My younger brother Lü Fengxian

Chapter 97: Courtesy first, then attack
"As far as I know, he just married the Zhang family of Mayi last month, and Zhen Yi, the young patriarch of the Zhen family, even came to congratulate them in person. It seems that the two families have a close relationship!"

"hiss……"

Su Shuang's words made everyone gasp.

Although the Zhang family of Mayi had existed in Mayi for hundreds of years, they were just a third-rate minor family and were not taken seriously by the public.

However, Zhen was a wealthy businessman with connections and influence, and was a leading figure in Zhongshan and even in Jizhou and Hebei.

At least one-third of the smuggling business of everyone present here depends on the Zhen family’s care.

Moreover, the Zhen family has enormous power. Not only does it have an official backing, it is also involved in all walks of life and has infiltrated all commercial industries in Hebei. Everyone has to rely on the Zhen family.

For them, such a behemoth is not something they can act rashly against, even if Lu Yi is only related to him.

What if I anger the Zhen family? Will I still be able to do business in the future?
The smugglers who had been shouting the loudest earlier suddenly stopped shouting.

"Brother Su is right. In my opinion, it is better to use courtesy before force. Considering his relationship with the Zhen family, it is better to acquiesce to his joining the Bingzhou horse trading business and allow him to take the trade route to Mayi. We just need him to persuade Huang Yi not to block everyone's financial path. It is the right way for everyone to make money together!"

Apart from Su Shuang, Zhang from Zhongshan was the most influential smuggler present.

Zhang Shiping, the head of the Zhang family, pondered for a moment and then spoke.

"Yes, that's how it should be. It doesn't offend the Zhen family, and it saves their face. It's killing two birds with one stone." Su Shuang's eyes lit up when he heard this and he nodded repeatedly.

"Do you agree with Brother Zhang's plan?"

As he spoke, Su Shuang looked indifferently at the few families who had been indignant before, seemingly asking for their opinions, but his tone revealed that there was no doubt.

After a few words between him and Zhang Shiping, he agreed to Lu Yi's entry into the Mayi business route to compete with them, which was equivalent to dividing the profits of these companies in disguise.

However, even though they all understood this truth, they did not dare to go against the wishes of the two men. They could only grit their teeth and swallow their anger, nodding their heads in agreement reluctantly.

"We are all following the wishes of Shopkeepers Su and Zhang..."

If you agree obediently, at least you can have something to drink. If you anger these two giants, you will be kicked out of the horse trading circle and you will probably starve to death.

After all, outside the Great Wall, the wind is strong and the sand is heavy, and any dangerous things can happen.

Since the merchants present here dare to smuggle horses in violation of the imperial ban, which one of them does not have some sin on his hands?
……

After completing the transaction with the Hunye tribe, Lu Yi returned to Mayi with the caravan in a worried mood.

He was unaware of the conspiracy and plot against him by Su Shuang, Zhang Shiping and others. What worried him most was the news told by He Xutuo that the Xianbei might invade.

From then on, the unknown invasion of the Xianbei people became a sword hanging over his head, and no one knew when it would fall.

Therefore, he could only feel a little relieved if he speeded up the construction of the Luwu shield.

Even if they might not be able to defend themselves against the Xianbei people's iron hooves, at least they had a place to stay and no longer had to worry every day.

Fortunately, this time the business trip to the border was quite rewarding, and after paying off Zhen's debt, there was still a lot left, which was enough to speed up the construction of Luwu.

This time he took a total of 1500 horses from the Hunye tribe.

Half male and half female.

Among them, 800 horses came from caravan trade.

After deducting the 700 stallions given to Huang Yi when they passed the Mayi Great Wall, Lu Yi alone accounted for 490% of the remaining , or stallions.

The other 700 horses of Hesutu were prepared for a rainy day and were given as a paid gift, so they all belonged to Lu Yi.

In addition, there were a thousand strong cattle and some furs donated by Hexutuo, which were all Lu Yi's income.

1000 strong cattle were to be used for farming, so they could not be sold for money. As for the few furs, Lu Yi planned to give them to his men to make leather clothes, shoes, belts and other products, which could save some money on clothing.

Bingzhou was a place where the Han and Hu people lived together, and the Han people had all been assimilated to a certain extent. Lu Yi was not worried that his men would resist the clothing with Hu characteristics.

Of the remaining nearly 1200 horses, more than half are higher-priced mares.

According to the agreement between Lu Yi and Zhen.

The price of a stallion is 2.5 coins, and the price of a mare is 3.3 coins.

All in all, it cost about 3 coins per horse.

1200 horses is a total of 3600 million yuan.

Even if one deducted the 500 million yuan that Zhen paid on credit to Lu Yi to redeem the servants and the several million yuan that she spent on buying grain, there would still be more than million yuan left.

Adding on Lu Yi's initial investment and Zhang's dowry of 5000 million coins, the overall construction cost of million coins has basically been raised.

However, Lu Yi was not prepared to sell all 1200 horses. He had not forgotten his plan to build up cavalry. The specific situation would depend on the progress of the base camp construction before making detailed adjustments.

The return of the caravan was welcomed by everyone in the Zhang family.

The Zhang family went out of the fort and lined the streets to welcome the caravan members who had been working hard outside the Great Wall for a month.

Zhang Shang also brought Zhang Wan'er and Zhang Liao to the front of the crowd to welcome the return of Lu Yi and Zhang Xun.

At first glance, Lu Yi saw the beautiful Zhang Wan'er, who was dressed as a married woman.

Perhaps having been a traveling merchant in the frontier for a long time was infected by the unrestrained nature of the Hu people. Without bothering to talk to Zhang Shang, he rode forward and hugged Zhang Wan'er, whose face was mixed with joy and shock, onto the horse. He kissed her beautiful red lips, making the beauty in his arms blush from head to neck, causing all the onlookers to scream in surprise.

"Madam, I haven't seen you for a month. Do you miss me?" Lu Yi smiled gently.

"Of course I miss you..." Zhang Wan'er's voice was so soft as a mosquito, barely audible.

"What do you miss about your husband?" Lu Yi poked her head and asked teasingly.

"I want to go everywhere..."

"Can you be more specific?"

"Husband, you are annoying!"

After being reminded by the bad guy, Zhang Wan'er thought of some unspeakable scenes, and immediately shyly stretched out her little fist and lightly punched Lu Yi on the chest.

"Hahahaha..." After being punched by Zhang Wan'er, Lu Yi did not feel the slightest bit of pain. Instead, he felt that all the hardships of the journey disappeared in an instant.

With a virtuous wife at home, as a husband he will naturally have no lack of motivation to strive.

This was not the first time that Zhang had welcomed a caravan, and he already had experience with this.

The drivers and servants in the caravan were immediately invited to have a meal. They had worked so hard for so long, so it went without saying that they were provided with wine and meat.

The slow horses pulling the carts, as well as the strong horses and cattle brought back by the caravan were all properly accommodated and fed with hay mixed with fine grain.

As for furs and other items, they were quickly taken away and filed into storage according to categories.

After comforting his emotional wife for a while, Lu Yi went into the inner hall with Zhang Shang, Zhang Xun and others to discuss the experience of their business trip and the situation in Jiuyuan and Mayi in the past month.

……

(End of this chapter)