"After Jiang Shu left, my heart was a mess.

"Emotionally speaking, I would never believe that the Drought Clan would be our enemy no matter what, but the facts of that time told me that if I believe in Jiang Zhu, things will end well, and if I don't believe him, trouble will inevitably follow.

In my frustration, I stood up and paced back and forth in my study. Suddenly, I looked up and saw the "Secret Essentials" placed in a prominent position on the bookcase, which is a compilation of works that record the history of various ethnic groups in the past dynasties.

At this time, Jiang Zhu's argument that the relationship between Huandou and the Drought Clan is not as good as the relationship between the Drought Clan and the Wa Imperial Clan instantly occupied my brain.

"I went to the bookcase, took the Secret Essentials off it, placed it on the table, and shouted, 'Someone!'

"A government official pushed the door in, knelt on his knees and said, 'Your Excellency, please command.' ’

"I said, 'Men are guarding the door of the study, and no one is disturbed by the study without my orders.' No one is allowed to make noise within a hundred steps of the study. You go make a pot of tea. ’

"The official was about to go out when I stopped him and said, 'Whoever comes to visit tomorrow will say that I am not in the house. ’

"The government servant was ordered to go.

"I sat down in front of the desk and began to look through the "Secret Essentials" page by page, volume by volume.

By noon the next day, I had browsed all of them. There are countless historical facts recorded in the book about the mutual help and coordinated response to crises between the Drought Tribes and the Wa Imperial Family, but there are very few cases of substantial mutual assistance between the Drought Tribes and the Huandou Tribe.

"This completely upended my understanding of the relationship between the two tribes. Only now did I know that the most important thing for the Drought Clan was actually the Wa Imperial Family, not the Huandou Clan. It gave me a huge sense of loss. It's like thinking that the girl she secretly likes in her heart also pretends to be herself, but in the end, she finds that she is pretending to be someone else.

This sense of loss continued to ferment in my heart, and gradually transformed into a feeling of resentment.

"The hostility towards the Wa royal family, which was originally generated under the continuous indoctrination of Jiang Zhu, has also begun to transfer to the head of the drought clan.

When I opened the door of the study physically and mentally exhausted, I saw Jiang Zhu standing on the rockery opposite the study, staring intently at the door of the study.

Seeing me open the door and come out, Jiang Zhu ran down the rockery and came to me.

Before I could speak, he hurriedly said, 'My lord, you are in a hurry, I have come to you several times from last night to today, and each time I have said that you are not in the house. I think it's possible to be away from the house during the day, why do you say that you are not at the house late at night, I guess, you must be hiding in the study to deal with important things. That's why I've been here early this morning. ’

I looked at him, remembered the results of checking the history books, and felt that the person in front of me made people feel more and more steady. I silently thanked him again in my heart, glad that God had sent him to me.

"I said, 'Jiang Shenzheng, please go to the study for a while. ’

Turning around and entering the study, I sat down with Jiang Zhu.

"I opened my mouth first and said, 'Yesterday you said that the Drought Tribes will be unfavorable to our people, and you are sure that there is no difference in this hexagram?'

"Jiang Zhu said: 'My lord, I don't think I need to answer this question, you already have the answer in your heart. Over the years, have I ever delayed my adult because of an inaccurate hexagram? I know that my lord is still thinking about the good-neighborly relationship between the Huandou and the Drought Clan, and I don't believe that the Drought Devil would do such a thing. In fact, I didn't believe it at first, but after careful analysis, I felt that what was shown in the hexagram was reasonable. ’

"I was amazed and said, 'What do you mean by that?'

"Jiang Zhu didn't answer my question, but asked me instead: 'What do you think of the word secret world?'

"I thought for a moment and said, 'The secret world is relative to the manifest world. The secret one, the secret also, means a hidden place, a place of hiding, and one who is not allowed to be seen or heard by others. The secret world, literally, is the world hidden in the shadows. ’

"Jiang Zhu said: 'As the adults say, the secret world is a world hidden in the shadows, and this is indeed the case.

"'The Joyful Clans and the High Clans, the Taoti Clans, the Chaos Clans, The Yushan tribe has lived under the stratum for generations and has not seen the light of day; the Aohei tribe lives at the bottom of the southeast water system, surrounded by filth and quagmire; the poor Qi tribe is isolated in the desert and is accompanied by the yellow sand every day; the Qiangli tribe hides on the snow line of the southwest mountains, drinking ice and eating snow, and is miserable; the Kanghua tribe wanders in the bitter cold mountains and wilderness of the white mountains and black waters, like prisoners, and is tired of running for their lives; and I, the Xi royal family, have been exiled overseas for eternity, although there are three islands and a hundred miles of land, but the area is small, and now the people of ten stops, but nine of them live in the abyssal holes under the sea, accompanied by shrimp and crabs, and are ravaged by the whirlwind waves。

"'The people of the secret world, except for a secret word, have survived in suffering from ancient times to the present, but they have to be subject to the suspicion of the world all the time. Do you think this is all a matter of course?'

"I shook my head and said, 'Heaven has indeed been unfair to my people of the secret world. ’

"Jiang Zhu said: 'It is not the heavens who are unjust, but the people above us who claim to be orthodox of the human race. Not all the tribes of the secret world are in the midst of eternal hardship, but one race is an exception. ’

"I asked, 'Exception?'

"Jiang Zhu said: 'The Drought Tribes are an exception. Although they are also a people of the secret world, the environment in which they live is very different from other races. First of all, unlike the Huandou and Gaozi tribes, they live underground and do not see the light of day; second, the secret forests where the Drought Devils live are not as barren and dangerous as the places inhabited by the Qianqi and Qiangli tribes; third, the Drought Tribes do not have to wander around and have no fixed place to live like the Kanghua people; and they are not like our Xihuang family, which has been immersed in seawater for thousands of years and suffers from pickling.

"'It can be seen from this that the realm in which the Drought Tribes live is no different from that of the Manifest World.

"'If you are familiar with the history books, you should know that the places where the various clans of the secret world live are not assigned by God, but are all arranged by the Wa royal family.

"'Back then, the Wa royal family allocated a piece of treasure land with the most favorable conditions and the closest environment to the world to the Drought Tribes as a hiding place, just to buy the Drought Tribes to become their helpers and minions.

"'History has proved time and time again that this wishful thinking of the Wa royal family has not been in vain, and the drought tribe has indeed become an accomplice and thug of the Wa royal family's oppression and humiliation of the secret world as they expected. ’

After listening to Jiang Zhu's words, and then thinking back to the ancient history I knew, I think his words are still very worthy of belief, because the Huandou clan was one of the four sins back then, and was relegated to the ground by the Wa royal family, although the history books say that the Wa royal family acted according to the divine decree, but according to Jiang Zhu, forging and pretending to be the oracle divine decree is also the consistent trick of the Wa royal family.

"As for the Drought Clan, although I already know that they are very close to the Wa Imperial Family, I still don't want to believe that they will act as accomplices and thugs of the Wa Imperial Family.

"Seeing that I was deep in thought, Jiang Zhu said in a low tone, 'My lord, do you still have illusions about the Drought Clan? For thousands of years, as long as they mediated the disputes between the Wa royal family and other races, they were all biased towards the Wa royal family, and the number of times they assisted the Wa royal family was several times more than the total assistance of other races belonging to the same secret world. Is such a group still worthy of our hopes? This time, when they were ready to invade the Huandou clan, they must have been bewitched by the Wa royal clan and gave the Wa royal clan the lead. ’

"I asked: 'According to the hexagram, when will the Drought Raiders attack?' As the so-called soldiers come to block, water comes to the Tutun, as long as we take defensive measures and fight hard, I think we will be able to repel the invaders. ’

When Jiang Zhu heard this, he frowned and said eagerly: "My lord, you must not have such a thought. Now, although it is impossible to determine when the Drought Devils will attack, if we wait for the enemy to come and then respond, even if we can finally repel the enemy, after all, the battle will take place in our territory, and the loss will be the safety of the lives and property of the people of the Huandou tribe. ’

"I said, 'What about your opinion?'

"Jiang Zhu said: 'If I have to say, then I choose to attack and defend, and keep the enemy out of the clan boundary. ’

"I asked, 'What is it to attack and defend and keep the enemy out of the borders of the clan?' ’

"Jiang Zhu leaned his head close to me and said softly: 'Your Excellency can take the initiative to send troops to the Drought Tribe, and eliminate the main military force of the Drought Tribe, so that they will not have the capital to work for the Wa Imperial Family, and the Huandou Clan will never be threatened by the northwest border. ’

"I said firmly: 'This is absolutely not going to work. Now the Drought Tribes are not prepared to attack, although we know that the hexagram will never deceive people, they will come sooner or later, but they must also be famous. Besides, the king will definitely not agree to use troops against the Drought Clan, let alone the courtiers of Chonggang and others who are against me, they will definitely take the opportunity to cause trouble, spread rumors and slander, and make a storm all over the city. When the time comes, not only will I not be able to lead the troops into the battle, but I will also lose my reputation. ’

"Jiang Zhu said: 'Of course it can't be open, we can come to the dark. ’

"I asked, 'How did it get dark?'

"Jiang Zhu said: 'The northwest border of Huandou has always been a place of suffering where no one asks, but now the border air defense is weak, and only thousands of soldiers and horses are stationed there. At the court meeting, the lord proposed to the king of Huandou to increase his troops in the northwest, and appointed important officials to take advantage of the harsh environment on the northwest border to train the declining Huandou army. King Huandou will gladly agree, and at the same time he will ask his ministers who to send. Adults can first recommend generals who are committed to Chonggang. Chonggang will vigorously oppose it, and will recommend generals who will follow you, and your Excellency will take the opportunity to push me out and let me go to the northwest frontier to take charge. When I gain a firm foothold in the northwest, I can go straight out of the northwest border with my adults to conquer the Drought Tribe. ’

"I thought for a moment and said, 'This is a wonderful plan, but once I go out on an expedition, it is inevitable that the king and the courtiers will not know about it, and then I will be guilty of using my troops and horses with the intention of rebellion. ’

"Jiang Zhu said: 'This lord doesn't have to worry, when the Drought Clan is defeated, he will go back to the capital to ask King Huandou for his guilt and explain the reason, I think King Huandou should be able to understand your good intentions. ’

"At this time, I hesitated in my heart and said to Jiang Zhu: 'This matter is very serious, let me think about it for two more days. I stayed up all night last night, and I'm a little tired, so you can step back first. ’

Jiang Zhu stood up and saluted and said, "My lord, please make a decision quickly. If you delay for a long time, you may be afraid of unforeseen changes. What's more, it is not yet known when the Drought Devils will act, and if they wait for the other party to take the lead, it will be troublesome. ’

"I said, 'In that case, wouldn't it be better for you to make a fortune and calculate the timing of the attack of the Drought Raiders, while we are making plans.' ’

"Jiang Zhu said: 'The heavenly machine is unpredictable, and the art of divination can only be seen one or two, how can everything be mastered? ’

I nodded, and Jiang Zhu left. ”