Prince Li You of the Great Tang Dynasty begs the noble families to their deaths!

Yin Shaokang then discussed with Wu Hong that obtaining kerosene in Luoyang would likely take at least four or five days.

Instead of wasting this effort, it would be better to ride a fast horse and rush to Chang'an under the cover of night to purchase another batch of kerosene.

Wu Hong thought Yin Shaokang's suggestion made sense, so he rented dozens of fine horses in the city and led a capable group of men straight to Chang'an.

Two days later, a servant of the Yin family inquired and learned that there were two places in Luoyang City with the largest reserves of kerosene.

The first is the Yuanbi City, located north of the Luoyang Palace City.

At this time, Luoyang was a newly built city by Emperor Yang of Sui, and it had previously been the capital of the Sui Dynasty.

Since it was the former capital of the previous dynasty, it had a palace, which was the imperial palace of the previous era.

The downfall of Emperor Yang of Sui was closely related to his extravagant and impractical construction of various palaces.

One palace is enough, but Yang Guang wanted to fill the entire country with his palaces.

Greed always comes at a price.

The round walled city north of the palace was a military garrison, and oil was stored there.

Secondly, there is the Wei King's Pool, located on the south bank of the Luo River.

Wei Wang Chi is not a pond, but a royal garden bestowed by Emperor Taizong of Tang (Li Shimin) upon Prince Wei, Li Tai.

In previous years, when the King of Wei visited Luoyang, he would hold a cultural banquet at the King of Wei Pond, inviting scholars from all walks of life to participate, which was a very lively event.

To ensure lighting for the banquet, the stewards and servants of the King of Wei's Pond would also stockpile and purchase kerosene.

Apart from these two places, most wealthy families who needed lighting used sesame oil, and not many used kerosene.

Because this stuff was dug up from the Gaonu region in northern Shaanxi, and transported to Chang'an and then to Luoyang, the transportation costs alone were very high. Sesame oil, on the other hand, can be pressed anywhere, making it more convenient than kerosene in terms of accessibility.

In terms of price alone, sesame oil is actually more expensive than kerosene.

The servants informed Yin Shaokang of the news. After a moment's thought, he dispatched his men to the few households in the city that used kerosene and to purchase it at a high price.

He rushed to Wei Wang Pond without stopping to request an audience with the steward there.

The military in Yuanbi City had strict control over the kerosene, making it difficult to obtain. Therefore, Yin Shaokang came to Weiwangchi to try his luck.

When the steward of Wei Wangchi came out, he first looked impatient.

But when he saw the dozen or so strings of cash that Yin Shaokang handed over, he immediately beamed with joy.

"Young master wants to buy my family's kerosene? Oh dear, we can't sell that. It's saved up for the Crown Prince's literary gathering..."

Yin Shaokang then handed over another ten strings of cash.

"Please, sir, have mercy! We've recently run out of kerosene for lighting, and sesame oil is hard to find in the market. I've asked around at many places before finally finding you here. I'm willing to pay the high price of sesame oil to buy your kerosene, what do you say?"

The butler weighed the money in his hand and smiled rather happily.

"Since you're so eager to give me money, then come with me. This thing doesn't fetch a high price in Chang'an. If you want to use it later, just go to Chang'an and buy it..."

Yin Shaokang followed the steward into the Wei King's Pond, where he saw that the garden and pond buildings were layered in a well-organized manner, making it a truly beautiful place.

The steward led Yin Shaokang to the storeroom.

"All the kerosene in my house is here, how come so much is missing... These damned servants must have taken it to start a fire and cook, I'll beat them to death..."

Yin Shaokang glanced into the warehouse and saw more than fifty large earthenware jars in the corner, all sealed with mud. When he opened them, he found a thick, dark liquid inside that emitted a strong, pungent odor.

"Young master, the price you just quoted must be honored. Fifty jars of kerosene would be quite a lot of money if we considered it at the price of sesame oil!"

"Don't worry, you'll get your share!"

Yin Shaokang instructed his servants to load the kerosene into carts and transport it away, and then discussed the price with his steward.

The transaction at Weiwangchi went smoothly.

When Yin Shaokang returned to his residence, he saw that the kerosene his servants had bought from other wealthy people was stored in various containers, including earthenware jars, wooden buckets, and bamboo tubes.

Yin Shaokang pondered the matter and realized that storing oil in wooden barrels was less prone to damage than using earthenware jars. So he sent his family out to buy some fine wooden barrels, filled them with all the kerosene, and then sealed them with mud.

After this process, the goods were loaded onto trucks and transported to the Tongbai Mountains in Suizhou.

After Yin Shaokang finished this task, thirteen days and nights passed before Wu Hong finally arrived from Chang'an.

He bought more than 500 jars of kerosene, but the price was less than a quarter of what Yin Shaokang paid.

Wu Hong made a brief stop at the Yin family's residence before escorting the batch of kerosene back to Suizhou overnight.

……

The plan to burn the warships was made in a hurry, and many things could not be predicted in advance.

Of course, that's how war is; it's full of chance.

Li You could only pray that the warships Yan Lide had overseen would remain obediently in Jiangzhou and not sail north before Huang Chao's army was ready.

In other words, there is still a possibility that the trip will be fruitless.

To increase the chances of success, Li You immediately dispatched his general Yan Hongliang with 300 men, including 100 elite warriors, to go down the mountain to Jiangzhou, Hongzhou, and Raozhou to gather information.

In addition to gathering intelligence, they were also responsible for purchasing food and supplies locally and building temporary shelters.

Huang Chao's army has now accumulated a great deal of wealth, and if a problem can be solved by spending money, then they will spend money like crazy.

300 men are definitely not enough to carry out this mission; Huang Chao's elite troops must be deployed in full force.

While waiting for the kerosene, Li You, Yan Hongxin, Liang Mengbiao, and Zan Junmo led the officers and soldiers of the Jiazi Battalion and the Northern Army Battalion to the Yunshui River, a river flowing at the foot of Tongbai Mountain, to train their swimming skills.

Yunshui is the ancient name for this river; in later generations, it was called Fuhe River.

The river is about twenty zhang wide, but the water is not very deep.

In his previous life, Li You knew how to swim, and this time, after entering the Yun River, he easily found his rhythm.

A quarter of the officers and soldiers in the Jia Battalion could swim, while none of the soldiers in the Northern Army Battalion could.

Swimming, however, is not difficult to learn.

Li You personally took on the role of swimming coach, helping his soldiers quickly master the skills of controlling their bodies in the water.

After practicing for more than ten days, I finally saw some initial results.

While we can't turn them all into world champions like Ning Zetao, Fu Yuanhui, and Ye Shiwen, at least they won't have their lives ended the moment they fall into the water.

Compared to the Yangtze River, the Yunshui River can only be considered a small stream.

Fighting on the banks of the Yangtze River, falling into the water is probably inevitable.

It's always better to be prepared than to drown.

After practicing for another five or six days, Li You received news from the mountain that the kerosene that Yin Shaokang had bought had arrived.

He ordered his soldiers to continue training there, while he returned to the mountain stronghold to check on the kerosene that had been sent from Luoyang.

The quantity wasn't large, only about seventy barrels in total.