Looking north towards the rivers and mountains

Chapter 230 Taking it All? (Bonus chapter for the Alliance Leader, Sleepy Year, December)

The next day, at 3:45 PM.

Yang Mao arrived a little late.

"Brother Mo has come in person, which has made me a little late." After bowing, Yang Mao pointed to the grain shop and said, "It's not convenient to meet here. Please go outside the city."

Having said that, he prepared to lead the way.

Without any pretense, Shao Shuyi gave a direct order, and the thirty-odd men hiding in the backyard of the grain shop all stood up, and the sound of drawing their swords and sheathing them rang out.

Yang Mao's expression changed drastically, and the two attendants who came with him were even more flustered, already nervously swallowing their saliva.

"Brother Yang, please." Shao Shuyi laughed and took Yang Mao's hand, leading him straight to the awning boat moored by the stream behind the shop.

The number of awning boats increased to three, one of which was borrowed from the Zhou family.

More than thirty people boarded the boat one by one, filling it to capacity.

Yang Mao composed himself and boarded the first boat with Shao Shuyi. They meandered through the city's winding waterways and soon arrived near a warehouse.

The warehouse was large, with dozens of rooms, and in front of it was a sizable flat area with piles of logs and bricks.

The three boats docked one after another at the small pier behind the warehouse.

After arranging for Fu Jian, Fu Yong, and three others to stay at the temple with the boatmen, Shao Shuyi, surrounded by Liang Tai and Tie Niu, led Gao Daqiang...

Bian Yuanheng's two groups of twenty-eight men landed on the shore.

Unlike their usual fighting style where they would bring out all sorts of weapons, these twenty-eight men were rather "simple" this time. Each of them carried only a ring-handled sword, a few carried a crossbow, and two others had bulging cylindrical objects stuffed into their clothes.

Liang Tai and Tie Niu each had a small cavalry shield strapped to their elbows, and they walked side by side with Shao Shuyi.

Although the equipment was incomplete, their steps were still very orderly, and their boots made a series of dull and rhythmic sounds when they stepped on the bluestone pavement.

Two burly men stood at the back entrance of the warehouse. Seeing the commotion, their expressions changed slightly. One of them turned and quickly ran inside to report. The other, steeling himself, stepped forward, his hand on the hilt of his knife, his voice somewhat unnatural: "Cao—Cao She? Brother Mo is waiting inside, but you brought so many people—"

After saying that, he looked at Yang Mao, who had come with him.

Yang Mao waved his hand, his expression not very good either. He had been watching them all the way here, and these heroes from Jiangyin were extraordinary. He couldn't say much more about them, but one thing was certain: these people must have been through a lot of fighting, and their skills and willpower had reached a whole new level.

"They're all my men. We need help unloading cargo from the ship." Shao Shuyi smiled, his tone casual as if he were commenting on the nice weather. "Don't worry, we're discussing good things today. Nothing's wrong."

As they were talking, the messenger returned, panting, and said, "Brother Mo invites Cao She in, but he can only bring two people."

Shao Shuyi stood there, motionless.

The group of thugs behind them also looked at the tightly closed courtyard gate in front of them and sneered.

Liang Tai glanced at the crowd, and his sneer disappeared, as did the noise, replaced by solemnity.

"Wait a moment at Caoshe," Yang Mao sighed, "I'll be right back."

After saying that, he ran to the front of the courtyard and pushed open the door to go inside.

The two attendants following Yang Mao were caught in a dilemma, unsure whether to stay or leave, like pitiful lambs abandoned among wolves.

Not long after, the courtyard gate suddenly opened.

A few ruffians trotted out, lit the brazier at the gate, and stood on either side, nervously eyeing the newcomers.

Mo Tianyou led six people out of the courtyard.

The six men were all burly and broad-shouldered, dressed in identical black cloth shirts, with short knives hanging from their waists, and some carrying bronze clubs or iron rulers in their hands. Two of them stood close to Mo Tianyou on either side, seemingly as his personal guards.

The brazier crackled and popped, casting a play of light and shadow that shone on everyone's face, making them appear like masks on a theatrical stage.

A large group of people were still standing inside the courtyard gate, seemingly ready to rush out at any moment at a single command.

Shao Shuyi carefully examined Mo Tianyou and found that although this person was not as tall as the six people behind him, his arms were thick and strong, and his body was solid and robust. When he stood there, his slender eyes looked like two polished black pebbles in the dim firelight, cold and bright.

A series of light footsteps sounded.

Yang Mao walked out of the courtyard gate, stood at the front, and said, "Cao She, Brother Mo wasn't very happy to hear that you brought more than thirty men from Jiangyin. Are you here to discuss business, or to take action?"

Shao Shuyi looked around the courtyard and laughed, "This place is called a warehouse, but who knows what it really is? It's not far from the Grand Canal, so even at night, there should still be people coming and going. But it's unusually quiet right now. You're asking me? These thirty workers are all from the boats; there's nothing more to it. If Master Mo feels uncomfortable, let's just leave it at that and go our separate ways, shall we?"

A long silence fell over the room.

Just as people on both sides were growing impatient, Mo Tianyou spoke up: "Cao Luo, after hearing the news yesterday afternoon, I immediately sent people to the docks to inquire. Some people hadn't heard of you, some had, but didn't know what you had done. Only one merchant said that in late August, you worked for the government at Qinwang Mountain and killed dozens of bandits from the Huai region—"

At this point, he smiled and said, "You're so fierce, I have to be careful."

Shao Shuyi laughed and said nothing, but he had already begun to assess the person in front of him.

When Zhou Siwen and his son mentioned Mo Tianyou, they described him as "fierce," "eccentric," or "cruel," as if he were a fool who would kill someone at the slightest provocation.

But now we can revise our opinion. Mo Tianyou isn't as rough and bloodthirsty as he seems on the surface. He's actually very good at assessing situations. Most of the people he kills have no consequences. When he encounters someone he can't kill or someone who would cause trouble if he did, he's not so cruel.

After staring intently at Shao Shuyi for a long time, Mo Tianyou drew a dagger from his waist.

In an instant, Shao Shuyi could clearly feel the atmosphere around him become tense.

Many people subconsciously place their toes on the ground, lean their bodies slightly forward, and apply slight pressure to the hilt of their knife.

"Yang Mao," Mo Tianyou suddenly said, "bring Zhu Chen's salt."

Yang Mao moved over a small table, took a small cloth bag, untied the thin rope tied to it, poured out a small pile of salt, and placed it on the table.

The salt was grayish in color, with uneven grain size, and some even formed hard lumps, which was quite surprising. Shao Shuyi and others had collected salt in the salt fields of Liangzhe before, and the quality could not possibly be this bad.

"This is Zhu Chen's goods." Mo Tianyou poked at the pile of salt with the tip of his dagger and said, "It's one tael and five or six mace per jin. You said you could give me one tael and three mace, so the goods are alright. Where are yours?"

Shao Shuyi asked Tie Niu to bring out an oil paper package. It wasn't something he brought on purpose, but rather that the boat always kept some salt on board for cooking.

The oil paper package was quickly unwrapped and placed on the table. Inside was a pile of snow-white fine salt, with uniform granules that gleamed faintly silvery-white under the lamplight, forming a stark contrast to Zhu Chen's pile of grayish-brown coarse salt.

Mo Tianyou lowered his head, looked at the two piles of salt, then raised his head and looked at Shao Shuyi.

"Is this one pound and one ounce and three qian?" he asked.

"Yes. How is it?" After seeing the salt that Zhu Chenfa sold to Mo Tianyou, Shao Shuyi became even more composed and asked with a smile.

Mo Tianyou remained silent.

He reached out and pinched a pinch of salt that Tie Niu had given him, tasted it on his tongue, and then pinched a pinch of Zhu Chen's salt and tasted it.

His expression didn't change, but he licked his lips with the tip of his tongue, as if savoring the memory.

"It's better than Zhu Chen's." He put down the dagger, his gaze fixed on Shao Shuyi's face like a nail, and said, "But what's the use of being better? Zhu Chen's men have been delivering salt to me for six or seven years without a single mistake. What about you?"

The meaning is quite clear: the quality and price of salt are certainly factors, but the ability to maintain a stable supply is even more important. You can't have it today and not tomorrow, otherwise how can you do business?

"How much salt does Master Mo want?" Shao Shuyi asked.

"Where did you get the salt from?" Mo Tianyou asked in return.

Shao Shuyi smiled and said, "Master Mo, I've heard that the Li family in the south of Wuxi, the Zhao family in Xishan, and the Sun family in Luoshe all get their goods from Zhu Chen, at a price similar to yours, one tael and five or six mace. Now I'm giving you one tael and three mace; surely I can sell them for more than they can?"

At this point, Shao Shuyi held up three fingers and said, "Three qian! You earn three qian per jin, thirty liang per hundred jin, and three hundred liang per thousand jin. How much salt can you sell in Wuxi in a month? Twenty thousand jin? Thirty thousand jin? Or fifty thousand jin? If it's twenty thousand, then you can earn over a hundred more ingots per month than before, and over a thousand ingots per year. And that's not the most important thing. As long as you're bold enough to squeeze out the other three companies, it's hard to imagine how much you can earn in the future. As for how much salt I can supply, that's not important. If I have it, I'll sell it; if I don't, I won't. That's all."

Mo Tianyou didn't speak, but his fingers twitched slightly on the hilt of the dagger.

The other party's meaning is clear: do you dare to take it all? Taking it all means huge profits, but it also comes with huge risks. Do you dare?

In fact, Cao Luo's mention of the other three companies actually implied: If you don't want them, I'll go find them. Do you want to gamble on whether they dare to take all the cards?

"If you are interested, sir, you can send over three thousand catties this month, payment upon delivery," Shao Shuyi said. "From now on, no less than ten thousand catties every month, every batch will be of this quality, rain or shine."

Mo Tianyou's expression shifted slightly.

The flames burned silently in the corner, occasionally bursting into a small spark with a soft hissing sound.

No one spoke outside the courtyard; even their breathing was hushed.

Mo Tianyou's gaze lingered on Shao Shuyi's face for a long time before slowly shifting to the two piles of salt on the table.

One pile was grayish-brown, the other was snow-white; the difference was obvious.

He suddenly reached out and swept Zhu Chen's pile of salt onto the ground.

Salt grains were scattered all over the ground, making a soft rustling sound on the blue brick floor.

"Alright." Mo Tianyou breathed a sigh of relief and said, "But there's one condition—"

"Please speak, sir," Shao Shuyi said in a deep voice.

"If anything happens in the future, you can't just stand by and watch," Mo Tianyou said, looking into Shao Shuyi's eyes.

"Rest assured, sir, if anything happens, I will personally bring people to Wuxi," Shao Shuyi replied firmly.

Mo Tianyou glanced at him suspiciously, but ultimately said nothing, only saying, "Three thousand catties is too stingy. Send five thousand catties this month. Don't worry, I won't renege on the debt."

After saying this, he ordered his men to lay down their weapons as a sign of sincerity.