Chapter 1081: The Fermenting Reputation

Although she put away the sword, He Lingchuan also saw that it was a divine weapon.

"Alright." He sighed long, directly appointing the general: "A-Feng, Miss Lu's safety is handed to you."

Wanzai Feng immediately responded with a "Yes."

"I..." Lu Feiyan wanted to say it was unnecessary, but thinking that this was not her own army, she swallowed the words back.

By the afternoon, the Yangshan Archipelago gathered a fleet and set off to the east.

A total of ten ships, each carrying one hundred people.

The fleet looked dense, but in fact, it was not conspicuous on the busy Golden Waterway. He Lingchuan specifically requested the fleet to keep a distance, no different from ordinary merchant ships.

He Lingchuan, Qiu Hu, Wanzai Feng, and others discussed countermeasures on the flagship, and a huge sand table floated in the council cabin, evolving into the base camp of the Qinglong tribe, even detailed to a small ditch.

Lu Feiyan was also someone who had been through battles, and as soon as she saw the sand table so precise, she understood:

This Island Master He was not temporarily humiliated and went to ask for an explanation, he clearly had premeditated it! By the time He Lingchuan asked Wanzai Feng to analyze the personnel distribution of the Qinglong tribe, Lu Feiyan was even more certain, because Wanzai Feng was holding a teaching stick and said: The territory of the Qinglong tribe was at the southernmost near-sea location of the Ya Nation, shaped like a "concave" character, and the landform was mainly river valley plains.

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

Below the Dong, there were several townships and counties.

The total number of the Qinglong tribe was over thirty-three thousand, but they lived scattered, and the largest Wulan Dong only had a scale of six thousand people.

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

The tribe had six hundred warriors; if the Ya Nation fought a big war, the Qinglong tribe had to follow the war with four hundred people, so there were about one thousand reserve troops in the territory that could be activated to maintain order and deal with accidents.

Lu Feiyan was secretly shocked. The total number of the Qinglong tribe was thirty-three thousand, and the force that could be mobilized was actually one thousand six, a very high ratio.

If this ratio could be applied to Baili, would she still worry about no one in the army? Afterwards, Wanzai Feng introduced the landing points and pier conditions by the sea.

He Lingchuan asked Wanzai Feng: "Is it Wulan Dong Master who owes us money?"

"It's the son of Wulan Dong Master Duan Jinghe, Duan Baoning. And Duan Jinghe is the own younger brother of the Qinglong patriarch, so, Duan Baoning, who owes money and doesn't pay, is the own nephew of the Qinglong patriarch."

"Same thing." He Lingchuan had long seen through it. "Duan Baoning dared to swallow grain and humiliate people because he had the Qinglong patriarch supporting him from behind."

One person defaulting would have their legs broken, but a group of people hugging together to default, instead, the one coming to collect money had to run away with their head in their hands.

However, humiliating the Yangshan Chamber of Commerce was sweeping his, He Lingchuan's, face.

This kind of thing couldn't be laughed off, otherwise others would follow suit in the future, all thinking he was a soft persimmon that was easy to pinch, and the scene wouldn't be harmonious.

Wanzai Feng said guiltily: "The Qinglong tribe defaulting, I'm afraid it's also because the Island Master took us in."

"Afraid?" Lu Feiyan smiled. "What afraid, I think the Ya Nation just wants to retaliate against Island Master He."

The Ya Nation had long ago released words that whoever took in the Bailong tribe would be made to eat and walk around, and Baili naturally 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 truly BUG, even if the Ya Nation wanted to send troops to attack, it would need hundreds of large ships.

Even if they came, they wouldn't necessarily find the Bailong tribe. The Yangshan waters were so large, were they all playing hide-and-seek?

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

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

If hard ones didn't work, then put some eye drops? This time the Qinglong tribe didn't rob anyone else's grain, but defaulted on the Yangshan Archipelago's account, was it instructed by the Ya Nation? 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, maybe the other side had back-moves waiting for him.

So 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 didn't care. "Discuss the matter as it stands, the one who robbed grain, defaulted, and humiliated people is the Qinglong tribe."

Since he took in the Bailong tribesmen, he had to bear the consequences later.

Just like he took in the spider sisters, he inevitably had to face Beijia directly.

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

He chose, so he took responsibility.

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

Wanzai Feng immediately said: "Not boasting, it is really worse than my tribe. In the past, the Ya Nation held a martial arts competition, and the Wulan Dong Master was defeated by my old uncle twice."

Qiu Hu hugged his arms: "Then?"

"At most there are three or four hundred people. But as long as we go to Duan Baoning to collect debts, the whole Qinglong tribe will react."

Lu Feiyan inserted a sentence: "Excuse me, how much money do they owe you?"

"The grain payment to be collected is a total of six thousand one hundred and eighty-five taels."

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

On average, the Qinglong tribe spent over two hundred coins per person to buy grain? Especially the grain price in the harvest season was cheap.

Qiu Hu smiled: "People pay for grain, we don't care what they buy it for. The Yangshan Archipelago sells bulk goods, and there are countless merchants buying them for packaging and resale; maybe the Qinglong tribe also wants to do resale business. Wanzai Feng didn't say, the south of the Ya Nation had a poor harvest this year?"

Is that so? But why did Lu Feiyan feel that these guys clearly knew it in their hearts, but still sold grain to the Qinglong tribe.

He Lingchuan suddenly said: "Miss Lu, if you were to command, how would you urge payment?"

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

Wasn't she just a spectator? "Yes. You fought in the eastern part of Baili, and these few subordinates of mine all admire you very much. On such a good opportunity today, let them open their eyes."

Being praised like this, Lu Feiyan was also a bit embarrassed, but didn't decline: "Then I will talk nonsense, you listen for now."

"Please speak."

"That Qinglong patriarch also lives in Wulan Dong; if you deal with Duan Baoning in the Dong, it is easy to fall into the encirclement of the crowd, and it is expensive to enter and exit, unless you kill a bloody path." She asked He Lingchuan, "You don't want to kill more people, right?"

He Lingchuan smiled: "That is of course. We are all businessmen, paying attention to harmony to make money."

Lu Feiyan rolled her eyes in her heart.

Harmony? This Island Master He went to the Qinglong tribe to collect money, and also brought a thousand elite guards, which was indeed very "harmonious."

Thanks to 7D book friend, Dou Lao for the reward.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 1082 =====

Unlike other wealthy merchants and gentry who give out porridge and money, the Yangshan Chamber of Commerce also opened over a dozen charity schools in Bailie, which were free schools that taught commoners' children to read and write, and even taught arithmetic and medicine.

This is the principle that giving a man a fish is not as good as teaching him how to fish.

Children from destitute families could even eat a free lunch at school.

The reputation of He Lingchuan and the Yangshan Archipelago fermented rapidly among the common people.

For poor families, teaching a skill meant they had obtained the tools to make a living, which was no less than a gift of rebirth.

Opening schools, and opening over a dozen at once, was a not-insignificant burden. But He Lingchuan didn't care at all.

He would sooner or later take down Bailie, and these children and their parents would sooner or later be his subjects.

What's wrong with providing some welfare to one's own subjects? The world is full of suffering, and he often felt compassion.

Two days later, in the early morning, He Lingchuan's fleet successfully docked.

The coastline was desolate, and the mudflats were covered in stretches of reed marshes.

This place was only over forty li away from Platinum Island, and it was also a route He Lingchuan often took.

"Everyone, this battle must not only be won, but won cleanly and beautifully." He Lingchuan clapped his hands at his subordinates, "If you fail to take down the opponent within the stipulated time, or if the number of casualties exceeds the estimate, it will be counted as a failed drill, and you will be punished double! But if you win the first battle, there will be a double reward. Do you all understand?"

Ah, double punishment + reward! Everyone shivered, their spirits greatly boosted, and they replied in unison, "Yes."

He Lingchuan looked up at the sky; tonight the moon was dark and the wind was high, truly a good weather for killing! ￥￥￥￥￥

Just as He Lingchuan led the Yangshan Archipelago guard team to relentlessly demand debt from the Qinglong tribe, in the mountain forest one hundred and twenty li west of Wulan Dong, another ambush encounter battle suddenly broke out.

The chaos of close-quarters combat and the screams of the old, weak, women, and children were all covered under the thick, dark clouds.

Lu Qingbin fought side-by-side with Bailong Clan Leader Wanqi Tong, with Bailie soldiers and Bailong warriors all around them.

He pierced through the chest of a Ya Nation man and wiped away the blood droplets that splashed into his eyes, only to see torches flickering all over the mountain forest, dense and numerous; the number of enemies was impossible to estimate.

All around, the sounds of shouting and killing shook the sky.

Lu Qingbin decisively ordered: "Order the whole army to move south, to Storm Bay!"

He knew that this support mission wouldn't be that simple!

(End of chapter)