Seeking Truth with a Sword-Chapter 548 - 491 Trade

Chapter 548: Chapter 491 Trade
SCREECH!
From the depths of the Prince Manor came an eerily shrill scream. The majestic spiritual energy of the Candle Cloud Realm surged like a tsunami, spreading across the entire northern part of the city.
The burning grand hall, caught in the repercussions, collapsed completely with a thunderous roar.
Li Ang raised his hand to touch his forehead. The skin at his brow had been nicked by the sharp Sword Intent, oozing a fine line of blood.
"Heh."
He let out a faint smile. He knew how grief-stricken the Candle Cloud Sword Sect expert hidden deep within the Prince Manor must be.
Yet, what use was it?
The greatest advantage of a noble family was its singular focus on the clan, effectively having a family but no state allegiance. All its members were united, prioritizing the family’s survival above all else. But their greatest disadvantage was also that everything was prioritized for the family’s survival.
Even though the Wang Family had a Candle Cloud Sword Sect expert, possessed years of collected Mutated Objects, and had the capacity to make the Yu Country pay a certain price, they would not do so.
Li Ang casually wiped the blood from his fingertip on his clothes. He turned, pointed at Wang Bojian and the White-haired Clan Elder, and addressed the Supervision Department. "Take them all back to the garrison for interrogation. This includes these two, as well as any clan elders and members who didn’t participate in Wang Bo Fan’s plans but tacitly approved of them. Punish each according to their actions, in accordance with Yu Law. Also, hang the heads of Wang Jie and Wang Bo Fan outside the city gates for seven days. Publicize the confessions and crimes of the Wang clan members in written documents, post them throughout the city, and publish them in the newspapers."
Wang Bojian’s face turned pale. He wasn’t primarily afraid of imprisonment. Rather, Li Ang’s order to hang the heads of Wang Jie and his son, and to publish the Wang clan’s confessions in the newspapers, meant their noble house’s reputation was utterly destroyed. From this moment, the Wang Family’s reputation, built over a thousand years, was ruined. Scholars would scorn associating with them, and court officials would avoid any dealings. Wang clan members could no longer rely on their family’s name to receive preferential treatment or respect anywhere. Overnight, they would crumble and disperse.
The remaining clansmen wouldn’t even be able to stay in Taiyuan Prefecture. They would have to move to more distant and remote places, or seek refuge with collateral branches like the Langya Wang Family.
The Supervision Department Cultivators split into three groups. One group took the distraught Wang Bojian and the others to the garrison. Another stayed at the Prince Manor to extinguish the fire. The third group, accompanied by Yan Yundang, remained at the Prince Manor to monitor the surviving Wang clan members. This was to prevent them from taking any drastic actions, such as using Mutated Objects to bring about mutual destruction with Taiyuan Prefecture.
Li Ang left the Prince Manor, looking up at the dawn’s early light creeping across the sky, and sighed deeply.
The crowing of roosters and barking of dogs rose in every workshop as the city awoke. The doors of houses on either side of the streets were thrown open one after another. Some of the common people looked with curiosity, trepidation, and respect at Li Ang walking alone on the street.
TAP. TAP. TAP.
Steady footsteps came from behind. A Cultivator from the Supervision Department caught up, patted Li Ang’s shoulder, and took off his cone hat.
"Elder Brother?"
Li Ang stopped, looking surprised and delighted at the sight of Cheng Juxiu. "How come it’s you?"
"Let’s walk and talk."
Cheng Juxiu shook his head with a smile and said, "The Mountain Master sent me to protect you in secret. I just arrived yesterday, and since I have also served in the Supervision Department before, I came over." He paused slightly, his expression a bit hesitant.
Seeing this, Li Ang asked, "Elder Brother, do you think I’ve been too ruthless in my killing?"
"No," Cheng Juxiu replied. "Wang Jie and the others are exceedingly wicked; I feel that beheading them alone is letting them off too lightly. They deserve to be judged; there’s no issue there."
Cheng Juxiu continued, "It’s just... I’m a bit puzzled. How did you manage to convince the Mountain Master and the Emperor?"
As the Observer of Hedong Road, Li Ang did possess a Jade Pendant from the Mountain Master. This granted him unconditional command of the Supervision Department. Indeed, at this time, within the Hedong Road territory, he held the greatest authority.
But mobilizing the Supervision Department for such a major operation was a significant undertaking. It would have been impossible not to inform Mountain Master Lian Xuanxiao and Emperor Yu, Li Shun, in advance.
And the Taiyuan Wang Family, after all, was a thousand-year-old family.
Based on Cheng Juxiu’s understanding of the Mountain Master and the Emperor, if they were to decide the fate of the Wang Family, their methods might have been more lenient and not as resolute as Li Ang’s.
"Well..." Li Ang began slowly, "on one hand, the members of the Wang Family indeed violated Yu Law, secretly colluding with Zhao Ming and Taihao Mountain. They deserved death. Both His Majesty and the Mountain Master agreed that the ringleaders of the treason should be brought to justice. On the other hand, punishing the Wang Family severely was also a condition I had set."
Cheng Juxiu was stunned. "Condition?"
"Mhm." Li Ang nodded. "Streptomycin can not only cure the plague but also tuberculosis. If used well, it could save hundreds of thousands, potentially over a million, common people."
Based on data currently collected by the sick house, the annual incidence rate of tuberculosis in the Yu Country was about eighty per hundred thousand. The current number of tuberculosis patients was approximately eight hundred thousand to one million. Many of them didn’t live for more than a few years after contracting the disease.
The effect of streptomycin wasn’t any less than that of the previously discovered Penicillin or artemisinin.
Moreover, the production of streptomycin was extremely complex. Even if spies from other countries somehow managed to obtain the production process diagram for streptomycin, they would still lack the most crucial Streptomycetes spores.
Attempting to replicate it and produce it domestically was extremely difficult. And who knows how many more years it would take for them to understand the meaning and function of steps like fermentation, acidification, neutralization, and elution.
"Using the lives of Wang Bo Fan and others in exchange for the health of millions of the Yu Country’s common people," Li Ang said indifferently, "this deal was very shrewd."
"That’s true." Cheng Juxiu nodded, then suddenly smiled. "To dare to ’threaten’ both the Mountain Master and His Majesty simultaneously—there probably aren’t many people in the whole world who could do that."
"Then, Elder Brother, you’re overestimating me," Li Ang said with a wry smile. "If the Mountain Master and His Majesty hadn’t agreed to my use of the Supervision Department, I could only have published the Wang Family’s crimes in the newspapers. This would have forced the Wang Family to push Wang Jie and Wang Bo Fan forward to take the blame and be executed. Alternatively, I could have charged into the Prince Manor alone. I would have tested how much weight this Little Medicine King God truly carries in the Yu Country, and whether it would have been enough to compel the garrison and the Supervision Department to support me."
These were all jokes made after the dust had settled. The two bantered and laughed as they walked straight back to the sick house.
Cheng Juxiu shared much about his experiences in Dengzhou, Henan Road. He mentioned that their construction of steel ships, including the retrofitting of the Spiritual Energy Machine, was complete. They were expected to launch early next year.
By then, traveling in the Endless Sea would be as easy as walking on flat ground, allowing them to freely reach the maritime territory of the Zhou Kingdom and blockade merchant ships sailing on the sea.
Li Ang could feel that Cheng Juxiu was trying his best to keep the conversation light—
the Mountain Master had probably sent him, partly out of concern for Li Ang’s psychological state after being under such prolonged pressure.
Just as the two martial brothers were chatting leisurely—
BANG!
The door to the office was suddenly thrust open, and an expressionless Prince Yue, Li Hui, appeared in the doorway.
"Prince Yue."
Both men rose and saluted. Li Ang felt a vague unease and frowned as he asked, "What happened?"
"Come back to the Governor Mansion with me," Li Hui said in a hoarse voice. "Le Ling is sick."