Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

Chapter 936 Pros and Cons
When Yuanbao spoke, the hall suddenly became quiet. This was not because he had a higher prestige in the hearts of the people, but because he wanted to stay in Jiaozhou and not go back to Fanyang with the others. Invisibly, he became a "neutral party" in the hearts of the people, so naturally his words were easier to hear. Besides, although Yasha, Yaoshi and others had trained and organized an army in recent days, it was still a short time after all, and the trust between the upper and lower levels was not solid. It was okay to take them to attack Linyi, Cambodia and other countries, but it would definitely not work to take them back to Fanyang to fight for power and profit. And the number of soldiers they trusted was at most two or three hundred.

"Since you have no objection, then we will limit the number to 150! No more, no less!" Sutada secretly breathed a sigh of relief: "Time is running out, everyone go back and prepare! Also notify the two who are not here today. What about the departure time!" At this point, Sutada paused for a moment: "Then let's go seven days later!"

Watching the last brother walk down the steps, fatigue suddenly hit him like a tidal wave. Sudatta found a chair and sat down, his fingers unconsciously groping on the table. I'm so tired! As he thought, he tried to recall Wang Wenzuo's voice and smile. Although he had so many troubles, he always smiled in front of him. Now he was going to leave him forever, and it was his turn to face all this. When he thought of this, Sudatta felt cold all over.

"for you!"

Xu Tuo felt something hard being stuffed into his hand. He turned around and saw that it was a cup. Yuan Bao smiled at him and said, "Drink it! You will feel better. I know you are in a bad mood now!"

Suda took a big sip. The warm and spicy liquid flowed into his stomach. His blood seemed to boil. He could feel his face flushing. "What kind of wine is this? It's so strong!"

"Distilled sugarcane wine, made from the leftover sugar! There's a lot of sugarcane in Jiaozhou, so I built a winery. This is the latest batch, and I added some laurel powder!" Yuanbao also took a sip: "Do you want more?"

"Forget it!" Suta shook his head: "I'm already a little dizzy, you're too drunk!"

"Hahaha!" Yuanbao laughed. "Of course, this is made by distilling new wine and mixing it with a little old wine. You drank it too fast! This kind of wine should be tasted slowly in small sips!"

Xu Tuo followed Yuan Bao's instructions, took a sip, savored it for a while, and found that the taste was indeed much mellower: "It seems that you have learned a lot in Cangzhou!"

"Of course!" Yuanbao pointed at himself with his thumb. "I may not be as good as you guys in fighting, but when it comes to these things, I have learned a lot from the old man! This time I came to Jiaozhou, I brought a lot of craftsman books. Give me five years, and Jiaozhou will definitely become another Cangzhou!"

Xu Tuo put down his wine glass and sighed: "Yuan Bao, to be honest, I am very disappointed!"

"Disappointed, because of what just happened?"

"Yes!" Suta nodded. "Yaksha, Medicine Master and the others, their father's life or death is still unknown, they are thinking of using knives and guns. Is it just for that little family property? They don't care about family affection at all. It's really too sad."

"Hahaha!" Yuanbao suddenly laughed. Xu Tuo frowned: "Yuanbao, what are you laughing at? Am I wrong?"

"Yes, yes, it's absolutely true!" Yuan Bao smiled: "It's just that it looks like you don't mind the pain in your waist when you talk while standing!"

"Don't you feel any pain in your waist when you talk while standing? What do you mean?" Suta said angrily, "I really mean it!"

"I know you were speaking from the heart!" Yuan Bao said with a lazy smile, "But you are on a different side from them. Yes, Yaksha, Pharmacist and the others are all sons of our father, but sons are different from sons. I am already the governor of Jiaozhou, and the entire Nanyang is my territory for expansion. You are even more amazing, the entire New World is yours. We both have people, money and territory. And what about Yaksha Pharmacist and the others? What do they have? To make an analogy, we have already separated and moved out, while Yaksha Pharmacist and the others are still in the house. How can we generalize?"

"You can't say that. Father gave them the boat and the money!"

"The ship will rot and sink, and the money will be spent! Only land is truly everlasting!" Yuan Bao sighed, "If this incident lasts another three to five years, Yasha Yaoshi and the others will have conquered their own land in Southeast Asia and become the masters of a city or a country. Then they will be much better off. Alas, Daddy's incident happened at a really bad time!"

"Yes!" This time, Xu Tuo was convinced by Yuan Bao. He was silent for a moment and asked, "Then what should I do next?"

"What should we do?" Yuanbao asked.

"Of course it's to stop the fratricide! What else could it be?"

"Well!" Yuanbao laughed, "Don't worry about it, just don't get involved!"

"What do you mean by this?" Suta said angrily, "What do you mean by meddling in other people's affairs? Aren't you and I Wang Wenzuo's sons?"

"You don't understand what I mean!" Yuan Bao sighed, "Don't you see it yet? Our father has already made arrangements, nothing serious will happen!"

"What do you mean?"

"Suda, there are only two possibilities for you to go back: one is that the old man is still alive, then everything will be fine. As long as he is still alive, no one will dare to jump out and explode. Everything will be arranged properly. Am I right?"

"That's natural, but what if he is no longer here?" Suta asked.

"Then there's no need to be afraid!" Yuan Bao said with a smile: "Let me ask you, among our brothers, the most powerful ones right now are the two brothers Yan Liang and Hu Liang, plus the two of us, right?"

"Well! So what?"

"That is to say, as long as the four of us don't intervene, the other brothers and Aunt Cui won't be able to cause any trouble, right? In fact, they don't even dare to really cause any trouble because they are worried about the four of us, don't you think so?" "Yeah!" After hearing this, Xu Tuo gradually came to his senses: "You mean, our father had already figured it out before he died and came up with this strategy of internal and external containment?"

"Hmm!" Yuanbao said, "Among our father's territories, the richest and most densely populated area is naturally Hebei. But none of our four brothers stayed there!" Yuanbao revealed a sly smile when he said this.

"Could it be that my father had other plans when he asked you to come to Jiaozhou?" Suta asked anxiously.

"Hehe! I didn't say that! You said it all!" Yuanbao laughed, "In this case, you and I are thousands of miles away, so it goes without saying that Brother Huliang is in Chang'an, at the center of the Tang Dynasty. If he wants to take Hebei, not only the three of us brothers will not agree, but also the Hebei nobles and the nobles and old friends who were granted fiefdoms in the Three Han outside the Great Wall will not agree. And Yanliang is the King of Wa after all, so it is even more difficult for him to take Hebei. So the four of us brothers have blocked ourselves!"

Suta nodded. The identities of Wang Wenzuo's four most powerful sons were quite delicate. It was said that Huliang, who was in the center of the Tang Dynasty and controlled the government, had the strongest power. However, if he wanted to get involved in Hebei, the people of Hebei would probably react most strongly. After all, they had finally gotten rid of the oppression of the Tang Dynasty and gained a semi-independent status. Now there is another guy from Chang'an who wants to intervene in Hebei. Even if he is Wang Wenzuo's son, the people of Hebei will not agree. Those nobles and old friends who were granted fiefdoms in the Three Han outside the pass would also be afraid that Chang'an would attack them after taking Hebei. Therefore, if Huliang would attack Hebei after Wang Wenzuo's death, not only would the other three brothers oppose it, but other forces within Wang Wenzuo's group would also not accept it.

The problem with Yanliang is that he has half Japanese blood in his body, and his roots are in the Japanese archipelago, which is too far away from Hebei. If he wants to really control Hebei, he must first control the Three Kingdoms and the Northeast, which will also arouse opposition from others. As for Sutuo and Yuanbao, they don't have this problem, but they are too far away now, especially Yuanbao. Considering his achievements and connections as the governor of Cangzhou, if he had not been sent to Jiaozhou, he would have a great chance of controlling Hebei after Wang Wenzuo's death.

"The only thing that could make things worse is if someone in Fanyang forms an alliance with a powerful vassal, and one of the four of us takes the risk! This is troublesome. So I just said, don't get involved when you go back. Hu Liang and Yan Liang are both well-informed, so even if things get out of hand, it won't be a big deal!"

"I understand what you mean!" Suta nodded: "After I go back and see my father off, I will leave immediately without delay!"

"It's good that you understand!" Yuan Bao sneered: "As long as the four of us don't stay in Fanyang, the situation will not be chaotic. If someone is foolish enough to stay, then that person will have to die, and the world will not be in chaos for long!"

When Suda heard this, he shuddered.

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Although it has only been a few months since I last left, Jiaozhi City has changed a lot. Jumong stood on the forecastle, listening to the oars and the rhythmic calls of the sailors, watching the piers, dams, workshops, and warehouses slowly emerging from behind the reeds, and the prototype of a riverside industrial and commercial area can already be seen. Compared with Yuanbao's plan, the city of Bharati is simply a hodgepodge. If possible, it would be best to ask Yuanbao to send someone to re-plan it for me.

As the boat cut through the river, Jumong could hear the noise of the sailors on the deck, everyone was looking forward to the carnival after landing - sailors were not farmers, they would not save every copper coin and every half piece of dry biscuit to resist famine and annex land. No one knew whether this was their last voyage, and it was normal for sailors to drink and whore as soon as they landed, and to go on board with empty pockets.

"Pass the order down. After we reach the shore, everyone on the ship will be rewarded with five silver coins, and the captain and senior crew members will be rewarded with fifty!" said Jumong.

“Thank you for your generosity!”

Even the captain's voice trembled when faced with such a huge reward. Jumong smiled nonchalantly. Every sailor had a loud voice. After they got the reward, they would definitely go to the wine shop to brag about it and let everyone in the city know about it. In this way, he would not have to worry about whether anyone would be willing to go to the city of Paratiba with him to colonize. Compared with this, what was this little reward?
As the ship got closer to the dock, Jumong was surprised to find that the porters were carrying various supplies to his brothers' ship. It looked like they were about to set sail. Where were they going? Did they know about his great victory in the city of Paratipat from other sources?
Jumong was shocked and suspicious. He could not help but reach his hand to his waist subconsciously. What the hell, he had asked the crew to raise the sails and almost flew all the way back. When he thought about not being able to show off his achievements to his brothers, Jumong could not help but feel unhappy.

The boat slowly approached the dock. Jumong tapped the handrail anxiously with his fingers and scanned the shore for familiar figures, but he found nothing. Only the people were coming and going. Dock workers disembarked from the merchant ship from Guangzhou with sacks on their backs, fishermen were selling the day's catch, and children were running and playing. A monk in a robe was walking slowly along the riverbank, leading a donkey. Not far from him, a prostitute poked her head out of the window of the inn and asked the passing sailors for business.

Several clerks stood by the dock, shouting at the ships.

"We came from the city of Paratiba, and the ship is full of gold and silver!" The captain shouted proudly: "Prince Jumong won a great victory and fooled the Khmers and Javanese. He is on the ship!"

As the gangplank was lowered, Jumong was the first to step down. The clerks came up to him. Jumong said coldly, "Bring me a horse. Also, I saw my brothers' boats carrying supplies. Are they going somewhere?"

"Don't you know?" The leading clerk was stunned.

"what do you know?"

"All the gentlemen, except the governor, are going back to Fanyang!" At this point, the clerk lowered his voice and said, "I heard that an envoy came from the north and brought bad news!"

"Bad news? What bad news?" Jumong was quite annoyed. He didn't like the way the other party spoke, as if he was a fool who knew nothing.

"I don't know!" the clerk replied, "But I heard that it has something to do with the Prince of Hejian!"

"This is a reward for you!" Jumong threw a gold coin to the clerk, then he turned over and jumped on the horse he had just brought, and galloped all the way to the governor's mansion. When they entered the city and arrived in front of the governor's mansion, both the man and the horse were soaked in sweat.

"Prince Jumong, you are finally back!" The steward recognized Jumong and hurried to greet him. Jumong threw the reins and the horse to the steward and said, "Wipe the sweat off and feed more good food. Where are my brothers?"

"Master Yasha and the governor are in the back hall—"

Before the steward could finish, Jumong rushed into the mansion. He rushed to the back hall in two steps. When he got to the hall, he bowed to Yasha and Yuanbao who had just noticed him and stood up, and asked, "What happened?"