?A month after he returned to the mansion, as early summer sun was shining high in the sky, while sparring with Old Yen, a subordinate ran up to the latter, whispering in his ear.

“B-boss, they… hit the Sects”

He spoke widening his eyes a little as it was a little too early for that step, causing Wu Long to narrow his eyes in thought.

‘Did I spook him too much with that “corpse puppet” play?’

His thoughts immediately went to the events a month and a half prior.

‘Tch, this is why too volatile people are troublesome’

Gu Zhen was too erratic, as he could be satisfied with a ‘win’ thus not minding any smaller setbacks at one moment, and enraged at a smallest hiccup in the other.

It all depended on his mood, and while it could be to an extent manipulated, the true unpredictable nature of his mood swings proved problematic at times.

He was also far more absorbed in this ‘game’ than Wu Long initially intended, though it also was because at the time it started Wu Long never met the man in person and thus could only guess his personality by the clues.

By the time he finally met him and learnt how volatile and narcissistic the latter was, it was already too late and the ‘game’ was in full swing.

This time, Gu Zhen seemingly made a sweeping motion to completely take over all the Sects that he had his agents work in, a move that Wu Long only anticipated much later, and one which almost certainly supposed to happen right before the war broke out, quite possibly becoming a spark for it.

The sudden unceremonious way it was done with seemingly no provocation suggested Gu Zhen was cutting away the possibility of something going wrong there like it did in the Yin Yang Unity Palace.

“T-they what?!”

General Feng raised his voice as Luo Mingyu’s father also came with some kind of news on his end.

“What is it now?”

Wu Long raised his eyebrow, a sudden suspicion growing within him.

“The Spring Flower Viewing Festival last month was a country-wide celebration that required a lot of food supplies, and both the Royal House and our temporary government made a united decision to release some of the country’s reserves”

General Feng spoke up with seething rage in his eyes, while Wu Long finally connected the dots.

“Turned out that the amount of supplies distributed to the festival was overspent, which usually would not have been a problem…”

His son, Feng Yan sighed, shaking his head.

“But about a week ago, a water dam broke down and flooded the richest farmlands of Western Regions, while the Southern Pastures were decimated by cattle disease that started out a little before the festival but has grown to devastating proportions by now, meaning that the crops and cattle supplies in the next fall would be severely affected.

Coupled with a fire that broke out in the granaries of the Ritie Town a bit to the North due to a 4th-tier Demonic Beast which I personally subjugated, but which managed to do substantial damage before I arrived…”

General Feng added to the explanation, as one ‘coincidence’ after another seemingly came all at the same time gradually forming a perfect storm.

“The Nie Family has recently completed a lucrative deal with the Gutian Kingdom, selling off part of our supplies as well, before even the festival, and has only notified the Royal Family. They are still in our reserves, but are supposed to be shipped out within days.

And now…”

The Red Hair of the man rose in the wind and his galvanized Spiritual Qi.

“… those sons of bitches try to put the blame for the bad planning on us!

And of course it’s working! It’s the first time the country’s operated by a dual government, and the one before it was doing fine!

Now there are even superstitious rumors rising, saying that us forming the second government robbed the country of it’s luck!

What dog **!!!”

General Feng crushed a paper he received from Luo Mingyu’s father.

“Hahaha, relax, General Feng. It is something we already prepared for”

Wu Long lightly laughed, causing the olive green eyes of both the father and son warriors to look at him while Luo Mingyu’s father sighed, shaking his head as he was trying to put in a word ever since the beginning.

“No wonder Gu Zhen felt like doing something in retaliation.

He caught on why we made a trade deal with the Tuamei Kingdom. And was furious we did it under his nose while he thought we were simply after the trade influence in that region”

He said with a light tone, the overtaking of the Sects, while still unexpected, now appearing in a completely different light.

Part of it was undeniably frustration with this turn of events, but part of it was certainly prevention of subordinates who handled it somehow screwing up as well.

“You see, his subordinates are not strictly speaking a whole, as each part of his structure works almost independently from the others, since they are all headed by people he appointed, and the communication between them can get… well numb let’s say.

The ones responsible for taking over the political structures of the Six Kingdoms have been using one particular trick in their arsenal a bit too much over the past 100 years…”

He explained, as a realization started to dawn on the General, who started remembering something about the food supply redistribution during the general meeting they had months before.

“You mean…?”

“Mm, after all, for mortal countries, no matter how many cultivators there are in them, food is the cornerstone of stability, as long as you provide the trifecta of food, clothing and shelter, even if there are problems, you can have a relatively stable population.

Of course, there are many factors that contribute as well, but food is something immediate and day-to-day. It’s role is hard to overestimate when it comes to mortals”

Wu Long nodded, confirming General Feng’s realization.

“They used disruption of food supplies as a tactic to crush their political opposition many times, in fact this tactic is being used on regular basis in the Gutian Kingdom every decade or so, so I was betting on them using it again.

Naturally, I had to distract Gu Zhen enough so he doesn’t notice what his subordinates are up to as well, but that was achieved by all the previous steps , plus the ones holding all parts of his apparatus together, the Alchemy Tower have been frantically trying to compete with our new Pills.

Old Yen’s intelligence was telling me that the preparation for this maneuver from their side was underway, so I was sure it was coming.

In fact, if I am not mistaken, the same thing should have happened in Tingren Kingdom as well, though on a smaller scale and in different capacity”

He then shrugged, knowing that currently some of Gu Zhen’s subordinates were in hot seats, possibly quite literally, as that was a blunder that was not easy to overstate.

It was not something overly important to Gu Zhen. It simply meant that Fantian Kingdom and Tingren Kingdom were a bit further from his grasp, which he did not consider an obstacle at all.

The crucial part of the problem was that it made him look stupid.

And that was something he hardly would tolerate.

‘As soon as Gu Zhen received a proud report from them that they managed to “stick it” to me with this double trouble in both Kingdoms, they likely saw a face quite opposite of what they expected’

A light chuckle escaped his lips as he thought of the poor bastards who were all ready to receive praise coming into Gu Zhen’s office.

“Now all the Feng House has to do is to publicly make an agreement with the Soaring Feather Trading Company and the crisis would be solved days after it rose while the Nie Family would look like incompetent crooks who only know how to blame others instead of actually tackling the problem.

Though you would also need to make efforts to efficiently use this time to take steps toward revitalizing this country’s food production as well, as a long-term solution, since the supplies stocked up in Tuamei can only aid this country and Tingren temporarily, but they alone can’t feed all three countries indefinitely.

The Luo House advising you should help you with that, not to mention that by the time next fall comes this conflict would be long over”

He spread his hands to the sides, as both the father and son stood with bewildered expressions.

“Ha… hahaha… hahahahaha!!! Those ignorant mongrels truly learned what it means to Wanting to steal a Chicken, but instead Losing the Bait, Hahahahaha!!!”

General Feng first started lightly chuckling, and then a roaring laughter broke out as he shouted the words that made Wu Long shudder.

“Uh… yeah… I guess”

He nodded, and turned to Old Yen, signaling him that they were going to go discuss further moves somewhere else.

“Wise words, Father! Hahaha! By now their intestines must be turning green with regret!”

The words resounding from behind him making him cover his face.

“Hmm, that is an interesting way to put it-…”

“Please don’t, not you too”

Wu Long cut into Old Yen’s musing under his nose as the latter tilted his head, seemingly tasting how the words would roll off the tongue.

“Eh?”

The middle-aged looking man widened his eyes at the slightly depressed voice he heard for the first time.

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