Chapter 205 I Don’t Want to Be a Loyal Servant!
Fang Yuan sat on the chair next to Lin Shu, picked up the cakes on the table and started eating without any hesitation, complaining as he ate: "My mother doesn't allow me to eat too many cakes recently, and insists that I lose weight. How am I fat? This is clearly a blessing!" As he spoke, he proudly puffed out his blessed big belly.
Lin Shu glanced at his belly, which was as big as that of a four or five month pregnant woman, and said helplessly: "You really should eat less. Your belly is so big. If you change into women's clothes, people will think you are pregnant."
Lin Shu and Fang Yuan have been friends since they were young, and at the beginning of their acquaintance, Lin Shu did Fang Yuan a favor, which made him feel more at ease to use Fang Yuan.
If Fang Yuan had done Lin Shu a favor, while Lin Shu would be grateful to Fang Yuan in his heart, he would inevitably consider the problem that Fang Yuan would become proud and complacent in the future because of the favor. He would be grateful to Fang Yuan but also be on guard against him.
After all, there is a saying that goes 'great kindness can turn into hatred', which is true. If subordinates have done you too much kindness, the lord will inevitably feel suspicious and defensive.
But if the lord has a favor to his subordinate, then he can be more confident in making use of this subordinate.
Because everyone knows that he is indebted to Fang Yuan. If Fang Yuan dares to betray him one day, he will be condemned by thousands of people and will be infamous for eternity. Who would dare to trust a despicable man who can even betray his benefactor and lord?
Therefore, Lin Shu trusted Fang Yuan very much, and the Fang family also trusted and valued him.
Because of this trust, Lin Shu has always treated Fang Yuan very close, and even allowed the other party not to be polite in front of him.
The two were friends before. As Lin Shu's power grew stronger, the entire Fang family joined Lin Shu and served under him. The relationship between Lin Shu and Fang Yuan was no longer just that of friends, but also that of master and subordinate, with a difference between superiors and subordinates, and in the future, it would be the difference between monarch and subject.
However, Lin Shu did not want to become a lonely person as his status became higher and higher. He always treated his friend Fang Yuan the same as before and trusted and valued him.
Fang Yuan has abilities but his emotional intelligence is not high. Sometimes he doesn't know how to read people's expressions, but he is always sincere to others. He used to regard Lin Shu as his best friend. Even after their status changed, his sincerity remained unchanged, and Lin Shu was willing to maintain this sincere friendship.
That’s why Fang Yuan is still so unreserved in front of Lin Shu.
When Lin Shu talks to Fang Yuan, it's not like a lord giving orders to a subordinate, as he does to Fang Yuan's father. Rather, it's more like complaints and instructions between good friends.
Both of them are determined to maintain this friendship and try not to let it be mixed with other factors. It is not clear where this friendship will go in the future, but at least it is clear and pure now.
Lin Shu expressed concern for Fang Yuan's health. Fang Yuan sighed, put down the cake in his hand, and pushed the cake plate a little further away with a look of reluctance: "Forget it, forget it. I'll listen to you and not eat it."
Lin Shu smiled and reached out to help him finish the remaining few pieces of cakes on the plate. This made Fang Yuan, who had originally wanted to secretly eat these cakes later, stare at the cakes disappearing into Lin Shu's mouth with heartache.
Lin Shu patted the cake residue on his hands, picked up a cup of tea and took a sip to moisten his throat before saying, "You came to see me today, but have you arranged the grain sale?"
Fang Yuan described to Lin Shu how he fooled the envoys of those forces in a humorous tone, "...You didn't see their expressions with your own eyes. They were so funny. I fooled them all."
Lin Shu was amused by Fang Yuan's humorous way of description, but after laughing, he had to get back to business.
He said, "Let's sell this grain to Prince Pingyang. Prince Pingyang borders the sphere of influence of Marquis Zhenbei. If Marquis Zhenbei has enough military rations and marches south, the first person to face Marquis Zhenbei will be Prince Pingyang, and he will also offer the highest price, so we can earn more by selling to him."
Prince Pingyang is the cousin of the current emperor. Although he did not directly raise the flag of rebellion, he was also a potential rebel with his own troops. He did not rebel openly due to his reputation, but his rebellious intentions were known to everyone.
The envoy sent by Prince Pingyang was the one who offered the highest bid among all the envoys who contacted Fang Yuan this time, because Prince Pingyang bordered the forces of Marquis Zhenbei and was the force that least wanted Marquis Zhenbei to obtain the 200,000 shi of grain.
Selling the grain to King Pingyang could not only satisfy Lin Shu's original intention of sitting on the mountain and watching the tigers fight, but also sell the 200,000 shi of grain at the highest price.
After getting Lin Shu's approval, Fang Yuan privately contacted the envoy of King Pingyang to discuss the sale of grain.
The sale of grain was certainly not an open and aboveboard transaction, but King Pingyang sent someone to secretly give the money from the sale of grain to Fang Yuan. Fang Yuan revealed the specific hiding place of the 200,000 shi of grain and fodder, and lured away the guards, allowing King Pingyang's men to move the grain away.
This is equivalent to an insider reselling grain. Fang Yuan took the Fang family's grain and sold it, and put the money into his own pocket. The Fang family only knew that bandits had stolen the 200,000 shi of grain.
The Marquis of Zhenbei would only know that it was the Prince of Pingyang who sent people pretending to be bandits to rob the Fang family of 200,000 dan of grain in order to prevent him from obtaining enough food to alleviate the food shortage crisis, thus destroying the marriage between the Marquis of Zhenbei and the Fang family.
Other forces that wanted to buy grain would only know that it was the Prince of Pingyang who offered the highest price in order to prevent the Marquis of Zhenbei from obtaining the 200,000 shi of grain, and reached a deal with Fang Yuan, an insider of the Fang family who also wanted to prevent his elder brother from marrying the Marquis of Zhenbei's eldest daughter, and "bought" the 200,000 shi of grain.
The information that each force knew was what Lin Shu wanted them to know, and they were also very satisfied with what they knew.
With the active cooperation of the Fang family, Prince Pingyang's men smoothly moved away the 200,000 shi of grain after giving the money to Fang Yuan.
Soon Fang Yuan secretly revealed the news that Prince Pingyang had bought the grain to other forces that were buying grain.
Which of those forces that want to buy grain is not an ambitious rebellious force? They were not happy to see the Marquis of Zhenbei obtain these 200,000 shi of grain, but were they happy to see the Prince of Pingyang obtain this batch of grain?
Besides, isn’t it better to be able to get food for free than to spend money to buy it?
After they 'accidentally' learned of the grain transport route of Prince Pingyang's people, they immediately sent people to steal the grain.
The various forces learned of Prince Pingyang's grain transportation route at almost the same time, so the troops they sent to rob the grain arrived at almost the same time.
King Pingyang was also "lucky" to learn that his grain transportation route had been leaked. Other forces were coming to steal the grain, so he sent a large number of soldiers to guard the grain. However, he did not expect that there were so many forces coming to steal the grain. Fortunately, these soldiers were not from the same force.
As a result, in the chaos of fighting among multiple parties, two-thirds of the 200,000 shi of grain were looted, and Prince Pingyang only managed to keep one-third of the grain.
When Prince Pingyang heard the news, he was furious. He spent a lot of money to buy grain, but most of it was given to other forces.
The only thing to be thankful for is that two-thirds of the food was not taken away by one force, but by multiple forces. You took a little and I took a little, but no one took much, so it did not have much strengthening effect on other forces.
It was impossible for King Pingyang to be hostile to multiple forces at the same time, so he could only grit his teeth and endure it.
Prince Pingyang endured it, but Marquis Zhenbei could not.
He would rather sacrifice the reputation of his eldest daughter than marry into the Fang family. Although the most important goal was to annex the Huimin Chamber of Commerce, the Fang family's 200,000 dan of grain betrothal gift was also coveted by the Marquis of Zhenbei.
The Marquis of Zhenbei is now so short of food that he is almost going green with envy, and is just waiting for the 200,000 dan of grain as a betrothal gift to be delivered to relieve the pressure. As a result, the Fang family wrote to say that the 200,000 dan of grain was stolen by bandits. Those bandits are suspected to be the troops of the Prince of Pingyang. The Fang family cannot afford to offend them, so they have to give up this marriage.
The Marquis of Zhenbei was so angry that he overturned the table. This time, Wang Jinyun was unable to stop him from tearing up the letter: "This is too much! Prince Pingyang is too much! Two hundred thousand dan of grain, a full two hundred thousand dan of grain, was all taken away by Prince Pingyang!"
Although the Marquis of Zhenbei did not spend a penny on these 200,000 shi of grain, as they were all bought by the Fang family, on the surface it seemed that the Fang family suffered a great loss, losing 200,000 shi of grain in vain and also losing the marriage opportunity with the Marquis of Zhenbei. It was a huge loss.
But the Marquis of Zhenbei had already regarded the 200,000 shi of grain as his own. When the Prince of Pingyang snatched the grain from the Fang family, the Marquis of Zhenbei felt so heartbroken as if the Prince of Pingyang had snatched the grain directly from him.
The Marquis of Zhenbei was furious: "The Fang family is really a bunch of rubbish, useless rubbish, they can't even protect the grain. If they protect it for a little longer, the troops I sent to escort the bride will be able to reach Licheng and bring back the grain!"
Of course, the Marquis of Zhenbei would not expect the Fang family to safely transport the 200,000 dan of grain as a betrothal gift to the north. He arranged a large number of soldiers and horses to escort his "eldest daughter" to Licheng to marry the eldest son of the Fang family. After the wedding, this group of soldiers and horses could also escort the 200,000 dan of grain as a betrothal gift back to the north.
However, before the wedding, the 200,000 shi of grain was robbed by people sent by King Pingyang.
The Marquis of Zhenbei felt so heartbroken as if his heart had been cut out.
Wang Jinyun heard what happened from the furious curses of Marquis Zhenbei, and he was also very sad, frightened and angry.
Just like Marquis Zhenbei, Wang Jinyun also regarded the 200,000 shi of grain from the Fang family as his own, and hated Prince Pingyang deeply for stealing the grain.
Wang Jinyun thought about how long the remaining food and grass in the army could last, so he said to the Marquis of Zhenbei: "Brother-in-law, our army's food and grass will not last for a few months. We have to start the war as soon as possible. It just so happens that our first opponent in the south is King Pingyang. If we defeat King Pingyang, we can take back the food and alleviate the food crisis."
The Marquis of Zhenbei calmed down a little: "What about the marriage with the Fang family?" He couldn't possibly marry the 'eldest daughter' after losing 200,000 dan of grain, right?
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