However, Murong Ping seemed to have been prepared long ago. He casually said that it was precisely because even Murong Li was interested in the Cui Trading Company’s paper that he had taken notice. He had made some inquiries and unexpectedly discovered through his investigation that there were all sorts of intricacies within the paper business. He was a rough man who didn’t understand things like gentlemanly paper, but he knew this trade was very profitable, so he had the idea to seek out Bai Jintong.
Bai Jintong further told Murong Ping that since the Yan Emperor had taken an interest, tax evasion would probably be quite impossible…
Murong Ping was completely unconcerned, saying that he was, after all, a prince of the nation, and this small matter was something he could still manage. Moreover, helping Cui Trading Company evade taxes was his business—as long as “Cui Fengnian” was willing to cooperate with him, everything else was the affair of him, the Second Prince.
Naturally, if “Cui Fengnian” refused to agree, Murong Ping would also use his status as an imperial relative to prevent Cui Fengnian from conducting business smoothly in Yan.
After this combination of threats and inducements, “Cui Fengnian” had no choice but to agree reluctantly.
But Bai Jintong was not someone who could be fooled by Murong Ping’s words. She immediately guessed that Murong Ping had probably received instructions from Murong Li, deliberately coming to her with all these words. Murong Li probably valued the uses of paper and was devising methods for the future gambling-the-nation strategy between the two countries.
So Bai Jintong speculated that the Great Zhou would probably propose selecting several cities to serve as pilot programs to test the gambling-the-nation strategy between the two countries. If they included all of Yan and the Great Zhou in their entirety, the calculations would probably be too massive and difficult to manage.
She instructed her elder sister to pay attention to merchants who would later enter Yan to sell in shops and sell paper.
Additionally, Bai Jintong did not tell Bai Qingyan that she was already trapped in a situation of being monitored. She only said that after cooperating with Murong Ping, she would inevitably be watched by Murong Ping’s people, and the frequency of sending letters back would definitely decrease. She asked her elder sister to explain more to their mother Lady Li, hoping she wouldn’t blame her for not writing letters home frequently.
Even without Bai Jintong saying so, seeing how late her letter had arrived, Bai Qingyan understood that Bai Jintong was already under surveillance.
She had already dispatched shadow guards to “Cui Fengnian’s” hometown, to that “Cui family” that had fallen into decline but was then supported again. When the time came, they would use the pretext of family elders sending things to “Cui Fengnian” to go to Bai Jintong’s side, half openly and half secretly, to protect Bai Jintong and follow her orders. This would also give Bai Jintong people she could command who were not within Yan’s surveillance range.
She had always been well aware of Murong Li’s intelligence, but he was still a child after all… he had shown his hand with Bai Jintong. If the Yan delegation truly proposed selecting several cities for gambling when discussing the gambling-the-nation strategy this time, they probably intended to make an issue of this paper.
Her brows carried an extremely subtle smile as her hand gently caressed the papermaking method Bai Qingyun had sent back. The papermaking method Bai Qingyun sent back was modified from several methods given to Bai Jintong, reducing costs even more than before.
Bai Qingyan was truly filled with emotion, wondering what kind of hardships her younger brother had endured at the Four Seas Pavilion on Compass Mountain to learn such exquisite papermaking techniques.
Now that the Bai family army was invincible wherever it went, this was inseparable from Bai Qingyun’s contributions. Bai Qingyun first improved the cloud-scaling ladders, then improved the weapons in the soldiers’ hands. Not only did the soldiers have repeating crossbows, but these crossbows could fire twenty shots in succession and could be prepared in advance with loaded arrow cartridges. When used on the battlefield, there was no need to waste time—when one cartridge was empty, they could directly replace it with a new one.
Even Shen Kunyang marveled at this repeatedly. When Cheng Yuanzhi saw the abilities of Bai Qingjue and Bai Qingyun, he originally wanted to go to the Four Seas Pavilion on Compass Mountain to learn some skills.
However, rumors about the Four Seas Pavilion on Compass Mountain had never ceased. The disciples of the Four Seas Pavilion would also descend the mountain to take students, like Bai Qingjue’s master Gu Yijian, but very few people could find the Four Seas Pavilion on Compass Mountain.
The poisonous miasma that perpetually lingered at the foot of Compass Mountain alone was something no one could pass through.
When Shen Tianzhi entered and performed his courtesies, he cupped his hands toward Lu Jin, who was standing to one side of the great hall. He then saw Bai Qingyan hand Weizhong the papermaking method attached to Bai Qingyun’s letter. Shen Tianzhi’s eyes immediately lit up when he saw it.
“Your Majesty…” Shen Tianzhi raised his head to look at Bai Qingyan.
Bai Qingyan’s brows contained a smile as she spoke in a low voice to Shen Tianzhi: “These are some things Ah Yun learned at the Four Seas Pavilion. Minister Shen, don’t make any obvious moves first. Go back and try it out. If it succeeds… after the gambling-the-nation strategy between the two countries is finalized, we can gradually promote it throughout our Great Zhou. Naturally, this is a skill our Prince Xingguo learned at the Four Seas Pavilion—don’t forget to spread this news.”
When Shen Tianzhi heard it was a method from Prince Xingguo Bai Qingyun, who had returned from the Four Seas Pavilion, he immediately bowed solemnly: “Prince Xingguo truly lives up to the two characters ‘Xingguo’ (Revitalizing the Nation)—he revitalizes our Great Zhou!”
Which student who came from the Four Seas Pavilion wasn’t renowned throughout the world?
To mention nothing else, consider the great hydraulic engineer Sima Sheng.
There was also Prince Zhongguo Bai Qingjue’s master, Gu Yijian, who killed with only one sword.
Now that Prince Xingguo had returned from studying at the Four Seas Pavilion, he would probably bring Great Zhou a new appearance.
“Therefore, Minister Shen must find a trustworthy person to handle this matter!”
“Does Your Majesty think Xue Renyi is suitable?” Shen Tianzhi didn’t play coy with Bai Qingyan, smiling as he said, “If Your Majesty finds Xue Renyi usable, I would like to bring Xue Renyi to the Ministry of Works.”
“Xue Renyi, the current champion, is naturally usable, but Xue Renyi has a passionate and impulsive nature with scholarly idealism. He needs to be tempered first, but not excessively. If Minister Shen personally handles this… You should be able to control the degree properly and make this raw jade shine brilliantly. Let’s follow Minister Shen’s suggestion—I’ll speak with Minister Lu from the Ministry of Personnel later.”
Passionate and impulsive? Scholarly idealism?
Shen Tianzhi felt that the person Bai Qingyan described bore no resemblance to the Xue Renyi he had met now.
However, Shen Tianzhi had heard about Xue Renyi beating the Dengwen Drum for the world’s students and debating with Bai Qingyan at the Imperial Academy, so he thought this might have indeed left such an impression on Bai Qingyan.
Moreover, Bai Qingyan’s judgment of people had always been accurate. Shen Tianzhi felt he perhaps hadn’t had much contact with Xue Renyi, and also because Xue Renyi had been quite despondent recently due to the matter of his true and false fiancées.
Xue Renyi had learned the truth from the Sima family. On one side was the false fiancée who had deceived him with cunning schemes, yet to whom he had given his sincere heart, believing her to be real. On the other side was the true fiancée who had been pursued by the Sima family, barely managed to survive, and had even achieved remarkable merit. Xue Renyi found it difficult to choose.
“Thank you, Your Majesty!” Shen Tianzhi readily accepted, holding the papermaking method in his hands like a precious treasure as he withdrew from the great hall.
Soon, the Chief Justice of the Court of Judicial Review brought the Yan guard who had assassinated Liu Rushi before Bai Qingyan for questioning.