Chapter 118 What’s Wrong with Me Being Greedy for Money?
The sound of the horn echoed over the prairie.

“They’re back! The cavalrymen who raided the valley are back! Go and see!”

There were calls and sounds of running everywhere, and a group of soldiers rushed out from the gate.

The gate was crowded with soldiers who came to watch the fun.

In the distance, thousands of cattle and sheep, driven by a large group of cavalry, were marching forward like a galloping army.

On the left side of the herd of cattle and sheep, a large group of Mongolian surrendered soldiers drove the herdsmen of Ulanqab League towards the camp. Men and women were tied with hemp ropes on their left arms and tied into long rows. Everyone carried the property looted by the cavalry on their shoulders or backs!

At this time, someone suddenly shouted, “Look! Look! The military pay and food have arrived!”

Following the sound, everyone saw horse-drawn and mule-drawn carts loaded with military pay and food heading towards the camp on the post road in the distance.

The second prince came out with a smile on his face, leading several guards from the Imperial Household Department.

The situation outside the camp gate immediately became quiet again. The soldiers hid inside the camp gate as if they were avoiding the plague god and dispersed.

A flash of cold light quickly flashed across the second prince’s eyes, and in an instant he smiled again, looking at the team escorting the spoils, and said as if to the guards, or as if to himself, “This is only the first batch. Li Hu must have made a lot of money.”

The guards exchanged quick glances without saying anything.

Just then, the sound of horse hooves was heard, and a group of more than twenty riders galloped towards the gate.

When the horsemen arrived in front of the camp gate, they pulled the reins to stop and dismounted.

The leader was the red-robed eunuch from the Imperial Household Department, and the rest were all servants from the Imperial Household Department.

The second prince’s eyes lit up, and he stepped forward and asked, “How is it?”

The red-robed eunuch of the Imperial Household Department bowed to the Second Prince and then replied, “The area is under strict security. No one can enter without General Li’s order.”

The second prince was excited: “It seems that the news is true! Let’s go to the central army tent and ask Li Hu why he blocked the news? Could it be that he wants to embezzle the gold mine?!”

The red-robed eunuch of the Imperial Household Department looked embarrassed: “This.”

The second prince was already striding towards the gate.

The red-robed eunuch from the Imperial Household Department had no choice but to follow quickly.

In the central military tent, Li Hu was sitting in front of a large desk, looking down at the account book.

Wang Daniu walked in with a personal soldier.

Wang Daniu walked up to Li Hu and whispered, “Marshal, there’s news from Mizhi that Liu Xianglian was found near the Second Prince’s villa and has been taken under control.”

Li Hu raised his head. When he received Lin Daiyu’s letter, he was completely confused. He even suspected that the Liu family had abused Liu Xianglian since he was a child, otherwise why would he want to assassinate the second prince and kill all nine generations of his family!
This is a really cruel person!
Li Hu thought about it carefully. If Liu Xianglian didn’t want to implicate the Liu family, he had to ensure that no clues would fall into the hands of the government and he himself could not be arrested.

Emperor Yongchang knew that the Second Prince had offended too many people and was worried that something might happen on the road, so he specially sent a thousand imperial cavalry to escort him.

If Liu Xianglian wanted to assassinate the second prince, the villa in Mizhi was his only chance.

To be honest, Li Hu still admired Liu Xianglian’s courage very much, even though he was just flying into a flame.

Lin Daiyu’s letter arrived two days earlier than the emperor’s letter, which gave him time to prepare. In order to delay the second prince and his entourage, he released all the idle war horses.

There are horses everywhere here, but having a horse does not mean having a war horse. The horse must be tamed and trained before it can be ridden.

As the saying goes, “One does not sell horses within a thousand miles, and one does not sell onions within a hundred miles.” The capital is thousands of miles away from here. The horses of the imperial army have lost a lot of weight after the long journey, and it takes a month or so to recover.

Without war horses to change, the Second Prince and his entourage could only wait here.

Then it was delayed until today, the seventh day of the seventh month, the day when the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl meet.

Thinking of this, Li Hu sighed. Although it was not the Valentine’s Day in his previous life, he did miss home. People really can’t be too idle, because if they are idle, they will start to have wild thoughts.

Thinking of the capital, Li Hu remembered Jia She’s letter and smiled.

The retired emperor has become a complete joke. As long as the emperor continues to be so tough, he can only enjoy his old age in the Daming Palace.

It’s funny that the fight between the emperor and the emperor emeritus accidentally hurt the third prince and the fourth prince.

The two of them tried their best to boost their reputation at the Wanshou Ceremony. One of them wrote the “Book of Filial Piety” by shedding his own blood, and the other recited the “Diamond Sutra” ten thousand times. But in the end, they ended up with nothing and were laughed at.

Wang Daniu spoke up: “Marshal, should we bring Liu Xianglian here?”

Li Hu thought for a moment and said, “Then bring it with you.” Then he continued to flip through the account book.

“Yes.” Wang Daniu led the soldier out.

Li Hu slowly flipped through the books, then picked up a pen and crossed out a few lines of the accounts. It was his principle not to take advantage of the blood of his soldiers, but that didn’t mean he didn’t “embezzle”. Soldiers in this era were hard to lead. Who would fight for you without money? Drawing big promises? That would kill people!
Besides, these spoils will be taken by those civil servants after being transported back. Instead of letting those bastards take them, it is better to take them for yourself.

The profits from war are really huge. With just these few simple transactions, several thousand taels of silver were earned.

Li Hu picked up another account book, and with a stroke of his pen, he marked three or four pages in a row. He got tens of thousands of taels of silver again. How great!

The Mongols are still poor. If this happened inside the Great Wall, it would probably cost tens of thousands of silver coins per transaction.

The biggest trophies were still cattle and sheep.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is coming soon. Let’s first lower the price of beef and mutton in Shaanxi so that the people of Shaanxi can eat beef and mutton and satisfy their cravings. This is especially true for the people in northern Shaanxi who have suffered for nearly two years.

Li Hu was flipping through the account books while muttering, “It would be great if there was a chamber of commerce. The prices in Gyeonggi and Jiangnan are much more expensive.” At this point, he shook his head. It would be fine if they sold it secretly here, but if it became known to everyone, then Banliu would make trouble again.

At this time, Wang Daniu came in again.

Wang Daniu: “General, the second prince is here.” At this point, he lowered his voice and said, “The people from the Imperial Household Department are back.”

Li Hu’s eyes flashed. Is he coming to call for punishment?

The second prince’s voice came from outside the tent: “General Li!”

Li Hu stood up slowly and said coldly, “Come in!”

The second prince strode in and asked: “Has a gold mine been discovered in the new city?”

Li Hu: “What’s wrong?”

The second prince became excited and said, “Why did you block the news? Are you trying to embezzle the gold mine?”

Li Hu glanced at him: “Second Prince, it seems that you should not be involved in these matters!”

The second prince was startled: “Others are not qualified to manage these matters, but I am qualified to manage the gold mine, which belongs to the royal family’s wealth.”

Li Hu interrupted him directly: “The imperial decree has been issued. The Second Prince is now under confinement.”

The second prince was startled again: “What do you mean?!”

Li Hu: “Since you are under confinement, please go back to the tent, Your Highness.” He said with a narrowed eye, “Why don’t you want Your Highness to go back?”

Wang Daniu walked up to the Second Prince and extended his hand: “Second Prince, please.”

“you!”

The second prince’s face turned blue with anger, and he said, “I will report this matter to the court. And don’t think I don’t know what you did with those spoils of war!”

Li Hu sat down and looked at him: “What’s wrong with me being greedy for money?”

The second prince was confused. How could he be so righteous?

Li Hu waved his hand: “Please go down.”

Wang Daniu: “Yes.” He answered and helped the second prince out.

Li Hu snorted, flipped through the account book quickly in annoyance, and then slammed it shut.

The craftsmen dug up gold mines while building the city. Like the previous Ming Dynasty, the gold mines of Dashun were basically controlled by the royal family and supervised by eunuchs.

The reason why Li Hu blocked the news was not to embezzle the gold mine, but to delay his departure and drain more blood from the main force of Ulanqab League before their return, thus weakening their strength.

The people from the Imperial Household Department also brought a letter from the prince, which mentioned two things: one was about the reward, and the other was that the officials had set their sights on this place. There was a lot of work to be done here, and they wanted to build a city and immigrate people to cultivate land. There was a lot of money to be made!
Now that gold has been discovered, they will be even more impatient.

Besides, the prince also hopes that he will go back earlier, so the imperial edict will probably come soon.

Maybe I can make it back in time to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival!
Many things need to be arranged in advance, especially for those cavalrymen who went out to forage for food. We need to send someone to convey military orders to them now, and they must all return before the end of the month.

Thinking of this, Li Hu sighed. This could be considered a failure.

Li Hu picked up the pen and started writing.

After finishing writing, Li Hu picked up the ink paper and blew on it, then shouted, “Someone come!”

A personal soldier came in in response.

Li Hu handed over the warrant: “Give it to General Xie Jing and ask him to send out all the scouts immediately!”

The soldier answered loudly: “Yes!”

(End of this chapter)