Chapter 486: Up and Down

"Teacher, over at the Academy, it should have already been accomplished."

The young man said softly behind Yuan Qingming.

Only then did Yuan Qingming chuckle and nod: "The current situation in Jinghua is complex and deeply intertwined... If this spreads, it will surely offend the Crown Prince's faction."

"Difficult, difficult!"

He picked up that cup of broken tea, laughed heartily, and gulped it down.

His gaze still lingered on that star in the northwest corner of the Star Plate.

Prefect Liu...

Prefect Liu...

Everyone in the world knows that the Emperor wants to settle accounts with you.

Then you will certainly rise up in resistance.

To avoid the suffering of the masses and turmoil in the court and the wild... I, who have never met you, can only block you outside Jinghua...

He had seen the Cloud Platform of Shu Yi'an in Wangbei before.

Even if this Prefect Liu is a monster, he can at least be locked up for a month, right?

One month...

That is enough.

Thinking of this, he was in a great mood.

"Teacher, Teacher, more people are coming, more people are coming..."

Yuan Qingming waved his hand and stood up, his bearing refined and ethereal, his temperament extraordinary.

He was beaming with joy and high spirits, laughing loudly: "No more blocking, let's take the back door, let's go, let's go, follow me to the Eight Great Hutongs..."

"This, this, this, what is going on?"

"Heavens..."

"This..."

The group from the Academy were all dumbfounded at this moment.

How is this mechanism on the Cloud Platform going up and down like this?

Situ Kong was dumbfounded.

Mo Chen was dumbfounded.

Jie Yu was also dumbfounded.

Everyone was stunned at this moment.

"Third Senior Brother, can our mechanism withstand being played with like this?"

As if possessed, Jie Yu asked secretly.

Mo Chen glared at her; he was worried about this problem too, alright...

"It's up, it's up!"

"It's down again, it's down again!"

The whole crowd followed the rhythm, shouting, roaring, and screaming, one after another.

Qin Zhangfeng, however, watched with a faint smile on his face.

The Young Master is the Young Master; wherever he goes, he is the most dazzling one...

Hearing Liu Zheng's words, Wang Chao chuckled: "The evil of poppy has already been suffered by Chen Ran, but today the Nanzhao Army suddenly went up the mountain; Prefect Liu must have seen it. Does Prefect Liu not think that you have caused disaster for Liangshan again?"

His hand moved.

The two men's chessboard instantly turned into the Greedy Wolf Star Plate! With black and white crisscrossing, it was a different scene entirely.

The Nanzhao Army of the Southern Barbarians was now like a sharp sword hanging in the air.

Boom—

Killing Chen Ran and drawing in the Nanzhao Army had added some more evil karma to Liu Zheng.

Liu Zheng, however, smiled faintly and looked at Wang Chao with interest: "Dean, what you are worried about is not Liangshan, but the Academy, right? Are you afraid the Academy will be harassed by the Nanzhao Army? Look at you, having this concern, wouldn't it have been better to say it earlier? Why add more evil to me..."

"You, you, you..."

Wang Chao was so angry he almost vomited blood.

Liu Zheng laughed heartily, picked up a piece, and placed it calmly on this Greedy Wolf Star Plate, at the boundary between Liangshan and the Nanzhao Army.

He continued: "Before I came to the Academy from Liangshan, I gave Huobu Quli a few tasks."

"Oh?"

Wang Chao was taken aback.

Liu Zheng said calmly: "First, stabilize Liangshan and proclaim the religion. Unify the faith, and integrate politics with religion."

Wang Chao nodded.

"Second, plant poppy, control poppy, recruit the Horse Gang, and enter Nanzhao!"

"What?"

Hearing this, Wang Chao's expression changed drastically, and he could no longer help but stand up.

Liu Zheng placed a piece down.

It was as if thunder had erupted.

"Pursue!"

"Give chase!"

Deep in the mountains of Liangshan, a pursuit was currently unfolding. Huobu Zhuoli, the younger brother of Huobu Quli, was now a general of Liangshan. Following the guidance of Prefect Liu, he had begun clearing out the Horse Gangs hidden throughout Liangshan ever since the great war had just concluded!

The Horse Gangs!

These were entities created by Naibao Rize specifically to help transport opium through Liangshan! Historically, these Horse Gangs were no ordinary figures. This was a unique mode of transportation in the Southwest region; facing treacherous and ever-changing environments, they lived and died together, possessing their own organizations and rules through a special way of survival. They were also armed forces, and in the territory from Liangshan to Yunnan, the existence of these people was enough to be called a powerful living force.

Since the death of Naibao, these people had naturally become leaderless bandits.

They must be taken down!

These past few days.

Huobu Zhuoli had already felt it.

These people, within this Liangshan, were simply like slippery loaches that could not be caught!

They were too good at running!

They were too familiar with the terrain of this Liangshan.

Today.

He had finally managed to track down the main camp of this Horse Gang! However, he had already been fighting them for three days, suffering many casualties, yet he still could not take them down.

"General, aren't we supposed to recruit them to surrender? This..."

Someone said from the side.

Huobu Zhuoli laughed heartily: "The prerequisite for recruiting surrender is to defeat them! Now that we are evenly matched, how can we recruit them?"

"Fight!"

"Keep fighting for me; once they are scattered, then we will go and recruit them!"

"Yes!"

The flames of war and smoke continued without ceasing.

Yet, as the Great Trend dictated, the clearing of the Horse Gangs was only a matter of time.

"You, you, you..."

Wang Chao was so frightened he stood up.

This time, people already knew what that opium was. Regarding this poison, everyone's opinion was basically to burn it all! Who could have imagined that this Prefect Liu would actually want to grow it, and on a large scale at that!

Not only that...

He even wanted to use this opium to poison Nanzhao!

Vicious!

This scheme was too vicious!

That was something that could erode bones and dissolve souls, something that could make people lose their fighting spirit, something that could destroy a country!

Liu Zheng chuckled: "Does this count as Great Evil?"

That's right!

He wanted to take down that gang and sell the opium to Nanzhao, and even further south!

He wanted to learn from the East India Company of later generations and turn this opium into a sharp blade in his own hands, a means of colonization!

Is it vicious?

Yes, very vicious!

But he knew that in the near future—no, calculating by time, the current Netherlands East India Company should have already been established. Following that, as Britain rose, the British East India Company would emerge as the times required.

The Great Trend is unstoppable.

If not for him, the Longyan Dynasty would certainly suffer from the poison of opium.

Then why...

Could he not take a step ahead and keep this Bone-Eating Poison under his own control?

Nanzhao?

He had never taken them seriously; he didn't even bother to mobilize the Liangzhou Army to annihilate them.

"This, this, this..."

Wang Chao was so frightened that cold sweat broke out.

Who would have thought.

Liu Zheng chuckled: "Thirdly..."

There was a third point?

Wang Chao's eyelids twitched.