The Villain's Counterattack

Yang Kang stayed in Zhoushan for a full month and ordered people to bring Mu Nianci and Yang Shoucheng over, under the pretext of cultivating the relationship between his son and future daughter-in-law. However, Yang Shoucheng actually forgot about him, so Yang Kang had to give him a good beating. Then, he took out all kinds of delicious food from Luzon to get this brat to get close to him.

Mu Nianci's martial arts skills are quite good, and she can travel all over the world, but Yang Shoucheng cannot, and must be under strict protection at all times.

During the year Yang Kang was away, the Prince of Qi's mansion was invaded seven or eight times, each targeting Yang Shoucheng. They were all detected and repelled by the guards, Mu Nianci, and Cheng Yaojia. In the most dangerous incident, an assassin, disguised as a maid, came within three steps of Yang Shoucheng before being knocked unconscious by Mu Nianci.

After receiving a detailed report, Yang Kang immediately ordered the suspension of tribute from Guanzhong for a year, halved normal trade, and a 20% increase in prices. He then sent a document to the Lin'an court with five names and a statement that 50% of Shandong's purchases from the Song Dynasty would be seized for five years. Finally, he declared: "I'm not to be trifled with, and neither is my son."

Wanyan Honglie was furious and smashed many of the harem's belongings. However, Yang Kang's order immediately reduced the number of ships traveling to Guanzhong by 70%, and the price of all goods was actually increased by 20%. If they did not want to buy, they would rather ship it back than trade with them. As for the Guanzhong tyrants who tried to force the sale, the owners simply told them that they had left a receipt in Zhoushan as a protection fee, and the King of Qi would help them seek justice. Suddenly, no one dared to make trouble.

The small court in Lin'an was in an uproar, everyone was filled with righteous indignation, and even ready to go to the King of Qi to ask for an explanation. At this moment, news suddenly came that the King of Qi was gathering a large number of navy in Zhoushan, and seemed to be preparing to take action. This action was definitely not small, because there were hundreds of warships gathered, and he was still recruiting troops.

The situation in the Lin'an court suddenly changed. The five ministers were targeted and asked to apologize to the King of Qi in person. All the losses would be counted on them, and each of the five people would get exactly 10%. You have to know that it was these powerful bureaucrats who had the most transactions with the King of Qi.

A minister died after hitting his head against the wall in court. As a result, the King of Qi raised the price to 55% the next day. The Emperor of Song discussed with his confidants and accused the minister of seeking his own death of many crimes, confiscated his property, and exiled his three family members to Lingnan. Sure enough, the King of Qi also took corresponding actions and raised the price to 60%, which means that he was satisfied with the result.

The remaining four ministers were in a difficult situation. Even though they claimed to be sick and did not attend court, a large number of merchants cried and begged outside their homes every day. One businessman even ran into a wall and died in front of the government office. Although they knew that this was just a show of abandonment, the four court ministers felt that the overwhelming pressure was not fake.

The King of Qi is really good at using tricks. Without sending a single soldier, he forced five important officials of the Song Dynasty to death. One of them has already left in disgrace. In return, apart from a 10% profit, there are also countless people who are jealous and want to take back their money. Naturally, there are some political enemies who are fanning the flames behind the scenes, but they are really not in the right in this matter.

There is nothing wrong with assassinating important officials of the enemy country, but assassinating an ignorant child of a few years old is a bit too much. His father is angry, and you hide on the sidelines and watch others get affected. You will be harmed by the children, and they will rebel. This is their situation now.

Yang Kang's letter to the Lin'an court spread from nowhere, and everyone knew that the reason they were being harassed and criticized was entirely because some ruthless fool had dared to provoke the Prince of Qi from afar, and even attacked him five times in the same year during the Prince of Qi's southern tour. It was no wonder that the Prince of Qi was furious. He finally had a son, his only child, so he couldn't dote on him too much. If you wanted to cut off his lineage, could you not allow him to fight back?

What terrified them even more was that the King of Qi kept gathering troops in Zhoushan and even imposed martial law. The people of the Song Dynasty were not allowed to approach some sensitive places. This showed that the anger of the invincible King of Qi had not been extinguished by the fall of a traitor.

The navy was not scary. Even if they plundered Taihu Lake, as long as they did not land in Lin'an, the court officials could still cover their ears and close their eyes and pretend not to see it. However, when the Shandong cavalry appeared, they could no longer sit still. They sent three waves of envoys in succession, but no one could see the King of Qi. All the replies were the same: His Royal Highness the King of Qi was training his troops.

You are the best in the world, why do you still need to train soldiers? So four ministers in the court were all dismissed, one had his property confiscated, two were exiled, and the last one was confined to reflect on his mistakes. Then the King of Qi raised the price to 80%, and the time remained unchanged for five years.

Immediately afterwards, the Zhoushan army launched a large-scale deployment, but its target was not the Song Dynasty, but went straight to Goryeo. They broke through the port at lightning speed and captured four cities in half a month, destroying the navy that Goryeo had worked so hard to build. All the warships and fishing boats were looted, the port camp was burned to ashes, the general was hanged in front of the city gate, and all the gold, silver, treasures, weapons and supplies were taken away, as well as 100,000 civilians.

The King of Goryeo received a handwritten letter from the King of Qi brought by the defeated soldiers. There were only a few names on it, and they all pointed to himself in the end. Also, they said, "We will talk face to face next time."

The King of Goryeo shuddered all over, and then he heard another piece of bad news. The defenders outside the concession were defeated, and all the 50,000 soldiers were killed or captured. The King of Goryeo slumped on the dragon throne with a pale face. The price of this small test was too high.

"Damn King Qi, he must have deliberately hidden himself for a year." The King of Goryeo slapped everything in front of him and felt that he was really stupid. The so-called southern tour of King Qi was simply a conspiracy. Maybe he had never left Shandong, but was just pretending to go on tour, quietly waiting for the prey to come to him, and then take advantage of the opportunity to counterattack.

But they were in the wrong and could only bear the pain of failure and pay for their wrong decisions. However, the price was too heavy. Four cities were looted, the navy was completely hopeless, and even the army was killed or captured by nearly 100,000 people. Most of them were his elite troops who obeyed his orders completely. Now he felt that someone below was ready to make a move.

The Korean captives who were good at fighting were selected and sent to the frontier, where they lurked behind the Mongolian frontier with the Japanese there and secretly carried out sabotage. The others were sent to the Korean concession to open mines, and they were given the hard work to do. Anyway, they were used to death, but they had to be guaranteed to have enough to eat.

The King of Qi's military achievements once again shocked countless people. The Lin'an court tried to communicate with him several times but to no avail. It was at this time that the Prime Minister Jia, who was temporarily idle at home, was reinstated. The next day, the King of Qi's purchasing price became 75%, and the King of Qi also issued an order that price fluctuations too quickly were not good for merchants, and the frequency of price increases should be reduced as much as possible, which discouraged the Lin'an court.