Chapter 454: The So-Called Truth

When Xie Zhen saw Liu Zheng, his entire complexion changed, but this panicked look flashed away, and the expression on his face was replaced by joy: "Second Brother, Second Brother, it is good that you are unharmed, it is good that you are unharmed. Just now, this Mandarin thought..."

Liu Zheng smiled faintly and asked, "Brother thinks that the one who should have been burned to death by the great fire at this time was me, right?"

Hearing Liu Zheng's unfriendly tone, Xie Zhen frowned slightly: "Second Brother, this brother arrived to provide reinforcements a bit late... but..."

Liu Zheng laughed: "Arrived to provide reinforcements a bit late? When Brother said these words, did you think of the brothers who followed you and were bitten by these mosquitoes for an entire night?"

He stood on the high building and pointed at the Shu Army below.

Xie Zhen's complexion changed immediately.

Was it reinforcements? Or had they been lying in ambush not far away for a long time? At this moment, looking at the traces of mosquito bites on the arms of these Shu Army soldiers, one could tell... If they had been on a forced march the whole time, it would naturally be impossible for so many mosquito bite marks to appear on their bodies.

If they appeared, it could only explain one problem!

They had been lying in ambush in the mountain forest for a whole night!

Or rather, they had calculated the time to come out!

Liu Zheng believed that they had heard the intense, continuous explosions and then, unable to wait, wanted to come over to harvest the battlefield... It was just that Xie Zhen had not expected that the one standing here, having achieved victory, would be him.

"Second Brother, what does this mean? This brother traveled through the night to come and reinforce you, and you actually..."

Xie Zhen's face darkened, and he became somewhat displeased.

Over at the farm, it was still burning fiercely.

Shama Zhuoyi and Naibao Rize had also already become ghosts within the fire.

Xie Zhen could not help but let his eyes flicker; could it be that the Nanzhao Army had all died inside?

Liu Zheng chuckled: "Brother, does the truth still need me to say it? Firstly, I did not ask you for reinforcements; how did you know there would be a great battle here tonight? Secondly, why did the army of Naibao Rize arrive early? The Butuo region is controlled by the Big Trouser-Legs and is the only path from Chuan Shu to Qiongdou. His early arrival can only have two reasons: someone urged him in advance, or someone helped him change to backup horses! In the Liangshan of this time, or rather, the Chuan Shu of this time, who could accomplish this?"

Xie Zhen's complexion turned gloomy in an instant.

"Furthermore..."

Liu Zheng continued to smile: "Before coming, Liu Zheng did not know about this matter of the Liangshan opium... Coincidentally, Brother, you also never mentioned it."

"But..."

"As the Prince of Shu, does Brother really not know anything about it?"

Three consecutive questions.

Xie Zhen's face was as heavy as water, and he clenched his fists.

"Good for you, Prince of Shu! My young master helped you obtain the throne, yet you actually want to scheme against my young master!"

Qin Zhangfeng immediately shouted in anger.

Cheng Kai and the others were also cursing loudly.

The Shu Army over there confronted them one after another. The two sides were almost on the verge of a major conflict.

The Prince of Shu waved his hand, and the scene finally quieted down.

Everyone was looking at him, waiting for his explanation, or perhaps a rebuttal...

However...

He did not.

He only gave a self-deprecating smile: "There is no one in the world who does not know Prefect Liu; these words are indeed true. But this Mandarin wants to know... how did you find out? This Mandarin considered that this Mandarin had done it flawlessly..."

The entire crowd was in an uproar.

This meant that the Prince of Shu had not denied Liu Zheng's conjecture. He had admitted it directly on the spot!

While Jie Yu was stunned, she also looked at Liu Zheng at the same time.

She also wanted to know... how did he find out?

One must know that she had used the various calculation powers of the Great Archive Technique to arrive at the final result: that this Nanzhao Kingdom had a secret deal with the Prince of Shu! That was why she had run down the mountain without stopping to find Liu Zheng and tell him this news.

She did not expect...

When the two were betting, the words written on the slips of paper were both, shockingly, "Prince of Shu"!

At that time, she had been very astonished; how did he know?

Liu Zheng smiled and slowly took a small piece of cloth out of his pocket.

Hundreds of thousands of people in the crowd looked over at the same time.

This was a very ordinary piece of cloth; one could not see anything suspicious about it at all. But when Xie Zhen took a close look, his face changed drastically, and his mouth trembled.

Liu Zheng chuckled: "I found this at Shama Zhuoyi's house. Strange, isn't it? High-quality Cloud Brocade from the Luo family of Suzhou actually appearing in the Liangshan region? And as luck would have it, I happened to get this piece with the pattern of a Gold Fish Bag!"

The entire crowd was shocked.

Cloud Brocade?

There was naturally no need to say what this was; it was one of the top fabrics in ancient times. It had the saying "an inch of land, an inch of gold." Since ancient times, it had been exclusively used for official robes! In the history of textiles in Zhongguo, it was a milestone, even an existence that could not be surpassed.

One of the four famous brocades of Zhongguo.

Its preciousness was beyond words.

Who among ordinary families could afford to use this kind of fabric?

Let alone these people of Liangshan?

And then, let's talk about this Gold Fish Bag!

In the Longyan Dynasty, the Gold Fish Bag was a symbol of official robes, and it was for the purple robes of third-rank officials in the court, and second-rank officials outside the court! Purple Cloud Brocade, Gold Fish Bag—the answer to where this item came from was obvious. Of course, it was not the Prince of Shu's...

This was the official robe that the Prince of Shu had bestowed upon Shama Zhuoyi!

Why did Liu Zheng not think it was given by someone else, such as the Third Prince, Xie Ling?

It was very simple.

Even if Xie Ling were involved in this matter, as a current prince, he could not bestow an official rank as high as the third rank. Within the borders of Chuan Shu, only the Prince of Shu could bestow an official rank of this grade, and there was only one such position: the Southern Border Jiedushi!

As everyone knows.

Because of historical reasons, the Southern Border Jiedushi had long since ceased to exist.

The former Southern Border Jiedushi was stationed in Qiongdou, governing the entire Southern Barbarian Lands.

Later, the Longyan Dynasty imperial court grew exhausted and its reach could not extend so far, so this Southern Protectorate naturally became a mere formality. Coupled with the existence of the Prince of Shu, this Southern Border Jiedushi position seemed dispensable, and in the end, the Prince of Shu simply held the position concurrently.

If this kind of thing could appear in Shama Zhuoyi's home, then there is only one possibility.

It was given by the Prince of Shu; the Prince of Shu must have promised to grant Shama Zhuoyi a promotion and a title to make him submit to him.

Then, what kind of relationship would make them so intimate?

What kind of intimate relationship would make the Prince of Shu give him the official rank of a second-rank Jiedushi?

Is it possible there is no trickery involved?

Shama Zhuoyi certainly would not keep this kind of thing with him at all times, so when the great battle occurred in haste that day, he was defeated at the first opportunity and retreated to the Yuexi Plain. He must have ordered this Purple Robe to be destroyed, but the Liangzhou Army took control of Qiongdou too quickly, and in the panic, it was not destroyed completely... or perhaps Shama Zhuoyi truly dreamed of being the Southern Border Jiedushi of the Longyan Dynasty, so until it was absolutely necessary, his family did not thoroughly destroy this Purple Robe.

Regardless of how it happened.

This piece of cloth was still found by Liu Zheng in a corner.

At that time, he already suspected that someone in Chuan Shu was involved in this matter.

Xie Zhen said coldly: "Even with this Purple Robe, are you certain it is me? Why not Xie Yang? It was he who led the troops into Chuan Shu, was it not?"

Hearing this, Liu Zheng clapped his hands and laughed: "The fun part of the matter lies exactly here..."

【Author's Note】

Ahhhhh, I definitely published the third chapter, but it has been under review the whole time. I really did not break my promise. This is the fourth chapter. But I still haven't written about the Academy; I'm impressed with myself. I'll get up and continue tomorrow. 1:30 AM...