C10

"Go on down and don't tell anyone about this." Gongsun Zan waved his hand and dismissed one of the guards. Looking at the middle-aged man seated opposite to him, he asked, "Jingyi, what do you think about this matter?"

This middle-aged man was very thin, with a slender face and a wisp of goatee. He wore a large black daoist robe, making him look even more skinny. This man was his master, Liu Weitai. Although his words were simple, he was now Marquis of Ji's Mansion's guest elder, but no one dared to treat him as an ordinary guest. Everyone knew that Liu Weitai was the person Gongsun Zan trusted the most.

Gongsun Zan laughed: "Please take a moment to calculate, what is my family's future prospects?"

"Alright, please move, master Hou."

The two of them walked out of the study and towards the courtyard that Liu Weitai was staying in. There were dozens of guests in the Marquis of Ji's Mansion, and Liu Weitai was the only one who owned a small independent courtyard. This small courtyard was located in the northeast corner of the house of the Marquis. It went from three to three, and inside was a two-story building. In front of it was planted a large amount of bamboo, the dead leaves had all fallen, leaving only the bare branches dancing in the wind.

Just as the two of them sat in the living room on the first floor, a young girl ran out and called out, "Daddy, has the young duke come back?" Then, when she suddenly saw Gongsun Zan, she quickly bowed and bowed, her small waist almost reaching the floor, "Ning'er greets the Marquis."

The girl wore an aquamarine dress, a goose-yellow jacket, and a pair of deerskin boots. Her round face was red with shyness, and her eyebrows were quite delicate. The two faint dimples made her even more adorable. She was called Liu Ninger, and at the age of sixteen, she was Liu Weitai's daughter and his only family.

Gongsun Zan laughed and helped her up, "Haha, Ning'er doesn't need to be so courteous, what business do you have with my people?"

"It's nothing. Ning, son, go make some tea for the marquis." Liu Ninger turned and ran out anxiously. She almost knocked her head on the door.

"This girl is always so reckless," Liu Weitai sighed, his eyes filled with love.

Gongsun Zan smiled and said, "In a blink of an eye, more than a dozen years have passed.

Gongsun Zan's meaning was clear to hear, he stroked his beard and slowly said: "Let's wait for the citizens to get married, then we can discuss about the matter."

Gongsun Zan was ecstatic: "That's great! In the coming year, he would send his people to Xiliang to escort the bride. "It's easy, let's begin."

"Someone, bring the items up."

A black-robed boy walked in with two cyan robed boys. Two cyan robed boys were sitting on the ground, carrying a disorderly sand table and a brush. They were kneeling on the ground as they placed the sand table from north to south. The black-robed child took out a 'Y' shaped peach wood brush and handed it over to Liu Weitai respectfully.

Liu Weitai muttered a few incantations, his body suddenly trembled non-stop. After a low roar, he took the peach brush and started writing on the sand table. The things that he wrote were crooked like a ghost, and the blue-clothed boy that was recorded was flying as he quickly wrote a poem on a one-foot long piece of white paper.

'Green City devours the moonlight, 'he said. He began with the Divine Immortal Pavilion, looking towards the South Sea. The east wind recalls home, the light of day is new. A sage had appeared, and this happened once in the capital. "Return to the Son of Heaven, and let your heart be hidden behind the springs of the forest."

After Liu Weitai finished writing, he fell to the ground, his entire body was drenched in sweat, as if he had just been fished out of water.

Gongsun Zan hurriedly helped Liu Weitai to sit on the stool, then got the boy to submit the poem he had written. After looking at it for a long time, he discovered that it was a hidden poem: From the Liaodong, to the rest of the world.

"What does this poem mean?"

Liu Weitai waved his hand and sent the three children out. After that, he wiped his sweat and said with a very weak voice, "The Han Dynasty is an Earth De, the young duke is Wood Life, and the Five Elements Wood is Earth. The divine edict Uncle Zi said very clearly, for the people who return the world to their hearts, are none other than Gongsun Zimin! "Congratulations to the Marquis!"

Gongsun Zan was overjoyed, "Good! It seems that destiny should be in my home! "Haha!"

Liu Weitai forced a smile as he thought about that night five days ago.

At that time, Gongsun Xu suddenly visited him in the middle of the night. Liu Weitai invited him to the small study room to inquire about the purpose of his visit.

He also asked Liu Weitai to help him persuade Gongsun Zan to be more careful, and also requested him to help him speak a few words at the right time. Firstly, Gongsun Xu did not have enough experience in the army, nor did he have any military gains, so if he wanted to gain more military authority, it would be difficult for him to tell everyone. Therefore, he wanted to go to the Changli to convince Liu He to come, and then organize the troops and horses for his own use; secondly, Gongsun Xu was prepared to find a way to take Zhang Yan's Army of Heishan from the, and make the entire eastern region into the Gongsun family's territory.

Originally, Liu Weitai did not think much of Gongsun Xu, he thought that he was reckless and fearless, his tact was lacking, thus the two rarely interacted. Many times, Gongsun Zan had hinted for Liu Ninger to marry Gongsun Xu as a concubine, but all those times, had foolishly refused them all. His speech, actions, and deep scheming had shocked Liu Weitai to the core, and as a result, he agreed to Gongsun Xu's request, offering to help Gongsun Xu at any time. In exchange, Liu Weitai allowed Gongsun Xu to marry Liu Ninger as a concubine, and guaranteed that Liu Ninger's position in the Gongsun Clan's backyard was only second to his official wife. If the Liu family's number one was not too low, and if Gongsun Xu was already engaged, Liu Weitai would definitely ask for Liu Ninger's position as his legal wife.

Liu Ninger and Gongsun Xu were childhood friends, and Gongsun Xu had to step out to help them every time they were bullied. Thus, he had always liked Gongsun Xu since a young age, and was very dissatisfied with Liu Weitai rejecting Gongsun Zan's advances many times. These past few days, she had embroidered a scented sachet and was preparing to gift it to Gongsun Xu. She did not expect that Gongsun Xu had already left the Ji County without even greeting her, causing her to feel quite disappointed. When she heard the sound of her grandfather's return, she had impulsively asked. She did not expect Gongsun Zan to be there, and quickly used the excuse of making tea to escape.

Liu Weitai waited for Gongsun Zan to finish laughing, and then said softly, "Master Hou, I have something to say, do you think it's appropriate for me to say it?"

Gongsun Zan laughed: "My brother, if you have anything to say, just say it."

"The fact that his son was born with the destiny of the heavens cannot be spread out. It's just that his name isn't well-known, so Master Hou might as well give him some more chances!"

Gongsun Zan nodded his head, stroking his beard and started thinking, even Liu Ninger's servant Su Er who was carrying the tea tray in, did not notice.

Liu Weitai poured a cup of tea and placed it in front of Gongsun Zan. It was fine if he just wanted to stop, if not, it would be bad if Gongsun Zan had a grudge in his heart.

Just as Liu Weitai finished his cup of tea, the black-clothed child said softly outside the door, "Master, the house of the Marquis' housekeeper, Uncle Zhong, has arrived. He said that the Young Marquis has returned and Madam wishes him to return."

"Hmm? The people are back? " Gongsun Zan recovered from his deep thoughts, stood up and said, "Jingyi, I'm going back. I'll bring Ning'er out for dinner tonight.

"Yes, I will definitely come tonight. I'll send the marquis out."

"No need." Gongsun Zan waved his hands and walked out of the room with big strides.

Liu Weitai walked to the side of the door, and after watching Gongsun Zan leave, shouted: "Jiu Er!"

The black clad boy ran over quickly and bowed: "Here! "Old master, what is your command?"

"Go and ask Master Li and Master Le to come over for a chat."

"Here." The boy in black answered and quickly ran out.

The Master Li that Liu Weitai had Jiu'er invite was named Li Yizi and was his playmate when he was young. This person had gone out to sell horses when he was seventeen, he was the most bold and meticulous person who had accumulated quite a bit of wealth. He had also helped Gongsun Zan many times in the past. After Gongsun Zan became famous, he invited Li Yizi's family to come to the Ji County to live. The current Li Yizi was the biggest horse dealer in the Northern Territories, he had close to a thousand servants and more than ten thousand horses he could handle every year.

He was an old acquaintance of Gongsun Zan's, and had always been an experienced merchant when he was young. He was now the biggest grain merchant and salt merchant in the Youzhou, and half of the shops in the Ji County were owned by him, his family property was in the hundreds of millions. After Gongsun Zan defeated Zhang Zhen's rebellion, due to the military merits of being a marquis, the middle ranking officials who came to declare the order forcibly asked for a million for a bribe. Gongsun Zan was so angry that he did not give them the bribe and almost gave up on the matter of being a marquis. After Le Hedang learned of this, he immediately dragged several large carts of copper coins and gifted them to the middle ranking officer. Only then did Gongsun Zan smoothly receive the official's edict.

Amongst Liu Weitai, Li Yizi and Le Hedang, Liu Weitai had the fewest assets of the family, but Li Le and Yue Yang believed in ghosts and gods as deeply as Gongsun Zan, and were secretly afraid of Liu Weitai. Furthermore, when they had started their family, Liu Weitai had helped them out with some good ideas, so the two had always treated him as their leader, and listened to his every word he said. They relied on Gongsun Zan to earn large amounts of wealth, and at the same time gave Gongsun Zan a huge amount of help. They could think of ways to obtain all that Gongsun Zan needed. For Gongsun Zan to be able to dominate the Northern Territories, the two of them had to contribute greatly.

After approximately an hour, Li Yizi and Le Hedang arrived at the same time.

Li Yizi's figure was powerful and his looks rough. With his long hair hanging down, he looked like a bandit.

Le Hedang was short, white and fat, with a simple and honest smile on his face. He would laugh a few times before he spoke or did anything else.

After they had settled down to serve tea, Le Hedang spoke up first, "Haha, brother, why have you brought us here?"

Liu Weitai took a sip of the tea and slowly said, "Do you all know what your subjects have been doing for the past few days?"

Li Yizi and Le Hedang looked at each other and nodded in succession, their eyes filled with doubt.

"You don't have to let your imaginations run wild." Liu Weitai said indifferently, "After this commoner was unconscious, they encountered the help of ghosts and gods, and thus, were suddenly enlightened!"

"What!" The two of them were shocked.

"This is absolutely true, don't try to spread it!" Liu Weitai solemnly warned.

"Hur hur, I know, I know." Le Hedang smiled and nodded, praising: "That's a good thing. Yesterday, Cui Er and her mother were chatting, and I accidentally overheard her say that Ning'er wanted to give a sachet to my people.

Liu Weitai nodded modestly, but in his heart, he was extremely pleased.

Le Hedang clapped and shouted, "Aiya, congratulations brother! At that time, little brother will definitely give you a big gift! "

"A thousand high grade war horses!" Li Yizi did not say much, but he was very generous with his efforts. A thousand high grade war horses would be able to be sold for at least a hundred thousand points if they were brought to the south!

"Let's talk about it later." Liu Weitai put down the teacup, and said respectfully: "From today onwards, you all will give whatever he wants to give you to support your people! I know, the two of you sometimes even lie to the marquis, I hope you don't lie to the people! The higher he stands, the more rewards we will receive in the future! "

"I will do as my brother says!" Le Hedang withdrew his smile and cupped his hands together with Li Yizi as he made his promise.

"Very good! Master Hou will hold a family banquet tonight, let's go together. "

"Hur hur, alright." Le Hedang giggled as he replied, and tried to sound out the situation: "Brother, may I ask, why do you value my people so much? If we fully support our people, would Master Hou be dissatisfied? "

"Your subject is someone blessed by the heavens. Your Lordship has already known about this!"

Liu Weitai's words made Le Hedang jump, he strongly slapped his head and cried: "Aiyo, such a loss! If I knew earlier, I wouldn't have let Xiao Cui'er be engaged to someone else!"

Li Yizi cupped his hands towards Liu Weitai and said, "I have a daughter outside the barrier, seventeen years old."

Le Hedang shouted: "Hehe, good job as Li Lang, you have been hiding this from me for so long!"

Liu Weitai nodded without hesitation: "Leave this matter to me."

Gongsun Xu, who had just returned to the house of the Marquis, did not know that he had yet another concubine whose name he did not even know.