Chapter 1088: Open and Secret
"Holy Lord, Shao Yuanqing and I will go and distract the spies outside the General's Mansion. You wait here for a while, and when the noise outside fades away, you can take the opportunity to leave."

"Okay! We'll meet at Danfeng Garden. Be careful."

"Holy Lord, rest assured!"

After the discussion, Wuming and Shao Yuanqing, who were wearing black scarves and masks, bowed to Yun Zhuiyue, Si Wudao and Tang Xuan, and then walked eastward along the wall of the general's mansion until they reached the end of the darkness. Then they flew up and disappeared without a trace in the blink of an eye.

"Long Yu is arrogant and thinks highly of himself. He is becoming more and more disgusting."

Hearing Tang Xuan's complaint, Si Wudao chuckled and advised: "Brother Tang, don't be angry. Why should we bother with a 'madman'?"

"Long Yu has been rude to the Holy Lord repeatedly just now. I really can't swallow this anger." Tang Xuan said angrily, "Thinking back to when we were in Longxiang Mountain, who dared to boss the Holy Lord around? Even the Duan family of Dali had to show respect to the Holy Lord..."

"Things are different now. We are now in a situation where 'you have to bow your head when you are under someone's roof.'" Yun Zhuiyue interrupted Tang Xuan's complaints impatiently, "As the saying goes, 'if you ask for help from others, you will be controlled by them.' We can only blame our bad luck. Right now, we can only compromise and allow them to mock us. We can only... endure it."

"May I ask, Holy Lord, how long do we have to endure this?" Tang Xuan said angrily, "Are we going to endure this for a lifetime? Just now in front of those Mongolian Tartars, not to mention Shao Yuanqing was furious, even Tang... there were several times when I couldn't bear it anymore and almost took action."

"Don't worry, I won't let you endure it for too long." Yun Zhuiyue stared at the endless night sky and said quietly, "Although the darkness before dawn is hard to endure, it is very short. As long as you are patient, you will soon see the dawn."

"The Holy Lord means..."

"Tonight's efforts were not in vain. Yan Wuji has just agreed to my plan. I believe that the Mongolian Khan will not delve into the matter of the 'Eradication of Traitors Conference'. For us, we have already succeeded halfway." Yun Zhuiyue said in a secretive manner, "In the short term, the Mongolians will not trouble us again, because losing me means losing the opportunity to naturalize in the Central Plains martial arts world, and on the contrary, it will add tens of thousands of powerful enemies to the Mongolian army's southward march. Although Yan Wuji, Long Yu and others say that they don't care about the obstruction of the Jianghu forces, I also believe that the powerful Mongolian cavalry will eventually break through the city gates and capture Lin'an. But the war between countries is no joke. Even if the Mongolian army is far more powerful than the Song Dynasty, it must be fought with all its strength. We must be very careful and cautious. Whether the Central Plains martial arts world resists or not may not change the final outcome, but it can determine the price that Mongolia will have to pay to annex the Song Dynasty. If there is no resistance from the Central Plains martial arts world, relying solely on the military strength of the Song Dynasty... the Mongolian army may be able to march south with great momentum and be unstoppable. Otherwise, they will face a thorny situation and will inevitably be frustrated at every step. If I were the Mongolian Khan, I would also hope to exchange the smallest price for the greatest reward. Therefore, as long as Liu Xunyi is alive, they dare not have any evil intentions towards us. When the time is right, I will replace Liu Xunyi and take charge of the Central Plains martial arts world... By then, it will not be us begging the Mongols, but the Mongols begging us."

"I understand!" Si Wudao suddenly came to his senses and looked at Yun Zhuiyue with eyes full of admiration. "No wonder the Holy Lord deliberately did not cater to Yan Wuji's strategy. It turns out that he had a plan in place."

"I have no choice but to resort to this measure for self-protection. If we help them solve the troubles of the Central Plains martial arts world too early, and the Mongolian army marches south without fear, the cunning Yan Wuji will inevitably abandon us and get rid of us as we are no longer of any use to him." Yun Zhuiyue sneered, "Those who are not of our race must have different hearts. No matter how 'loyal' we appear, we are still 'outsiders' in the eyes of the Mongolian Khan and will never be as reliable as 'family members'."

"Fortunately, the Holy Lord has foresight and foresight, otherwise we wouldn't even know how we died." Tang Xuan sighed with lingering fear, "It seems... we have to be more wary of these hypocritical Tartars."

"In front of the imperial hegemony, we are ultimately just gangsters and will never be able to compete with them. Therefore, the only way to protect ourselves is to continuously improve our own value. The more valuable we are, the more they cannot abandon us, and the less they dare to offend us. Only in this way can Longxiang Mountain survive in the turbulent times and prosper forever."

"Holy Lord, please see!"

Yun Zhuiyue remained calm and said, "When we were talking to the Mongolians just now, did you notice anything strange?"

"Strange?" Si Wudao and Tang Xuan looked at each other, both of them were confused, "What's strange?"

“I don’t know…” Yun Zhuiyue narrowed her eyes slightly, as if she was carefully recalling the conversation just now. “I can’t tell what’s strange about it, but I always feel… something is wrong.”

"The Holy Lord means..."

"They have traveled thousands of miles to Luoyang City, are they really willing to leave empty-handed?" Yun Zhuiyue muttered to himself intermittently, "Do they... really trust me so much? Are they willing to be ordered around by me? Five thousand elite soldiers are no joke. It's a bit... hasty to just come and go as I please. It's completely different from the Mongolian cavalry who always make plans before making decisions and fight to the death."

"If they were really willing, they wouldn't have invited the Holy Lord to the General's Mansion overnight, and Yan Wuji and Long Yu wouldn't have played the good cop and the bad cop respectively..."

"No! No!" Yun Zhuiyue interrupted Tang Xuan's analysis absentmindedly, thinking, "I always feel that... the form of tonight's conversation is more important than the content, and the process is more important than the result. No matter how cold their attitudes are, how ugly their faces are, or how sharp their words are... they are just some insignificant details after all, and they have no actual actions to influence the development of the situation. Long Yu is a 'madman', and it is not surprising that he is moody. But Yan Wuji is a man who does great things, so why would he waste his energy on these messy little things?"

"What do you mean by this, Holy Lord?" Si Wudao frowned and asked in a confused manner, "Perhaps Yan Wuji was convinced by the Holy Lord's reasons, so he did not interfere too much with the Holy Lord's next decision..."

"He didn't say 'did not interfere too much', but 'did not interfere'." Yun Zhuiyue corrected him word by word, "Yan Wuji's method and attitude in solving this matter seem to be different from my impression of the Lord of Chifengling. Also! Sui Zuo led his army away in a hurry, but the three leaders of the Hu Ma Gang suddenly appeared in Luoyang City. Don't you think it's suspicious? According to Yan Wuji's explanation, the 'Eradication of Traitors Conference' has already failed, and there is no point for Sui Zuo to stay. Then why did Hu Zhen, Huo Biao, and Qiu Zheng come here?"

"This……"

After Yun Zhuiyue's repeated reminders, the confused Si Wudao and Tang Xuan finally discovered the problem, and their faces immediately became extremely ugly.

"Could it be that... they came to Luoyang City not only for the 'Eradication of Traitors Conference', but also for other purposes?" Si Wudao asked in disbelief, "If that's the case, then Yan Wuji deliberately hid it from us... what does that mean?"

Tang Xuan guessed hesitantly: "Yan Wuji mentioned Su He just now... and also mentioned Qin Wei. Could it be related to them?"

"It's hard to say!" "Will they target us? Should we send someone to monitor us..."

"No need!" Yun Zhuiyue resolutely rejected Tang Xuan's proposal. "The current situation is confusing. I am sure Yan Wuji would not dare to do anything against us. Besides, if he really wanted to deal with me, he would not have invited me to meet him tonight."

"That……"

"Forget it! Since Yan Wuji is playing dumb, there is no need for us to rush into this muddy water. After all, it is still unknown whether it will be a blessing or a disaster, so it is still the best strategy to wait and see."

"The Holy Lord is wise..."

"It's almost time, let's go!"

After saying that, Yun Zhuiyue, Si Wudao, and Tang Xuan, dressed in night clothes, jumped up and climbed over the courtyard wall silently. In the darkness, they turned into three ghostly afterimages and quickly flew towards the direction of Danfeng Garden.

"boom!"

In the side hall of the general's mansion, Huo Biao, with a livid face, slammed his palm on the table, causing a loud noise and shaking the teacups on the table to fall all over the place.

"Yun Zhuiyue's words are better than singing. What's 'adapting to the circumstances'? What's 'waiting for the right opportunity'? I think he is clearly 'nurturing the enemy for his own benefit'!" Huo Biao, with a frown on his face, could not help but curse, "Does he think that as long as Liu Xunyi is alive, the Khan and the prince will not dare to kill him? He is simply ignorant of the current situation..."

"That's enough!" Hu Zhen's face darkened and he said angrily, "What's the point of complaining? If you have the guts, go kill him?"

"Just go..."

"Stop it!" Yan Wuji waved his hand with helplessness in his eyes to interrupt the quarrel between the two. "It's come to this point, there's no point in saying more. If Yun Zhuiyue knows the depth of the situation, he will behave well this time and won't act on his own again. If he persists and continues to pretend to obey us but secretly disobey us... I believe the Khan will not tolerate him."

"Master Yan Ling, why did you mention Su He just now?" Hu Zhen glared at the angry Huo Biao fiercely, then turned to Yan Wuji and asked, "You clearly know that Su He has an upright character and will never help Yun Zhuiyue deal with Liu Xunyi, so why..."

"Of course I know that Su He is unwilling to be a 'traitor'. I just mentioned it in front of Yun Zhuiyue on purpose, just to test him and see if he really wants to kill Liu Xunyi." Yan Wuji smiled faintly, "Besides that, I also want to use Su He to eliminate Yun Zhuiyue's vigilance against us. After all, Su He was once the Khan's most respected person, and he came from Red Wind Ridge. If I didn't mention it at all and ignored him, it would be a bit abnormal and would inevitably make Yun Zhuiyue suspicious."

"I see……"

"Yun Zhuiyue intends to use the power of Liu Xunyi and the young king of Qin to deal with Jin Fuyu, then..." Having said this, Qiu Zheng looked around cautiously, as if he was worried that there were eavesdroppers. Seeing the curiosity on the faces of Yan Wuji and Hu Zhen, he lowered his voice and continued, "Then should we notify Sui Zuo as soon as possible and ask him to withdraw his troops..."

"Why withdraw troops?" Yan Wuji seemed puzzled by Qiu Zheng's thoughts, "Wouldn't it be better to have more protection?"

"If Sui Zuo gets rid of Jin Fuyu ahead of time... wouldn't that be a free benefit for Yun Zhuiyue?"

"you……"

"That's wrong!" Before Yan Wuji could explain, Hu Zhen spoke first, "Whether it's Yun Zhuiyue or Sui Zuo, they all serve the Khan. The overall situation is the most important thing. How can we be so petty?"

"My brother is right." Qiu Zheng realized belatedly that he had spoken out of turn, so he smiled awkwardly under Yan Wuji's scrutinizing gaze and said nothing more.

"Sui Zuo has his work, and I have mine." Long Yu stood up slowly, stretching his limbs lazily, and said nonchalantly, "If there is nothing else, I'll go first..."

"Long Yu, let Hu Zhen and the others go with you! They can help you at the critical moment..."

"It's just a small matter. Ya Kun and I can handle it. We don't need anyone's help." Long Yu glanced at Hu Zhen and the other two who were hesitant to speak with contempt, and said unscrupulously, "Especially these three, they are famous for causing trouble instead of doing anything. The Hu Ma Gang is getting worse day by day under their leadership. Help me? Haha, you should help them first!"

"Long Yu, you..."

Before the furious Hu Zhen and the other two could start to rebuke him, Long Yu, laughing loudly towards the sky, had already left the side hall and walked away accompanied by Ya Kun.

……

(End of this chapter)