The Cruel Tyrant

34

After the man in black escaped, Su Mu soon returned to Lingyun Pavilion. But he still felt as uncomfortable as if a poisonous snake had fixed its sights on him, so he secretly decided to send someone to look into it.

Early the next morning, Su Mu and Sun Hongyu came to the Wu kingdom's palace to meet the Emperor of Wu.

The Prince of Rong, the most trusted brother of the Emperor of Wu, was already waiting.

After Su Mu amd the Prince of Rong both made greetings to each other, the Emperor of Wu came out of the room.

"You have been disturbed last night. I have ordered someone to investigate the matter thoroughly and I will definitely give you an explanation." The Emperor of Wu spoke as he sat in a chair, his bearing majestic and solemn. Although he was only in his early fifties, most of his hair had already greyed.

Su Mu sneered in his heart. If he didn't just sit back and watch, the assassin wouldn't have gotten into the Lingyun Pavilion that easily. After all, it was a place that specialized in receiving foreign guests so the security should be more stricter than it was last night. What else could be the intention of the Emperor of Wu but to test him out.

Though he was as clear as a mirror on this matter, he still had to put on an expression of gratitude: "The Emperor of Wu is wise, many thanks to the Emperor of Wu."

The Emperor of Wu was an intelligent person. Of course he knew that Su Mu was aware of everything, but there were certain times when even if everyone understood what was going on, they must still pretend not to know. He nodded and said: "Zhen have seen your drawings. They indeed could bring a major change, but it is still not enough for our kingdom to send 200,000 troops. The most is 100,000. This is the number our kingdom can deploy at present."

A drawing of a dragon bone water lift was worth only 50,000 troops! Su Mu really wanted to smear his face with the ink on the table.

The land in the Wu kingdom was relatively high, and the role of the dragon bone water lift would be even greater. It was worth more than 50,000 people. Besides, the food, horse feed, army salaries and all other expenses were to be paid by Su Mu himself.

But, in this situation where he was the one requesting help, Su Mu could only continje to bargain with this greedy old man: "Your Majesty, the dragon bone water lift is only one condition. When the army arrives in Qing kingdom, I will hand over the technique of preventing smallpox to Wu kingdom. And when the army wins and return back to Wu kingdom, I will also hand over the drawing of the animal drawn seed plow to Your Majesty. How can the benefits of these three technologies that are enough to shock the world be comparable to the benefits of a 200,000 army?"

The Emperor of Wu stared at Su Mu with shrewd eyes: "The dragon bone water lift is indeed useful, but as for the way to prevent smallpox and the animal drawn seed plow, how do Zhen know if what you said is true?"

This old thing, Su Mu secretly grinded his teeth.

Although he was nearly angered to death, Su Mu still had to bargain with the Emperor of Wu with a smile: "If your kingdom is willing to borrow troops, I can give your kingdom the technology to prevent smallpox first, but the drawing of the animal drawn seed plow must wait until the army returns back to the Wu kingdom before it can be handed over to Your Majesty.

"One hundred thousand, if you are willing to hand over the animal drawn seed plow drawing together then two hundred thousand. Or you can use other technologies instead." The Emperor of Wu said decisively.

Su Mu stood up straight and looked directly at the Emperor of Wu, with a polite smile at the corner of his mouth he said: "His Majesty the Emperor of Wu would not make pay everything upfront when doing business as well. If the Emperor of Wu is not interested, I believe the Wei kingdom or Shi kingdom will definitely be interested."