Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 188 - 175: Division of Spoils_1

Chapter 188: Chapter 175: Division of Spoils_1

Those three old ships were found ’incidentally’ by Luo Yan and Yue Qianqian when they were looking for the production site of the Menghuo Oil.

According to the recipe provided by Luo Yan, a large amount of sulfur, saltpeter, brown sugar, arsenic, and croton, etc., is required to produce Menghuo Oil. It just so happened that these old ships of Wang’s Ship Company had all transported these goods two months ago, and in large quantities at that.

Yue Qianqian checked the clearance records of several ships and found that they would pause for half a day to a day when passing through Yizheng in Yangzhou to Dantu in Zhenjiang.

Therefore, both of them speculated that there is a private harbor, unrecorded by the authorities, either in Yizheng County northbank or Dantu County southbank, and so they inferred the place where Menghuo Oil was produced.

"I think it’s more likely to be in Yizheng."

Yue Qianqian said in an uncertain tone, "Your elder brother, Li Yan, was vigorous in military affairs when he served as the naval defense of Zhenjiang. His routine inspections were very strict. If there was a private port or private transportation of military equipment there, it would have been discovered long ago. After all, the military hardware case had erupted before the second prince was attacked.

On the contrary, the military affairs in Yangzhou are in chaos, and it’s a mixed bag. It would be as easy as anything for them to build a private harbor and a Menghuo Oil workshop along the northern bank of the river."

Li Xuan only glanced at a few volumes of surnames that Yue Qianqian had handed over and decided to wake up Peng Fulai and Zhang Yue, and go to Yangzhou overnight.

He couldn’t rest until he found these three old ships.

Just as the group approached the front of the Zhuque Hall in a hurry, Li Xuan’s footsteps suddenly stopped. After a moment of thought, he turned his head and asked, "Old Peng, can you arrange a speedboat on your side?"

"Of course!", Peng Fulai thought for a moment and understood what Li Xuan meant, the latter not wanting to use the official ship of the Liudao Division: "I need to send a flying charm, it’ll take about three quarters to prepare properly. We can take a small boat to the middle of the river near Qixia Mountain, ensuring that it’s completely stealthy. Qianzhi, are you worried about being followed?"

"Yes, I feel like someone has been watching me today."

Li Xuan said while he moved his right foot back from the step, "Let’s go out from another place."

The feeling of being watched started after he returned to Nanjing City at noon.

But despite several attempts to find the source, Li Xuan made no gains.

He didn’t dare be the least careless, because theoretically, after the Wu cultivator reaches the fourth house level, their sense of awareness will greatly increase - even more so in his case as his Soul Power is nine times that of an ordinary person, so his extra gains in this regard should be huge.

Considering the currents within Earl Chengyi’s mansion, they were more cautious as the crisis was around the corner.

Under the camouflage of Yue Qianqian’s technique, they finally climbed over the wall on the east side of Zhuque Hall.

After coming out, within Li Xuan’s thoughts, he no longer had that prickling sensation of being watched.

Next, they boarded a ship on the north side of Qixia Mountain, went downstream all the way, and then stopped near Longtan Town, east of Nanjing.

Li Xuan went ashore alone for a while, and when he returned, he brought back a large package. It was full of silver bars and gold, various expensive antiques, even two medium-grade magical instruments, and there were nearly seventy thousand taels in banknotes.

"This is the wealth accumulated by Shopkeeper Han. The silver bars and gold in it should be worth about 220,000 taels."

Li Xuan put the package on the table, "I don’t understand much about antiques and magical instruments, so Old Peng you estimate the price, and then we all split it together."

Although this was the information he got from Shopkeeper Han’s memory, Li Xuan never planned to monopolize it.

After all, that day in Huanglin Temple, everyone there risked their lives.

Without any of them present, he wouldn’t have been able to hold out until Su Zhaojun arrived.

"Fuck, this may be a real handwriting of Wang Xizhi! It’s very likely that it’s the Huangting Sutra he wrote himself. Even if it’s copied by later generations, it must have been done by a famous artist, it can’t be less than 7,000 taels."

Peng Fulai just glanced at it and looked at Li Xuan in shock, "These things are worth more than silver. Adding them all up may be worth three to four hundred thousand taels. My experience is limited, and I can’t estimate their prices. I’d have to take them back and have someone estimate their value. But how did you find this wealth left by Shopkeeper Han? I remember he didn’t say?"

"Why do you care? Just take the money. This involves my family’s secret technique and I can’t tell you."

Li Xuan glared at him, "Since the things are not easily valued, then we will split the silver money first. Everyone should take 20%, which is 44,000 taels."

Zhang Yue was slightly pleased, but after a moment’s thought, he shook his head, "20% is too much, 10% is fine for me."

Yue Qianqian also nodded, "Indeed, it’s too much. After all, you, Master Youjiao, found this."

Luo Yan also seemed to be delighted. He pushed back half of the silver pushed towards him by Li Xuan, "They’re right, you’re our leader and should naturally take the lion’s share."

But Yue Qianqian always felt that the joy on Luo Yan’s face was feigned, his eyes clearly showing contempt.

Li Xuan thought for a while, then made the final cut without any further refusal: "Alright! Let’s split it this way."

Everyone present were forthright individuals he could trust implicitly, so there was no need for false pleasantries with them. That would only make him appear hypocritical.

After the silver was distributed, the atmosphere onboard lightened and grew pleasant. Even those of considerable means, like Peng Fulai and Yue Qianqian, felt glad for the unexpected windfall.

Furthermore, another share of wealth awaited them, in addition to the proceeds from the sale of Peng Fulai’s antique collection. The total haul might just reach as much as fifty thousand liang of silver—a sizeable sum indeed.

Only Li Xuan, having received Qiu Qianqiu’s warning, kept ceaselessly scanning both riverbanks, his brows furrowing ever deeper.

"Master Youjiao, you’ve made quite a fortune this time. You should be overjoyed. Why the long face? Could it be regret over shared wealth?"

Teasing in her tone, Luo Yan strode up to Li Xuan. Letting her gaze follow his, she saw the northern bank dotted with all sizes of beached sailboats.

Luo Yan’s grin wore off immediately, and her tone took on a grave note. "It’s due to the blockade of the canal. Thousands of specialized canal boats have lost their business. Docking costs money, so they could only beach their vessels here.

These ones here were actually lucky. Those trapped within the canals are completely stuck. Living costs money and many boat owners are bleeding funds. I’ve heard many transport workers have been dismissed and left jobless for months. It was a disaster both natural and man-made–"

When Luo Yan uttered the words ’man-made’, her voice took on an icy chill.

She soon resumed a smile though, noting with a touch of surprise in her voice: "I would never have thought that Master Youjiao, despite hailing from such a wealthy family, could sympathise so deeply with the hardship of common folks, and show such a concern for the lower classes."

"Wealthy homes reek of wine and meat, while the roadside is littered with frozen bones."

Li Xuan recalled Qiu Qianqiu’s words and responded sarcastically, "Here’s another saying for you: Water can carry the boat, but can also capsize it. With hundreds of thousands of robust and able-bodied transport workers starving, including no few brave men among them, how could we, the flesh-eating elite, not be afraid?"

Luo Yan paused and studied Li Xuan meticulously.

"Wealthy homes reek of wine and meat, while the roadside is littered with frozen bones. Water can carry the boat, but can also capsize it?"

She muttered softly, a strange glint flashed within her eyes, but she soon laughed off his words. "Master Youjiao certainly has an eloquence. But you belong to the wealthy Li family and could theoretically feed the whole massive canal workforce with your fortune."

"And what then?" scoffed Peng Fulai from a distance. "Would the Court label us as manipulating public sentiment and plotting treason, and then execute all of us and confiscate all our wealth?"

Zhang Yue shook his head. "It wouldn’t work. I remember my father once saying, we warriors, even when setting up porridge stalls at the city gate can’t break the rules and infringe upon the rights of the scholars."

Li Xuan sighed. "To be honest, I’m kind of missing Zidie."

With Démoness Zidie around, at least those hundreds of thousands of transport workers would have been better off.

Luo Yan responded to Li Xuan’s words with a faint, mocking smirk.

※※※※

Nanjing was very close to Yizheng, much closer than their previous trip to Yangzhou’s Chuancheng. They were also aboard one of Peng Fulai’s speedboats this time, so they reached their destination in about half an hour later.

- If it hadn’t been for Li Xuan straying off course for a while, they might have gotten there faster.

"That dock we’re looking for should be within ten miles of this place. Let’s search carefully," proclaimed Yue Qianqian as she summoned two paper cranes, planning to send them to scout.

However, Luo Yan, watching the black smoke rising in the distance, snorted dismissively. "We don’t need to look for the oil refining workshop. It’s here. Neither such tall chimneys nor such dense smoke signifies anything else but the production of Menghuo Oil."

Li Xuan perked up at this. If they had found the workshop’s location already, then the first round of clues was in the bag.

Later, Yue Qianqian brought good news: her paper cranes had found the three boats they were looking for. They were beached in the nearby reeds with a poorly crafted illusion array serving as camouflage.

– It wasn’t some sophisticated array. It was roughly akin to the camouflage of Li Xuan’s previous life, designed to deceive the eyes of those from a distance.

Inducing headache was the realization that there were about sixty guards on board those boats, all of them formidable martial artists. Among them, five were at least at the Second Door level of cultivation.

Over at the workshop, the number of people was higher, totaling over one hundred. All of them were armored as if they were private soldiers. With his ’Tao-protecting Eyes’, Li Xuan spotted an even more intimidating aura next to the workshop. Likely, that was a Wu Cultivator at the Third Door level of cultivation.

"We still have to bring in more forces from the palace." Peng Fulai scratched his head. "We won’t be able to manage all of them on our own."

Zhang Yue also sighed helplessly. "Perhaps we should reconsider this tomorrow? The Xiaowei is currently in Gaoyou accompanying our superintendent. He may not return anytime soon."

"There’s no need!" An unexpected female voice suddenly echoed in their ears.

Peng Fulai and the others glanced at the source of the sound with surprised expressions, only to see Xue Yunrou standing behind them, seemingly appearing out of nowhere.