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Chapter 269: Seal, seal! (ask for monthly ticket)

After watching the unshaven-bearded student, who seemed quite tired, leave, Li Guanyi turned around and paced, following his memory towards the palace where he was temporarily staying. It was a summer night, and the day's sultry heat had finally gone away. The starry sky was vast and the night breeze was cool.

Li Guanyi, on the contrary, became a little worried, fearing that Mr. Wen He would leave.

At this moment, he was gradually sobering up from his drunkenness, and he displayed the body skills created by the sword maniac Murong Longtu, and rushed towards his own palace like a sharp sword out of its sheath. When he returned, the Qilin Army cavalry guards outside all saluted. Li Guan nodded in response, then walked in quickly.

He had some regrets.

Li Guanyi could not find Wen He, so when he asked Ling Pingyang, Ling Pingyang replied, "That gentleman has already left."

Li Guanyi smiled bitterly, but also admired him, and said: "It's worthy of him."

"It seems that they are not on the same path."

"I just feel a little sorry for the trust placed in me by Yuan Zhi and the others."

He did not feel annoyed or disgusted because Wen He chose to leave. He just sighed that people in the world come and go, and they cannot necessarily travel together. Ling Pingyang had a strange look on his face.

"Pingyang, what's wrong?"

"You look like you have something to say."

A leisurely voice came: "He means that this gentleman is just going out for a walk, not that he will never come back, it's just that there are some things." Li Guan was overjoyed and turned his head to see a carriage being driven in from the side door.

The person driving the car was Wen He Wen Qingyu.

The young man with an ordinary and plain face smiled: "I just went out to solve a problem for the master, and it can be regarded as my token of loyalty."

Li Guanyi asked in confusion: "What?"

Ling Pingyang said: "I will explain this matter later."

"Do you remember the noble families who came here before we left hoping to meet you? Some of them brought their daughters with them, while others came alone, but they all brought visiting cards."

"Mr. Wen He was the one who handled this matter just now."

After Ling Pingyang's explanation, Li Guanyi realized that Wen He felt it was a waste, so he simply accepted the visiting card on behalf of his lord Li Guanyi in the name of a newly recruited strategist of the Qilin Army, and then went for a walk.

Li Guanyi said: "Wenhe, you didn't do anything out of line, did you?"

Wen He said: "Of course not."

"I just think that you don't have to ignore these noble families who come to send their visiting cards. I know that you probably look down on them, but in this case, the best way to deal with it is not to ignore them."

Wen He smiled and said, "Anyway, they just use you and are wary of you. Given the current situation in the world, it's probably hard for you to come back. Even if you come back to the world's number one capital, you won't be as harmonious as you are now."

"Next time you come, what you will see will most likely not be a visiting card from an aristocratic family or the tender beauty of a daughter of a noble family in the capital, but the sharp edge of iron and fire. If that's the case, there's no need to dwell on what happens later."

"The nobles and aristocratic families of Zhongzhou are nothing but dry bones in the tombs."

"Yet you pretend to be as grand as you were back then. Such a good thing is right in front of you, but you actually ignored it. I really can't bear to see you do that, so I'll go on your behalf. Don't worry, it's just polite and polite greetings."

Wen He gave a pure smile.

Ling Pingyang, who was always upright, frowned slightly. Li Guanyi also asked casually, "Aristocratic family? I am really not good at getting along with these people. So, Mr. Wen He, what did you gain?"

He has no idea about these things.

Wen He smiled, stretched out his hand and lifted the curtain of the car.

The light of gold, silver and jewelry illuminated the boy's eyes.

Wen He smiled and said:
"Within a thousand miles, there are many noble families in Zhongzhou."

"I invited them all to drink tea. They all vied with each other to present gifts to the lord, as if they were afraid of losing to others. They gave a lot of things, including books, property, jade, and many gold and silver utensils. Qingyu took a quick inventory and found that the big families in Zhongzhou were indeed poorer."

Li Guanyi was stunned.

Wen He smiled: "About 800,000 taels of silver."

Li Guan took a big step forward, grabbed Wen He's hand and shook it hard.

"Sir! Great talent!"

The simple scholar in the young prince's eyes radiated a golden glow.

While his master was strolling and drinking outside like a street urchin, Mr. Wen He dug out a full 800,000 taels of silver from a place he had overlooked. Dai Qing had previously asked him to come here and bring back at least one million taels of silver.

The current food expenses for two months are more than 80,000 taels per month, or 160,000 taels for two months.

Plus the things Wen He came up with.

Almost one million taels of silver!
The internal affairs funding mission from the Jiangnan area has been completed.

In Li Guanyi's eyes, Wen He's head was almost covered with dazzling light. Wen He smiled and said, "However, since we have to transport the silver back, it would be a bit of a loss to only transport gold and silver. Since we are in this Zhongzhou, we might as well purchase what is needed in Jiangnan."

"Then go down the river. Now there is a lot of work to be done. These are more important than gold and silver. As well as books and artifacts from Zhongzhou, since the lord wants to start a literary career, it is best to prepare these things in advance, such as pens, ink, paper and inkstone."

"In addition, I also kidnapped... I also hired a group of craftsmen."

Wen He smiled and said, "Zhongzhou has been a prosperous place since ancient times. It is an important capital city of the country and has academies of various families. The most advanced craftsmen have gathered here. However, the taxes in Zhongzhou are heavy now, and many craftsmen live in poverty. I suggest that Qin Wuhou hire craftsmen."

"Pay them good wages and ask them to do some work."

"Many people came, including many potters and blacksmiths."

"It is a pity that the power of the Mohist and Murong families is used to improve people's livelihood."

"Then my lord, you can take them down by boat. They can also help carry the purchased goods, saving a lot of expenses. You can also use these excellent craftsmen to fill the shortage in Jiangnan. It will kill two birds with one stone and save some money."

"Hmm? Why are you two looking at me like that?"

Ling Pingyang hesitated for a moment and said, "The noble family is so willing to pay?"

"How did you convince so many craftsmen?"

Wen He smiled and said:
"Well..."

He said as a matter of course: "I am a gentle gentleman, I can convince people."

Seeing the two people's suspicious eyes, he remained calm, paused, and replied softly: "Because the powerful people in Zhongzhou are as fierce as tigers. Even if the invitation is as illusory as a dream, they will struggle to survive."

"I didn't do anything. I just followed the will of the people."

"It's not the strategy that's powerful, it's the momentum."

"That's what the lord has to do."

Wen He bowed calmly, and then said: "The noble families of the world are powerful, but the lord should be benevolent; the nobles of the world are violent, but the lord is peaceful. The nobles of the world are above the people and feed themselves with the blood of the people, but the lord walks with the people."

"This is the rule for the flow and change of people's hearts."

"After such a long time, all the people in the world will flock here. This is the strategy proposed by Wen He. It is a third force besides [Great Righteousness] and [Military Force]. Although it cannot be seen with the eyes, it is real and huge."

“It’s what people want.”

"Ordinary people know the will of the people, but they don't know how to follow it or how to go against it. They don't know how to profit by following it or how to stir up trouble by going against it. Most of the noble families and officials only have a half-understanding of this."

"The trend of public opinion is part of the changes in the world."

"Those who go against this change will perish, and those who follow the will of the people will rise."

The counselor under the moonlight raised his eyes slightly, his eyes were calm and peaceful, making his plain face have an indescribable calmness, and said: "My lord, please take the people as your power and act in accordance with the will of the world."

Li Guanyi and Ling Pingyang looked at the young strategist in front of them who had brought up a corner of the world's situation with a small matter. Li Guanyi suddenly became curious about the world in the eyes of this simple strategist, and the true face beneath the surface that was recognized as the best in "planning for himself".

Among all the strategists he had seen, Pojun used military force to conquer the world and was aggressive like fire; Wen Lingjun occupied the general situation with orthodoxy and righteousness. The person in front of him was the third one, a top strategist with a strategic vision.

Use the people's will as your vanguard, follow the trend, and create a huge wave.

He is full of strategies and has the highest state of mind of a strategist. He plans for the world, but he uses the method of planning for himself to cover himself up.

Is this also a part of self-interest?
"It was because of the oppression and heavy taxes in Zhongzhou that I gave them just a little hope and they all came."

Wen He was silent. He said calmly:
“It’s our luck.”

"It is a great misfortune for the world, but we have to take this great misfortune to the world. Seeing this, I have compassion in my heart. However, even though I have compassion, I still have to firmly implement measures that are beneficial to myself. This is the great way for the Central Plains world."

"Lord!"

"The emperor of the Central Plains is a mixture of the ways of kings and tyrants."

"To be tolerant and peaceful is definitely not the right path!"

! ! ! !
Ling Pingyang was shocked.

He followed his lord and knew that his lord would achieve limitless success in the future.

But the lord in his eyes was as perfect as Duke Taiping, and he always talked about the word "underworld". At this moment, only the peaceful and simple young man in front of him said the word "Son of Heaven".

To Ling Pingyang, it was like thunderclap out of the blue.

Wen He remained calm, as if nothing had happened just now, and said:

"The noble families in the 18 states of Jiangnan must have controlled the craftsmen and scholars. They thought that if they controlled these people, the lord's Jiangnan would be in trouble. However, the world is so big, with the lord's reputation and authority, he can ignore them and do his own thing."

"They will find that their lord has taken measures they did not expect."

“When people find that things are going beyond their expectations, they will behave foolishly and make mistakes. Once they are caught making a mistake, they will get anxious and flustered, and will frantically try to remedy the situation. However, many times, it is impossible to remedy the situation.”

Under the moonlight and candlelight, the Confucian gentleman showed a warm smile:

"Ah, just think of all the stupid mistakes they'll make."

“I just feel a sense of pleasant anticipation.”

“It’s like when I was young, pouring boiling water into an ant nest, waiting for them to crawl out and stabbing them to death one by one.”

"When they make mistakes, it gives small families the illusion that they can become big families, and big families the desire to maintain their glory. It also gives those illegitimate children who have left their families the illusion that they can also create their own families."

Wen He pointed the ten fingers of his hands at each other, and the scene in front of him seemed to have turned into a chessboard with crisscross patterns. Silk threads seemed to be hanging from his fingers, and the silk threads were hooked with puppets, and those puppets were the aristocratic families.

"Jiangnan's dilemma has been resolved."

"Moreover, if no war is used, it will not harm the harmony of nature."

Mr. Wenhe's expression was warm.

Li Guanyi: “…………”

Did this guy do it on purpose?
Forget it.

It’s better to keep this person.

Anyway, it won’t cost much food, so just keep it.

Ling Pingyang: “…………”

The young knight subconsciously pressed his hand on the precious rope around his waist.

Tie him back!

Tied!

绑！
Li Guanyi said, "I'll leave all these matters to you, sir."

Wen He smiled and said, "Leave it all to me?"

Li Guanyi said, "These 800,000 taels of silver, plus the hundreds of thousands of taels of food expenses saved from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, are all given to you, sir. If you think our Jiangnan lacks anything, do your best to make it."

Wen He thought about it and smiled, "So, I understand."

"Wen He will not let the lord's one million taels of silver lose their effect."

Li Guanyi didn't know what this smile meant.

"But why are you in such a hurry today, sir, to finish all this in one day?"

Wen He replied, "Tomorrow is the banquet for the meeting between the Lord and the Emperor of Zhongzhou, right? Tomorrow, there will be noble families, royal families, great noble families, as well as great scholars from the academy, and dukes and marquises from the court waiting there." "They will see you with their own eyes, and from what I know about you, it will be difficult for you to have a good conversation with them. Once you have a conflict with them, it will be difficult to get money from the noble families."

"These people are very cunning."

"He is treacherous and despicable, opportunistic, and bullies the weak and fears the strong."

"Then I have to get our money back before this happens."

Ling Pingyang: “…………”

Li Guan smiled and said, "Sir, do you think I will definitely quarrel with them tomorrow?"

Wen He narrowed his eyes and replied, "It depends on whether His Majesty the Great Emperor of Zhongzhou is incompetent or still has the remaining power of his ancestors."

Li Guanyi replied: "What if he is incompetent and unjust?"

Wen He said: "Then you will be in opposition to the court."

Li Guanyi asked again: "What if the passion remains the same?"

Wen He smiled and said, “Then you will be against the entire Zhongzhou.”

Li Guanyi laughed: "Sir, you are so talented!"

"Then let it happen. I am not here to talk to the noble families in a servile manner. However, you are wrong in one aspect, sir."

Wen He was stunned: "What?"

Qin Wuhou held his sword and smiled, "It's not that I'm against Zhongzhou."

"Rather, they want to be my enemy."

"We'll talk about tomorrow's affairs tomorrow. You two should take a rest first."

That night--

The Fire Kirin has not returned.

After Li Guanyi returned, he rested quickly. His internal strength had just reached the fifth level, and he also had a body of energy inherited from Zhang Ziyong, who was the person with the strongest vitality Li Guanyi had ever seen. As the inheritor of this body of energy, Li Guanyi had a terrifyingly strong recovery ability.

After a good night's sleep, when you wake up, your body has recovered to its best condition.

When the sun rose the next day and Li Guan started to take a bath, he suddenly realized a very serious problem.

For a formal meeting, do I have to kneel down?

Tsk!
Otherwise, just say I'm sick.

The heir to the immortal body was thinking about this reason.

Wen He later explained, "The Lord is different from those who inherited the legacy of their ancestors. Those people inherited the title of the founding heroes, but they don't have their courage. It's okay to kneel down, but the Lord has made outstanding military achievements in the past ten years. His Majesty the Great Emperor will never let the Lord perform such a great ceremony."

"According to the rules, you are wearing court robes, so you only need to bow."

Li Guan nodded.

Court dress...

Li Guanyi didn't like this thing. He spread his arms and let the people sent by the Ministry of Rites help him put on court clothes. He wore a scarlet red silk robe, a white gauze inner garment, and a green-edged red silk skirt on the outside.

Yellow, green, red and purple are woven into a four-color brocade ribbon with a green silk net and a jade ribbon ring tied underneath.

Ordinary dukes and marquises have cloud and phoenix patterns.

Only Li Guanyi has dark Kirin patterns.

The waistband is a large red and white silk belt, a leather belt, a ribbon, white socks and black shoes.

Her black hair was combed little by little with a jade comb into the shape of a hair crown, and then tied with a seven-beam golden silk Yuanyou crown, which was just below the Tongtian crown. When the maid from the Ministry of Rites tied the golden silk crown and retreated respectfully, she raised her head and took a look, her heart slightly shocked.

The young Taoist who had been free and calm before was now shrouded in solemn and majestic robes. The clarity of his brows and the youthful vigor and vitality were dissipated like rain, and finally turned into the majesty accumulated by the Red Emperor for eight hundred years, or even thousands of years before that.

The person in front of him was no longer the academy disciple Li Pharmacist.

It was Qin Wuhou.

But Li Guanyi felt that this outfit was very uncomfortable to wear. He wanted to move his neck. This outfit was very dignified, but it reduced his flexibility. The official from the Ministry of Rites bowed his head and said softly, "My Lord, it's almost time."

The silver-haired girl followed behind him unsteadily.

Seems like we're going together.

The Minister of Rites hesitated and smiled bitterly: "My Lord, this, this is probably not in accordance with etiquette. Today is the court meeting, and the banquet will be held after the court meeting. My Lord, you... you..."

He glanced at the silver-haired girl and said, "The family of the Lord."

"Without an imperial decree, you cannot enter the court."

The silver-haired girl shook her head.

Li Guanyi, who was holding the ivory tablet, raised his hand and gently tapped the girl's forehead with the ivory tablet in his hand.

Yaoguang subconsciously shrank her neck.

Then the majestic Qin Wuhou showed a slight smile on his face and said, "Today is not a banquet. You just wait here obediently." When he said that, the officials of the Ministry of Rites were a little embarrassed, but they had no way to refute it.

Today is a banquet.

It's just not a banquet with wine.

Go to this banquet all over the world!

In the court, royal family members, noble families, dukes, and great scholars were all present.

As the powerful and wealthy, they will watch this prince who suddenly rose from obscurity to the stage with scrutiny, vigilance, consideration, and even hostility, and decide their own attitude based on this.

Only Emperor Chen Huangying did not attend, as if it was some kind of unspoken agreement. In such a vast world, kings could not meet each other easily.

Even though the man in front of him was only a marquis, he occupied a strategic location and had the Qilin Army under his command, so he would not be considered the same as the marquis of other countries.

Yaoguang stared at Li Guanyi, and the girl said in a quiet voice, "Okay."

Li Guanyi smiled and reached out to touch Yaoguang's head.

Then he turned around, his sleeves rolled up, and as he turned around, the smile and warmth in his eyes disappeared. He looked at these officials from the Zhongzhou court, and his eyes seemed to be shrouded in a thick layer of clouds.

"Let's go."

He said.

The officials in Zhongzhou who wanted to gather information and test the situation lowered their heads subconsciously. From the corner of their eyes they could only see the prince in solemn court robes walking forward with steady steps and the dark pattern of the Qilin shaking.

In a trance, it seemed as if a real Qilin was walking slowly past them. After a while, they raised their heads and looked at the receding figure. Unconsciously, their backs were covered with cold sweat.

There were already carriages waiting that met the standards and etiquette for the princes.

Li Guanyi picked up the ivory tablet, got into the car, and waited with his eyes closed.

This place was not very far from the palace of the Great Emperor of Zhongzhou. As soon as the wheels rolled over the bluestone slabs, they had arrived. Li Guanyi paced down. There was still some distance to the palace gate in front of him, so he paced away.

In front of him were already high-ranking officials and noble families wearing red and purple robes.

They whispered to each other, seemed to be very familiar with each other, as if waiting for something, and then laughed. When they saw Li Guanyi, they stopped talking and looked at the young man, either with a smile or in silence.

All the dignitaries, wearing red and purple robes!
Li Guanyi smiled faintly in his heart. The officials of the Ministry of Rites beside him felt a kind of pressure that made their hearts pounding because of such looks, but the young man Qin Wuhou just walked forward nonchalantly, and then, when the clan elder next to him spoke.

Li Guanyi walked past the old men.

No need to talk about returning the gift.

Not even a glance was lost.

The elders of the royal family and the noble families had ugly expressions on their faces and their eyes met each other.

"Really, you don't know etiquette!"

"Humph, after all, he is just a peasant, so he definitely doesn't know etiquette."

'It's just luck, and I've accomplished something.'

Such thoughts flashed through their minds, but they did not say them out loud. They all had a relaxed, gentle smile on their faces. They looked at each other, and then, led by a few white-haired old men, they lined up at both ends of the civil and military divisions and entered one after another.

The eunuch shouted out this voice with his inner strength—

"Your Majesty is in court, all officials are here to see you!"

Li Guanyi had a sword on his waist. He reached out and took off the sword. He was about to place the sword on the jade plate beside him like the other officials. But at this moment, an eunuch held up the imperial edict and read aloud: "All officials come to see the emperor."

"Li Guanyi, Marquis of Qin, may enter the palace with sword and shoes!"

The voice fell and spread far away.

The voices of the officials who were talking in low voices, along with the fluctuations in their hearts, suddenly froze, and only the sound of the wind blowing through the hall could be heard.

Li Guanyi slowly raised his sword, and then, in the sight of the civil and military officials and nobles, he put it around his waist. Then, he placed the ivory sceptre on the jade plate and raised his eyebrows.

A breath as strong as the wind.

Li Guanyi walked in, with guards holding halberds on both sides. As the young man walked, they lowered their heads one after another. From a high vantage point, it looked as if a gust of wind came and the guards lowered their heads silently.

Only the eunuch's voice sounded again:

"Xuan Qin Wu Hou Li Guanyi, did not bow when entering the court!"

"Xuan Qin Wu Hou Li Guanyi, did not bow in court!"

There is a gap between the sounds of each imperial edict.

It was exactly the distance that the young man took fifteen steps forward.

The elders' faces looked extremely ugly. They felt a strange sense of unwillingness, as if autumn was approaching. The sound of the wind blowing, rolling out from Qin Wuhou's sleeves, seemed to carry a dragon-like sound.

Arrive at the main hall.

When all the officials rushed into the hall and bowed deeply in unison, only the young man stood there with his head held high and his chest puffed out.

Li Guanyi saw the figure sitting on the throne and recognized him as the person from yesterday. Ji Zichang looked at Li Guanyi, smiled and nodded without saying anything, but the eunuch's voice was already trembling.

Ji Zichang said calmly: "Xuan."

The eunuch swallowed his saliva, his voice trembling:

"【Imperial Order Li Guanyi to Command the Army Marshal of the World】!"

Just one sentence, and there was a dead silence. All the officials and princes stopped thinking for a moment. The imperial decree was at the level of an imperial edict, and Li Guanyi was the target.

It is the duty to control the troops of the world.

Grand Marshal is just a title.

This row of titles was arbitrarily and coherently written, without even any particular style. It was just a fierce breath that rushed out from the chest, and the effect was like a huge rock falling. There was a dead silence in the court, but this was not the end.

The eunuch exhaled and said softly:

"Open the government."

"Yi Tong San Si."

"The title is——"

He raised his head and looked down beside the emperor, and saw that all the officials bowed their heads, except for one man who stood tall, holding his sword, calm and unhurried, which formed a huge contrast.

"General Tiance!"

(End of this chapter)