"Forget it, bring him over after he finishes eating!"
Although the fellow's face looked very unfamiliar, and Han Mo didn't recognize his name, judging by his attire, he was at least a captain.
To make a captain eat so miserably, one could imagine what kind of food they were given on that island...
"Your subordinate Yang Zhi, greets my lord!"
It took nearly the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, before the captain finally had his fill. Supported by others, he made his way to Han Mo.
"Cough - cough - cough -"
"Have we met before?"
Hearing this, Han Mo suddenly remembered the person named Yang Zhi he had met before.
"Yes, we have indeed met. I didn't expect my lord to remember this lowly one!"
Upon hearing Han Mo's words, Yang Zhi also became excited.
"I also didn't expect to see you here, and you even went to Wokou. How was your journey back? Was it smooth?"
Although they had only met once, since they were acquainted, Han Mo asked with a smile.
"Thank you for your concern, my lord. Thanks to your blessings, our journey back was relatively smooth. Although we encountered a small waterspout on the way, there were no casualties on the ships!"
Hearing Han Mo's question, Yang Zhi quickly took out a small booklet from his embrace and handed it to Han Mo.
"What is this?"
"This is what Mr. Yuan instructed me to give to my lord. It contains a detailed list of all the goods, and here is a letter from Mr. Yuan to my lord!"
As Yang Zhi spoke, he took down a scroll tube from behind him and handed it to Han Mo.
"Alright, you have worked hard on this journey. You can go rest over there for now!"
After briefly glancing at the contents of the booklet, Han Mo's attention was immediately drawn to the system that Yang Zhi had handed him.
Although the gold and silver sent back this time were more than Han Mo remembered, his interest in such things was not as great as Yang Zhi had expected.
It was only now that Han Mo realized that in ancient times, the prosperity of a country could often not be judged by the amount of wealth it possessed!
Because in this closed agricultural society, a large part of the taxes collected by the state was often calculated in kind.
Food, in many cases, could not be equated with money.
For instance, even if Han Mo waved a lot of copper coins in his hand now, the amount of grain he could purchase from the market would be limited.
The war had only just ended, and it was the season of scarcity. In many places, grain was more useful than other things. Even gold and silver were ultimately just cold stones; if they could not be exchanged, they were useless!
After reading the letter from Yuan Xingchi, Han Mo finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Yuan Xingchi's progress in Wokou was much smoother than Han Mo had imagined. However, at the same time, they had encountered another problem.
The people of Wokou were currently in chaos. Han Mo had initially thought that once Yuan Xingchi entered the interior of Wokou, they would immediately be met with a unified attack from the Wokou people.
But to his surprise, after a small Wokou tribe obtained a large number of armors from them through trade, the Wokou people treated them as honored guests.
Even the Emperor of Wokou extended an olive branch to him, which left Yuan Xingchi feeling somewhat absurd.
Faced with this bizarre situation, even Yuan Xingchi himself was unsure. Their original plan was to support the Heike clan in pacifying the land, and in the process, covertly foster several opponents for them.
Finally, they would let them fight amongst themselves, restrain each other, and eventually, all three factions would have to rely on the Song army.
But now, the situation was different. After witnessing the might of the Song army, the unprincipled Emperor of Wokou had expressed his desire to surrender. Of course, his surrender came with a price: helping him defeat his own father...
"Brother Han, did something happen?"
Seeing Han Mo's dazed expression, Zong Ying walked over curiously.
"Can I ask you a question?"
Scratching his head with a hint of a headache, Han Mo suddenly looked at Zong Ying seriously.
"Of course, you can. Just ask whatever you want to ask!"
Seeing Han Mo speak so casually, Zong Ying smiled and replied.
"If, I mean, if! If a group of people came into your home with swords and knives, stole your things, and bullied your children, how would you deal with them?"
"What do you mean? Of course, I would drive them out!"
Zong Ying paused for a moment, then looked at Han Mo with some confusion.
"You should read this first..."
As Han Mo spoke, he handed the letter in his hand to Zong Ying.
"I..."
After reading the contents of the letter, even the honest Zong Ying almost blurted out a coarse word.
"What do you plan to do?"
Blinking his eyes, Zong Ying looked at Han Mo with confusion. He simply couldn't imagine how idiotic the Emperor of Wokou's brain was, or how many times he had been kicked by a donkey to make such a choice.
The enemy had already reached their doorstep, and they were still scheming to use the enemy's strength to get rid of their own father...
What made Zong Ying even more speechless was that even the father of the so-called Emperor had sent an envoy to Yuan Xingchi, expressing the same intention...
However, compared to his son, this so-called retired emperor was clearly more reliable.
Not only did he offer a price that Han Mo found hard to refuse, but he even agreed to let Han Mo's forces claim the land they currently occupied as their own...
This was, after all, one of China's main gold and silver producing areas, and he was giving it away so easily!
His generosity made Han Mo feel as if he were looking at a foolish son of a landlord...
"What else can we do? Nothing! They are all bad eggs anyway. Whoever pays more, we help. However, since none of them are good birds, I think the payment dates should be discussed carefully, perhaps on a ten-day cycle. What do you think?"
As Han Mo spoke, he winked at Zong Ying.
After hearing his words, Zong Ying's mouth twitched involuntarily. A scene naturally appeared in his mind.
They would first help the son fight his father, and then, at a critical moment of the war, the father, driven to desperation, would empty his coffin. Immediately after, Han Mo's forces would start helping the father beat up the son...
My goodness, could there be anything more absurd in this world?