Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 124 Just Do It (5th day of -word update, please support with monthly tickets and recommendation tickets.)
Zheng Guohui chuckled twice and watched his wife's slim figure disappear outside the door, with a smile on his lips.

Newlywed Yaner
It was the first time Zheng Guohui and Li Yanhe met. They lifted the red veil, drank the wedding wine, made love in the bridal chamber under the witness of candlelight, and got the first blood achievement.

All in all

This was an experience Zheng Guohui had never had in his past or present life. Under the constraints of feudal ethics, the union of men and women was so novel.

Just thinking about it makes people laugh, but there is also a kind of strange feeling that makes people intoxicated.

Zheng Guohui took his wife's delicate body on his wedding night. He saw the falling petals, saw this beautiful woman grow from a girl to a young woman, and saw her cry for the first time.

It was also from this moment that the two of them quickly fell in love under the surging emotions.

They are inseparable.

During these days of getting along, Zheng Guohui got to know his wife better and liked her more and more.

Li Yanhe was a lady from a strict scholarly family. She was well-educated and polite, with a dignified and generous personality. She was particularly good at mathematics. She could understand the accounts of the inner house at a glance and could manage the household after she got married.

This shows the profound family tradition of the Li family in northern Anhui.

The six Li brothers are all rare talents. Girls brought up in such a family are first-class in appearance, talent and character. Zheng Guohui feels that he has really made a fortune.

Gushan Beizi Mansion in Xicheng
"Master, after losing so much face, are we going to let the people from Nanfengtang go?" Tabai said resentfully as he sat at the table, his face flushed and his neck thick from drinking.

Beiziye Babutai was chewing on a pig's trotter in his hand, his mouth full of oil. After eating a few bites, he threw the remaining bones on the ground.

Immediately, two fierce dogs pounced on him to snatch the food, which made him laugh.

Babutai washed his hands in a copper bowl inlaid with gold and carved patterns, wiped his hands with the hot towel handed to him by the maid, then grabbed the copper bowl and swung it down with great force, hitting Tabai right on the top of his head.

Just a moment
Tabai seemed to be frozen, blood gushing out from the gaping wound on his head, like a dozen blood snakes mixed with water droplets crawling all over his face.

He swayed a bit and then fell backwards.

This sudden change

The two fierce dogs fighting for the bone were frightened and retreated to the door. Several men who were drinking and eating meat at the table shuddered, their bodies seemed to be frozen, and they looked at Babutai with fear in their eyes.

"Bah... You filthy bastard, you're not worthy enough to ask me to be your knife."

Babutai spat out a mouthful of thick phlegm, then stood up and took the towel from the tray brought by the frightened maid, who turned pale, and wiped the blood off his hands.

With a wave of her hand, the maidservant hurried away as if escaping.

Babutai beckoned, and immediately a strong servant stood at the door, bowed, and said respectfully, "Master, your orders."

"Drag this jerk to the kennel and feed him to the dogs. It'll save me some food."

"twitter!"

The man waved his hand and another strong servant came over. The two of them carried the twitching Tabai out, leaving behind a trail of blood dripping along the way.

At this moment

Babutai sat down again and looked at his men who stood up with shrunken expressions, including Wakda with his arm hanging, and said nonchalantly:

"Sit down, it's time to eat and drink. You have nothing to do here."

"Hey..."

Several men sat down cautiously, no longer as casual as at the beginning, and all became cautious.

Babutai picked up the wine glass in his hand and drank it all in one gulp. Several of his men quickly picked up their glasses and drank with him with ingratiating smiles.

After drinking the spicy wine, Babutai's face twisted. He grabbed a few peanuts with his hand wearing a jeweled ring and threw them into his mouth. He said while chewing.
"Don't blame me for being cruel, I hate these bastards who use me as a tool the most!
Bamubulshan is right. Although I am a bit reckless and don't like to use my brain, I have the noble blood of Aisin Gioro and will not do those dirty things.

If there is, it must have been instigated by a villain.

What the hell is wrong here?

"Hey, a Jiangnan deputy general who has nothing to do with me, started a conflict for no reason. It was all instigated by that grandson Tabai. He deserves to die!"

Several of his men suddenly realized what was going on, and immediately showed indignation on their faces, saying bitterly;
"I've always thought Tabai wasn't a good person. He's always fanning the flames, just hoping for chaos in the world."

"He was just fanning the flames, urging us men to charge ahead. Look everyone... My arm was broken and three teeth were knocked out. It was such an unexpected disaster!"

"Who says it's not? This bastard should die as soon as possible."

"Master Beizi's move is truly gratifying! Without this scourge of Tabai, we can finally live in peace for a few days."

Several people tried their best to please Prince Babutai, because he was of high rank and was a close descendant of the Aisin-Gioro clan.

People are more mad than people.

In this capital, there are tens of thousands of yellow belts and red belts who eat the yellow belts of the iron-clad dealers. Most of them are red belts who do not belong to the Aisin-Gioro clan, but are idle royal family members standing at the doorstep.

Life is just so-so, just enough to make ends meet.

There are several thousand yellow belts among the idle royal family members, among whom there are only six or seven hundred eldest sons and grandsons who can inherit the title. Most of them are still low-level titles such as Duke of Zhenguo, Duke of Fuguo, General Zhenguo, and General Fuguo.

There are four levels of high-ranking titles: Prince, Duke, Beile, and Beizi, with a total of less than a hundred people, including more than eighty royal relatives, and Beizi Babutai is one of them.

This shows how noble his status is.

But no matter how noble they are, royal family members without real power are like pigs in a pen. They are not allowed to leave the 40 miles radius of the capital for their entire lives. They can only wield their power over the common people and make lower-level officials avoid them.

Court officials with some real power, such as Zheng Guohui, the deputy general of Jiangnan, were not afraid to confront the royal family.

Make a scene in Nanfeng Hall

Beiziye Babutai was still summoned to the clan house for a warning and fined one month's salary, which made his already tight life even more difficult.

Babutai then knew

This deputy general of Jiangnan, Zheng Guohui, had a very extraordinary background. He was a subordinate that Prince Gong Yixin valued very much. When he got married, he even gave him an imperial sword as a token of his affection.

As for whether Prince Gong has any involvement in this business?
No one dared to ask, no one dared to inquire. Babutai had already suffered the loss, and he shouldn't even think about getting back at the wrong person.

Otherwise, death will be even more ugly.

Tabai was just bringing up something that was not relevant to the topic. Babutai took out his anger on him. After beating the man to death, he felt much more relieved.

After taking a few more bites of food, Babutai put his chopsticks on the table. His men also quickly put down their chopsticks and sat down respectfully, looking like they were listening attentively.

That was to be cautious against the moody Babutai. If he suddenly attacked again, at least he could block it with his hands and leave a chance to escape.

You only have one life, and if you don't take it seriously, who would take you seriously?
"It's almost the end of the year, and the money is flowing out like crazy, but there's no income. We can't just sit there and eat up all the money, right? Can you guys tell me...is there any good way to make money?" Babutai frowned deeply, he really had a headache.

All eight servants were beaten to a pulp, but Nanfengtang was considerate enough to give each of them 8 taels of silver for medicine and medicine.

As the master, Babutai could not be stingy, so he added another 10 taels to each of them and drove all the servants away.

The Prince's Mansion does not keep idle people, nor does it have the money to keep idle people.

Add to that a one-month salary fine, that’s less than 200 taels of silver that was spent without even a sound.

The annual salary of Gushan Beizi was 1300 taels of silver and 1300 hu of rice. The forty or fifty people in the mansion all relied on this little money to survive. They had no other income, and they had to maintain the dignity of the Beizi mansion, so they lived a tight life.

This is before the New Year
The wife and the concubine wanted to buy a set of gold hairpins and ornaments for their head, to have children to take care of them, to make new clothes for the ten or so people in the family (excluding servants), and to eat pineapples. These were all things that should have happened.

The loss of 200 taels of silver was like adding insult to injury.

You ask me...who should I ask?
Several of his men secretly complained, but also pretended to be thinking hard, with their brows furrowed.

Whether you can come up with a solution is a question of ability, while whether you are willing to come up with a solution is a question of attitude.

The result was naturally a stalemate for a while, and Mao still couldn't figure it out.

It would be strange if these lazy, unlearned royal family members could come up with any good ideas when they get together.
The fact that they ran to Nanfeng Hall and robbed things openly without even bothering to hide it clearly shows the level of these people.

"You are all good-for-nothings. I don't know what use you are waiting for." Beizi Babutai was angry again. If he had a whip in his hand, he would have hit him at this moment.

He looked up at the servants waiting at the door and said loudly, "Send the steward Wen Fu here. He's quite smart and will surely be able to come up with a suitable solution."

"twitter!"

In the blink of an eye, the butler Wenfu came hurriedly, bowed at the door, and said respectfully, "Master, please give me your instructions."

"Wenfu, come in, I'll give you a piece of meat."

"Thank you, Master, for your reward."

Wenfu walked in hunched over, cupped his hands, took the piece of meat that Babutai had dropped, stuffed it into his mouth, chewed it, and swallowed it, revealing a flattering smile on his face and saying, "The meat that the master gave me is really delicious. It's a blessing that Wenfu has cultivated for eight lifetimes. This is like celebrating the New Year in advance."

"Hahaha...you, a slave, can talk." Babutai laughed happily, and then asked;
"These guys are all stupid, not as capable as a servant like you. Come up with a plan for me. Find a place on the street where I can make money without taking risks. If you say it well, I will reward you handsomely."

"Slave understands."

Wen Fu rolled his eyes after hearing this and said;
"The so-called killing and arson gold belt, it's almost the end of the year, there are many sheep traders from Shanxi and Inner Mongolia in the south of the city, and every time they come, they drive a lot of sheep, usually two to three thousand.

Have someone guard it, and when they sell the sheep and get the silver, then rob them. At least we can get a thousand or so taels of silver."

A thousand or so taels of silver?
Babutai stroked his beard and thought about it. He had no idea whether he could do it or not, but rather whether it was worth doing.
These sheep traders' regular customers were always in groups of more than ten people, and they carried knives and guns with them. They were extremely ferocious, and it was difficult for ordinary thieves of thirty to fifty to get close to them. It was not easy to rob them of their money.

The sheep dealer's old customers are not stupid either. After selling the sheep for silver, they will first buy some goods needed on the grassland, and maybe even some hidden items.

A man secretly left the city with the money he earned from selling sheep, and was met by someone outside the city. A man rode two horses back to the grassland overnight, but he could not catch up with them.

Those who can do this business are not good people. These grassland men are good at riding and shooting. Even if we catch up with them, I'm afraid they will lose a few lives, right?
It might be a waste of effort and I won't get much money.

Babutai shook his head and said, "This is a thankless task. Think about it, do you have any other ideas?"

The housekeeper Wenfu knew about the master's humiliation in Dongjiaomin Lane. He thought about it for a while longer this time and said in a cautious tone;

"Master, those who can do big business in the capital all have backgrounds and cannot be easily touched.

Those without any background are all small families. They probably don't care about making a few taels of silver. They are just worthless bones.

This is only feasible if we target medium-sized merchants.

Or maybe he's an official who's retired and has quite a bit of wealth at home..."

As he spoke, he looked at Babutai's expression and changed the topic at any time.

Babutai was serious. He thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "No matter how middle-class a merchant is, how do you know he has a lot of cash on hand? If all my efforts are in vain and I only get a few dozen taels of silver, I'd earn less than fighting crickets under the overpass. It's better to have a long-term plan, that's the best strategy."

He was now in dire need of money. He had borrowed several thousand taels of silver from outside and had borrowed from everywhere he could, but he still could not make ends meet.

Although the housekeeper Wenfu is smart, he is only good at things like robbery and assassination. He knows nothing about business, and the prince is not cut out for business either. Where does this long-term plan come from?

Ponder for a moment

Seeing Babutai's face gradually showing impatience, the housekeeper Wenfu's eyes suddenly lit up, and he slapped his thigh and said, "I got it...it depends on whether the prince can put down his pride."

"I've lost all my face a long time ago. As long as I can get the money, I don't care about my face. Tell me...what good ideas do you have?" Babutai was also forced into a corner.

Wen Fu smiled flatteringly and said;

"Master, the best business in our capital right now is Nanfengtang, which makes a fortune like a mountain of gold and silver every day.

Think about it...

You, a person of such noble status, couldn't help but be tempted by the prey, so what about others?"

"Hmm... that makes some sense. Go on." Babutai was attracted by his words and said thoughtfully.

Wen Fu saw that his master was concerned, and he had a clue in his mind, so he slapped his thigh and continued;
"The opportunity is here. We can talk to the owner of the Southern Hall. The master can help him settle the matter!
As a deputy general of Jiangnan, he can't stay in the capital all year round to take care of business.

What if someone else finds fault?

As long as the master is in charge, you can ask around in the capital and see who, no matter they are members of the royal family or court officials, dares to cause trouble?

It's so useful, so charging him a few hundred taels of silver every month wouldn't be too much, right? Isn't this a long-term business?"

Wow...oh my god!
Babutai's eyes lit up immediately after hearing this.

He is familiar with this matter and can do it. He can even lie down in the mansion and collect money.

This is full of the capital city
No one with a higher title than Lord Babutai is more unscrupulous and shameless than him. He is shameless and willing to rob and seize things by force. His reputation has long been tarnished and everyone avoids him.

There are no people more unscrupulous than him, but none have a higher title than Lord Babutai. He is more or less a direct descendant of the Aisin-Gioro clan, and he kills people without paying for their crimes. Who dares to confront him?
Thinking of ruining your own business, hum...Grandma!
"Great, let's do it." Lord Babutai slapped his thigh excitedly and made the decision immediately.

(End of this chapter)