Chapter 73 Deng Baichuan: I am loyal to you, Master! Murong Fu had a strong internal force. Even though he consumed a lot of energy, using up nearly half of his internal force, he still looked calm and composed on the was as if he had just pulled ten huge stones moving at high speed and threw them accurately, using manpower to fight against the catapult without any effort. Gao Shengtai was silent for a moment. Murong Fu has such a skill. If he assassinates me and then attacks Shanchan Prefecture and guides the catapults to smash the city gates, the Gao family members will probably not even have a chance to react and will be captured. Gao Shengtai understood that Murong Fu did have an iron fist! Fist is indeed power! At this moment, Gao's elite soldiers looked at Murong Fu as if he were a monster. This catapult is used to attack cities. If it hits a person, both the man and the horse will be killed. In an instant, Murong Fu caught the boulder like catching a ball, neutralized the attack, and then attacked. They had never heard of or seen such martial arts before. The three thousand elite soldiers were actually defeated by Murong Fu and no longer had the morale they had just now. Gao Taiming finally understood why his father attached so much importance to Murong Fu, a man of the underworld. Ordinary martial artists might not even be able to defeat him, but a top master like Murong Fu is really stronger than one could imagine.
After a strange silence, Gao Shengtai laughed dryly and said, "I really envy the King of Zhennan for having a son-in-law like you. Master Murong, your Gusu Murong clan's martial arts are indeed better than any martial arts in the world. I admire you, I admire you!" Gao Taiming said: "After Master Murong used Dou Zhuan Xing Yi, the power and accuracy of the catapult have been greatly improved. If Master Murong joins the army, attacking cities and strongholds will be like destroying dry weeds and rotten wood!" Murong Fu smiled and said, "I am used to being an idler. I just want to be free in the martial arts world, but I don't want to join the army and be bound by restrictions." "That's right, that's right!" Gao Shengtai said with a smile, "It's good to be free, Master Murong, you really opened my eyes this time. I have asked someone to prepare a banquet, let's drink. You are the son-in-law of the Prince of Zhennan, and my daughter will marry the Prince of Zhennan in the future, so we are also relatives!" "Yes, they are relatives!" Murong Fu also smiled, and his smile was very bright. Gao Shengtai now really treated Murong Fu as a distinguished guest. Not only did he host a banquet, but he and Gao Taiming also personally drank with him. During the dinner, Gao Taiming demonstrated his superb toasting skills and was quite knowledgeable about the ways of the world. Soon, he started calling Murong "Big Brother" and Murong Fu "Dear Brother Taiming" all the time, and the two seemed to hit it off right away. Murong Fu also called Gao Shengtai "uncle", and Gao Shengtai called him "good nephew". The three of them enjoyed the Bai ethnic group's songs and dances together, hugging each other, clinking glasses, and the atmosphere was very harmonious. After three rounds of wine and five dishes, Murong Fu took out the imperial edict and said to Gao Shengtai: "Uncle, the emperor promised me that he would let me handle all the tea-horse trade between Dali and Song. I'd like to trouble you to stamp the seal of the prime minister. Don't worry, when I integrate the tea-horse trade, your Gao family will not be left out." Although Murong Fu obtained the monopoly of the tea-horse trade through the threat of force, he also understood that a strong dragon cannot defeat a local snake. He cannot be in Dali all the time, so he will not be stingy with the benefits that should be shared with local forces. If a monopoly wants to last and be stable, it has to share the benefits with the truly powerful people. "This is easy. I will pass the order down. Those merchants who are vassal states of our Gao family will obey your orders, my nephew. Only your people can enter the trading market opened in the Song Dynasty." Gao Shengtai agreed immediately and quickly stamped the imperial edict with the seal. The Yang family has fallen, and now Dali only has the Gao and Duan families. With the jade seal of Emperor Baoding and the seal of Prime Minister Gao Shengtai, the matter will be settled. Having achieved his goal, Murong Fu naturally said goodbye, and Gao Shengtai and his son sent Murong Fu to the door. "This man is so arrogant, bullying my Gao family because we have no one. My Gao family dominates the Dali Kingdom, how could we have ever suffered such humiliation?" Gao Taiming's face changed as soon as Murong Fu left. Gao Shengtai said calmly: "There's no point in saying this, why don't you say it to him face to face?"
Gao Taiming was speechless. Of course he was afraid that Murong Fu would twist his dog head off. Although Murong Fu appeared to be humble and polite on the surface, his inner rebelliousness towards worldly power could not be hidden from his eyes. Gao Shengtai said: "The emperor used him to warn me, and this time, the war was quite severe. However, it also woke me up. I used to think that the best masters in the world were no better than Master Ku Rong. Now I know that I was just looking at the world from a well." "Murong Fu has proven that it's not that martial arts are useless, but that our martial arts are not high enough. Therefore, our Gao family must also practice martial arts. Every member of the Gao family must practice martial arts, and they must be advanced martial arts!" Gao Taiming said: "But our Gao family doesn't have any advanced martial arts. The Duan family has the One Yang Finger, but no one has practiced it to the level of Murong Fu. The Six Meridians Divine Sword is not something that can be practiced by humans." Gao Shengtai said: "Let's go to the Baiyi tribe and ask the great witch to bless us!" "He's still alive? He must be a hundred years old now, right?" Gao Taiming was shocked. The Great Shaman is a legend among the Baiyi people. He possesses extraordinary martial arts, and is proficient in astrology, divination, medicine, farming, water conservancy and other techniques. He enjoys a very high prestige among the Baiyi people. "When the Great Shaman was a child, he met a god named Fuyaozi. He found a place called Changchun Valley for the god and learned some skills from him." Gao Shengtai said, "Fuyaozi is the founder Chen Tuan who played chess with Zhao Kuangyin and won Mount Hua. He may not be a god, but he is definitely a master. The martial arts he taught are probably extraordinary." Dali, southern Yunnan, Pu'er. At Ma Wude's residence. "The earth shakes high, and the West Mountain is a beautiful sight that will last forever." "The door faces the sea, and the three rivers merge and flow for thousands of years." "Is this Uncle Deng? Here is your letter!" Deng Baichuan took the letter sent by the Shennong Gang disciple, unfolded it and started reading. Deng Baichuan was ordered by Murong Fu to investigate the tea-horse trade. Deng Baichuan was more enthusiastic about doing business than anyone else, so he first conducted research in the Song Dynasty's trading market, and then went to the home of his good friend Ma Wude. Ma Wude is a famous businessman and martial artist in Dali. He has a wide circle of friends and is quite like Mengchangjun. Ma Wude treats everyone equally, whether they are martial artists, government officials, scholars or businessmen. When Duan Yu ran away from home, Ma Wude saw that Duan Yu was dressed in luxurious clothes and had read a lot of books, so he guessed that Duan Yu was the son of a famous family and let him stay in his house temporarily. Later, the Wuliang Sword Sect held a competition and Ma Wude was going to watch the ceremony. Duan Yu was very bored and decided to go along to watch the fun. This led to the incident where Duan Yu and Zhong Ling caused chaos in the Wuliang Sword Sect. However, after Duan Yu left, the Shennong Gang continued to besiege the Wuliang Sword Sect. A few days later, the holy envoys from the Lingjiu Palace arrived. One of them, named Fu Minyi, was very skilled in martial arts. They captured the Jianhu Palace. Zuo Zimu and Xin Shuangqing were defeated and had to submit to the Lingjiu Palace. Ma Wude just came to watch the fun, so Lingjiu Palace did not make things difficult for him and let him go. Deng Baichuan wanted to do tea-horse business, so he went to Ma Wude's house to negotiate with him. This deal is indeed worth negotiating. It turns out that Suzhou is rich in silk, and the people of Dali have the custom of wrapping relatives and friends with silk when a family member dies, so the demand for silk is huge. The local silk production in Dali was not high, so it was indeed a good business to transport silk from Suzhou to Dali for sale, purchase Dali tea and horses, transport them to Suzhou, and sell them in Jiangnan.
This business had great potential, so although the Song Dynasty and Dali had trading posts, smuggling by the people continued unabated, and Ma Wude was one of the smugglers. Now Deng Baichuan received the letter written by Murong Fu to Azhu. He recognized Azhu's handwriting and learned that Murong Fu had actually obtained the monopoly of the tea-horse trade and asked him to go and make contact. He was secretly surprised. Deng Baichuan thought: In the past, the young master did things without any rules. I saw that he would not be able to achieve great things, so I was not enthusiastic about his career, but because of the oath to the old master, I had to obey him. But in less than two months, the young master has accomplished such a great thing, and he can even monopolize the trade of an entire country. This is incredible! It is true that when a man is away for three days, he should be looked at with new eyes! The news that Deng Baichuan knew was that Murong Fu had conquered the Shennong Gang, and the carrier pigeons had added some new cuts to the Murong family's intelligence network. Now he learned that Murong Fu had obtained the monopoly of the tea-horse trade, and he truly felt the changes in Murong Fu. "Is Brother Ma here?" Deng Baichuan also needed local help in Dali, so he planned to ask Ma Wude for a hand so that they could all get rich together. "The master just came back." After a while, Deng Baichuan met Ma Wude and said straight to the point: "Our Master Murong has obtained the exclusive rights of your country's tea-horse trade and wants to unify the tea-horse trade. I'm afraid your smuggling business will be difficult. Why don't I recommend you to our Master, and you also join our Chamber of Commerce, so that we can make a lot of money together." Ma Wude was not shocked, and said, "Brother Deng, I was just about to tell you that I just got news from outside that your Master Murong is about to become the consort of the emperor of Dali." "What's going on?" Deng Baichuan was surprised. Ma Wude was well-informed and immediately told everything he knew. It was all about Murong Fu killing the third of the four evil men, mediating the conflicts among the Duan family in Dali, resolving the feud between Emperor Baoding and Duan Yanqing, Tianlong Temple helping the Duan family in Dali defeat the Tubo national teacher, and the three daughters Duan Yuyan, Duan Zhu and Duan Bi being named princesses and county ladies. The more Deng Baichuan listened, the more surprised he was. He knew very well that Duan Yuyan was Wang Yuyan, and that Emperor Baoding and Duan Yanqing were both top-notch masters of the time. The Tibetan National Master was able to make the Tianlong Temple need Murong Fu's help, so he should not be underestimated. Murong Fu was actually able to do all these things. How come he seemed to be better than his old master? It seems that the Murong family's originally bleak project of restoring the country has suddenly found hope? Is this still the young man I watched grow up? Deng Baichuan really had some doubts. Was it because he had poor vision and could not see the young master's hidden talent, or was it because the young master had inexplicably undergone a complete transformation? But Deng Baichuan knew that Murong Fu was now able to influence the Duan family of Dali so deeply and obtain the trade monopoly of a country. He could no longer treat such a capable young master as a child and had to correct his own status. "It's not surprising that your Master Murong has done a great favor to the Duan family and is the Duan family's consort, so he has obtained the exclusive rights to the tea-horse trade. But it's incredible that he can get the support of the Gao family and stamp the seal of the prime minister." Ma Wude said, "One cannot resist the general trend. It is the general trend for Master Murong to unify the tea-horse trade. I am willing to join Master Murong. As long as Master Murong eats meat, I will just drink soup." Deng Baichuan smiled and said, "Don't worry, brother. Our young master treats the people below very well." Deng Baichuan calmed himself down and prepared to meet the new young master Murong Fu. In his heart, he reminded himself: I, Deng Baichuan, will be loyal to you, Master! (End of this chapter)