Chapter 206 [VIP]
The two children quickly became acquainted. Although Qing'er now appeared to be a well-bred young lady, she had actually been raised by Li Mu to be a complete tomboy at the border. She was skilled in horseback riding and archery, and even owned a pony.
"My ponies are chestnut mares named Momo, because they have a tuft of white hair on their foreheads."
Yuanbao asked with a face full of curiosity, "Is it fast?"
"It's incredibly fast! Dad took me to hunt rabbits, and it ran even faster than a rabbit!"
"Wow!" Yuanbao's eyes lit up. No child dislikes horses, but unfortunately the horse at home was too big, and Wang Ying never allowed him to touch it, for fear that he would be kicked by it.
"Whenever you have time, I'll have your uncle bring you to the border. I'll ride a horse with you around the Gobi Desert a few times; it'll be so much fun!"
"Okay!" The two little ones stretched out their fingers and made a hook.
Chen Qingyan finished his official duties in the evening and returned to the backyard. Seeing an unfamiliar carriage parked there, he guessed that Lin Sui had arrived.
Upon entering the house, Wang Ying had already prepared a hot pot. The mutton was freshly slaughtered lamb, and the vegetables were all taken from the experimental fields, making them fresh and delicious.
"Sui Di is here. This must be Qing'er. She's grown so much."
Qing'er stood up and bowed, "Greetings, Uncle."
"Please sit down, no need for formalities. When did you arrive?"
Lin Sui said, "I only arrived this afternoon."
"Was the journey smooth?"
"We came with the officers and soldiers. We didn't encounter any dangers on the way, but the spring wind was too strong, and sand and gravel flew everywhere. We had to rest at the post station for a few days along the way."
Chen Qingyan nodded. "Is the Marquis well?"
"He's doing well, but he can't leave the border and can't come with us. He asked me to give you his regards."
"You're too kind. Your Excellency is stationed at the border with unwavering loyalty and is truly a pillar of the nation, deserving our utmost respect!"
Wang Ying pushed him inside, saying, "Alright, go wash your hands and eat. The meat in the pot will get overcooked if you don't eat soon."
After a pleasant meal, Yuanbao, who had to get up early for school the next day, went to rest early. Qing'er was also exhausted from the journey, so she followed the old woman to the guest room to rest, leaving only the three of them in the room.
Wang Ying said, "This afternoon, my brother Sui told me that the border is not peaceful and war may break out again soon."
Upon hearing this, Chen Qingyan frowned and said, "Since the Marquis says so, then it's probably true."
Wang Ying brought up the salt and iron matter again, asking Lin Sui if she could speak about it. Lin Sui nodded, "The Marquis asked me to tell my cousin to keep an eye on this matter in Shanzhou."
Smuggling salt and iron is a serious matter, especially since it involves transporting them to Xizhou. Chen Qingyan nodded solemnly, "I will secretly send people to investigate this matter, and once I have some leads, I will send someone to inform the Marquis."
"Thank you for your help, cousin."
"This is what I should do. We are close relatives, so there's no need for formalities. Since you're here, stay a few more days."
"Why."
Wang Ying said, "It's getting late, you should go and rest too. You must not have had a good rest after traveling for so many days. Tomorrow I will take you to the city for a look around."
After Lin Sui left, the couple talked about the salt and iron matter.
"If we sell salt and iron to the Turks at high prices, how can we possibly keep the money when they invade? Isn't that like asking a tiger for its skin?"
Chen Qingyan scoffed and said, "Those powerful people have been living in peace for too long. They only care about their own interests and completely disregard the overall situation."
Wang Ying took off her outer garment and sighed, "When war breaks out, it is the common people and military households who suffer the most. In the last battle, thousands of people died on the border, and the surrounding counties did not recover for several years. Now, after only a few years of stability, chaos is about to break out again."
The two lay on the bed and turned off the lights. Chen Qingyan patted his shoulder to comfort him, "Even if a fight breaks out, it won't reach Guannei for a while. You and Yuanbao can go back to Jizhou first."
"That won't do. How can I leave you here all alone?"
"Doesn't the experimental field still have the ability to teleport? If all else fails, I'll just run away."
Wang Ying chuckled, "You've thought this through quite thoroughly. Let's see how it goes. Maybe a fight won't break out anytime soon."
*
Chen Qingyan took the matter of smuggling salt and iron to heart, and the next day he sent the Huang brothers to secretly investigate in the city.
Such a big thing couldn't have gone completely unnoticed. At the very least, someone had to vouch for him at the gates of leaving the city. Chen Qingyan's goal was to find out who was behind this.
Shanzhou has seven copper and iron mines. Except for two that are almost exhausted, the other five are in the hands of the imperial court and are managed by separate officials.
Of course, there were also private mines, but the output was small and the quality of iron varied, so the government turned a blind eye to them.
Every month, the iron produced in the mines would be transported to Shanzhou Prefecture, and then distributed in batches to various prefectures to manufacture weapons, agricultural tools and other supplies.
All of this iron had to be carefully registered and recorded; even the slightest error was unacceptable. Therefore, Chen Qingyan was very curious about how these people managed to remove tens of thousands of shi of refined iron from the accounts.
The Huang brothers were both clever men. They frequented teahouses, restaurants, gambling dens, and brothels to inquire about the situation and gradually made some progress.
There was a city official named Liu Yuan who was fond of gambling; perhaps we could get some information out of him.
That day, Huang Baiguan went to the gambling dens in Nanshi as usual, and happened to run into Liu Yuan gambling.
Liu Yuan was playing a game called "small Pai Gow." In "small Pai Gow," everyone except the dealer was dealt two dominoes, each with a number on it. The player whose total number of dominoes was greater than the dealer's won, and the player whose total number of dominoes was less than the dealer's lost.
I guess I had bad luck today. I lost more than 20 strings of cash this morning, and now I only have two strings left. I don't have any capital left to make a comeback.
Just as Liu Yuan was about to leave, someone suddenly grabbed his shoulder. Already annoyed, he was about to curse, but when he looked up and saw it was Huang Baiguan, he swallowed the curse words.
After the New Year, both Huang brothers were promoted to minor officials by Chen Qingyan. The two had met a few times in the government office, but had no contact with each other in private.
"Brother Huang, what brings you here today for a couple of games?"
Huang Baiguan rubbed his fingers together and said, "I've wanted to try this for a long time, but I'm new here and not familiar with the area, so I came as soon as I had some free time." He pretended to be an old gambler, which made Liu Yuan chuckle.
"That's perfect, you can sit here and play, I'll be going now."
Huang Qianguan quickly grabbed him, "Hey, don't go yet. The way we play in Jizhou is a little different from here. I'd like to trouble you, Brother Liu, to take a look at my cards. If I lose, it's on me; if I win, we'll split it 50/50."
In fact, Huang Baiguan had no idea how to play these games. He wouldn't have come to this kind of place if he wasn't investigating something for his boss. He was just sitting at the gambling table with a stiff upper lip.
Liu Yuan was naturally delighted to hear this. This was a risk-free business with no capital required, and he hoped that he could recoup the money he had just lost!
He pulled up a stool and sat down next to him, then began to teach Huang Baiguan how to bet and how to push the cards.
Perhaps it's true that those involved are often blinded by their own perspective while bystanders see things clearly. With him directing them, the two of them won a considerable amount of silver one after another. They not only recovered the twenty strings of cash he had lost, but also won an extra seven or eight taels of silver.
After leaving the gambling den, Huang Baiguan gave Liu Yuan half of his winnings as agreed. Liu Yuan was surprised that Huang Baiguan actually gave him the money. After making a few excuses, he accepted it.
"I owe it all to Brother Huang today. If it weren't for you, all my money would have gone down the drain!"
Huang Baiguan humbly replied, "It's all thanks to Brother Liu's excellent command. If I had been in charge, I probably would have lost completely."
The two burst into laughter, instantly bringing them much closer.
"I'm in the mood today, come on, let's go grab a drink!"
This was exactly what Huang Baiguan wanted, and he happily followed him to a nearby tavern.
Liu Yuan was a regular customer. After greeting the manager, he led Huang Baiguan directly to a private room on the second floor.
"Brother Huang, you've been in Shanzhou for about half a year now. What do you think of this place?"
Huang Baiguan scratched his head and said, "To be honest, it's not as good as our Jizhou. Things are expensive, the food isn't refined, and there are foreigners like the Qiang and Rong people. We don't speak their languages, so they're hard to manage."
Liu Yuan laughed heartily, "Brother Huang is clearly a straightforward man. Our Shanzhou is indeed not as good as Jizhou, but it's not all bad. If we can find the right backer," he said, twirling his fingers, "we can earn much more than we would in Jizhou."
Huang Baiguan picked up his teacup and took a sip, concealing the surprise on his face.
Soon the food and wine were served, and the two began to drink. Huang Baiguan had practiced martial arts since childhood and was in good physical condition. He drank several cups of wine without his face turning pale.
After Liu Yuan finished two bowls of soup, he became more talkative. "Brother Huang, come visit me often in the future. I don't have any other hobbies, I just like playing Pai Gow."
Huang Baiguan picked up a peanut and threw it into his mouth. "I'm afraid it won't work. Brother Liu lost twenty strings of cash at the gambling table without batting an eye. If it were me, I'd probably be ready to die."
Liu Yuan burst out laughing, "You little rascal, what are you afraid of losing money on?"
"Isn't this just because I got hooked? I only dared to play small stakes before, and the wins and losses weren't big. This is the first time I've won so much money!"
“We brothers get along quite well. You helped me win back my money. If you ever need anything in the future, just tell your brother. I’ll do whatever it takes to help you!”
Huang Baiguan raised his wine bowl, "I'm content with your words, brother, but..."
"But what?"
"Oh, it's nothing, let's have a drink."
Seeing that he had something on his mind, Liu Yuan said, "You're treating your brother like an outsider. What's wrong and you look so gloomy?"
Huang Baiguan was silent for a moment and then said, "To be honest, I am indeed looking for a way to make money. As you know, we came from Jizhou with Lord Chen. To put it nicely, we are his subordinates; to put it bluntly, we are servants without indentures."
My brother and I together only receive two strings of cash a month in salary. After deducting food and other expenses, we can't save any money at all. We also have an elderly father back in our hometown who is in poor health. I was thinking of saving some money to send back to him to support him in his old age..."
Liu Yuan patted him on the shoulder, "Brother, I understand you. Who would leave their family and business behind and come all this way if they didn't have some difficulties?"
Huang Baiguan wiped his eyes with his sleeve. "Let's not talk about this anymore, Brother Liu, please don't laugh at me."
"What are you joking about? Here's a good job for you, but you'll have to give your superiors a heads-up beforehand. They'll contact you if things go well."
"I wonder what kind of job it is, and whether I'm capable of doing it?"
Liu Yuan lowered his voice and whispered in Huang Baiguan's ear, "For the iron transport business, we'll help cover it up, and we'll pay this much per truckload." He then held up two fingers.
"Two hundred coins?"
"Two taels of silver!"
"So much!" Huang Baiguan's heart pounded with excitement. He hadn't expected to get so much information from him so quickly.
"Don't tell anyone else about this. I'm only telling you this because I consider you my brother."
"Don't worry, whether it works out or not, I'll remember your kindness, brother!"
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