The Three Spirit Stones

Chapter 163 Food Relief

Li Sanleng was now as anxious as an ant on a hot pot. He went to Yanjing City to apply for a customs clearance certificate, but he felt like he was being kicked around like a ball.

Two more days have passed and there is still no sign of the certificate. We can't wait any longer. If we wait any longer, something bad will really happen to the Marquis.

He returned to Zhuozhou and discussed with his subordinates what to do.

Everyone thought that it was obvious that the Liao people were making things difficult for them. They just didn't want them to transport the grain back, so even if they got the customs clearance certificates, they would have other reasons to stop them.

Since I can't leave openly, I can only leave secretly.

But how to sneak away?

There were nearly a thousand mule carts, and any movement would be easily discovered by the Liao people.

Just when Li Sanleng was at a loss, Du Hui arrived.

"Greetings to Du Gongcao,"

When Li Sanleng saw Li Yunze's seal, he immediately knelt down and saluted.

"Master Li, please get up quickly,"

"Li is not worthy of this. Gongcao is too polite."

The two exchanged a few pleasantries and then got down to business.

"Du received information that the grain transported by the family was detained by the Liao people,"

"What Gongcao said is correct. The Liao people refused to let us transport the grain through the customs because we did not have the documents for customs clearance. You should know that this was an order from the Marquis himself. Now that we cannot transport the grain back, I am really helpless!"

"As far as I know, both of the Marquis's railways were maliciously destroyed, and your grain was not allowed to be transported away. Now the Marquis has more than 300,000 disaster victims crying out for food, plus the original workers of the Cheng family... Alas!"

"is not that right?"

"These are life-saving food. I am so anxious. Gong Cao, what do you think we should do?"

"Don't worry, Mr. Du is here today just for this matter,"

"Oh!"

"At Waqiao Pass..."

Du Hui pointed to the ground and lowered his voice and said, "There is a tunnel. It was built by Lord Yang Yanzhao. One of the entrances to this tunnel is located in Shuangtang Township."

"You just need to pull the food there..."

There is no need to say more about the rest. Those who understand will understand.

Li Sanleng was extremely excited. He also lowered his voice and said, "That's great, Master Gongcao, you really helped our Marquis a lot!"

"Hey, what's that?"

"The Marquis's business is Du's business. Moreover, this is also the intention of our Li Taishou. Du is just leading the way."

"Okay, let's set off tomorrow without further delay."

"it is good,"

At dawn the next day, Li Sanleng went to inform the Liao army that had seized their grain carts, saying that they would not transport the grain back to the Song Dynasty, but would send it to the western warehouse for temporary storage because they were afraid that it would get damp if not stored properly outside.

This reason is also reasonable.

Then, he gave gifts and money to the Liao army, spending several thousand taels of silver, and the Liao army officers finally agreed to let him go.

Li Sanleng breathed a sigh of relief and told his men to get ready. They pulled the mule to the front of the cart and put on the harness.

"Hey~,"

"Hey~,"

Everyone got on the mule cart and shouted at the mules to set off. A long convoy slowly headed towards Shuangtang Township.

But when they had only walked half a mile, they suddenly heard the rumbling sound of horse hooves from behind, and another group of Liao soldiers were chasing them from behind.

Li Sanleng's heart skipped a beat. He and Du Hui exchanged a glance.

Soon, the Liao army behind caught up. They stopped the convoy and took Li Sanleng to a man who looked like a Liao noble official.

"I have seen you, my Lord."

Li Sanleng quickly dismounted and knelt down to salute the Liao man.

"Get up,"

"How much food do you have here?"

"Reply to your Excellency,"

"A total of about 180,000 catties of grain,"

"Okay, I will collect all the 180,000 kilograms of grain."

"I'll write you a note later. Take it to the Yanjing xX Department and someone will settle the account for you."

When Li Sanleng heard this, he was horrified and said quickly, "Oh! Sir, you can't do that!"

"This batch of grain was specifically requested by our Lord. The customs clearance documents have not yet been processed. In order to better preserve it, it has been moved to another place first."

"We'll have to move it away as soon as the paperwork is done."

"If this batch of grain is lost in my hands, neither I nor the drivers here will be able to survive."

"Sir, please don't collect this grain. I kneel before you."

After saying this, Li Sanleng knelt down with a "bang", and kept kowtowing.

The Liao official became impatient and shouted,

"Pull him down,"

"I want to collect your grain because I think highly of you, not because I don't want to pay you, right?"

"If you keep talking nonsense here, I will kill you immediately."

He waved his hand and several soldiers came forward and pulled Li Sanleng away.

Li San was stunned.

Now that these grains have been confiscated, what should the Marquis do?

Without the Marquis, there would be no today for me and my brothers.

Now that the Marquis is in trouble, and I can't even handle this little thing, how can I have the face to go back and see the Marquis?

Li Sanleng looked at this group of Liao soldiers and thought about it.

Although they are well-equipped, they only have about 500 to 600 men, while we have nearly 1,000.

snort!

I'm going to grab my weapons and fight these damn Liao soldiers!

He returned to the convoy, with a murderous look on his face, and winked at Du Hui and his trusted men.

Everyone looked at it, nodded slightly, and understood!

These people immediately whispered to other drivers.

Everyone understood what he meant and were ready to draw their swords and fight to the death as soon as Li Sanleng gave the order!

At this moment, suddenly there was a sound of horse hooves from afar, and a group of people and horses were galloping towards them.

"Xu~"

When they got to the front, the horse team stopped. A stunning woman in red riding clothes shouted to the team,

"Is Li Sanleng here?"

Li San looked at it intently.

Oh! Isn't this the Marquis's second wife, Princess Yelu?

He immediately ran forward, knelt on his knees, and shouted,

"I, Li Sanleng, greet the Second Madam,"

Yelu Yuan saw that it was indeed him and immediately cursed,

"You slave,"

"My Lord is going crazy waiting for your food."

"You are still hesitating here. Wait until we get back to Bianjing and see if the Marquis will give you a beating."

"Oh! Madam, you are innocent!"

"It's not that I don't want to transport the grain back quickly, it's just that I can't do it!"

"At Waqiao Pass, you need to get customs clearance documents before you can pass through. I went back to Yanjing and tried to get them done for several days but failed. I was afraid that the grain would get damp, so I temporarily transported it to another warehouse and stored it there until I got the customs clearance documents."

"But, but..."

"That gentleman suddenly said that he wanted to collect all the grain. Now I don't know what to do?"

Li Sanleng pointed at the Liao soldiers over there and said,

"What~"

When Yelu Yuan heard this, she was so angry that her eyebrows stood up. She immediately led everyone to ride horses to the front of the Liao army.

At this time, the Liao official heard the noise and came out. He took a closer look.

Ouch!

Isn’t this Princess Yelu?

He immediately stepped forward, knelt down, and shouted, "Your servant greets the princess."

Yelu Yuan saw that this was his former servant Chashi.

"Cha Ci?"

"Why are you here?"

"My Lord, I am here to collect the grains under the order of His Majesty."

"Your Majesty said that the Marquis of Song State has recently transported too much grain back. Winter is coming soon here. If this continues, we may be short of food..."

"Fart~"

Before he finished speaking, Yelu Yuan whipped him with a whip.

"Brother, you are so wise and powerful, how could you say such nonsense?"

"Yanyun is a major grain-producing region. This year, the weather here has been good and the harvest has been great. How could there be a food shortage?"

"It must be you, the servant, who used the name of my brother to embezzle the grain."

"Oh! The princess is innocent."

"This is really..."

He wanted to say that this was really what His Majesty meant, but before he could say it, Yelu Yuan whipped him several times on the head and scolded him,

"You bold servant, why don't you admit your mistake?"

Things have come to this point, doesn't he understand?

When gods fight, mortals suffer!

"Yes, yes, I am guilty, I am guilty,"

"Princess, please forgive me. Princess, please forgive me."

"Humph!"

"Since you were once my servant, I will spare you for now. I will write a letter for you to take back to His Majesty."

"Yes Yes,"

"Thank you, my lady. Thank you, my lady."

Then, Yelu Yuan wrote a letter on the spot.

The content of the letter was roughly that the Marquis had a deep foundation in Yanyun, and although he was temporarily in trouble, it did not affect his strength. Your Majesty might be able to help him at this time, which would be more beneficial to the relationship between the two sides.

After writing and sealing the letter and handing it to Cha La, she ordered the gate to be opened to allow the convoy to pass directly through Waqiao Pass.