Chapter Fifty-Five: Black Eating Black Again

  With great benefits, doing things naturally feels refreshing. Liu Chagan's business in the Han Dynasty was considered smuggling, and Li Qin wanted a bowstring that already belonged to this era's smuggled military goods, and it was even high-end smuggled military goods with huge risks.

  Liu Cha wasn't afraid of the risk, he was only afraid of not making a lot of money. Li Qian handed him a piece of white jade, and Liu Cha immediately tucked it into his waistband. He said: "Thank you, young master Li, for your generosity. Alright, I'll go build a bridge for you now, to find Liu Ban Cheng, he's also a Xiongnu person, we're very familiar with each other." After that, he put the white jade into his pocket and left.

  Li QIN asked Liu Zhongyan: "Is this person reliable? Don't take things and run away."

  Liu Zhongyan shook his head and said, "It won't happen. He's made a profit here with us, and now he wants to make another one from Liu Bancheng. This kind of person is the most greedy, they won't leave until they've taken all the benefits. You can't even get him to run away unless he's gotten everything he wants. But once he's taken advantage of Liu Bancheng, if things don't go as planned, Liu Bancheng will chop him up and feed him to the dogs!"

  "Is Liu Ban Cheng very powerful?" Li Qin asked.

  Liu Zhongyan pointed north and said, "He has a close relationship with the Xiongnu people on the grasslands. He's not a good person, but he's rich and powerful. Although our county is large, only he can do business with us on such a large scale. This man is quite trustworthy, my old master had dealings with him in the past and has never seen him default on his debts."

  Li QIN nodded and put his mind at ease, it didn't matter whether the cake was good or not, as long as he could solve his own problems, a good cake or a bad cake is still a cake!

  Liu Cha ran out of the inn and rushed to Liu Bancheng's mansion. He was a familiar guest, and Liu Bancheng happened to be at home, so they met directly.

  Liu Cha recounted the events, and Liu Bancheng was suddenly shocked, exclaiming: "A thousand mulberry silk bowstrings? How did he know I just so happen to have... what is he hinting at?"

  Liu Cha was also shocked to see the blue veins on Liu Bancheng's forehead bulging out, thinking: "Silk bowstrings are forbidden items, listening to his tone means he has them now, no need to go to Sizhou to ask for connections? How is this possible, why would he stockpile these things, could it be that he wants to rebel?"

  Liu Bancheng's real name was Liu Xuan. According to the custom of the Xiongnu people, most Han surnames were taken as Liu, but he was higher than Liu Zha and did not pretend to be a descendant of Wang Zhaojun. He straightforwardly acknowledged Han Gaozu Liu Bang as his ancestor and called himself a royal relative of the Han imperial family, a descendant of Liu Bang. Of course, whether others believed it or not didn't matter, as long as he believed it himself. If all else failed, he could just fabricate a genealogy, claiming to be a fallen descendant of some king or other, and that would be enough to deceive a few fools.

  Liu Wei had a very close relationship with the Xiongnu king on the grassland, and often smuggled weapons to the grassland. Last year, a Xiongnu king named Liu Jiu "ordered" from him, wanting exactly 1,000 mulberry silk bowstrings. He had been hoarding them for almost a year before he finally gathered enough, which was a serious crime. If the authorities found out, he would definitely be beheaded.

  Silk bowstring is just a name, the actual craftsmanship is very complex, silk is only one of the materials used. Calling it silk bowstring shows its nobility, that's all. Because the use of bows and arrows is greatly affected by weather changes, while silk bowstrings are less affected under the technical level of this era, with great strength, can be used on hard crossbows, in the Han Dynasty, it was a banned product, absolutely prohibited from flowing to the grasslands.

  Liu Meng suddenly heard that someone wanted a thousand mulberry silk bowstrings, which happened to match his inventory. How could he not be surprised? He thought he had been discovered, so he came to blackmail him!

  Liu Xuan thought: "That Liu Jiu, although he is just a king of the Xiongnu, but he wants to be the Chanyu so much that he's almost crazy. If I were to mess up his affairs, he would definitely send someone to kill my whole family. Better safe than sorry, this time I can't talk about rules anymore, let's just get rid of these rich and powerful people from Ping."

  Having made up his mind, Liu said: "You go back and tell that Li fellow that I've agreed. The silkworm strings are readily available here, so I can give them to him. Other things can also be gathered together. However, as for the 200 stones of top-quality seeds, I have no way of gathering them immediately. Although my household is large, even if we were to empty our grain stores, there would only be around a hundred stones of grain, let alone seeds. But since I want to do this business, give me half a day's time and I'll go collect the seeds right away. Tell Li that tonight at midnight, we'll meet outside the north gate ten miles from here. If he doesn't show up, it's his loss."

  Liu Cha was shocked again, how could he be so pleased with himself? He actually believed that the box of jewels was worth this price? In the past, he had never seen him believe in me like this! And to make a deal tonight, it's getting to this point, completely different from his usual desperate attempts to lower the price and drag out the time!

  Having a business to attend to, and doing it with such relish, according to the rules of the trade, Liu Cha couldn't ask more questions. He bid farewell and left, going to look for Li Qin again.

  Liu Xuan saw him leave, his face changed, and he thought: "This person can't be left behind, kill him tonight." He called a confidant to follow Liu Cha and investigate Li Qin's situation.

  Liu Cha returned to the old store, saw Li Qin, and told him what had happened. Li Qin was both surprised and delighted, surprised that things could be settled so quickly, and delighted that the sooner he got rid of the jewelry, the sooner he could return home, which was the key point.

  Jia Yu was surprised, the silk bowstring was his idea to Li Qin, which belonged to asking for an astronomical price, but the other party actually paid without hesitation, wasn't this a strange thing!

  "Ah Qian, when things go against the norm, it's ominous. Such a high-risk business can't be this smooth, and how could they possibly have over a thousand mulberry silk bowstrings? This is impossible! In my opinion, that Liu Ban Cheng wants to swindle us, swallow our goods during the transaction outside the city, and kill us all off. We must prepare ourselves."

  Li QIN nodded and said: "I also feel something is wrong, what should we do?"

  Jia Xun thought for a moment, then said: "Let's use his plan against him and pretend to fall into the trap. Since Liu Bancheng dared to make a sneak attack, he must be directing it personally, but he definitely won't show himself to us. He'll be hiding in secret, so we can do this..." He laid out his strategy.

  Li QIN nodded repeatedly after listening, saying: "Brother-in-law's idea is not bad, this is to protect ourselves first, ensure that we are safe, and then get the greatest benefit. Alright, let's do it this way."

  He called in Hei Yizu, first told him what had happened, and said: "There must be someone outside to spy on our strengths and weaknesses. Don't scare the snake by hitting the grass, pretend not to see it, wait for that person to leave, you follow him to Liu Bancheng's house, identify the person, then don't come back, wait until night when things are done, come back and report to me."

  Wu Danzi listened and said, "Jun Hou, this matter is handed over to the subordinates to handle, it must be handed over to the right person. I'm not good at anything else, but I'm best at secretly monitoring people!" He flashed out of the house and went to do things.

  Li Qindao said: "Get everyone up, I have something to say."

  Inside the house, Dian Wei heard everything at the door and responded with a voice, calling all the Fu Jiao soldiers to come in. He still guarded the door but did not allow Liu Zhongyan and Liu Cha to enter.

  Li Qins told the story, and the soldiers were all furious. They had encountered a situation where they were being blackmailed by their own kind. How could they tolerate this? Absolutely not! After hearing Li Qins orders, each of them returned to prepare.

  Li Qin personally went out of the inn, found a pharmacy, and prepared a dose of fierce medicine. He returned to the inn, decocted it, and put it in a water bag, preparing to leave it for Liu Bancheng to use.

  When the sky was about to turn dark, Li Qin asked the store owner to settle the bill. He paid for the whole day's expenses and also asked the store owner to prepare some dry rations for them. Then he took the Fu Jiao soldiers and escorted the treasure chest, leaving the county town and heading to a meeting point ten miles outside the North Gate.

  It wasn't long before, at the second watch of the night, Wu Danzi rushed over. He told Li Qin that things were just as Jia Yu had calculated, and that Liu Bancheng was not up to any good. The items needed for the transaction were all unprepared, but he had gathered a full eighty followers, all riding horses out of the city. Liu Bancheng waited in a small grove one mile away, with ten men guarding him, while the remaining seventy people had dismounted and were stealthily approaching on foot!

  Li Qin listened, and without saying a word, he also told the crowd not to ride horses, avoiding Liu Bancheng's family guards, and quietly followed Liu Bancheng to his destination, while leaving the treasure chest locally.

  Liu Zhongyan and Liu Cha now understand that this is going to be a fierce battle! Neither the buyer nor the seller wants to do business properly, they all want to play dirty tricks! Liu Zhongyan is still okay, but Liu Cha is almost scared to death. What he fears most in doing this kind of business is being silenced as an intermediary, regardless of whether the deal succeeds or not. Who provoked whom? Disaster has fallen from the sky!

  Liu Zhongyan could only comfort him, saying that Li Qin would not silence his mouth. The two of them retreated far away, neither daring to follow Li Qin to handle matters nor staying near the jewelry box, as both places were too dangerous.

  Creeping past, a short distance of one mile, it won't take long to reach the place.

  Hiding behind the tree, Li Qinxian looked ahead and saw a middle-aged fat man wearing Hanfu not far away, constantly walking on the ground, muttering to himself, and no one knew what he was saying. There were exactly ten big men beside him, either sitting or standing, each holding weapons, and further away was a large group of war horses.

  Li QIN turned his head and said: "Brother-in-law, it's really just as you expected! This Liu Bancheng is just like he heard your words, and he's acting according to plan!"

  Jia Xuan hummed softly and said, "This kind of petty thinking, how could I have misjudged it? No need to wait any longer, let's charge up and capture them. Let them witness the power of your Horned Spear Formation, thrust to the right!" Even he knew Li QIN's ultimate move.

  Li Qin smiled and beckoned with his hand, and the guards immediately stood up in a line. As soon as there was movement on this side, Liu Xuan, not far away, heard it and looked over with his servants.

  Before Li Qin could lead the men over, a loud shout was heard. Dian Wei yelled: "Let's go!" and threw the curved knife assigned to him to the ground, advancing forward with bare fists!

  Li QIN shouted: "What are you doing? You have to listen to orders..." But he had never trained Dian Wei, and Dian Wei ran extremely fast, in the blink of an eye he arrived at Liu Bei's side.

  Liu Xu was shocked to see someone suddenly attacking, and he hastily retreated, wanting to run towards his horse, while his servants rushed forward to resist Dian Wei!

  Dian Wei didn't care, seeing a servant swing his knife to chop him, he dodged to the side, grabbed the servant's wrist, and snapped it with a crack. Then, with one hand, he grabbed the servant's neck, and with a crunch, pinched it off!

  Dian Wei shouted loudly: "You little chickens, come quickly to send yourselves to death, don't dawdle, Grandpa has other things to do, hurry up!"

  ——

  The second update is here! Ping An is working hard on writing, asking brothers and sisters to collect and support, please help out, thank you very much!