greatly shocked.

"Member of the Gentry Huang, why is it you?" Wang Yanzhong exclaims in surprise.

At this time, the person standing in the center of the courtyard is none other than Huang Yu.

They had decided on the matter of planting spies at the Wine banquet.

Once the Wine banquet ended, he set about doing it.

"It is me," Huang An says with a smile that is not quite a smile.

Usually, he cannot be bothered to deal with people like Wang Yanzhong.

But now, for the sake of the Huang Family's interests, he must come forward in person.

The moment he sees Huang Yu, Wang Yanzhong already has a guess in his heart.

The only difference from the past is that he went to the Yan Prince Mansion.

Therefore, Huang Yu coming to find him must be related to the Yan Prince Mansion.

"If Member of the Gentry Huang wanted to call for me, you only needed to send someone; why go to such lengths in the middle of the night?" Wang Yanzhong says while staring at his wife and child being taken away.

Huang Yu still wears a fake smile, "To make a long story short, I have brought you here today because I need you to do something for me. Once it is done, your wife and son will be returned to you, and I will give you a sum of Silver so you can go far away."

Clearing his throat, his tone shifts, "But if you do not comply, your family's lives will be hard to guarantee."

Upon hearing this, Wang Yanzhong feels a chill in his heart; he hates nothing more than being threatened by others in his life.

A surge of anger rises in his heart, but since his wife and child are in Huang Yu's hands, he has to suppress it and force a smile: "I wonder what it is that the Member of the Gentry wants me to do?"

Huang Yu is slightly smug; he likes playing with these lowly people like a cat playing with a mouse.

Pointing to the side, he says: "Doesn't the Yan Prince Mansion want servants? You just need to send these three in."

Wang Yanzhong's eyes roll; thinking carefully, he seems to have no other way at present.

He cannot just ignore his wife and child.

He can only agree for now, so he says: "Isn't this a small matter? I only hope the Member of the Gentry will not harm my wife and child."

Huang Yu is even more smug.

He is quite satisfied with his own methods; in the past, he has used this trick against opponents with great success.

"Hmm, then it depends on your performance," Huang Yu nods at the three ragged-looking young men, then turns and leaves.

Wang Yanzhong frowns, having no choice but to endure in the courtyard until dawn.

Early in the morning, he bites the bullet and takes the three of them to the Agency.

Before even entering the door, he sees Zhou Yi leading all the servants from the Agency toward the Prince Mansion.

The Agency is now an asset of the Prince Mansion.

Zhou Yi, who comes from the Yan Prince Mansion, shares control of the Agency with him and naturally has the authority to dispatch them.

Zhou Yi also sees Wang Yanzhong at this time and smiles: "His Highness urged me to send the servants to the Prince Mansion last night. Seeing you were not there, I made the decision myself."

Although he comes from the Prince Mansion,

he does not put on airs.

Having heard the words of Yan Wang, he dares not show any disrespect to Wang Yanzhong.

Then, his gaze lingers on the three people behind Wang Yanzhong, revealing a look of confusion.

Wang Yanzhong feels a wave of guilt in his heart.

Comparing the courteous treatment he received at the Yan Prince Mansion yesterday with being threatened by the Huang Family at night,

even a fool would understand who treats him like a human being.

It is just that his wife and child are in the hands of the Huang Family, and he cannot ignore them.

But to be coerced by Huang Yu into harming Yan Wang like this is truly not something he can bring himself to do; although he works in a lowly trade, he understands the principles of the world.

So, he smiles as if nothing is wrong and says: "These are three new servants I bought; let's send them together."

As he speaks, he begins to signal to Zhou Yi with his eyes.

Zhou Yi is a shrewd man; otherwise, Yan Wang would not have entrusted him with such important responsibilities.

He immediately sensed something was wrong, but remained calm and said with a smile, "That is perfect. The Prince's Mansion is currently in need of people, so bring them along as well."

The group arrived at the Prince's Mansion.

Zhou Yi temporarily arranged for the servants to stay in the West Courtyard.

Afterward, he and Wang Yanzhong headed to the East Courtyard to report to Yan Wang.

On the way, Zhou Yi asked, "Are those three people spies for the Rich Clan?"

In fact, he had been suspicious the moment he first saw those three.

After all, the timing was too coincidental.

Wang Yanzhong had already made his choice in his heart.

Kidnapping his wife and children to threaten him was enough to show the ruthlessness of Huang Yu.

Even if the task were completed, it was unknown whether Huang Yu would spare their lives.

It would be better to simply report the truth to Yan Wang; perhaps there might still be a glimmer of hope.

Most importantly, he had previously held a shred of fantasy regarding the Rich Clan of Yan Commandery.

Now, he felt even more strongly that this Yan Wang was the only one capable of tearing through the dark sky of Yan Commandery.

"That is correct. Once I see His Highness, I will tell him everything," Wang Yanzhong said with a solemn expression.

Soon, they entered the East Courtyard.

They saw Yan Wang, who was taking a walk in the courtyard.

The two men hurriedly stepped forward to salute.

"No need for formalities. Have the servants been brought here?" Zhao Xu asked.

Having accepted the Silver and agreed upon the delivery date, he was in urgent need of this batch of servants to set up the Wine Workshop.

"They have been brought," Zhou Yi said, then looked toward Wang Yanzhong.

From the moment he saw Wang Yanzhong, Zhao Xu had felt his expression was strange.

At this moment, he saw Wang Yanzhong suddenly kneel down and say in a deep voice, "Your Highness, please save my wife and children."

"What is going on?" Zhao Xu asked in surprise.

Wang Yanzhong then laid out the events of the evening and told them to Zhao Xu.

After hearing Wang Yanzhong's words, Zhao Xu laughed softly, "I said that these Rich Clan would certainly not behave themselves; I did not expect them to act so quickly."

Nodding slightly, he looked at Wang Yanzhong.

In this matter, Wang Yanzhong chose to trust the Prince's Mansion, which made him feel very gratified.

However, from this incident, it could also be seen that the Zhang Family and others were truly unpopular in Yan Commandery.

Since the hearts of the people were with him, perhaps he could act more boldly and deal with these few families sooner.

However, he understood that dealing with several families at once would be somewhat strenuous.

But picking them off one by one was worth a try.

Now that the Huang Family had delivered themselves to his doorstep, he might be able to prune this wing of the Zhang Family first.

Thus, he said, "Since you have chosen to trust me, I will certainly not let you lose your wife and children. We shall play along with their scheme and use this opportunity to eradicate the Huang Family."

"A counter-espionage strategy?" Wang Yanzhong's eyes lit up.

Zhao Xu smiled, "Since we have already seen through their conspiracy, this time we shall use their own conspiracy against them."