When Hsu Fengnian and Yu Dilong returned to the Fu family's caravan, they naturally did not receive any good treatment. Hsu Fengnian apologized to Feng Qianxiang, who took advantage of the situation and did not press the matter. As an experienced Jianghu veteran, he knew that when one was outside, having more familiar faces meant having more options. If someone asked for help today, they might have to ask for help tomorrow. The caravan continued to move forward. After passing through the Horse Mang Mountain, they followed a winding river that had been dried up for many years. Yu Dilong held a handful of green Needle Grass and Caragana in his hands. From time to time, he would put them into his mouth and chew out the pitiful juice. After becoming his disciple, his master did not teach him any unique martial arts. He only taught him seven types of breathing methods. Six types of breathing, and one type of breathing. His master had jokingly said that if he practiced diligently according to this stupid method, once he reached the stage of perfection, it would be equivalent to practicing martial arts in his sleep. Perhaps one day, he would be able to produce thunder with his breath. Yu Dilong did as he was told. After all, there was nothing for this child to do other than breathing in and out in the same way. Hsu Fengnian rode on horseback. Occasionally, he would pay attention to Yu Dilong's breathing, but most of the time, he was mentally wandering.
Other than the group of spies from the Fish-dragon Gang, there was also the Great Guest Hong Yuan who had followed him from the Great Snow Plateau of Mount Hui to the Northern Liang. Recently, the Master of the Heavy Sword Cave, Mi Fengjie, who was not well-known in Jianghu, had taken the position of Consecrator. Fan Xiaochai was also hiding in the dark to protect Liu Nerong. She was already known as the most powerful and wealthy woman in Jianghu in Northern Liang. Of course, Xu Fengnian was the one who actually spent money to buy land and mansions. Hsu Fengnian even took out more than ten boxes of secret martial arts manuals from the Tide-listening Pavilion and gave them to the Fish-dragon Gang. Although they were all second-rate and third-rate manuals, they were enough to make Jianghu people fight for a place in the Fish-dragon Gang. Now, the Fish-dragon Gang really had both face and power. No one dared to say that the tenth most powerful gang in the world was just a motley crew. Hsu Fengnian did not expect these slippery Jianghu people who cherished their lives and reputation to work for Beiliang, but once the war started, Beiliang needed a stable backyard. The Fish-dragon Gang had already reached two thousand people. At the very least, they could ensure that Lingzhou, this granary, was as stable as a rock.
If the Fish-dragon Gang was just icing on the cake, then the Fu family had been providing timely assistance to Beiliang for twenty years! The family that Fu Zhensheng belonged to was led by his father's generation of seven. They led their clansmen and trusted aides to silently travel through the three prefectures of Beiliang. A few years ago, they had even traveled to the Western Region. With the strength of the family, they managed to find eighty percent of the mines in Northern Liang. However, the old and young members of the Fu family were puzzled. Why did the Northern Liang government only record these mines and send soldiers to seal off the mountains and not mine them when it was clearly not difficult to "open the mountains"? Fu Zhensheng's father had personally found a huge iron mine that could produce six hundred thousand catties of iron in a year. The Liyang Dynasty's iron harvest during the last years of Yonghui Dynasty was only six million and five hundred thousand catties. Fu Zhensheng's father also helped Beiliang find a mercury source in Ganquan County that had a total annual income of one thousand and six hundred catties. This was almost thirty percent of the entire Liyang Dynasty. Other than that, there were also the three major "mines" that produced copper in Beiliang. They were Qingshui Mine, Baoxing Mine, and Jiannan Mine. Without exception, the Fu family was responsible for their appearance. Why did Xu Xiao personally go to Old Master Fu's mourning hall to pay his respects? This was the reason. When Liang and Mang went to war in the future, what they competed in wasn't just the number of soldiers in the border army, but also the strength of Northern Mang and the resilience of Northern Liang. Once they clashed, both sides were well aware that no one could do the magnificent feat of smashing the other to death with a single hammer strike. The key was to see who had accumulated enough resources and could stall for the longest time. Although Beiliang's salt and iron official camps seemed to be controlled by those local tyrannical generals, Li Yishan had long ago proposed that "the benefits of the mountains and lakes are easily exhausted". Therefore, he had simply closed the mountains and sealed the mines. He had never reported it to the imperial court. Instead, he used the local officials to fill their own pockets as a smokescreen. The local officials had been purchasing relevant materials from outside of Beiliang for many years without hesitation. However, the method was very secretive, and it was only a small business that accumulated over time, so it would not attract too much attention. Even if some knowledgeable people in the imperial court noticed some clues, it would not be appropriate for them to denounce them. This was because it was not only Beiliang's Dao Mountain that was high and the Emperor was far away. Beiliang's Youzhou and Lingzhou bordering Beiliang, except for Gu Jiantang's former generals who were in charge of the military power, the local officials had also been infiltrated. In the past ten years, which of those officials had not become rich when they became an official? When they left office, they had both a good reputation and a lot of money. Moreover, this kind of thing that was beneficial to the people in their jurisdiction was something that everyone was doing. The law could not punish the majority. Could it be that the imperial court was going to throw the hat of treason on them? When the butcher Xu Xiao was still alive, which of the civil and military officials in the imperial court dared to do so?
The horse caravan slowly moved forward against the wind and sand.
Hsu Fengnian bit his lips.
Xu Xiao definitely did not leave his son a mess in Beiliang.
Instead, it was a Beiliang with powerful armors!
Hsu Fengnian glanced sideways and saw Fu Zhensheng turn his horse around and gallop over to him. Fu Zhensheng then rode side by side with him. Hsu Fengnian looked at this young face that did not have any worldly wisdom and felt guilty. After Fu Zhensheng's father found the gold mine west of Fengxiang Town, he stayed in the same place and continued to explore. He sent his confidant back to Beiliang to report the good news. In the end, he died at the hands of a group of horse bandits who were roaming around. Other than Fu Zhensheng's father, there were sixteen other members of the Fu family who died in battle. Their bodies had not been found yet. As for Fu Zhensheng, a member of Lingzhou who was a burden to the family, he was once beaten up by a group of local hedonistic sons after he saw injustice on the road. However, the Fu family did not complain to Beiliang because of this. The spies of the Whispering Chamber who were dormant in Lingzhou had strict rules. They would not stand up for the eldest son of the third branch of the Fu family because of this. The wind and sand were raging. Fu Zhensheng had no choice but to say loudly, "Young Master Xu, we are still ninety miles away from Qingcang City. We plan to travel through the night and finish this part of the journey in one go. I hope that Young Master Xu can hold on for a while."
Hsu Fengnian nodded without hesitation and said with a smile, "As a guest, I will follow the host's wishes. This time, my disciple and I have to thank Mister Fu for taking care of us on the way to Qingcang City. I hope that in the future, I will have the opportunity to treat you to a drink. "
When Fu Zhensheng heard the term 'Mister', he was obviously stunned. This was a well-deserved honorific and there was almost no need for it between people of the same age. Moreover, Fu Zhensheng did not have any hopes of becoming an official in this life and did not have any extravagant hopes of going to the battlefield to obtain military merits. He only wanted to continue his father's unfulfilled wish and continue to travel through the mountains and rivers of Beiliang. He originally thought that in his entire life, no one would call him 'Mister'. For a moment, he blushed, and a sincere smile appeared on his face. It was just that it was too difficult for him, Fu Zhensheng, who had never been in the officialdom before, to make small talk with a fellow who was practically a stranger. However, when Fu Zhensheng looked at that person's expression, for some reason, he seemed to feel a very unfamiliar sincerity. This kind of expression was not seen on the faces of the people of Lingzhou who were united and xenophobic. Those people only looked down on the people of the Fu family who had no power and no money. They only looked down on them with ridicule and pity.
Hsu Fengnian said, "To the west of Qingcang City are Linyao Cai Anshan and Fengxiang Ma Liuke. These two local tyrants have both submitted to the Liuzhou Provincial Governor's Manor. In name, one has become the mayor of Linyao City and the other has become the deputy general of Liuzhou. In reality, they are both under the strict surveillance of the Beiliang army and do not dare to cause trouble. Your trip to Fengxiang this time should be much safer than you imagined. "
Of course, Fu Zhensheng did not think that there would be close to a thousand cavalry secretly protecting his group. At this moment, he did not dare to let his guard down. However, it was not good to reject the goodwill of the other party, so he just smiled.
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