The King Knows His Way Chapter 1

There is a mountain in the southwest, named Luoxian.

Luoxian Mountain has a nice name and beautiful scenery. In March and April, the whole mountain is covered with green buds. When the rain falls, the wild flowers will bloom overnight. The wind blows and the flowers sway, making people feel relaxed and happy. It is indeed a good place for an outing.

Unfortunately, when the people in the town at the foot of the mountain mention this place, nine out of ten will shake their heads and advise outsiders not to go there. When asked about the reason, they will hesitate and refuse to say. Only when you meet a fool who insists on breaking in will you reveal a few things. It turns out that this Luoxian Mountain was occupied by someone a few years ago and the leader of the mountain stronghold is called Wang Dabao. He has a group of minions under him. They are all brutal and unreasonable. They shout and kill at any time and have knives in their hands. After being bullied a few times, everyone dares not go into the mountain to argue again. They just treat the other party as a plague god and stay as far away as possible, just hoping to live a peaceful life.

Fortunately, there are many mountains and forests in the southwest, so there is no shortage of this one.

It’s just that the people want to live in peace, but Wang Dabao doesn’t.

He was originally a bully in the State of Chu. His family had land, a house, and a martial arts school, and he lived a comfortable life. He was used to showing off his power, and accidentally caused a murder in the street, which alarmed the emperor who was on tour. In order to save his life, he had to flee overnight, and then he came all the way to this southwest to become a bandit. However, he was used to a life of luxury, and suddenly came to this remote place. He was quiet for a while at first, but after a while, he inevitably started to think actively, always looking for some opportunities to make a comeback.

At this moment, he was sitting in a sedan chair, being carried all the way to Southwest Prefecture. Everyone knew that the King of Southwest Logan Duan was a delicate and subtle existence for the State of Chu.

When the current emperor Liam Chu ascended the throne, he was only eighteen years old. At that time, a group of old officials in the court formed cliques and factions, and banditry was rampant in the northwest. Only the southwest was barely peaceful, and even helped to quell the rebellion. Naturally, the court rewarded and appeased them, with fiefs and gold and silver. After a few years, most of the vassal kings who made trouble were completely eliminated. Only the king of the southwest, Logan, not only did not suffer any losses, but was also granted sixteen border states, extending his jurisdiction all the way to the territory of Chu.

The ministers in the court were quite dissatisfied with this, always feeling that Logan was a little too aggressive, and he had a large army in his hands, so he had to be on guard. The people also spread the word privately that the King of the Southwest had wolfish ambitions and might lead his troops north one day, and the person in the court would probably have a headache when that happened.

Wang Dabao also heard this rumor.

Since he was in the southwest, his biggest backer was naturally the King of the Southwest. If he wanted to get close to him, the first thing he had to do was to please him. It happened that the new house of the King of the Southwest was completed, so Wang Dabao spent a full half month to prepare a gift, and buried it in the mountains for another month. He couldn't wait to dig it out and carried it all the way to present the treasure.

After getting off the sedan chair, Wang Dabao followed the butler inside. The architectural style of the Southwest Prince's Palace is different from the ordinary white buildings in Dali. It is more like the golden palace in the royal city. If you say that the Southwest Prince has no ulterior motives, I'm afraid even a fool would not believe it.

In the garden in front, a girl in a pink and white dress was sitting at a stone table in a trance. The housekeeper whispered to her, "Master, don't look around."

Wang Dabao lowered his head when he heard that, but the girl had already seen the two of them, so she stood up and asked crisply: "Are you a guest?"

"Yes," the butler replied, "I came to see the prince."

The girl looked him up and down. Wang Dabao saw that she didn't speak for a long time, so he took the initiative to praise her: "Miss, you are really as beautiful as a flower and as pretty as a fairy."

As soon as the words fell, the butler's face turned pale, and the girl said angrily: "Try to say it again!"

Wang Dabao was shocked, thinking, could it be that he thought these eight words were too vulgar and wanted to use more elegant poems to praise it? God has mercy on him, he is just a bandit leader, not very cultured.

"Please forgive me, young prince. This guest comes from the mountains and has never seen the world." The butler hurriedly tried to smooth things over.

...Little Prince? Wang Dabao was shocked.

"Hmph!" The girl, or rather the boy, stomped his feet, turned around and went back to the house angrily.

"Nonsense!" The housekeeper also glared at him, "It's a good thing that the young prince doesn't want to bother with you. When you see the prince later, if you act like this again, you'll lose your head!"

Wang Dabao was in deep pain but could not speak it out. Rumor has it that there is a little prince in the Southwest Palace, whose temperament is the same as that of the Southwest King. Who would have known that he would appear in this manner? Don't even think that the Southwest King has such a refined taste, and likes to walk around the yard in a skirt.

With a little uneasiness in his heart, Wang Dabao was led to the front hall and sat down to drink tea.

After an incense stick of time, footsteps were finally heard outside.

"Your Highness!" The guards in the courtyard saluted in unison.

Wang Dabao also hurriedly stood up and bowed: "I pay my respects to Your Majesty."

"Are you the one who found the treasure?" Logan asked casually while sitting in the first seat.

"It's me, it's me." Wang Dabao was overjoyed and presented the gift box with both hands. He also secretly glanced at the legendary King of the Southwest. He had handsome features and a tall stature. He was dressed in purple and looked elegant and majestic. He had an extraordinary demeanor. One could tell at a glance that he was a good backer.

Logan opened the box and frowned: "Stone?"

"It's a stone, but it's not an ordinary stone." Wang Dabao pretended to be mysterious and walked forward to point it out to him.

The pattern is vaguely visible, and it depicts a southwestern tiger with a golden dragon under its claws. The meaning is self-evident.

The King of the Southwest raised his eyebrows and said nothing.

Wang Dabao was full of anticipation.

"Very good." After a long time, Logan finally said something.

Wang Dabao's heart, which had been hanging in his throat, finally settled down, as if he had foreseen a bright future of wealth and glory.

"What are your next ideas?" Logan asked again.

"This is in accordance with the will of heaven." Wang Dabao moved closer, "If the common people can also see this stone, it will be of great benefit to the prince."

Logan listened without saying a word, letting his head get closer and closer to her, until they were almost touching.

"I wonder what Your Highness thinks?" Fortunately, Wang Dabao finished it in time and avoided the unfortunate fate of being slapped away.

"Yes, you are worthy of being a guest from Da Chu." Logan nodded, "You will live in this Southwest Palace from now on."

"Really?" Wang Dabao had never expected that he could become an aide so easily. He could hardly bear the joy and almost fainted.

"Of course it's true." Logan nodded and said to the outside, "Yao'er!"

"What's the matter?" The young man who was in the garden earlier walked in.

"Take the guest to the guest room to rest." Logan said, "You don't have to go out without my permission."

"Let's go." The boy didn't even look at him, "Hurry up, I have other things to do later."

"Yes, yes, thank you, King of the Southwest, and thank you, little prince." Wang Dabao didn't have time to think about what "no need to go out without permission" meant, and hurriedly followed him out.

The boy looked thin, but he walked very fast. Wang Dabao was jogging at first, and then he almost ran. He felt dizzy and out of breath, and almost fell down.

"We're here." The boy stopped and said impatiently, "Let's go in."

Wang Dabao was stunned when he saw the gloomy prison in front of him.

If he remembered correctly, what the King of Southwest just talked about was...a guest room?

"Is there any misunderstanding here?" Wang Fabao asked with a wry smile.

"No misunderstanding, this is what the guest room in the Southwest Palace looks like, believe it or not." The young man clapped his hands, turned around and walked out, "Just stay here, you won't starve to death."

"Young Prince---" Wang Dabao wanted to hold him back to explain a few more words, but several guards rushed forward, dragged him up and locked him in the prison.

"Your Highness." In the front hall, the butler came in and reported, "There is another letter from the royal city."

"Oh?" The King of Southwest seemed very interested. He threw the broken stone aside and went to the study.

At the same time, thousands of miles away, the emperor Liam was not in a good mood.

"Your Majesty," the personal eunuch, Eunuch Sixi, whispered, "It's time to eat."

"I have no appetite. Ask the imperial kitchen to clear the room." Liam was a little annoyed and put the teacup in his hand aside.

Eunuch Sixi sighed in his heart, bowed and retreated, then gently closed the door for him.

In the more than two years since he ascended the throne, the emperor has not had an easy life...

After an incense stick of time, Liam threw down the memorial and angrily called over several guards, asking them to dig up a plum tree in the courtyard of the palace and throw it as far away as possible.

After everyone agreed, they divided the work and cooperated in an orderly manner. You took the shovel and I dug the hole. Not only did we have to move quickly, but we also had to take good care of the soil and not damage the roots of the plum tree. After all, within three days, the emperor would definitely issue an order to pick it up and plant it back in the original place. We still rely on it to bloom in winter. In the past seven or eight years, we have been planting and digging, tossing back and forth endlessly. If it were an ordinary tree, it would have withered and died long ago. However, the plum blossoms can bloom more and more vigorously every year, which is a rare thing.

Although it was no longer winter, the nights in the royal city were still chilly. All the households had their doors shut and went to bed to warm up. It was raining heavily at midnight, which was supposed to be a good time to sleep, but suddenly a howl was heard in the city, and the night watchman was pissing and pissing, his voice almost breaking the sky: "It's terrible, it's killing people!"

A moment later, the patrolling guards arrived at the scene. They saw bloodstains everywhere in the alley, which was really scary. A man in a brocade robe was lying on the ground with a sharp knife stuck in his back. It seemed that he had died a long time ago.

The guard stepped forward and turned him over. After seeing him clearly, he was indeed stunned. After confirming it again, he came back and said, "Reporting to the commander, the deceased seems to be the young prince of An-ǔ country."