Chapter 32 – Chopping Plums at Leisure

As the old horse and cart headed towards the city of Dongyi, the willow flakes gradually flattened out and the people and dragons gradually gathered, Fan Xian and Shadow looked at the scenery within the large city in silence, their minds a bit uneasy. While Shadow was perhaps feeling a little emotional, Fan Xian was slightly shaken by the scene that came into his eyes.

Dongyi city is really worthy of the world’s first big city, covers an extremely wide area, the two people’s carriage in the city walking for a long time, but also from the intended location is still far away, along the road only to see all kinds of colorful buildings mixed among them, bustling crowds of people walking through the middle of it, from all sides of the world of the goods gathered here, countless accents in the street, countless people dressed in different costumes, bargaining, using a kind of sign language Fan Xian is not familiar with the way. The way.

The cityscape of the Eastern Barbarians, which was founded on commerce, was plain to see, and as Fan Xian sat in the carriage and looked out into the streets, he realized that there was nothing that he couldn’t find in the city. He couldn’t help but marvel in secret, when this lively and prosperous place, who would be able to bear not to shell out a large amount of silver for visitors from abroad?

Although Nanqing in more than twenty years ago began to set up a large commercial port in Quanzhou, with the huge output of the inner treasury, raw accounted for a lot of the sea and foreign trade share, not only directly led to the state port of the defeat of the calm, but also so that the East Barbarians city suffered a great impact. But after all, Dongyi City is the world’s merchants gathered place, especially the sea fleet is proficient in the art of wave management, and the continent of the far hanging overseas, so the trade has been prosperous so far.

Even if Fan Xian now controls the inner treasury, if he wants to take the sea route, it is not possible to go out to sea completely by virtue of Quanzhou, because many adventurers or merchants coming from the outer seas are still accustomed to trading through Dongyi City.

The change in this state of affairs would only take a few more decades – Fan Xian accepted this in his heart when he saw a dozen or so foreigners on the street. When he was sitting in Jiangnan, the foreigners were only willing to go as far as Quanzhou, so he had actually never seen a single one of them.

“Doesn’t it seem rare?” Shadow asked in a low voice beside him, “The foreigners only believe in Dongyi City, so the people of Southern Qing feel uncomfortable whenever they see these blue-eyed people.”

Fan Xian smiled and didn’t say anything, thinking that in his previous life he had once been a bull who had taught overnight mahjong at the International Student House, so how could he feel odd just looking at the foreigners.

“Why don’t the foreigners trust us in Nanqing? At most, they are willing to stop in Quanzhou for a few days, never willing to go deeper inland.” Fan Xian asked softly, “It’s fine if Northern Qi doesn’t have a suitable outlet to the sea, but our dynasty has already built three major ports in Jiangnan one, especially Quanzhou harbor has been repaired for more than twenty years, why hasn’t it ever completely taken away Dongyi City’s position?”

“This I am not very clear about either.” Shadow pressed down his hat and said indifferently, “But I heard that twenty years ago, the Quanzhou sailors had a good relationship with the foreigners, and then something happened to the Quanzhou sailors, which scared the foreigners away a lot as well.”

Fan Xian raised his eyebrows and didn’t ask anything else. In fact, today into the city all the way traveling, eyes watching six roads, ears listening to all directions, he savored the Dongyi City and this continent is exceptionally different from the atmosphere of the marketplace, has gradually understand the reason.

Dongyi City has been able to occupy the center of the world’s commercial position, the key lies in this place, the people’s style of freedom, business to profit words and deeds, on the street, in addition to maintaining law and order of the city’s government officials, simply do not see too many government figures – although there is no opportunity to go to see the specific process of trade, but Fan Xian has a strong hunch, the trade basically has been the same as in this continent, the city’s business has been the same as in this continent. The trade in Dongyi City basically already had the beginnings of some sort of contractual relationship, and both the City Lord’s Office and the Sword Lodge should not be trying to control the behavior of the merchants, but rather just drawing up a rough regulation of the market.

In comparison, although the southern Qing Jiangnan area was also commercially developed, this development and prosperity was, to a large extent, based on the too-specialized product of the inner treasury; Jiangnan’s commerce relied on the inner treasury’s unique output, so it could be completely priced by the imperial court, or by itself, with very little fluctuation.

The business of Jiangnan of Qing is a kind of business monopolized by the court, so no matter whether it is the Ming family which is prominent and incomparable in those years, or the Xiong family in Lingnan and the Sun family in Quanzhou, all of them are just a few undertakers under the inner treasury, if the court wants these three families to die, they will have to die, because the court will not be able to care about the sanctity of the contract with the merchants.

On the other hand, Dong Yi City’s commerce is rooted in reciprocal transactions, and there is no power that can shamelessly force how it is like the Qing court, nor is there anyone who can make the Ming family spit out 3,000 liters of blood and lose countless amounts of money just by virtue of the power in his hands, like Fan Xian did.

Obviously, for the merchants, this latter kind of prosperity was much more reliable, or a bit more permanent and trustworthy. Dongyi City was like a colony of the world’s merchants, a self-governing domain, where they used their sweat or their cunning to seek profit, living and dying in the heavens, not in the imperial power.

Fan Xian’s eyes from a large merchant doorway back, heart suddenly welled up a trace of absurdity, if Dongyi City really fell to the Qing Dynasty, to His Majesty the Emperor’s strong desire for power, and how can be willing to fifty years unchanged? How could he be willing to have so many merchants in the territory under his rule not listening to his own call?

If the light of Qing’s mighty imperial power really descended upon Dongyi City, would this prosperous and free or secretly dirty city still be able to maintain its vitality today?

Fan Xian and Shadow chose an inconspicuous inn to stay in, and after settling the carriage down, they walked out onto the street and merged into the crowd. At this time, it was still early in the day, and it was not convenient to do what they wanted to do, so these two strong people who had their own ideas in their hearts simply acted like daughters, and once again strolled around the noisy seaside city.

The reason why Dongyi City is big, in addition to the amazing amount of trade attracts the world group of merchants, but also because this place will gather all kinds of strange people, such as the year of the Jiangyang Bandit Wang Qinian, and even earlier Ye family lady and her side of the blind young servant. There are strange people, naturally there are legends, there are legends, coupled with the Four Gu Swords this glorious name, I do not know how many wandering homeless people to come to settle down to live, how many young people from the North Qi and South Qing dynasty came to travel.

Even the Hu people in the grassland and the snow barbarians in the north had once spared ten thousand miles to come. So year after year, the population of Dongyi City is more and more, the city is also expanding more and more big …….

Looking at the various styles of buildings on the street, Fan Xian tsked and wondered, secretly thinking that year’s Bund is also just like this, only that year’s Bund on the mostly Western architecture, this Dongyi City’s buildings are the continent’s various styles, North Qi inherited from the Wei’s black and green flying eaves, Qing’s solemn square buildings, the grassland’s dome arch house, Nanzhao’s gold rain arrow building … …

It is said that back in the day, the building of the foreigners also used to be in the Dongyi City scenery for a while, only later with the rise of the old Ye family, the status of the foreigners will be a flop, the trade on this continent began to go in the direction of the net into the direction.

The reason for this is very simple, the foreigners to buy silk tea porcelain, they can not do it, and they were selling extremely expensive glass, mirrors and other goods, the old Ye family can also do it, and do better, sell cheaper.

So in today’s maritime trade, the kingdoms of the overseas continent were struggling, because the Dongyi City side no longer needed their goods, and instead demanded that they had to settle their bills with cash silver. If it wasn’t more than ten years ago, it was rumored that the overseas continent had discovered a large amount of silver mines in a certain barbaric land, I’m afraid that they had already been emptied of their treasury by the cunning and ruthless merchants on the side of Dongyi City, as well as by the old Ye family that had fallen from the sky, and were no longer able to support the luxurious needs of their domestic nobles.

After listening to Fan Xian’s sentiments, Shadow said coldly, “The foreigners are no different from us, except that their force is just like their mages, it looks good, but in fact, it’s not useful at all, so they can only be exploited by us, only to come to complain about their suffering every year.”

Hearing this, Fan Xian couldn’t help but smile, he still remembered when he was reborn in this world in the first moment, he saw the shadow beside him, like a falcon flying over, killing a mage in seconds ……

The sun was slightly slanting, Dongyi City was still bustling, although the stores gradually had the intention of closing, but the places of sound and color in the middle of the various cross streets were beginning to prepare to light up the red lights.

“Finished?” The shadow suddenly asked.

Fan Xian gently pulled his hat with his fingers and said after a moment of silence, “Yes.”

He was a traveler from a different world, but could not be a mere traveler in the midst of this one, and when the rare half-day tour of the Eastern Barbarians came to an end for the time being, Fan Xian would have to return to the darkness, detach himself from the joyful relief of sightseeing, and regain his black dagger.

The shadow tilted its head slightly, turned to the right, brushed past a row of ice stalls selling autumn swordfish, and disappeared into an alleyway, the hat disappearing in a flash.

The setting sun in the west lost the honor of illuminating the East Sea, and was even more miserably blocked by the various tall buildings in Dongyi City, turning it into a patchwork of darkness, as Fan Xian stepped inside, concealing his tracks.

Dongyi city’s lord’s mansion was brightly lit, although it was not yet nightfall, and the warm sunset light was still shining on the high eaves of the mansion, but the subordinates in the mansion had already lit up their lamps, and it seemed that they were afraid of the darkness of the night in Dongyi city.

The envoys from Southern Qing and Northern Qi would be arriving at Dongyi City in a few more days, and everyone knew clearly that the great master in the Sword Lodge was about to decide the future direction of Dongyi City after this opening of the Lodge. But everyone is even more clear that as long as the Lord Sword Saint is deceased, no matter how Dongyi City chooses, for these people who are quick to take comfort in the name of free traders, it will be a dark night descending without knowing the end.

And of all these people, the one who was most nervous was of course the Lord of Dongyi City, because whether Dongyi became an offshore dependency of either Southern Qing or Northern Qi, there was naturally no need for him, the nominal Lord of the City, to continue to exist.

The reason why he is said to be the nominal lord of the city is because the real owner of Dongyi City is the Four Gu Swords as well as the Sword Lodge, and he is just enjoying the glory and riches of the city and performing simple administrative work on behalf of the city.

The city lord looked at the middle-aged swordsman in the opposite seat with worry, and said with a quiet sigh, “Master Yun, to put it in an unlucky way, Lord Sword Saint is not going to be able to make it, and as the head of the Sword Lodge, you always have to take an idea.”

Yun Zhilan, the Head Disciple of the Sword Lodge, slightly lowered his head and remained silent for a long time before he opened his mouth and said, “Master has his own measure, Lord City Master does not need to be overly concerned.”

“Even if I don’t worry for myself, I always have to worry for the people of this city.” The City Lord stared into his eyes and said, “If I really surrendered to the Southern Qing, the big deal is that I will go to the Southern Qing Kyoto to be a Marquis at Large …… but I, Dongyi, have worked hard to build the city so far, should I really give my hands to that great enemy of the Southern Qing Emperor?”

Yun Zhilan know the city master deliberately said so grandiose, in fact, is not worried about a city broken hut scattered, their way out of the problem, if this person really dare to go to the South Qing Kyoto to do a free marquis, today why so solemn please yourself …… who all know that the emperor of the South Qing’s ambition and the fear of the vicious disposition, the city wants to go to do a free marquis , only afraid to do not two years will usher in a cup of poisonous wine.

But Yun Zhilan must admit that he is extremely consistent with the thoughts of the city lord. As a strong person on the ninth rank, he certainly wasn’t worried about his future after the city’s destruction, and even Emperor Qing would surely welcome him. It was just that he had grown up in Dongyi City since he was a child, and had a sense of belonging and love for this city, and for that sword hut, from the deepest part of his soul, and no matter what, it was impossible for him to accept that Dongyi City would be surrendered without a fight, and would thus be included in the territory of Southern Celebration.

If it could still be independent of the two forces in the world, of course it would be the best future for Dongyi City, but if the situation was already irreversible, Yun Zhilan would rather join hands with the relatively weaker Northern Qi court to fight against the Southern Qing!

Yun Zhilan frowned slightly, the curtains of his eyes lifted two times breathlessly, revealing two cold auras that flickered within, he knew that at this moment, an important person was in the middle of the Sword Lodge, having an extremely important conversation with the Master Teacher.

If this negotiation could be successful, then Dongyi City would bravely stand up and put up the most decisive resistance against the mighty Nanqing.

Yun Zhilan raised his eyes and looked at the City Lord Lord and said, “A certain person will not surrender.”

The Dong Yi City Lord was slightly stunned, seemingly not expecting the other party to agree so readily. But to be honest, the City Lord had been in a state of tossing and turning for the past two years, and no matter what the choice was, it would not be able to pleasure him unless Lord Si Gu Jian turned around from his injuries and repeated his divine might back then.

He hesitantly looked at Yun Zhilan and said, ”But …… what exactly does Lord Sword Saint mean? I haven’t seen his old man for more than two years.”

Yun Zhilan did not answer this question, his face slightly strange, because to this day, he, the Head Disciple of the Sword Lodge, was still not clear on what the Lord Sword Sage actually thought, was it a war, or was it a surrender?

However, he immediately calmed down, thinking of the great man who was in the Sword Lodge at this time, he took a deep breath and said, “The master teacher must not be willing to have his life’s work, buried in this way.”

Lord City Master deeply locked his eyebrows, glanced at Yun Zhilan and said tentatively, “The world knows that Lord Sword Saint was injured at the hands of Emperor Qing two and a half years ago on the Great Eastern Mountain, originally, I and other mediocre and dull people would not think that Lord Sword Saint would intend to South Qing, just that in the past two years there has been a gradual spread of news that Wang Thirteen Lang is a disciple of Lord Sword Saint’s closed door but is befriended by Fan Xian of South Qing, I don’t know, how does Master Yun feel about this matter. Master Yun how he feels about this matter.”

At these words, Yun Zhilan’s expression became serious as he said sternly, “Thirteen Lang is my senior disciple, and everything he does is arranged by his master.”

“It is precisely because his friendship with Fan Xian was arranged by Lord Sword Saint that this is what I am most worried about.” The City Lord looked at Yun Zhilan and said seriously.

Yun Zhilan fell into silence, he used to feel endless chills from this arrangement as well, he had never imagined that Lord Sifu, who had been a lonely, arrogant and hostile person all his life, would be willing to put aside his deep hatred and make underhanded contact with Nan Qing before he died.

“Thirteen Lang ah ……” He sighed in his heart and said to himself, “Senior brother does not have any opinion about you, even if the master father intends for you to take over the sword hut, I will only follow your orders, however ……”

The lights on the wine table suddenly dimmed and brightened, reflecting Yun Zhilan’s face full of coldness and uncertainty. He knew that the most important thing at this time was not to let the people from the Southern Qing side, disturb that important negotiation within the Sword Lodge. On the side of the Sword Lodge, he had already arranged for countless experts to be ambushed outside, and outside the Plum Garden Clip Courtyard, he had also arranged for many strong men.

Yun Zhilan lifted his wine cup and took a shallow sip, saying, “I’ve already made arrangements at Thirteenth Lang’s place, please rest assured, Lord City Lord.”

The City Lord frowned slightly and said, “That’s very good, as long as it’s not Nanqing Fan Xian himself.”

“That little Lord Fan is still on his way.” Yun Zhilan’s eyes were solemn as he said calmly but firmly, “But if he dares to go to Little Master alone, I will leave him there forever.”

Fan Xian had already come and had admired the flying eaves of the City Lord’s Mansion’s architecture with the two of them and the Shadow like tourists, only none of the Dongyi City’s side knew about it, while at the same time, Fan Xian did not know that the Sword Lodge’s Head Disciple, Yun Zhilan, had begun to protect the Sword Lodge with a single-minded effort because of his loyalty to the Dongyi City and to his own inner self, even at the expense of harming Wang Thirteen, and also wanted to keep the Nanqing Laijin on this piece of land for eternity.

At the beginning of the night, Fan Xian arrived outside of a sandwiched courtyard on the outskirts of Dongyi City, and couldn’t help but smile slightly as he looked at the green streamers drying on the wall of the short courtyard. At this time, he naturally did not dare to go up and directly knock on the door, but instead made a few detours and passed through the back of a plum garden, and then prepared to go see Wang Thirteen Lang, who had been waiting for him.

Just as he was walking through the plums, about five or six paces from the back door, Fan Xian stopped in his tracks, for he had not heard the dog barking in that mezzanine courtyard, and Thirteen Lang had once told him, in casual conversation, that he kept an earth dog with the best nose.

–The dog might be made into a dog-meat hotpot, but Mei would not fall alone.

Fan Xian’s fingers flexed slightly, his eyes lowered as he stared at the branch of plum in front of his feet, knowing that there was an ambush here, and that the people who had ambushed him were experts. For as soon as he paused in his stance, he realized that a strike of wind had swept in front of him, chopping down a branch of plum, and immediately afterward, strong and biting sword intent seeped in from all directions.

He was not clear why Thirteen Lang did not warn himself in advance, but only clearly perceived that this ghostly place …… of Dongyi City s ninth grade sword hand was really mass produced.