Taiping Inn

Although it is said that the mountain behind you can fall, most people in the world still need to have a backer.

Whether it is Taiping Bank or Taiping Inn, their backers are all Taiping Sect, or they are originally part of Taiping Sect.

A sect, in a small sense, is a local tyrant, and in a large sense, it is a small court that is independent of itself. Li Xuandu has also participated in major decisions of the sect and is well versed in the operation of the sect. To be strong, one must have people and money, and the rest are all details.

Among the twelve sects of the righteous way, Zhengyi Sect has people and masters; Taiping Sect has money and is rich enough to rival a country; Qingwei Sect is not as rich as Zhengyi Sect, but it is richer than Zhengyi Sect; Qingwei Sect is not as rich as Taiping Sect, but it has more people than Taiping Sect.

Governing a sect is no different from governing a small country.

Li Xuandu still remembers that he had proposed several strategies that he thought were far-sighted, but they were all rejected by his master.

For example, he had suggested to his master in the ninth year of Wude that the whole sect should use its strength to open up the sea route to Liaodong as soon as possible.

Because the Golden Horde had begun to show signs of decline in the northwest at this time, after all, for the Golden Horde, sending troops to the northwest was too far away from the royal court, and the battle line was too long. Liangzhou had been poor since ancient times and could not support the Golden Horde army to fight and support the war. Therefore, every time the Golden Horde invaded the northwest, it only plundered and then blackmailed the Wei court. After several years of recuperation, Emperor Muzong no longer accepted the blackmail of the Golden Horde. Under the advice of Zhang Suqing and others, he prepared to send a large army to recover the northwest. Under the circumstances at that time, the Golden Horde army would inevitably be defeated, and if they wanted to survive, they would definitely not give up. Then they could only send troops to the three states of Liaodong, which were closer to the royal court. At that time, the land trade routes in Jinzhou and Yanzhou would inevitably be cut off, and the merchants would turn to the sea route.

From today's perspective, everything Li Xuandu said was completely correct. The Golden Horde really gave up the northwest and sent troops to Liaodong. At first glance, Li Xuandu's suggestion was indeed far-sighted and seemed to be correct.

But the old man still rejected him without giving any explanation. It was not until Li Xuandu came to Zhang Suqing that he gradually understood why the old man did not approve of his suggestion.

Because the key to opening up the sea route is the port, and no one can control all the ports. Li Xuandu's sect occupies the big port of the East China Sea, and the Cihang Sect in the South China Sea controls many ports in the South China Sea, while the ports in Liaodong belong to the North China Sea, which is the territory of the Butian Sect.

Li Xuandu's sect is on good terms with the Cihang Sect, and the two sides exchange what they have, but have a bad relationship with the Butian Sect. If they force the sea route to the North Sea, let alone whether it will work, even if they succeed by chance and attract many merchants, the number of fleets will not increase much in a short period of time. Although the lack of ships can be rebuilt, the manpower that can sail far cannot be rushed. This will cause the sect's resources to tilt, and the fleet going to the South China Sea will decrease. The Cihang Sect will inevitably be dissatisfied and turn to cooperate with other sects.

In addition, they have no foundation in Liaodong and have to cooperate with the Butian Sect. The running-in of the two sides is by no means a matter of a day or a night. During this period, it is unknown how many disputes and struggles will be required to make the interests of both sides reach a point that both sides can recognize. This is still the premise of opening up the sea route. If the sea route is not opened, everything done will be in vain, and it will undoubtedly be a loss-making business.

Taking a step back, even if everything goes smoothly, the border war cannot continue forever. When the war stops, the merchants will return to the original land trade route.

If that's the case, why bother opening up the trade route to the North Sea?

Li Xuandu recalled afterwards and found that many of his suggestions were essentially "why not eat meat porridge", but many of his master's decisions were the best way.

However, his master did not deny his talent, but thought that he lacked experience, which was at least better than sticking to the rules. It was like an official in the officialdom, who followed the steps of others. Of course, he would not make mistakes, but it also meant that he was mediocre and was a mediocre official. When Zhang Suqing implemented the new policy, one of the assessment methods was specifically aimed at these mediocre officials who did not make mistakes but did not do anything.

Li Xuandu knew very well what the sect was. It was not a certain person, but certain people. The demands of the sect were the demands of most people in the sect, and the interests of the sect were the interests of most people in the sect.

Therefore, for ordinary people in the martial arts world, there is still the saying of "righteous indignation", but at the level of the sect, there are only interests, which is the so-called martial arts morality, and it is by no means the morality of ordinary people in the martial arts world, but the unwritten rules between sects.

The shopkeeper of the Taiping Inn who attacked brazenly was from the Taiping Sect. He attacked in the Taiping Inn on behalf of the Taiping Sect, so what should the Taiping Sect do?

Li Xuandu looked at the shopkeeper of the inn.

The skinny shopkeeper retracted the palm that had pierced Cui Shuofeng's chest, and with the other hand gently pushed Cui Shuofeng's body forward to the ground.

The shopkeeper whispered: "Don't leave any one."

As soon as the voice fell, the bloated and huge proprietress appeared behind the Qingluan Guards with agility that did not match her body shape. She raised the kitchen knife in her hand and a head flew up, and then continued to raise the knife, and another head flew up.

The hand raised the knife and then the hand raised the knife.

One head after another flew up.

The proprietress had no expression on her face, just like chopping pork on the chopping board.

However, in just a few breaths, all the Qingluan Guards, including the three heroes, became headless corpses.

Li Xuan did not stop him. He was not a kind person. He knew when to spare someone's life and when to kill him.

This was exactly what Hu Liang said: "If people don't die, is it still called Jianghu?"

Except for Li Xuandu and his wife and the shopkeeper, there were only four people left, Qiu Anqing.

The shopkeeper looked at Li Xuandu and asked bluntly: "Should we kill them?"

Li Xuandu shook his head and said: "They are all loyal to the country."

"I understand." The shopkeeper raised his hand and signaled the boss lady to come back.

Li Xuandu asked: "May I know who you are?"

The shopkeeper said: "No problem, I am Shen Yuanzhai."

Because Li Xuandu's right arm was covered with frost, he could not clasp his fists, so he could only bow slightly and said: "So it's Senior Shen."

This was not Li Xuandu's compliment, but he had indeed heard of Shen Yuanzhai's name.

If you use a sentence to describe it, it is to return to the truth after years of old age.

What is "old return to the true nature"? It means reaching the return to the true nature in the prime of life, and then staying in the same place for the remaining decades, or being stuck at the bottleneck threshold, and having no hope of reaching the heavenly realm in this life. However, compared with ordinary return to the true nature masters, they are much stronger because they have been immersed in the return to the true nature for a very long time, and there are many people who are strong in the return to the true nature.

This Shen Yuanzhai is a Taiping Sect master who is strong in the return to the true nature. Everyone knows that the Zhang family in the Zhengyi Sect is a big family, the Li family in the Qingwei Sect is a big family, and the Shen and Lu families are the leaders in the Taiping Sect. According to seniority, Shen Yuanzhai's seniority is very high, just like Li Xuandu and Zhang Haishi, although there is a big age gap, they are people of the same generation. The same is true for Shen Yuanzhai and the old Tianshi Zhang Jingxiu and others. The age difference is more than 20 years, but they are people of the same generation, so Li Xuandu calls him "senior Shen".

But then again, in the martial arts world, strength is respected, and seniority is one thing. If there is no matching strength, it is just a decoration. When discussing matters, the old senior is brought in and placed in the hall, just like a vase. A vase cannot speak. As for who speaks, of course, the one who speaks has the final say. If the words do not count, then it is useless to speak.

Shen Yuanzhai asked: "Does Mr. Li want to ask me why I killed someone?"

Li Xuandu nodded.

Shen Yuanzhai said frankly: "Because of the Taiping coin that Mr. showed me."

This answer was not too unexpected to Li Xuandu, because when Li Xuandu first entered the inn, he took out a Taiping coin, and then put it away and exchanged it for ordinary silver.

This Taiping coin is not an ordinary Taiping coin, but a gift from Mrs. Lu's husband after he told Li Xuandu a fortune.

Although Li Xuandu didn't know what the Taiping coin was for, he kept it in his hand. Today, he came to Taiping Inn again and wanted to take out the Taiping coin. Now it seems that the Taiping coin should be a token of the Taiping Sect.

Before Li Xuandu could continue to ask, Shen Yuanzhai continued to say: "Mr. Li, just continue to do what you have to do. The rest of the things can be left to me. As for the meaning of the Taiping coin, Mr. Li should ask the person who gave you the Taiping coin."

Li Xuandu said: "Then I'll trouble Senior Shen."