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

Wang Fangde waved his hand: "What are my meager possessions? Once our lord opens a bank in Qizhou, tens of thousands of copper coins flow in like water. And with his methods of boiling salt and burning charcoal, it's enough to support an army of ten thousand!"

Li You laughed and said, "Such a major matter is beyond my ability to handle alone."

"Brother Yin, you said our lord's visit this time is for the Cui family's treasured books?"

"That's right, that's exactly why we came here."

"There is something I do not understand, and I would like to ask my lord to enlighten me."

"Mr. Wang, please speak."

"Even if we steal the treasures of noble families, how can we spread them to scholars throughout the land? In my opinion, this matter will cost a great deal of money, but it will not benefit our lord's great cause."

"This is easy to solve. Chao Yang, take out the movable type you brought and demonstrate it to Mr. Wang."

To facilitate the operation, Chao Yang also loaded the set of copper movable type onto the ship, just in case.

After a simple demonstration, Wang Fangde understood the principle and was greatly encouraged.

He bowed deeply to Chao Yang: "Mr. Chao, your creation of this item today is like that of Cangjie in ancient times, enough to benefit scholars throughout the world!"

Chao Yang was greatly embarrassed upon hearing this: "No, Mr. Wang, this thing..."

Li You stepped forward and patted Chao Yang on the shoulder: "This thing is your invention. From now on, tell everyone you meet this, understand?"

"Alright... thank you, my lord."

Chao Yang understood that the King of Qi was giving him an immense deal of fame and fortune.

After meeting with all the generals and officers and resting in the camp for two days, Li You began to formally plan the operation to steal books from the two powerful Cui families.

The ancestral home of the Cui clan of Boling, Boling City, is located in Dingzhou, Hebei Province, which is now Dingzhou City.

The ancestral home of the Cui clan of Qinghe, Qinghe City, is located in Beizhou, Hebei Province, which is now Qinghe County, Xingtai City.

Among the five prominent families and seven prestigious clans at that time, the Cui family occupied two branches, with the Boling Cui family being the most renowned.

In the twelfth year of the Zhenguan era, Emperor Taizong of Tang ordered Gao Shilian, Wei Ting, Cen Wenben, Linghu Defen and others to compile the "Clan Records". Based on the actual situation, these four people listed the Cui clan of Boling as the first family in the first class of the "Clan Records". After reading the first draft, Li Shimin was furious and said, "Who do you think you are looking down on?"

Therefore, the Li imperial family was forcibly listed as the first-class first family, and the Cui family of Boling became the second in the world.

Of course, in the eyes of the scions of aristocratic families, the Cui family of Boling was still the best in the world.

The Li family of Taiyuan... are just a bunch of thugs, not worth mentioning.

Boling and Qinghe are not far apart. According to the established strategy, Li You divided his troops into two groups and carried out operations on both sides simultaneously.

Li You personally led a force of 800 elite soldiers, including Gao Shen, Yan Hongliang, Zan Junmo, Chao Yang, and three generals from the Bozhou army: Gao Biao, Cao Boyan, and Tao Zhantian. They marched straight towards Boling.

The other force, led by Yin Hongzhi and Wang Fangde, along with generals Zhang Lan, Fan Ping, Liao Zhun, and Lin Pu, also consisted of eight hundred elite soldiers and marched straight towards Qinghe.

Both sides agreed to conduct reconnaissance upon arrival at the destination, exchange intelligence every ten days, and launch a joint operation when the time was right. After successfully stealing the book, they would withdraw as appropriate.

……

The army in Bozhou was equipped with horse breeders, and thanks to the advantage of warhorses, their marching speed was much faster.

We set off from Suizhou in early September, when the weather in the south was still very hot. By the time we arrived in Boling, it was already mid-October, and the weather in the north was slightly chilly, but not particularly cold.

Li You thought to himself that the weather in the early Tang Dynasty, whether in the north or south, was indeed warmer.

At that time, even the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau region was rich in grains and lush with pasture, which is why the powerful Tubo Empire was born.

This period is known as the "Warm Period of Sui and Tang Dynasties".

Boling City is the ancestral home of the Cui clan of Boling.

Although it is a prominent family in the prefecture, it is not only the Cui family that lives here; other people also live scattered throughout the city.

Even within the Cui family, the entire clan did not live together; instead, they were divided into seven separate locations.

The Cui family of Boling has seven main branches, which are the Boling Anping branch, the Boling First branch, the Boling Second branch, the Boling Third branch, the Boling Fourth branch, the Boling Fifth branch, and the Boling Sixth branch.

The progenitor of the Anping branch of Boling was Cui Lie, the Grand Commandant of the Eastern Han Dynasty, while the progenitor of the other six branches was Cui Yi, the Secretary of the Imperial Secretariat of the Former Yan Dynasty. Because of their different origins, they have different names, but they are essentially from the same family.

Among these seven branches, the second branch of Boling was the most prosperous, followed by the Anping branch and the first branch.

Each household occupied a large mansion, and the total number of people, servants and slaves was as high as 70,000 to 80,000, while the total population of the entire Boling City was about 150,000.

In the farmland outside Boling City, there are also properties belonging to the Cui family. If the number of people and tenants is included, the resources occupied by the Cui family are even more numerous.

This is the foundation of the world's number one family.

Upon arriving at this place, Li You also realized a problem.

That is, the population of the north of the Tang Dynasty was far greater than that of the south, especially in Hebei and the Central Plains.

The area of ​​Dingzhou, where Boling is located, alone has a population of four to five hundred thousand.

It is better to travel thousands of miles than to read thousands of books.

The information obtained from on-site investigations is far more authentic than the information seen in documents.

"Dou Jun, take note: in the densely populated areas of Hebei, Huinong Bank branches should be established as soon as possible."

"Alright, I was just about to write to Shao Kang, I'll tell him now."

Li You nodded: "The team will split into 200 men to enter the city, and the rest will find a place to settle outside the city, ready to be deployed at any time!"

"promise!"

Gao Shen and Yan Hongliang were assigned to work outside the city, while Li You led the other generals and officers to sneak into the city.

Cao Boyan was a local of Dingzhou and had been here before, so he acted as a guide, leading Li You and the others around the city.

The scenery in Boling City was no different from other cities. However, Li You chatted with the owners of several shops along the way, and they were all more or less related to the Cui family.

Some members of the Cui family also came out to walk around, and these people were quite easy to recognize. First of all, their clothes were more refined than those of ordinary people.

Wearing turbans and elegant white robes, each of them was handsome and refined. Behind them followed pageboys and servants carrying their master's book bags, which contained books and calligraphy, and of course, they might also contain Li You's goal for this trip—books.

After spending half a day touring, they had seen all seven of the Cui family's massive mansions in Boling City, but Li You and his group could only see the outer walls; they did not yet know what the interiors were like.

Starting that night, Li You dispatched his soldiers to gather intelligence on the Cui family throughout the city. Taverns, teahouses, and other places teeming with people and noise were the soldiers' preferred targets for infiltration and reconnaissance.

The soldiers could also get something by chatting with the shopkeepers while buying things.

After two days of investigation, the soldiers gathered a lot of useful information, and even found a few interesting guys.