953 A Saber as a Gif (1/2)
It had been quite a few days since Zhong Heng had last wielded a saber. Though he was not a kung fu expert, he used to carry his saber with him wherever he went. But now, when he looked at these weapons that filled this room, he felt somewhat horrified.
”This is a little tricky,” he said.
This place was the arsenal of the Department of Guards, in which numerous sabers and swords of various styles were stored, including a small number of long-hilted weapons. The Dragon King was drawn to a spear. He took it down and appreciated it for a long time.
”Did you hear anything?” Gu Shenwei had just come to southern Jade City from the military camp outside the city. Though there was merely twenty to thirty miles between the two, the delivery of intelligence reports was still not efficient enough, so he had decided to stay in southern Jade City himself in case of an emergency.
The first one to report the situation to him was neither Xu Xiaoyi, Long Fanyun, nor Hu Shining; instead, it was Zhong Heng who was supposed to currently be in a negotiation carried out in northern Jade City. The Prime Minister always knew the Dragon King's agenda like the palm of his hand.
”Many people say that it was Dragon King who robbed the Meng family of its wealth and has been hiding it, that you're spending it now since you're in urgent need of money, and that the gold ingot found in the hand of that captor named Wu Xuan was what Dragon King paid him for his service.”
”They think that I am in such an urgent need of money that I didn't even remove the mark of the Meng family on the gold ingot?”
”Details are never important in a rumor. Everybody in the city has been talking about this, especially those merchants. They plan to ask Dragon King to repay the debt.”
During the past few months, especially last autumn, the Dragon Army had purchased provisions in large quantities. Many merchants had sold on credit, the most important reason for which was that they believed that the Meng family's wealth had fallen into the Dragon King's hands. So the moment they heard that somebody had been paid by the Dragon King, they became restless. Nobody wanted to be the last person to collect their debt. After all, even the Meng family's wealth was limited.
”Let them go to Xiao Fengchai and Lü Qiying.” Money had never been much of a distraction to Gu Shenwei's thoughts ever since he had found these two helpers.
Zhong Heng remained silent. After a while, when he motioned for the Dragon King's attention, he said, ”I'm afraid that these two people are the biggest source of trouble.”
”They are?” Gu Shenwei recalled that Prime Minister had always believed that Xiao and Lü were rather untrustworthy. He had once reminded the Dragon King that they had secretly accepted bribes from the residents of northern Jade City, promising them that the Dragon King would provide them with protection after assuming control of the city.
”I heard some news – I didn't make any inquiries. A couple of friends told me… ” Zhong Heng added on an explanation lest the Dragon King think that he was a busybody who hadn't been performing his duties. ”Lü Qiying secretly told some important merchants that Dragon King was short of money, and that they had to take action as soon as possible if they still wanted their money back. Xiao Fengchai is very tight with money. A lot of payments are due but she still hasn't made them, which aroused many complaints.”
Gu Shenwei put the spear down and said, ”I understand. But the Dragon Army is indeed short on money. If it weren't for that those merchants who are willing to give credit, we would have broken apart a long time ago. Do you have any solutions, Prime Minister?”
The Dragon King didn't seem very anxious, which slightly surprised Zhong Heng. ”If worse comes to worst, then we can just use the Meng family's money. After those gold ingots are melted and re-cast, nobody will be able to tell where they originally came from. Let them guess. If suspicions arise, we can always say they are treasures of the Norlanders, like those from the mausoleum of the old Khan.”
In the Western Regions, the old Khan's mausoleum was not seen as a sacred place but rather merely as a big grave stuffed with gold, silver, and jewels. Instead of feeling indignant, they would only admire tomb raiders who had a chance to rob it.
Gu Shenwei shook his head. ”Meng Mingshu won't be happy about it if we squander the Meng family's money.”
Back when the Dragon King had been formulating the plan for the robbery, Zhong Heng hadn't been in Jade City, so this was the first time that he had heard reliable inside information about it. He thought for a while and then said, ”Meng Mingshu has been spending a lot of time around Pang Jing. I'm afraid that he has already disclosed all our secrets to him.”
”It's possible. Meng Mingshu is not someone who can endure living a hard life. But there's another issue that concerns me much more. Don't you think that Pang Jing is close to a lot of people in Jade City?”
Zhong Heng's heart lurched. His first instinct was to defend himself. ”Pang Jing has been acting as if everybody is his old acquaintance. Even I…” Zhong Heng shut up. This was the Dragon King, in front of whom it was both pointless and useless to play word games. ”I think that Pang Jing has probably been doing this on purpose to give the Dragon King this kind of impression.”
”I share your opinion. The appearance of that gold ingot of the Meng family is a contributing factor to more distrust between me and Jade City.”
Zhong Heng understood what the Dragon King meant. He bowed and saluted. ”I was being a busybody. I shouldn't have been tricked into talking about our allies' mistakes on this kind of occasion.”
Gu Shenwei selected a couple of sabers from the shelf. ”Prime Minister wasn't being a busybody. Xiao Fengchai and Lü Qiying are not like you. They're merchants. It is in their interests and not their partnerships that they care about. I do need someone to watch them for me. But don't alert them.”
Zhong Heng clearly knew that the Dragon King was only saying this to co-opt his subordination, but he still couldn't help but feel rather touched. The Dragon King didn't regard him as a merchant, which was a great recognition of him. So he bowed deeply and said, ”Yes. I'll go back to northern Jade City right now. By the way, the preparation for the kung fu competition concerning the selection of the Lord of Jade City is almost done. Only the venue remains undecided. Does the Dragon King have any instructions?”
”I trust your judgement,” said Gu Shenwei.
Zhong Heng left the Department of Guards, secretly analyzing the personality of his young master the whole time. He was aware that there were many things that he wasn't allowed to be a part of. With regards to this huge amount of money of the Meng family, the Dragon King had absolutely formulated a plan for counterattack, which he didn't have a chance to participate in.
Thinking of the Meng family, Zhong Heng involuntarily started picturing dramatically large piles of gold and silver ingots in his mind. He also faintly felt tempted, so he understood why that small gold ingot had attracted so much attention in Jade City.
Carrying a couple of sabers, Gu Shenwei walked out of the arsenal and handed them to Hu Shining, who had been waiting outside. Then the two went into a small nearby side-yard.
Five teenagers, who were waiting there with their arms drooping, immediately knelt down on one knee upon seeing the Dragon King. All of them had been through Hu Shining's training sessions, so there were still some inevitable lingering effects of Golden Roc Castle's influence in them. Kneeling down on one knee was a compromise for them. Hu Shining, who was a man of little words, had indicated that he was uninterested in the Big Snow Mountain swordsmen's principle of never kneeling before their master.
”These five warriors have done a very good job recently. They deserve to be rewarded,” said Hu Shining. He was still not used to the form of address ”warrior.”
Gu Shenwei ordered the five teenagers to stand up, took the sabers from Hu Shining one by one, and then gave them to the five Warriors as awards.