69novels Chapter 815: Frame the Chu Army, Wu Can’s sophistry!
Chapter 815: Frame the Chu Army, Wu Can’s sophistry!
"Quick! Gather five hundred light cavalry and follow me out of the city to investigate!" Wu Can's voice was filled with suppressed rage and a hint of subtle panic. He grabbed his sword and strode out at great speed. Gongzi Gao must not be harmed! At least not before his value is fully utilized. He must not die! Especially not on my watch!
When Wu Can and his elite cavalry arrived at the scene at lightning speed, they encountered a horrifying scene. The wreckage of the burning carriages still crackled, and the charred bodies exuded a foul stench. More bodies lay scattered across the official road and in the grass on either side. Most of them were the soldiers sent to escort the troops, their deaths gruesome. The air was thick with the scent of death.
"Where is Master Gao? Find Master Gao!" Wu Can shouted loudly, his voice trembling slightly with nervousness.
The soldiers, nauseated, searched through the corpses and ashes. Soon, a body was brought out. Its features were charred beyond recognition, but its shape and the remains of its tattered, ornate garments were still vaguely recognizable. While it was difficult to fully identify, its location within the wreckage of the carriage and the multiple arrow wounds on its body made its identity almost certain.
"General! We found this!" A captain presented several things with a serious expression: an arrow with a crude tiger head mark engraved on the tail, a half-burned piece of leather armor that still showed the pattern of the Chu army's uniform, and a blood-stained wooden plaque engraved with the totem of the Chu land.
Looking at this "evidence," and then scanning the entire deliberately arranged scene full of traces of "Chu army robbery and murder," Wu Can's eyes twitched violently, and a violent rage exploded in his chest! He clenched his fists tightly, his nails digging deep into his palms.
"Xiang—Yu—!" Wu Can gritted his teeth, his voice filled with anger, deep hatred, and murderous intent. "What a feint to the east to attack in the west! What a way to cut off the firewood from under the cauldron! He openly held his troops in place, but sent elite troops to ambush and kill the young master from behind, destroying my righteous reputation and forcing Gao Yao to fight me to the death. What a ruthless tactic!"
At this time, Wu Can did not think that the person who did it was Gao Yao. The evidence at the scene, coupled with his blind confidence, made Gongzi Gao believe that this incident was done by the Chu army. They ambushed the Chu army on the road that Gongzi Gao had to take and killed him!
The purpose was to get rid of the most important card in Wu Can's hand, so that he would lose the possibility of holding Gongzi Gao hostage and confronting Gao Yao, and instead let both sides fight to the end, and let the world think that it was Wu Can who killed Gongzi Gao. In this way, it is now a fact that Gongzi Gao died at the hands of Wu Can.
The original idea of using Gongzi Gao's identity to force Gao Yao to withdraw his troops was completely impossible to achieve, and Wu Can was not so stupid as to be hopeless. At this time, he had no choice at all. It could be said that he was in a situation where he was doomed to die.
"Pass my orders!" Wu Can turned abruptly and roared at the messenger, his voice echoing throughout the deadly silence. "Have the cavalry tell all the reinforcements that haven't arrived yet to accelerate! Gather towards the county town! Strengthen the security at the four gates, send out more scouts, and search the area within a twenty-mile radius! Kill any trace of the Chu army without mercy! Also, send a copy of this situation, the tragic murder of Prince Gao, and the evidence of these Chu bandits' crimes to all counties and prefectures immediately! Announce to the world that the Chu army is shameless and has abducted and killed Prince Gao, the King of Qin. This is an outrage to both humans and gods! I, Wu Can, swear to never reconcile with the Chu bandits and will take their heads to avenge Prince Gao!"
Wu Can's fury erupted like a volcano. He believed this was Xiang Yu's naked provocation and a decisive blow. He had to respond immediately and forcefully! He must gather all his forces in the county town and defend it with all his might. At the same time, he must thoroughly establish and publicize the Chu army's crime of "murdering the King of Qin" to seize the moral high ground.
Outside the county town, Wu Can gazed upon the charred remains of Prince Gao and the carefully arranged evidence of the "Chu Army"'s crimes. He was filled with shock and fury, eager to tear Ying Bu into pieces. However, as a warlord who had weathered the storms of time, beneath his intense rage, a cold calculation was also rapidly at work.
The orders he loudly issued to assemble troops, defend the city with all his might, and announce to the world to accuse Ying Bu, were not only to deal with the immediate crisis and occupy the moral high ground, but also concealed a more sinister and urgent hope - to divert the disaster to another place.
"Prince Gao is dead. He died on my territory, Wu Can, at Ying Bu's 'attack'..." Wu Can's thoughts raced, his eyes sinister. "That scoundrel Gao Yao supported Prince Gao in order to control the country. Now that his last puppet, his greatest support for holding the emperor hostage to the other princes, is gone, he's bound to be furious! Who will his wrath be directed at?"
"Is it me, Wu Can? That's right, it was me who lost Young Master Gao. Gao Yao must hate me to the core! But..." Wu Can's mouth curled up in a cold arc, "Isn't Xiang Yu, the 'murderer', more obvious and more hateful? Isn't the person Gao Yao hates most the Chu thief who directly 'killed' his trump card?"
Wu Can was well aware that without the protective amulet of Prince Gao, he would face an assault from three directions from Gao Yao's powerful Southern Border Army. The fall of Nanjun was only a matter of time. Gao Yao could unleash his full might against him without restraint, and no one could hinder him by accusing him of "harming the royal family." This was practically a catastrophic event!
"The only way to survive is to precisely direct Gao Yao's raging rage towards Xiang Yu!" Wu Can clenched his fists, his nails practically digging into his flesh. "I must convince Gao Yao that Xiang Yu is a madman, threatening to provoke a bloody battle between Gao Yao and himself! I must convince Gao Yao that Xiang Yu is the biggest stumbling block on his path to becoming emperor, the enemy who deserves to be crushed immediately!"
The fiercely worded manifesto he issued, exaggerating Ying Bu's brutality and the heinous crimes of killing members of the royal family, was not only to rally his own people, but also to show Gao Yao! He wanted this news to fly to Gao Yao's desk like wings, and accuse Xiang Yu of his crimes word by word.
He was betting on Gao Yao's ambition and rage. Having lost Prince Gao, Gao Yao's most urgent need was to find a murderer of sufficient weight to sacrifice, to shock the world and clear the final obstacle to his upcoming ascension to the throne. Xiang Yu, who was powerful and had assassinated Prince Gao, the King of Qin, was undoubtedly the best and most logical target.
"If Gao Yao could temporarily put aside his offensive against Nanjun and instead focus all his efforts on attacking Ying Bu..." Wu Can looked at the possible direction of Ying Bu's army in the distance, his eyes gleaming with a venomous glint. "Let these two fierce tigers fight and destroy each other! Perhaps I, Wu Can, can find a chance to breathe in this gap, and even... reap the benefits!"
At the same time, in Ba County, far away from the bloody battlefield of Nanyang and Wu Can's anxious calculations, the atmosphere was completely different and calm, with even a hint of satisfaction that victory was in sight.