The Emperor of the Three Realms

chapter 71

When Wen Ziqi saw that Jiang Chen had recognized her, she felt shame in her heart as well as a kind of sweet excitement.    

Gathering the courage she got from somewhere, this shy, blushing young girl gathered up her courage and spoke in a low voice like a mosquito, “I heard you were recruiting your personal bodyguards, you know, so I rushed to see if I could help you.”    

Princess Gouyu had harnessed the power of the royal family to announce this news widely throughout the region. Jiang Chen had not expected that Wen Ziqi would travel this far away from far, far away.    

Judging from his body covered in street dust, he must have left as soon as he heard the news.    

Jiang Chen paused for a moment and asked, “Did your esteemed master approve of you coming?”    

When his esteemed teacher was mentioned, Wen Ziqi's body trembled slightly. His right hand lightly twisted the bottom of his shirt, his fingers twisting each other and looking as if he was going through a conflict.    

Jiang Chen smiled involuntarily. It seemed like Wen Ziqi was sneaking behind the back of her esteemed master.    

Wen Ziqi hurriedly spoke as she looked at Jiang Chen's smile, “Esteemed master won't stop me even if he finds out. He loves me the most.”    

Jiang Chen nodded. “Ah well, I happen to be short of one person here. If Miss Ziqi does not feel that it is below you, then you can fill this place.”    

"really?" Wen Ziqi was overjoyed to hear these words. He was always worried that he would be late, worried that all the places would be filled up and there would be no place for him.    

Who would have thought he would arrive just in time for the last place.    

Jiang Tong smiled as he looked at the gentle and delicate Wen Ziqi, “Chen'er, do you know this young lady?”    

“Mm. We were acquainted with each other on that day when I was carrying out my mission in the Tianhu region. We've met a few times now. His identity and personality are quite reliable.”    

“Alright, since the case is like this, we have managed to decide on all eight of those places.” Jiang Tong also sighed in relief. He was not satisfied with any proposal for last place.    

Of course it was best that someone Jiang Chen approved could fill that position.    

“Chen'er, they say that an acquaintance should not sow discord among close friends. You would rather recruit an outsider than have your uncle's son. Where's logic? Did I, your aunt, offend you?”    

As Jiang Chen spoke, a woman dressed in plush and thick clothes quickly ran in front of Jiang Chen and began to complain to him.    

Jiang Chen recognized this woman from his past memories. She was supposed to be her aunt, and Lan Yizhou's biological mother.    

“Aibi, Uncle is a proud chieftain, cousin Yizhou's younger brother will be able to make himself famous in other ways besides being my personal bodyguard. Why not give this opportunity to those who need it more?”    

Jiang Chen had to persuade him well since he had no desire to get involved with a sly person.    

“So what if he's a great leader? It can only be passed down to one boy, then the fortune and prosperity of the second child will just disappear. If he stays near you, it will only be a word from you to give a tribe to your cousin Yizhou to rule when you become the future duke. Chen'er, let me tell you something. Your uncle spent a lot of effort taking care of your mother before she got married. Now that your mother isn't here, seeing your aunt is the same as seeing your mother. Even though Yizhou is your cousin, what is the difference between him and your younger brother? You can't ignore the problem. Can you hold..”    

“Aibi, Yizhou's younger cousin only has five meridians of true qi. I was powerless to take action even though I had thoughts of helping him achieve his goals. I will not be able to complete my mission satisfactorily. If you love this nephew, Auntie, surely you will not let me suffer defeat in the Hidden Dragon Trials? If I am defeated, then how can Uncle maintain his position as a great leader?”    

“eh?” The woman was momentarily stunned to hear that her husband might not be able to maintain his position as the great chieftain.    

Jiang Chen smiled and took this opportunity to leave.    

Jiang Tong announced the list of candidates at the scene.    

“Guo Jin from the capital, the direct grandson of the royal teacher, Guo Shun.    

Qiao Shan, Qiao Chuan, nephew of the third hall master of the Healing Hall.    

Wen Ziqi from the Star Argus Palace in Tianhu territory, an old acquaintance with the young duke Jiang Chen.    

Xue Tong, Yinglan Tribe in Jiang Han territory, cousin of the young duke's maternal side.    

Ke Mu, the Summer Tribe in the Jiang Han territory, six meridians true qi.    

Shen Yifan, the Jade Dragon Tribe in the Jiang Han territory, six meridians true qi.    

Bi Yun, Iron Mountain Tribe in Jiang Han territory, six meridians true qi.”    

The recruitment meeting was completed when Jiang Tong finished his announcement. Many families whose sons were not chosen were all secretly saddened.    

They had a great chance, but failed to take advantage of it.    

“Will the heads of the ten great tribes stop by the ducal palace to have a banquet. Families of other small tribes were repatriated. Travel back to your area without lingering.” Jiang Tong said it afterwards.    

The convergence of all the forces in River Wave City was also a latent danger to the city. Since the mission was completed, they naturally had to disperse.    

Other than Jing Man, the heads of the ten great tribes were all present. Of course they would not let go of the chance to mend the relationship when they heard that the duke's palace was even throwing a party for them.    

Except, the nine chieftains were all curious as to why the chief of the Redbud Tribe, Jing Man, was nowhere to be seen when the name of the duke had been mentioned?    

This Jing Man was usually very domineering, but this time he dared to defy the duke's name blatantly? This is really outrageous!    

We must know that if a tribe violates the duke's orders, then they will be punished!    

The chieftains brought these doubts to the feast. Other than young duke Jiang Chen, all the elders of the Jiang family, including Jiang Tong, were present.    

Jiang Chen personally raised his glass as he one by one looked into the eyes of all the chieftains with a cold gaze, showing the relaxed confidence of superiority that flowed through his eyes.    

All the chieftains felt a cold tremor creeping down their backs as they were swept away by Jiang Chen's gaze. They felt a vague hint of something big about to happen.    

“Jing Man disrespected his superiors and had come to the ducal palace several times to behave wildly. He even dared to openly challenge the duke's authority this time around. He has been arrested on my orders and detained secretly!”    

"What?"    

“Jing Man, secretly detained?”    

This news also caused the faces of the chieftains, rulers in their own territory, to change drastically.    

This is Jing Man! In the entire Jiang Han territory, Jing Man was the best in terms of dominating. Other than Jiang Feng being able to suppress this person, even the other chieftains had to show a certain weakness before him.    

Even Jiang Feng, the Duke of Jiang Han, had to think twice before taking action against Jing Man. However the young duke had taken Jing Man without the slightest change in his voice or composure.    

"Good job! This Jing Man has always dominated indefinitely, and his reputation is very bad among all the big tribes!” The first one to speak up was of course the chief of the Yinglan Tribe, Jiang Chen's uncle, Lan Tianji.    

“True, this is not the first time Jing Man went to the ducal palace to behave cruelly and make a fuss. He received a fair dessert for being punished. Something will definitely happen sooner or later if he is not dealt with.”    

“The young Duke is brilliant and wise! However the influence of the Jing family of the Redbud Tribe was widespread and wide-reaching. Ever since Jing Man was captured, the Jing family and local forces will most likely cause trouble.”    

Jiang Chen smiled faintly. “This is why I called you here. The Jing Family had been able to become tyrants for a long time, partly because they were truly powerful local forces, and partly because they did quite a lot of business. Moreover, the land with spirit veins in our Jiang Han territory passed through their tribal lands.”    

All the great leaders nodded and looked at Jiang Chen with fresh eyes. How could this be the young duke they knew? How could this be a useless waste?    

This was truly a wolf in sheep's clothing, and a noble son who played the political game very well!    

They finally believed at this moment that Jiang Chen had actually been playing around to confuse others before. This kid has most likely been eyeing the first rank Duke since he was a child!    

They misjudged him. Everyone was acknowledging it in their hearts now. They had completely misjudged the young duke Jiang Chen.    

Jiang Chen watched the appearance of these people from the corner of his eyes, but said unhurriedly and not too slowly, “I'm not interested in words that express your loyalty. I am just saying this, this time, each tribe must send fifty thousand people and horses. The Duke's palace will send a force of one hundred thousand men. We will ambush the Redbud Tribe as fast as thunder, leaving someone with no time to cover their ears. We must sweep away all remaining Jing Man confederations.”    

Taking evil out of its roots makes sense. The leaders were not surprised.    

“After the remaining confederation of the Jing family is annihilated, I will send Elder Xi to personally oversee the Redbud Tribe territory. I will also take twenty percent of the profits from the land with vigor and divide them evenly among the nine tribes.    

If his previous words could be branded as coercion, then that twenty percent gain was temptation.    

Coercion and the promise of profit, both carrot and stick, are present.    

How can great leaders defend against this? Chief Lan Tianji of the Yinglan Tribe was the first to declare, “I, the Yinglan Tribe, will protect and support the Jiang family to death! We are willing to fight those traitors to the death!”    

“We are willing to combine our strength with the ducal palace and exterminate the traitors!”    

The ten great tribes in the Jiang Han territory had competed with each other, with the Redbud Tribe ruling over everyone. This situation had been going on for many years, and Jing Man was extremely domineering.    

Under these circumstances, these people would most likely add insult by dropping stones into the well even without coercion and temptation, especially if there was a profit to be had.    

Jiang Tong looked at Jiang Chen with a meaningful gaze, silently dumbfounded. This young duke did nothing with half-and-half. The courage of his vision was astonishing. He had given away a twenty percent advantage just like that.    

Binding the rank of a duke with the tribes through profits, how could the chieftains not cooperate so attentively and with energy? This is much more useful than any form of threat.    

“Everything, the rank of a duke of our Jiang Han has cooperated with Pill King Garden before. Our current partner is the Hall of Healing. This also means that our advantage with the Hall of Healing will be double compared to when we work with the Pill King Garden. What looks like twenty percent to you is actually forty percent in terms of initial profit.”    

In such a situation, Jiang Chen did not mind revealing a hint of core intelligence to them.    

Healing Hall!    

This is not the first time these people have heard the name of the Hall of Healing today. The Hall of Healing was the benchmark of the spirit medicine world in the Eastern Kingdom. How could they not be aware of the greatest heavyweight in the spirit medicine world?    

“Heh heh, you may not know? The Hall of Healing relies on our young duke for many things. In addition, another thing that you may not know is that the disease of the royal princess Zhiruo East has not been cured after seeing many famous doctors, but his symptoms were alleviated when the medicine started to work after our young duke took action!”    

That said, Jiang Zheng was a very useful steward. Whenever his master needed it, he would voice thoughts that his master had no right to utter. He would use such a method at the right time and say it.    

What do these words mean? This meant that the young duke's supporters were the royal family itself, and the Hall of Healing!    

All the chieftains present were stunned and astonished when they heard these words. They looked at each other, not knowing what to do.    

Jiang Chen smiled. “Come, drink! Jiang Zheng had always liked to assign his lips and tongue to small things. Everyone can listen to the affairs of this royal princess, but let it remain in your heart. Don't spread this everywhere.”    

“Yes yes, who would dare rashly spread information regarding the royal family secrets?”    

Each of them muttered “ya, ya” while raising a glass, but not appetite. How could they still be interested in tasting delicious wine delights? Their minds were filled with the incredible changes of the young duke Jiang Chen, and all sorts of news broke the limits of their expectations. They did not know what kind of approach they should take towards this young duke.    

But one thing was certain, young duke Jiang Chen would defeat his father Jiang Feng!