Chapter 15 - Devil Lord Gu
Inside a small courtyard of the Clear River Sect.
The girl and Liu Nian Grandmaster were playing Weiqi.
Clear River Sect"s Chief, the Song Jia Sect"s Chief, Chen Tianshan and a few others stood in front of them.
"Hasn’t Gu Hai appeared yet?" The girl asked while she placed a black piece on the board.
A bitter smile appeared on Chen Tianshan face as he replied, "Yes, Gu Hai in order to be prepared for any contingency, didn’t reveal even a cent of his plan. Since he has promised Sect"s Chief that he will defeat the Song Kingdom, he will definitely do so in the shortest period of time!"
Song Jia Sect"s Chief who was standing on the side, coldly smiled and said, "Defeat? Humph, although Gu Hai"s plot has raised chaos within the Song Army, whom he has defeated was just a couple hundred thousand soldiers. How about the Chen Kingdom? Gao Xianzhi had already buried 600,000 of their soldiers, and most of the territories of the Chen Kingdom had gone through a thorough sweep, making the Chen Kingdom extremely weak, how can they have any strength to invade the Song Kingdom? On the other hand, the Song Kingdom is united as ever, from top to bottom. In the entire kingdom, Gu Hai"s machinations have already being publicized. How can anyone be fooled? This is already the limit of Gu Hai!"
Clear River Sect"s Chief, on the other hand, burst into laughter as he said, "Do you know what his next course of action is going to be? Perhaps he had already begun? Or is it too early?"
"Humph!" Song Jia Sect"s Chief snorted unhappily.
At this moment, Clear River Sect"s Chief appeared to be very proud and self-satisfied. His choice was indeed correct.
"Grandmaster, what do you think?" the girl asked as she looked at Liu Nian Grandmaster with a smiled.
Liu Nian Grandmaster"s eyebrows twitched as he bitterly smiled and said, "Gu Hai"s actions are indeed contrary to my expectations. This game till now has already shown that he has powerful abilities to layout schemes; it is truly shocking. Furthermore, it still hasn’t finished, hahaha, every person"s way of playing is different, even I am unable to perceive through this game whatsoever!"
"If you are unable to perceive, then you have to keep looking! I want to see how amazing this game of his going to be in the end!" the girl"s eyes flashed with radiant light as she said.
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Song Capital.
According to Gu Hai"s order, the families and friends of the Song soldiers, that had been secretly captured in the past were released one after another.
The Song Capital which had been sizzling from the propaganda, with the sudden appearance of those friends and families that were kidnapped, instantly started seething completely.
"Aunt, were, were you not persecuted by the Royal Grandson? d.a.m.n you, Gu Hai, so it was all your doing, it was really him. You forced my nephew to write me a fake letter, ah! It"s all your fault!"
"Aunt, you are alive, I thought you were dead. d.a.m.n you, Gu Hai, it was you, it was all you! My pitiful cousin, where are you? Are you still among the livings?!"
"Gu Hai, I hate you!"
"If it wasn’t for Gu Hai, General Gao would have already won, and my son wouldn’t have gone missing!"
"It’s all Gu Hai"s fault!"
"Devil Lord Gu!"
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The public anger inside the Song Capital was seething.
Crown Prince Song while sitting in his mansion was listening to report from spies within the city.
"Gu Hai had actually released the soldiers" family members and friends of his own accord? Humph, with this no one is going to listen to his nonsense anymore. Gu Hai, let me see how your plot is going to work from now on!" a hideous expression appeared on Crown Prince Song"s face as he stated.
After the death of his son, for him, it was just like a fishbone stuck in his throat. He couldn’t let Gu Hai bring him more shame and disgrace. Crown Prince Song vowed to never give up.
"Your Royal Highness, at this moment, if we detain the soldiers" relatives and friends, Gu Hai would be cast aside without any exception, as the public would be unable to endure the wait to skin him alive, and devour his fles.h.!.+" a spy said with a smile.
"Skin him, eat his flesh? This Prince wants the same! How does the search for the Song Capital fare?" Crown Prince Song asked coldly.
"We have searched every nook and cranny, however, we couldn’t find any 60-70-year-old man, matching his description." the spy stated bitterly.
"Has Gu Hai already departed the Song Capital? Hmph, then search every nearby city, once he is found, this Prince is going to chop his corpse into a million pieces." Crown Prince Song said coldly.
"As you wish Your Royal Highness!"
"Whether it"s the officials or the citizens, continue to promote Gu Hai"s flagitious acts. Make everyone hate Gu Hai. Also from now on, make every storyteller of tea houses discredit Gu Hai every day, stage him as evil as possible and discredit him as much as possible!" Crown Prince Song coldly said.
"Ah? Your Royal Highness, the entire city is already furious, no, the entire kingdom is furious, do we still have to pour oil on the fire?"
"Humph, this Prince is taking preventive measures. This way, even if Gu Hai made a tiny move, or if there was something in the slightest bit of detrimental to us, we could push the blame all on Gu Hai!" Crown Prince coldly said.
"Yes Your Royal Highness, we will immediately depart and inform everyone!" the spy replied right away and left.
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Inside a private dining room, a table was set by the window at a restaurant within the Song Capital.
Gu Hai and Gu Han while sitting by the window were gazing at the streets below. Next to them stood Gu Mansion"s followers who were vigilantly gazing around.
Because Gu Hai dyed his hair and applied makeup, he simply didn"t look like a 60-70-year-old man, but, as if he was 40-50 years old.
At this moment, he was looking at the streets below while holding a wine gla.s.s.
"G.o.dfather, that"s our Gu Family"s largest silver shop in the Song Capital—Gu Song Silver House!" Gu Han looking at a huge silver shop on the other side of the street said with a smile.
Gu Hai took a sip of wine before he faintly smiled and said, "Gu Song Silver House? I have personally cut the ribbon for it in the past, hasn"t the old shopkeeper of Gu Song Silver House pa.s.s away three years ago?"
"Yes, the old shopkeeper had already died as early as three years ago. His position as the shopkeeper was taken over by his son, who is in charge of the shop. I have already explained it to him just like G.o.dfather had instructed. He knows what to do!" Gu Han solemnly replied.
Gu Hai nodded, as he narrowed his eyes while gazing at the entire street.
Although the Gu Song Silver House was a huge shop, however, at this moment, only G.o.d knew how many people were going in and out. A lot of citizens had surrounded the Gu Song Silver House, at this moment while constantly cursing as they point fingers at Gu Song Silver House.
"Humph, this is Gu Song Silver House, that old Devil Lord’s, Gu Hai"s shop!"
"Devil Lord Gu"s shop? From now on, I am not going to buy silver from this shop ever again!"
"Blackhearted Devil Gu, go to h.e.l.l!"
"How can the King allow that Devil Gu to keep open his shop in our Great Song Kingdom? These years, how much money has he earned from our Great Song Kingdom!?"
"Pooh, if not for the law, they wouldn’t have allowed it, I would also have smashed Gu Devil’s store long ago! Victims of Devil Gu’s would have also done the same!"
"My son! After that old monster had captured me, he has deceived my son. Now I don"t even know whether my son is dead or alive, I will fight with you!"
"Aunt Zhang, don"t rush, everyone, help me stop Aunt Zhang, smas.h.i.+ng his shop will only pay you for the monetary losses, however, you won’t be let off easily!"
"Yes, Aunt Zhang, the King hasn’t decreed anything, you can’t harm the people or you will break the law!"
"Boohoo, Devil Gu, I curse you that you will not have a good death!"
"My son has died on the battlefield, but I can"t do anything, Devil Gu, you have to compensate, I want my pension, compensate me!"
"Compensate! Compensate!"
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The crowd on the street was increasing more and more, there were those who cursed and reproved incessantly at the Gu Song Silver House. Some of the soldiers" relatives who had lost their family members at frontline while crying, arrived at the entrance of the Gu Song Silver House.
Family members of those soldiers whose whereabouts remained unknown raised their hands and asked for compensation as they pointed at the Gu Song Silver House.
All the blame landed on Gu Hai"s head under the official and civil propaganda. Countless people who had lost their relatives in the war or those who had ulterior motives stared at the Gu Mansion"s industries in the Song Kingdom.
Whereas the people surrounding Gu Song Silver House were increasing; it was extremely noisy.
In the restaurant, Gu Hai was quietly drinking wine.
Gu Han once again opened his mouth to say, "G.o.dfather, the crowd has been noisy for three days, each day they are raising hues and cries. At first, it was only the family members of soldiers who had lost their lives in the war, however, now the surrounding crowd isn’t as simple as the victims of war. City guards, our compet.i.tors, and ruffians are mixed in amongst the crowd!"
A chuckle escaped Gu Hai"s mouth as he said, "Can"t you see that many people"s eyes are red when they look at the Gu Song Silver House!"
"G.o.dfather, since your fame in the Song Kingdom has been completely ruined, our Gu Family"s stores are naturally going to be eyed by a pack of wolves!" Gu Han smiled and said.
Gu Hai"s eyes flashed with a sliver of a radiant light. Furthermore, a trace of a cold smile appeared on his lips when he gazed at a large number of soldiers" family and friends crying and the cursing red-eyed mob.
"The momentum is just about right, the timing is also precise to drag them down again! The Song Kingdom"s officials are about to be dispatched to begin sealing my industries to "conform with the public aspirations", but the officials will be late to seize my properties. Now, let us begin!" Gu Hai coldly stated.
"Yes!" Gu Han nodded.
Having said that, Gu Hai threw the wine gla.s.s down the window.
Next to the restaurant, several sack clothed men were standing on guard.
"Crack!"
Once the wine gla.s.s landed on the ground and broke into pieces, the complexions of the men who were dressed in sackcloth changed, they looked at each other, as if they had received some secret signal before gradually squeezing into the crowd.
The sack clothed men swarmed into the crowd that was still raising hues and cries. A man suddenly shouted, "Devil Gu wants to destroy our Song Kingdom, so why should we care about the law? This is the store of an invader, if we destroy the store, it will be for our country. This father can not kill Devil Gu’s people on the frontlines, however, we are at our own site, can"t we even kill the enemy on our own soil?"
"That"s right, I don"t believe that the law will be guarding the store of a Devil Lord!"
"Smash it, Devil Gu has earned all of his money from our Song Kingdom! All that is inside belongs to our Song Kingdom!"
"Right, it is our Song Kingdom"s, we can never allow that Devil Gu to keep it. Finders keepers, let"s grab it!"
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When the group of sackcloth men burst into shouting, the crowd was suddenly set astir. The group of people whose eyes were red suddenly started shouting in excitement.
Was someone leading them?
"Right, it all belongs to our Song Kingdom, we can’t leave anything for Gu Hai!"
"Finders keepers!"
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Boom!
The group of people whose emotions had been brewing for the past few days, had been preparing their hearts for this very moment. At this instance, they began to take action and no one also halted their footsteps; they were afraid that they would be a tad bit late.
This was the store of an invader, they were stealing from the invader"s store in the name of vengeance. They were stealing in the name of their county.
"Don"t grab, don"t grab, don"t!"
"It"s mine, it"s mine, don"t take what’s mine!"
"It"s mine, it"s the compensation that I ought to take from Gu Hai!"
"So much gold, it"s all mine, I"m rich, I"m rich!"
"This father is destroying Devil’s property to take revenge for the country!"
"It is all mine! Don"t take it, it"s all mine!"
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Boom!
The Gu Song Silver House was in chaos. Following after the first person that charged in, everyone rushed into the store. They were afraid that someone else would grab the best items before themselves. In a short while, sounds of shouting, s.n.a.t.c.hing, fighting could be heard constantly.
The citizens who had an appearance of victims a moment ago, now seemed like a pack of hungry wolves. Their faces revealed a hideous expression, whoever s.n.a.t.c.hed their things, they would fight it out with him, completely revealing the appearance of a mob.
Grab grab grab! It"s all mine.
The chaos in Gu Song Silver House didn’t show any signs of abating. And on the outside, when the citizens who were far away discovered the hustling and bustling here, swarmed over. But when they came to know about the situation inside, not only did they not stop, on the contrary, they felt afraid that they were late and also charged inside, wanting to grab everything inside the Gu Song Silver House.
"Don"t squeeze, don"t squeeze, you are squeezing me to death!"
"Ah, let me pa.s.s, you bunch of b.a.s.t.a.r.ds leave something for me!"
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Boom!
The entire street was seething. Everyone was rus.h.i.+ng to the Gu Song Silver House, it was completely rowdy, screams could be heard leaving constantly, everyone seemed to have become bandits, robbers and simply disregarded their previous appearances.
In the restaurant, Gu Hai took a light sip from a gla.s.s of wine as he narrowed his eyes to look downstairs.
"G.o.dfather, i-isn"t this total madness?" even though Gu Han knew what was going to happen, he was still shocked by the intense scene of plundering.
"As long as people live in this world, they will more or less have a herd mentality. If the benefits are large enough, they will break the bottom lines in their hearts. My Gu Song Silver House has a lot of gold and silver, as long as they rob a small part of it, it will be quite profitable. If their hands are faster, they will grab something, and if they are slower, then, nothing! Once everyone had charged inside, who could resist the temptation? Moreover, there are many people, so they have the courage.
Law? The law can only be used when it is useful, when it is useless, it is just s.h.i.+t. Now, it is the time when the laws were completely useless. At least in their heart, it’s useless. So many people trampling the law at the same time, who was going to care? Furthermore, they already stood on a moral high ground. They were robbing to take revenge for the homeland, they were robbing Gu Hai"s store in order to contribute to their country, who wasn’t going plunder? It was a justified robbery!" a sliver of smile flashed on Gu Hai"s face as he said.
"G.o.dfather, are you planting seeds in the hearts of the citizens? Do you want to turn these citizens into bandits?" Gu Han took a long deep breath as he said.
"Turn citizens into bandits? Of course, however it is still early, this is just the beginning!" Gu Hai revealed a trace of a cold smile.