Longzang

Chapter 686 Is it tolerable or intolerable?

The Ningzhou Chamber of Commerce was much more united than Wei Yuan had imagined.

In the following month, there were three more attacks targeting Qingjin, resulting in a 50% reduction in the amount of Qingjin purchased from Qingming. Many merchant guilds preferred to forgo the highly profitable grains and elixirs rather than buy Qingjin anymore.

The amount of raw silk leaving the pass has also decreased significantly. If it weren't for the Zhao silk supply and the fact that Wei Yuan still had a lot of stock, there wouldn't be enough silk to supply the Wu tribe with brocade.

Wei Yuan wasn't too concerned at first, as he was immersed in his daily routine of cultivating the Five Elements Dao Weapon and gathering Qi. However, news came that a caravan transporting spiritual wood for infrastructure in Qingming had been robbed and all its goods had been lost.

Wei Yuan was finally enraged.

He wasn't distressed about the 300,000 taels of immortal silver spent on the purchase; rather, this batch of spiritual wood was specifically intended for cultivating the Reincarnation Furnace. This matter directly impacted Wei Yuan's cultivation path.

After a moment's thought, Wei Yuan concluded that merchants are driven by profit and it is impossible for them to unite as one, so there must be a mastermind behind this.

In the Western Jin Dynasty, there were only five or six people who could easily do this. After examining them one by one, Wei Yuan concluded that the Crown Prince was most likely behind this matter.

In Wei Yuan's list of enemies, the Crown Prince was originally ranked quite low, but now, because he robbed one of Wei Yuan's caravans, Wei Yuan has directly promoted him to the top three.

After all, for Wei Yuan, he didn't need to ask the Crown Prince for anything, and the Crown Prince couldn't affect him in any way. The conflict between the two was just that they didn't like each other before, but now Wei Yuan knew that there was a Consort Yuan between them.

However, who among those who can govern a country would be blinded by matters of women and lose sight of the priorities of military and national affairs?
Wei Yuan didn't want to fall out with the Crown Prince at this time, mainly because if he defeated the Crown Prince, he would inevitably face consequences like being granted the Nine Bestowments and the title of Acting General of the Imperial Guard. History clearly shows that none of these things end well.

Wei Yuan temporarily set aside his cultivation and began to review recent major events in the Western Jin Dynasty amidst the hustle and bustle of daily life. Then, a piece of intelligence caught his attention: the Western Jin army was running out of food, and the imperial court had already levied grain from the eight western prefectures of Ningzhou three times, but all of them had not been very effective.

This intelligence report reveals a lot of information.

Requisitioning grain in the eight western prefectures of Ningzhou will certainly not be effective. Firstly, this is Xu family territory, and it would be extremely difficult to collect anything here.

Secondly, after Wei Yuan's nearly two years of planning, a large number of farmlands in the eight western prefectures of Ningzhou have been converted to mulberry cultivation, resulting in a decrease in annual grain production of approximately six million shi (700 million jin). Qingming made up for the four million shi shortfall, while the remaining two million shi came from other regions.

With high grain prices in the eight prefectures, grain continued to flow in. However, the war in the north was intense, military rations were being consumed in large quantities, and other areas were running out of grain. The eight prefectures were experiencing insufficient grain production, so local officials and wealthy households were naturally holding onto their stored grain tightly.

The fact that they still came to collect grain despite knowing it would be difficult shows that the imperial court was facing an extreme shortage of food.

Upon seeing this intelligence, Wei Yuan decided to launch the second step of his counterattack: completely cutting off the food supply to Ningzhou and recruiting a large number of refugees.

Wei Yuan also issued a warning to all chambers of commerce that Qingming would no longer guarantee the safety of anyone who did not purchase Qingjin.

Wei Yuan's threat seemed like a pointless whining, and it quickly became a laughing stock among the heads of the major merchant guilds in the eight prefectures.

Wei Yuan then went to Xu Henshui's Dan Guan and stayed there for more than ten days.

Xu Henshui himself had profound alchemy skills, while Wei Yuan had personally received the last true meaning inheritance. Now, with the Soul Necklace and Phoenix Blood Longevity Moss as the two main ingredients, the two worked together and finally succeeded in refining a batch of Kunyuan Longevity Pills.

This batch of pills is quite unique, containing four pills in total: one main pill and three subordinate pills.

The main pill was entirely blood-red, surrounded by swirling fiery clouds. The pill itself was transparent, and a tiny phoenix perched inside. The three secondary pills varied in color from blood-red to pale red, with the highest-ranking one bearing a naturally formed Daoist talisman, signifying longevity.

The main elixir can extend life by two 60 years, while three secondary elixirs can extend it by twelve to thirty years.

At first glance, the life-extending effect seemed mediocre, but once the pill was finished, the two realized that its quality was extremely high. It was a genuine life-extending pill, rarely affected by previous life-extending pills, and unaffected by the nation's fortune. The main pill was worth at least ten million taels of immortal silver.

For a celestial lord like Xu Wangu, who has consumed countless longevity-enhancing elixirs, even a single elixir supposedly extending lifespan by two hundred years would likely only extend it by less than ten years. For celestial lords like Xu Wangu, this elixir is an unparalleled treasure.

Upon the completion of this pill, Wei Yuan summoned all the cultivators of Tai Chu Palace to discuss the matter. They ultimately decided to hand over the main pill, Kun Yuan Longevity Pill, to the sect as a contribution.

These cultivators from Qingming are all exceptionally talented, and their Dao hearts have been particularly clear recently, making rapid progress. Even the old Daoist Chuhe has begun to re-plan his path to Yujing.

Therefore, apart from Wei Yuan, who is quite old, no one else is worried about their lifespan. The True Lords of Taichu Palace are all brave and diligent, with only two or three having concerns about their lifespan. If this Kunyuan Longevity Pill cannot alleviate the injuries of Immortal Lord Tinghai, it can be used to exchange for immortal items of equivalent value from the major families.

Of the remaining three pills, Xu Henshui, as the chief alchemist, contributed a main ingredient and many other ingredients. Therefore, he took the thirty-year-old pill to present to the Xu family's immortal ancestor. The remaining twenty-four-year-old and twelve-year-old pills belonged to Wei Yuan.

With the assignments finalized, Wei Yuan waited for another half month. Autumn was turning into winter, and Consort Yuan had been back in the capital for some time. The position of military governor of Qingyang was still undecided, and the merchants' associations of the eight prefectures were becoming increasingly rampant, even blocking Wei Yuan's caravan once again.

The optimization of the cyclic furnace was completed at this point, but the construction progress was affected by the lack of materials.

Wei Yuan felt this was intolerable. According to Xu Wenwu's teachings from the outer world, someone had already stepped on your foot; shouldn't you kill their entire family?

Therefore, Wei Yuan first summoned several loyal merchant guilds and asked them to hold a grand auction at Hanyang Pass. Many rare treasures would appear at this auction, including a batch of longevity pills such as Xiaonian Dan.

The news of the grand event immediately attracted widespread attention. The second-generation heirs of major business guilds and families would certainly not miss such an event, and thus they flocked from all directions.

Wei Yuan then announced that he would go to the capital to meet the emperor.

It was common for local lords to travel to the capital to meet the emperor, but Wei Yuan's situation was special. He only went to the capital twice and was never summoned again.

When traveling to the capital to meet the emperor, it is customary to notify the prefectures and counties along the way to avoid misunderstandings. This time, Wei Yuan had already sent someone to notify Hanyang Pass ten days in advance.

Upon receiving the news, the newly appointed garrison commander of Hanyang Pass dropped his teacup on the spot.

Later, upon seeing the letter stating that Wei Yuan would not be stationed at Hanyang Pass but would instead bypass it from outside, he finally came to his senses and quickly ordered his servants to clean up.

This new garrison commander is a Dharma Aspect who is over four hundred years old. He is very senior among the elders of the Xu family, but his status is not high and his strength is also below average. He has finally reached the late stage of Dharma Aspect through years of hard work, but there is no possibility of further progress. He only wants to prolong his life.

The defenses at Hanyang Pass are currently lax, and it has become a base for the Xu family to select and train new recruits. There are less than 50,000 soldiers who are truly capable of fighting. The remaining 200,000 or so are all new recruits who have been in service for less than half a year.

Since Wei Yuan dismantled all eight giant crossbows in one go, the imperial court has no money to replace them with new ones, and the Xu family is even less likely to have the funds.

The Xu family actually occupies a fertile land and has accumulated wealth over many years, so they should be quite wealthy. However, over the centuries, more than half of their accumulated wealth has been used for the cultivation of their immortal ancestors, and the rest is mostly private wealth held by individual households. There is very little left in the public treasury, and they are in debt every year.

For things like repairing the defenses of Hanyang Pass, the public treasury would naturally be used, but where would the public treasury find any money?

The newly appointed garrison commander calmed down and said to his men, "As long as he doesn't enter the city, everything is negotiable! Whatever his demands, whether it's food or water, give them to him as much as possible."

"My lord, shall we strengthen the city's defenses?" an advisor suggested.

The Xu family elder sneered: "Our Hanyang Pass is as flimsy as paper. City defense? What can we use to defend it? With those few soldiers in the city, which captain or lieutenant isn't related to someone? If Qingming's fierce army really attacks, they'll run faster than anyone else!"

There's nothing more to say. If Wei Yuan really wants to attack, you can just open the city gates and surrender.

"Wait?" A young aide was not quite understanding when the older aide gave him several meaningful glances before he finally realized what was going on.

If Wei Yuan really wanted to resort to violence, the garrison commander would definitely not be in the city anymore, and they would naturally be the ones responsible for opening the city gates and surrendering.

An official sighed, "It's only been a few years, and Wei Yuan has become like this. I wonder how many troops he will bring when he goes to the capital to meet the emperor this time."

The garrison commander stroked his beard and said, "He brought quite a lot the first two times, but the situation is different now, and the circumstances are tense. I estimate that he will bring 30,000 this time!"

All the officials gasped.

Meanwhile, in the Azure Sky, Wei Yuan had already mustered an army of 100,000 and was heading to the capital to meet the Emperor.

(End of this chapter)