Cultivation Begins with Caring for Sister-in-law

Chapter 865: Chapter 871: The Nangong Family, the Fairy’s Words

Waves crash against the shore, the sky and sea boundless.

As a coastal city of Great Wei, Chuanhai Chaoping County has been spared from water bandits, and is considered a prosperous county. Additionally, the Court reopened the Maritime Trade Bureau two years ago, lifting the sea ban, attracting countless merchants who sensed the scent of money. In just over a year, Chaoping County became bustling and prosperous, even rivaling Linzhou’s Xiangyang City.

The lively prosperity, coupled with the magnificent scenery where mountains meet the sea, also attracted many literati and poets.

Wu Changlin, appointed by Chen Mo to take office in Chuanhai, was a businessman at heart and immediately thought of transforming Chaoping County into a tourist city, which is now under fervent construction.

However, all of this seemed glaringly obtrusive to the Nangong Family, making them feel rather uncomfortable.

As the local tyrant, the current development of Chaoping County was encroaching on the Nangong Family’s interests.

Especially after Nangong Jin secretly transferred his private army to the Boli Kingdom, publicly announcing its disbandment and distributing the lands under the clan’s name. To outsiders, this appeared to be an act of cowardice, gradually eroding the prestige the Nangong Family had built in Chaoping County.

The local populace’s reverence for the Nangong Family also diminished significantly.

Later, as Wu Changlin led his team to Chuanhai and became the Prefect of Chuanhai, taking over the ports originally belonging to the Nangong Family, he made an example of the Nangong Family to affirm the law and establish his own authority.

"Brother-in-law, I can’t stand it anymore. That bastard Wu Changlin is ruthless. Our cargo that just arrived at the port has been seized by his people, without any regard for our relationship." Zhang Feng entered the hall of the Nangong Family with a sullen face, pouring out his grievances to Nangong Jin, who was enjoying a maid’s massage.

"So impatient..."

Nangong Jin, who was feigning sleep, opened his eyes, waved his hand to dismiss the maid who immediately stopped her actions and bowed out of the hall.

Sitting upright, Nangong Jin furrowed his brows and asked, "How much is the loss this time?"

"Roughly estimated, not less than one hundred thousand taels." Zhang Feng sat down beside Nangong Jin, picked up the teapot on the table, and drank heartily from the spout, clearly enraged by the incident.

After quenching his thirst, he heavily slammed the teapot down, causing a resounding thud, and continued indignantly, "It’s really too much. The Court wanted the port, we gave it; we were forbidden to have a private army, we complied; they rebuilt the Maritime Trade Bureau and demanded our overseas trade routes, we handed them over; even when Wu Changlin wanted to establish his authority, we gave him enough face.

But what did he do? Up till today, he’s seized our goods seven times, valued at over one million taels, without any regard, it’s simply outrageous."

Saying this, seeing Nangong Jin remain silent, Zhang Feng took a breath and continued coldly, "Brother-in-law, to my mind, since he disregards relations, we have no need to show him leniency either. After all, he’s merely Fourth Grade."

Zhang Feng harbored murderous intent.

"Don’t act recklessly," Nangong Jin quickly cautioned, fearing his impulsiveness, "Taking action against him is easy, but have you considered the consequences? Moreover, if this matter is judged by the laws of Great Song, we are not in the right."

Indeed, the numerous times the Nangong Family’s cargo was seized were due to smuggling.

Although the Nangong Family’s private army was moved to the Boli Kingdom, it required a large amount of silver to maintain.

The Boli Kingdom is rich in gemstones and medicinal materials, but these are not edible. To convert these into grain, they must be sold for money.

The small overseas countries couldn’t digest these, so in the end, they had to be sold in Great Song.

Selling through legal channels would naturally require paying taxes to the Maritime Trade Bureau.

Historically, commercial taxes have always been the highest, not to mention customs duties.

After paying the taxes, the profit left in the hands of the Nangong Family would not be much.

Of course, this "not much" is only insignificant to the Nangong Family.

After all, the Nangong Family is accustomed to dealing with large sums, and their lavishness is well known. They earn a lot and spend a lot, looking down upon such "small money."

But in the eyes of other merchants, it’s still a large sum of money.

Thus, the Nangong Family thought of smuggling.

The Nangong Family, having controlled Chaoping County for so many years, had long established a complete smuggling system.

In Nangong Jin’s mind, considering his somewhat in-law relationship with King Wei and being "in-laws" with your Wu Family, he believed that Wu Changlin would turn a blind eye to smuggling if discovered, as a matter of courtesy.

So, Nangong Jin acted as he thought.

But the reality was not as he had imagined.

The Nangong Family’s first smuggling attempt.

It was caught by the Maritime Trade Bureau.

At first, Nangong Jin thought Wu Changlin was merely putting on a show for others, a token effort.

But Wu Changlin not only refused to return the goods to them, the Maritime Trade Bureau continued to seize the cargo in the few smuggling attempts by the Nangong Family that followed.

So Nangong Jin sought someone to find Wu Changlin.

Who would have thought that Wu Changlin would show no leniency at all and remain strictly impartial.

"Are we going to just let him keep obstructing us? If this continues, we won’t have the money to support our people," Zhang Feng said reluctantly.

"No, although we can’t move him, we can’t let him hold us in his grip. The urgent matter is to find the traitor within our ranks. If this traitor learns that we haven’t disbanded the naval force but have moved it to Boli Kingdom and informs Wu Changlin, that would be a disaster," Nangong Jin said.

"Traitor?" Zhang Feng was taken aback.

"If we were seized one or two times, we might stubbornly think of it as bad luck. But being seized seven times, bad luck can’t explain it; someone must be informing Wu Changlin," he replied.

After Wu Changlin showed no leniency, Nangong Jin changed his methods and made the smuggling incredibly secretive. Without an insider, it’s impossible to be seized so many times.

"Damn, there is someone actually daring to betray us from within. If I catch them, I’ll peel their skin. Brother-in-law, don’t worry, leave this matter to me," Zhang Feng’s eyes flashed with a hint of ferocity.

"Alright." Nangong Jin nodded and then asked, "How are things going with Immortal Island?"

Zhang Feng furrowed his brow: "At first, it was going smoothly, although hundreds died, later two people saw Immortal Island. But before they could set foot on it, they were sent back by the white-clothed Fairy inside and warned.

I suspect this white-clothed Fairy is a kind-hearted person, didn’t heed her warning and continued sending people to attempt, instructing them that if they meet the white-clothed Fairy again, to directly state their intention. This time, one person successfully met the Fairy, but this was the last time one of our people saw her, and afterward, no matter how we tried, none came out alive again."

Nangong Jin’s expression tightened, hurriedly asked: "What did the last person who saw the Fairy say?"

"That person said that this time not only did the Fairy repeat the warning, she also said that we were not blessed to reap the fruit and should not force it."

"That’s it?"

"That’s all I got."

"Not blessed to reap the fruit?" Nangong Jin’s brow furrowed tightly, murmuring to himself: "What does the Fairy mean by this?"

"Brother-in-law, my guess is that such transcendental figures love to talk about mystical things like fate and causality. Saying we are not blessed means there must be people who match the Fairy’s idea of blessed," Zhang Feng said.

Nangong Jin’s eyes lit up, just as he was about to say something, a subordinate came to report that Lord Prefect had arrived.

Nangong Jin and Zhang Feng exchanged a glance, and both of them frowned involuntarily.

Wu Changlin, dressed in official robes, came alone, and upon arriving at the hall, clasped his hands and started laughing: "Congratulations to Marquis of Chaoping County and General Zhang."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Feng thought Wu Changlin had come specifically to mock them with irony; they had just lost goods worth one hundred thousand taels, surely Wu Changlin knew about it, coming to congratulate them now was tantamount to defecating on the Nangong Family’s head?

Just about to rise in anger, Nangong Jin pressed his hand on Zhang Feng’s back of his hand, gently shook his head, and then looked at Wu Changlin with a forced smile: "Lord Wu, what is this congratulations for?"

Without waiting for Nangong Jin’s invitation, Wu Changlin sat down directly on Nangong Jin’s other side and said with a smile: "This is the Court’s issued document, August 7th, Fourth Year of Yong’an, the Former Emperor ceded the throne to King Wei at Mingyang Mountain, on the same day, King Wei ascended to become Emperor, changed the state name to Great Wei, with the era name Zhenghe.

The next day, the Nangong Clan’s member — as Princess Consort Yuan. Promoted the Lady to First-Grade Imperial Decree Lady; General Zhang was granted the title of Elder Yongning, as Third-class Earl. I suppose it won’t be long before the official decree will arrive in both of your hands, isn’t this a joyous occasion?"

"King Wei became Emperor?" Nangong Jin and Zhang Feng looked at each other in shock.

In Nangong Jin’s view, Chen Mo was bound to take this step eventually, but he hadn’t expected it to happen so quickly.

"You two might not know. His Majesty is loyal and benevolent, originally wanting to stabilize the nation before returning power to the Former Emperor. However, who could have expected that the Former Emperor, knowing his own incapability, twice abdicated the throne to His Majesty, both times declined by His Majesty, but now as the masses and officials petitioned, a prophecy descended, and at the beginning of the month, even a solar eclipse occurred. To avoid heavenly blame on the populace, His Majesty had no choice but to accept this burden."

Wu Changlin spoke with profound emotion.

Nangong Jin and Zhang Feng heard this, and their mouths twitched uncontrollably.

This speech, do you even believe it yourself?

Nangong Jin forced a smile and said, "His Majesty is for the nation and for the people, he should hold this grand position."

"Marquis and I are truly kindred spirits, thinking exactly the same as I do," Wu Changlin said with a smile.

Nangong Jin:"..."

"What I have is hardly a celebration; truly, congratulations are in order for Lord Wu. King Wei ascended to great power, Princess Consort Wei from now on becomes the mother of the nation, the Wu Family can rejoice along with the state," Nangong Jin said.

"Sigh, that is yet uncertain; His Majesty has many concubines and also quite a few sons, who can really say?" Wu Changlin replied.

"Lord Wu is modest, your sister was His Majesty’s legitimate wife before he ascended and gave birth to a Prince, who can shake her position," Nangong Jin said.