Longzang

Chapter 685 Counterattack
After the meeting concluded, the Crown Prince left the residence and entered the Chunhua Palace.

The Chunhua Palace was now heavily guarded by many more guards, eunuchs, and palace maids; it seemed as if not even a fly could get in. However, these guards were not only protecting against outsiders, but also against those inside.

The Crown Prince entered the hall with composure and took his seat in the main hall. Consort Yuan came out from the rear hall and sat down opposite the Crown Prince without offering any greetings.

A civil official behind the crown prince's face darkened, and he shouted, "How dare you! Why don't you kneel before the crown prince?!"

Consort Yuan said calmly, "I only kneel before the King."

The civil official's face froze, unable to utter a word. The Prince of Jin wasn't even dead yet, and the Crown Prince was already overstepping the bounds of propriety—this was something that would easily be recorded in history.

So even though he already had real power, the crown prince still pretended to hold court every day, putting on a show.

The Crown Prince had waited thirty years to ascend the throne, determined to become the most enlightened ruler in the history of the Jin Dynasty, and naturally could not allow his reputation to be tarnished in the slightest.

His face darkened, and he said to the ministers who were with him, "You may all step down."

After the officials had left Chunhua Hall, the Crown Prince's eyes blazed with fervor as he said, "You've finally returned! Father's days are numbered, and the throne will be mine sooner or later. Why are you still so insistent?"

Consort Yuan said, "As long as His Majesty is still alive, this is absolutely impossible."

The crown prince gritted his teeth and said, "I don't want to wait any longer! If you submit to me now, then I will agree to give the position of military governor of Qingyang to Wei Yuan! As long as we live in harmony in the future, I will value him as much as my father did!"

Consort Yuan said calmly, "Whether Wei Yuan has this title or not is not important in Qingyang. But if this official position were given to someone else, who would dare to accept it, and who would be able to accept it?"

The crown prince was finally moved. He grabbed a teacup and smashed it heavily on the ground, angrily demanding, "In what way am I inferior to Wei Yuan?! Why did you choose him and not me?"

"I told you, but you still don't understand."

The Crown Prince's face darkened, and he said, "Very well! Then I'll see what fate awaits your Wei Yuan!"

Consort Yuan said, "My father is eyeing us covetously. If you treat Wei Yuan well, you'll have another stronghold and a bulwark for the western gateway. But if you push him too far, do you think he'll accept my father's reward?"

The crown prince's face was grim as he said, "King Zhao always considers himself a wise ruler. Once I have fully grasped the throne, I will have a good showdown with him. The two counties that were taken from us should be taken back. Heh, those two counties were lost by my father!"

Having said that, the Crown Prince stood up and turned to leave. As he passed the last remaining maid of Consort Yuan, he suddenly raised his hand and slapped her hard across the face.

The maid accepted it nonchalantly, but her face quickly swelled up.

That night, the Crown Prince didn't sleep in the palace, but instead took two concubines directly back to his residence. However, as soon as he entered the gate, he received several urgent reports, all about military affairs in the north.

The crown prince then changed his route and went to the study, where he read through the texts overnight.

The most important military intelligence came from the King of England, and there were three consecutive letters, each demanding 100,000 soldiers, 50,000 breastplates, and 100,000 bushels of grain.

Furthermore, the King of England used strong language, specifically requesting the Blue and White Breastplate, or at least one of comparable quality. If that was not possible, the King then specifically requested the Minister of War to go to the front lines to command troops and defend against the enemy.

Along with the letter, the King of England also sent back a suit of armor produced by the Ministry of War. This armor was stained with blood and had been almost chopped in two at an angle, a testament to the terrible state of the soldiers who wore it.

Ignoring the filth, the prince carefully examined the gap in the armor. Seeing the messy patterns and obvious cracks and bubbles at the gap, his face darkened. He picked it up again, weighed it in his hand, and then let out a heavy snort.

The standard weight of the Azure Nether Breastplate is thirty jin (approximately 15 kg), and no single piece has ever been short by more than three liang (approximately 150 grams). This piece of armor, however, weighs less than fifteen jin (approximately 7.5 catties). Not to mention, its steel quality is far inferior to that of the Azure Nether.

The Crown Prince spread out a map and carefully examined the location of the King of England's defensive line. Although the King of England did not say it explicitly, the Crown Prince understood that if this matter was not resolved, the King of England's hundreds of miles of defensive line would likely collapse, and retreating a hundred miles would be considered a good outcome.

The Crown Prince stared at the map all night, deliberating repeatedly, and only approved less than half of the military reports before dawn broke and it was time for the morning court session.

……

In the Azure Sky, Wei Yuan was diligently cultivating the Five Elements Dao Weapon.

Nearly three hundred pixelated soldiers took their positions in the plaza before them, forming a Sharp Gold Demon-Slaying Formation. Within the formation, a dark red demonic blade was slowly taking shape.

With a thought, Wei Yuan unleashed the Demon Blade, cleaving a Dharma Aspect level Nether Iron target in two. Wei Yuan was quite satisfied with the power of the Demon-Slaying Blade; it was enough to kill an early-stage Dharma Aspect, severely injure a mid-stage Dharma Aspect, and wound a late-stage Dharma Aspect.

The problem is that Dao soldiers are not true Dao Foundation cultivators. The strength of these two hundred-plus pixel Dao soldiers is about the same as that of template cultivators, so the speed of condensing the demonic blade is slow. It takes half a day to condense a blade, which is not very practical.

However, this is just the beginning, proving that this method is feasible.

Wei Yuan then added the name of the Sharp Gold Demon-Slaying Array to the optimization list and handed it over to Human Fireworks for in-depth optimization. Then the Dao soldiers began to rearrange the array, this time preparing to practice the Blood Transformation Soul-Seizing Array.

Wei Yuan has a lot of formations to practice, including many unorthodox formations such as the Spirit Refining Formation, the Myriad Soul Flag Formation, and the Yin-Yang Harmony Formation.

Wei Yuan was diligently cultivating his Taoist arts when suddenly a thought struck him. A report came in from the Zhizheng Hall: a merchant house in Ningzhou that specialized in selling textiles was attacked by bandits at night. The shop was burned down, all the goods were destroyed, and the owner and his employees did not escape.

This is the second incident this month. The previous one involved a caravan transporting goods that was robbed en route. All the drivers and crew members perished, and even the dogs were killed.

Wei Yuan then knew that Ningzhou Jinxing's counterattack had finally arrived.

These large brocade companies expanded significantly while trading with the Wu tribe, spending an entire year building up their looms. They not only brought back veteran craftsmen but also multiplied the number of apprentices several times over.

This was all gleaming celestial silver, and they were naturally unwilling to just give it away like that, nor would they obediently hand over Ningzhou Jinshi to Wei Yuan.

Wei Yuan had anticipated this, so he initiated the first step of the contingency plan.

He summoned all the heads of the merchant guilds in the Western Jin Dynasty and announced three things. First, he would raise the purchase price of raw silk by 30%. This increase meant that the price of silk contained in a single bolt of brocade would reach four taels!

In summary, Ningzhou Jin Hang would need to sell more than eight taels of brocade just to break even, unless the government and the Xu family were willing to reduce taxes and land rent.

The second thing is to reduce the grain sold to Ningzhou. Currently, Qingming exports four million shi of grain to Ningzhou every year, which, based on the minimum standard of two shi to feed one person, feeds two million people in Ningzhou. This time, Wei Yuan reduced it by one million shi in one go.

Thirdly, both grain and elixirs are subject to a quota system, which is paired with the Azure Silk Machine. If you don't sell the Azure Silk Machine, you won't get the quota for grain and Lesser Qi Cultivation Pills.

The announcement of these three measures immediately caused a huge uproar among the merchants in Ningzhou. However, Wei Yuan paid no heed to the complaints of some merchants and made it clear to them that the quota system would not be changed until the murderer was handed over.

The Qingming brocade, now renowned for its superior quality and diverse styles, is known as Qing brocade. It is only slightly inferior to Ning brocade and far surpasses brocades produced in Zhao. In the market, only brocades from Zhao are known; the term "Zhao brocade" does not exist.

After setting up the first countermeasure, Wei Yuan returned to his old ways, cultivating his Daoist arts while pondering every day over a map: where to recruit people and where to fight.

……

Ningzhou, Shanyang County.

Inside a magnificent guild hall in the county town, guests were gathered in droves. The entrance was filled with all kinds of luxurious carriages, and several flying boats were even moored in the distance.

Today is an emergency meeting of the chambers of commerce in the surrounding counties. Almost all the heads of the major chambers of commerce are present, and many families have even sent their heads.

Inside the main hall, the Yao family patriarch, beaming with health, sat high in the center of the table. To his left and right sat two people: the Xu family patriarch, who ran a medicinal herb business, and the Lu family, who were in charge of grain production.

The head of the Mi family sat in the eighth seat on the left, whereas just a few years ago he had firmly held a place among the top three.

At this moment, the meeting began, and the head of the Mi family spoke first: "Ning silk should of course be woven into Ning brocade! I propose that we completely seal off the border and not allow a single ounce of raw silk to leave the border. In this way, we can cut off the root of Qing brocade! Qingming does not produce silk, and even if Wei Yuan has great abilities, he cannot conjure silk out of thin air."

The head of the Yao family, holding his teacup, chuckled and said, "Your Mi family only produces a few ounces of silk, yet you dare to mention closing the border? We silk producers haven't even spoken yet, so how come your Mi family is representing us? You really have a big face!"

The head of the Mi family, his face flushed red, roared, "When Qingming becomes too powerful, it benefits no one! What's the result of your frantic efforts to plant mulberry trees? They've already started hoarding our grain!"

The Yao family patriarch calmly replied, "Jin is such a large country, what's a little bit of grain? Other places will naturally make up for it. You want to close the pass? Fine! Just buy all the silk at the current market price, and you can close it for as long as you want! If you have money, close it; if you don't, shut up!"

The head of the Mi family was ashen-faced. Back when Qingjin was still around, he had said the same thing to the head of the Yao family.

(End of this chapter)