Steel Chang'an

Chapter 50

Yongjiang City, as the name suggests, is a city built along the Yongjiang River.

This ancient river passes through Donglin and divides the Donglin continent into two. The seven most important cities in Donglin, commonly known as "Seven Cities of Donglin", are located on both sides of the Yongjiang River.

But Yongjiang City is not among them.

Because Yongjiang City is not strictly a city.

Mu Yun sat on the boat and went down the Yongjiang River. The wide river surface reflected colorful buildings, and the huge painting boat soaring into the clouds passed by the boat they were on.Su Sheng opened his mouth wide and stared intently at the beautiful scenery on each floor of the painted boat: the banquet hall with transparent glass, the graceful dancers twisting their bodies in the crystal pillars, and a man-made bridge on a certain floor of the painted boat Flowing water, waiters shuttled through the casino on a boat, serving tables of gamblers fine wine... Until their boat had sailed a long way, Su Sheng still stretched his head, and even Mu Yun couldn't help feeling deeply He took a deep breath, as if the luxurious smell that floated over from the painting boat just now was still in the air.

On the Yongjiang River, there are many such boats, like moving castles that collect all the prosperity of the world, full of desires, drifting back and forth on the Yongjiang River, singing and singing every night, making people linger and forget to return.Mu Yun and Su Sheng watched with relish at first, but later on they liked to watch or not. Only when a painting boat full of animals like a circus city passed by, and the loud music was poured into his ears by the river wind, Su Sheng raised his head slightly. He raised his eyelids and yawned: "It's boring, I'm sleepy..."

"Isn't Yongjiang City here yet?" Mu Yun asked Butler Ji.

"Why didn't you arrive?" Butler Ji smiled, "You can see along the river, as long as there are lights, it is Yongjiang City."

After listening to Steward Ji's explanation, Mu Yun realized that Yongjiang City did not have a so-called city wall.The original Yongjiang City, like Wuge City on the border of Donglin, was a trading point built by Teng Jiahang along the river. As Teng Jiahang’s business grew, more and more trading points were built along the river. The mecha business drove other businesses, and the markets along the river became more and more prosperous. This Yongjiang City seemed to have life itself, and it slowly grew along the Yongjiang River, and even expanded to the surface of the river. What they saw along the way was huge. The luxurious painting boats and floating docks are all part of Yongjiang City.No one seems to be able to tell where the end of Yongjiang City is.

What Mu Yun and others are going to right now is the center of Yongjiang City, known as "Shangcheng". It is the oldest trading point of Teng Jiahang, and it is also the headquarters of Teng Jiahang.The part of Yongjiang City centered on "Shangcheng" and extending to the left and right of Yongjiang is called "Jiangzuo" and "Jiangyou" respectively.The closer the city of Yongjiang is to the river, the more expensive the land is, and it can be said that every inch of land is expensive. Therefore, those luxurious hotels, casinos, noble mansions, and residential areas for the rich are often concentrated on the shore, and the part that extends inland is mostly It is the living area of ​​factories, warehouses and civilians. It is built on the back of the mountain and is called "the lower city".

It wasn't until he got ashore that Mu Yun realized how big Yongjiang City was: the upper city area alone occupies an area as large as ten Wuge cities.Walking in the upper city is like walking in a ten times magnified and bustling city without guns. Both sides of the street are full of overlapping shop signs, and even the mech-only avenues are unavoidable. , high and low are strewn with all kinds of billboards, among which there are also signboard advertisements of some glamorous folk venues, like a revolving lantern and steel Chang'an, displaying the pornographic photos of her own female star in turn, Li Jing walks all the way to watch the flowers , commenting a few words from time to time, Mu Yun doesn't have his concentration, so he can only keep his eyes straight, just walking, and in mid-air, there is a holographic beauty leaning out from the billboard to make a pose, wanting to pass by, Can only drill through the turbulent waves.Walking down this road, Mu Yun was also sweating profusely, it was not at all easier than walking on the corridors of the dead castle.

"Yongjiang City is indeed a good place."

When Mu Yun came out of the shower, Li Jing was already sitting on the window string in a bathrobe and drinking.The restaurant they stayed in was arranged by Butler Ji, and it was called Taibai Building, one of the eight buildings in Donglin.Based on the luxury level of this restaurant, Mu Yun reckoned that if it wasn't for Butler Ji, he and Li Jing's two dilapidated zero-type mechas alone would not even be able to find the door of the hotel. Mu Yun didn’t even dare to think about the price of the top-floor suite—anyway, according to Butler Ji, the top-floor suite in Taibai Building was rented by King Xiao Teng for many years, allowing them to eat and live as they like, as long as they like How long, let the restaurant deliver whatever you want to eat, and all expenses will be counted on Xiao Teng Wang's head.

Mu Yun stepped on the wool carpet with bare feet.Both Su Sheng and Xue Nu had returned to their respective rooms.In this huge living room, only Li Jing was thinking about it for himself.Mu Yun saw that besides the wine cup, there was also a small table next to Li Jing, with a lot of various appetizers on it. It was obvious that Li Jing had followed the housekeeper's advice and ordered a lot of food from the restaurant.Mu Yun sat cross-legged on the floor, picked up a piece of ox tongue and put it into his mouth, chewing and said, "Why do I feel that we are being taken care of by King Teng?"

"Hehe, you're thinking too much." Li Jing took a sip of his wine, "Prince Xiao Teng is not interested in men."

"How do you know that King Teng is not interested in men?" Mu Yun found that he had a lot of resentment towards Li Jing recently, and he would refute no matter what Li Jing said.

"Because the whole mainland knows that King Xiao Teng is a famous playboy," Li Jing said, "On the mainland, it is said that the women that King Xiao Teng slept with lined up in a forest and formed a peak, and all the girls could cross the Yongjiang River hand in hand."

Mu Yun quickly calculated the width of Yongjiang and the number of girls in her heart: "Then he really works day and night..."

"It's just a legend, don't take it seriously." Li Jing smiled, "It's just that one thing is true - the business of the folk places that King Teng has visited is particularly good, and the women that King Teng has slept with are particularly expensive .”

"So in the Donglin area, no matter which custom place claims that King Teng is a regular customer, no matter which woman opens a business, she claims to have an affair with King Teng. If you leave something behind, even if it’s just a pair of underwear, the store will frame it as a sign.”

"There is such a thing?" Mu Yun was skeptical, and couldn't help but glance at Li Jing: "Why do you know so much about Donglin's customs?"

"Naturally, it's because I've seen a lot of things as a teacher." Li Jing patted Mu Yun's shoulder, "Someday I will take you to see and see, so that you won't blush when you see a woman on a billboard. There is no future."

"That's unnecessary..." As soon as Mu Yun thought of the scene where the master and apprentice went shopping together, Mu Yun immediately felt uncomfortable, and quickly changed the subject: "How do you know that King Teng wants to give you a chance to make a move? To deal with Teng Wengong?"

"Because the whole continent knows that King Teng and Duke Wen of Teng will not deal with each other." Li Jing said, "It is said that King Teng's favorite thing is to make trouble for his elder brother who lives in the East Forest, but his elder brother Teng Wengong For things that are expressly prohibited, the more vigorously he works, for example, the more Teng Wengong denounced Xiao Teng Wang for immorality, the more underwear Xiao Teng accidentally left behind in the shop."

Mu Yun ignored Li Jing's last sentence, filtered the information, and said in shock: "You mean, King Xiao Teng paid such a high price and did not hesitate to offend the Northwest Wolf in exchange for your chance to make a move just to give Teng Wouldn’t it be nice to find Mr. Wen?”

"It's very possible to be like the little King Teng in the legend." Li Jing narrowed his eyes, "It's just that there is another possibility..."

"The entire continent knows that King Teng was once an incomparable genius. It can even be said that he was once the most famous child prodigy on this continent. A, in comparison, his elder brother Teng Wengong has nothing special to mention except for his calm personality since he was a child. The arrangement is to help Teng Wengong to be the lord of the Teng family in Jiangling, and to hand over Teng Jiaxing to Xiao Teng Wang to take care of it."

"Mrs. Teng's arrangement attracted a lot of doubts back then, even within the Teng family. Many people thought that King Teng was so talented that he would inherit the position of lord, and it would surely bring the Teng family of Jiangling forward."

"But what people didn't expect was that this seemingly ordinary Teng Wengong settled the hundreds of years of disputes in Donglin in just one year after he succeeded the Teng family lord. Unified the seven cities of Donglin, and turned Jiangling Teng's family into Donglin's Teng's family. Everyone admired Mrs. Teng's unique insight, and she didn't miss Teng Wengong who had such a deceptive appearance."

"In contrast, King Teng, who was hailed as a prodigy since he was a child, was left alone after Mrs. Teng's death. He lived a life of extravagance and depravity. Apart from the title of No. [-] playboy, there is no other achievement. Teng Jiaxing has survived in the hands of King Teng, and he can still maintain the signboard of the No. [-] weapon shop in the mainland. Ji Yan, the steward of the Zhi clan, left it to King Teng."

"It's young, so big may not be good. This is roughly the impression of King Teng in the eyes of the world." Li Jing said, "But I am a little doubtful whether this impression is deliberately created by King Teng. Especially after seeing After meeting this legendary butler Ji, I have a feeling that King Teng is not a simple person..."

Mu Yun was about to listen carefully to what was wrong with King Teng, but Li Jing only cared about drinking and stopped talking.It wasn't until Mu Yun urged again and again that Li Jing turned his head and glanced at him: "Why, you are very interested in King Teng?"

Mu Yun shook his head, "I'm not interested in King Teng, but I'm very interested in you." He said seriously, "If I'm interested in knowing King Teng, it's because of you. interest."

"Oh?" Li Jing smiled faintly, turned the wine cup around in his hand, "When did you start to be interested in me?"

"On the boat that came to Yongjiang City, the steward Ji accidentally revealed that Jinge Arsenal was also controlled by Teng Jiahang." Mu Yun looked Li Jing straight in the eyes and said, "There is one thing that I have never figured out along the way. : Su Sheng has been with you for so long, but you never realized that the prosthetic body he used was the work of the puppeteer?"

"Even a small manager in Jing Ge's arsenal can recognize at a glance that it is the work of a puppet master. With your knowledge and knowledge, you can recognize only A small amount of Black Wind Profound Armor is recorded, but you can’t recognize the puppet master’s work at all?”

"Even if you didn't recognize that it was the work of the puppeteer, but you know that Su Sheng's prosthetic body can be exchanged for a lot of money with its exquisiteness, and such a prosthetic body is not affordable by ordinary people. You still let me Take one of his hands to Jing Ge Arsenal to exchange, you have not considered the possibility that we can trace our whereabouts from this hand at all?"

"Oh? So you've been thinking about these things along the way?" Li Jing asked calmly, sipping his wine.

"That's not true." Mu Yun said honestly, "I just didn't want to understand why the little King Teng came to us suddenly. It wasn't until Steward Ji accidentally revealed the relationship between Jing Ge Arsenal and Teng Jiaxing that I thought, you Let me take Su Sheng's hand to go to Jing Ge Arsenal to trade. Originally, I planned to leak the news on purpose so that Teng Jiaxing could get the news. I don't know."

"That's it..." Li Jing finally put down his wine cup and sighed, "If I say that the relationship between me and King Xiao Teng is pure and nothing, do you believe it or not?"

"I don't believe it." Mu Yun said firmly.

"With your IQ, this is really an expected answer..." Li Jing shook his head and poured himself a glass of wine, "Then, can I ask you to think about it, even if you use your butt I thought: If I really have an affair with Little King Teng, why don’t I contact him directly, but spend a lot of trouble to spread the word to Teng Jiaxing through Jing Ge Arsenal?”

"Wait," even though Li Jing seemed to be belittling his IQ just now, Mu Yun didn't bother to retort because he was indeed a little dizzy, and it took him a while to react: "You just admitted that at that time You asked me to trade with Su Sheng's hand in the Jing Ge Arsenal just to spread the word to Teng Jiaxing?"

"That's right." Li Jing said, "This is a very important part of my plan, and you have done a good job."

Although Li Jing admitted it readily and praised Mu Yun by the way, Mu Yun became more and more upset: "Why did I never know that you have another plan?"

"You haven't asked all this time, so I don't bother to talk about it." Li Jing replied quite confidently, "Why, do you think that just the two of us, under the circumstances that the Chang'an shogunate and the Northwest Wolf offered rewards at the same time, want to bring Leading the sole heir of the entire northern border across half of the continent, sending him to the throne of the northern border, such a major event, does not need a plan?"

"And Teng Jiaxing is very important in your plan?" Mu Yun pondered.

"That's right," Li Jing said, "I didn't tell you when I was in Wuge City because I wasn't sure at that time whether Teng Jiaxing would take action after receiving the news; I didn't tell you when I was at the exit of Dead Castle because of that At that time, I couldn't guarantee what the purpose of Teng Jiaxing's shot was, as for now—"

"You finally plan to tell me what your plan is all about?" Mu Yun was a little excited.

"No." Li Jing said bluntly, "As for the reason why I can't tell you now..."

He stood up, still holding the jug in one hand, and slowly approached Mu Yun, while the other hand stretched out towards the wall behind Mu Yun.Seeing Li Jing's face slowly enlarge in front of her, getting closer and closer, Mu Yun felt all the goosebumps popping up all over her body: "Hey, hey, what do you want, don't mess around. Get close and I'm going to beat someone!"

"...That's it." Li Jing withdrew his hand, finished speaking, and gave Mu Yun a strange look: "What do you think I want to do?"

Mu Yun wiped his sweat, thinking that this misunderstanding is really hard to explain. He looked down at the bug that Li Jing was pinching between two fingers: It looked nothing like an ordinary moth. On the other hand, it had been standing on the wall behind Mu Yun just now, as if it regarded the peony embroidered on the wall as a real flower, so Mu Yun didn't care after a glance, but when the moth was touched by Li Jing's finger Turning over, Mu Yun noticed that on the moth's abdomen, there was a small green light spot flashing from time to time--obviously, this moth looked only the size of a knuckle, It is an extremely realistic bionic monitor.

"Teng Jiaxing is watching us?" Mu Yun asked in a low voice.Although Teng Jiaxing is famous for casting armor, and most of the business is mecha, but such an exquisite micro-monitor can naturally be manufactured with the technology mastered by Teng Jiaxing.

"Not necessarily." Li Jing narrowed his eyes, let go of the fingers holding the moth, and watched the moth fly back to the wall again, and rest on the lifelike peony flower again. If you don't look carefully, it looks like a wall Even if you look closely at the part of the embroidery on it, most people would only regard it as an ordinary moth.

As for where this kind of moth came from - the suite in Taibailou was certainly rented out by Prince Xiao Teng for a long time, but there are quite a few people who know that this suite was rented out by King Xiao Teng for a long time. Many people have seen the incident of entering the Taibai Tower.For a while, even Li Jing had a hard time judging whether the person who was watching them was King Teng, Duke Teng Wen, or someone else.

The person who gave the fire to revive the Black Wind Profound Armor to the young master of Eagle Castle should have already known the news that they lived in Taibai Building.

Li Jing shook his head.There are no known how many of these moths are in this room, and in which corners they are hiding. It is obviously impossible to catch them all tonight.

Li Jing was thinking about this, but saw Mu Yun pull out a bottle of insecticide from nowhere, and shot up and down, left, right, left, right, and right at the corners of the room, "Hey, hey..." Li Jing protected the wine cup with his sleeve Just as he was about to complain, he saw the moth stuck to the wall fall down and land motionless on the ground, even the flickering light spot dimmed. "I just want to try to see if the insecticide has any effect on the moths." Mu Yun said expressionlessly, stretched out a bare foot and stepped on the ground, then lifted the sole of his foot and looked at the moth that was crushed by him. Moth, "It seems that pesticides are still working."

"It seems that the design of this bionic monitor has completely borrowed from the moth's own neuron reflex habits, and it has become a weakness..." Mu Yun's simple and crude method will actually work, and Li Jing is also a little speechless.Rather than saying that the moth was killed by the insecticide, it was better to say that the strong odor stimulated the nerve impulses to break through the threshold and cause the moth to fail.

"So," Mu Yun picked up the crushed moth with two toes and threw it into the jug in front of Li Jing, "Can you tell me about your plan now?"

"...Do you know how expensive this jug of wine is?" Li Jing looked down at the jug of wine for a long time, then raised his head to look at Mu Yun.

"You can continue to drink, I don't mind." Mu Yun shrugged.

"Okay," Li Jing sighed, "The plan is like this—"

"First, we need an army."

(End of this chapter)