"It’s no exaggeration to say we’re the closest of friends. Young Master Chu, surely that sets your mind at ease!"
Qu Qingcheng said with a smile.
"Since you’re a friend of Mr. Mo Shan, Master Qu, why exactly did you ask here?"
Chu Lingguang asked, letting his guard down.
"I want to ask you, Young Master Chu, to persuade Master Guo to step in and help my Shuiyu Gang settle a score."
Qu Qingcheng said bluntly.
"You want my master to help you deal with the Turkic people?"
Chu Lingguang asked.
"That’s right. This group of Turkic people are protected by diplomatic privileges granted by the Court, and they’ve been running rampant on the Canal. They’ve ramd and damaged many ships produced by our Shuiyu Gang, and the rchant caravans are complaining endlessly. We’ve had to dispatch our own mbers to act as escorts, but we never imagined they would dare to ram our ships as well,"
a Hall Master said, filled with righteous indignation.
"Haven’t you reported this to the City Guard?"
Chu Lingguang asked.
"We have. But the Turkic people are incredibly cunning. When the City Guard is around, they don’t dare cause any trouble. The mont the Guard leaves, they imdiately show their true colors again."
The man said angrily.
"Why are they doing this?"
Chu Lingguang found it strange.
"They want our Shuiyu Gang to withdraw from this stretch of the Canal and sell our shipyard to them,"
Qu Qingcheng said.
"What?"
Chu Lingguang was caught completely off guard. He never expected the Turkic people to be so brazenly domineering within Great Yuan Territory.
"They’re protected by diplomatic privilege, so the experts in the City Guard can’t intervene directly. I originally wanted to ask Mo Shan and the others to co, but they’re all injured. He told to go through you and ask Master Guo to step in,"
Qu Qingcheng said.
"This..."
Chu Lingguang was in a difficult position.
Although Guo Wei and the Turkic people were enemies, the Turkic rchants in Great Yuan were a different matter from the Turkic people in their own territory.
The Turkic people who ca to Great Yuan for business received preferential treatnt and protection from the Court. If Guo Wei made a move against this group and they found so leverage to use against him, it could negatively impact Guo Xiaotian’s situation.
After all, Guo Wei was counting on him to pass the Martial Examination, earn the title of Grandmaster, and go to Wolf Valley Pass to ransom his son.
So, Chu Lingguang knew in his heart that he couldn’t let Guo Wei get dragged into this ss.
But Qu Qingcheng was Mo Shan’s friend, and it was Mo Shan who had sent him. On top of that, Qu Qingcheng had also helped him indirectly in the past. For a mont, Chu Lingguang was at a loss for what to do.
He sat down and asked, "If I do persuade my master, what exactly does Master Qu intend for him to do?"
"The Turkic people recently entered into negotiations with . We’re scheduled to et on the Canal in three days. I suspect that if the talks fall through, they will grow even more audacious and start ramming our Shuiyu Gang’s cargo ships. That would scare all the rchant caravans away from buying our vessels. Then, they would set up their own port and shipyard on the Canal and steal all our business."
"So, if Master Guo can put them in their place three days from now, this stretch of the Canal will remain the Shuiyu Gang’s domain,"
Qu Qingcheng said.
Chu Lingguang ca to a realization.
He was beginning to understand. The Turkic rchants were like the foreign investors from his past life. They ca ard with special privileges to trade and invest in Great Yuan, and now they had their eyes on this stretch of water in South City, intending to open a port and build a shipyard.
But the existence of the Shuiyu Gang was an obstacle in their way, representing a potential loss of profit.
That’s why they wanted to drive the Shuiyu Gang out, resorting to all sorts of dirty tricks behind the scenes.
Thanks to their diplomatic privileges, the Court had already authorized the Turkic people to invest in and build a shipyard in South City. This ant the Shuiyu Gang couldn’t use the City Guard to confront the Turkic rchants directly. Their only recourse was to use martial might—to have Guo Wei intimidate the Turkic people into behaving and not causing trouble behind the scenes.
The situation was galling.
But Great Yuan was still in the process of rebuilding. To avoid war with the Turkic people, binding the two nations through trade was the foundational policy. The Turkic people were taking advantage of this to throw their weight around.
"Young Master Chu, Master Guo only needs to make an appearance. With his strength and mastery of his Spear Technique, the mont the Turkic people see him, they’ll think twice. They would never dare to offend him,"
Qu Qingcheng said.
Chu Lingguang was deep in thought.
’No conflict... just have Master Guo show up and say a few fair words, and that would solve all the problems, making the Turkic people behave? As if things were ever that easy.’
The chances of that were minuscule.
Chu Lingguang vaguely recalled what happened when the Turkic people tried to seize Master Yan’s dicinal herbs. Guo Wei had been forced to step in and give them a beating. The retaliation was imdiate. The Turkic Mission manufactured a public scandal under the guise of a friendly martial arts exchange. If he himself hadn’t defeated Samba, both he and his master would have been scorned and condemned.
And that was in a situation where the Turkic people were clearly in the wrong for seizing the herbs, with Guo Wei simply upholding justice for his junior martial brother.
Once he was entangled in the business dispute between the Shuiyu Gang and the Turkic people, it would be impossible for Guo Wei to get out cleanly. The Turkic people would undoubtedly use every trick in the book to drag him into a vortex he couldn’t escape.
Therefore, Chu Lingguang knew he couldn’t let Guo Wei take such a great risk just for Mo Shan’s sake.
"As long as Master Guo can help the Shuiyu Gang intimidate the Turkic people, we are willing to give him a twenty-percent share of our future profits,"
Qu Qingcheng added, noticing the change in Chu Lingguang’s expression.
Chu Lingguang shook his head. ’With a financial tie involved, it would be even more impossible for Master Guo to remain uninvolved. I absolutely cannot agree to this.’
But seeing Qu Qingcheng’s injuries, he couldn’t help but ask, "Master Qu, do you know the strength of the Turkic expert who injured you?"
"He’s at the Qi Sea Perfection realm, with strength comparable to Mo Shuang’s. He has awakened a Sound Wave Divine Ability that can disrupt one’s ntal Realm. That’s how I was defeated—he completely threw my ntal Realm into chaos,"
Qu Qingcheng replied.
"Oh?"
Chu Lingguang was taken aback.
’With my current strength, combined with my Spear Intent Divine Abilities, I could even put up a fight against Batu Mu in his pri.’
’If that man is only as strong as Mo Shuang, I should be able to defeat him.’
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