“City Lord, City Lord…” Yan Ting Yi and the guard leader hurriedly stepped forward to support Gui Xingfu.
After spitting blood, Gui Xingfu swayed a few times before he barely managed to stand steady.
How could they possibly have lost? Random Stone Island had at most one hundred Suo Clan warriors and more than one thousand salt slaves.
The Gui Clan water army that had set out numbered a full two or three thousand. Even ten Random Stone Islands could have been slaughtered. How could the entire army have been annihilated?
This Gui Clan water army was the fruit of more than ten years of his hard work. Only with this water army could he ensure that the coastal city would not be harassed by pirates, and he could also play the role of pirate himself, advancing when possible and defending when necessary.
Now this water army of nearly three thousand had been completely wiped out. What would he use in the future to protect the sea area around the coastal city?
Ordinary armies could barely be trained in one year. But a water army required building ships and training soldiers to adapt to naval combat. Without three to five years it was impossible to train a water army.
Thinking of this, Gui Xingfu felt a pain in his heart as if it were being twisted. Since he had inherited the position of coastal city lord, he had never suffered such a huge loss. This was far more than just breaking bones and tendons.
It was all because he had spoiled his daughter, making her lawless and daring to do anything.
Moreover, where had he hidden his military tally? How had she known? Although he doted on this only daughter endlessly and wished he could give her everything, the military tally was too important. The hiding place was known only to himself and no one else.
Although it was Gui Qinzhong who had led the troops, Gui Xingfu could easily guess that the instigator of this matter was Gui Qinshao, and then his wife Tu Ling Si.
These two women, these two women… they really wanted to ruin the Gui Clan!
Gui Xingfu immediately gritted his teeth, his right hand trembling. If Tu Ling Si and Gui Qinshao were standing in front of him now, he really wanted to slap them hard.
But…
Thinking that Gui Qinzhong and Gui Qinshao had both fallen into Suo Lun’s hands, his heart tightened violently again and he felt immense pain.
Gui Qinzhong was still fine. It was good for a man to suffer some setbacks.
But his precious daughter had never suffered any grievances since childhood. She was not a princess but was treated better than one. The whole family had doted on her like the moon surrounded by stars, so much so that she could order even her three elder brothers around.
Now that she had fallen into Suo Lun’s hands, who knew how she would be humiliated?
Thinking of this, the anger Gui Xingfu felt towards his daughter instantly disappeared completely, leaving only endless heartache. Recalling how his daughter usually acted coquettishly and dependently towards him, Gui Xingfu rushed back to the coastal city like a madman.
The water army had already been completely annihilated and this fact could no longer be changed. The most urgent thing now was to rescue his daughter. The later he was, the more she would suffer.
What could that little beast Suo Lun not do?
…
In the dungeon, Gui Qinshao had already starved to the extreme and was even having hallucinations.
At this moment she was lying on the ground, desperately praying for Suo Lun to come quickly, come quickly. Whether he scolded her or humiliated her, as long as he brought her something to eat.
She was really too hungry, to the point of feeling like she would starve to death.
Finally, as if hearing her prayer, Suo Lun appeared once again.
Gui Qinshao used all her strength to rush to the cell bars and cried out, “Quickly give me food, quickly give me food. I am about to starve to death…”
Suo Lun stretched out his hand. On it was a steamed bun that had already gone mouldy, black and stinking, with a worm crawling on it.
“Want to eat?” Suo Lun asked cruelly.
Tears flowed from Gui Qinshao’s eyes. She knew Suo Lun was humiliating her again. She should have backbone and should shake her head. She should rather die than eat it.
But for some unknown reason, she actually nodded.
Suo Lun threw the black mouldy steamed bun in. Gui Qinshao grabbed it and was about to stuff it into her mouth.
“Wait…” Suo Lun suddenly said.
Gui Qinshao instinctively froze, keeping her mouth open like that.
Suo Lun stepped forward, snatched the stinking steamed bun from her hand and threw it far away.
Gui Qinshao could no longer control herself and cried out loudly, “Suo Lun, what are you doing? What are you doing? Is it not enough that you torment me like this and humiliate me like this? Just kill me, kill me!”
Then she grabbed Suo Lun’s hand and pressed it towards her own neck.
Suo Lun’s other hand took out a fresh warm steamed bun, placed it in her hand, and then brought a cup of clear water and placed it in front of her.
“Eat.” Suo Lun said.
Gui Qinshao was stunned for a moment, then wolfed down the fresh steamed bun. As a result she choked and could not swallow it. She quickly picked up the water to drink, but it was still stuck in her throat and extremely painful.
Suo Lun opened the cell door, sat down beside her and gently patted her back. Finally, with great difficulty, Gui Qinshao swallowed the steamed bun in her throat.
“Sigh…” Suo Lun let out a soft sigh, then pressed hard on her chest to relieve the pain caused by choking.
This sigh seemed to carry endless meaning and made Gui Qinshao’s heart tremble.
Originally he had wanted her to eat the black mouldy stinking steamed bun, even tormenting her until she was like a dog, so that he could vent the hatred in his heart.
But when she really wanted to eat the mouldy steamed bun, he had given up, as if he could not bear it and had preserved her last bit of dignity.
These thoughts flashed quickly through her mind. Then Gui Qinshao continued eating the steamed bun, but this time in small quick bites.
Soon she finished one. She raised her head and looked at Suo Lun.
Suo Lun took out another one and said, “This is the last one. Eating too much will hurt you.”
His voice was gentler than ever before, and Gui Qinshao’s heart trembled violently again.
Before, when facing the princess like Gui Qinshao, Suo Lun’s words had always been cold mockery and sarcasm. Now that she was so wretched and had lost all dignity, he had instead become gentle.
After finishing the second steamed bun, she tremblingly held the water cup with both hands and drank all the clear water inside.
Once the feeling of hunger had eased a little, reason and shame surged up in her heart again.
Recalling her unbearable behaviour these past days, she really felt无比 ashamed. Where was her pride? Where was her dignity? How could she be so useless?
The most humiliating and ugliest side of herself had been completely displayed in front of Suo Lun.
Then she hugged her knees and cried bitterly once again.
Suo Lun just gently patted her back without saying anything. And Gui Qinshao just kept crying like that.
Was Suo Lun really unable to bear it? Did he really feel heartache?
Of course not. This was only his heart destroying tactic.
Everyone has a bottom line for dignity and personality. Once that bottom line is crossed, there is no going back and one will completely and thoroughly fall.
This bottom line varies in height. For some man, his bottom line might be using his wife to exchange for future prospects, or selling his own body to a man. Once that bottom line is crossed, he will completely transform and cannot be saved.
For Gui Qinshao, her bottom line might be nothing more than eating a mouldy stinking steamed bun. If she had really eaten it today, every time she recalled it in the future she would feel nauseous and vomit. All her original pride would be completely lost. After all, she was a little princess who had been doted on to the extreme since childhood, so her dignity bottom line was still very high.
So Suo Lun had tormented her to the extreme. When she was almost completely about to collapse and about to cross her dignity bottom line, he had gently pulled her back.
At this moment, her heart would feel a special warmth. Even though the terrible ordeal she had suffered had been entirely brought by Suo Lun.
It was like when audiences watch a movie and see a person who does all kinds of evil occasionally do a tiny bit of good, they become very moved and feel it is the brilliance of humanity.
Of course, as for whether being violated by Suo Lun eight times had crossed her dignity bottom line? Of course not.
It seemed very strange. Being drugged and violated eight times did not count as crossing the dignity bottom line, but eating a stinking rotten steamed bun did?
However, for the princess like Gui Qinshao, it was indeed so.
When she discovered that her chastity had been violated by Suo Lun, although at that time she had felt as if struck by lightning and completely unable to accept it.
But she did not have anyone she particularly loved, so she did not care about her chastity as much as her life.
Moreover, Suo Lun was so handsome and charming. Being violated by him seven or eight times, although she would hate him to the bone, it… still would not cross the dignity bottom line.
It was like an immaculate young lady from a wealthy family who one day had her first time taken by drugging from Takeshi Kaneshiro. Although she would cry bitterly and feel like a bolt from the blue, she would not really go and commit suicide.
But if she had been violated by a dirty and smelly beggar, she would really want to die immediately and it would become a lifelong nightmare.
“Does it still hurt there? Has it become inflamed?” Suo Lun suddenly asked.
Gui Qinshao paused for a moment, then continued shaking her head while crying without answering.
Immediately afterwards, Suo Lun directly pulled down her damaged trousers and parted her legs.
Gui Qinshao was so frightened that she jumped. She stopped crying, raised her head and looked at Suo Lun with fearful eyes.
Was this beast going to torment her again? Was he going to violate her again?
“It is fine. It has not become inflamed.” Suo Lun glanced at it, then handed her a bottle of ointment and said, “If it hurts, apply some yourself.”
Then Suo Lun left just like that.
Gui Qinshao held the ointment in her hand and suddenly said loudly, “Suo Lun, when will you let me go?”
“Soon.” Suo Lun said, then left directly.
It was only after a good while that Gui Qinshao realised when she had become so shameless. She had actually allowed Suo Lun to peek at her most precious place without feeling anger?
Then she desperately closed her legs, put on the torn silk trousers and once again hugged her knees while crying loudly.
Of course, she did not know that while Suo Lun was using heart destroying tactics on her, he had also ruthlessly extorted thirty thousand gold coins from her father.
…
Suo Lun very much needed these thirty thousand gold coins from Gui Xingfu.
Because more than two months had already passed. There was less than three months left until the final deadline to retake Heavenly Water City. Within these less than three months, he must gather an army of twenty thousand.
His plan was very simple. Use Yan Nai’er’s father’s Silver Wolf Mercenary Group as the core. Then use more than one hundred thousand gold coins to hire twenty thousand troops.
Yes, solve everything completely with gold coins. Directly hire twenty thousand mercenaries to retake Heavenly Water City.
So he needed fifty thousand gold coins as a down payment. Duke Zhi Ting could at most advance him twenty thousand gold coins in advance. As for selling salt vouchers, it could indeed raise a large amount of gold coins in a short time.
Gathering salt merchants, establishing a fleet to transport salt, and auctioning salt vouchers all required time. It would take at least several months before money could truly be seen.
But Suo Lun needed to raise fifty thousand gold coins in a short time. Originally according to Suo Lun’s plan, these fifty thousand gold coins would all be advanced by Duke Zhi Ting. But who would have thought that Duke Zhi Ting’s treasury had been robbed and he had lost almost all his gold coins. Even the twenty thousand gold coins had to be diverted from the gold exchange.
So for the remaining thirty thousand gold coins, he was almost at his wits’ end.
He had not expected that at this time the Gui Clan water army would descend from the sky and attack Random Stone Island. Although the process had been extremely dangerous, the result had been very wonderful. The Gui Clan water army had been completely annihilated, and Gui Qinshao and Gui Qinzhong had both become Suo Lun’s captives.
Such a heaven sent opportunity, Suo Lun naturally had to seize it. If he did not knock this bamboo pole, he would really be letting down heaven. Was there not a saying that went well: if heaven gives and you do not take, you will suffer the consequences.
So he was completely determined to get these thirty thousand gold coins ransom from Gui Xingfu.
…
After spitting blood, Gui Xingfu did not even return to the main coastal city. Instead he rushed madly to the seaside dock and then took a ship to Random Stone Island.
He was anxious and burning with impatience, wanting to rescue his daughter in the shortest possible time.
After sailing for several hours at sea, finally on the seventh day after Gui Qinshao had been captured, Gui Xingfu appeared on Duke Zhi Ting’s tower ship.
The usually meticulous Gui Xingfu faced Duke Zhi Ting with rare cold eyes and did not even perform normal courtesy, as if completely ignoring him.
Previously when he had faced Duke Zhi Wei’s son Zhi You, he had bent his waist to ninety degrees.
This already showed his attitude. He would absolutely not let go of the matter of the Gui Clan water army being wiped out. Even facing Duke Zhi Ting, he would fight and demand justice.
Gui Xingfu walked straight up to Suo Lun and said coldly, “Suo Lun, release my daughter and release my son!”
“Thirty thousand gold coins to ransom back your son and daughter.” Suo Lun said straightforwardly.
The two of them did not waste a single unnecessary word and directly entered the main topic.
“Dream on, keep dreaming your great spring and autumn dream.” Gui Xingfu said angrily.
Although he was a kingdom feudal lord and had originally been one of the richest people, several decades ago that civil war between him and Gui Xingchou had almost completely exhausted the family fortune.
After he succeeded to the position, in order to show his love for the people as if they were his own children, he had set taxes very low. So every year he could not scrape much gold coins from the people of the coastal city.
But whether it was maintaining an army, interactions between feudal lords, or dealings with the royal city, all required large amounts of money.
So in order to make money, Gui Xingfu had no choice but to use slaves to mine and boil salt, earning this most sinful and dark money.
Even so, in twenty or thirty years he had only saved less than one hundred thousand gold coins. Now Suo Lun wanted to extort thirty thousand gold coins at once. This was stabbing a knife hard into his heart.
This bastard had already caused his water army to be completely annihilated, and now he wanted to blackmail him for another thirty thousand gold coins. It was simply going too far.
At this moment Gui Xingfu really wanted to tear Suo Lun into ten thousand pieces, but unfortunately he could not.
Taking a deep breath, Gui Xingfu said resolutely, “Suo Lun, I will not give a single gold coin, but I must take the people away.”
“Impossible.” Suo Lun said, “You cannot take them away either.”
Gui Xingfu said, “If you do not agree, I will use ten thousand gold coins to borrow troops, borrow several thousand water army soldiers, and in the name of pirates slaughter everyone on your island clean and rescue my son and daughter. Of course, if I cannot rescue them, I will capture your elder sister Suo Ning Bing and force you to release my daughter.”
Duke Zhi Ting beside them laughed coldly, “City Lord Gui, do you think I do not exist? Do you think my army does not exist?”
Gui Xingfu said coldly, “Your Grace, your army will not stay long. You will not stay here long either. Just wait. Your trouble is coming, and it is huge trouble!”
Indeed it was so. Duke Zhi Ting’s army would not stay long. The naval battle a few days ago had been completely illegal. Now the storm from the royal city side had already begun to brew.
It probably would not be long before Duke Zhi Ting’s tower ship army would have to leave Random Stone Island. Once there was no longer this army, Gui Xingfu could borrow several thousand water army soldiers with money at any time and slaughter Random Stone Island clean.
And when that time really came, the foundation of the Suo Clan’s revival would also be completely cut off.
“Immediately release Gui Qinshao and Gui Qinzhong. I want to take them away right now.” Gui Xingfu said, “I will not give a single gold coin. If you do not agree, I will leave immediately and will not discuss another half sentence.”
Suo Lun shook his head and said, “Thirty thousand gold coins to exchange for the people. Not a single one can be missing.”
Sure enough, Gui Xingfu stood up directly and turned to walk out.
At the doorway, Gui Xingfu turned back and said, “Suo Lun, it is you who forced me to tear off all pretence. Just wait for me to lead several thousand pirates here and let all your people wait for death.”
With that, Gui Xingfu left without any hesitation, cutting off any room for negotiation.
This was also what Gui Xingfu had decided long ago. He would not give a single gold coin, because Suo Lun had no bargaining power at all.
He, Gui Xingfu, was so cunning and clever. How could he let this little fox Suo Lun blackmail him? It was completely a fool’s dream.
Then, did Suo Lun have bargaining power?
Of course he did. There was a saying that went well: baseness is the pass of the base, and at this moment… he was a base person.
Watching Gui Xingfu leave, Suo Lun said unhurriedly, “Father in law, walk slowly. There is one more thing I forgot to say.”
Gui Xingfu’s heart trembled. He felt a faint sense of unease.
Suo Lun lowered his head, picked up the wine cup and drank it in one gulp, saying, “You also know that Gui Qinshao is stunningly beautiful. Any man facing her cannot maintain reason. So… on the first night after capturing her, I slept with her, and a full eight times. So your daughter is no longer pure and flawless.”
As soon as these words came out, Gui Xingfu was immediately as if struck by lightning and stood frozen in place.
“Of course, this is my fault, but after all we had already held the wedding ceremony, so consider it as making up for the wedding night as well.” Suo Lun continued, “However, if the news that Gui Qinshao’s chastity has been destroyed spreads, Ling Ao probably will not be willing to marry her anymore, and your most important tripartite marriage alliance plan will also completely fall through.”