Chapter 105 The Demise of Tan Peng

Huyang, Cangshui Stronghold, the main hall.

Tan Peng and the other leaders gathered, meeting with the imperial envoy.

"...Stronghold Master Tan, these are the benefits of accepting the offer of amnesty. I wonder what you think?"

The envoy cupped his fist and said in a deep voice.

Tan Peng clapped his bald head and said with a sarcastic tone, "The imperial court is still using the same old tricks, giving some empty titles and positions, wanting people to sell their lives. This old man is not a fame-seeker. What I hate most in my life are those officials. I want to strangle one every time I see one. Don't even think about me joining the imperial court."

The envoy suppressed his anger and said, "Two tigers cannot share a mountain. Your conflict with Chen Feng has already become irreconcilable. Wouldn't it be a good thing to have the help of the imperial court? I don't know why Stronghold Master Tan is so resistant. Even a Green Forest Overlord like Yanbei Heavenly King Stronghold accepted the amnesty some time ago. This is the righteous path."

Upon hearing this, Tan Peng's face immediately darkened. He slammed the armrest of his chair, spat out a mouthful of thick phlegm, and cursed:

"Bullshit! I originally thought that Yanbei Heavenly King Stronghold were heroes, but I didn't expect them to be a bunch of spineless cowards. The imperial court threw a few scraps of meat and they imitated dogs, wagging their tails and licking people's assholes, immediately turning around to bite their Green Forest brothers. How dare you compare me to this group of scoundrels?"

In June, Yanbei Heavenly King Stronghold publicly accepted the amnesty. Stronghold Master Lu Longchuan and a group of important leaders went to the capital to meet the emperor, received imperial decrees and rewards, and then began to pacify the bandits in Yanbei and Taidong for the imperial court.

This matter caused a huge uproar in the Green Forest world. Some despised and scorned them, while others envied and yearned for them. The name of Heavenly King Stronghold became half good and half bad for a time... In any case, since they had joined the imperial court, no one called them Green Forest Overlords anymore.

At that time, although the war in Huyang was fierce, they had also heard the news. Tan Peng was one of those who despised the actions of Heavenly King Stronghold.

At this time, a leader next to him couldn't sit still any longer. He twisted his body and coughed to smooth things over:

"Heavenly King Stronghold accepted the amnesty, perhaps to find a way out for the brothers in the stronghold. It may not be for fame and fortune... Moreover, Chen Feng is brave and unmatched. We also need help."

Mentioning Chen Feng, many of the leaders present showed fear.

They had fought with Chen Feng for more than a month, and originally thought they could take advantage of the situation, but they were repelled again and again. They had all personally witnessed Chen Feng's power.

Every time they remembered the scene of Chen Feng wreaking havoc on the battlefield, the leaders felt lingering fear.

Tan Peng snorted coldly upon hearing this: "What good way out is accepting the amnesty? Didn't you all see what happened to Wan Chunyang?"

Wasn't that your fault!

The corners of many leaders' mouths twitched.

To say that Wan Chunyang was also wronged. He was stabbed in the back by his teammate and killed by Chen Feng before he could offer sacrifices to the flag. The person he hated the most before his death was probably not Chen Feng, but you!

However, winners are kings and losers are bandits. As the side that had benefited, no one would speak up for Wan Chunyang. They could only blame this person for being too stupid, actually daring to trust his teammates, probably thinking that the imperial court would back him up, so he had nothing to worry about.

The imperial envoy gritted his teeth and cupped his hands: "I hope Stronghold Master Tan will reconsider..."

Tan Peng interrupted him and said decisively: "Don't mention the matter of amnesty again."

A dark cloud flashed across the imperial envoy's eyes.

If this guy stubbornly refuses to accept the amnesty now, he doesn't even dare to think about what he will do in the future!

The leaders' expressions changed, but they still held back and didn't speak.

Seeing this, the imperial envoy came up with a plan. Without showing any signs, he stood up and said, "Stronghold Master Tan has too deep a prejudice against the imperial court. Since you are unwilling to accept the amnesty, then I won't stay any longer. If your stronghold changes its mind, the imperial court is still willing to offer amnesty."

After saying that, he bid farewell and was led away by the lackeys.

After the outsiders left, a leader finally couldn't help but ask:

"Stronghold Master, if we don't accept the amnesty, wouldn't it be cheaper for the imperial court if we fight Chen Feng to a draw in the future?"

Tan Peng snorted: "Even if we accept the amnesty, we still have to fight Chen Feng. It's still the imperial court that benefits."

"That's not right. If we are greatly weakened by then, the imperial court might send troops to wipe us out. If we accept the amnesty, the imperial court won't deal with their own people... We can also imitate our predecessors and earn a Jiedushi to become."

"Naive! I've made up my mind, and I will never suck up to those officials. Don't mention this matter again."

Tan Peng waved his hand to interrupt, not wanting to argue.

The leaders had no choice but to shut their mouths, looking at each other with uncertain eyes.

...

On the other side.

After Chen Feng's troops repelled Tan Peng, they withdrew to the stronghold, busily reorganizing, absorbing surrendered soldiers, and replenishing their forces.

Most of the soldiers didn't have the intention of rather dying than surrendering. Moreover, Chen Feng's martial prowess overwhelmed his contemporaries. He was a resounding figure, so it was not shameful to serve him. Therefore, the work of recruitment and surrender went quite smoothly, and soon there were results.

Compared with the situation before the start of the war several months ago, the number of soldiers under Chen Feng's command not only did not decrease but increased, it can be said that he was fighting to support the war.

However, these surrendered soldiers needed to be trained, and the original soldiers also needed to rest. At the same time, supplies needed to be stockpiled and reserved, so everyone was not in a hurry to start another war, and concentrated on recuperating.

On this day, Zhou Jing and the other leaders stood on a cliff, overlooking the lake and inspecting the scene of naval exercises.

They saw thousands of sails moving, and teams of warships constantly changing formations according to the flags, with great order.

"Not bad."

Zhou Jing nodded secretly as he watched, analyzing and calculating in his mind.

The soldiers under his command at the moment can't be called elite soldiers, but their morale is as high as a rainbow due to repeated victories. They are all soldiers who dare to fight, which is not too bad.

He had seized a lot of soldiers' warships in the past few months, and all kinds of naval warfare weapons were complete. The army was also mainly composed of sailors, which was quite outstanding in naval warfare, and ranked among the top in the world.

However, due to the single type of soldier, his troops' level of land combat was relatively average, and there were basically no cavalry. It was not easy to exert their strength away from Huyang, a place with dense water networks.

The current military strength is enough to defend Huyang, but not suitable for conquering other places.

Zhou Jing was also clear about this problem, and could only solve it by slowly training, he couldn't rush it.

In his plan, after dominating Huyang, he would accumulate grain widely and build walls high. After making enough preparations, he would find an excuse to raise the flag and start an uprising, so there was plenty of time to cultivate soldiers and leaders.

Just right, taking advantage of the development time, let his influence slowly permeate and ferment, and at the same time, he could develop steadily.

In addition, the various factions of people who were imprisoned had already finished writing the secret manuals and handed them all over.

After Zhou Jing confirmed that they were genuine, he fulfilled the agreement and let them leave in disgrace.

The secret manuals of the major sects are now all in his hands, not only providing them to his subordinates, but also sending people to teach the nearby villagers, spreading them unscrupulously... These may be his source of soldiers in the future. Practicing martial arts is not something that can be done overnight, so it is just right to sow the seeds and cultivate them first.

The most enthusiastic about martial arts secret manuals were naturally all kinds of Jianghu vagrants, who flocked to him, ignoring Zhou Jing's evil reputation, to seek knowledge.

Zhou Jing did not refuse anyone, and chose an island in Yue Mountain Lake for Jianghu people to stay on. For a time, it became a martial arts holy land that was passed down by word of mouth in the Jianghu world, and people kept coming, forgetting to eat and sleep to discuss martial arts.

Although the majority of people were mediocre in aptitude, under the brainstorming, these people actually showed signs of innovating the martial arts of various factions.

The major sects watched helplessly as their unique skills were leaked, heartbroken, but helpless. Based on the mentality that everyone was taking advantage and they couldn't fall behind, they even sent people to learn the martial arts of other sects.

The barriers between sects were forcibly broken, and the entire Jianghu world became competitive. For a time, there was a hint of a martial arts golden age.

In addition, during the travels, Zhou Jing had used three [Auxiliary Function Upgrades], which were used to upgrade [Map Radar], [Follower Function], and [Character Level System] respectively, which not only met his own needs, but also tested the upgrade path differences of each auxiliary function.

[Map Radar] has always been quite practical. After the upgrade, the detection range has been greatly increased, and the function has been strengthened. It can now mark the degree of threat, not only detecting familiar and unfamiliar targets.

Moreover, according to the introduction, items with special characteristics may also be displayed on the radar, but Zhou Jing has not encountered them yet, and does not know what "special characteristics" refers to.

The upgrade route of [Map Radar] is obviously to increase the detection distance and the richness of identifying target information. Zhou Jing couldn't help but wonder if, after upgrading several more times, he would be able to directly distinguish between aborigines and foreign explorers one day... It may not be impossible, because explorers are stained with Star Realm energy when traveling through, which may be a factor that can be detected by the panel.

The [Follower Function] upgrade, as expected, opened a second follower slot, and the quality of the follower template has been improved – if it was a moron before, now it can be considered to be of average aptitude at least.

The upgrade direction of the [Character Level System] is simple and direct, from a maximum of 10 levels to 18 levels, and the additional attribute range obtained per level has changed from 0~2 points to 1~3 points. If you have good luck, the maximum additional bonus at full level reaches 40+, which is enough to make a single attribute cross a tier, and the bonus is greatly increased.

After this period of combat, Chen Feng's character level had already reached its limit, and now there was more room to continue upgrading.

It's just that the additional attribute points obtained from previous upgrades will not be blessed by the auxiliary function upgrade, so he did not receive compensatory additional attributes. However, it can be compensated for. When Chen Feng is transformed into an Eternal Apostle and redeployed, the auxiliary function can be reset.

Because he had been fighting for nearly half a year, Zhou Jing traveled to Chen Feng every time, and Bill could only be raised freely.

He checked the logs and found that Bill was doing well, following the emperor to the capital, eating idly in the Astronomical Bureau. Because he was powerful and had a detached position, he had been providing elixirs for the emperor and dignitaries, so his position was stable and he was still favored.

"The war in Huyang can't be left for the time being. When I'm free in the future, I'll go to Bill's body... But there's nothing major there that needs my personal attention, so I can go or not."

Zhou Jing thought to himself.

Just as his mind was drifting away, a leader in charge of gathering information ran over, reporting urgently:

"Stronghold Master, I have an urgent matter to report!"

Zhou Jing came back to his senses and turned to look at him: "What is it?"

The leader took a breath before speaking:

"Tan Peng is dead!"

"What?"

The news was too sudden. Not only Zhou Jing, but the other leaders were also stunned.

"What's going on? Tell us in detail!"

Guo Hai urged.

The leader explained: "Not long ago, I found out that Tan Peng was poisoned to death, and the second leader of the stronghold had to take over his position, and vowed to avenge their Stronghold Master."

Fang Zhen was surprised: "Strange, how could Tan Peng be killed in his own base camp? Who poisoned him?"

Hearing this, the leader's expression was strange, and he hesitated:

"That group of people released rumors, claiming that our Stronghold Master is irreconcilable with them, and we must have done this, fearing their power, so we bought people and poisoned Tan Peng. It has already spread on the road..."

"I did it?" Zhou Jing was stunned, then laughed: "Because I'm the enemy, so all the dirty water can be poured on me, and I can be framed at will, right?"

Fang Zhen said decisively: "My second brother wouldn't do such a thing. There must have been internal strife in Tan Peng's stronghold, and someone seized power. I just don't know the reason... The second leader who took over the position is the most suspicious."

Guo Hai sighed with emotion: "It's a pity for Tan Peng, he just grew stronger, and before his chair was warm, he was assassinated."

Du Ying's eyes lit up, and he immediately offered a suggestion:

"This matter is strange, the enemy's morale is fluctuating, and it is possible to divide and win them over. Moreover, the enemy's leader has just died, and there must be internal chaos. This is a god-given opportunity, and time waits for no one!"

Zhou Jing narrowed his eyes and said decisively: "Gather the lads and follow me on the expedition!"

He originally planned to train the army until about October before fighting Tan Peng, but he didn't expect the enemy to suddenly reveal a flaw, so he could only be sorry.

Seizing this opportunity to attack may be able to achieve twice the result with half the effort, and determine Huyang in one fell swoop.