Chapter 236
“Ally?” Touba Hong pondered then nodded: “But how can I find allies at this point? I"m not aware of the number of people from the Western Cloud Empire"s army who have been drawn in by them… I"ll fail into a trap if I want to make connections right now.”
Xiao Yu smiled: “You are right on point. Most of the n.o.bles and upper echelons of the army should be working for them… You can"t find anyone credible within the empire right now.. At best, you gotta take your chance by looking for forces from outside.”
“Outside the empire?” Touba Hong wrinkled his eyebrows.
Xiao Yu pointed towards himself: "I"m here… Why are you so stupid?"
Touba Hong hugged Xiao Yu then laughed: “Yes… How can I forget about you?! You have such powerful cavalry which means you aren"t an ordinary person either.. You must have some weight in the Sky Lion Dynasty. Would you be willing to be my ally?"
Xiao Yu whispered: “I"m not sure if my bet is right on point but I think even though I"m quite reluctant I"ll be your ally.”
Touba Hong patted Xiao Yu"s shoulder: “I promise you that if I get to sit on the throne you will get anything that you want.”
Xiao Yu waved his hand: “A lot of things will change after you become the emperor… but if I can get some benefits out of this then it could be considered a good bet.”
Touba Hong understood that Xiao Yu had his own strategy and plan but he couldn"t understand much about Xiao Yu"s heart. However, he believed that it wouldn"t be much if he would give some benefits to Xiao Yu when he became the emperor as Xiao Yu was a crucial person right now. He didn"t know much about Xiao Yu"s strength but he had seen the elite 400 heavy cavalry units. It meant that Xiao Yu had a faction behind himself too.
Touba Hong believed that he could get help at the crucial moment if he had an ally in Sky Lion Dynasty.
“Don"t be worried. I always keep my promises.” Touba Hong smiled. He had seen Xiao Yu play a decisive role against fake Red Beard and felt that Xiao Yu would do the same thing in the battle for the throne.
Afterwards, Xiao Yu and Touba Hong talked about details. After all, Xiao Yu was a foreigner and Touba Hong"s rival was an insider. Touba Hong wouldn"t trust a person from Western Cloud Empire at the moment but he didn"t have problems with Xiao Yu because of Xiao Yu"s origin.
At the end, Xiao Yu came up with a plan with 3 steps. First, Touba Hong had to send spies to capital. Second, Touba Hong had to send someone to inform his teacher, master Ao Du. Finally, they discussed about the details of attacking Red Beard"s lair.
They didn"t have enough soldiers and horses to attack Red Beard"s lair so they had to make a detailed plan regarding the attack. Xiao Yu came up with another idea. He said that they should reorganize the caravans and share the treasures with them. He told to Touba Hong that the caravans and adventurers didn"t know anything about the real situation. They would surely have a lot of people follow them if they made the right moves. Everyone was aware that Red Beard had been plundering and looting for many years and had acc.u.mulated countless treasures. Those caravans would get several times the profit even if they got a small part of that wealth. It was an opportunity.
The adventurers and escorts were excited when Touba Hong announced the news. They believed that Touba Hong was a good man as he even wanted to share Red Beard"s wealth with them for their contribution.
As a result, they set of towards the lair the next day. Touba Hong had organized these people into several teams and had chosen captains to manage these teams. It would be much more convenient to command the army in case of an attack. Touba Hong wasn"t a stranger when it came to operations like this. As a prince of the Western Cloud Empire he had experience in battles.
He explained that there would be military rules dominating the army during the attack. The ones who violated those rules will be punished according to the military rules and regulations.
…
They found lair"s location very easily as Red Beard had told them the truth. However, Touba Hong and Xiao Yu didn"t dare to bluntly rush in.
Xiao Yu and Grom rushed in to check the place before the army came in. At the end of the day they couldn"t gamble at this time. If this mission failed then Touba Hong"s forces would lose and he won"t have a chance to attack once again. Moreover, the usurper would be having more advantage in case they failed this time.
Xiao Yu and Grom came to the valley but were surprised as there wasn"t an entrance.
“What the heck? Wasn"t there someone in here moments ago?” Xiao Yu was perplexed. He had seen a bandit ran towards this place but now there was no trace of life. The place seemed like an ordinary valley. It wasn"t deep and there weren"t even many trees.
“There has to be something here… How can people disappear into thin air?” Xiao Yu walked forward as he checked the place. As a first try he touched the mountain to check for secret entrance. He felt a ripple on the wall of the mountain and the whole s.p.a.ce blurred up for a moment.
“What"s going on?” Xiao Yu was shocked as he immediately retrieved back his hand. He pondered for a moment then stretched over his hand once again. One again the ripples began to sway one after another. However, this time he didn"t retract his hand but continued to push it forward.
It seemed as if there was nothing blocking his hand. It was as if his hand was just pa.s.sing through air.
Xiao Yu turned bold as he moved his whole body. The scene that he saw made him shocked. There was no valley but a small town with houses, tents and so on.
“Formation! Phantom Formation! Amazing! They have set such a realistic magic array in here!” Xiao Yu sighed.