At the beginning, his wife came to him, and he became rich by selling kidney treasures.

Dongzi Kingdom is so close to Minglan Kingdom, but it has not been annexed by Dongzi Kingdom because there is a snow-capped mountain in between that serves as a natural barrier.

but.

The Dongzi Kingdom has now surrendered to Wudun Chanyu, and Ren Hao is preparing to attack the Dongzi Kingdom to demonstrate the power of the Han Dynasty.

Although the countries in the Western Regions had heard of the Han Dynasty for a long time, seeing it with their own eyes was not as good as seeing it with their own eyes.

Ren Hao was not in a hurry to propose to the kings of those small countries to form an alliance to fight against Wudun Chanyu. Instead, he first let Xu Qing lead 5,000 Hanjing light cavalry to attack Dongzi directly and capture the King of Dongzi alive in five days.

As long as you demonstrate your strength, everything will come naturally.

"What."

"Capture King Dongzi alive in five days?"

"Besides, we're going to use light cavalry to attack the city. Are you sure you're not kidding?"

The kings of these small countries looked at each other in bewilderment. They did not underestimate the strength of the Han Dynasty, but they felt that this Lord Sikong was here to make a fool of himself and did not understand military tactics at all.

Didn't King Minglan make himself clear just now? Dongzi Kingdom conservatively estimates that it has 15,000 archers. Sending light cavalry to attack the city is no different from committing suicide.

Let alone capturing King Dongzi alive in five days, even if we could bring these light cavalry back alive, it would be a great honor for our ancestors.

Even Prince Minglan felt that Ren Hao might not have heard his report clearly just now.

He immediately said very tactfully: "Master Sikong, Dongzi has 15,000 archers to defend the city. Isn't it a bit inappropriate for light cavalry to attack the city? How about we, several small countries, gather 10,000 guards and cooperate with the general to attack the city..."

"I don't think there is anything inappropriate. This is very appropriate." Ren Hao directly interrupted King Minglan's words, without any need for their coordinated operations.

Seeing that Ren Hao was so stubborn and self-righteous, the kings of the small countries secretly watched the show to see how they would be defeated by King Dongzi.

Although Xu Qing also knew that using light cavalry to attack a castle full of archers was undoubtedly a suicidal act, he still chose to trust Ren Hao unconditionally.

As a good brother, Ren Hao would definitely not harm him.

One dares to say it, the other dares to believe it.

The kings of the small countries all thought that the two men had gone crazy. It must be a dream to capture King Dongzi alive in five days.

The reason why Ren Hao was so confident that he could capture King Dongzi alive within five days was that he was preparing to make a batch of thunderbolts for Xu Qing and others to carry.

At that time, we just need to ignite thunderbolts in darkness, destroy the city wall of Dongzi Kingdom, and then rush into the palace in the chaos. It would be easy to capture the King of Dongzi alive.

While Ren Hao asked Xu Qing and the others to rest early and get enough rest tonight, he also asked Wang Minglan to help him prepare a large amount of saltpeter, charcoal, sulfur, and pottery jars.

Although Prince Minglan didn't know what Ren Hao wanted these things for, he still sent Commander Chi Na to prepare them.

As for the remaining sugar, Ren Hao ran back to the inn and bought all the sugar brought by Linyi. According to the ratio, it was almost enough.

"Ren Sikong, what do you need so much sugar for?" Lin Yi was very confused.

"You should know the price of sugar in the Western Regions..."

Ren Hao was too lazy to listen to his nonsense and interrupted Lin Yi directly, saying, "Don't worry, I won't give you a single word less. You can ask for the price in my name. I will also collect the remaining goods on your behalf."

"Ren Sikong, you...you are kidding me, asking me to die." Lin Yi's eyes widened for a moment.

After all, he had kidnapped Prince Minglan's daughter before.

If he were to go to the palace now and be recognized, he would be dead.

"Are you stupid? You can find a subordinate to go in your place. Anyway, when King Minglan hears my name, he will definitely pay me readily."

"That's not all. Don't forget to give me half of it when the time comes." Ren Hao then changed the subject.

Lin Yi had promised him a 50% share of the profits before, so he naturally wouldn't miss this bargain.

After all, as the old saying goes, if you don't take advantage of an opportunity, you're a bastard.

"Don't worry about this. Since I promised you, there is no way I will go back on my word." Lin Yi nodded without asking too many questions. He just gave a look to Tiehu next to him.

"Grandpa, you don't want me to go, do you?" Tiehu curled his lips.

"Why do you want me, an old man, to go if you don't want to? I can't stand the smell of barbarians in there." Lin Yi said fearfully.

"You..." Tiehu hesitated to speak, and finally just shook his head and walked out.

However, after he left the house, he did not go directly to the palace. Fearing death, he asked a subordinate to go find King Minglan.

This subordinate had no idea of ​​the reason. He took the silver ingot given by Tiehu and ran to the palace in the name of Ren Hao to ask King Minglan for money.

Although Prince Minglan was very unhappy, when he thought about having to rely on the general to fight against the Chanyu Wudun, he felt relieved and gave a pile of silver cakes as payment.

These silver cakes were the currency used by the royal family of the Ming Dynasty for foreign trade. The reason why they were in the shape of cakes instead of ingots was because they were not good at smelting and lacked craftsmen, so they could only make them like this.

Regardless of whether these silver cakes were brought back to the Wei Kingdom or the Han Dynasty, they had to be melted down and recast before they could be used.

However, there are two types of recasting.

One is the official kiln opened by the government, and the other is the private kiln.

Recasting from the official kiln requires a huge amount of fire consumption costs, but the advantage is that there is no need to worry about losing your head, and these recast silver ingots can also be circulated normally.

Although recasting in a private kiln requires less fire energy, it carries the risk of losing one's head.

After Tiehu's subordinates brought back all the silver cakes, Lin Yi found Ren Hao and asked, "Ren Sikong, where did you put all these silver cakes?"

Ren Hao took a look and asked, "Bring them all back to Hanjing for me. When the time comes, recast them into silver ingots and give them to my official Cai Lun."

He is now busy making thunderbolts and helping King Minglan fight against Chanyu Wudun, so he has no time to look after these silver cakes.

"Isn't this... a little inappropriate?" Lin Yi hinted vaguely.

After all, he ran a private kiln.

"There's nothing inappropriate about it. Just give it to me when the time comes." Ren Hao waved his hand nonchalantly. He knew in his heart that people like Lin Yi would never go through the official kiln.

As long as the smuggled kilns are run secretly and not discovered, there won’t be any problem.

Anyway, in this era, the fire consumption fees were not confiscated but all belonged to the local people, so he could just turn a blind eye to it now.

Since Ren Hao said so, Lin Yi nodded without saying anything more.

Anyway, all the goods in his hands were packed and sold to King Minglan by Ren Hao, so he didn't need to stay in Minglan Kingdom any longer.

He had to lead his men away from Minglan as soon as possible to avoid being recognized and retaliated against.