Chapter 186: Barking Once

"Chumming?"

Xue Yanzhi asked with an open mind: "Deputy Envoy Wen, what do you mean by that?"

Wen Gu said: "To see if we can lure out the big fish."

Xue Yanzhi understood.

He had originally only wanted to see if he could stir up a little trouble over there, and then take the opportunity to stab a few people on his revenge list.

Yet Wen Gu was aiming for the big shots!

With this posture, it was like chumming to provoke the big fish out, then taking the opportunity to stab them a few times—if he could stab them to death, that would be best; if he couldn't kill them, he would at least stab them into a serious injury?

Xue Yanzhi secretly took a deep breath.

As expected of someone who could be a Deputy Envoy, the strikes were so ruthless!

Xue Yanzhi could see that Wen Gu had confidence and ideas, but he was not sure how intense Wen Gu's confidence and ideas were. Was he going to act in the near future, or continue to wait?

So Xue Yanzhi pretended to be casual and said: "To use such tactics between major powers, we would need the consent of Commissioner Zhao and the various big shots, right?" Wen Gu nodded: "Correct."

Xue Yanzhi wanted to ask: Deputy Envoy Wen, when do you plan to go persuade Lao Zhao?

He then saw Wen Gu put down his teacup, stand up, and say: "I am going to Zhao Fu."

Xue Yanzhi:!!!

He had previously been very wary of Wen Gu's initiative, but now, he felt the charm of this kind of initiative!

Wen Gu walked outside, and Xue Yanzhi followed along the whole way, fawningly waving a fan. It was a bit muggy today, so he must not let Deputy Envoy Wen get overheated! Until Wen Gu rode off toward Zhao Fu, Xue Yanzhi stood at the entrance of the Patrol Guard Division, eyes filled with longing.

Ming Tiao walked over: "Can you have some self-awareness as a young master of a prestigious family?"

Xue Yanzhi didn't hear a single word; he asked Ming Tiao: "Do you think Deputy Envoy Wen can persuade Commissioner Zhao?"

Ming Tiao dared not touch such a topic.

Xue Yanzhi asked again: "Then do you think it was my sincerity that moved Deputy Envoy Wen?"

Ming Tiao opened his mouth, about to speak.

Xue Yanzhi muttered to himself: "But I always feel like he has been planning this for a long time?"

Chumming also requires preparing bait in advance, and the quantity cannot be small!

The question is, when did Wen Gu start preparing?

Xue Yanzhi pondered intently.

No, it shouldn't just be Wen Gu.

The Zhao Family might have laid out plans in advance; it was just that with his own status, he was temporarily unable to know.

Analyzing and considering this, Xue Yanzhi felt invigorated again.

Regardless of whether the Zhao Family had laid out plans in advance, for him, it was definitely of great benefit regarding his revenge! He had already seen the dawn! On the other side, Wen Gu arrived at Zhao Fu.

Head Steward Fusheng was preparing to have the Kitchen ready some meals and snacks to be sent to the backyard, as the Head of the Family would be going to the backyard later.

Seeing Wen Gu arrive, Head Steward Fusheng stopped in his tracks, calm and practiced.

No matter when Deputy Envoy Wen came over, every time he came, the Head of the Family would probably, very likely... have to work overtime.

After waiting a while longer and listening to the movements inside the house, Head Steward Fusheng still went to instruct the Kitchen, but not to send the food to the backyard; instead, he sent it here. Today, the Head of the Zhao Family would have to summon several high-level officials to discuss important matters again.

Patrol Guard Division.

Xue Yanzhi waited at the entrance the whole time, and it was only when the ward gates were about to close that Wen Gu returned.

Xue Yanzhi immediately went over, running around to attend to his needs.

"How was it? Deputy Envoy Wen?" he asked eagerly.

Wen Gu handed him a small box: "The answer is inside."

There were other matters to attend to, so Wen Gu left in a hurry.

Xue Yanzhi carefully held the small box, went to a place where no one was around, and cautiously opened it.

When he saw clearly what was inside, his eyes almost burst with a scorching, bright light.

The box contained fine, snow-white salt!

Xue Yanzhi extended his finger to rub it, then tasted it carefully.

"Ha! Hahahaha!"

He laughed out loud.

Seeing this kind of high-grade Refined Salt, he could roughly guess what the Zhao Family wanted to do.

Although the Six Great Powers of Beidi could not go to war, they were always probing each other; as long as one side showed signs of fatigue, the other five would immediately draw their blades! Previously, the Zhao Family was actually considered the most bottom-tier among the Six Great Powers of Beidi.

But as Lao Zhao persuaded the four major maritime families of the South to move to Xinzhou, and with the Zhuo Family of Prime Minister Zhuo and others arriving in Xinzhou one after another, the situation became increasingly stable, and their confidence grew.

At the most critical moment, there was only the last time Zhao Shaozhu was attacked. If they hadn't held on, it would indeed have been a major blow to Xinzhou, and Xinzhou would have experienced a period of turmoil.

Now the Zhao Family had bared its fangs.

Unlike luxury goods like Sugar that one could do without, Salt, regardless of whether the world was in chaos or not, was a necessity!

To avoid being controlled by others, the Zhao Family had long since found a place to produce salt.

With Xue Yanzhi's current status, he had no way of knowing where the Zhao Family's salt production site was, but the fact that the Zhao Family could take this step meant that the stockpiled quantity was definitely not small!

And the technology for refining and purification was definitely not inferior to that group of veteran salt merchants!

Having obtained that box of Refined Salt, Xue Yanzhi remained in a state of excitement, and for the next few days, he worked with great passion!

There was hope!

He was now full of fighting spirit, a total workaholic!

Working willingly!

Woof woof woof!

【As long as Wen Gu can be persuaded, Wen Gu can leverage the high-level officials of Xinzhou!】

Brother Pei's words were true!

The Zhao Family had long since laid their plans, and now that they had decided to make a move, they acted with great speed.

Xue Yanzhi could not know the Zhao Family's exact deployments, but he was willing to follow Wen Gu's instructions and cooperate with the actions.

The Zhao Family had their own channels, and Xue Yanzhi also had his own connections; the political resources his father had left him were exactly what needed to be put to use! Large merchant caravans that could survive in such chaotic times all had powerful and wealthy figures behind them. As long as the power-holders above gave the order, the merchant caravans below would execute it quickly, and this matter was not entirely a waste of favors; it was mutually beneficial.

Thus, certain news and samples of Refined Salt were quickly spread out.

A small seaside Town.

Last autumn and winter, one branch of the Xianshou Army in Xinzhou came here, both to receive the four families arriving by sea from afar and to build a small Town here to test the Sun-Drying Salt Method offered by the sea merchants.

Since then, Wen Gu had proposed suggestions to improve the Sun-Drying Salt Method, and with the addition of the Salt Refining Technique contributed by Qingyi Daozhang, they had obtained a large amount of fine salt grains as white as snow!

Except for the first batch of goods sent to Xinzhou, the salt produced over the past six months had been stored in the warehouse and had not leaked out.

The news was also kept confidential from the outside.

This day, the commander guarding this place received a secret letter from Lao Zhao and obtained instructions for subsequent actions.

Jinwu City, one of the three major cities of the Ren Clan.

It was commanded by Ren.

Judging by the season, the most dangerous period of this year had already passed; looking ahead, the seventh month would bring scorching heat, and winter would soon arrive; even if the weather fluctuated, the attack power of the gathered Plague Ghost would decrease.

Ren was originally in a pretty good mood, but today, a subordinate brought something that greatly affected his mood.

Ren looked at the small bag of Refined Salt placed on the desk.

"Are you sure it's goods from Xinzhou?" he asked.

The subordinate beside him replied: "The news we gathered is that those merchant caravans in Xinzhou are already preparing for trade during the autumn and winter seasons, and among the goods they have prepared, there is this kind of Refined Salt! Provided by the Zhao Family!"

Ren smiled with an ambiguous meaning: "The Xinzhou merchant caravans are preparing to sell salt? Then what about those people from the Du Clan in Jizhou?"

Jizhou was where the most salt peddlers gathered; regardless of whether they were legal or illegal salt peddlers, most of those large salt-selling magnates had defected to the Du Family in Jizhou! One must know that in these chaotic times, many merchant caravans in Jizhou would still sell salt to other places during the autumn and winter seasons.

Even if other powers in Beidi held salt mines in their hands, there was a clear gap between their production volume and purification technology compared to the Du Clan.

Whenever merchant caravans were active, wealthy families in various places would still buy salt from the merchant caravans coming from Jizhou. Especially those powerful and noble people who had high requirements for their quality of life preferred the salt coming from Jizhou even more.

It could be said that the Du Clan in Jizhou supported many salt peddlers, and the salt peddlers would bring back a large amount of goods to feed back into Jizhou.

But if...

"If Xinzhou also starts selling Refined Salt?" Ren asked, "What is the price?"

The subordinate replied: "It is similar to that of the Jizhou merchant caravans."

Ren looked at the snow-white salt grains on the desk and suddenly asked again: "Compared to the kind of salt obtained last year?"

The subordinate lowered his head: "... Similar!"

Ren sneered: "Wen Gu of Xinzhou! Ha, Patrol Guard Division Vice Commissioner? Are you sure it's him?"

The subordinate said respectfully: "Comparing it with the portrait sent over from there, and also comparing the people who were following Wen Gu at that time, as well as the news we gathered, it is him nine times out of ten!"

Ren leaned on the couch, grabbed a small Jade Carved Evil-Warding Beast, and played with it in his hand to steady the restlessness in his heart.

"If only we could have been one step faster back then..."

If he had intercepted the person at that time, or killed him directly, he wouldn't have sent such a great help to the Zhao Family!

Forget it, let's not think about these for now; a missed opportunity is a missed opportunity, he could only wait for the next chance.

For now, it was better to focus on the struggle between Xinzhou and Jizhou!

The profit of salt tied too many people in Jizhou together.

Those people had different identities, different backgrounds, and even pre-existing conflicts of interest.

And once their interests were damaged, they would likely start arguing among themselves first!

The Zhao Family had directly struck at the foundation of many wealthy families of the Du Clan!

Ren continued to play with the Jade Carved Evil-Warding Beast in his hand, one movement at a time.

"Why did the Zhao Family suddenly make such a ruthless move against the Du Family?" he said.

"Revenge?" the subordinate said uncertainly, "But, does the Zhao Family have a grudge against the Du Family?"

Ren sat up, his eyes flashing with sharp light: "Shuo City, Xinzhou, Zhao Yao was attacked!"

They had long heard about the attack on the Zhao Shaozhu, and they had even sacrificed a few imperial clansmen.

"That person is hiding in the Du Clan in Jizhou?"

Ren's gaze was cold and carried a ruthless edge: "Keep an eye on the Du Clan!"

If the Du Clan fell into chaos on their own...

A war might not start, but the spies the Ren Clan had planted in various places could take the opportunity to kill a few people on the assassination list!

Or take advantage of the chaos to poach people, digging up some potential talent. If they were even luckier, perhaps they could even seize resources!

Anyway, they were close to Jizhou, making it more convenient to take action!

Although the other families in Beidi were a bit further away from Jizhou, they held a similar attitude:

Nowadays, resources were scarce, and if there was an opportunity, they would of course take the chance to take a bite! Just one bite could make their own household live much more comfortably!

The Six Great Powers of Beidi were like six giant beasts entrenched on the northern land.

Originally, the six giant beasts were wary of each other, yet they coexisted in balance.

Suddenly, the one in Xinzhou let out a "woof" roar at the one in Jizhou.

The other four, which had been looking around, instantly turned their attention over.

With greedy and malicious gazes, they looked at Xinzhou, then looked at Jizhou.

Whichever showed signs of decline first, they would quickly bite down!