Steam Era: The Lord of 'Puluo' Chapter 1232 596: Which Side Is Huang Yuxian On?

Guan Zhengyang was taken into the car and sent to the Dark Star Bureau.

Shen Jingye looked troubled: "His ear really needs to be reattached quickly. If we take too long, it might not be salvageable."

Li Banfeng laughed: "Little Shen, we're real friends, don't you forget that about this matter."

Shen Jingye understood what Li Banfeng meant: "Tomorrow morning, I'll bring some files and come find you."

...

The next morning, Shen Jingye first had someone shut off the surveillance, then entered Li Banfeng's office.

"Bureau Chief Li, have you heard? There's been a major incident at Thousand Tael House in Puluo State—over a hundred thousand people died overnight, and the cause is still unknown!"

Li Qi lowered his eyes and said, "I don't need you to tell me news from Puluo State. What I want are the files on the Puluo War."

Shen Jingye tried to change the subject but failed, and could only take out the document pouch.

Li Banfeng took the pouch; inside were only three sheets of paper.

"Just this?" Li Banfeng was angry. "Your Director Guan is only worth three pages?"

Shen Jingye gestured for Li Banfeng to keep his voice down: "You really have no idea—just for these three pages, I'm taking on enormous risk!"

Li Banfeng opened the three pages. They were photocopies of a manuscript, the front side the original text, the back side the translation.

Judging from the tone, it should be minutes of a meeting, but Li Banfeng didn't see the first page of the minutes.

The first page of the minutes was crucial; it contained a series of key information such as the time, place, and attendees of the meeting.

"Where did the first page go?"

Shen Jingye shook his head: "I can't get it. That page is beyond my access level; I can't even see it."

Li Banfeng leafed through the three pages. The first line contained a name: Nie Liaishefu. All three pages were his speech alone.

"Little Shen, did you deliberately cut out just his speech?"

"It's not deliberate. This is simply the limit of my clearance. I can only access materials related to Nie Liaishefu."

Li Banfeng looked at the content of the speech, a passage:

"I've listened carefully to your views. I didn't expect that to this day there are still people who believe cooperation with Chernoborg is contentious, even consider it a disgrace. I very much want to ask these people: what exactly do you mean by this so‑called disgrace?"

During Goncharova's interrogation, Li Banfeng had once arrived at a conjecture: in the Land of Slumber in Lavsha, the pure bloodline of Chernoborg was exactly the pure bloodline of the Inner State People.

The Birch Tree Hermit Society chose to cooperate with the Inner State—this single sentence basically exposed the positions of both sides in this war.

The Inner State and the Birch Tree Hermit Society joined forces and became enemies of Puluo State.

Huang Yuxian opposed the Birch Tree Hermit Society, which proved she stood on the side of Puluo State.

Elder Yao also stood with Puluo State.

Knowing Huang Yuxian's stance, Li Banfeng felt much relieved and continued reading:

"No matter how much hatred there is between Chernoborg and us, he is still a god who rules a domain. A god has the qualification to rule us, but no obligation to treat us kindly. If we keep clinging to hatred, how are we supposed to face our common enemy?

We must distinguish primary from secondary contradictions, distinguish urgency from triviality. Our greatest enemy right now is Puluo State. It is precisely because of their repeated, unreasonable and arrogant provocations against the gods that the gods have imposed harsher punishments on other lands.

Puluo State is an exceptionally perfect land. It has fields suited to farmers, grasslands suited to herders, factories suited to craftsmen, and bustling cities suited to merchants.

The gods bestowed such a land upon Puluo State, yet the People of Puluo State have not learned gratitude or cherishing. Look closely at what they have turned Puluo State into.

They have no institutions to handle state affairs, no concept of law. All order is controlled by clans and gang power. They don't even have a leader in any practical sense!

Can you imagine it? They have no King and no leader! No one teaches them how to think, no one teaches them how to act, no one tells them what to think, what to do. What meaning can there be in living like that?

They have only a nominal leader. Ridiculously, this nominal leader is a Peddler who sells odds and ends! And look at those pitiful commanders, the foolish and stubborn craftsmen, the short‑sighted farmers, the muddled drunkards, the rootless Travelers, the filthy and debased Actors!

This rabble—what right do they have to trample this land? What right do they have to become its masters?

This land is a gift the gods bestowed upon us. We must let go of hatred, and with grateful hearts, properly cherish the gods' bounty!"

The one who sells odds and ends is the Peddler.

Who is the craftsman?

Is the farmer Xu Han?

The muddled drunkard—could that be Elder Yao?

The Actor is certainly Huang Yuxian.

And who is the rootless Traveler?

Li Banfeng handed the materials back to Shen Jingye.

Shen Jingye let out a long breath.

If Li Banfeng had refused to give them back, Shen Jingye would have had no way to stop him, but these materials really did pose enormous risk to Shen Jingye.

After stowing the files, Shen Jingye said to Li Banfeng: "The information I can get is extremely limited, and the high‑level archives you want to find simply aren't in the Dark Star Bureau."

This was to lay out the reality for Li Banfeng—this was all he could do.

Knowing this much was already almost enough.

In Li Banfeng's mind, the rough outline of that war had already emerged.

That war overturned people's impression of Puluo State, and overturned their understanding of Puluo State.