The atmosphere seemed to freeze for a moment; perhaps it was only a moment, but to Li Xian and Li Yuanming, it seemed like forever.
Finally, Li Yuanming stood up and bowed, "Young Master, please accept Li Yuanming's greetings."
“Haha…” Li Xian finally laughed out loud, and quickly helped Li Yuanming up. The two of them sat down again. He ordered his attendants to release Li Yuanming’s true energy, and the atmosphere between the two of them completely changed.
The last moment, they were prisoners and victors; now, they are one of our own.
This is not that Li Yuanming betrayed Zhao Guoshan, the governor of Luliang County, but that Li Yuanming had already given everything for Zhao Guoshan. What's more, Zhao Guoshan himself was also a prisoner.
After sitting down again, Li Yuanming spoke first before Li Xian could speak, "I see that your view on poison masters seems to be different from that of ordinary people?"
Li Xian knew that Li Yuanming was asking about the future, so he smiled and said, "I won't say any empty words or great principles. I will only say two things. First, the world will eventually unite after a long period of division, and will eventually divide after a long period of unity. Second, there is no establishment without destruction, and only after destruction can one establish. What do you think, Mr. Li?"
"Okay! Just for these two sentences, it's worth getting drunk! These are the most thoughtful words I've heard since I entered the world! People only think that ruthless people will do anything, but they don't know that there are so many people who will do anything in this world! Those treacherous officials and corrupt officials are even more cruel and have no bottom line. We are just using extraordinary means to do extraordinary things."
Next, Li Yuanming seemed to have found a confidant and got drunk. In the end, he couldn't even circulate his true energy and just fell to the ground drunk.
After sending Li Yuanming back to his room, Li Xian immediately came to the front hall to announce the news of Li Yuanming's joining to Xu Ren and others. But before that, Li Xian had to explain to everyone why he accepted a poisoner with a bad reputation.
This explanation took more than an hour, and finally everyone reluctantly accepted Li Yuanming. However, if Li Yuanming wanted to truly integrate into Anyang, he still needed a lot of effort and performance.
As the sun was about to set, several fast horses galloped towards Anyang City, bringing the latest imperial edict.
Soon after, several more fast horses followed, bringing news from Li Yulong.
After reading the imperial edict and the news sent by Li Yulong, everyone looked strange, with some surprise and some worry.
Xu Ren rubbed his brows and sighed, "What a thorny surprise. The good news is that after Anyang County swallowed Zhongshan County, it became a real county, and the geographical conditions that restricted Anyang's development were resolved. Zhongshan County has a radius of 480 miles, and with Anyang, it can barely be considered a county of 500 miles, which is about half the area of the eldest prince's Baofeng County. But His Majesty the Emperor gave Luliang County to the prince, which completely ended our previous cooperation with Dongyuan County and the Yuan family. In addition, once the prince controls Luliang County, then our Anyang will be sandwiched between Luliang County and Wuyang County where the imperial capital is located, and will be attacked from both sides. In addition, our cooperation with the Yuan family has failed, and we will have to independently face the pressure from Nanyang County and the Kong family in the south. Hey!"
After Xu Ren's analysis, Li Xian lost his smile; His Majesty the Emperor played this hand really well! He gave Li Xian what he wanted, but also caused him a lot of trouble, and took away Li Xian's possible ally, the Yuan family! This was a straightforward move.