The Villain's Counterattack

"The Duke of Liao of the Sui Dynasty has friendly relations with those outside the Great Wall and conducts frequent trade. Unlike merchants from the Central Plains, he's not as demanding on prices and has a good reputation. However, the trade in Liaodong is mostly daily necessities, such as grain, oil, tea, salt, and other daily necessities. I've never heard of the Duke of Liao selling weapons or armor, let alone equipment. I wonder..."

Bai Ziting's first reaction to the pie falling from the sky was not ecstasy, but rather a fraud!

He was cautious about the Turks, but he was not too afraid of them. After all, the two consecutive defeats of the two khans to the Central Plains had more or less affected the image of the Turks on the grassland, especially the first battle of Yanmen County. Bai Ziting got the news in advance and took advantage of it.

However, Bai Ziting was not so confident about the Duke of Liao of the Sui Dynasty, and was even a little afraid.

Bai Ziting has never been a gentleman. The huge profits from the trade in Zhuo County are known to everyone in the entire grassland. Even the wealthy families in the Central Plains couldn't help but get involved. However, there are so many forces in the entire grassland, and they have used countless means, both overt and covert, but they have all been cut off by Liaodong. Bai Ziting has suffered losses more than once.

He even thought of building a trade market for the Mohe people, but ultimately failed. As a second best option, he created the relatively free city of Longquan Shangjing.

However, compared with Liaodong, which was relatively fair and more order-oriented, Longquan Shangjing seemed a little chaotic and disorderly, with countless horse bandits and thieves, which brought about a temporary false prosperity.

At the same time, Bai Ziting also has a big weakness, which is its own insufficient business capabilities. Many things need to be imported from outside, and it is unable to achieve self-sufficiency and export, which is precisely Liaodong's strength.

Bai Ziting, who is competitive and never willing to admit defeat, has very complicated feelings towards Liaodong, and the arrival of Shi Long, the Liaodong special envoy, especially at this critical moment, makes him think more.

"The biggest impact of Bohai's founding was definitely not on the Central Plains, but on the grasslands." Shi Long said straight to the point: "The Turks were kings on the grasslands. Because of the existence of Wu Zun, the Turks were able to dominate the grasslands and were invincible. The Mohe, Khitan, Tiele, Shiwei, Huihe and other tribes were oppressed. This is an indisputable fact."

"The Turks were favored and supported by the Sui Emperor, who even married his princess to help them grow. However, after they grew up, they turned against their master. Not only did they invade the Central Plains several times, they also disrespected the Sui Emperor. Although they never succeeded, they revealed their playboy and treacherous heart, which was not welcomed by the Sui Dynasty." Shi Long talked freely. He has never been a fool. It is difficult for fools to become masters. Shi Long is now a senior master. He has grown a lot since he joined Yang Xuyan.

Not to mention that Yang Guang specially sent many important officials to train him this time, and even broke down what he wanted to say into pieces and fed them to him. At this time, Shi Long was mostly retelling.

"After Bohai is established, will the king lead his troops south?" Shi Long asked, and then added: "With the Duke of Liao guarding the northern border as stable as a rock."

Bai Ziting's mouth twitched. He wanted to say yes, but he really didn't dare. It was impossible for him to do so. The Duke of Liao was such a hero that he had even defeated a Turkic army of 500,000. Not only had he easily captured Mayi, but he had also slapped the Turkic royal court in the face. Even the Turkic Martial Master and Imperial Preceptor Zhao Deyan had been beaten so badly that he dared not retaliate.

With such a being, you ask me if I dare to tease him?

Am I crazy, or are you crazy?

"Duke Liao is a fair man. He is a mentor and friend to all the people and tribes on the grassland. Bai Ziting dare not make an enemy of him." Bai Ziting's words were very insightful.

Shi Long clapped his hands excitedly and laughed heartily, "That's right. Liaodong is powerful, and the Turks have suffered losses more than once, but have you ever seen the Duke of Liao invade the grassland tribes on a large scale? Compared to plundering and making enemies, the Duke of Liao prefers trade. This kind of long-term, mutually beneficial approach is more conducive to the development of Liaodong and will last longer."

Bai Ziting thought about it carefully, and it seemed to be true. The benefits of Liaodong's trade were really huge. The grassland tribes that went there to trade praised their fairness, justice, quality and variety of goods. But in fact, the ones who really made a lot of money were never the grassland tribes, but Liaodong and the merchants who settled there.

Bai Ziting is very clear about this, but a safe and stable business base is so important that Longquan and Shangjingdu cannot compare to it.

Even if there is a trade with Zhuo County, are there not many smugglers on the grassland?

Not less at all.

why?

Probably because Zhuojun's trade needed to share a lot of profits with Liaodong, there were always some greedy merchants who wanted to take more and earn more, and most of the bandits and robbers robbed by Bai Ziting were of this kind, so they really didn't dare to offend Liaodong.

It’s not that there is no profit in trading directly with Liaodong, but that there is no huge profit.

However, the trade in Zhuo County has its own rules. In order to curb the strength of the grassland tribes, they have strict control over military equipment, which is truly a prohibited item that is not allowed to be traded. This is why Bai Ziting was surprised and even a little uneasy when he heard Shi Long offering him military equipment on behalf of Liaodong.

"The founding of Bohai didn't have much impact on Liaodong. It might even have become a potential trading powerhouse and ally, but it was a huge offense to the Turks." Shi Long continued, "The Turks considered themselves the overlords of the grasslands, but they never established a city or a kingdom, and still maintained their nomadic lifestyle. Although they had a royal court, it was truly insignificant, not even one-tenth the size of Longquan Shangjing."

"If Your Majesty succeeds in establishing a kingdom, it will be like raising a royal flag on the grasslands. In the future, men, horses, and wealth will surely flock to it. As long as Bohai stabilizes and develops to a certain level, it will inevitably influence, or even replace, the Turkic Kingdom as the dominant power on the grasslands. This is something that all Turkic tribes do not want to see, but it is what Liaodong hopes to see."

Bai Ziting immediately understood what he said, "Duke Liao is not optimistic about my founding a kingdom?"

Upon hearing this, Shi Long stared at him intently and said, "Your Majesty, are you confident that you can withstand the hostility and attacks of all the Turkic tribes? Even if Wu Zun Bi Xuan has been lured away by Xiao Yaozi, the greatest master of the Central Plains, even if the Duke of Liao deliberately handed over the remnants of Silla and Baekje to Your Majesty, even if Zhuojun and Mayi are preparing their troops and pretending to threaten the grasslands, even if Dou Jiande and Li Tang are besieging Shuofang to attract the Turkic attention."

Bai Ziting's expression suddenly became extremely complicated, "This king has never thought of..."

Shi Long waved his hand and said indifferently, "Your Majesty, you have misunderstood. The remnants of Silla and Baekje were indeed given to Your Majesty by the Duke of Liao. Don't you find it strange that although there are many nobles among the remnants of Silla and Baekje, none of them can represent the royal family? All of this was arranged by the Duke of Liao. A snake cannot survive without a head, and a headless snake is easier to eat, isn't it?"

After hearing Shi Long's words, Bai Ziting finally understood what Liaodong meant. They were not optimistic about their founding a nation, believing that they could not deal with the counterattack of the Turks. This made Bai Ziting somewhat unhappy, but when he thought of taking advantage of the opportunity, he immediately climbed up the ladder: "I have received the kindness of the Duke of Liao, but the price of these equipment is..."

"Taller?"

"The envoy also knew that Bohai had a lot of work to do after its founding, and its finances..."

"Your Majesty, where else do you think you can get so many high-quality city defense equipment besides Liaodong?" Shi Long said calmly, "Liaodong's position is very important. For this batch of equipment, you may have to find a few scapegoats to give an explanation to the grassland tribes. There will be no second chance in the future."

"Furthermore, these weapons will not bear the imprint of Liaodong. They may bear the imprint of Goguryeo, the imprint of Silla and Baekje, or even the imprint of the Dongming Sect, or even the hatred of the Great Sui Dynasty, but they will not bear the imprint of Liaodong. If you find any Liaodong imprint, please erase it for me, Your Majesty."

Bai Ziting: Who are you trying to show off to? With such a huge batch of equipment coming out, who wouldn't know what's going on?

Shi Long: They were originally spoils of war captured from Goguryeo, Silla, and Baekje. Liaodong looked down on them, so they mixed some discarded equipment from the Sui army with some second-hand goods that the Dongming faction couldn't sell, and sold them to you at a high price. They didn't even bother to erase the marks on them.

"By the way, if Your Majesty can enlist the aid of the Yangzhou Twin Dragons, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling, your chances of defending the city will increase by another 30%. They are geniuses rarely seen in the Central Plains in ten years. They once withstood a ten-day assault by the Central Plains rebel king Du Fuwei's army of 100,000 with only a small city of nearly 10,000 remnants."

"More importantly, they are highly skilled in martial arts. Any one of them is no match for the Mad Monk. Together, they can fight against a Grandmaster. Even if the Turkic Martial Master arrives in person, he can only boost the morale of the Turkic army. He can't really defeat an entire country alone. As long as Kou and Xu join forces, Bi Xuan cannot win."