"It's related to the Word Spirit, it's related to the Word Spirit... This is a breakthrough." Qi Shan paced back and forth holding the paper, listening to him muttering in a low voice, "I've heard of similar secret methods used to transmit messages before. But it's very rare, and not many people know how to do it."
"So advanced?"
Shen Tang was really stunned for a moment.
She just said it casually, but she didn't expect that there really was a secret word.
Qi Shan was seen circulating his literary mind, gathering literary energy in his palms with a solemn expression. Chen Tang vaguely felt that the atmosphere was not right.
"Yuanliang, are you overthinking it? He's just a prostitute in a brothel... Even if he's a top reserve, it's hard for him to get in touch with such rare words, right? Even if he can get in touch with it, what kind of heavy news would it be worthy of this level?"
Qi Shan placed his palm over the paper, condensing the green literary energy in his palm, and slowly sensed it, not forgetting to distract himself to respond to Chen Tang's questions.
"What do you think Xiaocheng is?"
Shen Tang shook his head honestly: “I don’t know.”
She really didn't know.
Yuan Liang's question obviously involves the current situation. But her current understanding of the world comes from Qi Shan, his Word Spirit Scroll, and what she has seen along the way, which is only an extremely limited corner of this world.
No matter how hard she tried to understand, she was unable to come into contact with anyone except the lowest class of people. Most of them could not even afford to eat or wear clothes, and they did not care about the names of the local governors or their achievements, let alone the general situation in the world.
They only know that the world is difficult and they can't survive happily anymore.
Qi Shan expected Chen Tang's answer, and he did not show any disappointment or other emotions. If Chen Xiaolangjun suddenly became knowledgeable, he would suspect that he was playing dumb. So, for the first time, he revealed some things to Chen Tang.
Just the tip of the iceberg of the overall situation in the world.
He said, "I said before that Zheng Qiao, the leader of Geng State, would destroy himself within five years. It's not only because he is violent and vicious, and he often uses inferior means, but there is another important reason - he wants to swallow the wolf and drive the tiger away, but he is actually trying to get the skin of the tiger."
Chen Tang subconsciously sat up straight and listened attentively.
After a little thought, I guessed a little.
"What Yuan Liang meant was... Xin State used to be the 'wolf', but now that the 'wolf' is dead, the 'tiger' has become Zheng Qiao's biggest concern? Who is the 'tiger'?" Chen Tang remembered that there was a small-scale map in Qi Shan's pile of books, describing the locations of the northwestern countries.
The positions of Xin and Geng were not very good.
All of them are on the edge of the continent.
However, this also allowed the two countries to avoid the mainland where the fighting was most intense. Compared to Geng, which was surrounded by neighbors and was beaten every now and then, Xin was a little better. The northwest was a continuous and steep mountain range, which was easy to defend but difficult to attack.
Qishan replied: "This 'tiger' is Shiwu."
Chen Tang asked, "Ten Crows?"
The Shiwu are a barbarian force outside the continuous mountains of the Xin Kingdom.
They believed that the Golden Crow had landed here, lived and multiplied here, and their descendants continued to grow, so they called themselves "Ten Crows", which simply means "descendants of ten Golden Crows". Chen Tang suspected that they were dreaming of crossing the ocean - they thought too much and hit the sun on the head.
Because before the Shooting Star landed, the Ten Crows were not called this name at all. They just happened to know that the Word Spirit contained in the Shooting Star had such a mythical story, so they raised their status and climbed the sun to make a false claim. The key is that after one or two hundred years of spreading the word, it really had an effect.
Whether outsiders believe it or not is secondary, they believe it anyway.
Descendants of the Golden Crow, so noble!
Chen Tang thought about it for a moment and guessed part of the truth: "If the Ten Crows are the 'tiger'... In this case, Zheng Qiao's conquest of Xin was not due to the terrifying national strength of Geng State led by him, but was due to the right time, right place and right people? Taking advantage of the natural disasters and political turmoil in Xin State, he secretly united with the Ten Crows, letting the Ten Crows send troops to harass Xin State and attract the troops of Xin State, so that Geng State would send troops to launch a surprise attack?"
The Xin State was already plagued by internal troubles, and the Ten Crows were constantly harassing and causing trouble on the border, so it was inevitable that it would neglect to guard against the Geng State.
This eventually led to the current situation.
Qishan nodded approvingly.
Chen Tang asked again: "But what does this have to do with Xiaocheng?"
Xiaocheng is the county seat of Sibao County. It is not connected to the border mountains and has nothing to do with the Ten Crows.
Qi Shan said: "Because the parents of the governor of Sibao County were from the Shiwu. They were dissatisfied with the power struggle within the tribe, so they decided to take their young child away from their homeland, hiding their identities, and finally settled in Xin. Although he grew up in Xin, the child still missed the Shiwu in his heart. By chance, he contacted the tribal forces on his parents' side and became one of the Shiwu's spies."
Chen Tang was stunned when he heard this, and at the same time, he looked at Qi Shan with overflowing curiosity: "This is a secret that concerns one's life and property. The county magistrate couldn't even keep it secret. How did you know this?"
How can this be an ordinary “guiding NPC”
The secrets on her body are like a sow wearing a bra, layer upon layer. If you dig deeper, you'll probably find a deep pit.
Chen Tang secretly observed Qi Shan's expression with his peripheral vision. Seeing that he did not have any particularly big emotional fluctuations, he hesitated for a moment and changed his words: "If it is not convenient to tell me, then I will not ask."
Qi Shan: "It's not that I don't want to tell you, but it's a long story and it's not something that can be explained in a short time. You just need to know that the governor of Sibao County is two-faced and not a good person. On the surface, he is a loyal and flattering official of Zheng Qiao. He is good at flattering and will do anything to please Zheng Qiao, but secretly he still works for Shiwu."
As he was talking, he brought the topic back to where it had gone off track.
"Sibao County has a special geographical location. It can be used for both attack and defense. It is a county on the border between Xin and Geng countries, and it is also the only way for nearby countries to go south. It has both water routes. In other words, if you want to seize the heartland of the Central Plains of the mainland, you have to take over Sibao County."
Shen Tang gasped.
"Does the Ten Crows have such a big plan?"
They haven’t even conquered the mountains that block their advance southward, so how can they think about conquering the northwestern countries
He is worthy of being the one who dares to commit fraud in Japan.
"They really dare to plot so big. It was a daydream before, but now-" Qi Shan glanced at Chen Tang who lowered his head, and said faintly, "It may not be impossible. The national seal of Xin State was lost, and Zheng Qiao is a violent ruler who cannot appease the people. The national spirit and national destiny condensed by the national seal in his hand may not be able to maintain the national barrier on the other side of the mountain. The ambition of the Ten Black Wolfs may really seize the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to cross the mountain range."
Xiaocheng is a chess move they have buried deep.
Of course, even if Shiwu had not laid out the route in Xiaocheng, Qishan would still have come, one to take revenge, and the other to lay out the route.
Is it interesting to live a mediocre life and die in frustration? It is still unknown who will win and who will be the winner in the end!
As the two of them talked, a line of very faint words gradually appeared on the originally snow-white paper—
There is something wrong with this paper!
Chen Tang thought: "Looking from the side, it looks like a mountain, and from the front, it looks like a peak?"