Chapter 292 The Fate of the Hu Sisters

"The money and grain needed to support Zhao is a huge number, and Your Majesty is going to attack Yan, which is another huge expense. Money is fine, but grain is a problem. Qi is not what it used to be. Since the five countries attacked Qi, its territory has been greatly reduced, and correspondingly, grain production has also been greatly reduced. Although there has been a lot of accumulation over the years, after years of consumption, what is left is limited." Xunzi spoke when Yang Chong was planning the war.

Yang Chong could only consider the war, but as the Prime Minister of Qi, Xunzi had to take all issues into consideration. Only in this way could he let Yang Chong have no worries, so he had to settle the account clearly for Yang Chong.

"Prime Minister, you can pretend first to see how big a gap we may have in terms of food and grass." Yang Chong said. Of course, he had also considered the problem mentioned by Xunzi. Yang Chong was very clear about his own financial situation.

After years of operation, although it is impossible to achieve a large-scale increase in grain production in a short period of time, Yang Chong is professional enough in making money. In the past few years, although most of the grain collected by Qi State each year has been consumed, an astronomical figure of money has been accumulated.

From salt to liquor, to paper, and luxury goods like soap and perfume, Yang Chong opened countless workshops in the name of the royal family, and the luxury goods produced in them were best-sellers in various countries.

As a time traveler, Yang Chong knew all the ways to make money. Just because he didn't do it himself, it didn't mean he had forgotten them. As the King of Qi, he only needed to issue an edict, and countless people would implement Yang Chong's edict.

It can be said that in today's world, Yang Chong is the person who is best at making money. The State of Qi is now so poor that only money is left. As long as the problem can be solved with money, it is not a problem for Yang Chong and the State of Qi.

"Food can only grow in the fields." Xun Kuang reminded, he felt that Yang Chong was a little too optimistic.

The people of Qi have good qualities in all aspects, but there is one thing: they are lazy and are much worse than the Qin people in terms of endurance. If the logistics cannot be done well, the combat effectiveness of the people of Qi will be greatly reduced.

"Food can also be bought." Yang Chong said.

"Buy?" Xun Kuang was stunned. Of course grain can be bought, but not everyone can sell grain.

Food is the real hard currency in this world and something that can save lives. In this era when it may be a problem for ordinary people to have enough food, it is not easy to buy and sell large quantities of food, let alone the food consumption needed to meet the needs of hundreds of thousands of troops.

"Those nobles in Chu have collected a lot of grain. We have made a lot of money from them over the years. Now it's time for them to make money from Qi. Otherwise, if we continue to spend more than we earn, we won't be able to keep our customers." Yang Chong said.

A considerable portion of the various luxury goods produced by Qi in recent years were sold to Chu.

Although Chu was not the most powerful country, its nobles were the richest among the seven countries. Only the nobles of Yan could be compared with it. After all, the nobles of these two countries were the most powerful nobles among all countries and occupied a large amount of their own resources.

These nobles made money easily and had no idea of ​​saving when spending money. Faced with all kinds of luxury goods that transcended time and space from Qi, the nobles of Chu could not resist.

Therefore, in the past few years, in Qi's trade with other countries, Chu has become Qi's largest customer. It can be said that in the past few years, Qi has earned a lot of money from Chu. If this continues, the nobles of Chu may go bankrupt.

After all, they are aristocrats, and maintaining their own style is a must. When they see other aristocrats using luxury goods from the State of Chu but they themselves do not, even if they themselves do not have any interest in those things, they cannot tolerate not having them. For aristocrats, face is very important.

It is precisely because of this competitive spirit that the nobles of Chu State have no restraint in spending money.

In order to achieve sustainable development, it became a necessary choice to allow the nobles of Chu to earn some money from Qi.

Therefore, when faced with the possibility of food shortage in Qi, purchasing food from Chu became Yang Chong's choice.

As for whether the nobles of Chu would sell grain to Qi, Yang Chong didn't think there would be any problem, because they were nobles!
"Purchasing grain from Chu is a good idea, but we must also guard against Qin's mischief behind the scenes. After Zhang Yi and Fan Ju, Qin has mastered this method to perfection," Guiguzi reminded.

The tactics of the strategists have been no secret over the years. With the role models set by several generations of strategists, many people in the world have learned the tactics of the strategists. Even now, there are still many people in Qin State who are proficient in the tactics of strategists.

"I put so much effort into rescuing Han Fei from South Korea, I won't let him do it for free, so let him do it." Yang Chong said.

"I think there will be no problem for Xunzi to be a good disciple." Guiguzi nodded. Xunzi had many disciples in his life, but only a few of them were truly recognized as disciples by Xunzi. Since Han Fei was recognized by Xunzi, he must be good enough.

Moreover, Guiguzi knew that his disciple Wei Zhuang and Han Fei were also good friends. How could he, as a master, not understand the character of his disciple? Someone who could be recognized by Wei Zhuang was not an ordinary person.

Besides, Han Fei now has another golden signboard: the man that King Zheng of Qin can't get.

If Han Fei's fame before was limited to Confucianism and Korea, then now Han Fei is truly famous all over the world.

With Han Fei on his diplomatic mission to the State of Chu, it seems that nothing unexpected will happen.

When the Qi Palace was preparing for war, Han Fei just entered the territory of Qi.

Han Fei was not unfamiliar with Qi State. He had stayed in the Confucian Xiaoshengxianzhuang and Jixia Academy, both of which were in Qi State. But when he came to Qi State this time, Han Fei found that Qi State was very different from when he left here several years ago.

"A person like him?" Han Fei pondered, wanting to continue observing to see how Qi was different from what he had imagined, when a convoy arrived in the distance, guarded by armored soldiers, with flags flying, and even envoys could be seen.

"Which country is the King of Qi going to send an envoy to? Could this direction be Zhao?" Han Fei's curiosity was aroused again.

But this time, Han Fei's curiosity was quickly answered, but he didn't want to accept this answer.

"Let me go on a diplomatic mission to the State of Chu? No, I haven't arrived in Linzi yet." Han Fei looked at the imperial edict in his hand and didn't know what to say for a moment.

He had fled thousands of miles and had gone through countless hardships to finally reach Qi State. He hadn't even sat down yet, and now he was going to work? How could this be possible?

"Your Majesty is waiting for good news from Lord Han in Linzi." said the female official from the Qi Palace.

"Miss Caidie, we are old friends. Can't you be flexible and just pretend that you didn't see it? At least let me rest for two days!" Han Fei said with a smile. The female official was Caidie of Zilanxuan back then, but the woman who needed to greet and see off guests and show off her charm in Zilanxuan back then was completely different.

In terms of martial arts, Caidie, who has obtained the sword spirit of the Eight Swords of King Yue, has become a true first-class master after years of hard training. Although she is only of medium strength among first-class masters, a first-class master is a first-class master. Even if she is a first-class master with some water, she is good enough to dominate the world.

In terms of literature, Caidie, as a female official of Qi State, helped Zinu manage the royal family's huge industries. Having been in a high position for so long, she has long lost her former frivolity and has a temperament that is much nobler than that of any aristocratic woman.

After all, the confidence of those noble women comes from their blood, but Caidie's confidence comes from herself. Although she is not from a noble family, she is now a noble herself.

In the current Qi State, how many people dare to disrespect the queen's trusted female official?

"The king has ordered that the Ninth Master had better not embarrass me." Faced with Han Fei's words, whether true or false, Caidie directly pushed back.

Back then, when Han Fei was in Zilanxuan, he attracted many sisters to fall in love with him. After all, a young, handsome, noble, and humorous man is a fatal attraction to any woman.

Caidie was no exception back then, but as time went by, after following Zinu to see higher and farther scenery, Caidie had become mature enough, and the slight throbbing she had felt for Han Fei back then had long since disappeared.

So Han Fei's self-proclaimed charming smile had no effect at all on Caidie.

"I knew he was the same person as Qin Wangzheng. I have jumped from one fire pit into another." Han Fei said helplessly. Now that he has jumped into this big pit, what else can he do? He has no room to turn back.

Moreover, if possible, he would also like Qi to become a better country. After all, Honglian is now married to Yang Chong. To a certain extent, he and Yang Chong are considered a family. Working for Yang Chong is helping Honglian. How could Han Fei not care?

However, Yang Chong's current arrangement made Han Fei feel a strong sense of evil taste. He didn't know why, but Yang Chong seemed to like to embarrass him. If he didn't know that their friendship was absolutely genuine, Han Fei would even think that Yang Chong had a huge hostility towards him.

"Then the Ninth Young Master will definitely jump down." Caidie said with a straight face.

"Miss Caidie, how can you be sure?" Han Fei asked back.

"Because the king said that he has hostages now and there will be more hostages in the future." Caidie explained seriously, but she started laughing at the end.

"The King of Qi is truly unrivaled in the world when it comes to being a rude person." Han Fei shook his head and smiled bitterly. He naturally knew who the so-called 'hostages' were, and he also knew what more hostages would be in the future.

"So Lord Han, please be careful with your words and be on your way." Caidie stepped aside and gave up the carriage behind her. The Ninth Young Master had become Lord Han.

"Alas!" With a sigh, Han Fei could only obediently embark on his business trip.

When Han Fei was heading to the State of Chu, someone had already arrived in Linzi before him.

In the city of Linzi, in a courtyard not far from the Qi Palace, a pair of sisters were busy. Although the courtyard was only a two-story building, it was very small compared to where the two had lived before. However, both of them were used to a life of luxury, and asking them to tidy up the courtyard by themselves would be too much of a burden for them.

Fortunately, all these were taken into consideration by one person, so while the two sisters were resting, someone had already walked into the yard with two maids.

"Big..." The two sisters were both surprised to see the person coming. The older sister, who looked more mature, subconsciously hid behind her younger sister. However, the younger sister was more responsible and went straight to greet the person.

But before she could finish her words, she was blocked by the visitor in a rather special way.

Her petite but strong body was floating in the clouds and was embraced by the man. When he lowered his head, he kissed her red lips.

"Hmm!" With a soft moan, she, who was already mature, felt limp all over. However, in the throbbing of her body, she felt extremely solid.

During this thrilling experience, she and her sister were like two fallen leaves in autumn, unable to make any changes and could only obey the arrangements of fate. Fortunately, fate was not bad to them, and now they can fall down with peace of mind in this small courtyard in Linzi.

All their worries disappeared with this kiss.

"How are you, ladies?" After tasting her for a while, Yang Chong let go of the beauty in his arms and said to the two sisters with a bit of sarcasm.

The two sisters were the Hu sisters who traveled all the way to Linzi when the Kingdom of Han was destroyed.

One of them was Nanyue's mother, the widow of the former Sima of Han State, and the other was a beauty in the Han Palace. Both of them were people of status in Han State. Of course, none of these were important. What was important was that the two sisters had an extraordinary friendship with Yang Chong, a friendship comparable to that between Guan Zhong and Bao Shuya.

Therefore, they were able to come to Qi only after the demise of Han.

Lady Hu looked at Yang Chong in front of her and found it hard to connect the King of Qi with the little thief who stole the fragrance and jade back then.

"What's the matter, Madam? Are you angry at my frivolity? This shouldn't happen. Shouldn't I make you feel more at ease?" Yang Chong looked at the Lady Hu in front of him. Although they haven't seen each other for several years, she is still as charming as ever. Now, after experiencing the destruction of her country and the loss of her family, she has become even more pitiful and charming than before.

"It's best if the king doesn't say this." Concubine Hu glanced at Yang Chong and said with some resentment.

What Yang Chong said was right. Concubine Hu was worried that Yang Chong was attracted by her beauty, but she was more afraid that Yang Chong was not attracted by her beauty.

Apart from being pretty, the two sisters have no other strengths. How can they survive in this chaotic world? They have no choice but to rely on the strong.

(End of this chapter)