"The lifeblood of Da Qian?"
King Peacock's interest was piqued, and he immediately summoned Ito Masamune to the hall.
Ito Masamune brought a treasure chest. After paying his respects to King Peacock, he glanced back at the officials of the Peacock Dynasty behind him, then looked at King Peacock with a troubled expression.
King Peacock understood and chuckled, "These court officials are all my trusted confidants. You can speak freely!"
Noticing that the group of officials had blonde hair and blue eyes, Ito Masamune felt reassured. He took out a pile of letters from the chest and had them delivered to King Peacock by a servant.
"Our Izumo country has already contacted the Barbarian Lands to discuss grand strategies and plot against Da Qian. I have already communicated with the most powerful aristocratic families in Da Qian. Then, we will contact the Peacock Dynasty and the Guishuang Dynasty. When the time is ripe, we will attack from both inside and outside. Da Qian can be broken!"
"Furthermore, someone from our country has infiltrated the internal circles of Liang Xiao, the Marquis of An Guo in Da Qian. Once complete trust is gained, vital intelligence can be stolen at any time."
King Peacock only spoke a little Da Qian language and did not understand the Da Qian script. He summoned literate officials to translate for him.
After the officials translated into the Tianri language, they said, "Your Majesty, the content is true, but the handwriting cannot be confirmed as belonging to officials of those aristocratic families!"
King Peacock narrowed his eyes and stared at Ito Masamune.
Ito Masamune took out two pieces of exquisite jade from his robe and presented them, explaining, "It is absolutely true! These two precious jades were obtained by the Heavenly Emperor from the Dongye family. They are considered heirloom jades, specially presented to King Peacock! The Dongye family was the one who originally crossed the ocean from the Great Zhou Dynasty to our Izumo country. The Son of Heaven of Da Liang is ungrateful and did not accept our proposal. In the future, we can even destroy them!"
King Peacock examined the jades, finally nodding in satisfaction, and asked, "But your Izumo country is thousands of miles away from our Peacock Dynasty..."
"There is an old saying in Da Qian: 'Befriend those afar, attack those near!' Precisely because our two countries are far apart, we only need to work together against Da Qian and need not worry about any conflicts of interest! The Barbarian Lands are even closer to our Izumo country, yet they are eager to ally with us and attack Da Qian from all directions!" Ito Masamune replied without hesitation.
King Peacock and his ministers all found it beneficial. Unable to swallow their pride after the Battle of Luzhou, they immediately made a decision.
"We can cooperate! The Peacock Dynasty also has people in Da Qian and Da Liang who are making arrangements... But, Ambassador Ito, how long do you think it will take for a joint attack?"
Ito Masamune replied, "At the earliest, three years; at the latest, ten years! Taking advantage of Da Qian's contempt for my country and relaxed surveillance, I have left behind a ninja with a similar appearance as a substitute to lull the officials of Jiaozhou! I am now preparing to travel to the Guishuang Dynasty, then detour through the Barbarian Lands, and return to Izumo country!"
After King Peacock sent someone to escort Ito Masamune to the reception room, he looked down at the assembled officials and sighed, "Iris, the last time was just an accident. My imperial brother must give you a surprise!"
As the officials were on leave for three days, there was no court assembly for the time being. Xiao Qing, in her disguise as Princess Ning Shuang, returned to Liang Xiao's residence with him. She hid in Liang Xiao's room, reading his "Romance of the Three Kingdoms," not daring to come out and face anyone, for fear that her sisters would bombard her with questions.
Luo Qingxue still did not let her off. She led her sisters to Liang Xiao's room to "catch up" with Xiao Qing.
Liang Xiao and his close friends sat in a temporarily prepared "office" outside his courtyard, reviewing recent documents.
"Yi Zui Bai Nian is not selling as well as it used to be..." sighed Yang Xuejing, his elder sister-in-law, with regret.
Liang Xiao's paternal cousin had gone to Xichuan to do business, and his elder cousin Liang Feng served in the Feathered Forest Guard. Especially recently, with the nationwide celebrations, the capital required increased patrol efforts, making him quite busy. The winery was usually supervised by Yang Xuejing and her staff.
"I had anticipated this," Liang Xiao nodded with a smile.
Yi Zui Bai Nian could be described as an exorbitant luxury item. No matter how rich the wealthiest people in the land were, they could not afford to buy it year-round.
Before Liang Xiao traveled to Jiangnan, he had also prepared several issues of poetry as an additional activity for Yi Zui Bai Nian's sales in the capital.
Now, even poetry could not sustain this price.
However, Liang Xiao had already earned nearly eight million taels of silver from Yi Zui Bai Nian!
Liang Qing asked, "Will it need to be lowered to a 'people's price' in the future?"
Liang Xiao pondered for a moment, then shook his head. "Yi Zui Bai Nian is a strong liquor and harmful if consumed in excess. The high price allows people to cherish it more and drink it in moderation. If it were popularized among the masses, who knows how many people would make mistakes while drunk, or even die from alcoholism, and how much grain would be wasted... Ordinary people are content with regular wine."
Nie Yuan, Liu Fan, and Yue Qingtian looked at Liang Xiao with admiration.
They knew they had followed the right person. This was a master who considered the interests of the common people, even as a merchant.
To build a career under such a master, they felt at peace!
Liang Xiao then retrieved letters from bookstores across the country and browsed their financial reports. "As of now, the Ouyang family has probably invested twenty million taels in my bookstores nationwide. The fact that they are still holding on indicates that other families have been secretly supporting them. Perhaps, from the beginning, they believed that I was maliciously undercutting them and had no intention of running a proper bookstore business."
As he spoke, Liang Xiao put on a pained expression and sighed.
If the Ouyang family continued to give away so much, he might truly become the richest man through loss.
Liang Xiao had originally expected the Ouyang family to be inspired quickly and improve their printing techniques, even if they couldn't create movable type, they could at least improve woodblock printing.
However, he had underestimated their complacency and contentment with the status quo.
After all, the Ouyang family's woodblock printing, even if not as advanced as Liang Xiao's understanding of woodblock printing, was far more cost-effective than manual copying. Therefore, they dared to sell books at prices close to those of manual copying.
It was a pity that the printing materials in various regions were being heavily consumed by Liang Xiao's bookstores and were on the verge of requiring increased supply. Printing would need to slow down depending on the situation.
Although it was a short-term pity, Liang Xiao speculated that this move could also serve to lull the Ouyang family.
An hour later, Ouyang Ping arrived at Liang Xiao's residence, claiming to personally acquire the current batch of books.
Liang Xiao personally came out to "welcome" him.
"Marquis of An Guo, Grand Tutor Liang, Minister of Personnel, this subordinate pays his respects..."
Under the astonished gaze of everyone, Ouyang Ping, with a respectful demeanor, bowed to Liang Xiao. He was a completely different person from the arrogant Ouyang Ping of the past.
Liang Xiao politely returned the bow and then said with a wry smile, "Assistant Minister Ouyang, I am truly sorry. The bookstore's printing capacity is limited recently. We will notify you when we have more stock in a few days..."
"Has he really run out of support?" Ouyang Ping thought with elation, but outwardly, he maintained an expression of regret and concern.
"I heard that the Marquis of An Guo has sent people to the East Sea and the northeastern regions to buy a significant amount of land?"
Liang Xiao nodded. "As you know, I am somewhat eccentric and enjoy hoarding land, relishing the feeling of owning millions of mu of fertile fields."
Xiao Qing had long considered herself inseparable from him and therefore supported him in continuing to acquire land from landlords and wealthy gentry.
After all, if Xiao Qing's shadow guards, disguised as wealthy individuals, bought land, it would be one or two. But if a large group of wealthy individuals appeared across the country, it would be too suspicious.
Xiao Qing's strategy was to primarily acquire scattered plots of land and then, at an opportune moment, purchase land registered under the "Land Requisition Order," catching these landlords off guard.
Ouyang Ping suppressed his inner joy and, maintaining a concerned tone, sighed, "Marquis of An Guo is too generous in business. Be careful. According to the contract you signed with our Ouyang family, the books you print must be sold to us, until our Ouyang family can no longer purchase them..."
Some curious onlookers quietly gathered to watch. Upon hearing Ouyang Ping's words, they also lowered their heads in dejection: Is our beloved Marquis of An Guo about to be ruined by the Ouyang family...