Chapter 76 – Heavenly Silver Roots, Must Kill!
Fan Xian quietly looked at Yun Zhilan in front of him, and unexpectedly thought of many years ago, within the Night Palace in Kyoto, when he first saw this great swordsman. At that time, he was still just a young man who was starting out on the political stage of the Three Kingdoms, while Yun Zhilan, the head disciple of the Sword Lodge, was already famous throughout the world, and was the true master of the Dongyi City’s envoys.
Six years have passed, Fan Xian has become one of the top few people in this world, and Yun Zhilan, even to worship in front of him, to show allegiance to him, the time change trend shift, call people good not to feel sad.
Fan Xian did not know what the Four Gu Swords had set up before his death, how to convince Yun Zhilan, who was a diehard, but he could sense that Yun Zhilan’s attitude was not too much of a false pretense, and he knew very well that these strong men who were constantly seeking in the martial arts path would find it hard to go back on their decision once they had decided on a certain thing.
But he heard Yun Zhilan’s words very clearly, and hearing the words twelve swords, Fan Xian’s eyes narrowed slightly as he calmly looked at him and said, “Twelve swords …… If this sword heart of Yun everyone is not there, how can I control these twelve swords?”
Not waiting for Yun Zhilan to reply, he had long since stood up, solemnly lifted the sword lodge’s head disciple up, and said sincerely, “I know that everyone in the cloud will never believe me because of the dying words of the sword saint lord, and I don’t need you to believe me, just if this is a deal, I need the sword lodge’s power, and the sword lodge needs my shelter, but if you’re not there, how can I hold these twelve swords tightly? ?”
Yun Zhilan’s face did not have much of a smile on it as he said indifferently, “My master has naturally prepared a way to reassure Lord Little Fan.”
After saying these words, Yun Zhilan turned back and walked away, not even giving Fan Xian the slightest opportunity to exchange feelings and pull his sword heart together.
Fan Xian stood in the room with a sense of loss, thinking about what kind of affairs the Four Guards Sword had arranged for Yun Zhilan. However, in a moment’s time, he guessed that although the Four Gu Swords wanted to place a big bet on himself, he always needed someone to check and balance himself, to watch over him, and to supervise him.
Yun Zhilan was the one who stayed away from the alliance of interests. With his prestige in the hearts of the disciples of the Sword Lodge, if Fan Xian acted in a way that was too detrimental to the interests of Dongyi City in the future, at his command, he was afraid that the twelve swords that Fan Xian nominally possessed would, in a flash, be left behind as a pitifully lonely one.
The one who entered the room after Yun Zhilan was the second disciple of the Sword Lodge. Fan Xian quietly looked at this middle-aged man, and realized that the other party’s appearance was ordinary, with no trace of excellence between his eyebrows, and that the sword intent contained in his body was also wrapped deeply in the depths of his body, and he was wearing a slightly thick cotton robe, which was not like a formidable swordsman, but was more like a butler-like figure.
After the first senior brother came, there was the second senior brother. Fan Xian’s heart laughed bitterly, with this arrival of the Four Gu Swords, he had pushed himself directly on top of the fire, and it seemed as if the disciples of the Sword Lodge had accepted his will, taking turns to come and report back to him.
Fan Xian glanced at the small brown urn beside himself with his afterglow, and a hint of perplexity grew in his eyes. A generation of sword saints had turned into an altar of ash at his hand.
His hand gently stroked over the urn, and it seemed that he could still feel the slight warmth of the ashes of the Four Guards Sword.
As his fingers moved, the eyes of the butler-like Second Senior Brother changed, but immediately became calmer, and with a wave of his hand, several Third Generation Disciples of the Sword Lodge carried several boxes in.
Fan Xian raised his head and asked with a smile, “Could this be Lord Sword Saint’s legacy?”
The second senior brother laughed and didn’t say anything until all of the boxes were placed in Fan Xian’s room before he said softly, “My Sword Lodge’s estate, of course, won’t be just this small. Here are just some running water from the estate that can be utilized temporarily, and since Master said that you need silver right now, I’ll carry it here for you. There are also some accounts that I thought would be of interest to you, so I took it upon myself to move them as well.”
Fan Xian was slightly surprised, and quietly looked at this butler-like Sword Lodge expert. Of course he would not take this second senior brother lightly, on the contrary, among the thirteen disciples of the Sword Lodge, he had always thought that this second senior brother was well worth noting, and regardless of the fact that when Yun Zhilan and Wang Thirteen Lang were infighting, this second senior brother was able to remain neutral all the time without being implicated, just by looking at the fact that the Four Gu Swords always allowed him to keep watch outside the Sword Lodge, it was clear that this person was deeply trusted by the Four Gu Swords.
Silver, accounts? Fan Xian narrowed his eyes at him and asked, ”Tough on you. I still don’t know what these accounts are related to.”
The second disciple of the Sword Lodge said in a harmonious voice, “It has to do with the Taiping Money Bank.”
When Fan Xian heard these words, he could no longer sit peacefully on top of the short collapse, rising with a flourish, staring at this second disciple for a long time without saying anything, and finally couldn’t help but laugh mockingly, saying in a tone of admiration, “Unexpectedly, I don’t think anyone could ever have imagined that …… the original owner of the world’s biggest money bank was actually a …… strong person hidden in the Sword Lodge.”
Taiping money bank, the world’s number one money bank! Back then, the Ming family of Qingguo what kind of huge industry, but to some extent, also have to rely on Taiping money bank’s water support, from this money bank since the emergence, it is the world’s largest, the best reputation of the money bank, there is no one, and in the past few decades, there has never been any other money bank can threaten to its position.
Even a few years ago, Fan Xian and the Northern Qi Emperor secretly teamed up, and then used his father to send the old officials of the Ministry of Revenue to take care of the whole of a deformed and spoiled investment bank, but in the face of the Taiping money bank, is still like a small child is not well developed.
Fan Xian, who holds the production and marketing rights of the inner treasury and two smuggling channels, a green house alliance, plus a very large money bank, is undoubtedly the richest person under the sky.
However, he knew that although he had a lot of silver in his hands, it was still not enough compared to the Taiping Money Bank!
Because this Taiping money bank is deeply rooted in the mainland business, all the giant merchants and it has a very deep connection, if the Taiping money bank is really powerful, can mobilize the silver, can be a kind of jaw-dropping point.
Fan Xian is not an ordinary powerful official, he has the experience of the business community in his previous life, and also deals with merchants in this life, so he knows more than the average person about the terrifying strength of the Taiping Money Bank, and the utility that this money bank can bring out.
In the past, he had also had the Supervisory Yuan investigate the dark underbelly of the Taiping Money Bank, only that every time he investigated a lot, the clues came to a screeching halt. Of course, this world’s number one money bank, since it started in Dongyi City, naturally has a relationship with the Sword Lodge, at least there must be the Four Gu Swords behind it, but how could Fan Xian not have thought that the world’s number one Taiping Money Bank was itself the property of the Sword Lodge!
And the owner of the Taiping Money Bank is the second disciple of the Sword Lodge!
Fan Xian looked at the owner of the Taiping Money Bank in a daze, and his heart was filled with endless complex emotions. At this time, he realized that the Four Gu Swords had pressed down how many chips and added how much strength to himself with this big bet before his death.
Twelve swords are very scary, the control of Dongyi City is very scary, but the real terror, I’m afraid that it is at this time to send into the house to come to these boxes of accounts.
The accounts of the Taiping Money Bank.
Fan Xian took a deep breath, looked at the second disciple of the sword lodge respectfully salute, and asked in a harmonious voice: “Still do not know Mr. name.”
This respect was not to the other party’s status as a disciple of the Sword Lodge and the realm of the ninth ranked powerhouse, but to the other party’s status as the owner of the Taiping Money Bank. The most respectable thing in this world was of course strength, and the person who controlled half of the world’s silver money in his hands was undoubtedly the most respectable.
At least that was what Fan Xian thought.
“Li Bohua.” This second disciple of the Sword Lodge, the owner of the Taiping Money Bank, wasn’t surprised by Fan Xian’s attitude and said gently, “Sixteen years in charge of the Taiping Money Bank.”
Fan Xian was silent for a moment, not knowing what kind of attitude to speak to this person with. According to Four Gu Swords, this person should be returned to his own use, but could a great man who owned the Taiping Money Bank really be used for himself?
Immediately after he thought of something else, the pupils of his eyes gradually shrunk – with the strength in his own hands, Merchants Money Bank, plus the Taiping Money Bank that vaguely controls the livelihood of countless merchants and people, such strength should be able to fight against anything.
It was a confrontation from the bottom up.
Li Bohua looked at Fan Xian’s expression, knowing what he was thinking, and slowly said, “Taiping Money Bank lends money to the world, but if the times are hard, I’m afraid that those foreign loans won’t be able to be recovered. But ……”
The word but came out. Fan Xian looked at him, waiting for his next words.
“While the silver bills fly around the world, the roots of the silver are always within the city of Dongyi.” Li Bohua did not cover up in front of Fan Xian, “If Lord Little Fan will be able to gather all these forces together, it will indeed be able to influence many things. It wouldn’t be difficult to cause chaos in the world.”
It was only when someone with power spoke that they had the courage to do so.
Fan Xian realized today that the most powerful person among the Thirteen Apprentices of the Sword Lodge was not Yun Zhilan, who had the highest prestige, or Thirteen Lang, who had the most unlimited prospects in the realm, but rather, it was this Li Bohua, who held the most silver taels.
“This is a great gift.” Fan Xian had calmed down from his earlier shock and said slowly, “If the Dongyi City side asks for too much, I still won’t be able to do it, and I must make it clear beforehand.”
“This is already your property, sir.” Li Bohua looked at him with a smile. Unlike ordinary martial arts experts, this invisible oligarch of the continent’s business world saw Fan Xian’s caution at a glance, and said in a harmonious voice, “There is nothing in Master’s last orders that requires you to do anything, so I’m sure you’ve already negotiated a deal, and I’m just carrying it out.”
Fan Xian’s brow furrowed as he scoffed to himself, “I’ve already been smashed once in my life by a gold basin falling from the sky, do I have to be smashed a second time today?”
“I don’t know what you need silver for, but I have silver.” Li Bohua was silent for a long time before suddenly speaking, “Of course, personally, I would like to make one condition to you.”
Fan Xian looked at him quietly for a moment before saying, “You have the qualifications and strength to make any condition.”
Li Bohua slowly got up and said, “The Taiping Money Bank, most previously was the property of the Dongyi City Lord’s Mansion, and later on, it was the private property of the Sword Lodge, and I’ve been in it for sixteen whole years of painstaking effort, and the money bank is getting bigger and bigger, but please remember that the silver of the money bank is not only the silver of the money bank, but also the deposits of all the merchants of Dongyi City, and even the deposits of countless people of the Northern Qi and the Southern Qing Dynasty, and if you want to utilize it, there must also be a limit, you can’t just gouge the merchants out of their silver.”
“This is natural.”
“What I mean is that the Taiping Money Bank is, in fact, the money bank of the Eastern Barbarians, their silver root, their root.” Li Bohua looked at him quietly and said word by word, “You are only half Dongyi people’s blood, I want to remind you that our submission is only nominal, we don’t want to become Yanjing people, Jiangnan people, Weizhou people, we just want to be Dongyi people.”
“Speak directly.” Fan Xian narrowed his eyes at him.
“No garrison.” Li Bohua frowned and said softly.
At these words, the corners of Fan Xian’s lips curled up into a smile as he looked at him and said softly, “You’re a smart person, so of course you know that this is something that Lord Sword Saint has already endorsed, and it’s impossible for me to give in.”
Immediately after that, he frowned and said, “You guys also have to sympathize with me, to convince the millions of people in Qing Guo, I have already done my best.”
Li Bohua also smiled, that earlier remark was just a negotiation tactic, he sincerely stated the real request.
“If there must be a garrison, I hope it’s the Black Riders.” Li Bohua looked at Fan Xian and said calmly, “Nothing else will do.”
Fan Xian shook his head, “The total number of Black Riders is only a thousand, and His Majesty will not agree to it.”
“Then it’s the Grand Prince’s old subordinates, and it’s best if the Grand Prince himself comes here.” Li Bohua also stopped giving in and said, “Now that the vassal states have begun to have dissenting voices and the people’s hearts have begun to be in disarray, after the funeral, if the Qing army enters forcefully, I’m afraid that it will cause a lot of backlash. The situation is in chaos, how can we solve this problem?”
“Could it be that the Black Riders or the original Western Conquest Army would not have this problem if they entered Dongyi City?”
Li Bohua smiled and said, “The owner of the Black Riders is you, and the owner of the Conquest Army of the West is the Grand Hall of Justice …… And all the people of Dongyi City know that you are the descendant of the Ye family’s young lady, and that the Grand Hall of Justice is the son of the Great Aunt Ning.”
Fan Xian frowned slightly, wondering how this was again crucial to the smoothness of the situation in Dong Yi City.
“It depends on the hearts and minds.” Li Bohua said softly, “In the past twenty years of our Dongyi City, we have produced two of the most famous women, one is Your Tang, and into this day, the merchants of Dongyi City still see the old Ye family of those days as the pride of Dongyi City, while the other is Ning Dagu, a poor female captive of Dongyi City who ended up becoming the imperial consort of a foreign country… …You may find it strange to say this, but the truth is that the people of Dongyi City, never saw this as a humiliation, and would only see it as a rare honor.”
Fan Xian was silent, and naturally thought of the Chinese girls who had become the princesses of Northern Europe and the wives of great wealth in his previous life. It seems that people’s emotions at that time did not resist, but rather some secret joy, nothing to do with foreign pandering, probably purely a kind of declaration of the country pandering to the outside world of the odd joy it.
“And because the position of Miss Ye and Great Aunt Ning in the hearts of the people of Dongyi City has remained unchanged,” Li Bohua said as he looked at him, “so you or the Great Prince, in the hearts of many merchants and people, in fact, is also half of the people of Dongyi, and if one or the other of the two of you were stationed here, the folk’s emotions would be Conveniently whisk some flat.”
Fan Xian was silent for a long time and then said, “You have a point, and I can go and try to convince His Majesty the Emperor of these words, I’m sure that His Majesty also wants a complete Dongyi city, not a city where righteous armies rise up in all directions and bloodshed becomes a river.”
“Tough on you.” After Li Bohua said this, he gave a deep salute and prepared to retreat.
Regarding the specific matters of Dongyi City’s submission, such as whether to pay annual tribute or directly incorporate it into Kyoto’s tax system, it was still under discussion among officials at all levels, and overriding these matters was, of course, the top priority of the garrison, Li Bohua came here today with the Taiping Money Bank and abandoned the box and box and went away, but it was the burden on Fan Xian’s shoulders that was pressed down even more heavily.
“Please wait.” Fan Xian suddenly opened his mouth to retain his guest. At this time, the shock in his heart was simply not able to be completely eliminated, and he really didn’t understand why the Four Gu Swords had decided to make a big gamble on themselves before their deaths, while these disciples of the Sword Lodge had, without asking for details or the reason, moved out of Dongyi City’s home base in such a heroic and even reckless manner.
They didn’t know the past like the Four Gu Swords did, and knew the deep chasm between Fan Xian and the Emperor that was difficult to erase, so on what basis could they trust Fan Xian.
“We just believe in Master Teacher’s wisdom.” Li Bohua looked at him and smiled, “I’m sure you’re well aware that Master Teacher has never been any kind of idiot.”
Fan Xian was silent, then smiled and said, “I thought that after you guys bet so much down, there had to be some way to oversee me.”
“It certainly won’t be Yun Zhilan.” Fan Xian narrowed his eyes in thought and slowly said, “For the City Lord’s Mansion to be re-established, Yun Zhilan is the best choice, he wanders away from the Sword Lodge and looks on with cold eyes, and will check and balance me from the big picture……. But where are your checks and balances on me personally? You guys should be clear that I am not someone who can be controlled.”
“We are not certain that we can control Little Lord Fan.” Li Bohua said calmly, “That’s why we’re just following Master Fan in a worldly gamble. Of course, if Lord Little Fan goes back on his word and backhandedly swallows my Dongyi City into his belly, it wouldn’t be out of our expectation, after all, you are a Qing person, the bastard son of Emperor Qing, so I’m sure the death or life of Dongyi City wouldn’t be that important in your mind.”
“Since you have thought of this, why do you still dare to bet.”
“We Dongyi City don’t have any other power, we just have money and …… swords.” Li Bohua smiled a salute and walked out of the quiet room.
Then a sword walked into the quiet room.
The tired Wang Thirteen Lang’s face was pale as he looked at Fan Xian for a long time in silence before saying in a very low voice, “From today onwards, I will follow you every day, and if you renege on your word, I will kill you.”
“Can you kill me?” Fan Xian sighed and shook his head.
Wang Thirteen Lang stubbornly stared at him and said, “If I’m wrong about you …… I can’t kill you, I’m going to kill you.”