Chapter 160: The Isolated Border Town
Cheng Yu knew that if he checked for too long, Yan Jiu would be unhappy. Although he did not figure out the real purpose of Yan Jiu's going to Northern Frontier, Yan Jiu had made it very clear that he did not like Gu Changxiao.
If it weren’t for Taoist Xiao Ji’s mediation, the Yan family would not have had any dealings with the border town.
But Cheng Yu was still looking forward to it. With Taoist Xiao Ji in the team, there would be greater hope that the Prince of Northern Frontier and the soldiers of the Black Feather Camp would return safely.
Since there is no Taoist priest Xiao Ji in this team, he also hopes that Yan Jiu can lend a helping hand to the prince. As long as a third person enters the chess game, it will become much easier to break the deadlock.
Cheng Yu stepped forward and said to Yan Jiu with a smile: "Master Yan, I just happen to have some supplies that I need to bring to the prince. Could you please take them with you?"
Without waiting for Yan Jiu to answer, he suddenly changed the subject and said, "There are several new businesses being developed in Border Town. If Master Yan is interested, you can come to Border Town to take a look when you return from Northern Frontier."
Yan Jiu said in a gentle voice: "If the things are not much, I can help you bring them. But I am not interested in this business."
Cheng Yu chuckled: "I'm not interested in business, I wonder if the Sea Salt and Jing Iron Yan family masters are interested?"
Jin Sui frowned as she waited in the carriage. This was why she hated talking to smart people. If they had to play tricks on her, couldn't they just say it directly?
Cheng Yu is trying to make peace with Yan Jiu. As long as you are willing to help the prince during your trip to the northern border, you will give priority to cooperating with the Yan family in the border town’s business after you come back.
Then I heard Yan Jiu say that he looked down upon small businesses.
Cheng Yu then tried to impress Jin Sui by offering sea salt and fine iron weapons that interested the nobles of Yan. Jin Sui did not blame Cheng Yu for taking the initiative to trade the fine iron weapons.
If Gu Changxiao could not come back alive, these things would be divided up by Prince Yu and the Yan nobles. By then, the border town would probably become the dilapidated and desolate one it was a year ago.
The most important thing right now is that Gu Changxiao can come back alive, so Jinsui thinks it is justified no matter what Cheng Yu uses to recruit helpers.
Sure enough, the business of fine iron was hard to refuse. Fine iron meant more powerful weapons and stronger armor.
Of course, the Yan family cannot sell armor and weapons openly, but they can make a lot of money by making those famous swords, even if they only make one a year.
And the imperial court could not find out if they secretly armed their soldiers.
Yan Jiu pondered for a few breaths and said, "I heard Shiyilang talk about the fine iron from Border Town. The weapons made from it are extremely sharp."
Cheng Yu's eyes lit up, and he immediately smiled and said, "I will visit the Eleventh Young Master tomorrow to discuss this matter."
Jin Sui's eyes twitched. Yan Shiyilang looked like a fool in her eyes. She probably looked like a fool in the eyes of Yan Jiu and Cheng Yu as well!
Listening to these two people talking makes people anxious and annoying. If you speak more bluntly, will it make you look stupid or something? Soon, Yan Jiu got back on the carriage and asked someone to put the supplies that Cheng Yu had entrusted to him on the carriage behind.
Asking Yan Jiu to bring the supplies was just an excuse to allow him to meet Gu Changxiao, so the supplies were not much, just a box of stuff.
Just when the team was about to set off, Chen Yunniang appeared with a group of female medical staff. Jin Sui was startled and immediately shrank back and sat down.
Cheng Yu might be embarrassed to take a closer look at her as a "female relative", but the attentive Chen Yunniang could.
Glancing through the crack in the window, Chen Yunniang and the other women delivered cotton-padded clothes and some common medicines to Yan Jiu's guards.
One of the packages was specially given to Yan Jiu, saying that he had asked Twelve Mother for his size and made two pairs of cotton shoes and two sets of cotton clothes, hoping that the head of the Yan family would not dislike it.
He expressed his gratitude earnestly and politely, especially to Yan Jiu, and almost knelt down to beg him to help the people in the border town when he was in the Northern Frontier.
Jinsui in the carriage bit his lips tightly, fearing that he would not be able to bear it and jump off the carriage to hug Chen Yunniang.
When they set out again, Jinsui peeked through the window and saw Cheng Yu, Chen Yunniang, and those border town girls standing in the snow, bending over to see them off.
Until they turned into a small black dot, they still didn't leave.
Jinsui's heart ached. It felt like watching his relatives begging for help for the future and safety of his family.
Cheng Yu was a very proud man, he looked down on the Yan land gentry, and would rather die than bend for Chen Yunniang. But now, for the sake of Biancheng, he bent to Yan Jiu.
And Chen Yunniang, she must feel guilty that she can't help much. At the critical moment of life and death of the border town, this is all she can do.
The border town was isolated and helpless at this time. The Yan nobles even hoped that King Li would die in the northern border so that they could divide up the big cake of the border town like dividing up delicious food.
Even if the important things belonged to Prince Yu, and they only managed to snatch a little bit of business or technology, it would be enough to feed their family.
In Jinsui's heart, Han Xing and Heihu are like brothers, Cheng Yu and Wei Qingquan are capable and reliable elders, and Chen Yunniang is the warm-hearted big sister whom he rescued with his own hands.
Seeing how careful and humble they were in order to protect their homes and their families who were thousands of miles away, how could Jinsui not be moved!
How she wanted to jump off the carriage and go back to find Cheng Yu and Chen Yunniang, telling them not to worry, that she would definitely bring back the Black Feather Camp and Gu Changxiao.
The border town will be fine! We have even defended the city from the Tartars, so why should we be afraid of those evil spirits! But she couldn't do that.
Yan Jiu read the book silently, pretending to ignore Miss Ji's depressed mood, fearing that Miss Ji would turn around and go back under the stimulation of any of his words.
Only after he had completely left the border town did he say:
"With officials like Cheng Yu in Border Town, nothing will happen."
Jin Sui sneered: "Cheng Yu is just a county magistrate, what can he use to fight against Prince Yu and the nobles?"
If Gu Changxiao died in the northern border and Prince Yu's men took over the border town, Cheng Yu would have only two choices. One was to take the lead in surrendering in order to protect the people and border soldiers, and end up being cursed for all eternity.
The second is to commit suicide to show loyalty to the old master. Chen Yunniang will definitely follow him, and the people and soldiers in the border town will return to their previous difficult predicament.
Of course, there is a third way, which is to lead people to rebel, but he has no soldiers and no power, so the only way for him to rebel is to drift to the frontier and become the same bandits and horse thieves he had once suppressed.
Many border soldiers and civilians will die, and Cheng Yu will definitely not choose the third path.
Everyone is trying their best to protect the border town. That is the home we built with great difficulty! Jin Sui had previously told Cheng Yu that the refugees should regard the border town as their home and should protect it even at the cost of their lives.
Now it seems that Bian Zu has done it. But why does she want to cry so much? She blames that bastard Gu Changxiao, who is self-righteous and thinks he is doing it for her own good, and excludes her from the plan.
But if "letting the other person live" is for her own good, then what's the point of being a walking corpse? I would rather die gloriously than live with the condemnation of my conscience day and night.
She also blamed herself for being so obsessed at that time. Gu Changxiao's attitude turned cold, as if he was afraid that she would take away the Black Feather Camp and wanted to chase her away immediately.
She took it seriously and didn't even ask any further questions or investigate, or even have a good chat with Cheng Yu and Han Xing. She just fled.
She was even more angry at herself because she had always thought that what happened to Gu Changxiao in Chang'an had nothing to do with Border Town. She didn't want to inquire, didn't want to ask more, and didn't want to get involved.
But Chang'an can crush the border town with just a flick of its finger!
I was too silly, too stupid, too naive! And too soft-hearted. Why couldn't I be as hard-hearted and selfish as some people and run away with my grandfather and Jin'an?
Am I not self-righteous? Han Xing, Cheng Yu and the others were bewitched by you and sacrificed their lives for Border Town!
Jin Sui bit her lips tightly to prevent her tears from falling. She was not crying for herself, but for the kind people in the border town.
They trust themselves so much!
Yan Jiu put the book down again, but he didn't know how to comfort the girl in front of him.
She is so fragile, yet so strong, like a red plum blossom blooming in the cold wind on a snowy mountain, delicate and beautiful, yet not afraid of the wind and snow.
He never knew that there were such women in the world.
Any comfort would be unnecessary. Besides, Yan Jiu couldn't comfort her. He couldn't say that he would do his best to help because he wouldn't do that.
He is responsible for the safety of the Yan family's men.
Whether Gu Changxiao is dead or alive has little to do with the Yan family. No matter how long Prince Yu’s arms are, he cannot reach Yanzhou.
All he could do was to bring Miss Ji back safely.
Jin Sui naturally understood Yan Jiu's position, so she did not use any words of righteousness or moral blackmail against Yan Jiu throughout the process.
What she hates most is moral kidnapping. Do not do to others what you do not want others to do to you.
We are all adults and should know that friendship is false and only interests are real.
So she used benefits to impress Yan Jiu. The nautical chart was real and it was only a matter of the Northern Frontier. She would really lead the fleet personally to open up a route for the Yan family.
I have to say that our head of the Yan family is really working hard to retain talents.
Seeing Yan Jiu looking at him from time to time, Jin Sui simply closed his eyes and leaned on the thick animal skin mat: "I want to sleep for a while, the master of the family will wake me up if there is anything."
Seeing that she had really fallen asleep leaning against the chair, Yan Jiu sighed softly, walked forward, helped her lie down on the chair, and covered her with his cloak.
The scene of Miss Ji and Gu Changxiao talking and laughing no matter when and where they were in the border town emerged in my mind.
Was he too tongue-tied? But he was really not good at chatting with women, especially a woman like Miss Ji, who was independent, smart and agile.
Moreover, the two of them would never be able to happily chat until half the night like they did before when they talked about the Thirty-Six Stratagems.
What did she think of me? Did she think that I was like the Yan nobles, watching the plight of Border Town with cold eyes, waiting for Gu Changxiao to die so that they could snatch the benefits of Border Town?
Or was it because of my attitude towards Cheng Yu just now that she was unhappy?
How could he know that Jin Sui was indeed asleep, because she was going into the space to study drugs. With Gu Changxiao's previous careful discovery, she naturally became wary of Yan Jiu.
You can't change clothes, wash, or take out too much food when you enter the space. So you might as well take this opportunity to come in and make some medicines that you can use.
There is no need to mention the commonly used drugs, the most important of which are used to make poisons and drugs, which are definitely used in northern Xinjiang.
Another thing is to boil more fish oil. Gu Changxiao definitely didn't bring much, and I didn't prepare much before, so the more of this powerful weapon, the better.
Fortunately, the space has been upgraded. Now she can stay in it for an hour and can enter and exit at any time, without having to plan the time like before.
She didn't understand the reason for the upgrade and once suspected that there was some kind of artificial intelligence system in the space, but unfortunately she didn't find it.
If you can't figure it out, just ignore it for now. The most important thing is to stock up more things.
She had sorted out the weapons, food, warm clothing, and fuel. Also, since she was going to the Northern Frontier with Yan Jiu, she used the excuse of doing business.
Of course, we need to prepare some things that can be exchanged for money from people in northern Xinjiang.
She had already thought of one thing: something that no one in Northern Xinjiang could refuse and would pay a high price for.
That is glassware, specially made in the shape of a wolf. The totem of the people in northern Xinjiang is the wolf.
She had prepared the raw materials for making glass earlier, and with the help of the space laboratory, it was easy to make glass water.
When the wolf model was still in the border town, she had asked a craftsman to carve it. At that time, it was to prepare for earning war horses from the herdsmen in the northern border in the future, but she didn't expect it to be more useful now.
In addition to wolves, there are also models of horses, eagles, etc., which are loved by people in northern Xinjiang, as well as jewelry and tea sets that women like.
Haha, in the past, merchants from the Western Regions used glass to make real money from Daxia, now let me use glass to make big money in the Northern Frontier! At the same time, Jinsui was also preparing to buy rabbit skins on a large scale, and not to buy them from the official market, but to buy them quietly from small tribes.
He bought the sheep at an unexpectedly high price and secretly told them that he would come again next year. Raising sheep was too wasteful of fodder and could not be sold at a high price, so they should raise more rabbits.
As a result, the poor small tribes will definitely raise rabbits on a large scale, and it will take at least two or three years for the authorities to react and issue a clear ban.
In the past two or three years, she really would purchase rabbit skins at high prices. When the government issued a clear ban, the small herdsmen who had made a fortune by raising rabbits would definitely become alienated from the government and would continue to raise rabbits secretly.
Do you think Jinsui is doing something pointless? What good does it do for us to spend money to buy rabbit skins from people in northern Xinjiang and feed herders in northern Xinjiang? Haha, this plan is as vicious as sending cooked seeds to other countries.
Because rabbits are good at digging holes, they will eat even the grass roots when they eat grass. Not only will they destroy the grasslands in the northern border, but the holes they leave behind can also easily cause horses to sprain their hooves and injure them.
What's more important is that it can sow discord between the small herdsmen and the government. You see, the government allows people to raise horses and sheep, but doesn't care whether you can have enough food and clothing.
Raising rabbits can make the tribe rich, but it is strictly prohibited by the government.
This strategy may not produce any results in one or two years, but over a few more years, it will be a subtle way to stir up unrest among the lower classes in Northern Xinjiang.
When doing business with the small herdsmen in northern Xinjiang, they generally do not want gold and silver, but rather grain, cloth, tea, sugar, salt and the like.
Therefore, Jinsui needs to stock up more on the road. The original supplies in the space will be reset after they are taken out. This is really useful.
I don’t know if it’s because I stayed in the space for too long at one time, but after I came out, although not much time had passed outside, Jin Sui just felt a headache.
There was a kind of mental pain that could not be endured after staying up late to memorize books. Yan Jiu, who had been paying attention to her, soon discovered that Miss Ji only slept for a cup of tea.
But after waking up, her complexion looked even worse, her eyebrows were slightly furrowed, and she kept massaging her temples with her fingers.
Yan Jiu couldn't help but ask: "Are you feeling unwell? Do you want a doctor to take a look?" Yes, he brought a doctor with him.
But he soon realized that Miss Ji herself was an excellent doctor, so he poured her another cup of hot tea and handed it to her.
When Jin Sui opened her eyes, she saw that she was covered with his cloak. Yan Jiu handed her a cup of hot tea with a worried look on his face.
Uh, big brother, have you forgotten my character? Who is the master and who is the maid?
I beg for votes, thank you for your support
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