Tiger Guards

Chapter 90 Prepare for a rainy day
Wei's Manor, inside the attic.

Cai Zhaoji looked out the window and saw a blazing bonfire about two or three feet wide burning on the open ground outside several courtyard walls.

Even during such celebrations, the Huben and Xiongnu wore armor, but they did not carry long weapons or bows and crossbows, only swords.

Her maid came over and said, "Madam, the hot soup is ready."

"Let's burn some more."

She didn't want to go right away, so the maid lingered and whispered, "Madam, after the banquet, will Zhao Zhonglang come here?"

Cai Zhaoji turned her head to look at the other person, and the maid lowered her head.

After thinking for a moment, Cai Zhaoji replied, "He never looked me in the eye, so he probably won't come."

"Then why heat up the soup?"

The maid raised her head, a look of hope on her face. "Our lives depend on your Madam's wishes. If it weren't for Zhao Zhonglang, we would have been captured by the Xiongnu and would never have been able to see our families again."

It was tolerable to flatter the Huns briefly.

If they were captured and taken into the Xiongnu tribe, that would be an extremely miserable fate.

“Be prepared.”

Cai Zhaoji responded but ignored the maid's request.

She was also in a difficult situation and wanted to take her maids and servants away from the control of the Huns, for which she owed Zhao Ji a great favor.

In such a chaotic world, who would wait for you to slowly repay a favor?
The maid was not interested in the bonfire feast. She had heard that the Huns would hold such a celebration ceremony after the war, interrogating and executing the enemy leaders, recruiting some of them to surrender, and then distributing their wives, daughters, slaves, and beasts.

If it is a disaster year, all the old men and boys among the captives will be executed, unless you possess special talents.

In front of the campfire, Zhao Ji watched the brave and powerful warriors wrestling with the Xiongnu warriors. Both sides kept challenging each other. It was both a game and a competition.

If you defeat three challengers in a row, you can ask him and Qubei for a bowl of wine.

There is no shortage of wine in the estate's cellar, and there is plenty of it.

But the supply is limited tonight, and everyone will take turns drinking after dawn tomorrow.

It was so peaceful here that Zhao Ji didn't want to leave Wei's manor. There were still many workshops here, but the Wei's servants who were familiar with these workshops had already evacuated that night.

Therefore, after various processed products are used up, they need to be remade.

Before Zhao Yan led his troops to arrive, he had to plunder as many supplies as possible from the place. The wine had to be distilled, the vinegar had to be made into vinegar cloth, and the sauce had to be exposed to the sun to remove moisture.

On the contrary, as for salt, just a few dozen miles to the south is the Hedong Salt Lake and the Salt Supervision City that has managed the salt lake for generations.

Yanjian City was responsible for the transportation of salt and was also called Yuncheng.

There is also a Yuncheng, located in the north of Juye Lake. It is a water transport turnover center and may have served as a military transport turnover node in the future. It should be the future Yuncheng.

While he was thinking, Chang Mao fell down and challenged the Xiongnu warrior, stepped forward and bowed: "Captain, please give me a bowl of wine!"

"it is good!"

Zhao Ji stood up with a smile, stretched out his hands to pick up a bowl of wine from the table and slowly handed it to Chang Mao. Chang Mao took it with both hands, gestured to Qu Bei, then raised his head and drank it, and put the empty bowl into the bamboo basket on the side.

Zhao Ji turned around and sat down, leaning over to him. He asked with a smile, "Zhonglang doesn't like gold, but here are hundreds of millions of five-zhu coins. Are you interested?"

"I have some idea. Why does the wise king ask this?"

"Xiao Wang just feels it's a pity to give such golden coins to those old people. It's really a waste."

As he spoke, Qubei raised his left arm to encourage the Xiongnu leader who was about to enter the arena. After the leader responded, Qubei glanced at Zhao Ji and said, "I wonder if Zhonglang has ever thought about how the court will use this huge fortune?"

"You're right. They'll probably force people to buy supplies, causing prices to soar. The little money people have saved will be worthless, and they won't be able to buy goods. I'm afraid a single Hu pancake will be worth at least 500,000 coins."

"Zhonglang, you're joking. Five hundred thousand coins can crush a horse to death, so how can it not buy bread?"

Qubei sat upright and pointed at the Huben soldiers dancing around the bonfire, arm in arm, forming a human wall. "They harbor resentment. If Zhonglang takes the money, they can tolerate it. But if the court takes it for nothing, they'll inevitably resent Zhonglang for being weak and foolishly loyal. If prices soar, the Huben families will also be affected, which will not be good for Zhonglang either."

"Speak frankly, my lord. You and I have sworn an oath to heaven, earth, and the gods. We should not test you in this way."

"Okay, Xiao Wang, just be frank. Whose money is this?" Qu Bei pointed in the direction of the secret room. Zhao Ji thought without hesitation: "The blood and sweat of the Hedong people for generations, plundered and hoarded here by the Wei family."

"How strange! I never thought Zhonglang had such insight!"

Qubei praised it and said, "When the imperial court gets the money, they won't care where it comes from or where it's used."

Zhao Ji also sat up straight, the firelight shining on his face, expressionless: "Does the wise king mean to restrict the use of coins in the court?"

"Well, we must get the court to make a promise. This way, the skyrocketing prices in Hedong will have nothing to do with Zhonglang. It is the court that deceived Zhonglang and failed the Hu Ben army's loyalty."

Qubei raised his finger and pointed at his cheek, nonchalantly saying, "This money is being spent by the court, and I am very unhappy. Give them the gold, and you and I will each take a cellar of five-zhu coins to reward our troops and ease our resentment."

"How can one cellar be enough for you and me? Three cellars for each of us!"

Zhao Ji paused, then said, "I've always had an idea, but I just lack the money to implement it."

Seeing that Qubei wanted to ask but hesitated, Zhao Ji said, "This year's drought makes it inevitable that locusts will swarm again in May and June. I plan to build a locust temple in Beijiang to worship the locust god and spend a large sum of money to buy locusts. When the time comes, I will build a large warehouse and compact the collected locusts into it as a sacrifice to the locust god."

"Uh……"

Qubei was stunned for a moment, recalling the various sacrificial methods he knew. He felt that this kind of sacrifice made some sense. It was nothing more than a blood sacrifice, but it felt a little strange.

It was difficult to comment, so I said, "If Zhonglang likes it, I am willing to help out and allocate a cellar to offer to the locust god."

"The wise king is generous. I will toast to him tomorrow."

"Without Zhonglang, how could Xiao Wang possibly have obtained the three cellars?"

Qu Bei responded, then changed the subject, saying, "My prince is worried that the court will, with a large sum of money, invite Zhang Yang to lead his troops into the capital. Zhang Yang has long intended to welcome the emperor, but his generals have opposed him, preventing him from doing so. If the court offers a large sum of money to recruit him, the Henei troops will arrive within half a month. By then, the court will return to Luoyang with the money, and with the Henei troops still intimidating Hedong, this will be beyond the control of the Zhonglang."

We can't send troops to attack, and the Huben soldiers will not be motivated to carry out such an order.

There are also the Hedong troops who were dragged into the conflict, which will naturally be a problem at that time.

Zhao Ji nodded, not without concern: "This is a problem... Last night, when the Jishan bandits attacked the emperor, they fled north a little. If they stay at Chenguanxing, they will inevitably intercept and kill the imperial envoys."

Qubei understood and smiled, "How long can this delay us? The envoys are light and can cross mountains and ridges to reach Henei. They cannot be stopped by the Chenguan Pass. Moreover, the court needs to train new troops during this period. This is not a good strategy."

Zhao Ji remained silent, then said, "There's no rush. I'll discuss this with Lord Zhao once he leads his troops to the capital. However, there are still remnants of the Jishan bandits, and we must destroy them."

First, Zhao Yan was used to suppress and delay the decision of the ministers, and then the envoy was killed after the decision was made.

If time drags on, there is a high probability that the remaining economy in Hedong will collapse.

The imperial court is also quite good. Having received so much money and being used to spending it, it is difficult for them to stop when they are ahead.

By using the imperial court's help, he could destroy the manors and industries of the powerful on a large scale, which would save him a lot of trouble.

"Just be vigilant, Zhonglang. If things go wrong, you and I will follow the imperial edict and suppress the miscellaneous Hu and the rebellious Xiongnu."

Qubei didn't even care about the three cellars of five-zhu coins that were verbally divided. He just wanted to fight back and become the real Right Wise King.

He had already reminded Zhao Ji and fulfilled his duty as an ally.

As for the Han court, he would no longer believe in the court's credibility since it began to owe him huge amounts of military expenses and rewards.

Anyway, the ministers are replaced one after another. How many of the next batch of ministers will honor the promises made by this batch?

Instead of waiting for the court's distribution, it is better to drag Zhao Ji to grab it, so that what you grab will be yours.

Although the wealth in the secret room here far exceeds the amount he can accumulate in his lifetime, it is still too much.

No matter whether it was Zhao Ji or him, even if they joined forces to swallow it up, their respective armies would collapse.

If you lose your army, you lose everything.

It is impossible to eat gold.

Therefore, even if there is ten times more gold here, he will still have the same attitude.

This is gold that brings disaster. How can the court take it so easily without paying a price?
Now is no longer the time when Emperor Lingdi suppressed the Yellow Turbans and trained the Western Garden Guards. At that time, gold could be exchanged for military equipment, strong men and food.

What can we do with all this gold?
(End of this chapter)