215 Acceptance (1/2)
After Er'Lai tamed the Nian beast, they left the back mountains and went towards the Military Affairs Department. In the next week, he would finish the construction of the East camp and the 3rd regiment. Ouyang Shuo had already given the appointments of various majors to Er'Lai and Ge Hongliang.
In the afternoon, Ouyang Shuo called the director of Internal Affairs Tian Wenjing into his office to discuss about the mountain barbarians.
Ouyang Shuo invited him to sit. ”The military is expanding, so we need many elite mountain barbarian warriors to build the heavy armored infantry units. However the nearby mountain barbarian tribes have been used up. Based on how I see it, we need to travel farther into the mountains to get their trust. The mountain barbarians are important assets, and our policy must be maintained.
Tian Wenjing nodded and said, ”I understand sire's meaning. Tomorrow, I will rush to Xuanniao tribe and ask them to act as a middleman to help us visit the various tribes and pass gifts to show our sincerity.”
Seeing Tian Wenjing really understand what he wanted, Ouyang Shuo was touched. ”It's been tough on you.”
After that, both of them discussed specifics of the operation until 5 PM before ending the conversation. One could see how much focus and importance he placed on the mountain barbarians.
……
8th month, 21st day
Receiving Ouyang Shuo's invitation, Song Jia and Song Wen came to Shanhai County.
The Battle of Muye let Song Wen feel Ouyang Shuo's strength and influence. When he went home, he thought about it and decided to personally follow his sister here to discuss further cooperation.
Ouyang Shuo didn't hold any grand welcoming ceremony, and just brought them directly back to the lord's manor.
One the way back, although Song Jia was curious about Shanhai County, she didn't ask. During this visit, she had already decided to move over.
The meeting room was arranged based on rank and power so it was good to welcome guests there. He brought both of them to the guest room, and a servant brought them drinks before going away.
”Brother Song must stay here for a few days and allow me to show you around.” Ouyang Shuo laughed.
Song Wen laughed. ”Since you asked, I can't decline.” He took a mouthful of the tea, and his eyes brightened as he exclaimed, ”Good tea!”
”I didn't expect brother Song to know about tea, unlike me.”
Song Wen waved him off. ”I don't know anything about tea. It's old grandpa Song who often drank tea at home so he would drag me along, and after a while I learned a bit.”
Ouyang Shuo nodded. ”Since it's like this, before brother Song leaves, can you bring some tea leaves for grandpa Song? It also counts as a little gift from me. This tea is called white tea and is a famous tea in Guangxi. We managed to find a wild tea garden nearby to make such a tea.”
”Thank you. My grandpa treats tea like his life. It's so hard to find good tea here. To find something like this, he had been nagging at me. This is such a huge favor.” Song Wen was delighted.
Song Wen was the heir to the family, so his business skills and interpersonal skills were great. During the Battle of Muye, he had developed a friendship with Gong Chengshi and Xunlong Dianxue. His motive was to remove the distance and the obstacles between them and Tianshuang Town to allow them to join the Shanhai Alliance.
His actions actually worked. After the battle, Ouyang Shuo discussed with them through the alliance channel about Tianshuang Town and didn't face any obstacles.
In addition to the fact that they were going to accept Wufu, Ouyang Shuo wanted to suggest to invite Tianshuang Town at the same time. As expected, they were both approved.
And that was thus the reason for this trip.
After accepting Wanshi Town and Tianshuang Town, Shanhai Allaince now had 8 members, the same as Yanhuang Alliance.
Yanhuang Alliance's actions were what made Ouyang Shuo decide to accept the 2 new territories.
Of course before officially accepting Wufu, Ouyang Shuo did some investigations. If he was a spy sent by Di Chen, then they would be in a lot of trouble.
The results of the investigation made him less worried. Combining the results with what he remembered in his last life when Wufu didn't join any camp, only then did he totally not worry.
Song Wen's visit obviously wasn't to reminisce about the past. During the Battle of Muye, he understood that Ouyang Shuo liked to build branches of the Four Seas Bank in his allies' territories.
Before he came, he had discussed about this matter with his father and grandfather. They all came to an agreement that for Tianshuang Town to achieve their goals, they needed to rely on others.