The inevitable decisive battle

Although Feng Pu felt that the Great Qian Imperial Court was already extremely weak, he had to admit that a starving camel is still bigger than a horse.

Even though the Da Qian dynasty was riddled with conflict and holes, the foundation of the dynasty still remained.

At the very least, the Da Qian soldiers had some cold-weather clothing, unlike his own soldiers who had to wear several layers of thin clothes just to barely keep warm.

What he couldn't figure out was why Mao Biao had actually taken the initiative to send someone to issue a formal challenge for the first time.

This was exactly what Feng Pu had been hoping for, so he immediately accepted Mao Biao's challenge.

After the messenger left, Feng Chengkun couldn't help but warn: "Father, as the saying goes, when things are abnormal, there must be a demon at work. Mao Biao taking the initiative to fight must be a trap."

Feng Pu nodded as well: "my son's considerations are spot on, but unfortunately, we must fight this battle regardless."

"Why is that? Your son is dull, please enlighten me, Father."

Feng Pu took out a letter and handed it to Feng Chengkun: "Take a look. You will understand after reading it."

The letter was from Feng Pu's eldest legitimate son, the Crown Prince of Southern Yue, Feng Chengqian, who was left to guard Guangzhou.

The letter relayed the battle report from Feng Chengdao; Gao Yuan had already crushed the main force of Toungoo and had withdrawn his troops back to County.

The main force under his command, the Beiwei Army, had five thousand men stationed in the Gui Prefecture and Wu Prefecture areas, and it seemed they had intentions of attacking Duan Prefecture.

Feng Chengkun understood immediately; the rear was in an emergency, and they had to decide the outcome here as quickly as possible.

In truth, Feng Pu and his son were overthinking it. Gao Yuan was simply worried that the flames of war would spread to his own territory.

For this expedition, he had already spent all the grain in the government treasury and still owed a massive loan to the bank.

If not for the treasures that Liao Hua had looted, and the wealth extracted from the government treasuries of Bangkok and Ayutthaya, he and Zhao Xiyao's Grand Princesss Residence would have had to declare bankruptcy and liquidation.

Seeing Yang Xin, this black-hearted capitalist, actually charging him an annual interest rate of ten percent, Gao Yuan ground his teeth in anger: "I say, hometown fellow, isn't your ten percent annual interest a bit too black-hearted? This is practically usury!"

Yang Xin rolled her eyes at him and tapped the loan agreement: "Don't go slandering people's innocence out of thin air, alright? It was agreed upon in the contract that if the loan is for less than a year, it will be calculated at an annual rate of ten percent. Also, get this straight: even in later generations, anything not exceeding 15.4% annual interest is not considered usury, okay? Besides, in this era, a ten percent interest rate is practically a conscientious enterprise! I heard that those bald donkeys in the Central Plains, who are always spouting compassion, charge over fifty percent for their temple kitchen loans."

The speaker was unintentional, but the listener took it to heart. Gao Yuan heard that those monks were actually engaging in usury to exploit the common people. Thinking further about how these monks didn't even have to pay taxes, he secretly made up his mind: "I must stand up for the people and crack down on these marrow-sucking, usurious bald donkeys."

Seeing the girl looking so angry, Gao Yuan didn't dare to offend this young lady too deeply, so he could only accompany her with a smiling face: "hometown fellow, look, we are both hometown fellows, and my credit is so good, can you reduce it a little?"

Who would have thought that such a beautiful girl would say such hurtful words: "No, no, absolutely not. Friendship is friendship, business is business; they cannot be confused."

"I went out and worked hard fighting foreign tribes, it wasn't easy. Can't you leave me a little bit..."

"No. If I give you a discount because of our friendship, and then others follow suit, how can the bank continue to operate?"

The girl had strong principles, and Gao Yuan wore his tongue out without saving a single cent.

In the end, after repaying the loans and interest, distributing pensions, and giving out bonuses to the soldiers, the only things left to be deposited into the government treasury from this great battle were over fifty thousand shi of grain and wealth worth seven or eight thousand guan.

This left Gao Yuan with a deep sense of frustration.

In the end, it was Mu Qing who had to comfort him: "Husband, don't be unhappy. Didn't we hand over half of the spoils to the Zhongnan Circuit and the Annan Circuit? Besides, the soldiers have received benefits, and in the future, they will spend them, and the government treasury will just collect taxes then."

He hadn't expected the usually hot-headed Little Chili Pepper to say such things. Gao Yuan was stunned for a moment, then immediately lifted the girl onto his horse and gave her a fierce kiss: "Our Qingqing is truly getting better and better. Look, a few words from you and I've figured it all out."

Turning the street corner, Gao Yuan saw three beautiful figures standing at the doorway. At this moment, the longing that had accumulated in his heart for so long came flooding up.

Gao Yuan nudged the horse's belly, urging the warhorse to walk a few steps faster, and upon reaching the steps, he dismounted.

He first made sure Mu Qing was standing steadily, then dashed up the steps and pulled the three women he had been dreaming of into his arms: "I missed you all so much!"

The three women were clearly still a bit unaccustomed to Gao Yuan's behavior in public, and they all blushed.

Zhao Xiyao let out a soft sound and then said in a voice too faint to hear: "Husband, let's go back to the residence first!"

"Oh, right, right, right, let's go home, let's go home!"

Gao Yuan held Zhao Xiyao's soft hand, with the three beautiful women following behind, and swaggered into the residence gate.

During dinner, Mu Qing told them about Gao Yuan's battle of wits with Yang Xin at the bank today. After hearing it, the three women laughed until they were swaying with laughter. After laughing, Song Yao said: "Husband, actually, you can't blame Lady Yang for not showing mercy. It's just that the bank is expanding too quickly, and money is needed everywhere. According to the recent accounts, we can barely break even this year, so she definitely has to be calculating every penny."

Zheng Wan also comforted Gao Yuan: "Although this year was not a bumper harvest, the harvests in various places were decent, and we used our spare money to buy a lot of grain. Now, there are 280,000 shi of grain stored in various places in the Diannan Circuit, but it's definitely not enough for fighting wars."

Hearing this news, Gao Yuan's mood improved a little: "In these next few years, let's store as much grain as we can, to avoid any accidents."

Then, Gao Yuan briefly introduced his deployment in the Indochina Peninsula: "Now Toungoo is weak, so I have asked Liu Rengui to seize the opportunity to gradually encroach upon the land and population of Toungoo. Based on the current situation, for many years to come, neither the Zhongnan Circuit nor the Annan Circuit will be able to hand over much tax grain."

"That doesn't matter. In recent years, there has been more and more cultivated land in the Diannan Circuit, and tax revenue will only become more abundant. When we were buying grain some time ago, it only cost ten wen per dou."

Gao Yuan suddenly thought of a text he had studied in the past and couldn't help but warn: "We must be wary of cheap grain hurting the farmers."

Zhao Xiyao patted his large hand: "Rest assured, I have already asked Song Yong and Uncle Mu to go to various places to keep an eye on things. As long as the grain price is lower than eight wen per dou, we will have the local government treasuries start buying grain."

Gao Yuan looked at these four women who belonged to him and couldn't help but butter them up: "You are all my virtuous helpmates. With you holding down the rear, I can charge into battle on the front lines without worry."

After dinner, the family brewed a cup of fragrant tea. Gao Yuan held a little milk dumpling in each arm and began to tell the story of this expedition.

These two or three-year-old little milk dumplings were truly adorable, soft and cuddly in his arms, emitting a milky scent. Looking at these two little milk dumplings in his arms, who were connected to him by blood, Gao Yuan felt his heart soften.

I don't know if it was because they were sleepy after eating, or if they were tired from playing during the day. The two little girls soon snuggled into their father's arms and fell asleep, occasionally smacking their little lips.

After letting the wet nurse take the children away, Gao Yuan looked at the three shy women: "Ladies, I wonder who is serving tonight?"

Actually, this question was purely rhetorical. On the first day back from an expedition, it was naturally Zhao Xiyao, the primary wife, who would take the lead. Zheng Wan and Song Yao pulled Mu Qing along: "Qingqing, tell us more about the stories from this expedition."

Gratefully glancing at the backs of the three sisters, Zhao Xiyao moved her lotus steps lightly and walked in front of Gao Yuan: "Husband, let's go back to the courtyard."