Chapter 1080

Although she sheathed her sword immediately after, He Lingchuan could still tell it was a divine weapon.

"Fine." He let out a long sigh and pointed directly at his commander, "A-Feng, I leave Lady Lu's safety to you."

Wanqi Feng immediately replied, "Yes."

"I..." Lu Feiyan had wanted to say it wasn't necessary, but thinking that this wasn't her own army, she swallowed the rest of her words.

By the afternoon, the Yangshan Archipelago gathered its fleet and set sail toward the east.

There were ten ships in total, each carrying one hundred men.

The fleet looked dense, but in reality, it was inconspicuous on the busy Golden Trade Route. He Lingchuan specifically requested that the ships maintain distance from one another, making them no different from ordinary merchant vessels.

He Lingchuan, Qiu Hu, Wanqi Feng, and others discussed their strategy on the flagship. A massive sand table rose in the briefing cabin, depicting the base camp of the Qinglong tribe, detailed even down to a small creek.

Lu Feiyan was also someone who had crawled through the mud on the battlefield; once she saw how precise the sand table was, she understood:

This Island Master He was not acting on a whim due to a sudden humiliation to demand an explanation; he clearly had a premeditated plan! When He Lingchuan asked Wanqi Feng to analyze the personnel distribution of the Qinglong tribe, Lu Feiyan became even more certain, because Wanqi Feng held a pointer and said: The Qinglong tribe's territory was located in the coastal area at the southernmost tip of the Ya Nation, shaped like a "concave" character, with terrain consisting mainly of river valley plains.

Their major settlement areas were called "Dongs," with a scale between a city and a town, and the ruler was called a "Dong Master." There were three Dongs within the Qinglong territory: Wulan Dong, Chaan Dong, and Tuku Dong.

Below the Dongs, there were several townships and counties.

The total population of the Qinglong tribe exceeded thirty-three thousand, but they lived in scattered settlements, with the largest, Wulan Dong, having a scale of only six thousand people.

Tribes within the Ya Nation found it difficult to form massive cities. The living scale of the Bailong tribe previously was about the same.

The tribe had six hundred warriors. If the Ya Nation went to war, the Qinglong tribe had to provide four hundred men for the campaign, meaning there were about one thousand reserve troops within the territory that could be activated to maintain order and respond to emergencies.

Lu Feiyan clicked her tongue in secret. The total population of the Qinglong tribe was thirty-three thousand, and they could actually mobilize sixteen hundred troops; the ratio was very high.

If this ratio could be applied to Bailie, would she still have to worry about a lack of troops? Afterward, Wanqi Feng introduced the landing points and wharf conditions along the coast.

He Lingchuan asked Wanqi Feng, "Is it the Wulan Dong Master who owes us money?"

"It is Duan Baoning, the son of Wulan Dong Master Duan Jinghe. And Duan Jinghe is the biological younger brother of the Qinglong Clan Leader, so Duan Baoning, who refuses to pay back the debt, is the biological nephew of the Qinglong Clan Leader."

"It's all the same thing." He Lingchuan had seen through it long ago, "Duan Baoning dares to come forward to swallow grain and insult people precisely because he has the Qinglong Clan Leader backing him up from behind."

A single person who defaults on a debt would have their legs broken, but a group of people huddling together to default on a debt results in the debt collector being the one who has to run for their life.

However, insulting the Yangshan Chamber of Commerce was equivalent to sweeping away He Lingchuan's face.

Such a matter could not be laughed off; otherwise, others would follow suit in the future, all thinking he was a soft persimmon easy to squeeze, and that scene would not be harmonious.

Wanqi Feng said guiltily, "The Qinglong tribe defaulting on the debt is probably also because the Island Master took us in."

"Probably?" Lu Feiyan laughed, "What 'probably'? I think the Ya Nation just wants to take revenge on Island Master He."

The Ya Nation had long ago declared that whoever took in the Bailong tribe would be made to suffer, and Bailie had, of course, received this message.

And then the Yangshan Archipelago took them in.

It was impossible for the Ya Nation not to know, but He Lingchuan's geographical location was simply too much of a bug; even if the Ya Nation wanted to send troops to attack, they would need at least a hundred large ships.

Even if they came, they wouldn't necessarily be able to find the Bailong tribe. The Yangshan sea area was so vast, were they all going to play hide-and-seek together?

The Ya Nation had sent a formal letter to the Yangshan Archipelago, but Dong Rui used it as hand-wiping paper, and the matter was left unsettled afterward.

He Lingchuan was busy with island construction all day and didn't take it to heart; he could handle the threat from Beijia, so what did the Ya Nation count for?

If they couldn't use force, then they would stir up trouble? This time, the Qinglong tribe didn't rob anyone else's grain but specifically defaulted on the Yangshan Archipelago's debt; was it instructed by the Ya Nation? It was both to test the Yangshan Archipelago's reaction and to test the Yangshan Archipelago's strength.

If He Lingchuan couldn't even handle the Qinglong tribe, perhaps the other side had follow-up moves waiting.

Therefore, this crooked wind and evil spirit must be stopped!

"What does it have to do with you? Don't have delusions of guilt." He Lingchuan was unimpressed, "Let's discuss the matter on its own merits; it is the Qinglong tribe that robbed the grain, defaulted on the debt, and insulted people."

Since he took in the Bailong tribespeople, he had to bear the subsequent consequences.

Just as he took in the spider demon sisters, he inevitably had to face Beijia head-on.

These were all futures that could be seen clearly from the start.

He chose, so he bears the responsibility.

"How is the combat strength of the Qinglong tribe?"

Wanqi Feng said immediately, "I'm not boasting, but it is truly worse than my tribe. In the past, when the Ya Nation held a martial arts tournament, the Wulan Dong Master was defeated by my old uncle twice."

Qiu Hu stood with his arms crossed on the side: "And then?"

"At most, there are three or four hundred people. However, as long as we pursue the debt from Duan Baoning, the entire Qinglong tribe will react."

Lu Feiyan interjected: "May I ask, how much money do they owe you?"

"The pending grain payment totals six thousand one hundred and eighty-five taels."

That was over six million coins. Lu Feiyan blinked, immediately hearing something wrong: "A tribe of thirty thousand people actually buys so much grain? And you also sell it to them?"

On average, each person in the Qinglong tribe spends over two hundred coins to buy grain? Especially since grain prices are cheap during the harvest season.

Qiu Hu laughed: "People bring money to buy grain; we don't care what they buy it for. When the Yangshan Archipelago sells bulk goods, countless merchants buy them to repackage and resell; perhaps the Qinglong tribe also wants to do resale business. Didn't Wanqi Feng say that the southern part of the Ya Nation had a poor harvest this year?"

Is that so? But why did Lu Feiyan feel that these guys clearly knew the score perfectly well, yet still sold grain to the Qinglong tribe?

He Lingchuan suddenly said: "Lady Lu, if you were in command, how would you intend to collect the debt?"

Lu Feiyan was greatly surprised, pointing at herself: "Me?"

Wasn't she just a spectator? "Yes. You fought battles in the eastern part of Bailie, and these subordinates of mine admire you very much. On such a good occasion today, you should let them broaden their horizons."

Being flattered by him like this, Lu Feiyan felt a bit embarrassed, but she didn't decline: "Then I will speak nonsense, and you can listen for the sake of it."

"Please speak."

"That Qinglong Clan Leader also lives in Wulan Dong. If you deal with Duan Baoning inside the Dong, you will easily fall into a siege of human waves, and it will be difficult to enter or exit, unless you carve a bloody path." She asked He Lingchuan, "You don't want to kill too many people, right?"

He Lingchuan smiled: "That goes without saying. We are all businessmen; we emphasize that harmony is the only way to generate wealth."

Lu Feiyan rolled her eyes in secret.

Harmony? This Island Master He was going to the Qinglong tribe to collect money while bringing along a thousand elite guards; that was indeed very "harmonious."

Thanks to 7D book friend and Dou Lao for the tips.

(End of chapter)