The Eldest Daughter Is Beautiful and Saucy
Chapter 756: have to guard against
Chapter 756: Must Be Guarded
Bai Qingyan leaned against the soft couch by the window lattice in Boyun Courtyard, looked at the message sent from the front, and lit the letter paper.
She squinted her eyes and stared at the blue flames devouring the paper, without saying a word for a long while.
Sending the epidemic to Daliang was an idea discussed by the Crown Prince and Old Fang. They hoped that after Daliang was infected with the epidemic, the State of Jin would submit to the State of Jin because of the prescription for curing the epidemic.
Qin Shangzhi has gone to Guanghe Canal to preside over the canal construction. Without Qin Shangzhi’s help and persuasion in the Prince’s Mansion, the Prince was led further and further to the left by Mr. Fang. He even used such a detrimental method to force Daliang to surrender. Isn’t he afraid that his own soldiers will also be infected with the disease?
At the end of July in the seventeenth year of Xuanjia, Bai Qingyan finally received a letter from her third sister Bai Jintong, which finally made her heart, which was worried about Bai Jintong, settle down.
Bai Jintong now travels in Xiliang under the pseudonym Cui Fengnian. She said… she traveled all the way from Guanping to Haikou, sailed out to sea, sold many rare items of Jin State to those foreigners, and bought back rare items from foreigners at low prices. Unexpectedly, she got lost on the sea, groped her way all the way, and came to a place called Tianfeng State. Later, after exploration, she found that Tianfeng State was behind the snow-capped mountains behind Rongdi that no one could climb over.
The snow-capped mountains stretched endlessly, starting from the frontier of Daliang and the Rongdi wilderness, all the way to the border of Xiliang. Originally, they all thought that the big snow-capped mountains behind Rongdi were the end of the sky, but they never thought that behind the snow-capped mountains, behind the canyon that stretched for dozens of miles, there was actually another country in the center of the desert.
The weapons of Tianfeng Kingdom are almost indestructible. The weapons she brought are no match at all. After asking, she found out… Tianfeng Kingdom has a secret method for refining weapons, which requires adding something called ink powder.
When Bai Jintong sent the letter back, he also had someone bring back the ink powder and a blacksmith from Tianfeng Country, so that Bai Qingyan could see if it could be used. However, they had never been exposed to the language of Tianfeng Country, and were afraid that they would not be able to understand it, so they could only rely on gestures.
Bai Jintong also said in the letter that the items she sold in Xiliang were very popular because none of the Xiliang nobles had ever seen them before, especially the nobles from the six major surnames in Xiliang, who all scrambled to buy them. As a result, Bai Jintong also got to know many Xiliang nobles.
She also mentioned the Queen of Western Liang in the letter, saying that the Queen of Western Liang’s move to promote people from humble backgrounds was not only among civil officials, but also among military generals. She vaguely felt that the Queen of Western Liang seemed to be ordering Yun Poxing… to secretly form an army that imitated the Tiger Eagle Battalion of the Bai Family Army. It had not been verified yet, but she believed that this matter would not be groundless. She would find out whether there were any soldiers from the Tiger Eagle Battalion in Xiliang who were captured and surrendered to Xiliang.
Since the last battle between Xiliang and Jin at Wengshan, Bai Qingyan burned and killed 100,000 elite soldiers, causing Xiliang, which was originally strong enough to compete with Jin, to suffer heavy losses. Now Xiliang has regrouped, and the Queen of Xiliang has proposed a series of policies, vowing to revitalize Xiliang.
The new decree issued by the Queen of Xiliang requires that men must separate their families after they get married, because Xiliang and Jin usually recruit soldiers based on each household. This will expand Xiliang’s source of soldiers, and many young men over the age of fourteen will be recruited into the army. Xiliang is ready to take advantage of the chaos between Wei and Yan, Jin and Daliang, and Rongdi to revitalize its military strength.
Bai Jintong warned Bai Qingyan that he must be on guard.
Bai Jintong knew that Jin was caught in a war with Liang, and guessed that his elder sister might want to destroy Liang. Moreover, the Jin royal family was not virtuous, and there was an epidemic in the two cities. Jin might not be able to divide its troops to stop Xiliang. Since it was impossible to stop Xiliang from growing stronger by war, Bai Jintong wanted to follow Guan Zhong’s example and use the business method to control the people’s livelihood in Xiliang, but… it could only be a try, and he could not claim that it was perfect. It would also require a lot of money, and Bai Qingyan’s cooperation was needed.
When Bai Jintong brought the letter back this time, Chen Qingsheng also brought a jade pendant, which was for Chuntao, and asked Bai Qingyan to pass it on.
After reading Bai Jintong’s letter, Bai Qingyan felt relieved.
Bai Jintong wanted to emulate the method that Guan Zhong used to deal with the State of Lu in the past, to gradually weaken Xiliang, contain and control Xiliang.
When Duke Huan of Qi was in power, Qi was far less powerful than Lu. Guan Zhong suggested… that Duke Huan of Qi only wear clothes and accessories made in Lu. All of a sudden, the royal family and nobles of Qi followed suit, and everyone in Qi revered Lu silk. Guan Zhong also ordered that the country was not allowed to weave clothes or produce silk, and sent a large number of merchants to Lu… They bought up all the cloth and fabrics in Lu, allowing Lu to profit, and spread the word among the people that Lu silk could be sold in Qi for huge profits.
When the people of Lu saw this, they were tempted by the benefits and gave up their old jobs and farming in an attempt to make a profit from Lu silk.
Later, Guan Zhong sent people to spread the message one after another, guiding the people of Lu to give up farming, causing the fertile land to go to waste. Qi suddenly stopped buying fabrics from Lu, putting Lu into an embarrassing situation of having no food to eat, and the country had no choice but to submit to Qi.
Bai Qingyan stroked his fingers, lowered his eyes and thought quietly…
Now Bai Jintong wants to emulate Guan Zhong, which is not impossible. If Dayan can conquer Dayi, Jin can destroy Daliang, and Xiliang asks for food… he can only choose Jin and Dayan. Yan does not have a strong financial foundation like Jin, and it only recovered a little after conquering the fertile land of Southern Yan. Even if it can give to Xiliang, it will not be much.
But the problem right now is money!
If there is silver in the national treasury, the prince will definitely keep an eye on the emperor’s nine-story platform.
This matter needs to be put aside for a while until Bai Jintong has figured out the situation in Xiliang.
She ordered Madam Tong: “Madam, send someone to call Shanru back. I need to see him for something.”
“Yes!” Nanny Tong responded and went out to send someone to call Zeng Shanru.
Bai Qingyan took a look at the ink powder and the recipe for smelting iron with the ink powder that Bai Jintong brought back. He had just asked Chuntao to put away the recipe when he heard from outside that Lupin had arrived. He asked the gatekeeper outside the yard to inform him.
“Chun Tao, go and invite Uncle Ping in…” Bai Qingyan straightened his clothes and turned to look out the window.
Soon, Chuntao came in with Lupin, who walked briskly. Lupin bowed through the screen and said, “Miss, Mr. Xiao’s guard named Yueshi, who was alone on horseback, fell down when he arrived at the gate of the Bai Mansion, calling for Doctor Hong. I have already asked someone to put Yueshi in the wing room and asked Doctor Hong to go over and take a look!”
Bai Qingyan’s hands on the table suddenly tightened. Could it be that something happened to Xiao Rongyan? !
“Is there any way to make Yue Shi sober for a while…” Bai Qingyan stopped talking and stood up and said, “I’ll go and take a look.”
We have to know what happened to Xiao Rongyan.
“Miss, you are still ‘sick’. If you go to the front yard, it is easy for someone to tell the prince. Don’t worry, my subordinates have already told Doctor Hong. If he finds out any news, please send someone to report it immediately!” Lupin said hurriedly.
Bai Qingyan clenched her palms. The news she received was that the Ninth Prince of Dayan had defeated Xiliang in Longan, forcing the Xiliang army to retreat.