Chapter 425

"Then should we still make a move?"Sun Yaoqing asked weakly.

The head of the Wang family, being somewhat calmer, said, "Why not devise a plan to make him choose the second option?"

The head of the Lu family slammed his hand on the table.

Bang!

"The head of the Wang family is right; truly, great minds think alike. I was thinking the same, brother. We can lure Su Qiao into the second choice. We must not attack his carriage, nor arouse his suspicion and vigilance. We must make him believe we have taken someone important, so that with just a little effort, he can catch us and save the person he wants!"

"Sigh, this is truly troublesome. If not for the fear of ambushes whenever he leaves the city and the risk of alerting the snake, I would have wanted to attack his carriage directly!"

The head of the Qian family slapped his thigh and said.

The other heads of families immediately chimed in agreement!

279, Capture!

Just as several family heads were racking their brains on how to deal with Su Qiao.

Su Qiao, at this moment, discovered traces of opium circulation in the message relayed by Zhao Xifang.

Zhao Xifang, holding the large sum of money Su Qiao gave him, pretended to be a wealthy landlord, deliberately spending lavishly in Fuzhou City and generously befriending some rich merchants.

Relying on handfuls of silver and a generous demeanor, he quickly made quite a few "fair-weather friends"!

For amusement, besides visiting the brothels in Yanzhi Lane, they would gamble, listen to music, and enjoy songs.

Occasional indulgence was acceptable, but playing constantly became somewhat tedious.

Zhao Xifang himself had been specially dispatched by Su Qiao to investigate secretly.

So, taking the opportunity, he asked his "fair-weather friends" around him if there were any exciting new tricks!

Zhao Xifang originally asked with a testing attitude.

Unexpectedly, there was indeed an unexpected harvest!

There was a merchant with modest wealth named Xue Fenglin who played with Zhao Xifang quite often; their relationship was considered quite good, not quite to the point of risking one's life for another.

But at the level of fair-weather friends, they did enjoy leisure and pleasure together.

Moreover, because Zhao Xifang spent generously and treated them to meals several times.

Xue Fenglin always felt somewhat embarrassed, so when Zhao Xifang asked about exciting things.

He suddenly thought of something, his eyes lit up, he avoided the others, and leaned close to Zhao Xifang's ear to whisper.

"I wonder if Brother Zhao has ever dealt with the Franks?"

Zhao Xifang's heart trembled; he felt he had truly dug up something.

Although he felt some expectation and excitement, he did not reveal it.

"As for these Franks, I know I saw them before in the Capital; they seemed to talk about preaching, which I am not very interested in," Zhao Xifang said, feigning a lack of interest.

"Sigh, Brother Zhao, those Franks you mentioned are called priests; they do preach and such, and I, your humble junior, am not interested either. However, I am talking about the good things obtained from among the Franks!"

Xue Fenglin pretended to be mysterious and winked at Zhao Xifang.

Seeing his expression, Zhao Xifang immediately understood his meaning and then spoke up, requesting to go out to relieve himself.

Xue Fenglin naturally followed closely behind.

The two temporarily left the banquet, and no one paid much attention; no one took it to heart!

After coming out one after the other, the two found a secluded place.

Zhao Xifang curiously asked Xue Fenglin, "What is this good thing you mentioned that is so mysterious?"

Xue Fenglin chuckled, looked left and right to confirm no one was following, and then said to Zhao Xifang, "It is a good thing that can be smoked; such a tiny bit cost me several dozen taels of silver, but the effect is truly excellent, making one feel like floating in the clouds, unable to stop..."

Perfect!

Through Xue Fenglin's description, Zhao Xifang confirmed it was opium!

Su Qiao sent him out to investigate and would certainly have explained the dangers of opium to him in detail, as well as the reaction symptoms of smoking it.

Xue Fenglin's words almost matched Su Qiao's previous instructions.

Although he had not yet seen the actual object, he already felt eighty percent certain that this was what his Mr. wanted him to investigate.

He knew deeply that the closer it got to this moment, the calmer he must remain and the more he must avoid revealing any flaws.

So, he pretended to be casual and curious as he asked Xue Fenglin.

Although Xue Fenglin possessed some of a merchant's cunning, he did not have much guard against Zhao Xifang.

His vigilance was only subconsciously maintained when doing business.

Therefore, Zhao Xifang extracting information was very easy.

Basically, without spending much time, he obtained the information he wanted.

In the afternoon, he found an opportunity to return to the post station and report this matter to Su Qiao.

Su Qiao did not expect that while the Bai Bai Lianjiao had not shown its head, progress had been made in the investigation of opium.

Before Su Qiao and Zhu Di, Zhao Xifang detailed the process of meeting Xue Fenglin, and how Xue Fenglin mysteriously told him that the Franks had good things, and so on, recounting it all.

Zhu Di and Su Qiao nodded after listening; they found no flaws.

It was Xue Fenglin who voluntarily revealed the information, not Zhao Xifang who actively asked.

This would not arouse the vigilance of the Franks.

Opium should be in a period of popularity in Europe at this time, although a small number of people had discovered its dangers.

But it was indeed a small number of people.

The majority remained addicted to the "happiness" brought by opium.

It was just that Su Qiao could not quite understand why, since they seemed to be frantically buying up opium domestically, they still wanted to sell it to Great Ming.

Could it be that they had a plan, intending to use this thing to corrupt the people of Great Ming?

Because of this question, Su Qiao, Zhu Youjian, and Zhu Di had all discussed it.

But there was no suitable conclusion.

Let's hope this Frankish man we've identified today will reveal something.

The Frankish man Xue Fenglin and Zhao Xifang mentioned is named Lester; he has already lived in Great Ming for six or seven years.

Moreover, he brought many novel items and has maintained good relations with numerous wealthy merchants of Great Ming within Fuzhou City.

This opium was also introduced by Lester a year ago.

He let several close associates try it.

The result was that once they tried it, they became addicted.

As for Xue Fenglin, he was dragged into it by a friend; he was pulled into the circle three months ago and met this Frankish man, Lester.

Now it seems Xue Fenglin is also addicted and has found Zhao Xifang to promote it.

....... 0 0

Su Qiao thought this Frankish man was quite clever and also quite cautious.

If it were an ordinary person, upon discovering that Great Ming people did not know or understand opium, they would likely start peddling and spreading it brazenly.

This Lester, however, was different; not only did he not make a scene in Great Ming, he was excessively cautious.

Had Zhao Xifang not happened to know him through Xue Fenglin, it would probably have been quite difficult to track him down.

He proactively established a small circle, a VIP client group, and then used opium to gradually control these wealthy merchants.

He relied on them to help screen clients and introduce more clients.

Was it simply for the sake of making money?

Su Qiao was truly curious about this Lester.

Since learning that these yellow-haired, blue-eyed devils were not good people, Zhu Di had been constantly urging Su Qiao to capture and behead them all.

Su Qiao, however, shook his head and said, "Great Ming cannot possibly kill off all Europeans; every nation has good people and bad people; we have simply encountered the bad ones."

"Su Qiao, do you have high hopes for these Frankish people?" Zhu Di asked in a deep voice.

"No, I should say I appreciate or have high hopes for a portion of them," Su Qiao said, shaking his head. "Among them there are criminals, beggars, ruffians, and so on, but among them there are also clever people, gentle and refined scholars, brave soldiers, and daring explorers, and so on; one cannot simply kill them all indiscriminately."

Su Qiao actually felt speechless toward Zhu Di in his heart.

Truly a ruthless man who rose through rebellion and killed many; at the slightest disagreement, he wanted to exterminate all Europeans.

Simply too brutal! Three.

280, Lester!

Zhu Di and Su Qiao discussed for a long time, yet the two of them discussed nothing at all.

They only maintained unity regarding the matter of peddling opium into Ming territory.

Strictly punish without fail!

If the opportunity arises, retaliate in return!