Chapter 177: The Cui Family Strikes

After the three brothers finished their discussion in the study, Cui Yong immediately walked into the living room.

“Are you the messenger from Daming Village?”

Seeing the messenger dressed in plain clothes, Cui Yong knew instantly that he must be an Elite soldier from Daming Village. He immediately put on a smiling face: “Come, come, sit down, sit down. It has been quite an effort for you to come all this way. This old man feels rather guilty. You must be tired from the journey, so why not stay the night here?”

“No, my Lord has ordered me. I still need to deliver the other several family letters.”

Other several letters!

Just after talking the first sentence, he got the information he wanted. Cui Yong felt secretly happy in his heart, while keeping a calm expression and waving his hand: “Guests coming from afar are guests. Once they enter the Cui Mansion, how can they not stay for a night? If word of this gets out, others will laugh and say my Cui Family has no manners in treating guests.”

“In that case, let me trouble the Master of the Cui Family then.”

“No trouble at all, no trouble at all. I will have the food and wine prepared immediately. Since you are staying tonight, you may drink to your heart’s content.”

The Soldier messenger nodded without speaking. These things were all within Guo Jia’s expectations. How to respond had already been clearly explained by the Military Advisor.

They ate the meal and drank the wine as planned.

Do not reveal any other information voluntarily. Wait for the Cui family to ask about the other family letters, and then negotiate with them.

The plot that followed did not go beyond Guo Jia’s expectations. At the banquet table, Cui Yong clinked glasses with the messenger and quickly started asking about the other family letters.

The Soldier messenger began to pretend to be ignorant and never produced the letters.

“Do not misunderstand that This old man has other ulterior motives. I just miss my son very much and have an awkward request.”

Seeing that the messenger would not take the bait, Cui Yong could only make his final appeal: “As for the remaining letters, why not let This old man take them and send a messenger to deliver them for you? Our Cui Family lacks neither good horses nor manpower. Sending letters is faster than you traveling alone. Also, I would like to have my useless son brought back. This task will also trouble you to lead the way.”

“You can rest assured. My son has caused trouble for your Master this time. The Cui Family will definitely prepare gifts to apologize and atone for our mistakes. We will not make things difficult for you.”

This was Cui Yong’s last conventional method. If he couldn’t persuade the Daming Village messenger even after saying this, he would have to use some unconventional means.

However, the Soldier messenger was not absolutely set on keeping the letters. The other several family letters that were forged and copied were meant for the Cui Family anyway.

Seeing that the show was about over, the Soldier messenger immediately showed a hesitant expression: “But my Lord said I must personally deliver these family letters to each household.”

“What harm is there in that? The merit of delivering letters cannot compare to the importance of returning gifts worth one hundred gold taels. This old man is too old to travel far. I will let my third brother take enough valuable gifts and go with you to Daming Village. At that time, your Master will definitely praise you highly.”

“In that case, alright. I will hand over the other family letters to the Master of the Cui Family for delivery. I thank you now.”

“Haha~ Good. Come, let us finish this cup.”

After drinking the cup, the cold look in Cui Yong’s eyes became even sharper.

Once he got the other letters, he certainly wouldn’t be so kind as to send them back.

The next morning, when the Soldier messenger woke up in the Cui Family’s Guest Room.

Just as he walked out of the room, a servant approached him: “This young master, our third young master has already prepared the carriage team. He asked me to ask you: when shall we depart?”

“Let us go now.”

The letters had been handed over to Cui Yong at the banquet the night before, and the Soldier messenger had no other tasks, so he naturally wanted to return to Daming Village as soon as possible.

“Alright, I will go lead the horse for you.”

…

As the Cui Family carriage team slowly left the city, a scene of Daming Village messengers knocking on doors was playing out in Prefecture Cities all over the Great Han Dynasty.

The process of the plot was largely similar. Those Noble Families who received the six family letters with different signatures from the School of Names all clenched their fists, ready to make a big move, while also sending carriage teams to Daming Village to “redeem the people.”

Choosing to redeem people was purely a helpless move for the Noble Families. Mo Xiaobai knew too much. If his mouth was not stopped with a ransom, the contents of those letters might become common knowledge in a few days.

At the same time, just as Cheng Qian, known as Boss Cheng, had handled all matters in Juancheng and arrived at East City with heavy gold, he had just found a Restaurant to stay in the moment after entering the city when he heard a jaw-dropping news.

By the lively street of the West Market, two shops affiliated with the Wei Family were seized by the Prefecture Government one after another within a single day.

The reason for the seizure was simple: secretly communicating with bandits outside the city.

Meeting such a thing immediately after arriving, Fatty thought it was strange no matter how he looked at it. However, he did not think of the Daming Village side in this matter. He simply felt it was a bit bad luck.

However, just when he fell asleep that night, someone knocked on the door in the middle of the night during the Zi hour.

Fatty, who was already on edge due to what he saw during the day, was nearly scared to death by the knocking sound. He flipped out of bed and said impatiently: “Who is it? It’s the middle of the night. Do you want to stop people from sleeping?”

“Boss Cheng, it is me.”

“Who are you?”

Fatty said in a dissatisfied tone with a grin, then walked over and slid the door open. Seeing a man in black clothes in front of him, he immediately frowned: “I don’t know you. You have the wrong person.”

“Boss Cheng might not have seen me, but I have seen you several times walking with my Lord within the Territory.” The man in black lowered his voice and spoke: “I am from Daming Village. Boss Cheng might as well let me in.”

“You are actually…”

“Shh, be careful, walls have ears.”

The man in black extended his right hand, then entered the Guest Room, comfortably found a seat, and then said: “I am one of the first batch of Black Cloth Guards trained by Military Advisor Fengxiao. This time, I came at the order of the Military Advisor to contact Boss Cheng.”

“Your Military Advisor? Speak. What is it that you want from me?”

“The Military Advisor asked me to remind Boss Cheng. Many of the Wei Family’s forces within the city will suffer losses this time, with shop losses being the biggest. Moreover, after the Prefecture Government seizes them, they will not keep them but will put them up for sale. Boss Cheng can take this opportunity to buy a shop at a low price, but remember not to target the most prosperous buildings.”

The Wei Family’s forces will continue to suffer losses?

Can seize the opportunity to buy a shop?

Fatty ran these few sentences through his mind and quickly discovered a terrifying fact.

The Wei Family’s bad luck happened just today, and if the Black Cloth Guard in front of him was following the Military Advisor’s arrangement, didn’t that mean the Daming Village Military Advisor, Guo Jia, had known about today’s events many days ago?

Or was this all a plot planned by Daming Village themselves?

If the Black Cloth Guard had not appeared, Fatty would never have thought of this. But since there was someone from Daming Village in front of him, Fatty could not help but think of the Noble Family disciples who followed him to Daming Village previously and were all detained.

What exactly did that Baron do later on?

Fatty could not find the answer, nor did he want to know the answer.

He only understood one thing right now: he had boarded the Daming Village’s pirate ship, and there was no way to escape.

He took a deep breath and said: “You go back and tell the Baron that I know what to do. Please also ask him to prepare the medicinal materials early. I do not want to run around here and there, only to end up with an empty basket.”