Chapter 103: Imperial Secret Spy

Who was the person, the high level backer who was negotiating with Xi Dai Zi and cooperated with the Vinegar Jar Pirates on many occasions?

Regardless of whether it was Xi Dai Zi or Hun Tong, the voice from the alchemy device had been altered and couldn’t be determined to be either male or female.

Hun Tong rubbed his brows, and sighed again, “It seems a third power is meddling. Our plan has been greatly disturbed.”

“The current trouble is quite big. We must find this power as soon as possible; it’s up to you to do this.”

The voice from the alchemy device retorted, “You are the feudal lord here.”

“But you are a member of the imperial secret spies.” Hun Ton replied back, “This is your specialty, no?”

The alchemy device was silent.

Why was an imperial secret spy repeatedly collaborating with a fishman pirate group, and why were they discussing how to seize control of Two Eyes Island?

Let’s bring it back to the beginning.

The Sheng Ming Empire attacking beastmen tribes in the Wilderness Continent was the present age’s main event.

So far, the imperial vanguard army that had landed on the Wilderness Continent had caught the beastmen off guard.

A portion of the Wilderness Continent’s coastline had been seized, and the local beastmen tribes were not expelled, but annihilated.

The humans wanted to gain a foothold, but was being raided by small groups of beastmen, a bothersome vexation.

Due to humanity being universally inferior to beastmen on the battlefield, the imperial higher ups decided to construct forts on a wide scale.

The empire’s bridgehead grew larger, and their situation grew better.

The Pirate Throne’s appearance was a major variable and cast a true shadow over the future of the empire’s storming of the Wilderness Continent.

At present, the empire hadn’t yet thrown in its main armies.

The beastmen also knew this and were currently organizing an alliance and preparing to breach these bridgeheads to either crush or expel the human vanguard.

A war was about to erupt and supporting roles such as slave traders were withdrawing and leaving the stage for the true protagonist.

The brewing war attracted the close attention of every large power in the world.

Because this war between the empire and the beastmen was the first real showdown between the two giants.

However, this battle did not only take place out in the open.

There were also many secret battles and strategies.

The Sheng Ming Empire’s Secret Spy Agency assumed this heavy responsibility.

The Imperial Secret Spy Agency not only collected information, but they also instigated things, infiltrated places, conducted guerrilla warfare, and other such destructive missions.

Their goal was to use every trick to clear away any obstructions and prepare well for the main imperial army’s future advance.

Although Two Eyes Island was not on the Wilderness Continent, its position was still quite crucial.

When the imperial army departed in the future, this place would become a transportation line.

Two years earlier, the Imperial Secret Spy Agency began to place agents here, their main mission was to purge the surrounding threats and guarantee that this transportation line was safe and unimpeded.

This was undoubtedly against Hun Tong’s operational policy.

The Duo Mu Clan’s family motto was turn a blind eye. Hun Tong was a direct descendant, and he had purposely cultivated the situation to make Two Eyes Island the most bustling trading island in its waters, even becoming the biggest place for pirates to dispose of their booty.

Due to Hun Tong’s control being lax, Two Eyes Island’s black market was very well known.

The pirates that disposed of their booty here were also its most magnanimous customers.

Merchants liked this place, and of the six great merchant alliances, five were already set up here.

Streams of people converged here, along with distribution of goods.

When the secret spy agents contacted Hun Tong and requested his cooperation, Hun Tong was quite unwilling to do so.

But what could he do if he was unwilling?

Against the Sheng Ming Empire, what could a gold level like Hun Tong do?

Not to mention that even the entirety of his Duo Mu Clan was nothing but an ant to the empire.

Hun Tong had to cooperate, for there was no other option.

Afterwards, Hun Tong also understood that within the basis of cooperation, he still had room to maneuver and be able to lessen the damage as much as possible.

It had to be said that the imperial secret spies didn’t deploy too many people here.

The empire’s target this time was too big, it was an entire continent. It goes without saying, the empire’s secret spy’s scale of operations was massive.

That they did transfer some personnel to Two Eyes Island meant they put stock in this place.

In order to truly purge the hidden threats to Two Eyes Island and beautifully accomplish their mission, when the imperial secret spies arrived at Two Eyes Island and recognized the circumstances, they didn’t take direct action.

They believed that it was already known far and wide for years how Hun Tong ran Two Eyes Island. Such an environment had to be eliminated, and that was his job too.

But that wasn’t a priority.

By exploiting this environment, they could construct a trap. If nothing else, every year during the rising of the island, the black market, discount market, and auction would attract many pirates. By taking advantage of this moment, they could cleanly capture many pirates.

Anyways, compared to pirates, the still hidden power nearby was more deserving of the secret spies’ attention.

It was the fishmen.

The fishmen’s racial potential and gifts couldn’t compare to humanity.

But there were a lot of them and had a different life structure than humanity – fish gills.

They could breathe underwater and swim through the sea unimpeded.

No one knew how many fishmen lived on the seabed, this was a tremendous hidden power!

For the empire to storm the Wilderness Continent, they had to establish a transportation route.

If the fishmen attacked this transportation route, the empire was bound to be hard-pressed. The tempo on the open battlefield would also be severely encumbered.

The empire had already taken note of these fishmen.

Instead of enticing them, the empire was trending towards attacking and annihilating the fishmen power.

If it was possible, the empire considered roping them in.

But the empire’s human gods and the fishmen’s gods had crossed blades many times before, and many fishmen gods saw their end due to that. The conflict between both sides had long been irreconcilable.

In contrast to the humans, the fishmen and the beastmen had always maintained good relationships.

It goes without saying that when humanity build the transportation route, the fishmen were sure to make a move.

And so, near Two Eyes Island, there was a hidden fishman clan.

Furthermore, this fishman clan was always waiting for an opportunity to seize Two Eyes Island.

Actually, seize is not the right word, to be more precise, the correct word is “reclaim”.

Because the Blue Green Coral Fishman Clan was Two Eyes Island’s former master.

In the past, Hun Tong had led an army to claim Two Eys Island but wasn’t powerful enough to exterminate the Blue Green Coral Fishmen Clan in one stroke. The fishmen who escaped submerged to the seafloor to recover, and after regaining their strength these few years, had gradually become Two Eyes Island’s greatest danger.

After analyzing the situation, the imperial secret spies had decided to prioritize dealing with this fishman clan.

With regards to this decision, Hun Tong lifted his hands in approval!

He was also very happy to do so.

The Blue Green Coral Fishman Clan was originally his quarry.

Hun Tong tried to do more for this.

He knew the fishmen clan knew the secret spell that could control the coral ball cage tree.

In fact, Two Eyes Island had been cultivated by the fishman tribe for many generations.

Hun Tong really wanted this secret spell.

With this secret spell, he could remodel Two Eyes Island and construct a large harbor!

Hun Tong had a new development plan for Two Eyes Island: since Two Eyes Island had to become a transportation throughline, they its surroundings had to be secure.

Without pirates visiting, Two Eyes Island could only conduct regulated business.

Hun Tong made up his mind. Before Two Eyes Island was attacked, and while business was the most prosperous, he wanted to build a large harbor and create a distribution center.

If that comes to be, when the army was dispatched and this transportation hub went into operation, then he would make far more profits than he was doing now!

But to do that, he had to have a large harbor.

This was the necessary prerequisite and foundation.

Without that, Hun Tong’s plan was a fantasy.

The essence of Two Eyes Island was the coral ball cage tree. It was a living being, constantly growing and recovering.

Therefore, it was very challenging to build a large harbor.

Normal development methods would destroy the coral ball cage tree, causing it to die. If the construction method was too gentle, the harbor would be consumed by coral growth and restored vegetation, washing away the investment.

The secret spies and Hun Tong reached an agreement, they would deal with the Blue Green Coral Fishman Clan first.

The plan was good, but actually carrying it out was nevertheless quite difficult.

Firstly, Hun Tong’s troops found it difficult to fight in water for long periods of time.

That’s not to say he didn’t have methods of going underwater.

There were many methods actually.

For example, underwater breathing scrolls, underwater magic battleships, or perhaps requesting the help of a gold level cultivator, among other ways.

The problem was cost.

The costs were too high, and Hun Tong could barely afford them.

Even if an invited gold level cultivator could fight underwater, when the fishmen clan saw things were going bad, they would retreat and hide.

In fact, their living area frequently moved.

A gold level cultivator could only be hired for a time, and the fishman clan could use delaying tactics to great effect.

Hun Tong himself was a gold level and could act alone. But according to inside information on the fishman clan, they also had a gold level cultivator too.

Fighting on the seafloor was very unfavorable to Hun Tong, and he would narrowly eat a big loss.

Luckily, on the water’s surface, the fishmen’s combat power declined in turn.

Due to how Hun Tong oversaw the island, it wasn’t difficult for them to get a foothold.

Underwater combat was out of the question, so the secret spies and Hun Tong plotted another method.

It was simple, induce the fishmen to launch a land attack.

“The Vinegar Jar Pirates have countless connections with the Blue Green Coral Fishman Clan. This situation should be real.”

“Our people also infiltrated the Vinegar Jar Pirates and confirmed this intelligence.”

“This pirate group can be exploited!”

With help from their information superiority, the imperial secret spies proposed a plan to Hun Tong.

Hun Tong reflected for two days before agreeing to this plan.

This was the plan more or less: the imperial secret spies would pretend to be a third party force, and for their own benefit, would collaborate with the Vinegar Jar Pirates.

The imperial secret spies would give the pirates many true pieces of intel that would allow the Vinegar Jar Pirates to attack and rob some merchant ships.

From that, they could gain the Vinegar Jar Pirate’s trust.

While gaining a deeper cooperation between each other, the imperial secret spies would also penetrate deeper into the Vinegar Jar Pirates.

In due time, when they found an opportunity, Hun Tong would lead an army to besiege the Vinegar Jar Pirates and force the fishman clan to save them. Then with the help of a hired gold level cultivator, they would wipe out both groups in one go!