Chapter 121 The north wind was like a knife, carrying...

Chapter 121 The north wind was like a knife, carrying...

The north wind, sharp as a knife, howled across the gray-yellow city walls, carrying sand and gravel from the north and the early chill of winter.

"Damn it, it's gotten cold so early this year, this awful weather!" A soldier huddled in a sheltered spot on the city wall breathed out warm air onto his swollen, red hands and complained to his comrades huddled together about the weather.

"The shift will change in half an hour. I heard the camp is serving meat soup today, so let's have a couple more bowls." A boy next to him, wearing a tattered jacket and a patched-up leather armor that was only half leather left, licked his lips with anticipation in his eyes.

"What kind of meat soup is this? A pound of meat is cooked for the whole camp, and the higher-ups still skim off a layer of oil. How dare they call it meat soup?" The middle-aged city guard was full of resentment when this topic came up. He grumbled about how much his pay and food had been cut back by his superiors, and then complained about how his uniforms were getting thinner and thinner every year, and his armor was getting more and more worn out.

"Brother Chen, do you think there will be a war this year?" The young man, impatient with his rambling on about these trivial matters, quickly asked the question that was on his mind most.

"Don't worry, even if they fight, they won't be able to reach here." The middle-aged city guard shivered as he spoke, taking a gust of cold wind, and then said in an almost inaudible voice.

"Huh?" The sound was carried away by the howling wind, and the boy clearly didn't hear it clearly.

"It's nothing, who knows if there will be a war or not? Enough with the nonsense, just keep watch."

The boy huddled further into the sheltered corner and fell silent. The howling wind on the city wall was certainly not a good place to chat.

The two, eager to curl up into a ball to keep warm, naturally failed to notice that a figure wrapped in an old fur coat had been observing this section of the city wall for quite some time. Of course, neither of them noticed the unusual markings left in some hidden spots.

Inside the Marquis of Dingbei's residence, General Guo Wei, who was stationed at the northern border, stood in the warm pavilion, wrapped in a thick sable coat. He stroked his short beard, which was mostly white, and looked at the bleak scene outside the window, but a sense of smug satisfaction flashed through his mind.

"With this awful weather this year, if we hadn't been prepared, there might have been a major battle."

Upon hearing this, the lieutenant quickly nodded in agreement: "The general is indeed wise. Exchanging those things for some silver and their quietness for a winter is a worthwhile deal."

All those barbarians on the grasslands wanted was enough food and supplies to survive the harsh winter. Offering them some sweet treats and, if necessary, sacrificing one or two border towns, and engaging in a few battles each year that seemed real but were not, would not bring complete peace to the north, nor would it cause any serious damage to anyone.

It's unclear when this became an unspoken tactic between the two sides, but General Guo even felt he had completely grasped the nuances of it.

Sometimes he even had the feeling that both his own soldiers and the enemy's soldiers were resources he could use.

For example, when the court tries to reduce the influence of the Dingbei Army, the north is thrown into chaos, and a fierce battle is waged. In normal years, the enemy is kept in check, neither starved nor hungry.

"However..." The lieutenant hesitated for a moment but decided to report on the unusual situation this year: "General, they were very dissatisfied with the quality of the salt and the quantity of grain during the trade this year. I am worried that something might go wrong."

"Didn't we send them a batch of stunning dancers?" Guo Wei chuckled sarcastically before commenting to his subordinates with great interest: "There's nothing to worry about. Although the current barbarian chieftain, Aruda, is quite cunning and resourceful, he lacks courage and boldness. They're just putting on a show of discontent to gain more benefits; they don't dare to actually overturn the table."

Guo Wei turned around and poured himself a cup of hot wine. After taking a sip, he felt completely refreshed. Thinking about it, he realized that he had indeed acted somewhat unfairly this time, changing the originally agreed-upon green salt and snowflake salt to gray salt and green salt, with the snowflake salt only used sparingly to make a show of it.

After stroking his beard, he continued, "Here's what we'll do: send them a letter saying that we'll make up for the missing snowflake salt next spring, and that as long as they can afford the price, we'll have plenty of snowflake salt here."

Considering the letter from the Second Prince saying that the quality of salt produced in the salt fields was getting better and better, Guo Wei spoke with considerable confidence.

"Then this year..." The deputy general's words were cut short by Guo Wei's sharp gaze.

After all, Guo Wei was a seasoned veteran of the Imperial Guards. When he wasn't smiling, his aura was quite intimidating: "There's one thing you need to remember. Even if we have private deals with them, it's not because the Dingbei Army is afraid of them. It's just that I don't want my men to lose their lives in vain every year."

"And even those things that were already planned for them shouldn't be given away too easily. You didn't handle things very well last year. Even if you didn't intend to defend those three towns, are we, the Dingbei Army, just some kind of chickens and dogs that only know how to run away? Don't you understand what retreat and rout are?"

Thinking of the towns that had been completely slaughtered last year, Guo Wei felt an urge to kick his deputy general again. The matter had been handled so badly that if he hadn't sent others to clean up the mess afterward, the court would never have only brought up the trivial issue of embezzling funds.

He sighed inwardly, thinking that he was still too young and incompetent. Then he thought that he was, after all, a member of the Guo family. General Guo had tolerated his mistakes last year, but if he did the same thing again this year, then he could no longer keep the position of deputy general.

Upon seeing the general's expression, Deputy General Guo immediately knelt down to beg for forgiveness. His face, tinged with both remorse and admiration, betrayed no trace of the resentment that filled his heart.

Last year, one of the general's deputies was killed in battle, and the general promoted him to fill the vacancy, for which he was extremely grateful. Little did he know that this deputy general was only used for dirty work, and that this was a position privately created by the general without any official appointment from the court.

From then on, he, a general destined for constant defeat, had no future to speak of.

Last year's defeat was simply because he gave up entirely, but now, a year later, he's come to terms with it. Regardless of whether this position has a future, at least it guarantees financial security. Although he doesn't have a formal title from the imperial court, he is a de facto deputy general in the Northern Army.

"What I want is for the Dingbei Army to fight bravely against the enemy, but ultimately have to retreat due to insufficient troops. Even in retreat, they should still be wholeheartedly for the people and do their best to lead the local people to retreat to the rear cities. Do you understand?" Guo Wei emphasized.

The lieutenant replied, "Yes, I understand," and then took his leave.

In his heart, he kept cursing: "You hypocritical scoundrel, you claim to be wholeheartedly for the people, you traitor who betrayed your country! If I weren't from the same clan as you, I would have reported your filthy deeds long ago. You have the nerve to complain that I didn't do a clean enough job for you.

Whatever their ulterior motives, one thing they seem to have tacitly agreed on is that this winter will generally be a peaceful one. In any case, that's a good thing.

...

"Hahaha, it's finally done!" In the Prince Huai's residence, Li Fang also had some great news.

Having not had a truly comfortable day in the past six months, he was unusually cheerful today, laughing heartily. What made him so happy was the three stacks of salt placed in front of him.

Although they are all salt, the quality of these three types of salt is vastly different.

From left to right, the first pile is a coarse, yellowish-gray color, which is the lowest grade of salt currently available. The second pile is bluish-gray, which is the first batch of salt made by King Huai himself. Its quality is much better than coarse salt, but it is still somewhat inferior to snowflake salt.

What made him burst into laughter was the third dish. The sky-blue dish was sprinkled with fine, white salt grains. It was the dish he had been longing for for a long time, the one he had spent a lot of time and effort to steal, the one he had gone through many twists and turns to finally get the recipe for, and the one he had finally obtained after several rounds of failures.

Gently picking up a pinch of salt and letting the grains fall naturally from his hand, the Second Prince wiped the residue off his hands, his face beaming with undisguised satisfaction: "This salt truly lives up to its elegant name, Snowflake Salt. Next year, this mountain of gold won't just be for the Sixth Prince alone; I'll have half of it too."

“Your Highness is mistaken,” said Consort Guo, who was with him at the salt appreciation event, with a smile.

"Oh, is that so?" Knowing that Consort Guo was not a spoilsport, the Second Prince was quite interested in hearing her story of starting with a sullen tone and then praising her.

Consort Guo did not disappoint him: "How can Prince Cheng compare to Your Highness? Although I do not know the yield of the snowflake salt in the salt fields Your Highness has built, the two batches of trial-produced semi-finished products alone are enough to satisfy their appetite."

Consort Guo pointed north before continuing, "I knew Your Highness's salt fields must far exceed those of the Sixth Prince. If you refine them with all your might, by next year the Sixth Prince will only be able to drink soup. And whether he can even drink that soup depends on whether Your Highness is willing or not."

"Hahaha," Li Fang laughed loudly, reaching out to pull Consort Guo into his arms. "I never imagined my darling had such good taste. Indeed, I'm not like my sixth brother, who clearly..."

Li Fang didn't continue speaking. Even though the Guo family was deeply tied to him, he only realized how much profit was in the snowflake salt after the salt field was actually built. This profit was so great that he was uneasy even if others could glimpse it, let alone share it with them.

In truth, Qin Ji never intended to keep the salt-making method in his possession for long.

Even though his snowflake salt was always made separately according to a process, and the workers were all purchased servants, this is still an industry that requires a large workforce. As the saying goes, with many people involved, there are bound to be many mouths, and even strict control makes it difficult to prevent leaks.

Back then, the Second Prince's spies infiltrated and stole the production process. Even though the stone fish couldn't be successfully returned to the Second Prince, once it happened, it would happen again, and the leak was only a matter of time.

Besides these covert methods, various factions in the court are also putting pressure on him openly. According to Qin Ji's original plan, he would only be able to operate the business exclusively for about three years, which would be the limit.

But unexpectedly, the emperor withstood the pressure for more than four years in order to replenish his private treasury.

But after more than four years, it was almost at its limit. More importantly, salt was a necessity for people's livelihood, and increasing production to lower salt prices would be extremely beneficial to the people. So Qin Ji took advantage of the situation and used Shi Yu to package the snowflake salt recipe that he had adjusted according to his wishes, along with one of his trusted confidants, and "sent" it to the Second Prince, intending to rip off the Second Prince.

They were waiting for the Second Prince to invest a lot of money to build enough salt fields, so that Qin Ji could clear out his stockpiles of salt over the years, make a final profit, and then leak the formula.

Of course, at this moment, the Second Prince had no idea that Qin Ji had such sinister intentions. He was calculating how much profit he could gain next year while gently stroking the back of the person in his arms, but his heart was full of vigilance.

In fact, the moment Li Fang heard Guo Wanchun's words, he almost instinctively felt murderous intent.

However, considering that she was, after all, a concubine who was sincere to him and a daughter of the Guo family, his murderous intent quickly faded away.

After actually calculating the salt field's output, Li Fang finally understood why Lao Liu, despite possessing the secret recipe, had been so tight-lipped about controlling the production of snowflake salt for the past few years.

Given his previous status as an unfavored prince, he probably couldn't control the construction of too many salt fields. More importantly, if he really started to make money, he would probably be surrounded and wiped out by the powerful families behind the big salt merchants.

"Even I have to think carefully before digging into this gold mine," Li Fang sighed inwardly.

Then he couldn't help but think of the Chen woman who was about to marry him. What he had thought was a good deal before now felt very unpleasant.

It's also the fault of those people at the saltworks for their incompetence. If the snowflake salt had been successfully refined earlier, he wouldn't have wasted the position of a concubine for the daughter of a maritime merchant.

"Judging from what my mother said, my father's health is deteriorating. It would be best to decide on my princess consort this year. If it weren't for the Xie family daughter's stubbornness... after I ascend the throne, ha, that mere Xie family..."

Li Fang was still envisioning the future, unaware that the crisis had arrived sooner than the seemingly bright future.

Seven days after Guo Wei's men and the barbarians reached a deal, the barbarian cavalry, with overwhelming force, broke through the already fragile border town defenses and advanced rapidly. They showed no interest in the "sacrifice" they had prepared, but instead continued their rapid advance.

Ahead lies Shattered Stone City.

The last image in Deputy General Guo's life was the gleaming blade in the cold night, and the somewhat familiar face behind the blade: "This person seems to be the small fry leader from the transaction back then..." This was his last thought in this world.

Around midnight, strange vibrations began to appear in the wind.

At first, it was a faint, distant rumble, but soon the vibrations approached like rolling thunder, growing louder and more intense—a roar that could only be produced by thousands of warhorses galloping at the same time, a roar that made the earth tremble.

The sentries guarding the city wall were the first to notice something amiss. Their sleepy eyes widened in terror as they stared into the pitch-black depths of the night. Then, they saw countless shadows suddenly surge forth from the darkness, like a tide rising from hell.

"Enemy attack..."

Less than two hours passed between the piercing alarm that tore through the night and the complete fall of Shattered Stone City, and the fall of Shattered Stone City was merely the prelude.

......

The private room on the third floor of the Jingcheng Xiankelai Hotel.

Shen Zhibai took the warmed wine from the red clay stove and poured a cup for the person opposite him with a smile: "Your Highness has come at just the right time. This Jade Ice Wine is a new brew from Jiangzuo Winery this year, and it just arrived in the capital yesterday."

After offering the first cup to Qin Ji, he then turned to Wei Sa, who was standing in the shadows by the window with his sword, and asked, "Brother Wei, would you like a cup?"

"Thank you, but no need." Wei Sa has been more vigilant than before.

Although no concrete intelligence was obtained, the tentacles of the Prince Cheng's Mansion, which were spread among all walks of life, were not spread out in vain. Wei Sa, as the commander of the secret guards, noticed from the details he had collected over the past few days that some unstable factors seemed to be brewing in the dark.

Therefore, Wei Sa has been keeping a high level of vigilance these days, keeping a close eye on his lord, Qin Ji.

Seeing Wei Sa like this, Shen Zhibai stopped trying to persuade him and instead poured Qin Ji, who had already finished his drink, another cup: "What does Your Highness think of this wine?"

"Not bad." Qin Ji gave a few perfunctory compliments, then when he saw Shen Zhibai about to pour more wine into his cup, he raised his hand to refuse: "I'm going back to the Prince's Mansion later, I won't drink anymore, let's talk about serious matters."

Upon hearing Qin Ji's words, Shen Zhibai's smiling expression vanished: "Your Highness, I suspect something may have happened in the north."

Upon hearing this, Qin Ji, who had been sitting somewhat casually, immediately straightened up and looked intently at Shen Zhibai: "What do you mean?"

"Xiankelai from Liangzhou City was supposed to deliver this year's account books a few days ago, but he hasn't arrived yet. I sent someone to inquire with the city gate guards, and they said that no one from the north has entered the city recently. Although it's possible that they were delayed on the way, but... Last month, news came from Suishi City that there seemed to be quite a few barbarians in Suishi City. I have a bad feeling about this."

The smile faded from Shen Zhibai's face, and his expression betrayed a lingering anxiety: "These all seem like trivial matters, but I've handled all sorts of intelligence over the years, and with so much information, it's inevitable that I've developed some unique intuitions. This time, my intuition tells me that the situation in the north might be dire. But there's no concrete information at the moment."

After saying this, Shen Zhibai himself felt that he was being a bit outrageous. Based on his own unfounded feelings, he actually dared to say that something had happened in the north in front of the prince.

He was somewhat annoyed by his impulsiveness, and then changed the subject: "Let's wait for the people who went to investigate to return before discussing this matter. Actually, the main thing I wanted to do today was to report to the Prince that our people discovered something unusual about the Chen family's wedding procession."

Qin Ji gently swirled the empty wine glass, and after a while, he slowly said with a worried look, "In the north, Guo Wei has probably already raised a tiger that will turn on him and bite him back."

If something truly goes wrong, given Guo Wei's style, he will undoubtedly choose to immediately suppress the news to leave room for maneuver. But even if such news is suppressed, it won't last long; we may soon receive bad news about the North.”

In fact, when Shen Zhibai said that there were no records of people from the north entering the city recently, Qin Ji had already basically determined that war had broken out in the north, and that the Dingbei Army might have already suffered several major defeats.

His previous impeachment of the Dingbei Army for receiving salaries without working was not only to weaken the power of the two emperors' faction, but also to give Guo Wei a warning so that he would restrain himself.

However, the emperor's handling of the matter was far too lenient, and in the end, it not only failed to serve as a warning to others, but may have even emboldened Guo Wei to act with greater impunity.

Thinking of this, Qin Ji couldn't help but feel a little depressed: "Tell me about the Chen family's wedding procession. What happened?" The matter in the north was of great importance, and he needed more information before making a decision.

After skipping over the topic of the North, Shen Zhibai put on his cheerful smile again, scratched his head and said, "Your Highness, you know me. I like to watch some interesting things, so I've been keeping an eye on the matter of Prince Huai taking a concubine, and have people send me some interesting news to pass the time."

It is well known that Prince Huai's romantic affairs have always been the most popular topic of conversation in the capital. In particular, Shen Zhibai is even more concerned about this marriage because he knows that Prince Huai has to marry a woman from the Chen family and that his own prince and princess have a somewhat subtle relationship with her.

Little did they know that the spies they had sent out actually caught something of real importance: "The Chen family's procession is almost here, but my men have discovered that Consort Chen's dowry is far too much. According to the estimate when she boarded the ship, the Chen family has prepared 108 loads of dowry."

The numbers seem correct now, but sixty of the dowry baskets have been replaced with larger dowry chests, and the chests that were originally carried by two people are now carried by four, many of whom are skilled martial artists, and the guards are exceptionally tight. This is very suspicious.

"Wei Sa, have your people go over there," Qin Ji instructed Wei Sa, who was standing quietly to the side.

It's fine for Shen Zhibai's men to gather information casually, but if you really want to dig deeper, you still have to rely on Wei Sa's secret guards.

"Yes, my lord."

......

The secret guards were quite efficient; Qin Ji received a message by carrier pigeon that very night. Coincidentally, Xiao Yan also received an urgent letter from Xiao Fuyan, the contents of which were also related to the Chen family.

More precisely, Xiao Fuyan's letter contained another unopened letter, written by Chen Haiping, the eldest son of the Chen family, who was also the person who escorted the Second Prince's concubine, Chen Shi, to her wedding.

Although the Chen family mainly engaged in maritime trade, as fellow wealthy merchants, the Chen family head and Xiao Fuyan had some connection. However, the fact that Xiao Fuyan was able to relay the message based on that meager connection reveals a glimpse into his current mental state.

As a family that had entered into a marriage alliance with the Second Prince, and as someone who was about to become the Second Prince's brother-in-law, Chen Haiping not only secretly sent a letter to Cheng Wang, but this letter was also both a deadly handle and a letter that was almost a declaration of surrender.