Chapter 47: The Price

  Mo Zhen's sudden arrival surprised everyone. They looked at each other, and Long Fei thought for a moment before saying "please come in". Not long after, several soldiers brought Mo Zhen in. Mo Zhen was still dressed as a scholar, but with an additional long sword at his waist. Upon seeing Long Fei, he simply cupped his hands: "Are you feeling a bit surprised? But don't worry, I didn't come here to cause trouble today. I heard that Lord Long has some business to discuss, so I took the initiative to come."

  "Your message is quite informative!"

  "To be honest, Long Xiao Wei hasn't even left the Taishi Mansion yet, and I've already received news about it!" Zou Zhu was completely unguarded: "Our Hei Bing's scouts are scattered all over the world. With so many things seized from the Yuan Mansion by Lord Long, could he really be doing it for the sake of the Great Han?"

  Long Fei burst out laughing: "Haha, so it was you guys who were monitoring us outside the Yuan manor that night? I thought it was Dong Zhuo's people!"

  "It turns out that Lord Long had known all along, impressive!"

  "Let's get down to business and talk about your prices!"

  "Good!" Zou Yun nodded and said: "Lord Long is a straightforward person, so I won't beat around the bush either. A flat price of one million gold?"

  "What? One million taels of gold?" Di Wei was going crazy, one million taels of gold, he had no idea how much it was, this price was unheard of, not to mention giving it, nobody had ever even heard of it. The emperor's rewards were always calculated in silver, never in gold.

  Miao Zhu smiled slightly: "This money is not for you to come out, don't be nervous, besides this price is the most fair! There are many lords in Guandong, wanting them to die unjustly is no small matter! This price has another advantage, it can buy two people's lives!" Miao Zhu glanced at Wang Qian and Wang Wei with the corner of his eye.

  Long Fei sank into thought for a long time before saying, "Alright, but this price I can discuss with Dong Zhuo. Whether or not he will agree is hard to say, it's not a small sum!"

  "Alright!" Zou Ye nodded: "I can give you ten days to consider, if there's no news by then, I won't be able to take charge of this matter anymore! Farewell!"

  Mo Zhi got up and bid farewell, walking to the door. Long Fei hastily called out: "Sir, please stay! I dare ask, sir, with Hei Bing's strength, what can't be done? Why do you need so much money? Over the hundreds of years, you should have accumulated a lot of money, why...

  "Frankly speaking, I'm also acting on orders. As for why, I don't know myself, so there's nothing to report! Farewell!"

  Mo Zhi took a step forward, and the pot in the house was opened. Everyone had an opinion about this one million gold. If so much money were changed into copper coins, it would be a mountain. The total tax revenue of the Great Han Dynasty each year is only 500,000 gold, and just now this weak scholar's words are equivalent to two years' worth of food and drink for everyone in the Great Han Dynasty. What does Hei Bing want so much money for? What are their intentions?

  Zhang Liao said: "One million gold coins can organize one million soldiers and horses, and there will be no worries about food and clothing for a year. Will the Grand Tutor agree?"

  "Yes, one million taels is no small sum! Even if we plunder Yuan Shao's household ten times, we won't get that much money!" Zhao Yun shook his head slightly.

  Long Fei smiled: "What are you worried about, these should be what Dong Zhuo thinks, he let us contact Hei Bing and we did it, as for how much Hei Bing wants, that's Dong Zhuo's business, why are you in such a hurry?"

  Long Fei went to find Dong Zhuo three days later. Dong Zhuo was in the imperial palace, Long Fei held a token and entered the palace directly, asked for Dong Zhuo's location, found a few small eunuchs to lead the way, and rushed to the Imperial Flower Garden. The Imperial Flower Garden was indeed different, with all kinds of rare flowers and plants from all over the world. Now it was just spring, and the flowers were in full bloom. Luoyang was famous for its peonies, so the Imperial Flower Garden had various types of peonies competing with each other, white, red, yellow, purple, and many other varieties, with different colors. A beautiful scene.

  As soon as he stepped into the imperial garden and outer palace, it was clear that this place was different. There were no rows of guards, nor any swords or spears. Only a few eunuchs and some palace maids who were whispering to each other while glancing at Long Fei. The women of the Han Dynasty were relatively open-minded, with some even walking up to take a closer look at Long Fei, making him feel somewhat embarrassed.

  Beautiful women! Still beautiful women! All the way, they are all beauties, one after another, each and every one of them as stunning as today's stars. The Han Dynasty prized slimness as beauty. These women possess both a slender elegance and the virtues of Eastern femininity, making for a truly delightful sight that leaves one reluctant to leave. Sometimes I wonder, can't the directors and screenwriters of palace dramas, for the sake of your own futures, choose some beautiful extras? Must you make the audience feel nauseous from looking at those so-called maidservants?

  After crossing a small bridge, the front is a pavilion. Dong Zhuo was holding a beautiful woman and playing chess with Liu Xie there. The little yellow door came forward to report, and Dong Zhuo said "come" without raising his head. Long Fei was called in. The two men's chess game was at a critical juncture. Dong Zhuo's big dragon had scattered and surrounded Liu Xie's chess pieces, and it was already impossible to turn the tide. But Liu Xie still did not admit defeat and was thinking hard about a rescue plan.

  Long Fei looked for a moment and said: "Your Majesty can try in Xiangba Town!"

  Liu Xie and Dong Zhuo hastily looked again. With just one glance, Liu Xie burst into loud laughter: "Good move! Indeed a good move! In this case, the Grand Dragon of the Imperial Tutor will lose its tail, while my Grand Dragon will reveal its true form, haha! Imperial Tutor, it seems I'm going to win this game?"

  Dong Zhuo also nodded and looked up at Long Fei: "I didn't expect General Long to have studied the chess situation as well? I'll have to ask for your guidance sometime!"

  "It's nothing, just a trivial matter! I was just showing off in front of Your Majesty and the Grand Master!" Long Fei repeatedly expressed his humility. In fact, Long Fei's Go skills were quite impressive. During his time in the army, to enhance the soldiers' tactical vision, the battalion commander specially set up a Go class, not only making every special soldier understand Go but also grasp its essence. The battalion commander had said that Go was originally invented by our ancestors as a way to compete in wisdom and bravery, it's essential knowledge for great generals, but nowadays Go has become just a game tool, which is a waste of its true value.

  "Haha, today Your Majesty has the help of Dragon Cavalry Commander, I admit defeat. Speak, what is it that you want? I will definitely agree to everything!"

  Liu Xie was about to open his mouth, but he quickly closed it again and thought for a moment before saying: "Can the Grand Tutor let me play for another hour? I'm suffocating in this room!"

  "Hahaha..." Dong Zhuo burst out laughing: "Alright! I agree! Go and have fun!"

  Liu Xie happily led a few small eunuchs and palace maids to run away, jumping and skipping. Even from a distance, he turned his head to take one last look at Long Fei, who nodded slightly. As Liu Xie walked further away, Dong Zhuo waved his hand for all the eunuchs and palace maids to retreat, signaling Long Fei to sit down. Long Fei sat down accordingly. Dong Zhuo looked at the chessboard on the small table: "General Long's chess skills are indeed exquisite! Originally, I had already won, but your one sentence made me lose everything!"

  Long Fei hastily stood up: "Your subordinate was also mistaken, please forgive me, Imperial Teacher!"

  Dong Zhuo waved his hand and let Long Fei reseat himself: "Alright, speak up! Has Hei Bing got any news?"

  "That's right!" Long Fei immediately nodded: "The subordinate has found the contact person of Hei Bing, got in touch with them, they are willing to take our business, but the price is very high!"

  "How high is it? Can't even the entire Han Dynasty afford it?"

  Long Fei nodded slightly: "One million two of gold!"

  "What? One million taels of gold?" Dong Zhuo was also shocked by this number, and he immediately stood up from the stone pedestal: "They actually want one million taels of gold?"

  Long Fei hastily stood up: "This official also thinks this is an astronomical figure, let alone one million taels, even ten thousand taels under the current situation are probably impossible to produce! This official has thought of a delaying tactic, hoping that the Grand Tutor will adopt it!"

  "Let's talk about it!"

  "1 million taels, we can agree to that, but not pay it all at once. We can give them some each time they deal with a vassal, and when they've already exhausted the eastern vassals, the Grand Tutor can order the army to attack and defeat them in one go! Then we'll have our hands free to deal with Hei Bing again! Not only can we get back our money, but who knows, maybe we can even dig out all their accumulated wealth over these hundreds of years!"

  Dong Zhuo closed his eyes, sat back down and slowly thought. One hand stroked his beard, the other gestured for Long Fei to sit down. After a long time: "Alright! You go take care of it! Now we only have 30,000 taels in our hands!"

  "I understand!" Long Fei hastily stood up, cupped his hands and bowed: "I will go and take care of it now! I bid you farewell!"

  As they walked to the entrance of the Imperial Garden, a small eunuch happened to be coming in from outside. The two collided at the garden gate, neither seeing the other, and bumped into each other with a thud. The little eunuch was no match for Long Fei, and was knocked to the ground on his buttocks. The eunuch leading Long Fei immediately stepped forward, punching and kicking: "Blind dog eyes! You dare to bump into Lord Long? Don't you hurry up and apologize?"

  The little eunuch trembled all over, hastily got up and knelt down to kowtow to Long Fei. Long Fei glared fiercely at several eunuchs around him, walked forward and pulled the little eunuch up: "You dare to bump into me? Are you okay?"

  "It's nothing! Thank you, sir!"

  Long Fei smiled and said, "That's good, let's hurry up then! The Emperor is still waiting for you!" Long Fei recognized that this eunuch was the same little eunuch who stood beside Liu Xie during the chess game earlier.

  Out of the palace, Long Fei jumped onto his horse and did not return to the military camp directly. Instead, he found a wine tavern and asked the waiter to arrange a quiet single room for himself. After sitting down alone, the wine and dishes were served. Long Fei closed the door and took out a handkerchief from his sleeve. The dragon-shaped gold embroidery on the edge of the handkerchief was the best proof. This thing can only be used by the emperor, no one else dares to use it.

  A large group of twisted and curved characters made his head ache. He vaguely guessed the general meaning by looking at it with a mixture of confusion and speculation. It turned out that this Liu Xie actually wanted to win him over, apparently misunderstanding his intention when he helped him out earlier. Now he had important things to attend to, so he couldn't let this thing stay on him. After finding a candle flame, he burned the handkerchief clean, then sat down and finished eating, leaving the wine shop for the military camp.

  Long Fei had just left, and Mei Zhu appeared in the room he had just vacated. Seeing the wisps of gray ash on the ground, a faint smile played on Mei Zhu's lips.