Chapter 983: The Big Pit

He Lingchuan frowned: "Are there only six hundred people left of the Bailong tribe driven out of the Ya Kingdom?" Before the Ya Kingdom was founded, it was already at odds with the Mou Kingdom and closer to Beijia; therefore, the Mou Kingdom supporting several pro-Mou forces in that region was also a means of checks and balances. But after the Ya Kingdom was founded, the pro-Mou forces were bound to suffer, such as the Bailong people.

"It is said that to escape the Ya Kingdom's pursuit, the tribe split into several groups, each fleeing on their own. The group that came to our island is one of them, led by a man named Wansong, who is the younger brother of the late chieftain. I observed that he is brave, good at fighting, and has a short temper. When he took the courage test, he didn't even blink; he is a ruthless man who keeps his head on the line." Regarding the new members, Qiu Hu had clearly done his background research. "They have been quite well-behaved since coming to the island; they don't get close to others, don't cause trouble, and even went to pick palm nuts for odd jobs while waiting to be organized into squads."

Leini also said: "The other farmhands are all afraid of them and dare not get close."

Guan Ke said in a shrill, eerie voice: "Being well-behaved means they don't want to attract attention."

"Since they are fleeing, it is inevitable that they would bring their families along." He Lingchuan mused, "It's just that they dare not bring their families onto the island; they have ulterior motives."

Is it because they are afraid of being held back when they do things?

Wang Fubao said angrily: "Good, they have their eyes on this piece of prime land!"

"Wansong's group, counting their families, is at least over a thousand people. Since he is the leader, he has to be responsible for finding food and drink for over a thousand mouths, and also find a place to live. For a refugee group, how could that be an easy task?" How heavy this burden is, He Lingchuan knows best right now.

Qiu Hu also nodded: "The Ya Kingdom has declared that no one is allowed to take in the Bailong tribe, otherwise their great army will press upon the border."

The Ya Kingdom is so overbearing because it is surrounded by small countries, none of which can defeat it.

"So there is simply no place for them to stay in this vicinity, and the nearby deserted islands are all owned, unless they go to sea to become pirates—we have many archipelagos to our east and west, and there are indeed quite a few pirates."

After calculating, only the Yangshan Archipelago is truly most suitable for these Bailong people. It has resources, arable land, and is close to the mainland; the natural conditions are too good.

And the Yangshan Archipelago is too large and surrounded by the ocean; even if the Ya Kingdom knows they have settled here, they have no way to send a great army.

Islands are natural barriers; it is not without reason that refugees like to run to the sea to avoid disaster.

Once the basic situation was clarified, cold sweat broke out on the backs of Qiu Hu and the others.

Have they been so busy lately that they couldn't even see the disaster right before their eyes, and had to be reminded by a girl like Leini!

He Lingchuan said to Min Tianxi: "Send your subordinates to probe them, and keep a close watch on their leader; also, find out where their families are hiding. With over six hundred Bailong people, it's impossible that no one has let something slip!"

Min Tianxi's martial prowess is not as good as Qiu Hu's, but this man has charisma, likes to talk to people and do outreach work, and is more tactful in dealing with people. Originally, the cohesion of the Second Route Pirates exceeded that of the other two groups of peers, which was basically his credit.

He Lingchuan believes that he can also exert his strengths here.

Min Tianxi immediately took the job.

"We are recruiting on a large scale, so it is inevitable that many outside spies will mix in. You must be more cautious in your words and actions, and don't let any secrets leak." He Lingchuan instructed all his subordinates, "Later, we will choose an opportunity to crack down strictly to serve as a warning to others!"

Everyone responded in unison.

He Lingchuan turned his head again and asked Ding Zuodong: "When can the inner armor for the guard team be delivered?"

"We ordered fifteen hundred sets the day before yesterday; it will take at least a month and a half at the earliest."

"Too slow, pay extra to urge them." It will be needed during training.

"Yes."

He Lingchuan took a cloth bag out of his storage ring and opened it; inside were dozens of silver banknotes.

The face value of the top few notes was so large that Leini felt a bit suffocated just looking at them. She had never seen so much money in her life.

Ding Zuodong also could not hide his shock.

He Lingchuan had previously taken Min Tianxi and Dong Rui out without telling him where they were going, and the result upon returning was such a spectacle! "These banknotes total two hundred and twenty thousand taels." He Lingchuan's voice was as calm as water, and then he handed one hundred and fifty thousand taels to Ding Zuodong, "Put these into the account first; if it's not enough, come find me."

Ding Zuodong steadied himself, put away the banknotes, and said happily: "The Proprietor is amazing; this money will last for a long time!"

Two hundred and twenty thousand taels! The Proprietor managed to get over two hundred thousand taels in just a few days! Didn't the Lu family want to drag them down? Didn't they want to wait for them to go bankrupt and then take over the Yangshan Archipelago? Then let them wait; they won't get it even if they wait until the end of time!

These two hundred and twenty thousand were a timely rain; the hearts of Ding Zuodong and the others instantly settled down.

He Lingchuan laughed and scolded: "It's not just about spending money; you also have to earn money for me, otherwise no amount of money will be enough."

"We will, we will!" Ding Zuodong smiled until crow's feet appeared, "In the few days you were away, we negotiated several more big orders, totaling over forty thousand barrels of oil. We are preparing to ship the goods on the day the shop officially opens to get a good start!"

"Very good." Forty thousand barrels of oil is not a huge number, but this opening success is very important.

Seeing that the others had finished speaking, Guan Ke coughed lightly and stepped forward: "My lord, I also have a piece of news here."

"Speak."

"Do you remember the twenty-seven cargo ships sold by the Yashan Chamber of Commerce? Something went wrong."

He Lingchuan then became a little interested: "How so?"

A few days ago, the near-bankrupt Yashan Chamber of Commerce sold off twenty-seven cargo ships at a low price. He Lingchuan pondered for a long time, and with Guan Ke's strong advice against it, he did not buy them.

"The three chambers of commerce that paid to buy them sent people to collect the ships, but they couldn't take them and were even beaten." Guan Ke coughed, "Later we found out that the Yashan Chamber of Commerce had mortgaged all these ships to the Platinum Island in the east two years ago; this time, selling the ships was a case of selling the same thing twice. It's just that this was done secretly, and few people locally knew about it."

Leini asked curiously: "Then who do these ships actually belong to?"

"Those three will probably seek arbitration from the Daofeng Port Maritime Customs Office. But the mortgage by the Yashan Chamber of Commerce happened on Platinum Island; according to the principle of territoriality, Platinum Island may not pay attention to the Customs Office's handling results; besides, the Customs Office doesn't necessarily have to take this case, so in the end, those three chambers of commerce can only negotiate with Platinum Island themselves."

"This is a huge pit." Guan Ke said to He Lingchuan, "If we had bought these cargo ships, the ones arguing with Platinum Island right now would be us."

This would not only require throwing away over twenty thousand taels of silver, but also spending a lot of energy.

What He Lingchuan needs least right now is accidents and trouble.

"Also, I found the clerk who originally reported the tip to Manager Ding." Guan Ke added, "That guy has never been the most well-informed person in Daofeng Port, yet this time he knew about the Yashan Chamber of Commerce selling ships earlier than everyone else. The matter was a bit suspicious, so I asked him about it and found out that this news was also leaked to him by someone else, so he rushed to report it to Manager Ding. Now he can't find the source of the news either."

(End of chapter)