Chapter 1077: Old Li lets something slip, and the business with the Arabian Empire arouses Qin Mu's suspicion

What Qin Mu was promoting to Old Li was the "June Alliance" that had just been formed not long ago.

With a scale of tens of thousands of people, they were stationed at June Mountain.

Besides mining gold, it was quite good to engage in some side businesses.

Especially since this side business not only made money but could also incidentally strike at the clans.

Moreover, they were operating within the territories of the Arabian Empire and the Byzantine Empire, so they could also incidentally rob some wealthy foreign merchants.

How could one not accept such a good thing?

"Old Li, what kind of business did you let the three major clans do?"

Since he wanted to deal with them, he had to understand the situation first.

At this question, Old Li was embarrassed.

The business they were doing with the Arabian Empire was piracy.

This absolutely could not be said!

The business they were doing with the Byzantine Empire was selling cattle and horses.

This business was normal, but it bypassed Great Qin, so it was a bit embarrassing to say.

Kievan Rus was nothing much, just the transport protection and feeding of cattle and horses along the way.

But this was a follow-up to the cattle and horse business; mentioning it alone would still expose the cattle and horse business.

Old Li thought for a long time, and finally said.

"In order to maintain relations with the three countries, Great Tang did some loss-making business.

That is, buying some cattle from the Byzantine Empire and transporting them back to Great Tang."

As soon as these words were out, they triggered a burst of laughter in the court.

The laughter made Old Li's face burn.

Qin Mu was also full of smiles.

"Why? Do you think the cattle of my Great Qin are sold too expensively?"

This was also human nature, bypassing expensive places to buy cheaper ones.

But the problem was, the cheap ones might not be truly cheap!

"Transporting cattle from the Byzantine Empire back to Great Tang, the distance is more than ten thousand miles!

You Great Tang are really capable of making trouble for yourselves!"

Old Li had no choice.

Transporting cattle for ten thousand miles, the shipping costs exceeded the price of the cattle.

Moreover, along the way, they had to face various dangers.

They might be robbed by mountain bandits.

The cattle might also die of illness.

On the final sea leg, they might encounter storms, and the ships and cattle might sink together.

Old Li and Fang Xuanling had carefully considered these risks.

As long as their luck wasn't too bad, overall, it was about the same as the price Great Qin sold them for.

So they really hadn't taken any advantage.

Old Li didn't know how to explain it either.

He had to say vaguely.

"Exchanges between allies always require some business dealings.

This move is not for profit, but just to have some good interaction with allies."

Great Tang was indeed having a very hard time now.

The neighboring countries around them had all been dealt with by Great Qin one by one.

They were in a state of being semi-encircled by Great Qin's territory.

If this continued, they would become a country within a country of Great Qin.

Qin Mu could certainly understand Great Tang's difficulties.

Because all of this was caused by him single-handedly!

He wanted to drive Great Tang into a desperate situation, leaving it to be manipulated by him.

Without doing so, it would not be enough to avenge the grudge of that year!

But it wasn't just about revenge.

Qin Mu also wanted to use Great Tang's plight to let the world compare the superiority of Great Qin's system.

This was also a process of gradually educating the common people.

"Buying cattle from the Byzantine Empire, transporting them via Kievan Rus, right?

That's easy to handle; on a transport line of over ten thousand miles, they can be robbed anywhere.

As long as your Great Tang pays, the horse bandits here can be dispatched at any time.

You don't need to worry about the strength of the horse bandits.

Success is guaranteed here; no pay if not successful!"

Hearing Qin Mu speak with such certainty, Old Li felt a panic.

He knew Qin Mu too well.

Whenever he put on such an easy-going attitude, he was definitely going to ask for a lion's share.

"Great Qin Emperor, it's good to guarantee success, but this price..."

Qin Mu heard the meaning in Old Li's words.

He immediately interrupted him.

"The price is easy to discuss.

I also know that Great Tang's finances are tight and you might not be able to come up with much money.

But these horse bandits are not very picky.

Land, commoners, and prisoners of war can all be used to pay off the debt!"

Old Li gasped.

Great Qin's appetite was not small; they were asking for land again.

... to slaughter Great Tang for a large sum.

What Old Li cared about most was land.

There was nowhere to capture prisoners of war at all; Great Tang was still counting on getting some prisoners of war from Great Qin. ===== CHAPTER 1079 =====