"If the price is right, our border troops will naturally need it."
Qian Shuisheng agreed directly without thinking, and asked with a smile: "I just don't know how you are going to sell it, Mr. Zhou?"
Zhou Chen licked his lips when he heard this:
"Haha. My master wants this number."
Saying,
He slowly stretched out a palm and spread three fingers among the dozen generals in the camp.
Looking at this gesture, Qian Shuisheng looked as usual:
"Three million taels is not bad"
"thirty million."
"." Qian Shuisheng.
Zhou Chen broke the silence with a dry laugh, with a smile in his eyes:
"Elder Qian, the Yunqi bomb is expensive to make. Even the cost of three million taels cannot be recovered."
The camp fell into silence, Qian Shuisheng stopped talking, but his eyes calmly swept over the rest of the people.
"well"
A brief silence was followed by a sigh. A middle-aged woman wearing armor sighed with a hint of teasing in her tone:
"Mr. Zhou, we and the 300,000 border troops fought a bloody battle here to regain Beifeng. The imperial court did not arrange reinforcements. Now we have to buy even the ordnance privately. Aren't we afraid that the soldiers will be heartbroken?"
Zhou Chen glanced back at the woman.
He, Zhou, thought he was already very thick-skinned, but this woman simply lost it.
After a moment's pause, Zhou Chen's mind was racing with thoughts, and he was smiling but not smiling:
"Well, elder sister, what you said is a bit too much. My lord does not serve in the imperial court. The Yunqi bombs for this trip came from his private inventory. How can it chill the soldiers on the border?"
Speaking of which,
Zhou Chen stood up straight, cupped his hands and raised his hands to the sky, and said loudly: "On the contrary, it is precisely because I am worried about the country and the people, and worried about the lives of the 300,000 soldiers under Beifeng City, that I let Zhou I came here to ask you, I hope you can understand my thoughts."
The middle-aged woman snorted coldly.
And at this time,
General Hou, who had a scar on his face, suddenly chuckled sadly:
"So, Mr. Zhou is not an envoy of the imperial court?"
If you are not an envoy of the imperial court, you will not have that layer of skin as a talisman. If you are to be killed and settled in the future, it will be a personal conflict at best, not a righteous dispute.
Zhou Chen cursed secretly in his heart when he heard this, stared at the person who made the noise, and said word by word:
"This old brother, Zhou, is just a mouthpiece for my family. His life is cheap. It should not be compared to the lives of the famous families, let alone these 300,000 soldiers."
Don't do this to me. It doesn't matter if you kill me, but without the Yunqi bombs, can you defeat the hundreds of thousands of troops from the barbarians who occupy an absolute position?
General Hou narrowed his eyes, revealing a hint of murderous intent:
"Mr. Zhou, it's true that you will sacrifice your life for justice."
"okay."
At this moment, Qian Shuisheng interrupted General Hou's words again, and turned to Zhou Chen with a smile: "Mr. Zhou, if we agree to the terms of the Master Qian family, in what way will Yun Qitan be handed over? And in what way?" payment?"
"Elder Qian, just do it."
Zhou Chen felt slightly relieved when he heard this, cupped his hands, and said with a smile:
"You can set a time for the delivery of the Yunqi bombs, and then my master will arrange the manpower to deliver them on time."
"laugh"
With a low laugh, the young female general Liu Mei said with a bit of sarcasm: "Mr. Zhou, even a white wolf with empty gloves needs to have a limit. How can we trust you credulously? If the Yunqi bomb is fictitious, the property of our frontier army will not be Was he tricked away by you in vain?"
Zhou Chen had already prepared this and said without hesitation:
"The Yunqi bomb has been supplied to your army twice before. Those of you who have seen the real thing must also know that the structure of the Yunqi bomb is not stable and cannot be stored in Xumijie. If your army is willing to send elites Go and get it, my lord can provide your army with a place to hide the Yunqi bombs."
"."
The young female general sneered: "It's snowing so hard outside, why send an army to escort us? Do you think the barbarian wolf cavalry wandering outside is blind?"
Zhou Chen spread his hands like a bachelor:
"Since your army is unwilling, then arrange for a high-level cultivator to go with Zhou to pick it up. This way, the possibility of exposure will be smaller. There are three delivery methods at your choice."
"This is not stated in advance."
Qian Shuisheng's eyes were full of thought, and he asked calmly: "So Mr. Zhou, how are you going to take over the payment for the goods I'm waiting for?"
Zhou Chen grinned and raised his hands upward again:
"My lord has said that he does not want land deeds, shares in the Chamber of Commerce, or any deed certificates related to Northern Industries. He only accepts cash banknotes or training resources. Of course, if your army is willing to sell military supplies, my lord is willing to use Purchase at a premium of five times the market price.
After the words fell, there was a brief silence.
The expressions on the faces of the dozen or so commanders holding heavy troops became a little strange.
The amount of information in this statement is quite large.
No real industry
The Tian'an Chamber of Commerce in the Prime Minister's Office and the Royal Chamber of Commerce in the imperial court have been yearning for their northern border in recent years. Now that there is such an opportunity to intervene in the northern border market openly, it is impossible for the people behind Mr. Zhou not to seize it.
It’s probably not that I don’t want it, but the person behind Mr. Zhou can’t want it.
Even if you let your cronies put their names on things like real estate, and you don't participate in the management and only accept annual dividends, every time you deliver benefits, there is an additional possibility of exposure.
Time passes minute by minute,
Qian Shuisheng stared at Zhou Chen with eyes that seemed to be smiling but not smiling:
"Can I ask, why does your family not want real estate in the north?"
Without thinking, Zhou Chen directly followed Xu Yuan's instructions and said directly:
"My family cannot bear the responsibility for the outflow of strategic resources such as Yunqitan."
"."
The originally tense atmosphere in the camp gradually relaxed with these words, and many generals even had a faint smile on their faces.
Well, it seems that the person behind Mr. Zhou this time is a high-level official of the Prime Minister's Office who resells supplies.
If you hold power in your hands, you will naturally make the best use of it; if you don't use it, it will expire and become useless.
Empty the public house and feed the small family.
Many of the formations in Xiangguo Mansion are ahead of the entire Great Flame, just like the original Ghost Mist formation.
Although Gewuyuan was strictly guarded, it was eventually resold at a high price.
But that's not what makes them happy.
Since the person behind Mr. Zhou is reselling privately this week, it means that the other party does not dare to publicize it and can bargain on the price, and there is a lot of room for bargaining.
Qian Shuisheng's old face trembled and he smiled:
"Mr. Zhou, thirty million taels is not a small number. Could you please wait outside the account for a while? We need to discuss it."
Zhou Chen heard this and cupped his fists, then looked at Qian Shuisheng and smiled:
"In that case, I will wait for the good news outside the tent."
After saying that, Zhou Chen walked out of the camp under the attention of a room full of strong men.
"."
The curtain fell, and the originally relaxed atmosphere in the tent suddenly became serious, even chilling.
Qian Shuisheng, who was sitting in the main seat, narrowed his eyes and suddenly sneered:
"Who do you think is behind Mr. Zhou this week?"
"It shouldn't be Lou Ji and Zong Qingsheng."
The scar-faced man spoke out: "They have no children, and they are all loyal to Xu Yinhe. Moreover, their positions are too high and they are unlikely to betray the interests of the Prime Minister and the government."
The entire Prime Minister's Mansion belongs to them, they can just ask for what they want, and there is no need to use such means to gain profits.
The young female general chuckled and said:
"Elder Qian, I think it doesn't matter who he is, as long as he can provide us with Yunqi bombs."
The grumpy, burly man snorted:
"Thirty million taels is too much. Last year's war situation was unfavorable. Our hundreds of thousands of border troops in the north combined to spend only about 70 million taels on military expenses for a year."
The scar-faced man chuckled:
"This expense is indeed too high. I have to ask the sects in the south for more benefits. Our sects in the north will withstand the pressure for them. When the Tianyuan Competition next year, we will have to ask the sects in the south of the Yangtze River to redistribute resources. Those old immortals want more benefits."
As the words fell, there was a deep laugh.
The sect is a large collective, and they have their own internal rules.
The border sects put in people and efforts, and supplies came from the rich land.
The saint's counterattack before his death was resisted by their northern sect. They naturally had reasons and righteousness to seek benefits from other sects in the Tianyuan Competition.
The chatterbox opened, and some generals who were friends with each other began to talk and laugh and plan for the coming year.
But when some people are talking and laughing, naturally some people are silent, and there are not a few silent people.
The atmosphere in the tent was quickly interrupted by a gentle voice:
"Now that halftime is here, you are ready to start celebrating?"
The person who spoke was none other than the handsome young man from the Valley of Ten Thousand Medicines. However, he couldn't overshadow the guest. He looked at the silent old man on the main seat:
"Elder Qian, you should have something to say, right?"
"."
Upon hearing this, Qian Shuisheng slowly raised his eyes and exhaled:
"Everyone, the person behind Mr. Zhou may have provided us with Yunqi bombs for personal gain, but they also want to watch us fight to the death with the barbarians. Once the clouds are dispelled, do you think the barbarian alien king will What’s your reaction?”
The grumpy, burly man cupped his hands with an excited smile on his lips:
"Elder Qian, the snow clouds have been dispersed, and those barbarians have lost the protection of heaven and earth. They will inevitably avoid our army's attack. We can just attack Beifeng City directly and hold on."
"What if they don't avoid it?"
Qian Shuisheng asked back, and then said: "The Barbarian King is not a fool. Once Beifeng is recaptured by us, they will become turtles in the urn."
Speaking of which,
Qian Shuisheng sighed: "The Yunqi bomb has directly changed the entire battle situation. It is roughly estimated that the barbarian army near Beifeng still has more than 400,000 people. If we fight a tough battle with them, even if we win, we will suffer great losses." , then the imperial court will be able to reap the benefits."
The young female general frowned slightly, and there was a bit of anger between her eyebrows:
"So now we are dragging it on like this? If we had chosen to reinforce Beifeng, we would never have had this kind of thing happen now."
The middle-aged woman in armor glanced at the young female general and sneered:
"Little girl, we all made the decision together at the beginning. Why, now that we are in a dilemma, you want to get yourself out in a hurry?"
Hearing this, the scarred man chuckled and said:
"Mrs. Wang, the original decision was indeed made by us together, but I remember it should be you and your husband-in-law."
"Okay! Just say a few words."
Qian Shuisheng saw that the atmosphere below was beginning to become tense, and he immediately shouted to stop: "What we need in the current situation is to communicate unanimously to the outside world! Everyone tell us their own countermeasures."
"."
Silence began to spread and no one answered.
in silence,
Suddenly someone suddenly said:
"Can we think of another way to lure the barbarians north?"
Another person directly criticized:
"How to lead? The barbarians know that there are celestial weapons like Yunqi bombs in Houting County, and they attack the well-equipped defense circle of Houting County on a sunny day? Hehe. As long as the barbarian king is not as wet as your brain, he will It’s better for us to attack knowing that.”
The person who spoke out had murderous intent in his eyes:
"Dai Xiangfei, you have the nerve to tell me that one-third of the supplies will be given to you as promised. I really don't know."
"Shut up!"
Qian Shuisheng whispered again, with helplessness in his eyes.
He had actually expected this situation.
Given the current situation, it was only a matter of time before internal conflicts within the coalition forces broke out. Mr. Zhou, who came with the Yunqi bomb, only detonated this conflict in advance.
When the wind goes down, we are all brothers, when the wind goes against us, we are all mother-hunters.
The shortcomings of the chaotic command system of the coalition forces began to gradually emerge at this moment.
Rubbing his eyebrows vigorously, Qian Shuisheng scanned the generals and said:
"It's useless to talk more. There are only two ways in front of us now. First, we continue to hold on and wait and see what happens. Second, we use Yunqi bombs to attack Beifeng City."
"Wouldn't both paths involve a fight with those barbarians in the end?"
"yes."
Qian Shuisheng's tone remained unchanged and he said in a deep voice: "We cannot avoid this at all in the current situation."
Several mistakes in decision-making directly led to the current situation being a dead end for them.
He was designed to abandon Houting County and come to reinforce Beifeng. Later, because of his decision-making, he misjudged the ambition of the Barbarian King and the speed of Wu Chenghou and Zong Qingsheng's march south. He was directly stuck outside Beifeng City, allowing the barbarian army to surround him. Wait on the side.
If they want to break through, they must fight a tough battle.
After pondering for a moment, the scar-faced man asked:
"Elder Qian, I wonder which path you prefer?"
Qian Shuisheng glanced at him and tapped his fingertips on the armrest of the main seat:
"the latter."
"The latter?" The scarred man frowned, thinking in his eyes, but he soon realized that this was the best choice now.
Qian Shuisheng whispered:
"Our army is behind bars, but the barbarians are more anxious than us. The longer they wait, the greater the chance that the imperial army will move south. By then, our camp without formations will not be able to play any protective role at all.
"We use Yunqi bombs to open the way and regain Beifeng City as quickly as possible. Then the barbarians may retreat and follow the mountain road they came from to return to the depths of the north.
“This is the way I’ve lost the least amount of money now.
"Of course, we still need to plan the march details in detail."
Zhou Chen left, taking a few Xumijie and two second-grade Yuanchu with him and quietly left the sect camp through the wind and snow.
And when they left,
A pair of eyes shining with blue light were standing quietly on the hillside in the distance, watching them.
Until the three of them completely disappeared from his sight, the burly figure silently turned around and left, disappearing into the wind and snow.
(End of chapter)
