Chapter 488

The words Fang La spoke were undoubtedly very polished; he both boasted about the faction where the Night Watchman belonged and attempted to inquire whether the Night Watchman had already extended their reach into remote grassland factions like his own.

Fang La wanted to deduce just how vast the power of the Night Watchman’s faction was from these fragmented pieces of information.

And because Fang La was now presenting such a humble appearance, no one could find any fault in him, so he was not afraid that the Night Watchman would blame him.

Hearing Fang La’s words, the Night Watchman merely smiled lightly.

"The reason we guessed that the Turks would attack the Great Tang was simply a thought we had after reflecting on the information in our hands."

"As for whether our faction has anyone among the Turks, I am not clear on that; I am only responsible for the tasks in my hands."

"If it weren't for the fact that your side has a partnership with the Liang Shan faction, I wouldn't even know that we had people on the Liang Shan side."

The Night Watchman on Fang La’s side said this to him with a smile; the words he spoke actually contained no useful information, at most letting Fang La know that the discipline within their organization was extremely strict.

This was also his way of hinting to Fang La not to think about asking for information related to their faction from his mouth in the future.

Upon hearing the Night Watchman’s words, a flash of astonishment appeared in Fang La’s eyes; originally, Fang La had thought that this mysterious person within his faction must also be a big shot in their original organization.

But now, after hearing what the Night Watchman said, it seemed that the Night Watchman who had come to Fang La’s side might only be a small figure in their organization.

This could be seen from the limited information he knew and the strict discipline he had to follow.

Seeing the reply from the Night Watchman on Fang La’s side, Zhan Zhao was very clever and stopped trying to inquire about the faction behind the Night Watchman on their side.

Instead, he began to think about the issue of their Liang Shan and Fang La’s combined armies facing the Northern Song in the future.

Subsequently, Zhan Zhao turned his head to look at the Night Watchman behind him who represented the Liang Shan side.

"Since the Great Tang’s army is about to withdraw back to the Great Tang."

"Should we also let the soldiers prepare to continue the matter of attacking the Northern Song?"

Zhan Zhao said to the Night Watchman on the Liang Shan side while thinking.

After the various events that had occurred over this period, Zhan Zhao had become somewhat reliant on the Night Watchman by his side.

After all, whether it was his rise to Liang Shan or the Great Tang army forcing their Liang Shan and Fang La factions into a desperate situation, it was this mysterious Night Watchman before him who had thought of the solutions for them.

It could be said that the reason the two factions of Fang La and Liang Shan were able to reach their current vast scale had an inseparable connection to the Night Watchman.

And the reason Zhan Zhao was so anxious to send troops against the Northern Song was still because of his original intention.

Zhan Zhao’s resistance against the Northern Song was not because he wanted to sit on the throne that represented the center of power.

It was because he did not want to see the suffering of the Northern Song people; now, in the territories occupied by their Liang Shan, the lives of the people were many times better than they had been under the previous Great Song rule—at the very least, there were no more people starving to death.

As for the territories ruled by the Northern Song, because the imperial court had to defend against attacks from all sides, those local powerful clans were still plundering the people’s living resources.

Zhan Zhao wanted to quickly rescue those people living in dire straits.

Hearing Zhan Zhao’s words, the Night Watchman before him shook his head.

"I know you are very anxious right now."

"However, now is not the time; we can wait until the Northern Song’s army and the Great Jin’s army have fought each other to a standstill before we strike."

"By then, we will reduce casualties significantly; after all, you wouldn't want to see the brothers behind you die on the battlefield because of one of your decisions, would you?"

The Night Watchman said to Zhan Zhao very slowly.

Hearing the Night Watchman’s words, a deep sense of complexity appeared in Zhan Zhao’s eyes; he then let out a slight sigh and closed his eyes.

Indeed, in Zhan Zhao’s heart, he was very anxious to save those people living in dire straits, but he could not use the lives of the brothers behind him as a gamble for his own personal interests.

In the capital of the Great Han.

Nine months had passed since the Great Han imperial family’s guardian, Wang Yao Yue, had defied the heavens to change the fate of Emperor Ling of Han, Liu Hong, by exhausting his own powerful life force and internal energy, allowing Liu Hong to borrow one year of time from the Heavenly Dao.

Now, only the final three short months remained of the one-year lifespan Emperor Ling of Han, Liu Hong, had borrowed.

As time passed very quickly over Emperor Ling of Han, Liu Hong, and the one-year deadline drew closer, Emperor Ling of Han, Liu Hong’s temper became increasingly irritable.

Whether it was psychological or if his body was truly slowly changing as the one-year mark approached, Liu Hong felt himself becoming increasingly weak.

Compared to when he had just obtained the one-year lifespan, Liu Hong now felt his body aging at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Whether it was his reaction speed or his strength, he felt they were no longer as powerful as they had been when he first obtained the lifespan.

"What to do??? What on earth should I do????"

Liu Hong paced back and forth in the palace where he rested, like an ant on a hot pan.

"The empire is so beautiful; I don't want to die! I cannot die!"

He muttered to himself as if he were possessed.

Subsequently, Liu Hong smashed the items in his bedchamber to pieces, and the eunuchs serving him were so terrified that they knelt down, burying their heads firmly into the ground.

They did not want to touch Liu Hong’s fury at this moment, and these eunuchs dared not believe the things Liu Hong said about his deadline approaching and not wanting to die; they even wanted to plug their own ears.

Although these eunuchs did not understand why Emperor Ling of Han, Liu Hong, who was clearly as vigorous as a tiger, was constantly worrying about his own lifespan.

However, these were not things they could ponder.

After all, in the recent period, Liu Hong’s temper had become very irritable, and any eunuch or palace maid he found even slightly displeasing had already been executed by Liu Hong.

Now, throughout the entire palace, no one dared to provoke Liu Hong.

And Emperor Ling of Han, Liu Hong himself, had been thinking of nothing but the fact that the one-year deadline was almost up for the past while.

Whenever he thought of what Wang Yao Yue had once told him—that when the year was up, his body would be unable to withstand the powerful life force Wang Yao Yue had transferred to him and would explode, leaving no corpse behind—Liu Hong felt extreme terror.

Furthermore, his heart was also in great torment.

After all, the most terrifying thing for anyone is not sudden death, but knowing the specific time of one's death and having no way to do anything but wait quietly.

This period of waiting was enough to drive a person with a strong mind insane.

And it was precisely because of this inner torment that Liu Hong no longer had the heart to care about the life or death of the Great Han.