Chapter 163: Peeling the Cocoon

The entire scene.

Dead silence.

Everyone, to the last person, looked at Wei Shao, who had arrived with the Yinzhou army, with expressions of terror, astonishment, and disbelief.

"Great Leader?"

"Big Brother!"

"Boss Wei!"

Many people cried out in succession, their faces showing joy; the scene was in an uproar. Just moments ago, these Baiya Army soldiers and martial artists had effectively resigned themselves to their fate...

Yet, the appearance of Wei Shao at this moment reignited the fire of hope in their hearts.

It must be said that Wei Shao's reputation in the martial world over these years was still quite resounding. Especially for these brothers of the Baiya Army, who had previously been driven into chaos by Yang Ke and harbored resentment over Wei Shao's constant desire to be granted amnesty. But now, they felt that only with Wei Shao present did the Baiya Army truly exist...

If he were not here, the Baiya Army would have scattered!

The backbone had returned!

Du Biao even cheered along with them.

Looking at Yang Ke's side, he stared at Wei Shao as if he had seen a ghost, his whole body trembling, making no effort to hide the psychological pressure Wei Shao brought upon him. He roared: "Impossible, impossible, how could you not be dead, how are you still alive! Impossible!"

The Yinzhou army pressed in, instantly surrounding the Baiya Garrison so tightly that not even water could leak through.

Zhang Chengjiang and Zhang Xiao were also wearing expressions of shock.

Wei Shao looked coldly at Yang Ke: "Second Leader seems very dissatisfied that I am alive... What, feeling that your painstaking schemes have come to nothing, you must be very unhappy inside, right?"

"You, you, you..."

Yang Ke still stared at Wei Shao in disbelief. He understood Wei Shao better than anyone; he knew that the Great Leader before him had climbed to his current position purely through personal charisma—where would he have any Strategy! Taking another look at the Yinzhou Tiger Tally in Wei Shao's hand, he suddenly shuddered all over and turned his head to look at Liu Zheng in horror.

Swish, swish, swish.

Others also looked toward Liu Zheng.

Liu Zheng, however, still wore a smile, saying not a word; from beginning to end, it had been this same smile.

But this made people feel even more hair-raising.

So, the reason he was not in the least bit panicked when facing imprisonment just now was because he had left himself a way out. So, this ten-year chess game set by Zhang Xiao had also long been within the calculations of this Prefect Liu?

Strategy!

Great talent!

Suddenly, these words popped into everyone's minds.

"Impossible, how is it possible... what on earth is going on!"

With his dirty deeds now exposed, Yang Ke had thought he had won a complete victory, but the arrival of Wei Shao and the Yinzhou army instantly cast him into Hell.

Liu Zheng smiled faintly: "Is it very difficult? Actually, from the day I entered the city and encountered the assassination, I felt something was wrong in my heart."

Yang Ke's face turned deathly pale: "How was it wrong? You lead a large army, the Baiya Garrison would be afraid of harming the innocent, so what if they assassinated you?"

Liu Zheng teased: "Liu Zheng prides himself on having no strength to truss a chicken; if someone were painstakingly trying to assassinate me, they would surely succeed in one blow. But that day, they left me openings to escape everywhere, and only at the end did I wait for you to come to the rescue—is that right or not?"

Yang Ke's expression changed drastically.

Zhang Xiao could not help but look over as well.

Who exactly is this Prefect Liu?

In this world, everyone thinks they are extraordinary; very few people can accurately dissect themselves from this angle. Who would call themselves someone with no strength to truss a chicken? Whenever anyone encounters such an assassination, the first thing they think is that their life is not meant to end, that they are gifted... very, very few, almost none, can so calmly position themselves so clearly.

"If you really wanted to assassinate me, you could have quenched the blades with poison, yet you didn't! Why?"

Liu Zheng smiled faintly: "Because you didn't want to kill me at all, you just wanted to intimidate me, or rather, you just wanted to push me into the Second Leader's camp, that is all!"

The whole scene went quiet.

Yang Ke trembled all over, looking at Liu Zheng with the eyes of someone looking at a monster: "Just because of this?"

"No!"

Liu Zheng continued to shake his head: "What truly made me suspicious was your horse farm."

"You keep saying you respect your Big Brother, yet why is your horse farm clearly larger in scale than anyone else's? That is because you are unwilling to settle!"

"You cannot disguise, you cannot hide that unwillingness!"

"That is because you have always wanted to be the leader of the Baiya Army, but you have always been biding your time!"

"It is that long-term unwillingness that made you vent in this area. If you truly didn't want to be the leader, if you truly always respected the Great Leader, you would definitely not dare to overstep in the slightest within the complex Baiya Army! Yet you possess the largest horse farm in the Baiya Army, and you deliberately provoked the hatred of Wei Rong, all while putting on a show of protecting your brothers..."

"Doesn't the Second Leader think your acting is a bit over the top?"

Liu Zheng looked at him coldly: "If you really didn't dare to provoke even Wei Rong, why put so much effort into the horse farm?"

"Time and again, you provoke others' hatred on one hand, while acting righteous and long-suffering on the other. I can almost imagine that you haven't done this just once within the Baiya Army. This is what caused many brothers in the Baiya Army to follow you without hesitation, including Brother Du!"

The whole scene was in an uproar.

Many people finally saw Yang Ke's true face and began to curse him one after another.

Du Biao's face turned even darker.

That's right, he was the one who had been bewitched by this Yang Ke all these years. Only today did he realize that the biggest tumor of the Baiya Army was this Yang Ke!

"You, you, you..."

Yang Ke looked horrified.

Everyone at the scene also looked at each other in dismay.

Zhang Xiao looked at Liu Zheng in disbelief and asked: "But that was only suspicion..."

Liu Zheng smiled and snapped his fingers: "That's right, only suspicion, but it was enough for me to launch an investigation into Yang Ke, wasn't it?"

He turned around abruptly and stared coldly at Yang Ke: "Yang Ke, a native of Runan, not born White-clothed; your father was a Powerful Clan in Runan, and you read many books from a young age, having some reputation for talent, respected by the villagers. Yet ten years ago, you met with disaster, becoming a slave, and later turned to banditry, joining Baiya..."

"What is wrong with that?"

Zhang Xiao said coldly.

Liu Zheng laughed heartily: "Yes, a very standard version of falling into banditry. I suppose there are many such stories within the Baiya Army..."

"However..."

"Yang Ke was a proper man, recommended as a Filial and Incorrupt official, a man of talent with a bright career ahead, yet he suddenly met with this disaster."

"If one says that years ago, his joining the Baiya Army was an expedient measure."

"But I sent men to Runan to investigate secretly, only to learn that five years later, he suddenly shed his slave status and returned to officialdom, and the elders back home in Runan were also secretly settled by him. If I am not mistaken, this must have been mediated by the eldest daughter of the Zhang family. I can conclude that ten years ago, Yang Ke must have been working diligently and striving for success within the Baiya Army, harboring a family vendetta and attempting to prove himself, and indeed, he succeeded..."

"But five years ago, he began to change!"

Yang Ke's eyes were bloodshot, his fists tightly clenched.

Liu Zheng stared at him intensely: "He first built this Baiya Palace, bewitching his brothers into extravagance and debauchery, and then amassed wealth himself, purchasing shops in this city and establishing secret outposts to satisfy his own selfish desires, all because you were seeking that former sense of achievement and satisfaction! You were once an official; if you could truly return to your former glory, who wouldn't want to, right? Since ancient times, those who have received imperial favor have always been the vested interests. If there were truly a chance to return to that position, who would be content to remain a mere bandit forever?"

"Therefore!"

"Within this Baiya Army, the one who truly wants to be granted amnesty is not Wei Shao, but you! You have been using the excuse of Wei Shao wanting amnesty to bewitch people's hearts and win them over. From beginning to end, the black sheep of this Baiya Army is you!"

"Yang Ke!"

Yang Ke was struck as if by a thunderbolt, falling dejectedly from his horse. He looked at Liu Zheng with a vicious gaze: "Impossible, impossible, the one who has always wanted to be granted amnesty is Wei Shao, it is him!"

Du Biao also said: "Brother Liu, the eldest brother has indeed said this..."

Liu Zheng laughed heartily: "So you still haven't understood?"

"Yang Ke wants to use you one hundred and eight brothers, and this horse ranch, to trade for his own future!"

"Whereas Wei Shao has no need to do such a thing!"

"He wants to use his own ability to clear the names of his brothers; this is the fundamental difference!"

"Preposterous!"

"Nonsense!"

"Why does he not need to?"

Yang Ke roared, pointing his finger at Wei Shao: "He is the one who has always been obsessed with being granted amnesty, why can he do it, and I cannot?"

Zhang Xiao also looked at Liu Zheng.

Everyone also looked at Liu Zheng and Wei Shao.

They needed an explanation.

"Because of me!"

Suddenly, at this moment, another group of troops arrived slowly.

Everyone turned to look.

The person who arrived was none other than the Prince of Wei!