Chapter 466: Showing Weakness
Zhao Shen pulled her into his arms and whispered, "The King of Mobei won't be able to hold on for much longer. Before he dies, Bilige must take the throne. He doesn't have much time left."
Every word he said was packed with information. Ji Yunshu pondered it carefully for a moment before saying, "Are you saying they're going to send troops? What about Wu Rina?"
Zhao Shen said, "Bilige now has two choices. He can either get rid of Wujina and completely subjugate the Wulan tribe, but I don't think he can do that. So he can only start a war and use it to gain a firm foothold while slowly dealing with those who are unwilling to obey."
Ji Yunshu was puzzled: "But if that's the case, will those who don't want to obey him agree to him sending troops?"
Zhao Shen laughed and said, "And what about the King of Mobei? They've been planning for so many years, so they must have some hidden cards in their hands. Have you forgotten what those people from Suzhou gave to Mobei?"
Ji Yunshu suddenly remembered that Suzhou had sent food and weapons to Mobei.
Therefore, the King of Mobei or Bilige should have a private army.
No one should know about this private army, so deploying it now would achieve the desired effect by taking the enemy by surprise.
Seeing that everything seemed to be under Zhao Shen's control, Ji Yunshu finally felt relieved.
She knew that the emperor had given Zhao Shen a special mission this time, so she didn't ask any more questions. She just said, "You make me look useless."
Zhao Shen coaxed her, "You've already been a great help. I'll be busy with other things these days. You continue to investigate the spies in the army. It's best to let people think that I'm investigating with you."
Ji Yunshu understood what he meant: "Okay, but we are in Mobei now, there is not much we can do. Is there anything else I can do?"
Zhao Shen patted her head and said, "Just be a normal rich girl. The more normal you act, the more reassured those people will be."
Ji Yunshu knew that someone was watching them, and showing weakness would make those people relax their vigilance. He immediately said, "I understand. Starting tomorrow, I will take Liu Yan shopping with me so that those people can't figure out what I am going to do."
Zhao Shen asked, "Do you trust Liu Yan?"
Ji Yunshu didn't know why he suddenly asked this. After thinking for a while, he said, "Not really. I didn't bring her with me when I asked Huo Cong to make the fake picture. But it doesn't matter if I bring her with me for something as insignificant as shopping."
Zhao Shen nodded: "As long as you know what's going on."
Early the next morning, Ji Yunshu took Liu Yan out with great enthusiasm.
Liu Yan followed her and walked around the busiest street market, bought some food for breakfast, and then went to Huo Cong's residence.
Liu Yan asked in confusion, "Madam, what's the matter with Master Huo?"
She felt that Huo Cong was still a bachelor in his thirties, and it was not proper for his wife to have such close contact with him.
Ji Yunshu said, "This is my first time in Mobei. I don't know anything, so naturally I have to go to him, the local tyrant, to learn more. I have nothing to do anyway."
Liu Yan smiled and said, "I wonder what Madam wants to know? I've been to the royal city several times with my family before, so perhaps I can help Madam with some of your questions."
Ji Yunshu patted his head as if it had just occurred to him. "Look at my brain. I actually forgot about you. Your Liu family has been doing business with the Mobei people for a few years. Do you know which business is the most profitable?"
Liu Yan considered it for a moment before speaking. "Well, it depends on who you're doing business with. If it's the ordinary people of Mobei, what they need most are daily necessities. They don't need to be of very high quality, but they can sell them for several times the price of Daxia. Doing business like that doesn't make much money, but the trip is very tiring, so it's not really worth it."
Perhaps because she was afraid that Ji Yunshu might not understand, she explained it very carefully.
Ji Yunshu listened very seriously: "Your Liu family doesn't do this kind of business, right?"
Along the way, they encountered many small tribes, and the Liu family’s goods remained completely untouched.
Liu Yan was a little embarrassed. "Our family specializes in business with the nobles of Mobei. They really like our tea, silk, and porcelain. We make a lot of profit from each trip."
Ji Yunshu actually knew all of this. The Liu family even made money by selling information about Daxia.
She asked Liu Yan curiously, "Since you've been here many times, do you know who else the Liu family is collaborating with besides Mi Jian?"
Liu Yan said with some embarrassment: "Well... every time I come here, I stay in my own yard most of the time. Second brother doesn't like me to meddle in other people's business."
Ji Yunshu was puzzled: "If that's the case, why did he bring you here?"
Liu Yan lowered her head and said, "My second brother has an impulsive personality and is prone to offending others without careful consideration. Grandfather is worried about him, so he asked me to keep an eye on him."
Ji Yunshu said, "But I don't think he will listen to you."
Liu Yan blinked. "This is the deal I made with him. I don't want to be locked up in the Liu family's backyard and marry when I'm old enough. My second brother doesn't want Grandfather to send an annoying person to keep an eye on him, so we've been working together all these years. I'll tell Grandfather some unimportant things about him, and he'll take me out and let me do whatever I want."
Ji Yunshu smiled and said, "This is a good deal. I also like going out."
As she spoke, she blinked her eyes, leaned over to Liu Yan and whispered, "You're so smart, you must know a lot about the Liu family. Tell me about it."
Liu Yan was a little depressed: "It's all in the past. There will probably be no Liu family in the future."
Ji Yunshu was very interested: "You also said that there will be no Liu family in the future, so what is there to worry about? Tell me."
Seeing that she wouldn't give up until she got some answers, Liu Yan said, "It's not just the Yanhui tribe that does business with the Liu family. There are several other tribes as well, but many of them are purely for business. Just like the food we brought this time, it's for the Suhe tribe."
Ji Yunshu certainly knew about the Suhe tribe. The third prince’s mother was the princess of the Suhe tribe.
In order to balance the power in the harem and suppress the queen, the King of Mobei asked the Suhe tribe to send his daughter to be the queen.
The people of Mobei are not very particular about titles, and it is common to have several concubines under the queen at the same time.
For example, Queen Suhe, whose family background is powerful, has a status in the royal court that is not much lower than that of the queen.
She asked curiously, "Anything else? Why don't you just trade directly with the King of Mobei and those princes? They're richer and more willing to pay."
Liu Yan said, "There's no point in negotiating business with them. In their eyes, merchants from Daxia should curry favor with them and offer their goods directly to them in order to do business in Mobei. Of course, people from Mobei aren't the only ones who know this."
Ji Yunshu smiled and said, "Hearing you say that, it seems like doing business is not easy. I opened two shops, and everything went smoothly, so I thought that all businesses in the world were like this. In fact, someone was trying to curry favor with me."
Liu Yan said, "This is also good."
The two chatted as they arrived at Huo Cong's residence, only to find the door open and no one inside.
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