C223

"This servant isn't spouting nonsense." Xia Yue blinked her clear black and white eyes, "Who would casually lend something worth sixty thousand silver to someone who hasn't even seen their true face before? They didn't even write down a IOU, if the princess doesn't return it, he won't even have a place to argue."

Mu Qianxue gradually restrained her smile, fiddled with the tassels on her skirt, and slowly said, "I am also unclear on this point. Did he come here as she pleased, and treat money as nothing, or … "I can see too clearly."

Xia Yue wrinkled her nose. "And his name, Zhang Qiling, Zhang Qiling. It sounds just like Zhang Qi Ling. It's really scary."

When Mu Qianxue, who was originally thinking carefully, heard this sentence, she couldn't help but laugh. She lightly stroked her rosy and tender face, "You, ah, always do this. When you find someone unpleasant to look at, you will be able to find fault everywhere.

Xia Yue replied disapprovingly, "Of course not. If not for the fact that he raised the price with us at the Plethora Gem Tower, the military manual would have long been in the Princess' possession. Why would he need to sell it?"

"Everything is reasonable." As he was laughing, the door was pushed open. The person who came was Nineteen, who had been missing all night.

Mu Qianxue's smile faded. "Did you find out?"

Nineteen nodded her head and then took the handkerchief from Xia Yue to wipe away the rain on her face. She said, "Zhang Qiling is the eldest son of the Zhang Family, the richest man in Jiangning. The ancestors of the Zhang Family started their career selling furs and silks.

Xia Yue suddenly said: "No wonder you're so generous, so you actually have such a rich background."

"Although Zhang Qiling is from a wealthy background, he has never touched the bad habits of those good-for-nothings and is instead obsessed with the art of military tactics and poetry." Although Zhang Qiling is from a wealthy background, he has never been infected with the bad habits of those good-for-nothings and is instead obsessed with the art of military tactics and poetry.

Mu Qianxue's finger gently caressed the yellowed book as she said softly, "So, Zhang Qiling is not suspicious at all?"

"Yes." Nineteen gave a simple "En" and then said, "If you still have any doubts, I can continue my investigation."

"No need." Mu Qianxue looked at her clothes that had been drenched by the rain and said warmly, "Quickly go and change your clothes so that you don't catch a cold, I'll get the kitchen to heat up the leftover food and send it to your room. After that, you can go to bed early."

Before leaving, Nineteen turned around and said hesitantly: "That Three-forced Array Technique …"

Mu Qianxue knew what she was trying to say and said with a smile, "With this half map, I can make up for the deficiency in the Three-forced Array within three days and help the king out with the wooden cows that are shipping food. We should at least wait until after the twelfth day of the second month."

"Thank you, Princess." Her reply made Nineteen heave a sigh of relief, as she looked towards Mu Qianxue with an even more grateful expression.

It was pitch black in the middle of the night rain in Jinling City. Aside from the Mu residence, there were a few scattered lights that lit up.

Zhang Qiling was sitting at a table in a guest room with the number one name in the room. Zhang Qiling was playing chess with him. Two handsome servants were standing behind him.

One of the attendants took off the lampshade with Chang'e Rongyue painted on it. He picked up a small pair of scissors and cut off the dark, curled wick, causing the dim candlelight to brighten up once more.

As the attendant closed the lampshade once more, a middle-aged man pushed open the door and walked in. If Mu Qianxue was there, she would definitely recognize the person who was hosting the auction in the Myriad Treasures Pavilion today.

The middle-aged man walked into the room and respectfully bowed to Zhang Qiling. "Greetings, Young Master."

Zhang Qiling looked at him and asked, "Have you left?"

The middle-aged man hastily replied, "Young Master, don't worry. This lowly one saw with my own eyes that nineteen people entered the Mu residence before coming to see Young Master." Saying that, he frowned, "I have something I don't understand."

Zhang Qiling put down the chess piece in his hand and raised his eyebrows. "I don't understand why I have to spend so much time and effort."

"Yes." The middle-aged man glanced at him and softly said, "As long as the Young Master says that you have half a book of weapons, Princess Xuanji will take the initiative to befriend him. There is no need to go back to the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion."

Zhang Qiling faintly smiled. He already had a handsome appearance, but this smile added a bit of charm to his appearance. "As you said, you can naturally approach Princess Xuanji, but you seem to be too deliberate, making it difficult for you to obtain her trust. This will be detrimental to our future plans. What's more …" With a glint in his eye, he turned the jade ring on his thumb. "Wasn't the existence of the Myriad Treasures Pavilion just to make sense out of reason?"

"Young Master is right." As the middle-aged man spoke, he took out a stack of banknotes from his sleeves and respectfully said, "This is the silver from the auction. In addition to the sixty thousand silver that Young Master has paid me, it's a total of ninety-nine thousand silver taels." Apart from a few people in the pavilion, no one knew that the middle-aged man in charge of the auctions was the true owner of the pavilion. The one in the open was just a puppet.

Looking at the stack of silver notes, which were enough to make countless people go crazy, Zhang Qiling did not even bat an eyelid as he casually said, "I still need to stay in Nanjing for a while. Please send someone to send them back."

"Yes." After the middle-aged man had returned the banknotes, Zhang Qiling asked, "How is the situation in the southern region?"

"Today's news just arrived. The Sun Pass Valley has already been broken, and the Qi army has crossed more than twenty li of the southern border and is currently advancing towards Jinling City. According to their speed, if the Zhou Emperor does not send someone to stop them, they will arrive at Jinling City in about half a month's time."

"Jinling is the Northern Zhou Empire's capital. Even if the Zhou Emperor is a fool, he would never give it away, not to mention …" Zhang Qiling narrowed his eyes and said with a smile that was not a smile, "He's not stupid at all."

"Young Master is right. According to the news from the past two days, Emperor Zhou should have been collecting rations in the account department, leading troops. According to this young man's estimation, along with a hundred thousand soldiers in the elite battalion, they should be able to raise nearly two hundred thousand soldiers within half a month."

Zhang Qiling shook his head. "The situation is urgent. The Emperor won't be able to wait for half a month. According to my guess, he should have reached his limit in ten days. Two hundred thousand …" "It's a bit difficult." After a pause, he asked, "Who will be leading the troops?"

"It's the Pingyang King." What they were talking about right now was completely a secret of the imperial court, and even many officials of the imperial court did not know about it. One of them was the boss behind the scenes while the other was only the son of a rich merchant in Jiangning, yet he knew about this matter like the back of his hand.

"Duk Duk Duk." Zhang Qiling tapped his fingers on the table once more. After a long time, the voice stopped and a clear voice rang out from within the room, "It won't be for long."