Chapter 24: Walking Into a Trap, Undercurrents Surging

Wutan City is too small, not enough for the Xiao family to play with alone?

The implication is that Zhang Yuan thinks that the Xiao family should dominate Wutan City.

Xiao Zhan was shocked, but he was not very surprised by Zhang Yuan's answer.

When Zhang Yuan was a child, he heard him talk about the history of the Xiao and Zhang families. He said that he would bring the two families back to the top in the future, and the Xiao family's monopoly of Wutan City was just the first step.

He lowered his head and thought for a moment, and said: "Are you trying to trick them with the crime of assassinating the Empire Black Armor Guard?"

"If you just expose the strength of a peak fighter, they may use a great fighter to assassinate you, and you can still calculate it, but after this morning's battle, they must know that it will take more than three great fighters to take you down, and they should not take risks."

Hearing this, Zhang Yuan shook his head and said: "The crime of besieging and killing the captain of the Empire Black Armor Guard is not enough to shake the two families. If they are caught, they can also cut off their tails and survive."

As he said, he took out the ring from the ring. He took out a map of the Gama Empire and placed it on the table, then pointed it out and said, "Uncle, what do you think about this force?"

Xiao Zhan stared at it for a while, his pupils suddenly shrank, and he was surprised and said, "You mean, they are secretly communicating with the Nine Thieves of the Phantom Mist!?"

The Gama Empire is located in the northwest corner of the Jiufang Great Domain of the Douqi Continent. Most of it is a plain area. There are nine provinces inside. Among them, the imperial capital Gama Holy City and Yunlan Sect are located in the northernmost part of the northern province, and Wutan City is located in the southwest of the northeastern province near the Warcraft Mountain Range.

The Warcraft Mountain Range is the longest giant mountain range in the Gama Empire, almost running through the entire empire. It is famous for the rampant monsters in it and humans cannot settle in it.

Such a huge mountain range will naturally have some branches, like the fine veins in the leaves, which are spread all over the empire. The Phantom Mist Mountain Range is one of the branches of the Warcraft Mountain Range in the southern part of the Northeast Province. It is famous for being shrouded in fog with hallucinogenic effects all year round. It is considered a small restricted area in the Northeast Province and is rarely visited all year round.

The Fantasy Mist Mountains do not cover a large area, but their location is critical, hindering the communication between several large cities in the southern part of the Northeast Province, or going to the two provinces in the south and the east.

For this reason, the royal family of the Gama Empire led the local families to build three trade routes and one official road in the Fantasy Mist Mountains, as well as several passes for temporary stopovers.

The Fantasy Mist Nine Thieves are a group of bandits who have been active in the Fantasy Mist Mountains for more than ten years. At first, they were all fighting masters, making a living by killing people and robbing caravans, and their number always remained at nine.

In the past ten years, the government of the Northeast Province of the Gama Empire has not sent troops or masters to eliminate them, but the Fantasy Mist Nine Thieves have mastered some secret methods, and they can come and go freely in the fantasy mist that even the Dou Wang strongmen can hardly resist and see clearly for a long time, so it is difficult to kill them all.

As long as they are not killed, they will absorb new fighting masters to join the team and continue to maintain the number of nine.

Now, three of the Fantasy Mist Nine Thieves have the strength of great fighting masters, and the remaining six are high-level fighting masters.

The nine bandits were all wanted criminals on the Empire's wanted list, but they were never wiped out.

Now, when a caravan or an individual passes through the Phantom Mist Mountain, as long as they are not in a hurry, they will choose a suitable day.

"Yes, they will secretly communicate with the Phantom Mist Nine Bandits." Zhang Yuan nodded heavily.

Xiao Zhan's breathing became more rapid, and he said, "Where did you get this news? Is it really reliable? Can you report it directly to the city lord?"

The existence of the Phantom Mist Nine Bandits made the Northeast Province almost a laughing stock in front of other provinces. After all, there were only a few Dou Masters and Great Dou Masters, and they couldn't even take down all the Dou Kings.

In other words, the Northeast Province was still the main force to resist external forces such as the Izumo Empire, so other provinces didn't laugh too much, but everyone in the Northeast Province hated the Phantom Mist Nine Bandits.

If there is evidence that the Gale Family and the Oba Family are in collusion with the Phantom Mist Nine Bandits, then the entire Gama Empire will not tolerate them.

"As for the evidence, I can't say now, maybe there is, maybe not." Zhang Yuan handed the cup to Xun'er.

Xiao Zhan was stunned and asked in confusion: "What do you mean?"

Taping his fingers on the table, Zhang Yuan said: "Uncle, I have studied the intelligence of our Xiao family in the past few years. When the Xiao family caravans were trading in the south, they were robbed by the Nine Phantom Mist Thieves several times. The Gale family and Oba also had it, but each time they were robbed of inexpensive daily necessities. Don't you think it's strange?"

Xiao Zhan frowned and thought, and said: "Do you think they have a tacit understanding with the Nine Phantom Mist Thieves, and transport supplies by being robbed as a bribe?"

Zhang Yuan nodded.

Xiao Zhan sighed and said: "The possibility is indeed very high, but it is just your guess. It won't work without solid evidence. So many years have passed, and they can't let us catch them."

Hearing this, Zhang Yuan showed a wise smile: "Uncle, why do we need to find evidence from the past? Regardless of whether they have colluded in the past, isn't it enough to prove that they are colluding now?"

Xiao Zhan looked puzzled.

Zhang Yuan calmly explained: "The Black Armor Guards are replacing the Xiaolong Guards and will be in charge of the Qingyun Town for the next three years."

"The Qingyun Town is located in the Monster Mountain Range, at the junction of the Southeast Province and the Eastern Province. I will take people from Wutan City to Qingyun Town. It will take more than half a month to take a detour. Even if we set out today, it will delay the military schedule, so we must take the Huanwu Mountain Official Road."

"Now is the season when the fog in Huanwu Mountain is relatively heavy. All the major caravans travel together, or wait at the pass for the fog to dissipate before leaving, but I must get through as soon as possible."

"We have given them the right time, place, and people. What do you think they will do?"

Hiss!

Xiao Zhan slapped his thigh, his eyes bright.

It is known that Zhang Yuan is now a one-star Dou Shi at the age of sixteen, and he can also surpass Jia Liebi. His talent is rare in the history of the entire Jia Ma Empire. He has already joined the imperial military and will definitely be valued and cultivated.

I am afraid that in a few years, he will be a Dou Ling and the commander of the Black Armor Guard.

By then, can the Jia Lie family and the Oba family still gain a foothold in Wutan City?

No!

And one step back, step by step, the two families will gradually decline and witness the rise of the Xiao family again.

As long as the two families do not want this day to come, they will definitely take risks and give it a try.

And colluding with the Nine Thieves of Phantom Mist is the perfect method Zhang Yuan sent them, and they will naturally fall into the trap.

No wonder Zhang Yuan said that it doesn’t matter whether there was collusion before, because they will definitely collude soon.

What a cruel calculation!

And Jia Liebi and Obapa would never think of it.

If Xiao Yan was present, he would definitely shout "fishing law enforcement".

"Uncle, get ready." Zhang Yuan stood up and said, "There will be a battle in a few days. I will go to see our city lord first to see if he can be used."

Xiao Zhan followed his advice.

That night, Zhang Yuan entered the city lord's mansion openly and had a "secret meeting" with the city lord Lin Zhengqing for nearly two hours.

Not long after, news came out that Lin Zhengqing valued Zhang Yuan and wanted to introduce him to a commander of the Black Armor Guard.

The next morning, Miter Auction House also came out with news that it would cooperate with the Xiao family to build a caravan, which would travel between Qingyun Town and Wutan City. If there were any individual mercenaries or casual cultivators who were interested, they could sign up to join the guard team.

These two pieces of news reached the ears of Jialebi and Obapa, making them completely determined to eradicate Zhang Yuan.

As long as Zhang Yuan died, the favor of the city lord and the cooperation of Miter Auction House would disappear.

At that time, they would not even need to cooperate to suppress the Xiao family, and they would still maintain the balance they had before.

For a while, the undercurrent in Wutan City was turbulent, but the surface was still calm.

Time passed like a white horse, and it was three days later in the blink of an eye.

In front of the gate of Wutan City, Zhang Yuan and his guards sat on the silver-horned black rhinoceros horse and were ready to go. There was one more person in the team than when they came back. It was Xiao Boyuan who broke through to the Dou Shi level after taking the Thunder Pattern Pill and volunteered to be Zhang Yuan's guard again.

The senior and direct descendants of the Xiao family, Miter's Yafei and Gu Ni, and the city lord Lin Zhengqing came to see him off in person.

After a few polite words, Zhang Yuan was ready to take his men away.

At this time, there was a sudden noise from the direction of the city gate, attracting everyone's attention.

The elder of the Jiale family, Jialeqing, and the patriarch of the Oba family, Obapa, hurried over with their men.

"Captain Zhang Yuan, please stay!"