Chapter 148: The Vanguard Auxiliary Troops of the Martial Guard

Deng Wentong sent his soldiers to gather intelligence. Before long, the soldiers reported back that a short while ago, the transcendent player Xuanyuan Jian had visited Magistrate Shi Hong at the county yamen, and immediately after leaving Shi Hong, he had headed straight to the defense garrison.

A fierce glint flashed in Deng Wentong’s eyes as he said bitterly, "I have no personal grudge or enmity with the transcendent Xuanyuan Jian. Why is he trying to slander me?"

Chen Hao wore an expression of deep apology and said, "Sir, this humble commoner had some past grievances with Xuanyuan Jian. It must be because you stepped forward to protect me on the day of our triumphant return from suppressing the bandits, which filled him with hatred. He is now trying to use the county magistrate to deal with you, Sir."

Deng Wentong’s expression flickered with uncertainty. After a long silence, he sighed and said, "That fellow Shi Hong has powerful backing. If he starts playing petty tricks behind my back, I might lose my official position."

Chen Hao pondered for a moment and suggested, "Then why doesn't Sir offer him an explanation to clear things up?"

"An explanation?" Deng Wentong sneered. "The fact that we failed to unearth the gold and silver buried by Third Master Zheng during the bandit suppression that day already makes no sense. With Shi Hong's greed for wealth and power, it would be a miracle if he listened to my explanation. Since we have already had a falling out, I won't just sit here and wait to die. There are still quite a few remnant bandits under Third Master Zheng's command; I'm sure many of them are eager to avenge him, right?"

Chen Hao gave Deng Wentong a thumbs-up and praised, "Sir is brilliant, this humble commoner is deeply impressed."

Deng Wentong said with a murderous aura, "Shi Hong is a county magistrate, so I'll need to make careful preparations before making a move. However, that transcendent Xuanyuan Jian dares to pluck the tiger's whiskers—I will teach him a lesson first..."

"Player Chen Baxian, congratulations on successfully driving a wedge between the relationships of Deng Wentong, Shi Hong, and Xuanyuan Jian. You have achieved your goal effortlessly, and your statecraft attribute has increased by 1 point."

"Player Chen Baxian, you have applied the alienation strategy taught to you by Wang Kaiyun to perfection. You have completed the learning quest 'Application of Statecraft', and you may now seek out Wang Kaiyun to continue your studies in the art of statecraft."

Chen Hao had successfully achieved his objective. To protect himself, Deng Wentong would inevitably use Third Master Zheng's remnant bandits to assassinate Shi Hong. Since the gold and silver were already in his possession, Chen Hao had no conflict of interest with Deng Wentong. Therefore, after Shi Hong's death, he would not need to leak any information that could harm Deng Wentong, allowing him to maintain a sound relationship with the garrison commander.

Because Xuanyuan Jian had caused Chen Hao to fall out of favor with Magistrate Shi Hong, he had used a few subtle tricks today to return the favor with interest. Believing that Xuanyuan Jian was the mastermind behind Shi Hong's targeting of him, Deng Wentong would certainly not let Xuanyuan Jian off the hook. Chen Hao could simply sit back and watch the show.

Chen Hao returned to Chuanshan Academy to continue his studies in statecraft. The next day, he saw posts on the forums stating that Xuanyuan Jian had been ambushed on his way out of Yongshun County. The men who ambushed him were all masked with black scarves and possessed formidable martial arts skills. Caught completely off guard, Xuanyuan Jian was killed, and the score of elite subordinates he brought with him were completely wiped out.

The Eight-Nation Alliance plot quests had already been triggered, and Xuanyuan Jian had ordered all his subordinate players to gather in Northern Hebei, while he himself traveled with his Yongshun elites toward Northern Hebei, only to be killed midway. He already knew that the ones who ambushed him were NPCs, and judging by the standard-issue military sabers those NPCs carried, they were most likely regular soldiers from the defense garrison.

Xuanyuan Jian could not understand why the defense garrison would ambush him, but he faintly suspected that it had something to do with Chen Baxian, which cast a dark shadow over his heart. The reason he had stayed in Yongshun was to strike while the iron was hot, grow closer to Magistrate Shi Hong, and lay a solid foundation for developing his sphere of influence in western Hunan later on.

Xuanyuan Jian was much more clear-headed than Guan Ning. He believed that in the early stages, one should not develop a stronghold in major cities, making western Hunan an excellent choice. Establishing a base in western Hunan would not attract the imperial court's attention, and since western Hunan was known as the "hometown of bandits" with a traditionally fierce populace, building a stronghold there would allow one to suppress bandits everywhere, recruit elite able-bodied men, and expand their military strength—making it an ideal location for growth.

Without concrete evidence, the authorities could not arrest players nor convict them of crimes. However, by resorting to the lowest possible tactic of hiring assassins, Deng Wentong bypassed any systemic restrictions. If Xuanyuan Jian felt aggrieved, he could gather evidence and file a lawsuit against Deng Wentong, but the defense garrison soldiers had left no evidence behind, and since Xuanyuan Jian held no official rank, a commoner suing an official would never end well.

Four days after Xuanyuan Jian's assassination, another major incident occurred in Yongshun County: Magistrate Shi Hong was ambushed and killed by Third Master Zheng's remnant bandits while touring the countryside to encourage agriculture. Upon receiving the news, the dispatched Qianhu, Deng Wentong, led the defense garrison to quickly arrive at the scene and strike down the assassins, but he was unable to save Shi Hong's life.

When Xuanyuan Jian learned of this news, he gritted his teeth in hatred. He had spent a considerable amount of money on Magistrate Shi Hong, hoping to leverage Shi Hong's connections to befriend officials in other counties of western Hunan, and now all of that investment had gone to waste. When he was assassinated, he had only vaguely suspected a connection to Chen Baxian. Now that Shi Hong had also been killed, such drastic changes could only mean a transcendent had intervened, confirming his suspicion that Chen Baxian was behind all the mischief.

Chen Hao was not afraid of Xuanyuan Jian finding out; this kind of matter was impossible to keep hidden anyway. He had always lived by the principle of "if others do not offend me, I will not offend them." Since players like Xuanyuan Jian, Guan Ning, and Sansheng Shi chose to provoke him, they should have been mentally prepared to be plotted against by him. Even if he suffered a temporary loss, he would undoubtedly return it tenfold or a hundredfold.

Ten days passed in the blink of an eye. Chen Hao's statecraft attribute increased by another 2 points, reaching 30 points. The higher attributes became, the harder they were to raise, and continuing to follow Wang Kaiyun would no longer yield any improvements in the short term. Abandoning his plans to stay any longer in southern Hunan, he rode in a carriage with Yang Du back to Penglai. After Yang Du paid a courtesy visit to Li Pisen, Chen Hao saw him off on a train heading to the Northeast.

With the Battle of Langfang still a few days away, Chen Hao calmed his mind and continued his studies under Li Pisen, preparing to finish the last of the Four Books, *Mencius*. Learning that Chen Hao was studying imperial statecraft under Wang Kaiyun, Li Pisen was overjoyed and supervised his lessons every day. In just five days, he completed his study of *Mencius*, pushing his culture attribute point up to 58.

Reaching a culture attribute of 60 meant there would essentially be no problem getting admitted into a military academy. Chen Hao was only two points short, and having already appraised Qi Baishi's three paintings, the only way to achieve rapid improvement now was through other means.

A culture rating of 60 was definitely not Chen Hao's ultimate pursuit; he aimed for comprehensive development in both politics and military affairs. High culture allowed him to learn things quickly, which was vital to him, and he had a complete plan for how to further boost his culture stats in the next steps.

Upon receiving the system notification that mastering *Mencius* had increased his attributes by three points, Chen Hao bid farewell to Li Pisen: "Teacher, foreign powers have recently formed an allied coalition, and storm clouds are gathering over Northern Hebei. This disciple wishes to go over and contribute my modest strength."

Li Pisen nodded and said, "Remember to be cautious and mindful at all times. You must protect yourself well."

Chen Hao smiled and said, "Teacher need not worry. As a transcendent, my soul will not dissipate upon death. After fighting in Northern Hebei, I will head straight to the Northeast to resist the Russians. Teacher is getting older, so you must take good care of your health."

Bidding farewell to Li Pisen, Chen Hao mounted his Snow-Kicking Whui steed and galloped away toward the north. Li Pisen watched him recede into the distance, murmuring softly to himself, "This old man is too old to go to the battlefield to assist you. Since you possess such boiling blood and righteous zeal, I shall use my old face to recommend you to Weiting, so you can have the opportunity to display your ambitions!"

The allied vanguard led by Edward Seymour was about to invade, and two thousand Western players had joined the coalition forces. Because Chinese players possessed somewhat inferior weapons and equipment, four thousand quest slots were allocated: the Front Guard of the Wuwei Corps under Nie Shicheng would recruit one thousand transcendent auxiliary soldiers, while the Boxers would recruit three thousand transcendent players to help resist the foreigners.

A massive gathering of players had congregated in Langfang, Northern Hebei. Passing first through the player camp of the Boxers, Chen Hao spotted many familiar faces. These acquaintances were his classmates from real life who had joined Li Hongbo's "Blue Sky Studio." With their gaming profiles stored in his memories, Chen Hao recognized them at a single glance.

Li Hongbo's gaming handle was Blue Sky. This time, he had brought his studio members intending to join the Front Guard of the Wuwei Corps, but due to the limited slots and fierce competition, he had failed. Left with no other choice, he had to settle for his second option, choosing to undertake Boxer quests to participate in the Battle of Langfang. Being able to stand out among countless players and secure a quest opportunity proved that the Blue Sky Studio's strength was quite formidable.

Passing through the Boxer player faction, Chen Hao arrived at the player camp of the Front Guard of the Wuwei Corps, where he once again spotted several acquaintances. Xuanyuan Jian, Sansheng Shi, and Guan Ning—players who all aspired to become warlords—had joined the Front Guard. With the foreign coalition forces already formed, the player quotas for joining the Wuwei Corps and the Boxers had been finalized. Because the players operated under independent command, many of them wanted to fight for leadership over the troops.

Securing command of a player squad meant one could assign high-reward tasks to their own people during battles, while directing poorly-related individuals to serve as cannon fodder when danger arose. Xuanyuan Jian and the others had repeatedly urged their subordinate players participating in the quests to recommend them to Nie Shicheng. Among them, Xuanyuan Jian received the highest number of recommendations, but Nie Shicheng had yet to make a decision.

Chen Hao walked calmly past the group of players as if he didn't see Xuanyuan Jian and the others at all, yet his presence still attracted the attention of quite a few players. One player who had previously participated in the Qinghezhuang church quest looked regretfully at his companion and said, "I wanted to recommend Chen Baxian, but he's only just arrived now. The one-thousand-man quota for the Wuwei Front Guard is already full; I'm afraid he won't be able to join the quest."

Seeing Chen Hao, Xuanyuan Jian wore a mocking expression, Sansheng Shi's gaze turned chillingly cold, and Guan Ning's eyes practically blazed with fire. Guan Ning sneered derisively, "Some people really love putting on airs! Showing up to act all high and mighty only after the quest quotas are completely filled—do they really think they're Nie Shicheng's adopted son?"

Since fighting was strictly prohibited inside the military camp, Guan Ning couldn't do anything to Chen Hao despite bringing a large number of subordinates, so he could only vent his frustration verbally. Hearing his remarks, Chen Hao looked around the camp for a moment and muttered aloud, "Isn't Lord Nie known for running a strict military? How come there are still dogs barking inside the camp? I'll have to report this to him once I go in."

Under Guan Ning's murderous glare, Chen Hao walked straight up to Nie Shicheng's command tent and said to the guards standing at the entrance, "Please trouble you gentlemen to announce to the Admiral that the transcendent Chen Baxian requests an audience."

After the one-thousand-man quota for the Wuwei Front Guard was filled, many players came to seek quests from Nie Shicheng, but all of them had been turned away by the guards. Knowing this, Guan Ning had been waiting around to watch Chen Hao make a fool of himself, eagerly anticipating the moment Chen Hao would be chased out by the guards so he could ridicule him.

To Guan Ning's utter disappointment, the guard who had maintained a stern face toward all other players actually gave Chen Hao a thumbs-up and said, "Brother Chen Baxian, you and I shared drinks at the victory banquet last time! The Commander often uses the story of how you wiped out over a thousand rebellious bandits with just a dozen men to instruct us. He gave strict orders that if you ever came, we should bring you straight in."