Chapter 1393: Seeing Through Without Exposing

Qingyang Shuo slept soundly for the night, and by the next day, he arrived at the City Lord Mansion in high spirits.

The City Lord Mansion was the place where Qingyang Shuo worked.

But it was not the place where he lived.

As it turned out, before he even reached the City Lord Mansion, Qingyang Shuo saw Captain Gelin running over with large dark circles under his eyes.

"Sir! Sir!" Captain Gelin lost his footing and knelt directly before Qingyang Shuo.

Qingyang Shuo was stunned, then immediately revealed an auntie-like smile: "Captain Gelin, according to our Longyan customs, during the New Year, the younger generation must perform a kneeling kowtow to their elders, and the elders must give them lucky money."

"..." Captain Gelin.

Qingyang Shuo stroked his beard and laughed: "However, our Longyan Chief Minister, Lord Liu, believes it is a bad custom, so the kneeling has changed into a bow; the current Longyan does not favor the kneeling ritual."

Captain Gelin was even more speechless.

With a highly twisted expression, he said: "I did not come to find you, Sir, because of this matter; does the Sir not know that a major event occurred during our transaction yesterday!"

"Oh?" Qingyang Shuo asked indifferently: "What happened?"

"I have no idea at all."

Captain Gelin was stunned; he hurriedly stood up and handed the military report in his hand to Qingyang Shuo.

After Qingyang Shuo took it, his eyes narrowed slightly as he scanned it a few times; he had already known what had happened.

And it was just as he had expected.

"Hmm." Qingyang Shuo nodded, looked up at Captain Gelin, and said indifferently: "Your cannons are lost."

Captain Gelin was stunned; what did it mean that their cannons were lost?

What did that mean?

Captain Gelin looked at Qingyang Shuo with icy eyes and said coldly: "City Lord Qingyang Shuo, our transaction has not yet been completed, and this incident happened while we were trading."

Qingyang Shuo looked at him with an unruffled expression: "And then?"

"Logically speaking, it should be your Longyan providing two more Longyan Cannons to us British to compensate for our losses."

Qingyang Shuo sneered and pulled out the transaction receipt written by the British themselves yesterday.

His gaze was like a blade as he stared at Captain Gelin: "You British lost your things and come to ask us Longyan for them—what is the meaning of this?"

That receipt was flicked out violently, dancing wildly in the air.

"Take a look at this," Qingyang Shuo said indifferently.

Captain Gelin's brows were almost knit into the character 'chuan', and with a vigilant face, he grabbed the receipt from the air.

Looking at the content on it, his face gradually turned gloomy.

"This is impossible!"

Qingyang Shuo gave a faint laugh and said indifferently: "It is written in black and white; do you British still want to deny it?"

Captain Gelin was momentarily choked for words, not knowing how to answer.

"But..."

This receipt did not allow him to disbelieve it; it even had the British signatures on it, a handwriting he recognized, which the Longyan could never have forged.

This paper clearly recorded what the British had written, and they had repeatedly guaranteed it.

The transaction between Britain and Longyan had already been completed.

They had indeed received the two Longyan Cannons, and until the end of the transaction, no abnormalities had occurred.

Looking at the receipt Qingyang Shuo had produced, Captain Gelin knew it was impossible for him to demand two Longyan Cannons.

But at this moment, Captain Gelin did not dare to speak too harshly; he was already deep within Longyan City, and his purpose was to contain Longyan.

However, ever since he entered the city that day and saw the state of the Longyan Soldiers and the technological level of Longyan.

Captain Gelin had changed his strategy: he would not clash head-on with Longyan City, otherwise, his group would definitely die without a doubt in Longyan City!

Captain Gelin was dazed for a long while before he came back to his senses, realizing he was already in the City Lord Mansion, having even forgotten how he had arrived.

Qingyang Shuo was already sitting there drinking tea.

Captain Gelin recalled what had happened before, his brows once again

knitting together as he looked at Qingyang Shuo, just about to speak, but was interrupted by Qingyang Shuo.

Qingyang Shuo looked at Captain Gelin and said softly: "Regarding the misfortune of you British, our Longyan City expresses sympathy, but you should also be clear about the situation."

"The Longyan Cannon is so precious that it is impossible to give you any more."

"However, in order to show our support for an ally, we Longyan..."

When Captain Gelin heard the word 'support', he felt a bit of gratitude; he had not expected the Longyan to take the initiative to concede profit, and his face beamed with a smile.

"Many thanks, Sir."

"We have decided to gift you five Firework Cannons and fifty Cannonballs; Captain Gelin, this is the greatest sincerity of our Longyan," Qingyang Shuo said indifferently.

Hearing the words 'Firework Cannon', Captain Gelin was bewildered; surely it wasn't the cannon Longyan used to set off fireworks?

"This Firework Cannon wouldn't be..."

Qingyang Shuo nodded and said: "It is the cannon you saw setting off fireworks that day."

Captain Gelin was excited; the power of those cannons was extremely formidable, and their range was vast; although they were cumbersome, with such a super-long range, they could still risk a wave of attacks in jungle warfare.

He just didn't know if those fifty cannonballs were Firework Shells.

"The cannonballs aren't Firework Shells, are they?" Captain Gelin asked sincerely.

Hearing this, Qingyang Shuo immediately laughed, shook his head, and said indifferently: "Of course not; would we Longyan give you Firework Shells to hit people with?"

Hearing this, Captain Gelin laughed awkwardly twice.

That was true; how could Longyan City give him Firework Shells? Such a thing could never happen.

"Alright, Captain Gelin, hurry and take these five Firework Cannons to go report back," Qingyang Shuo issued an order to leave.

Captain Gelin bowed and immediately took the five Firework Cannons to report back to Kelinxi.

Qingyang Shuo watched Captain Gelin leave in high spirits, a smile appearing on his face.

However, the servant pushing his wheelchair did not understand, and after Captain Gelin walked out of the courtyard, he asked, "Sir, we have the proof that the transaction was completed, why must we still compensate Britain with five Cannons?"

"Although they are trash that even our Longyan doesn't want to use, we won't have any cannons left for setting off fireworks in the future."

Qingyang Shuo looked at him, stroked his beard as a smile crept onto his aged face, and said indifferently, "Can our Longyan Cannons fire using other Cannonballs?"

The servant thought for a moment; he had been serving Qingyang Shuo for quite some time, and although he was a servant, he had learned many secrets by following Qingyang Shuo.

For example, the secret of the Longyan Cannon.

As the servant thought, his pupils suddenly dilated, and he immediately understood why Qingyang Shuo wanted to do this.

"Sir, I understand!"

"Our Longyan cannons..." He was just about to blurt it out, but was stopped by Qingyang Shuo.

Qingyang Shuo glanced at him and said indifferently, "See through it, but don't speak it."

The servant immediately covered his mouth tightly, fearing that even a tiny bit of information might leak out.

Just at this moment, far away in France, Wan Shang and Fang Dalong had been waiting for three days.

Before Ausilige had even reached the Small Tavern while carrying a bottle of fine wine, the two of them heard his unbridled laughter.

"Hahahaha, my two dear brothers, thank you for your information."

As soon as Wan Shang and Fang Dalong heard this sentence, they knew the matter was done; the first step had been completed, so the next step was the second step.