Simply Trading

"There are advantages to being in a proper vehicle once we are there, rather than simply riding horses like common adventurers. Trust me on this. You shall see my reasons for this very soon, unless I am mistaken."

So Li Changhai gritted his teeth and listened to the self-proclaimed smartest man in his group once again. He had to admit that Lin Liushui had not led him astray in the past, so there might be some truth in what he was saying now.

But that did not mean that he enjoyed driving the wagon for the self-indulgent fellow!

*

It soon became apparent why Lin Liushui had insisted on keeping the wagon, when the trio saw how all of the adventurers who were riding horses were being subjected to a very stringent check, at the border offices on the other side of the river. Something that the handsome man was more than happy to point out to the other two men:

"You see? If we had gotten rid of the wagon back on the other side of the river, we would be going through something similar. Besides, I have a method to get us past all of that with a minimum of fuss. That is, if you two do not mind being treated as my followers?"

Li Changhai made a moaning sound at that while Qin Feng merely scowled at the gallant. Lin Liushui, thick-skinned fellow that he was, simply accepted that as their agreement to his plan. Which was promptly carried out, when a grey-haired fellow, dressed in a rather elaborate uniform of maroon and grey, and wearing a black hat that was adorned with a rather large piece of jade, ambled up to the enclosed wagon.

"A carriage, with a driver and a personal guard? This is highly irregular. The rates for persons crossing the river are set, but this is for individuals and not Young Masters from the South, who are already putting on airs when they step into our Yang Empire. It will be at least another three gold pieces, unless you can prove that you are ent.i.tled to use something like this, back in the pitifully small Kingdom where you come.

"Otherwise, the penalty shall be rather high."

The grey-haired man sniffed, but was apparently taken aback when Lin Liushui sniffed back! And in an apparently more haughty manner than the oldtimer was capable of. Nor did the handsome man leave the old fellow any opening to begin his spiel again:

"What is this? A mere river crossing inspector dares to put on airs in front of me? Who do you think you are? A member of the Yang Empire Royal Guard? Or one of the High Magistrates? You think I am unable to read the insignia on your pitiful Eighth Rank Civil Service uniform?
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"To think that an ant like you would dare to impede this Young Master"s pa.s.sage!"

Lin Liushui whipped something out in his hands then, and flashed it right in front of the grey-haired man"s face, forcing the latter to take two steps back so that his eyes could properly focus on the same. By then, those orbs had grown as large as cartwheels, and Lin Liushui haughtily put that unknown item away into his sleeves again.

"Now, what were you saying about dues? About payments? Are you certain that you wish to pursue this line now? Do you really wish me to have a word with my cousin?"

Lin Liushui leaned his head a little further out of the wagon then, and closer to the gaping Inspector"s face. "Shall I have him send you to one of those pitiful border towns on the Lu Kingdom side of the Empire then?" he hissed.

Naturally, the grey-haired Border Inspector quickly bowed his head, and waved them by without another word. And continued to bow in his head in apology until they were well away from the spot. Which was, apparently, what Lin Liushui had intended in the first place.

"What was that that you showed him? Is it going to cause any trouble for us later?" growled Qin Feng, the moment that their wagon was out of hearing range of the so-called Border Inspectors. He had ended up in the driver"s seat again, while Li Changhai was riding his horse next to the conveyance.

"No worries about that. I just indicated that I am from the Lin Family, which is rather highly placed here in the Yang Empire. You see, we are related to the Empress here. She"s actually an aunt of mine, by marriage. So we are rather influential here, you might say."

"Oh?"

Lin Liushui chuckled softly, then leaned a little closer to the other two, to continue:

"The Yang Empire isn"t too different from your Shu Kingdom. The main difference between the two is that the Yang Empire has a strange law that does not allow their Emperor to take additional concubines once he has produced a certain number of heirs. Apparently, this was the result of a particularly terrible civil war that plagued the Kingdom some time back.

"After the then Emperor managed to win his Imperial Throne back, with the help of his Empress, he enacted that law. Some say it was forced on him by his in-laws but I have the feeling that he just didn"t want his descendants to go through something similar."

"So ... The present king in Yang Empire has only his Empress?"

Lin Liushui shook his head at Qin Feng"s question. "Oh, no. I said that he is discouraged, not that he is disallowed. Besides, the three concubines that he has are good friends of his Empress. And they had produced six Royal Princesses and two Royal Princes for the lineage. With enough lands to go around. So everyone is more or less happy with the situation."

Qin Feng wondered if that was actually the case. After all, this was similar to all large families, wasn"t it? Look at Li Changhai. Even with just one Eldest Sister and one Older Brother, he was already under a good deal of pressure, wasn"t he? Not to mention how the King of Shu, or his sons, was likely plotting something in the shadows against his own Duke.

No, he didn"t believe for a moment that things were so smooth in Yang Empire.

Of course, since all of this was covered in the Second Ducal Prince"s formal education, Li Changhai didn"t have anything to add to the discussion. Instead, he was watching the boats that were crossing the river while the two of them talked. And after a while, the Prince returned to their side, with a strange frown on his face.

"What is the matter? Are there people pursuing us? You look as if we had attracted the attention of some monster!" Lin Liushui teased, the moment he saw the dark look on Li Changhai"s face.

"Not a monster, no. But it comes close. I believe that a very powerful Sect or Martial School has just come into the region. There! Look!"

* * *

*just to note that I shall be using Kingdom 国 and Empire 帝国 to show the difference in sizes of the countries involved, rather than the actual ruling system. Just consider these terms interchangable in this system.