Chapter 724: Fumeng Lingchas Warning I (1/2)

Chapter 724: Fumeng Lingcha's Warning (I)

Translated by: Hypersheep325

Edited by: Michyrr

”Young Master, can that Hulayeg really be trusted?”

While working through the crowd of Hu, Solitary Wolf suddenly asked this question to Wang Chong. Although he had been abroad for more than a year and Wang Chong had already been made a marquis, Solitary Wolf still had the habit of addressing Wang Chong as 'Young Master'.

”It has nothing to do with trust. Profit alone is enough. And besides, in this matter, he doesn't have the power to decide who is the trustworthy one.”

Wang Chong smiled, but his mind was thinking about that strange expression Hulayeg made as Wang Chong was leaving.

Yalug was Hulayeg's most trusted and closest steward, controlling more than seventy percent of his finances. In Hulayeg's mind, he was definitely a devoted subordinate.

Alas, Hulayeg would have never expected that in just three or four days, this 'devoted subordinate' would abscond with both his money and one of his concubines.

The string of large mistakes Hulayeg made afterward that resulted in his beheading by the Western Turkic Ishbara Khagan was most likely linked to this event.

”In addition, Young Master… one hundred thousand horses is no small number. With our abilities, can we really purchase them?” Solitary Wolf worriedly said.

Based on the price Wang Chong had given of one hundred taels of gold, one hundred thousand quality steeds would cost ten million taels of gold. The construction of Wang Chong's City of Steel was being paid for with loans from the more than one thousand great clans of the capital. Buying this many horses with the Wang Clan's abilities alone was simply out of the question.

”Hahaha, I saw you coming out of Hulayeg's residence with such a somber and worried face, your brows tightly furrowed, but this is all you were worried about. With the Wang Clan's abilities, we naturally wouldn't be able to buy one hundred thousand warhorses, and besides, what does the Wang Clan need with so many horses?”

Wang Chong smiled, a carefree expression on his face. He had never thought about how much gold the horses would cost, nor had he ever cared.

”Then Young Master is buying all these warhorses for…” Solitary Wolf tilted his head in confusion.

He had always believed that Wang Chong had come in disguise to the Western Regions to buy so many warhorses for his own purposes, but now that he was hearing that this wasn't the case at all, he was instantly perplexed.

Even though he had followed Wang Chong for so long, he still felt he couldn't keep up with his thought processes.

”Haha, of course, it's for the Great Tang,” Wang Chong immediately said.

Of the one hundred thousand horses, he would leave at most ten thousand for himself, perhaps in the future working with an intermediary to obtain an additional thirty or forty thousand. The rest would all be gifted to the Imperial Court.

Raising these warhorses would be an enormous expenditure that only the Imperial Court could afford. As for the gold needed to buy the horses…

Whether it a few million or tens of millions of taels of gold, it was just a fine drizzle to the Great Tang that barely counted for anything.

The Great Tang might have been militarily on the decline, its people thinking only of peace and no longer as valiant and aggressive as they once were, but the many years of prosperity and commerce with the surrounding foreign countries had truly allowed it to accumulate a vast fortune.

If it weren't used now, when would it be used?

Wang Chong quickly took his leave of the Western Regions with just as little fanfare as he had arrived. The moment he left, a messenger bird with golden claws took off into the air at a speed much faster than ordinary messenger birds, leaving the Western Regions for the capital of the Great Tang.

Several days later, the messenger bird flew through a window and into King Song's study.

”This is… a letter from Wang Chong?”

King Song extracted the letter and immediately began to read through it. The more he read, the brighter his eyes shone, and he finally couldn't help but give an excited laugh.

”Hahaha, one hundred thousand high-quality steeds! Wang Chong, this an enormous feat you've achieved for the Imperial Court. No matter how much gold you need, this king will submit a memorial to the court and do his utmost to handle it for you. I'd like to see just who would dare harbor selfish motives and oppose this motion which will be of such great benefit to the country!”

With these last words, King Song's face turned frigid. Matters were divided by their level of importance and urgency, and while King Song might have been able to disregard interference in ordinary concerns, if there was anyone who dared to make trouble when the Imperial Court was facing such a dire need for warhorses, he might have to kill a few imperial censors or officials.

King Song took Wang Chong's letter and immediately left his estate.

……

Wang Chong quickly returned to the City of Steel. The entire excursion had taken ten-some days, and by now, the City of Steel had taken on a completely different form.

Massive walls forty meters high towered up from the ground, smooth and steep. Any siege ladder or other siege weapon could only lament before these walls.

With the construction of the outer walls complete, nearly 150,000 workmen were now building the inner circle of walls as well as the various restaurants, tea houses, and inns of the city.

The various clans had dispatched their own crews to begin constructing their own restaurants and stores. The entire city was abuzz with masons and carpenters at work.

Wang Chong's fief was on track, and no one would be able to stop it at this stage.

”Lord Marquis, the steel and modules for the initial phase have all been used up. The construction speed from now probably won't be as fast. The sword shops and sword smiths of the various prefectures and provinces still need to finish the rest of the wall modules and send them to Wushang, and I'm afraid that this will take quite some time.”

In the blustery winds atop the high walls, Zhang Shouzhi reported the current situation.