Armipotent - Chapter 2030

Chapter 2030: Losing Trust
The crackdown on the hunt for the People Party continued the following day. The street was filled with people wearing navy blue TEIS uniforms. Last night’s focus was on the foreigner who initiated the movement. Today, the Tang Empire focused on the local residents.

That was right, the empire did not discriminate when handling things. The TEIS was visiting the local residents, but there was a different treatment. The local resident only needed to sign the lie detector contract. They did not sign the second contract.

John, Sam, Amy, and Cody were quite tense as they watched the scene unfold before them. The operation did not go as smoothly as last night. The foreigners were being cooperative, but to their surprise, some local residents refused to sign the contract.

That led to a big argument, but the TEIS did not play along or try to convince that person. Instead, they cuffed the man and dragged him to the TEIS’s quarters. The TEIS did not take nonsense, which was different than before. The TEIS was quite gentle in handling the case, but it was different this time. It showed what happened at the superior level for them to act this way. That meant they had the permission to do such a thing for the people who tried to cause more problems.

“I thought Headmistress Cao was joking when she said His Majesty was angry, but it seemed not the case if they handled the case like this.”

John muttered in a low voice. He thought so after Kate told him about her friendship with the Emperor, but it seemed like that part was not a joke. For the TEIS to act harshly like this, this truly became a big issue.

“I hope today’s training will not be canceled…” Sam muttered. At this kind of time, he desperately needed a distraction to get away from the stress. The current situation was quite stressful.

“I prefer this way. At least, this movement will not escalate to the national level. If it becomes too big a problem, it will be more chaotic than this. We might even see dead bodies, and we might even be dispatched to root out the violence.”

Despite all his negative concerns for the Tang Empire, Cody agreed with the Tang Empire’s action to handle this. Cut the problem before it becomes too big.

“And I don’t think the academy will cancel the training. They will never cancel the training unless we are in a war,” Cody was confident with this.

The Joes picked up their pace and quickly left the scene before something truly big happened.

*** ***

Tang Shaoyang had to cancel the cultivation technique handout due to the issue at hand. He wanted the issue to be handled first before continuing with something else. He was still sitting in the same seat at the assembly hall, waiting for the report. That was right, he did not leave the room, and he would not leave the room until he heard the good news.

All Division Heads stayed up as well. Each Division would be responsible for its own division. After ensuring each division was clear from the People Party’s involvement, they started to send their people to the native residents. The TEIS was not the only one to do the job; the Tarrior and TEID also participated.

At this point, it was similar to the census, but the ones who knocked on the residents’ doors were the military people. This was to minimize the damage in case there was a violent member in the People Party.

The hall was in solemn silence, and not even breathing could be heard. The silence was deafening, but no one dared to say anything either. On top of that, the leaking aura from the God Rank frightened everyone. No one dared to look at Tang Shaoyang.

This reminded them how fearsome the Emperor was. This reminded them of the early days of the Emperor, with not so much nonsense. He would get rid of the people whom he deemed enemies, and he showed no mercy. There was no order and law back then. His words were the law.

The only ones who were at ease were the two God Ranks from the Adventurer Guild. Forlan and Hemlin were at ease under the pressure because it was not a directed aura. While they did not know what kind of person Tang Shaoyang was in his early days, they had seen and witnessed what Tang Shaoyang was capable of.

They would not try to speak some nonsense just to anger the Emperor further. They kept their silence until the job was done. All divisions that were available were deployed, and the vassal factions were no exception. That day, the Tang Empire was in turmoil. The residents were concerned about what had happened, but the officers made sure to explain what had happened to prevent confusion.

2:23 am

Li Shuang entered the assembly hall with a scroll in her hand. She headed toward Tang Shaoyang’s seat and informed, “It’s done. We have captured all People Party’s members, and the captive list is recorded in the scroll.”

Tang Shaoyang’s index finger moved, tapping the table in front. He did not put power in it, but with how quiet the hall was, the tapping sound was loud. It formed a rhythm for a moment as he was in deep thought.

Tang Shaoyang had several questions in his head, but he was afraid to voice those questions. But the most important question was whether there was an official or the people who worked for the empire who joined the People Party. He was afraid that there might be Tarrior or even an official in that list, and was afraid that he truly would snap.

“Are there any of the members of the division or our official in that list?”

The moment Tang Shaoyang asked that, the temperature in the room dropped instantly. Because the leader of the Division would take the brunt if their member joined the People Party. The Division Head could be blamed for negligence as well. There were a lot of possibilities that might happen to them if their members supported the People Party’s movement.

The only division that might be safe from it was the Adventurer Guild. The Adventurer Guild was known for their freedom. That was the reason why many chose to join the guild instead of the empire. But that was something that could not be blamed on Forlan and Hemlin.

“Yes!” Li Shuang’s answer was like a bomb for everyone in the room.

“Five Tarriors: Captain Fu Changming, Squad Captain Zhou Wemin, Squad Captain Wan Tingguang, Squad Captain Zhang Zedong, and Squad Captain Fang Baowen.”

“Do you know why they support the People Party? Is there any particular reason?” Tang Shaoyang cut Li Shuang off before she continued with more names.

“We caught them early, and the TEID has interrogated them.” That was the reason why only the TEID’s leader was not in the meeting. They were doing the extra work. “They are not the founder, but they supported the movement to rise in rank. They hope the People Party will create chaos, and they wish to subdue them to gain merits for their promotions…”

Li Shuang continued. These five Tarriors found out about the movement early, before it became this big. They supported the movement in order to deceive the People Party’s founders. They supported them secretly, which was the reason why the People Party’s members became increasingly bolder and bolder.

Of course, Tarrior was not the only division. Some low-ranked officials worked in the Tang Empire’s administrative office. For those people, they wanted to join the independent division that the People Party aimed for.

It gradually spread to the other divisions, and by the end of it, everyone in the room found out that 117 people who worked for the empire had joined the People Party. It was a small number compared to the total number who worked for the Tang Empire.

Including 117 people, 5392 people were caught. Again, it was a small number compared to the total of the Tang Empire’s population, but it could be considered a legion of the army. The worst part was that sixty percent of them were actually the local residents, not the foreigners.

It was a movement started by immigrants, and they managed to persuade the locals more than their counterparts. In fact, most immigrants refused to join the movement. They managed to gather more than 5000 people, and if they were left alone, it was just a matter of time before that number surpassed 10000 people.

And if the People Party was ignored, it was not a surprise that those numbers would reach hundreds of thousands. The thought of hundreds of thousands created chaos in the empire while he was away, angered Tang Shaoyang. Again, these people might try to use his daughters to get what they wanted, and it was known to the public that his daughters went to the public school.

Lilliana always followed his daughters, and they had their dragons, but they still could kidnap his daughters, catching the guards by surprise.

Tang Shaoyang heaved up and down, doing his best to control his aura. Especially with Li Shuang in the room. He executed the Essence of Tranquility Breathing, then he swept everyone in the room. The moment their eyes met his, they lowered their heads.

“I…” He wanted all his officials to know how angry and disappointed he was at them. He wanted to vent his frustration, calling these people useless because they could not watch their own people. But there was a fear, a fear that he might snap up, and it might affect Li Shuang.

“I am disappointed with you all. First, you let those weaklings from the United Sovereign and other factions take advantage of our people. Now you let these kinds of people roam free in our home. A home that’s supposed to be safe for our family.”

Tang Shaoyang shook his head and turned toward Kang Zian, who sat next to his father, “Handle those people like we handle it with Connor’s family. Exile them all and make sure they never take a single step on my home anymore!” He stood and left the room with Li Shuang afterward, leaving the room in a dead silence.

Tang Shaoyang did not yell at them; he did not vent his anger on them, which made it worse for them. They would be more relieved if Tang Shaoyang rebuked them openly instead of leaving like this.

The first one to break the silence was Wei Xi. He let out a long sigh, and everyone looked at him right away.

“We…” He was about to say something until the cracking noise echoed in the soundproof room. He paused, and everyone also started to look around, trying to find where the noise came from. Until the cracking noise was getting louder and louder, then they found out where the noise came from.

The table was set up with a connected table in a circle, and the cracking noise came from the Emperor’s seat, the innermost ring table. In the following second, the cracking noise burst out and the crack spread out. It did not end there; in the following three seconds, the table turned into dust.

Everyone looked in the same direction, where the Emperor sat. They immediately recognized the cause when the Emperor started tapping his index finger on the table. The Emperor did not rebuke them openly, but he made sure they knew how angry and disappointed he was.