Acai's Sky

Chapter 455 She is just a filler...

The sun is shining and the breeze is blowing

General Li walked with steady steps to the residence of Taoist Jiugon.

As soon as I entered the door, I saw Taoist Jiugon sitting leisurely on a stone bench in the courtyard, his eyes slightly closed, enjoying the warm spring sun.

"Master, since you are so leisurely, how about playing a game of chess?" General Li asked with a smile, pointing to the neatly arranged chessboard on the stone table not far away.

Taoist Jiugong slowly opened his eyes, looked at General Li, and shook his head gently, saying, "Playing chess with you, I always regret my moves. It's really too painful. I won't play anymore!"

General Li was displeased when he heard this. He glared at Taoist Jiugon and said, "Your Taoism skills are not good enough. You don't even have this much patience. You need to practice more!"

Taoist Jiugong smiled slightly, not caring about what General Li said. Instead, he suggested, "General, why don't you go fishing? In spring, everything comes back to life, and the fish in the living water are very active!"

At this moment, Doctor Hu walked into the yard with his grandson Hu Yu.

Seeing General Li and Taoist Jiugon staring at each other, Doctor Hu greeted them with a smile and then sat down on a stone bench near the stone table.

"What are you two doing? Taoist priest, how about playing a game of chess?" Doctor Hu asked excitedly.

Seeing this, Taoist Jiugon stood up, walked to the stone table, sat down, and started playing chess with Doctor Hu.

As he went down, he turned to look at General Li and said jokingly, "General Li, why don't you care about the battle report from the front line?"

General Li walked over slowly, watching them play chess with great interest. He smiled and said, "I just finished reading your army's battle report. I'm in a very good mood. Otherwise, why would I come to chat with you, an old Taoist priest?"

After Doctor Hu landed a move, his face lit up with excitement as he exclaimed, "Our army is truly formidable! They're sweeping the battlefield like a madman. We have no rivals at all!"

Taoist Jiugong smiled slightly and also placed a black piece. He then asked, "Doctor Hu, you went with us to the Nanman before. What do you think of our army's combat effectiveness?"

Doctor Hu didn't even think twice before answering, "Needless to say? Our army is incredibly powerful! Some soldiers haven't even encountered a single southern barbarian soldier, and they're so angry they're stamping their feet and cursing!"

Taoist Jiugong stroked his beard, nodded slightly, and then asked, "So, in fact, there is no need to mobilize these 600,000 troops to easily defeat the Nanman. What if we face the Japanese?"

General Li couldn't help but interrupt when he heard this, saying with disdain, "The Japanese are a bunch of idiots! When I first saw the fake Seventh King's display, I thought they were so formidable. But after all, it turns out it was all just a sham, and they're vulnerable!"

Taoist Jiugong shook his head and said, "Our army has 600,000 people. How many ships and vessels will we need if we want them all to cross the sea safely?"

General Li frowned upon hearing this and replied in a serious tone, "The ship they used to cross the sea was a military vessel converted from Yue'er's merchant ship..."

Doctor Hu seemed a little puzzled. He asked curiously, "So, all the ships are converted from merchant ships provided by the princess? Is that easy to convert?"

Taoist Jiugong casually put down a chess piece and explained calmly, "That's because when the ships were manufactured, they were originally built according to military standards. However, before the war even started, these ships were used for trade."

General Li's hand holding the teacup suddenly stopped. He exclaimed in surprise, "Wow! We're quite far from the coast, and we've never seen a ship before. Could it be that they've already prepared for this?"

Doctor Hu also echoed, "Yes, I find it strange too. Tell me, does the emperor know about this? Or is he pretending not to know?"

Taoist Jiugong smiled and replied, "Of course I know! Otherwise, why would they send a large army directly across the sea to destroy the Japanese? After all, there's a vast ocean between them, not just a fork in a river..."

Doctor Hu was so excited that he pulled out a strand of his beard. The pain made him gasp, but he was soon overwhelmed by excitement.

"Shh... this deal is worth it! How much silver would it cost to buy so many ships? And they're all large and medium-sized ships, a full two hundred of them!"

General Li, standing by, also did some calculations and couldn't help but sigh, "A medium-sized ship costs at least 200,000 to 300,000 taels of silver to build, while a large warship would cost over 500,000 taels..."

Doctor Hu hurriedly helped with the calculations. Suddenly, his eyes widened as he said, "Then all the princess's maritime trade profits over the years have gone into building these ships, right?"

General Li nodded silently in agreement, then couldn't help but sigh, "Alas, this emperor really didn't leave Yue'er any benefits. Not only did he eat up all her money, but he also didn't leave her any room. Tsk tsk tsk tsk..."

Upon hearing this, Taoist Jiugong glared at General Li and warned him, "You're the only one who dares to complain here. Don't say anything when you leave this room. If someone gets a hold of you, it would be a grave sin that could bring destruction upon your entire clan!"

General Li hurriedly nodded in agreement. Although he agreed on the surface, he still felt very aggrieved and depressed in his heart.

Taoist Jiugong looked at the people in front of him with a deep gaze, a faint smile on the corner of his mouth:

"Why don't you see things as clearly as Princess Yunyue? Money is just a possession. You can't bring it with you when you are born, and you can't take it with you when you die."

He paused, then continued, "If Yue'er didn't need a large amount of money to build ships, why would she have gone to so much trouble to send people to manage maritime trade, and even build ten merchant fleets?"

After hearing this, everyone looked confused and didn't understand the deeper meaning.

At this time, Taoist Jiugong explained, "Think about it, with Yue'er's current wealth, she must have already reported it to the court long ago, right? Otherwise, do you think the emperor would easily allow her merchant ship to exist?"

Doctor Hu nodded in sudden enlightenment. "Oh, I see. I understand. Imperial power is supreme. How can we tolerate someone as wealthy as a nation? Even if that person is a princess, it's unacceptable!"

General Li frowned, still a little puzzled. "So, she only kept 10% of the money, and used it all on building warships and merchant ships. Was that the only way to avoid being caught by the Emperor?"

Taoist Jiugong carefully analyzed the situation for them. "Yue'er's personality is that she likes to be lazy whenever possible. When she was little, she was mostly held in someone's arms. Now that she's grown up, she spends her days carefree lying in a rocking chair."

"How can the Emperor not be at ease with such a lazy person who has no thoughts?"

"As long as there's enough money to spend, it's fine. I guess the Princess Mansion is able to run so well because of the hard work of her subordinates. She's just making up the numbers!"