knife

Chapter 672 Making a Fortune

Seeing Cui Ming's exasperated appearance, Linghu Ye felt secretly pleased.

To be honest, even though Linghu Ye is currently the number one person in the Central Plains, he still treats this patron with the utmost respect.

There's nothing we can do; they're just rich!
And he's not just ordinary rich.

Over the years, Linghu Ye's biggest supporter outside the Great Wall has been the Cui family of Boling.

They've been investing for decades, so naturally they want to get the biggest return.

Those large families that followed Linghu Ye after he entered the pass are now watching his attitude towards the Cui family. If Linghu Ye treats the Cui family badly, they will inevitably worry about increasing their investments.

Therefore, even in his seventies and eighties, Cui Ming became the Minister of Revenue in the Chang'an court, while Cui Cheng went to Luoyang to serve as its garrison commander.

This means handing over the entire purse strings of the Central Plains to the Cui family.

It's conceivable that, barring unforeseen circumstances, the Cui family's power will expand dramatically in the future.

Knowing full well the potential risks, Linghu Ye had no choice but to grit his teeth and do it anyway.

It's not time to turn against them yet!

Linghu Ye had thought there was plenty of time and he would find ways to gradually reduce the Cui family's influence on him. He never expected this opportunity to come so quickly.

The siege of Li Dachui brought such a pleasant surprise.

Compared to Li Dachui's escape, Linghu Ye preferred to use this opportunity to weaken the Cui family's strength.

The Cui family dispatched five thousand armored soldiers!
Upon hearing this number, Linghu Ye was genuinely surprised, but he was immediately delighted. These five thousand armored soldiers, now in Li Guohua's hands, would definitely be put to the best use.

Isn't Xiao Changche in Yangguang?

Let her go and fight a couple of battles with these armored soldiers!

Having soldiers but no money or supplies is useless, but with the Cui family involved, the powerful and wealthy families in the Central Plains will have to bleed a little.

The Lu family of Fanyang was relatively low-profile among the aristocratic families, yet they were able to produce a million shi of grain in one go. This made Linghu Ye sigh, realizing that compared to these families, the Linghu family was truly nothing.

Linghu Ye suddenly felt somewhat grateful for Li Dachui's idea.

Without Li Dachui's display of skill, would those stingy families like the Cui and Lu families have been willing to pluck so much feathers?

The Cui family has brought out these 5,000 armored soldiers, but they're probably missing a good portion of their hair.

Considering what will happen next, Li Dachui running away isn't really a big deal.

Li Dachui's cultivation level is indeed astonishing, and his Qiankun Qi is also terrifying, but this is ultimately just personal cultivation. If one could do whatever one wants based on personal cultivation, then Qingfeng wouldn't have left with resentment back then, running to the south to incite the Xiong and Xiang clans to establish themselves, and then forming the Demonic Sect to cause trouble for the Qin Empire.

But she never achieved this goal throughout her life.

There's really nothing anyone can do about her personally, but when it comes to the entire empire, it ultimately comes down to the bigger picture.

He Qingqiu's martial arts cultivation was astonishing back then, yet he was still ultimately besieged and killed. Of course, Li Dachui's strength is also considerable now.

Since the plan to physically eliminate Li Dachui has failed this time, the next step is to defeat him on the front lines.

Getting these people to willingly part with large sums of money and supplies, and to bring out their best and most valuable troops, is truly not easy.

"How is Cui Shu's injury?" Lu Xin asked.

Cui Ming's face darkened: "This is very troublesome. I need to take him back immediately to see if we can completely expel the foreign true energy from his body!"

"Back then, He Qingqiu injected the Phoenix Flame into Kou Zhong's body, which haunted Kou Zhong for his entire life!" Lu Xin said with some worry.

"You're overthinking it!" Linghu Ye shook his head and said, "He Qingqiu was at the Divine Travel Realm back then; she has that ability. Li Dachui is only at the Innate Realm; it's unlikely he could do that. It's just that the Qi of Heaven and Earth is quite special, making it a bit more troublesome to expel. Master Cui, you should take Cui Shu back to Chang'an. There are skilled doctors there who can help!"

"I have to go back to the Cui family!" Cui Ming said. "Cui Shu is injured, and the family needs a pillar of support. Besides, I still need to prepare those five thousand armored soldiers for the commander-in-chief!"

Linghu Ye nodded, "Then I'll have to trouble you, Master Cui. Please let me know if you need any help!"

"Then, General, I shall take my leave. I will send men directly to Boling to deliver the one million shi of grain!" Lu Xin said, cupping his hands in greeting.

"Thank you for your hard work!" Linghu Ye said with a smile. "Brother Lu, are you really not going to Chang'an? The court is currently short of talented people. With your abilities, you are more than capable of handling any position! Moreover, by spending time with you, I can learn a lot from you!"

"Fanyang is already enough of a headache for me!" Lu Xin laughed. "Now all I want to do is stay there and protect this family business. Commander, farewell. I'm really sorry that I couldn't help you capture Li Dachui this time!"

"A million shi of grain has already been a great help to me!" Linghu Ye bowed and thanked him. "Li Dachui is fierce. Now we can only help each other and share the burden. As long as we defeat him, the Lu family will not only be able to protect their property in Fanyang, but also easily expand their business!"

Now that the State of Chu is in chaos, it is expected that Linghu Ye and Li Dachui will win the southern campaign after winning this contest. Unifying the world will no longer be a dream, but a real goal that can be achieved. At that time, as partners, they will naturally be able to share the greatest benefits.

"That's why I made this trip! Although this trip was fruitless, the Lu family of Fanyang will still cooperate sincerely with the commander-in-chief." Lu Xin cupped his hands, turned around, pushed off the ground with force, and sprang far away with a whoosh. In a few leaps, he was already out of sight.

It's no wonder that these people are now going to great lengths to help Linghu Ye. It's not just because they are all from wealthy and powerful families with a long-standing family bond, but more importantly, because Li Dachui is the son of Li Zemin and He Qingqiu. And how many of these wealthy and powerful families didn't participate in what happened back then? The larger the family, the deeper their involvement. For example, the Lu family of Fanyang directly participated in the killing of He Qingqiu. Although they died, the hatred was not absolved.

Cui Ming is one of the few remaining experts who participated in the events of that year.

Kou Zhong is dead, Wei Zhengdao is dead, He Zudao is dead, and even Old Master Tang from Shu is dead. Li Dachui's revenge came so swiftly and fiercely, basically eliminating all traces of the enemy, leaving no one alive.

The stronger Li Dachui became, the more afraid they became.

If they want to continue their happy life, then Li Dachui has to lose and die.

This was Linghu Ye's greatest source of confidence in threatening them; these people had no other choice but to leave Linghu Ye behind.

Now that we've obtained troops and provisions from them, the next step is naturally to attack the area outside the Great Wall, just as they wish.

Victory or defeat,
Linghu Ye really didn't care.

Anyway, it's not his own child.
The most wonderful thing is when both sides suffer losses.

Just imagining the scene of the Cui family's armored army fighting Xiao Changche at Yangguan, Linghu Ye couldn't help but laugh.

(End of this chapter)