Chapter 117: Poisonous Scheme

Liu Zheng naturally would not count on Hot and Sour Vermicelli to make a fortune.

However, the bumper harvest of Sweet Potato still made the land of Yinzhou cheer and spread the news. Those who had previously doubted Liu Zheng were all dumbfounded. Two seasons a year, six thousand catties per mu per season? And this Sweet Potato could be eaten in any way, tasted sweet, and was very filling. It was indeed far better than that rice.

And so.

The entire Yinzhou, Yangzhou, and Kezhou all set off a craze for switching to planting Sweet Potato.

Liang Erfu had been extremely busy these past few days; fortunately, under Liu Zheng's instructions, the cultivation of Sweet Potato Seedling had begun to be prepared before the new year. Only then was there no shortage of seedlings for sale.

The planting of Sweet Potato began to be popularized on a large scale. And a few days later, the Slag Cement of Yintan City was finally successfully manufactured. This meant that in the future, the construction quality of Yinzhou, Yangzhou, and Kezhou would change from wood to Concrete pouring; the city walls would be the same, and construction works and defensive works would be the same! From then on, Liu Zheng's Yinzhou territory would be built by him into an iron fortress! At least when facing those cold weapon sieges of today, they would be able to hold out for a very long time.

And as time passed, Liu Zheng had already begun to consider truly marching into the desert...

Post Houses built of Cement, combined with camel caravans, would minimize losses in the desert to the greatest extent.

Of course, the most critical thing was still planting trees and the issue of water.

This gave Liu Zheng a bit of a headache.

After all, Yinzhou, or rather the entire Liangzhou, could be considered a place with little rain, and at this time, there was no level of technology that could achieve South-to-North Water Diversion. For this kind of helpless objective condition, one could only slowly think of a Method.

Liu Zheng was very busy.

The Silk Road was what he considered the biggest matter, so from selecting tree seedlings, designing the journey, to planning the planting and the Post Houses, everything was done by him personally. On the journey back and forth to Loulan, Liu Zheng had already drawn the map; based on the memories of his past life, he could roughly evaluate where it was necessary to take a detour and where it was necessary to improve the road... After all, Lop Nur was a true land of the devil; if one could bypass it, one should bypass it, and try one's best to stop the losses...

Liangzhou Prefecture.

Chen Ping sat in his study, looking at the small bag of Refined Salt in front of him with a dark face.

"What is going on?"

"Who can tell me where this Refined Salt came from?"

Then he began to roar.

A group of Counselors and aides of Liangzhou Prefecture looked at each other, silent as cicadas in winter.

"My Lord, this Refined Salt seems to have appeared out of nowhere..."

"Yes, we have investigated for a long time, but we haven't found out where this Refined Salt came from at all."

Chen Ping said angrily: "Useless, are you all a bunch of good-for-nothings?"

"Investigate who is selling it, investigate where the goods were imported from!"

"Investigate where the source is!"

Bang!

He slammed the desk hard and warned: "The matter of salt transport is a great plan of the state. Now that this kind of Refined Salt has suddenly appeared in my Liangzhou, you actually tell me you don't know. What am I paying you for!"

A Counselor said with a bitter face: "My Lord, the source, the source..."

"The source what?"

Several people took a deep breath: "My Lord, but the source of this Refined Salt seems to be in Pingzhou, we dare not investigate!"

"Prince Lu?"

Chen Ping was stunned for a moment, a sinister look flashed in his eyes, and he gritted his teeth: "Baiya Army!"

A group of people lowered their heads and said nothing.

As long as one was from Liangzhou, who didn't know the relationship between the Baiya Army and Prince Lu? If one had to say why such a bizarre official-bandit group like the Baiya Army appeared in Liangzhou, the biggest reason was the support of Prince Lu of Pingzhou! This Prince Lu looked like a person who played the fool, but in fact, he was extremely deep in his schemes, and crucially, the Emperor also had a certain degree of tolerance for him. More importantly... although Prince Lu had been playing the fool all these years, he had never expressed his attitude toward the various princes.

But everyone knew that the current Empress Zheng Fu was relatively close to Prince Lu.

In this way, Prince Lu naturally did not want the Crown Prince to succeed to the throne successfully. Therefore, he, the Empress, and the Baiya Army were all on the same side. Plus, this Prince Lu was a proper Feudatory King, so he naturally looked down on this Chen Ping of Liangzhou.

Thinking of the Baiya Army, Chen Ping thought of the Liu Family father and son in Yinzhou, and immediately became furious, shouting: "How preposterous! This Baiya Army is bold enough to dare to get involved in the salt transport business! If this continues, is Liangzhou still Liangzhou? Might as well just give it to the Baiya Army and Yinzhou!"

The crowd was terrified, and one by one they knelt on the ground.

Wasn't it so?

With the Baiya Army in the north and the Liu Family father and son in the south, Chen Ping, this Inspector, had less and less of a presence. Moreover, seeing the Baiya Army and Yinzhou developing and growing bit by bit, how could Chen Ping not be anxious? At this moment, he only occupied the advantage of being the capital of Liangzhou, and had nothing else left.

"Think of a way! Think of a way for me!"

Chen Ping shouted angrily.

A strategist on the side said: "My Lord, this subordinate has a plan!"

Chen Ping took a look and saw it was his Chief Military Advisor Liu Chang, so his expression eased a little, and he said indifferently: "Chief Clerk Liu, please speak."

This Liu Chang was thin and gaunt, but he often had brilliant plans, and the others also listened attentively. A murderous intent flashed in Liu Chang's eyes: "My Lord, although this plan is poisonous, if it succeeds, it will surely rewrite the situation in Liangzhou, and may even affect the situation of the Longyan Dynasty!"

Chen Ping was startled: "Tell me quickly!"

Liu Chang smiled insidiously: "My Lord, why have the Xiongnu invaded Liangzhou several times?"

"Lack of food!"

Chen Ping said without thinking.

Liu Chang slowly shook his head: "Lack of food, but even more lack of salt!"

Chen Ping was shocked, his eyes gleaming: "Chief Clerk Liu means..."

Liu Chang chuckled: "My Lord, every year, the number of people who die in the Xiongnu due to lack of salt is countless. I can collect some of this Refined Salt and send it to the Xiongnu Royal Court, hinting to him that this Refined Salt comes from the Baiya Army, and that our Liangzhou will not interfere too much. What does my Lord think..."

Chen Ping's face changed drastically.

The others were also scared pale.

In this way, wouldn't it mean that Chen Ping wanted to invite the wolf into the house? To let the Xiongnu, who had just signed a ceasefire agreement, invade Liangzhou again? It might even cause another dispute with the Longyan Dynasty! What was the difference between this behavior and treason?

One person immediately said: "My Lord, absolutely not!"

"We must not become such eternal sinners!"

"The Baiya Army is still Longyan, but that Xiongnu..."

"Inviting the wolf into the house is a crime against the state!"

Liu Chang snorted coldly: "Gentlemen, that Baiya Army is at most just a group of bandit troops; how are they different from the Xiongnu? Besides, we are just using the Xiongnu to fight the Baiya Army, while we in Liangzhou can sit on the sidelines and watch. When both sides are exhausted, that will be the time for our Liangzhou to come out and reap the fruits of victory!"

Everyone was shocked, speechless.

Chen Ping's expression turned black, then green; he looked extremely conflicted.

Liu Chang's plan was quite vicious; this was equivalent to secretly letting that pack of Xiongnu wolves into one's own courtyard. Even if the Xiongnu could completely devour the Baiya Army, could Liangzhou still drive them out? If not, then by that time, Chen Ping would truly be a sinner of the state.

Liu Chang instigated, "My Lord, this is no time for womanly kindness! If Liangzhou continues like this, the state will no longer be a state, and the province will no longer be a province! Will you still have a place to stand, My Lord?"

"Fine!"

Chen Ping nodded heavily and glared around coldly: "Whoever dares to leak this matter will be executed without mercy!"

"Yes!"

"Liu Chang, take my order and set off immediately to secretly open the nine passes, but you must control the situation!"

"Yes, My Lord!"

……

Du Biao had been a bit cautious lately.

Every time he transported salt, his right eyelid would twitch.

Was it because he had been making too much money lately? This Refined Salt business was indeed just hauling away Refined Salt and hauling back piles of silver; it was too intoxicating.

Of course, the Baiya Army had not lost its mind in the face of such huge profits.

They still relied on Prince Lu of Pingzhou. Every batch of Refined Salt hauled back from Yinzhou would be taken to Pingzhou first, then redistributed, or even exported and then sold back domestically, returning to Liangzhou. It was the Baiya Army's cautious conduct that had allowed them to survive for so long.

With Prince Lu's protection, who would dare come to investigate?

It had been so long, and there had been no movement from the Capital. Only Chen Ping? Heh...

Today, there was another batch of Refined Salt.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry! Over here, what are you looking at!"

Just after arriving in Pingzhou, Du Biao heard and saw the singing and dancing at the Prince Lu estate in broad daylight. He couldn't help but think to himself, as expected, only by playing the fool can one be a secure prince. Half the profits from this Refined Salt all went into Prince Lu's pocket; who wouldn't be envious?

"Move faster!"

"Handle it gently, don't disturb the Prince!"

Very quickly, these dozen or so Horse Carriages of Refined Salt were all unloaded.

Du Biao turned and left.

The Prince Lu estate would naturally settle the accounts with the Baiya Army.

After the drivers for this batch continued back to Yinzhou to haul salt, Du Biao stood in the city. As the Third Leader of the Baiya Army, he naturally wouldn't escort them personally, but he had to be present for every handover. An hour later, another team with Refined Salt would arrive, and he had to go five miles outside the city gate to meet them, because without him, the Third Leader, those guards wouldn't easily let these people in.

He, Du Biao, this face of his, was the pass.

He sat in a small tavern by the road.

However, this wait lasted an hour.

He had already drunk three bowls of Drunken Yinzhou, and they still hadn't arrived?

But there were often delays, so he waited a while longer.

However, they still didn't arrive.

Something was wrong!

His expression changed; he stood up abruptly, threw down a few pieces of broken silver, mounted his horse, and began to gallop wildly.

Toward the direction of Liangzhou.

Following this road, he had not found a trace of that team the whole way.

His heart grew increasingly tense.

After galloping for a full hour, he finally saw the road ahead: men and horses overturned, blood flowing like a river!

His eyes were about to split: "What happened, what is going on!"

This was the Baiya Army's salt transport team!

But the Refined Salt on the Horse Carriages was gone, the people were dead, and the horses had been stolen!

"Who did this, who did this!"

Du Biao roared and asked.

This was already within the borders of Liangzhou; who would dare ruin the Baiya Army's affairs?

"Third Leader, Third Leader..."

Suddenly, Du Biao discovered a brother who wasn't quite dead yet and hurriedly ran over to lift him up: "Speak, who did this? The Third Leader will avenge you!"

The man had only one breath left.

"Xiongnu, it was the Xiongnu..."

"What?"