848 Prisoners from Zhang Xu Kingdom

>*Warning: the scene below might be a bit bloody for readers under 13 years old. Readers' discretion is required. *

"Smiling reduce gag reaction, so it can help you prevent from vomiting*." Nan Hua then proceeded to walk around the room. She looked at the prisoners this time and noticed that some of them had quite the willpower.

Despite her directing her killing intent towards them, they were still awake. Well, they were trembling, though.

"From Zhang Xu Kingdom." Nan Hua noticed their origin almost right away. Almost all of the spies that were captured came from Zhang Xu Kingdom. That was quite surprising considering that there were two other kingdoms.

But Nan Hua also knew Zhang Xu Kingdom's ambition was as big as Fei Yang Kingdom.

The question whether they could actually put those into action was the next question that needed to be answered. Everything would become clearer once they stepped to the battlefield and faced each other.

Though, the first battle was not with Zhang Xu Kingdom later.

"Organization?"

The man in front of Nan Hua was trembling. He couldn't see the person in front of him clearly, but he had the feeling that his life was hanging on a thread. And it was very easy for the person in front of him to kill him.

It was his instinct and the man knew it was also the same instinct that had allowed him to survive all this time.

The question left would be whether he could stay alive out of this place.

"Zhang Chen, isn't it?" Nan Hua was looking at the prisoner and asked in a low tone.

Her voice was slow, but the prisoner clearly had a reaction. It was all minor details that were hard to miss, but it was more than enough for her.

The information was now complete.

"Which part?"

Zhang Chen was one of the biggest organization in Zhang Xu Kingdom that was actually backed by military. The first time Nan Hua met with any of them was during her mission in the palace. Now, she encountered another one.

It seemed that they were treating their member like trashes now.

So many sacrifices.

This organization used to be big, but Nan Hua knew from the information that she had gathered that they were slowly getting destroyed. This organization was not mentioned much in the novel, so her information mainly based on the people she had sent to Zhang Xu Kingdom.

"Thousand…" the man muttered, his body trembled.

Thousand?

While Fei Mao was confused, Nan Hua's eyes narrowed. It seemed that the conflict within Zhang Xu Kingdom itself had escalated and even an organization as big as Zhang Chen is not completely free of it.

"Thousand Needles."

The prisoner's eyes widened.

Nan Hua took out a needle and then threw it towards the prisoner. The small and faint needle passed by the prisoner's cheek as he trembled even harder. Her eyes were filled with ruthlessness. "Tell me everything you know about them."

Splash!

As Nan Hua walked back to the stairs, her small steps stepped on the puddle of blood on the ground. Her eyes revealed nothing but Fei Mao felt his body turned soft when he saw Nan Hua passed by him.

He had seen her torturing that prisoner with his own eyes.

It was terrifying.

At the same time, he was thinking of the Thousand Needles that the prisoner said not long ago. It was the one and only formal organization within Zhang Xu Kingdom that was backed by military.

Zhang Chen was also backed with military, but they were hidden in the darkness and operated on their own.

Thousands Needles were the opposites.

They worked under the order of some people in the military.

This organization consisted of assassins and doctors. The assassins were people who specialized in using needles and parasites. And majority of them were highly qualified doctors, which make it difficult for one to trace them.

They could easily gain access everywhere.

Quite similar to Traveling Doctor Liu, who had connection almost everywhere. The people in Thousand Needles were also similar.

And this was why it was the most terrifying organization in the entire land.

But they only operated within Zhang Xu Kingdom due to the fact that it was not easy to train highly skilled doctor who was also an assassin. If they were from Shi Long Kingdom instead of Zhang Xu, Nan Hua knew very well that the female lead, Luo Qing Wei, would have long turned them into her people.

All because no one would be able to compare to her skill as a doctor.

But because they were in Zhang Xu Kingdom, it meant that they were enemies whom they had to face when they finally wage the war against Zhang Xu Kingdom in the future.

Swish!

Running in the cold wind night, Nan Hua silently returned to her own courtyard. She didn't know what to do with Thousand Needles Organization as it was one of the few organizations that Long Qian Xing would have to deal.

After all, he would meet them at the battlefield in the future.

Nan Hua stared at the moon and then withdrew her gaze. There was no need for her to think too much. When it was time, she would deal with those people.

…

<Imperial Palace, Main Hall>

While there was chaos from Old Master Nan that caused a lot of disasters, work still had to go on. And this time, Emperor Yang Zhou felt a bit headache because there were quite a lot of vacant position.

Tu Family originally had a lot of officials.

Now that they were basically uprooted by Old Master Nan, it was simply impossible for the holes left to be covered immediately and also the reason why Emperor Yang Zhou felt utter headache.

He looked at the officials below him. "If you have any good suggestion, Zhen* will listen."

"Your Majesty, Great General Nan's move is very detrimental for us. Wouldn't it be possible to punish him for this move?" An official asked with uncertainty.

Facing the anger of the few people yesterday, they all already have headache. The current law was still relatively unclear in some matters and for powerful people like Great General Nan, it was even harder to restrict him.

After all, he was a person who was famous in Emperor Huan's era and also favored by the famous Emperor. Everyone respected the Emperor and knew that they wouldn't be able to do anything to Great General Nan that truly crossed the line.

If they said that Great General Nan was bad, wouldn't they be saying the opposite of what Emperor Huan said?

No one was stupid enough to do that.

"Great General Nan is eliminating people who only know how to use their position to take advantage of people," Another official interjected.

"Then…"

"But…"

Emperor Yang Zhou listened to these people arguing about Great General Nan and felt like kicking all of them out of the main hall. He didn't ask them to become the officials just to argue with each other.

In the end, the discussion stopped after they couldn't find any good conclusion.

All they could agree was that Great General Nan will pay the fine for damaging the public property and also for moving the military within the city. Normally, the military would never move unless there was some kind of big move.

And that was all.

Some officials were dissatisfied, but most of them felt that it was the best option. No one could compete with Great General Nan at this juncture and no one was that eager to welcome death on their own.

Thus, this solution worked the best for them.

"In regards to the empty position, who do you think will be best to fill in the position?" Emperor Yang Zhou asked.

At this moment, everyone was silent.

They knew that it would be impossible to be impartial when they mentioned a name because they would definitely want to recommend either themselves or their friends who might have a chance for that position.

Even though everyone knew that, no one wanted to be the one who speak out.

"Your Majesty, this subject brother in law had some words to say." Shangguan Yu cupped his fist.

The other officials turned around to look at Shangguan Yu in surprise.

If one had to say, Shangguan Yu was often forgotten in this hall because he was the only one who needed to wear a wheelchair to be able to participate. However, Shangguan Yu does have the qualification to be here as he had already passed the Imperial Examination.

Not only that, he was actually the second back then and should have been able to enjoy high position.

But because of his physical condition, he settled to stay in relatively average position here.

"Speak." Emperor Yang Zhou looked at Shangguan Yu.

"This subject brother in law felt that since there are a lot of capable officials, the matter of the empty position can be handled in regards to their merit for the past few years. This one believed that no one has been idle and had been working hard for Fei Yang Kingdom together. Surely this method should be the most suitable?" Shangguan Yu smiled.

…

Sora's Corner: Smile and gag reaction

Smiling uses muscles around the mouth and throat that suppress gagging and nausea. Even though you may not feel like it, the bigger you smile, the more effective it is.

So if you don't want to vomit, sometimes smiling is the answer you need :)

(take note that it'll not always work, depending on the person)

More information can be searched by yourself.