Chapter 435: Find a Wife for the Prince of Xin?

Zhu Youxiao was not worried about his own men beating up Fan Yongdou's underlings.

Let alone beating Fan Si—even if they beat Fan Yongdou himself, so what?

Zhangjiakou was not like Jiangnan and other places; Zhu Youxiao had far fewer scruples doing things here.

If he moved against the big merchants in Jiangnan, he would have to consider the follow-up problems. For example, the salt merchants—if he moved against them, who would transport the salt? How would it be sold?

Then salt prices would skyrocket and smuggled salt would run rampant, and the ones who suffered would be the common folk. If someone secretly made a move or harbored ill intentions, it could very likely stir up chaos in Jiangnan.

Before finding replacements and a good management model, Zhu Youxiao could not touch these big Jiangnan merchants. When the day came that he did move against them, it would certainly be because he had already paved the way. Otherwise, if Jiangnan descended into chaos, that would not be the result Zhu Youxiao wanted.

But in Zhangjiakou, Zhu Youxiao had no such scruples. The trading partners of Zhangjiakou's big merchants were the Mongols; even if he moved against these merchants, it would not affect the stability of the Ming dynasty.

Even if Zhu Youxiao arrested every merchant trading with the Mongols, it would be no big deal; if prices skyrocketed on the Mongol side, that too would be no big deal—if their supplies were cut off, so be it. The Ming did not care.

On the contrary, with such trade pressure, Ming goods could actually fetch higher prices—that would be a good thing. So when doing things in Zhangjiakou, Zhu Youxiao was even more unscrupulous.

At worst, the worst-case scenario was the Mongols leading a great army to attack. Such things had never been unusual, because that was how the two sides had always interacted.

Once the Mongols had hard times, they would gather their tribes and attack, hoping to find a chance to plunder the Han people hard. If they could plunder, then naturally they would return loaded with loot, singing and dancing in celebration; if they could not, then they would surrender and beg for trade, hoping the Ming would give them more benefits out of consideration for Mongol submission.

Usually in such situations, for the purpose of appeasement, the Ming would also agree to trade. Only, when the Mongol army first arrived, the Ming generally agreed to trade; after a period of calm, once the Ming felt secure again, it might refuse trade once more.

Such things always went back and forth. The Mongol army would come and fight a battle—plunder if they could, trade if they could not. Either way, they always had to speak with knives in hand. It had always been so, and Zhu Youxiao did not think anything major would come of it.

With Ligdan Khan's current strength, there was simply no way he could mount any substantive confrontation with the Ming. Even if he came to fight, it would be nothing more than for trade or to rob money.

Ligdan Khan had no ability to invade the Ming. If he overextended himself, his retreat route and his home base could easily be taken by the Jianzhou barbarians.

They could only honestly conduct trade. If possible, Zhu Youxiao could even sow discord and get the Mongols to fight the Jianzhou barbarians first.

This made Zhu Youxiao think of something—the Ming army's reward system: forty taels per head.

What would happen if the Ming had the Mongols buy Jianzhou barbarian heads at forty taels apiece? Would the two sides fight each other to the death? Could the Ming pick up an advantage?

But thinking about Mongol combat effectiveness, Zhu Youxiao could only shake his head. Getting the Mongols and the Jianzhou barbarians to fight was simply not going to happen.

Right now, among the three powers in the north—the Ming, the Jianzhou barbarians, and the Mongols—it was a contest of who was rotten and who was more rotten.

The Mongol cavalry had long lost the might of Genghis Khan's era, and the Ming had lost the valor of its founding days; as for the Jianzhou barbarians, they were fine when they first rose, but later they too gradually declined—anyway, there was always someone worse.

"Young master, the mutton is here." Wei Chao came to Zhu Youxiao's side and said in a low voice.

He thought the young master had somehow spaced out and drifted off.

Zhu Youxiao had actually been thinking about matters. Hearing Wei Chao's words, he snapped back to attention, but on reflection, he felt that the idea of buying heads was not quite appropriate.

First, Zhu Youxiao had no money.

Second, money was not meant to be spent that way.

Besides, Zhu Youxiao did not truly want to bathe the northeast in blood and wipe everyone out.

The northeast was a good place. Zhu Youxiao wanted to occupy it, assimilate it, develop it, and continue probing further north—the northeast was his base.

If he killed until blood floated oars and no smoke rose for a thousand li, what would that accomplish?

Take the long view; think of a good plan later.

Having sorted out his thoughts, Zhu Youxiao looked at the mutton before him, and a satisfied expression appeared on his face.

The mutton was roasted to a slight golden-brown crispness, and the aroma instantly filled Zhu Youxiao's nostrils—one whiff told him it tasted good.

"Eat the mutton." Zhu Youxiao said with a smile.

The noise around them had died down considerably.

Earlier, when the Fan family people had arrived, the surroundings had gone quiet for a while. After the Fan family people left, instead of relaxing, everyone became even more cautious.

That group with Zhu Youxiao sitting there actually dared to throw Fan family people out—clearly their identities were extraordinary. Not to be offended, not to be offended.

Meanwhile, at the Fan residence, Fan Si was meeting with Fan Yongdou.

Looking at Fan Si's mournful face, Fan Yongdou frowned and asked: "What's with this appearance? Didn't I send you to invite people? Did things not go smoothly?"

"Not smoothly" did not even begin to cover it. Fan Si felt helpless inside, but he did not dare show too aggrieved an expression on his face.

He knew very well what temper his master had. If he let the master think he was stirring up trouble, the trouble would be great indeed.

Fan Si said: "Master, this is what happened..."

Then Fan Si recounted the whole affair in detail, without the slightest embellishment and without any fabrication—he told it completely and fully.

He did not even conceal the fact that Wei Chao had called Fan Yongdou some nobody or other.

"They just threw me out like that."

Finally, Fan Si said: "Master, that is exactly what happened."

Fan Si could not possibly lie. The incident had happened in a shop with so many people watching; if he lied, he would easily be exposed.

Besides, the master was a very suspicious man. If he sent people to investigate, Fan Si would be in deep trouble. So he had to tell the matter completely, without the slightest omission.

After hearing Fan Si's account, Fan Yongdou was not angry at all. A gleam flashed in his eyes, and then he said with a smile: "Rather interesting. These people from the capital are indeed arrogant. Perfect—I'll go meet them."

Fan Si was baffled. What was wrong with his master?

Not only had he just been scolded, but now the master wanted to go knocking on their door again with his face held high? How thick-skinned could one be?

But Fan Si did not dare ask. The master had his own thoughts—how could a mere servant casually question them?

Fan Yongdou looked at Fan Si and said: "Prepare a visiting card and send it over. Say that I will pay a call tomorrow."

"Yes, master." Fan Si hurriedly nodded.

A visiting card meant a very formal visit. Not only did the etiquette have to be complete, but gifts and such also had to be prepared—nothing could be missing.

Merchants of the northern lands were clearly not so particular. Everyone was in business; time was money. Who had the mind to waste time on such things?

Even if they occasionally put on airs, it was only occasionally. They dealt with many people—all sorts of high officials and nobles—and Fan Yongdou had truly never met anyone who cared so much about these formalities.

He wondered who this person was, to be so particular.

Zhu Youxiao ate the roasted whole lamb to his heart's content.

Not a bit of mutton was left. The men Qi Yuangong had brought truly had excellent appetites—today's mutton was all eaten by them, and it was still not enough. In the end, several more lamb legs were roasted before they were full.

After leaving the roast meat shop, the group continued strolling through the streets of Zhangjiakou.

Speaking of which, there wasn't much worth strolling around here—a city of middling size, not particularly prosperous to begin with, with no great sights or attractions to speak of.

But before long, quite a commotion up ahead caught Zhu Youxiao's attention.

A Mongol merchant caravan, seemingly of no small scale, was making its way grandly down the street, a large group of people, and they appeared to be in the middle of discussing something with others.

These people looked no different from anyone else, yet what drew Zhu Youxiao's eye was not the group itself, but a young girl among them.

She wore a set of red robes, apparently in the Mongol style. She was genuinely quite pretty—delicate as carved jade, already showing the makings of a great beauty at her tender age, and the cast of her features suggested she would grow into a very beautiful woman.

Zhu Youxiao hadn't expected to find such a budding beauty here.

Zhu Youxiao turned his mind to another matter—should he consider forming a marriage alliance with the Mongols? For instance, taking the daughter of one of their tribal chieftains as a wife.

That was exactly what the Qing dynasty had done back in the day, and the results seemed rather effective.

If Zhu Youxiao married the daughters of several tribal chieftains and then propped up a few of those tribes, would they end up fighting among themselves?

Thinking it over, Zhu Youxiao felt this plan was quite feasible. But there was one matter that needed resolving—the opposition forces at home.

The imperial bloodline must not be diluted—that would be rather difficult to manage. Especially those stubborn old fossils at court; they wouldn't be easy to deal with.

Perhaps an ordinary person marrying across such lines would be no great issue, but when it came to the Emperor himself, the problem would be magnified without limit, and who knew what trouble might brew from it.

How about using Prince Xin as an example first?

After all, he had already established his own household and administration. Arranging a marriage for him—who knew how that would turn out.

Zhu Youxiao stared at the little girl, his mind churning, and before he knew it, his eyes gradually turned lecherous, fixed on her with an unblinking gaze.

Both parties' minds were racing at this moment, each holding their own interpretations.

In Wei Chao's and Chen Hong's view, since His Majesty seemed greatly interested in that little girl, they ought to dutifully present her to him, for their master's amusement.

All under heaven is the king's land; all within the shores are the king's subjects. How much more so a daughter of the barbarians?

If His Highness has taken a liking to her, that is her fortune—what more is there to say?

But to those Mongols, such a gaze was clearly ill-intentioned.

The men beside the girl watched Zhu Youxiao and his party with wary eyes.

The one at the head even began walking toward Zhu Youxiao.