Chapter 1212 - 1201: The Wealthy Merchant
Chapter 1212 - 1201: The Wealthy Merchant
Upon receiving news about Ye Lu, Prince Linsan’s eyes gleamed. After several years, his greatest opponent was no longer Prince Donghe or the King of Xichuan, but rather Prince Ye, whom he could never fully perceive.
Prince Ye’s power had developed too rapidly. To evolve from a mere merchant to his current status was unimaginable, yet Prince Ye had done it and done better than anyone else.
As far as he knew, the people within Prince Ye’s jurisdiction were particularly loyal, and now it was even affecting the people in his own territories. They all said Prince Ye was good to the common people, and everyone supported him. This was not good news for Chen Gaoxuan.
So Chen Gaoxuan was very curious about Prince Ye, but he couldn’t get any useful information from the mother and daughter, Ye Lu and Li Dezhen, and those common people wouldn’t say a word, leaving him with very little knowledge about Prince Ye and unable to devise any countermeasures.
This made Chen Gaoxuan, who always fought battles he was sure of winning, extremely uneasy. Now that an insider was placed right before him, he was very happy, but became even more cautious as he approached this hard-won person.
But he would never know that Ye Wen was someone Ye Qiu had deliberately kept by his side, prepared especially for him.
Li Dezhen was mistaken. Indeed, only she and her husband knew the matter from back then, but her husband told the matter to their son.
Perhaps it was out of mistrust and precaution against her. Fearing that their eldest son would fall into the clutches of a future wife, on his deathbed, he told Ye Qiu many things. Otherwise, how could Ye Cheng have replaced the Li family’s personnel so smoothly? It was actually all prepared in advance.
The fact proved that Ye Qiu’s father’s worries were indeed not in vain. Li Dezhen had no affection for the Ye Family.
Since Li Dezhen and Ye Lu escaped from the Ye Family, Ye Qiu remembered such a person but told no one, still letting him serve as an ordinary servant as before. He didn’t know if this person would ever be useful, but it couldn’t hurt.
Thus, when someone cautiously approached Ye Wen, Ye Qiu felt reassured in his heart.
"Family Head, should I deal with him?" It was Ye Mo who spoke, one of the twins Ye Qiu once favored highly and personally kept by his side for teaching.
"No need, I have great use for this person." Ye Qiu smiled confidently. He didn’t need to resort to various dark means to achieve victory, but sometimes it was best to avoid some casualties.
Since Prince Linsan likes to inquire, give him some information he is interested in, but whether the other party believes it or not isn’t something he could control.
In the third year of Changwu, the King of Xichuan and Prince Donghe suddenly and unexpectedly allied again to attack Prince Linsan, catching him off guard. However, with black gunpowder in hand, he didn’t suffer any losses.
But this made those two kings even more convinced that if they didn’t deal with Prince Linsan first, they would all be weakening their own strength to make a wedding dress for Prince Linsan, especially since they didn’t have the secret weapon of black gunpowder.
Shortly after, Ye Qiu received a letter from Prince Linsan expressing a wish to ally, claiming that they were family after all and would govern the world together in the future.
The letter expressed sincerity, stating that Ye Lu was pregnant and once she gave birth, the child would be crowned as the Princely Heir. In the future, his child and Ye Qiu’s child would be cousins, thus a family.
He also said he admired Ye Qiu as his brother-in-law and hoped to sit down and talk, inviting him to Hero Town.
Hero Town was not named for having many heroes, but because it used to be called Large Shrimp Town due to an abundance of large shrimp here. Later, the locals found the name not powerful enough, so it changed to Hero Town.
Hero Town is now in a lawless area, surrounded by rivers on three sides, easy to defend and hard to attack, but not of much offensive value, so it remained uninvolved and untouched by war.
Inviting here both showed Prince Linsan’s sincerity and protected him from Ye Qiu’s sneak attacks; it was a good choice for both parties.
"Elder brother, are you going?" Ye Cheng asked.
Ye Qiu slightly smiled, "Since Prince Linsan is so sincere, why not go?"
"Elder brother, are you really going to cooperate with Prince Linsan?"
"Correct."
Ye Cheng frowned, "But don’t you feel uncomfortable? You said before, Prince Linsan is not simple. Are we sure we’re not discussing a plan with a tiger?"
"Uncomfortable? Are you talking about Ye Lu?" Ye Qiu shook his head. "Second brother, our third sister Ye Lu is already dead; now, Prince Linsan’s concubine Ye Lu just happens to have the same name, and besides, if Prince Linsan is not simple, are we simple?"
"I’m just worried that Prince Linsan and Ye Lu will disgust brother at that time." Ye Cheng said disdainfully, "Back then, when Ye Lu left home, she showed no hesitation and even took everything she could. For years, she kept trying to reach out to the Li family to infiltrate our Ye Family. Her heart has never been with us. I just can’t understand why she thinks following Prince Linsan is better than being the Third Miss Ye?"
"That’s why we need to show her how well we’re doing now. Only by going can we see her regretful face, right?"
"Brother, you want to take me?"
"I plan to bring General Bai as well; don’t you want to go?"
Thinking of Bai Xianyi, Ye Cheng’s old face slightly flushed, "Brother, I’ll go."
"When are you going to make an effort? I’m still waiting to hold nieces and nephews!" Ye Qiu remarked, looking disappointedly at him.
Ye Cheng was instantly unwilling, "Brother, I at least have someone I’m pursuing. What about you? You are almost thirty, and the ministers are turning gray with worry. Aren’t you considering choosing a couple of concubines? Then having a couple of children?"
"The grand undertaking is not yet achieved. What am I considering this for now?"
"But you’re not young anymore. Without a heir for so long, the military hearts are unstable!"
That indeed was a problem. Ye Qiu mused, but then again, wasn’t this Second Brother Ye Cheng? They were family brothers, and he had no such ideas. Couldn’t he just adopt his brother’s son when needed?
But would his second brother and Bai Xianyi be willing? He hadn’t mentioned it to his brother because his brother hadn’t started a family yet; could he really forcibly adopt the child if the mother disagreed?
It seemed he’d have to find a way to bring them together. Always being urged by those ministers was indeed a headache when his mind was full of ways to conquer and rule the world, so how could he have the heart to marry and have children?
"Don’t worry, brother will help you." Ye Qiu patted Ye Cheng’s shoulder.
Ye Cheng was somewhat dumbfounded by this gesture, "What do you mean? Help me with what? Weren’t we discussing brother’s matter of choosing concubines and having children? How did it become about me?"
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