Chapter 155

Xiao Baoyue said coldly: "Lian San."

That feminine man who was like a nightmare was about to step forward when someone hurried to report, his voice panicked: "Young Master! The soldiers are going to search the room, we can't stop them!"

Wang Yang said to himself: "So fast? Is it half an hour? Oh right, it's half an hour at the latest, then it's fine."

As soon as this was said, the tense atmosphere became increasingly heavy.

The swordsmen were tense, like hunting leopards ready to go! Looking at Wang Yang, everyone showed murderous intent. Lian San narrowed his eyes slightly, as cold as a soul-eating ghost.

"You think you are very smart? Are you?" Xiao Baoyue asked with a sneer.

"It's okay, mainly forced by you. If you were reasonable about everything, it wouldn't have come to this step today. You, you always use the thinking of threat and control to view our relationship, which is actually not very appropriate. To put it bluntly, it's cooperation. You help me hide my identity loopholes, I help you inquire about the Prince of Badong's news. We each take what we need. Don't Lian San this, Lian San that every day, who are you scaring!"

Xiao Baoyue supported his cheek with his hand: "You think I'm scaring you? You pretending to be an aristocrat is already a capital crime, but as long as it's not exposed, there is still a chance of survival. But participating in rebellion, that is truly ten deaths and no life."

"Are you telling a joke? Who is rebelling? Is it you? So you rebel, and I am threatened by you, even if I participated?"

Wang Yang looked completely unbelieving, teasing in his mouth, but in fact, he already had a guess in his heart.

"Are you really stupid or pretending to be stupid? Such a big silk business, you dare to handle it without knowing who you are trading with?"

Sure enough!

Wang Yang had suspected the silk matter before, but firstly, under the threat of two groups of people, he didn't want to turn against the Prince of Badong again; secondly, he wanted to use this matter to design a turnaround strategy; thirdly, although he felt at the time that the Prince of Badong's attitude toward this matter was a bit of a fuss, in the end, he just felt it was wrong, but there was no substantial direction.

After Wang Yang went back, he thought about it carefully and felt that it was most likely involving a gray area similar to smuggling and gathering wealth. Now hearing that it was actually linked to rebellion, although it was unexpected, he wasn't scared. Because when he made the plan, he also considered this possibility, which was very small. So he left a backup in the counterattack plan to deal with the threat from the Prince of Badong.

At this time, if it were an ordinary person, I'm afraid they would have asked who they were trading with. But Wang Yang still couldn't rule out the possibility that the other side was bluffing him. At the same time, in order to induce the other side to say more information, he deliberately said: "I am doing a legitimate business, what does it have to do with the Prince of Badong? And it has even less to do with rebellion."

Xiao Baoyue's tone was exaggerated: "Ho! You really dare to take it! You have guts! But if you still dare to take it after hearing what I say next, then I will truly admire you!"

"Then I'll listen with respect?"

At this time, another reporter arrived: "Young Master! Those soldiers have already searched other parts of the restaurant and are about to search the room at the entrance of the secret room!"

Xiao Baoyue didn't have any panic, nor did he make any arrangements, as if he didn't hear it, and asked Wang Yang: "Do you know about the closure of several major silk fields in Jingzhou last year and the shortage of silk?"

"I know."

Xie Xinghan had told him about the closure of the silk fields, and it was precisely because of this that the Xie family sent a fleet to transport silk, which also gave Wang Yang the opportunity to use the "deceiving the heavens to cross the sea" strategy to stabilize grain prices.

As for the sharp rise in silk prices, Wang Yang had a deep experience. Not to mention that he personally participated in purchasing silk and inspecting the workshops a while ago, just saying that when he entered Jingzhou City for the second time, carrying less than a thousand coins, running around everywhere, just to buy the cheapest aristocratic clothes, many clothing store shopkeepers mentioned this to him. Wang Yang had a fresh memory of the price at that time.

"These silk fields were said to be closed, but from the shopkeeper to the weavers, no one knew where they went. Even the looms of the weaving envoy and the pestles and mortars used for dyeing cloth were gone. They moved cleanly. It's a pity, they could move these, but they couldn't move the mulberry forest. The mulberry gardens that used to supply them are still providing silkworms for them continuously. So those silk fields were not closed, but moved to the dark. Guess, whose handwriting is this?"

What on earth is the Prince of Badong trying to do with all this effort?

Wang Yang shook his head: "Can't guess, otherwise you just say it directly?"

Xiao Baoyue played with the wine cup and said slowly: "Actually, the sharp rise in silk prices in Jingzhou is not just because these silk fields closed..." He stopped suddenly when he said this.

Wang Yang knew that Xiao Baoyue was doing it on purpose, but in order to verify his guess, he still cooperated and said: "Also because someone is secretly buying silk?"

"Eh, didn't you say you couldn't guess?"

"Don't sell the pass, just say the result of your investigation. Is the Prince of Badong buying it?"

Xiao Baoyue's tone was slightly teasing: "He wouldn't directly come forward to buy it. You should be clear about this point!"

Wang Yang:......

Seeing Wang Yang speechless, Xiao Baoyue smiled slightly and continued: "But none of the people he sent out before had the status like you to buy silk in large quantities openly without causing suspicion. So he could only use more people to buy in small quantities and in a scattered way. There are twenty-three people I found in total. According to my calculation, there should be more. Do you know who these twenty-three people are?"

Wang Yang knew that this woman was trying to use storytelling to regain dominance, but for Wang Yang, this level of psychological suggestion was ineffective, so he continued to cooperate and ask: "Who is it?"

"They are military households. Military households guarding the same sentry post, the same building and the same team."

Wang Yang's heart jumped suddenly, and he suddenly remembered that when he entered Jingzhou City, the black man told him about a sentry post being slaughtered. The name of that sentry post was easy to remember, it was called...

"On March 22nd, the Cao Gonglin sentry post was slaughtered by barbarian soldiers. Do you know the fate of these twenty-three people?" Xiao Baoyue's voice became cold.

Wang Yang was silent.

"They died, not a single one survived. If I guessed correctly, the remaining people who bought silk and made clothes for him are also in that sentry post! Can you guess who he sold these silk clothes to now?"

"Barbarians?"

Wang Yang only felt it was absurd, because if the Prince of Badong wanted to make money, the trading objects were too many, but if the purpose was not to make money...

He suddenly thought of a possibility. If this possibility was really confirmed, then his proposal to build a constant-price granary was exactly what the Prince of Badong wanted!

Xiao Baoyue was slightly emotional:

"Right, an answer no one would think of. But I checked several provinces and counties with high silk prices around, and didn't find any transaction traces of that batch of Jingzhou silk. So either the Prince of Badong went far away to sell these silks to provinces with long distances and low prices, or these silks only need to pass through Jingzhou once, and then they can disappear!

Where did they go? If they are not piled up in some secret treasury, or burned by a fire, then the answer is only the two most impossible ones. It's not the Northern Dynasty, then it's the Southern Barbarians!

I checked, the possibility of the Northern Dynasty can basically be ruled out, unless the Prince of Badong has the ability to bribe the Prefect of Yongzhou and convince him to lend the Xiangyang Road to transport silk to the Northern Dynasty, then it can indeed be hidden from me. But Chen Xianda, the Prefect of Yongzhou, has been fighting with the Northern Barbarians for years and has long had blood feuds. He is also one of the commanders with the most experience in fighting the Northern Barbarians in our dynasty, and he will never trade with the Northern Dynasty privately. Then the object of the Prince of Badong's trade is only the Southern Barbarians!

The Southern Barbarians are not as good as our dynasty in manpower and financial resources, but they are very good at one thing, which is making weapons and armor. The imperial court has always prohibited trade with the barbarians. Although there are many people who smuggle and do business to the barbarians, most of them are small-scale. At this time, if someone dares to risk the world's disapproval and propose to trade weapons with the barbarians using the silk they like very much, and it is still a large batch of silk, do you say the barbarians will agree?

What's even better is that in the barbarian area, neither weapons nor iron mines are regulated by the imperial court. The Prince of Badong bypassed the Jingzhou Ministry of Works and went to the barbarian tribe to buy weapons. I don't need to say what his intentions are. If he really rebels immediately, with his appreciation for you, he might spare your life; but if he is not prepared enough and needs to continue to hibernate, then you will sooner or later fall into the same fate as those twenty-three soldiers."

Xiao Baoyue asked with a smile: "Now, do you still think you are very smart?"

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Note: "Book of Jin, Annals of Qi 3": "The Prince of Badong, Zi Xiang, the Prefect of Jingzhou, had courage and strength, was good at riding and shooting, and liked military affairs. He personally selected sixty people to carry weapons, all of whom had courage and ability; when he arrived at the garrison, he often rewarded them with beef and wine in the inner study. He also privately made silk robes and crimson jackets, wanting to give them to the barbarians in exchange for weapons."