Late Tang

Li Jing did not participate in the final killing, but sitting in the center of the castle, in the conference hall in the five-foot-high tower, she heard the whole process faintly.In the rain curtain on the island, there was constant noise, there was the sound of strong bows and crossbows, and the muffled sound of favorable arrows entering the body.There is also the crisp sound of spears snapping, and the harsh sound of crossing knives.And the cries of "Revenge for the old master!" "Kill all the lackeys of the Feng family!"

Li Jing was able to outline what was happening outside in his mind. He was sitting by the brazier, wearing only a thin white coat, with his eyes slightly closed, and he seemed to be asleep, listening intently.He heard footsteps running, and the puddles and blood splashed by his combat boots.The muffled sound of the horizontal knife chopping on the cowhide and wooden shield, the sharp sound of metal and iron, the sound of bowstring and thunderbolt, the shouts of killing rumbled.

The people on the island are lingering on their last days, either cursing and roaring unyieldingly, or begging for mercy in a low voice.Some people are still retreating, and some people have already died in the streets.Li Jing seemed to have heard the voice of the yellow beard, he was directing some pirates to carry a large amount of seized supplies.He seemed to have heard that Liu Shouqian and Zhang Chengzong were also among them, shouting to the hundreds of slaves and their families who had just been rescued by Li Jing: "You have been pardoned from death by the nobles, and now everyone who wants to live Come with me, follow me!" Then he heard warehouse doors creaking open, and then countless pirates and slaves began to wrap large and small bags of supplies with straw oil paper and transport them to the pier in the rain .

The sound gradually weakened, and finally subsided, and finally there were only a few painful wailings from a corner.The heavy rain gradually weakened, but there was still a vast expanse of white rain and fog between the sky and the earth.

When Liu Shouqian and Zhang Chengzong came back, they were no longer wearing the original clothes. They changed into a set of leather robes copied from the mansion, and then put on a wide long cape and a phoenix-winged hood on their heads.When they came back, Li Jing was awakened by the sound of footsteps and woke up from sleep.Upon waking up, Li Jing immediately felt a little sore all over.I fought in the heavy rain for half the night last night. The weather was just early February, and the rain was biting and cold.I didn't care about those things during the battle. I just rested by the fire and fell asleep exhausted. Now when I woke up, I immediately felt all kinds of soreness, and even my forehead was hot, and I actually developed a low-grade fever.

Li Jing struggled to sit still, seeing that their faces were covered with blood, she couldn't help but asked in shock, "Are you injured?"

Liu Shouqian touched his face with his hand, and said with a smile, "I'm fine, this isn't my blood, it's probably the blood of those Khitan dog slaves."

"What's going on?" Li Jing asked in surprise.

"It's not a big deal, but among the slaves, there are more than a dozen fucking Khitan dogs. I thought they were slaves at first, so I was unprepared. When they were at the dock, they actually wanted to snatch the boat and escape. I took the brothers to chase after them. , and almost let them escape. It turned out that these Khitan people were not slaves, but guards recruited by the Feng family to supervise slaves."

Li Wei, Duan Shan and a large group of people, covered in mud, walked in in a panic.But the expression of everyone was very happy, talking and laughing loudly while walking.Li Wei and Duan Shan were in front, Fifth Shu and Zhao Jiang were behind, and Wang Shi was also behind.The ten young children of the Xiao family also followed naturally, chatting and laughing with Li Wei and the others as they walked, and the group kept laughing.If Li Jing wasn't awake now, he would have thought it was a dream.

Why did the ten dandies of the Xiao family get into such a fierce fight with Li Wei and his group all of a sudden?

The fifth concubine was wet, and his body was still steaming. He walked up to Li Jing, grinned, showing two rows of big white teeth, and said with a smile: "General, we have made a fortune!"

One of the dudes of the Xiao family, tall and thin, looked a little thin among the ten people, but Xiao Kai, who was the obvious leader among the ten people, smiled and said: "General, this time it's really worth it. I count Forget it, this trip has made a lot of money. I looked at the seized materials, and the gold, silver and copper coins alone amounted to as much as 17 guan. And the silk and linen, silk and mirror flower silk are even a huge sum Wealth, I estimate that these are Xiao's income in Duli Town. They stored him on Cat Island, but they didn't want to be captured by us. The converted value is 60 copper. In addition, there are three hundred stones of tea, Five hundred stones of pepper, eight hundred stones of frosting sugar, and one hundred stones of various spices."

"These things are much more valuable than food. I have seen the tea leaves, and only a small part of them are Mengding Stone Flower Xiaofang Tea Group from Jiannan Yazhou, which is known as the best tea in the world, and Huzhou, which is called the second best tea in the world. Guzhu’s purple bamboo shoot tea. Most of the three hundred stone tea leaves are from the relatively ordinary Fuliang tea leaves. These are only low-grade tea leaves, which belong to ordinary people’s drinking commodities. But even so, these tea leaves are still very valuable Yes, Mengding tea is worth [-] cents per catty, and purple bamboo shoot tea is also worth [-] pennies per catty. Even ordinary low-grade Fuliang tea costs five hundred coins per catty. These [-] shi tea leaves are worth [-] guan, and if you count the top quality teas, the [-] shi tea is worth at least [-] guan."

Xiao Kai is worthy of being the son of the No. [-] noble family in the south of the Yangtze River. When talking about these sea trade commodities, he is very clear. "The five hundred shi peppers are also very valuable. We in the Tang Dynasty have always liked to eat wild food, especially mutton. The mutton has a strong smell, so we must use pepper and other spices to remove the smell. This pepper is eaten every day, every day It is necessary to eat. However, this product is not produced in China, and all the peppers have to be transported from the Western Regions, so it is extremely expensive. The son-in-law of Wang Zhongsi, one of the top ten Jiedu envoys in the Xuanzong Dynasty, Hexi Jiedu envoy, Daizong Yuan Zai, the prime minister who was the most sacred at that time, was ransacked later when his house was confiscated. His hoard of [-] shi and nearly [-] catties of pepper was confiscated. Even the most trusted prime minister of the emperor hoarded so much pepper. It is valuable. And because it is easy to store, it cannot be damaged, and it will not depreciate, so it is very valuable for storage.”

"Then how valuable is this pepper?" The fifth concubine's surname was very strange, fifth.It is said that he was related to Fifth Qi, the prime minister of Emperor Suzong, and was his collateral descendant.Going back further, his ancestors were surnamed Tian in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.Later, Qin destroyed the six kingdoms, and Liu Bang unified the Central Plains. He was afraid of Tian's business ability, and ordered Tian's to be forcibly split into eight surnames, divided into first, second, and eighth. Moved to Guanzhong.

However, although they changed their surnames, these descendants of the Tian family all inherited business acumen.For example, Fifth Qi once presided over the financial and currency reform of the Suzong Dynasty when he was prime minister.And this fifth Qi's collateral descendant, the fifth concubine who has long since fallen into the family, has a tough body like a tiger and wolf, but also has a shrewd heart that is unknown to everyone.When it comes to money, he is more sensitive than anyone.Before, he had led his men to cut off the left ears of the corpses on the battlefield, packed a bag and brought them in front of Li Jing to ask for credit.

Xiao Kai chuckled: "Pepper, like tea, has already become a daily necessities of the common people. From the princes and nobles, to the common people, none of them can do without him. And pepper is no more than tea. Tang himself has it. This thing is all brought in from the Western Regions, whether it is through the Silk Road or the Dongyi Seaway in Guangzhou, it is very troublesome, and the price is naturally high. A catty of pepper is three to four times that of a catty of tea, and the discount is almost the same. Let’s say five to two guan for one catty. There are 14 shi here, that’s [-] jin, and if calculated at [-] wen per jin, that’s [-] guan.”

"In addition, frosting sugar and spices are also very expensive." Xiao Kai also sighed, as if those materials belonged to him. "Brown sugar and sugar sand are what we see most in the Tang Dynasty now. This kind of frosting sugar, which is as white as frost and snow, is very troublesome to process, and the price is even higher. It has always been only used by emperors and concubines in the palace. You, and those princes and nobles can only use it. A catty of frosting sugar is worth a catty of tea, and eight hundred stones of frosting sugar is worth nearly 20 guan. I have seen the one hundred stones of spices, which contain agarwood, Various spices such as wisteria, elemi, camphor, styrax, benzoin, java, fenugreek, myrrh, clove, green wood, patchouli, jasmine oil, rose water, tulip, amad, and jasmine. The value should be five to ten times more expensive than pepper. Most of these are purchased from places south of Funan, such as Chenla, or even from the Western Regions. If a hundred stones of spices are processed, they can be worth at least ten If it reaches [-] guan, or even [-] to [-] guan per catty, it is conservatively estimated that this batch of spices is worth at least [-] guan.”

The fifth concubine stood aside, his eyes were full of light, and he was desperately counting with his bear-like fingers, muttering words in his mouth.Gold, silver and copper coins are worth 17 guan, silk, hemp, silk, and mirror flower silk are worth 60 guan, tea leaves are worth 14 guan, pepper is worth 20 guan, frosting sugar is worth [-] guan, and spices are worth [-] guan.Add it up, how much is this, how much? "

Xiao Kai smiled lightly, and reported from the side: "110, approximate number."

A gasp sounded in the hall, and everyone had expressions of disbelief.Even Li Jing was shocked by the sum of these numbers. Although these materials are worth so much, it doesn't mean that Li Jing can get so much.First of all, he had to share the loot with Zhen Donghai, and then most of what he got was materials, which had to be sold through some special channels to be exchanged for money.But even so, Li Jing was also surprised by the number breaking through one million.Damn, this is 100 million coins, not 100 million pennies.

The Tang court now only mints 33 guan of money every year. He and Zhen Donghai broke through a private island that the Feng family had been operating for 60 years, and actually copied a huge amount of materials worth a million guan?

Crazy, Li Jing feels a little going crazy now.

In front of this huge amount of supplies, the [-] guan ordnance that was taken back, the batch of ordnance that was just divided up with Zhendonghai, and the [-] war horses seemed to have become a little ordinary all of a sudden. People can't get excited anymore.

It is difficult for anyone to keep calm in front of such a huge amount of wealth.

Li Jing knew that he had to discuss the distribution of this material with Zhen Donghai first, otherwise, it was very likely that there would be unnecessary misunderstandings and suspicions between the two parties.

"How do you plan to distribute it?" Whitebeard also just took a short rest.Hearing Li Jing's intention of coming, he smiled all over his face, very calmly.It seems that the elegance has returned to him, and the madness of last night is no longer there.

"I obey Master Bai's orders in all this. My original intention of attacking Cat Island this time was to take back the batch of ordnance." Li Jing said with a light smile.

"Our original intention was to take revenge. Originally, according to the previous agreement, as long as we take revenge, all the materials harvested on the island will belong to you. But this time the harvest is very rich. If we don't take any, trust our subordinates The brothers probably will have some opinions instead. So, everyone takes what they need and distributes it as they like, and everything is up to my brother." White Beard looked at Li Jing and said with a smile.

Li Jing couldn't guess whether White Beard was really unmoved, or whether he was concerned about everyone's relationship.He thought for a while, and tentatively said, "Just now I asked someone to calculate, the spoils this time, get rid of those slaves and my batch of ordnance, as well as the ordnance we have divided, and the Feng's ships at the dock In addition, in fact, those materials, including food, cloth, spices, tea and other goods, are worth millions!"

Sure enough, the corners of Whitebeard's eyes twitched slightly when he heard this number, but he concealed it well and immediately regained his composure.

"One million guan, it really is a bumper harvest, how does General Li want to divide it?"

"Brothers, settle accounts clearly, this is also to avoid misunderstanding. This time, Zhendonghai's brothers sent out 800 people, and I only brought 200 people. So what I mean is, let's divide according to each person, and you nine I am one. I just want 20 trophies, and I am willing to give up the other batch of Fengshi’s ships to Bai Dangjia, but I hope that Bai Dangjia will give me ten ships worth more than [-] shi from your own ships, so that I can load them. Go back with my spoils." Li Jing said indifferently.

White Beard raised his brows, "How can this be done? I think it's fair and we are brothers. I think it's okay. You know that we are pirates. It's useless to ask for tea and spices. How about , let's be straightforward, 50 per person, 17 of the batch of gold, silver and copper coins will belong to me, and all other trophies will be taken away by Brother Li. As long as Brother Li disposes of these goods afterwards, he will divide another 30 Just give it to us."

Li Jing's heart moved, "I don't think it's better than this. Mr. Bai, you can get me twenty boats with a price of more than 40 shi. It doesn't matter whether they are new or old. Then I will give you all the gold, silver and copper coins, and I will handle other goods. How about giving you another [-] guan after you are finished?"

White Beard stretched out his big hand and slapped Li Jing heavily in the air, and laughed loudly: "I trust Brother Li, so it's settled!"

"A promise is made, and a horse is hard to follow!"

(To be continued)