The Villain's Counterattack

All the letters sent by Murong Fu were divided into open and secret letters. On the surface, he asked Murong Commercial Bank to cooperate with Ma Dayuan, but secretly he issued a secret killing order. The channel of this secret letter was more secretive and very difficult to decipher. It required a special person to transcode it in order to understand it.

The letter was secretly intercepted within a quarter of an hour after it was sent. The person who intercepted the letter read the content, killed the person to silence him, and immediately got up and rushed to the Liao capital.

This man's surname is Xiao and his name is Yuanshan. Ever since Qiao Feng was driven out of the position of leader of the Beggars' Sect, he began to kill crazily, beheading all those who were closely related to Qiao Feng. Qiao Feng's master, Master Xuanku, was one of them. If Qiao Sanhuai and his wife had not been hidden by Qiao Feng long ago, they would have been killed.

The people who caused Qiao Feng to be ousted from power were not spared either. Master Zhiguang of Tiantai Mountain, Zhao Qiansun, and Mr. and Mrs. Tan all died at his hands. If Bai Shijing and Kang Min had not died early, they would have been hunted down by him as well.

After these people were liquidated one by one, Xiao Yuanshan turned his attention to others, such as Elder Xu of the Beggar Gang and Deputy Gang Leader Ma Dayuan, who played a huge role in Qiao Feng's resignation. He was both the fuse of the incident and the ultimate beneficiary. How could Xiao Yuanshan let him go?

However, Ma Dayuan summed up a rule in this world: no matter how bad his luck is, if there is someone with great luck around him to protect him, even if it is an enemy, as long as the person has enough luck and is willing to protect him, he can ensure his own safety. This is why he always liked to follow Qiao Feng and Murong Fu for a period of time afterwards.

Judging from the results, he did live a peaceful life for a while. At least Xiao Yuanshan couldn't find him when he was alone. It was not until today when he read the letter sent by Murong Fu that he learned that the cunning Ma Dayuan had quietly left the headquarters of the Beggar Gang and went to Shangjing, Liao Kingdom alone.

Isn't this the best opportunity God has given me? I have lived in Shangjing for so many years, and ordinary people are definitely not as familiar with it as I am. So Ma Dayuan will definitely go looking for Feng'er, and I just happen to know where his son lives.

Putting aside the hunter-prey game between Xiao Yuanshan and Ma Dayuan, let's just say that Murong Fu disappeared without a trace again after his brief appearance at the Beggars' Sect headquarters, allowing many people who had ideas about him to truly understand that a super strong man who wanted to hide himself was really not something that ordinary people or ordinary forces could track down.

Another half month passed, and Murong Fu made a high-profile appearance at Gusu College, which completely shattered the covetousness of many people towards him.

What are you coveting?

Of course it’s not his pretty face.

The Murong family is a single-line family. To outsiders, his father died early, and his son and daughter are less than one year old and may die at any time. The huge foundation of the Murong family is all in his hands. If Murong Fu unfortunately passes away, then the Gusu Academy and Murong Trading Company belonging to the Murong family will be leaderless and are very likely to be divided and swallowed up by them.

Are you talking about Madam Murong?

Haha, this possibility is not impossible. After all, when Murong Bo faked his death, it was Old Madam Murong who raised Murong Fu, so that the Murong family would not decline completely and still retain a place between the North Qiao Feng and the South Murong.

However, in this world, due to Murong Fu's eccentricity, the Murong family has become extremely powerful, and correspondingly, the level of the enemies has also increased a lot. Not to mention the status of Gusu Academy in the literary world, its precious collections and personal connections, just the wealthy Murong Trading Company spread all over the world can make the world's families fight for it.

It's just that some things can't be said without the right name. These riches belong to the Murong family, and Murong Fu is also a generous person. He will share the profits with the local tyrants in every city and every stronghold, forming a loose alliance of interests. Although there are bumps and conflicts, the overall situation is still good.

The Murong Trading Company's guards and the Beggar Gang's intelligence system played an indispensable role in this. The Murong family also took this opportunity to quietly infiltrate the Beggar Gang's intelligence system, but their actions were very covert. Under the cover of hundreds of thousands of taels of silver every year, they did not arouse the suspicion of the Beggar Gang's top leaders. Even Ma Dayuan did not think of this.

Murong Fu was knowledgeable, talented, and proficient in both civil and military affairs. Not only did he have outstanding achievements in governing, but he was also conferred a title. It should be noted that after the founding of the Song Dynasty, titles were quite rare, and the emperor and the literati class's pressure on the nobles was absolutely unusual.

This was probably because most of the emperors of the Song Dynasty were fooled by the literati class and the welfare benefits they provided to the literati were too good, which led to the unprecedented expansion of the literati privileged class and brought a huge burden to the finances. The upper class of literati were unwilling to bear these burdens, so they could only oppress the lower class, causing the people to live in poverty and rebellion throughout the Song Dynasty.

Sichuan and Shu were particularly hard hit by the rebellion. Murong Fu's dispatch to Yazhou Prefecture might have been intended as a scapegoat, given his predecessor's quick and decisive death. However, they had never imagined Murong Fu's immense power and decisive tactics, coupled with his ability to quickly subjugate Zhuge Liang's descendants, would ultimately lead to his subsequent success.

The Murong family's expansion is inextricably linked to Gusu Academy, but they have only one leader: the overwhelmingly powerful Murong Fu. He has weathered bloody battles in both the martial arts world and the imperial court over the years, ultimately establishing the Murong family as it is today. If the Murong family under Murong Bo was a well, then the Murong family under Murong Lao was a pond, and by the time of Murong Fu, the Murong family was as vast as a vast lake.

The interests involved were so great that even the Song Dynasty royal family coveted them and had even begun to suppress him secretly. If Gusu Academy had not been strong enough, had a lot of say, was kind to others, and had united enough literati and fools, Murong Fu would have been relegated to the ranks of warriors and then been bullied by others.

Yes, if you want to suppress certain officials, the best way is to first push them into the ranks of military men, and then slowly punish them.

This is the real Song Dynasty!

As the Murong family grew stronger, conflicts with others were inevitable. Even though Murong Fu had made plans early on and continuously moved his forces and personnel overseas, the Murong family still demonstrated its vigorous development, and the continuous expansion of the Central Plains power attracted attention.

Murong Fu was also helpless about this. I am taking care of both Korea and the Mobei grasslands, and I distribute a lot of benefits to you every year. Even so, the speed of development of the Murong family in the Central Plains is still unmatched by others. What can I do?

It's not that I'm too strong, it's that you're too weak. Even if I constantly give myself blood transfusions to weaken my appearance, I can still crush you. Although Murong Fu didn't care about this outburst, he felt helpless. Previously, having made friends with Shaolin and the Beggars' Sect, Nan Murong was a renowned figure in the martial arts world, yet he remained as stable as a rock. This was probably because anyone who could challenge him became his friend.

Qiao Feng and he were close friends, their martial arts friendship abounding in bouts of intense joy. Deputy leader Ma Dayuan, however, used profit to bind him and the Beggars' Sect together, providing them with hundreds of thousands of taels of silver annually. Shaolin itself was already wealthy, and Murong Fu's response was respect, acknowledging their status as leading figures in the martial arts world. He even shared intelligence on the Liao, Xixia, and Tubo, and amassed a significant annual donation. He even openly cultivated the young monk Xu Zhu to foster closer ties.

You said Xu Zhu has a low status and is not very useful?

Murong Fu chuckled: Not to mention that his real identity is the illegitimate son of Abbot Xuanci, the fact that he was born and raised in Shaolin, and is familiar with many Shaolin monks of the Xuan generation, and is a Shaolin disciple with a good family background, is enough for Murong Fu to look at him with higher regard.

What's more, Xu Zhu's talent is really good. It is no accident that he became a peerless master in just a few months in the original work. This is certainly inseparable from the internal strength of Wuyazi, Tong Piaoyun and Li Qiushui, but he indeed mastered many unique skills in a very short period of time.

You should know that the martial arts of the Xiaoyao Sect are not easy to learn. The fact that Ding Chunqiu and Su Xinghe were accepted as disciples by Wuyazi is enough to prove that they have extraordinary talents. Even so, they have studied hard for decades, but they are still not as good as Xu Zhu who has practiced for a few months. It is not an exaggeration to say that they are extremely talented, right?

But he has always been just a young monk. Because his master is a mediocre person, he himself is not taken seriously. It was not until Murong Fu "attacked" him that he had a big outbreak.

However, Murong Fu's training was more in line with the Buddhist path. He took steady steps without rushing for quick results. Every step was combined with Buddhist teachings to strive for perfection without leaving any future troubles, while also allowing him to lay a solid enough foundation at every level.

He built his foundation on the "Yi Jin Jing" and specialized in the Arhat Fist, expanding it from the Thirty-Six Arhats to the One Hundred and Eight Arhats. In the end, the entire set of boxing techniques was no longer inferior to any top-notch boxing techniques. However, Xu Zhu often competed with Murong Fu in martial arts, and lost miserably every time. He didn't realize how strong he was.

After he had made some progress in the Yi Jin Jing and had fully learned and basically mastered the Arhat Fist, Murong Fu used Tibetan Buddhism and Dragon Elephant Kung to further improve his strength. With the foundation of the Yi Jin Jing, Murong Fu's guidance and the tonics he left behind, it was enough for him to continue to make rapid progress and not stagnate.

Within a year or so, the young monk Xu Zhu was basically able to enter the ranks of peerless masters. You should know that in the entire Shaolin, only the Sweeping Monk had made great progress at this level, and none of the other monks of the Xuan generation were peerless masters, let alone top-notch masters.

This investment not only pleases Xu Zhu and Abbot Xuan Ci, but also the sweeping monk behind the scenes of Shaolin. When he taught Xu Zhu several times, he could feel the vague gaze, so he knew that the fact that he taught Xu Zhu the "Yi Jin Jing" had been exposed long ago, but the other party not only did not stop him, but also had a good impression of him.

Murong Fu did so much work and kept sending money and materials to the court, and took the initiative to give the emperor a handle, so he was not liquidated. But even so, once he had an accident and the officials of the aristocratic families took advantage of him, the emperor would definitely not help him, and might even join in to rob the Murong family of their wealth.

The Murong family is a big family that attracts attention. The risks behind it make Shaolin a little scared, and they subconsciously dare not continue to have too close a relationship with the Murong family.

It can be said that the Murong family's foundation in the Central Plains all depends on Murong Fu alone. Even if Murong Bo were reborn, he would not be able to stop the covetousness of so many people. But even if Murong Fu continues to build, as the Murong family continues to grow and expand, one day it will be jointly sniped by other families, and this day may not be far away.