After a short while, Ning Yi met Lu Hongti in a side room. Her face appeared somewhat long and her complexion was sallow. She looked like a village woman in her early thirties. However, Ning Yi recognized her immediately from her demeanor. She was disguised, but her eyes still held a calming spirit, the same woman who had taught him the internal energy of the Sixfold Severance and insisted it was a second-rate skill.

After the introductions, Su Tan'er didn't beat around the bush and asked if the two were old acquaintances. Ning Yi bowed respectfully and said with a smile, "Master." This startled Su Tan'er, who paused for a moment before gathering her skirt to kneel. Lu Hongti blinked and then stopped her, "Don't be silly, I can't accept you as a disciple."

Although Lu Hongti was about the same age as Ning Yi and Xigua, she was gentle and seemed much more composed. Dressed as a thirty-year-old, no one would suspect anything. The three chatted for a few moments. Su Tan'er gathered that although the female warrior didn't admit to being Ning Yi's master, she had indeed taught her husband his martial arts, so she should treat her as an elder. If the two wanted to talk in depth, she shouldn't be present. After offering tea, she left, giving them the opportunity to speak alone.

Once his wife had left, Ning Yi asked, "Did you come here to form an alliance with Fang La or something? Also… Tan'er said you were being chased?"

Lu Hongti looked at him for a moment, "I came specifically to find you."

"Huh?"

Ning Yi was taken aback. This reason was indeed unexpected. After all, for someone to travel such a long distance from Lüliang just to contact a person didn't seem worth the trip. Then, Lu Hongti began to explain her reasons.

"Well… over the past year, just as you said, the stronghold has been managed very well. Things have been done as you suggested. We contacted merchants on both sides and allowed them to pass through Lüliang Mountain, except for war-related materials. Everything else is allowed. There's going to be a war this year, but all kinds of goods are even more in demand. We charge a percentage based on the market price and exchange the payment for salt, iron, and grain, which familiar merchants bring in advance. We also informed several nearby strongholds, and they allow us to pass through. We provide manpower and resources and share some of the goods with them. Heh, it took a lot of effort to convince them at first…"

The part that Ning Yi had envisioned for her was essentially a purely commercial operation. In essence, it was simple. Lu Hongti's stronghold provided a one-stop Lüliang Mountain transit service. They provided manpower to accompany merchants and ensure their safety. They also coordinated with various forces along the way, giving them a portion of the profits. In the past, the situation in Lüliang Mountain was quite chaotic. The poor mountains and treacherous roads made travel difficult, and merchants risked their lives to cross the mountains. They were often robbed along the way. If they encountered someone with a sense of order, they could pay protection money and perhaps pass through. If a stronghold was desperate for food, they would kill people and steal all the goods. It was a common occurrence.

The problem was that in such a situation, each stronghold might not get what they wanted. No merchant would take that route just to trade for some grain. If you robbed a cart of cloth and wanted to exchange it for grain, you would definitely be ripped off. In the end, the profits were quite limited. Plus, there was a lack of unity. Those forced up the mountain felt they had no future and often drifted aimlessly, indulging themselves day by day. Everyone lived in poverty.

Modern commercial operations don't directly optimize production, but they first coordinate distribution towards positive development. In the past, grain merchants who dared to enter the mountains would definitely make a huge profit. Now, Lu Hongti only charged the market price, allowing familiar merchants who wanted to pass through to bring enough salt, iron, and grain to cover the transit fees. The one-stop safety service also made merchants more willing to help Lu Hongti. As for the other strongholds, since they didn't provide manpower or resources, they couldn't take the lion's share. But even the small portion they received was better than their previous earnings. Most people, after all, felt that she was quite generous.

In a chaotic system, as long as a system is formed and rules are established, there will definitely be profits. Of course, this kind of thing wasn't without envy, but one year was just the beginning of this kind of business. Not many people had been alerted. And even if others wanted to do it, they couldn't do it in the short term. As mentioned earlier, the people who went up the mountain weren't diligent or hardworking. They hadn't had a direction for their efforts in the past, and they were simply drifting along. Maintaining a smuggling route, coordinating various people, and spending a lot of effort to control the movements in the mountains wasn't an easy task. For the people involved in the matter, it was equivalent to working a nine-to-five job, even with overtime. For these bandits who were used to being unrestrained and carefree, who would want to work every day?

Being able to truly make things work still depended on Lu Hongti's various ideological works in the stronghold, remembering the bitterness and thinking about the sweetness, telling stories, and even "rescuing" a family of opera singers, who performed a show in the stronghold every seven days. Ning Yi had only used the operation of shopping malls, company culture, and system indicators in these things. When Lu Hongti first started, it was quite difficult. But the effect of everything combined was obviously beyond her imagination.

Of course, among these, the most important was naturally the military force. To make all the strongholds along the way united and not cause trouble, relying solely on interests and coordination wasn't possible. During this period, there must have been fights and bloodshed. But in any case, it sounded like this business was basically taking shape under Lu Hongti's hands.

“… Tian Hu has been reaching out to us all along. In the third month, he invited the stronghold leaders to a meeting, and seven of them were killed. Most of those strongholds surrendered to Tian Hu, but fortunately, our route hasn't been affected yet. On the contrary, some people who were dissatisfied came to join me. In the past few months, the stronghold has grown larger and larger. Tian Hu shouldn't have any intention of attacking us for the time being. I heard that he thinks we're just businessmen and looks down on us a bit. But you also said before that if the stronghold becomes too big all of a sudden, the… ideological work can't keep up, and it will be very troublesome. Grandpa Liang also said the same, and then he told me to come south to Jiangning to find you.”

Lu Hongti said here, looked at Ning Yi and smiled: "I originally wanted to catch you back to Lüliang."

So, the organization had developed to a bottleneck, and she wasn't sure what to do next. Ning Yi understood and smiled, "Forcing me to join the Liangshan Mountain, huh…"

"It's not forcing you to join Liangshan, it's to join Lüliang." At this time, forcing someone to join Liangshan naturally didn't have any special meaning. Lu Hongti corrected him seriously, "But when I went to Jiangning, I heard that Fang La had become emperor in the south. You weren't at the Su family, so I went to your confidante, whose name is Nie Yunzhu -- you had me send a message before, and I still remembered the place. Seeing her condition at the time, I thought you were dead. Later, I showed up and asked her, and I learned that you were trapped in Hangzhou and there was no news. That's why I continued south."

Ning Yi thought for a moment, "How is she?"

"She's just worried about you, and that Yuan Jin'er, Miss Yuan, is quite interesting." Lu Hongti smiled, "I said I would protect you, and I almost knocked down a tree across the river before they could relax. After I arrived in Huzhou, I heard news about you again. At that time, I secretly found your wife and watched her for a while. Seeing her preparing to go south, I pretended to be chased on the road and asked her for help… It's always easier to find you with her. Besides, I also originally intended to make you owe me a favor."

Ning Yi nodded, "I am endlessly grateful."

Lu Hongti just smiled: "You're so deeply involved in Hangzhou, when can you leave?"

"I can't calculate it either, but don't rob me." Ning Yi crossed his hands, "I'll make you a detailed five-year plan. I probably won't be able to go to Lüliang Mountain for the time being. When things are over in Hangzhou, I have to go to the capital. The Wu Dynasty's situation is dire, and I know the Right Chancellor. I'll probably go help him."

"You… are you going to become an official?" Lu Hongti frowned.

"Maybe a staff officer, perhaps helping with logistics."

"… The Jin and Liao are at war now, so how can the Wu Dynasty be in dire straits? The court… does it really want to take the opportunity to break Liao and recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun?"

Although she was a bandit, Lu Hongti was actually quite concerned about the situation of the Wu Dynasty. Ning Yi just shook his head with a smile: "It's impossible. Jin is destined to destroy Liao. The Liao Kingdom is an old wolf, and the Jin Kingdom is a tiger. What we're afraid of now is that after this tiger kills the wolf, it will find a sheep below and continue to kill it. The Wu Dynasty doesn't have the strength, and it always wants to play the vertical and horizontal strategist game of getting something for nothing. What's to be feared is that the country will be destroyed in the end…"

"Hmm." Lu Hongti understood these words, nodded, "Then… what is the five-year plan you mentioned…"

"When you have time, tell me about the situation in Lüliang, the… all the detailed information around you. Then we can make one or several sets of plans to see what to do in the future. However, the general direction can be imagined at the moment." Ning Yi considered, smiled, and gestured casually, "Strengthen your control over the surrounding areas, rely on Lüliang Mountain, do smuggling, and develop your side into a smuggling transit station or... a free trade zone… uh, it's just to allow smugglers to live there, to create a market there, to provide protection, and to provide order."

"… Allow ironware and warhorses from the north to be transported to the south, and luxury goods from the south to be transported to the north. When our strength develops a little, rob the things from the Liao people, kill the Liao merchants, and auction the things in Lüliang Mountain. We can do business with Tian Hu, selling things from Wu and Liao to them. At the same time, do business with Wu. If there are any heads of the Liao people, armor of the army, sell them to the army here in Wu. Didn't you fight with the Liao people before? Heads are probably wasted, this is definitely very profitable. Finally, if we can build a neutral small city that no one cares about, that would be the best. But for now, we can basically imagine this direction…"

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