Chapter 422 Difficulties
"What did you say? My Xifeng convoy was robbed in the south?" Xifeng Chang asked with a look of shock and disbelief, while the subordinate in front of him nodded nervously, "That's right... that's right. Master, the group of horse thieves claimed to be Nanshan thieves, and said that they were the ones who had difficulty in life. If the master wanted to get the goods back, he had to exchange them for 500 taels of gold!"
Even Sun Tu frowned when he heard this. Five hundred taels of gold are not a small amount for Xifeng Chang. The other party was completely speaking out of the lion's mouth, which was a manifestation of not taking Xifeng's attention at all!
Sure enough, after hearing this, Xifeng Chang was even more angry and slapped the table and scolded, "These horse thieves are so brave. Do you really think that I, Xifeng, can't bully me?" This is not only a matter of face, but also about reality. If he was really robbed by a horse bandit this time and had to spend money to redeem it, then similar troubles will only increase in the future. You must know that Xifeng Chang was able to be valued by his father as the eighth son, because he was able to make a lot of money for Xifeng.
The subordinates in front of him were even more panicked when they saw him angry, but he still had to say something: "Master, they said the five hundred taels of gold not only for redemption, but also for the redeem of people. The dozens of friends we bet on were detained by them, and there are also..." As he said that, he looked at Sun Tu again: "General Sun's business friend is also among them."
Only then did Sun Tu really change his face: "Are you saying that the goods that were robbed this time were the batch of green salt arranged by Brother Huangfu to leave the city a few days ago?" Just a few days ago, seeing that Sun Tu had settled down in Shunjun City, Huangfu Duan put his mind on the batch of green salts that belonged to him. After learning that the green salt had been transported from other places, he rushed to check it out. Unexpectedly, the horse thief would take the goods together.
"Not only the green salt, but also the cloth, grain and other goods were all taken away by the horse thieves. If this batch of goods is added together, it should have more than a thousand taels of gold, which is the reserves used by my Shunjun City to spend the winter." Xifeng Chang gritted his teeth and said, "What kind of thief in the South Mountains is really a leopard who has eaten the courage of the bear heart and leopard. He dared to openly become enemies with my Xifeng!"
Sun Tu calmed down slightly from the shock just now, thinking about something with a serious expression. He always felt that this matter was a bit strange. In the territory of the Xifeng clan, would there really be bandits who dare to act so unscrupulously?
Xifeng Chang could no longer hold back and immediately stood up and said, "I, Xifeng, will never tolerate such a thing. I will go to see my father and ask him to send troops to take down this gang of horse thieves. I want to see who dares to rob my Xifeng's wealth in the future!" As he said, he was about to go out in a hurry. At this moment, Sun Tu's greeting came from behind: "Young Master, wait."
"Well? Are you worried that Huangfu Duan will have something wrong? Don't worry, no matter how brave those guys are, they dare not really hurt me, Xifeng's people, otherwise they will be ready to repay the lives of the whole family!" Xifeng Chang looked at the murderous intent at this time, obviously very angry.
Sun Tu took a step forward and said seriously: "I just want to ask the young master, has the same thing happened in the past?"
"Of course there isn't. This is the first time that my Xifeng family's goods have been robbed!"
"That's strange, why did Brother Huangfu happen to be this incident at that time..." Sun Tu's expression became more and more serious, and he pointed out something. Xifeng Chang was just blinded by anger just now, and was quite smart. After being reminded, he also felt a little strange: "What do you mean is someone making a hindrance? Is it because those horse thieves are so bold? Is it because they are instructed?"
"Although I dare not assert that, I'm afraid I'm going to be the same. Otherwise, for no reason, why would such a bold horse thief appear?"
"Xiao feudalism!" Xi Fengchang almost instantly determined the identity of the person behind the scenes, and his brother's name burst out from his teeth. There is really no need to think about this. Now Shunjun City has the courage and ability, and it is necessary to target him like this, the only half-brother, is his half-brother!
Sun Tu seemed very calm: "So if this is true, the young master went to ask for help from the clan leader, but he might not be able to solve the problem. We must come up with a proper solution in addition to this."
"Father could not maintain the feudalism in such a big event!" Xi Feng Chang said a little unacceptable. After all, most of the goods were prepared for Shunjun City. If something really happened, the consequences would be quite large.
Sun Tu shook his head and smiled: "It's hard to say what's going on now, but I thought that since he dared to let someone do these things, he would be sure that you and I would not be able to borrow the power of the patriarch. Or, this is exactly what the patriarch hopes to see, and maybe he will even show the performance of the school entrance exam master when dealing with such unexpected things."
Although his words made some sense, Xifeng Chang was still half-believing and half-doubted. Without any delay, he hurriedly left the villa and ran to Xifeng Yechang's official office for help. This time, Sun Tu did not follow him, but started chatting with a manager in the villa.
"Uncle Cheng has been with the young master for a while, right?" Sun Tu had seen before that the man in his fifties in front of him was very trusted and respected by Xi Feng Chang, so he was quite respectful to him on weekdays. At this moment, something happened, and the first thing he thought of asking him about was some inside information.
Xifeng Cheng hunched over slightly and replied in a low voice: "Yes, since the young master was born, I have been following him on the order of his first mistress. After careful calculation, it has been almost twenty years."
As soon as these words were said, Sun Tu's expression became more serious: "Then Cheng Bo must have a great understanding of the relationship between the young master and his brothers, right? Do you think they will really act like a brother in the clan for the sake of the great power of the clan?"
The smile on Cheng Bo's face quickly disappeared, but he did not give an answer: "I am just a slave to serve my master. I can't just comment on and guess this."
After Sun Tu looked at him a few times, he quickly smiled because he had already got the answer to the question. If this was not the case, Cheng Bo would have shaken his head and denied it immediately. Now that he refused to answer, it was actually clear that it was true.
Sun Tu did not bother with this matter much, and then asked: "I believe you must know one thing, Cheng Bo, that is, how many people can the young master really mobilize now?"
"There are only two hundred people who follow the guards, and that is the soldiers whom the patriarch handed over to the prince after he was sixteen." Cheng Bo answered quite happily this time. This matter is not a secret in Shunjun City.
"What about the sixth young master? If he wants to take action, how many troops can he transfer?"
"Five hundred to one thousand..." Cheng Bo replied after pondering for a moment, "Young Master has not held any important position yet, so he has never had his own team. But the sixth Master is different. Even if he is not involved in military affairs, but because he got a position two years ago, someone has joined him. At least two cavalrymen in the city will obey his orders..."
"Is there a comparison of three to five times the strength of the troops? And maybe there is a horse thief who has been bribed by him. Conservatively, it is also a thousand four to five hundred people." Sun Tu slowly breathed out: "Things are not easy to deal with!"
"So I think that the best choice for the young master is to pay for the redemption of the people and goods, which is the safest thing." Cheng Bo said, but there was a helpless smile on his lips. Because he knew Xi Fengchang's personality very well, how could he bow his head and admit defeat after suffering such a big loss this time?
Sun Tu stood there with a smile, and he also guessed that this person could not bear the anger. Once he hit a wall with his father, he would clamor to send someone to save people and seize goods. Since he wanted to be the arm of Xifeng Chang's confidant, this was the best opportunity to gain his attention and trust. After all, Xifeng Chang is in a weak stage now, and the timely help is always stronger than the icing on the cake. And Sun Tu also saw one thing, I am afraid that the real thing that Xifeng did this time was himself!
The next thing was indeed as Sun Tu had predicted before. After more than half an hour, Xi Fengchang came back with resentment and anger. He was unable to obtain support from his father. The reason was very simple, that was, early this morning, Xi Feng Yechang had left Shunjun City and went to inspect the border barriers.
Xifeng Yechang was the leader of the border generals sent by the Western Xia court to guard this place, so he would always go to some border fortresses to inspect every period of time. Obviously, Xifeng was aware of his father's movement early in the morning and would boldly use this move. Once Xifeng Yechang was not in the city, it would be impossible to mobilize the defenders in the city with Xifengchang's identity. In this way, he could only use the two hundred guards under his command.
"Xi Feudalism counts everything... I will never bow to him. Even if there are few soldiers, I will decide to go out of the city to save people and seize goods. Sun Qianli, do you dare to go with me?" Xi Feng Chang asked with a gloomy face.
"Young Master, please be careful not to be impatient. This matter is inconcealed and you must not fall into their trap easily, otherwise..." Sun Tu was still waiting to say something, but was interrupted by Xi Fengchang impatiently: "Sun Qianli, I wanted to give you a chance because of your martial arts and courage. I didn't expect you to be so timid and afraid. It seems that I really misunderstood you!" In a rage, his nature was revealed. The child of the Dangxiang nobleman was not as kind and wise as he had shown before.
However, Sun Tu was not panicked about it, but just said with a smile: "Young Master, please listen to me finish my words. I did not say that I would give up saving people and seizing goods, but that I should use some strategies to deal with them!"
Chapter completed!