Translator: ryangohsff Editor: Nora
Chapter 930 – Yang Guang’s Request
Along with the Yanhuang Alliance, Great Xia also listed the Dali and Chengdu Imperial Cities into the blacklist.
Dali and Chengdu were both enemies of Great Xia, so Ouyang Shuo did not show them any mercy. He directly prevented them from having thoughts of taking any small benefits from this whole matter.
The moment the news was out, merchants from both imperial cities panicked.
Along with the trade route being opened, voyage trading was becoming more and more important in China, taking up 30% of all trade.
If one missed out on this, it would undoubtedly be a huge loss for them.
While the Dali and Chengdu chambers of commerce were anxious, there was news from Shanhai City. They spread that the Great Xia invites chambers of commerce to move into Shanhai City. These chambers of commerce would enjoy special treatment.
Everyone knew who this was targeting.
News had it that when Shu Emperor Liu Bei heard the news, he was so furious that his face turned red. However, to keep his image, he had to act like he did not care.
Luckily, Zhang Fei and Guan Yu, who loved to fight, were not there anymore. If not, it would cause more troubles.
As for what kind of treatment the Quanzhou Merchants would face, Great Xia King Ouyang Shuo had already said, “Ask the Great Sui to send someone to talk!”
It seemed like Great Xia was about to raise the price.
************
Handan City, City Lord’s Manor.
Not long after Great Xia listed Yanhuang Alliance into the blacklist, Di Chen and the others gathered together.
“Preposterous! What a bully!”
The one who spoke was Chun Shenjun. Pill Sun City, which rose up through business, had already slowly started to begin voyage trading. Who knew that it would face such a huge hit right at the start?
No wonder Chun Shenjun would be so triggered.
Di Chen and the others acted like they did not hear anything. Chun Shenjun’s words were shameless, as Great Xia did not owe them anything. They were enemies, and there was no bullying that could be said.
“This time, the old fox is going all out against us.” Di Chen had an unprecedentedly solemn expression as he looked around, “We have no way out.”
“….”
Xiong Ba and the others kept silent; their hearts had a heavy feeling.
Before this, Great Xia was always on the back foot, so they did not feel much. Now, they had unexpectedly struck first, making it hard for them to breathe.
Di Chen and the others felt that the Great Xia was so strong that it was suffocating.
“Since there’s no way out, let’s go all out!”
The one who spoke was Xiong Ba. The ambition and fighting spirit in his eyes were still the same.
Out of the few of them, Sha Pojun, Wandering Magic, and Feng Qingyang did not say much. Their territories were located in the northwest region, so they did not much have affinity with voyage trading. Hence, this round of actions did not really affect them.
Not long ago, Feng Qingyang had finally completed his closed doors training.
After which, he once again took control of Swordsman City. He made his sister, who was actually doing a good job, back down.
The Feng family male over female tradition was not something that could be changed in a day or two.
Chun Shenjun looked at Xiong Ba, Di Chen, and Zhan Lang, “Don’t all of you have navy squadrons? Since the Great Xia can open a trade route with one voyage squadron, why can’t we?”
Last year, news of how Ouyang Shuo used a single squadron to make it around Europe had been spread about like stuff of legends. Everyone here knew about it.
Chun Shenjun was trying to rile them up into acting.
“So you’re saying we should open up the pacific trade route to trade with America?” Di Chen asked.
“Why not?” Chun Shenjun came from a business based aristocratic family. Talking about voyage trading, his eyes lit up, “The Americas is a market no worse than Europe.”
“If we open it up, we can also crush Great Xia.”
The anger in Chun Shenjun’s heart was hard to appease.
Xiong Ba was the first to nod, “We could try that. Since Free City ships can reach here, that means that this trade route is legit.”
“If we want things to go more smoothly, we can contact Jack and ask him to send a copy of a map over. He’s such an arrogant person, so how could he allow that old fox to take all the good stuff? He would definitely agree.”
Xiong Ba’s words finally attracted Di Chen, and he nodded, “That’s settled, I’ll contact him later. We also need to prepare and build an allied squadron.”
“No problem.”
Xiong Ba and Zhan Lang both nodded at the same time.
Ouyang Shuo’s actions had unexpectedly pushed Yanhuang Alliance on a path different from the last life. The trading route between China and America would be opened a year in advance.
************
8th month, 15th day, Shanhai City.
Replying to Ouyang Shuo’s demands, in just two days, Great Sui sent an envoy over to discuss about trade.
Yesterday, the Great Sui embassy in Great Xia contacted the Honglu Temple.
Ouyang Shuo arranged for Jiang Shang to take charge of meeting the envoy, giving Great Sui a lot of face.
On this point, Ouyang Shuo would not be rude.
Inspired by the inn in Great Sui, Ouyang Shuo ordered men to construct one of their own to welcome various envoys. However, its scale was much more majestic than the one in Great Sui.
One could imagine that the future Great Xia would be one that thousands of countries would come to visit.
Hence, this inn was not a simple one. Instead, it was a huge group of inns, split up into five regions.
The west was for Europe, south for Africa, east for Asia, and north for America. The middle area was a nine story high building where all the envoys could gather.
The Great Sui envoy was settled in the east; this was the first batch of ambassadors since this inn was built.
…
At 4 PM, Jiang Shang rushed to report the situation about the Great Xia envoy.
In the Imperial Reading Room, Jiang Shang smiled, “My king, you definitely will not be able to guess who the leader is.”
Since becoming the Grand Secretary, Jiang Shang had become much closer to Ouyang Shuo.
Ouyang Shuo smiled, “Su Wei or Gao Ying?”
“Neither.” Jiang Shang shook his head, “Prince Jin Yang Guang.”
“What? Who did you say it was?” Ouyang Shuo nearly spat out the tea in his mouth.
No matter how Ouyang Shuo guessed, he would not have thought that the emperor would arrange for Yang Guang to lead the envoy.
For such an important diplomatic event, he sent a prince he did not trust?
Jiang Shang said, “Based on my observations, there’s an 80% chance he requested to. Who knows how many small acts and relationships he had to use.”
Out of all the princes, Prince Jin was the most special, as he was emperor before. He had a bunch of officials and generals that followed him after he appeared in the wilderness.
Even important ministers like Yuwen Shu, Su Wei, and the like had friendship with him.
Of course, many of the civil servants and generals under Yang Guang were under Great Xia, with civil servants like Pei Ju, and Internal Affairs Court civil affairs Director Pei Yun, and generals like Qinqiong and Luo Shixin.
As for General Shu Wanshui, he was a general during Emperor Wen of Sui’s time.
Speaking of which, Great Xia had a lot of affinity with Great Sui.
Going back to the topic, it was because Yang Guang had so many men under him that he was still able to speak in the Imperial Court after he appeared in Quanzhou, even though the king did not like him.
“He has connections.”
This was an aspect that crown prince Yang Yong could not compete in.
Yu Shiji and the other were not fools; they knew that even if they did not follow Yang Guang, Emperor Wen would still be wary of them. With his distrustful personality, he would not give them opportunities.
Why not unite and try to obtain power?
Hence, for Yang Guang to be able to lead the envoy, Ouyang Shuo was not surprised.
Ouyang Shuo was surprised at why Yang Guang would come.
No matter what, it definitely would have nothing to do with trading. Seeing that Great Sui still belonged to Emperor Wen, Yang Guang would not need to bother about that.
“Did he say anything?” Ouyang Shuo asked Jiang Shang.
Jiang Shang nodded, “Yes, he passed me a message that he hopes to speak with you alone.”
After a short while, Ouyang Shuo said, “Since that’s the case, make plans for tonight.”
“Yes my king!”
Ouyang Shuo wanted to see what Yang Guang was up to.
…
Night, east inn.
In an unassuming room in the southwest corner of the inn, Yang Guang finally met the Xia King.
When they built the inn, they considered that the king would sometimes need to privately meet some members of the envoy, so they designed a few secret locations.
This room was one of them.
At night, Jiang Shang represented Great Xia to hold a feast for the Great Sui envoy. During the feast, Yang Guang used the excuse of going out to take a breather to come to this place.
“Xia King, I’ve wanted to meet you for a long time.”
Ouyang Shuo smiled, “How are you, Prince Jin?”
As he left mid-way, Yang Guang could not spend too long here in case the other members of the envoy noticed. Emperor Wen was really doubtful. Even though he allowed Yang Guang to lead the envoy in the end, he would plant many moles.
After the greetings, Yang Guang went right to the topic, “Xia King, please help me remove Yang Yong.”
A light shone in Ouyang Shuo’s eyes; it was as he had expected.
Since learning that Yang Jian’s few sons had appeared in Quanzhou, Ouyang Shuo knew that there would be a fight for the throne.
Yang Yong and Yang Guang, these two brothers, would still have to fight in the end.
However, different from history, Emperor Wen stood on Yang Yong’s side. He even wanted to send Yang Guang over to Shanhai City during the negotiations.
No one knew how furious Yang Guang was when he got the news from the Shanhai Guard spies. All in all, Yang Guang had lost his trust in Emperor Wen.
Hence, he had no place to perform and could only borrow external help.
The only thing he could think of was the Great Xia. He knew that there was a reason why Great Xia tried to inform him last time, so he tried to obtain the right to lead the envoy over.