He did not use honorifics.

Niu Lingxiao heard the sarcasm in this sentence, but instead of attacking, he patted Tianhao's shoulder in a friendly way, and let out a louder laugh: "This king doesn't raise waste around him. Without a tongue, they have to die, anyway, it's all a "death" word, it's better to just cut off their heads, and no one will dare to tell me right and wrong in front of me in the future. ”

His gaze suddenly became deep, and the irony was so strong: "Brother! This mouth grows on other people, and they can say that you are young, and they can say that you are a milk doll that has not even grown hair. If you don't control it, these words may become a mess in the future. Hey, hey, hey...... There is something even more outrageous than this, saying that the lord of Rock City is a girl, who usually wears women's clothes, and stands on the woman's side when he encounters something, and even lets women serve the table when he eats, and he doesn't want men to care at all. ”

Tianhao raised his hand and slowly stroked his jaw. He moves gracefully, and his smile is full of confidence and arrogance: "It's not surprising at all. Some women can't get married, but there are many men around them, and when the child is born, they don't know who the father is, and when they grow up, they will naturally be prejudiced against women. They are all uninformed, dull-minded wild breeds, or some mongrels with dirty bloodlines. ”

He speaks clearly and speaks clearly. One is the king of the clan and the other is the lord, and only they can speak on such occasions, and the others cannot intervene without permission. It's just that the ridicule in Tianhao's words is too clear, so that the fierce bull guards standing next to Niu Lingxiao changed their faces when they heard this, and they all held their respective weapons, and the atmosphere instantly became tense.

The anger burned in Niu Lingxiao's eyes, but it was quickly extinguished in a very short time. His square face with the word "country" showed a smile again, as if nothing had happened before, and he still asked with a straightforward laugh: "Ah Hao, I have come so far, should you invite me to a drink?" I've heard that the cider in Rock City is very good, isn't that too much to ask? ”

Tianhao also smiled and nodded, leaned sideways, and made a "please" gesture.

This is not the place to speak, anyway, the first face-to-face confrontation has generally understood the opponent's attitude, and then, it is time to get to the core issue.

When he turned around and walked towards the city lord's office with Niu Lingxiao, Tianhao caught a glimpse of a man in black in the guard of the King of Fierce Bulls. He wore a heavy robe that covered his entire head so tightly that he couldn't see the slightest face.

It feels somewhat familiar.

Tianhao retracted his gaze thoughtfully, a little puzzled, but he couldn't remember who that person was for a while.

He began to think.

……

The guards were all guarding outside, only Niu Lingxiao and Tianhao were in the wide office, and across the long bar table with fine workmanship, the king of the fierce bull put away the smile that had been on his face since he entered the city, and the whole person looked gloomy and rigid, exuding a terrifying cold momentum.

"It seems that you are the same as I thought, and you don't want to expand the matter." Niu Lingxiao stretched out his hand to the teapot on the plate, but his eyes were firmly locked on Tianhao, who was sitting opposite: "You don't seem to understand what "rules" are. It's no wonder that young people always do a terrible job of this, especially nouveau riche like you who climb up from below. To put it mildly, I even suspected that you were Niu Weibang's illegitimate son. ”

Tianhao replied quietly: "Thank you for the compliment." ”

Niu Lingxiao looked at the pure water flowing from the spout of the teapot in disappointment, he slammed the teapot in his hand on the table, and shouted dissatisfiedly: "Hey, even if there is no wine, it's always okay to have a cup of tea, right?" ”

Tianhao's answer was bleak: "This is Rock City, not Fierce Horn City." ”

This answer was completely unexpected. Niu Lingxiao was stunned for a moment, then suddenly smiled, his lips grinned very wide to the sides, revealing a mouth full of slightly yellow teeth, like neatly arranged corn grains: "Young man, dare to talk to me like this, hehe...... You're bold. ”

"And what do you want me to say?" Tianhao's smile was very charming: "I'm sorry for the king? I shouldn't have killed your messenger king? Did I misunderstand the king to you? ”

Niu Lingxiao laughed and raised his hand high, slammed the table, the huge force almost knocked the cup over, the water splashed on the table, and quickly seeped a wet mark.

He propped up the table with both hands, staring at the opposite side like a predatory bear, as if he wanted to engrave every detail of Tianhao's face in his mind: "That's right, that's exactly what I want to hear." ”

Tianhao's smile gradually faded, and the mockery leaked from the depths of his bones, like ripples on the surface of the water: "I'm sorry to disappoint you." ”

"Let's settle the score!" Niu Lingxiao didn't intend to continue the useless battle of words, he clenched his right fist and stretched it out in an extremely slow movement, like an octopus standing up from the table, arching his wrists and palms high, and his voice was very low, like a ghost whispering in his ear: "You are so bold, dare to kill my people." ”

"If you're referring to Yu Zheng, I can tell you responsibly———— he's a liar." Tianhao replied quickly.

"How are you going to end this?" The king of the bulls doesn't care about the process and only focuses on the result.

"I'd love to give him his bones back." Tianhao took the kettle from in front of Niu Lingxiao and said calmly: "Don't use so much force next time you smash the table, you will have to pay for breaking things." By the way———— teapots and cups in Rock City are expensive. ”

"Give me back my people." Niu Lingxiao couldn't see a trace of a smile on his face, and a fierce cold light was released from the depths of his eyes: "Yu Zheng brought 20,000 people, I remember every face and every name of them. If you want to keep them, you'll have to give me the same number of pigs. ”

"You're mistaken, it's only eighteen thousand and five." Tianhao said unceremoniously: "The half-dead old man, the child who can't even walk, the woman is skinny and skinny, and there are many cripples who lack hands and feet...... You're pretty good at business, and trading these guys for strong pigs is a sure way to make a profit no matter how you look at it. ”

"I said 20,000 is 20,000." Niu Lingxiao suddenly laughed without warning, and let out a hoarse strange laugh: "Hand over my people, or you will die." ”

"It's a pity that they're all dead." Tianhao spread out his hands, his young face was full of innocence, and he sighed: "It's all your fault." Those people have traveled a long way, but you refuse to give them food like a miser, why should I help you feed more than 18,000 wastes that you can't even do your job? What do you think is the place in Rock City, a model nursing home? Or an orphanage that you can live in without paying anything? ”

Without waiting for Niu Lingxiao to answer, Tianhao sneered and tapped his fingers on the table: "As the king of a clan, you still have the face to tell me what compensation you have to say to you after watching so many people starve to death." I have thought of it, and tomorrow I will send someone to Blackhorn City to tell His Majesty about this matter as it is, and let everyone judge and see what they have to say. ”

Niu Lingxiao slowly narrowed his eyes and stopped talking. His eyes shone with danger and murderous intent, no different from a predatory beast, and fear spread in silence, already showing fangs and claws.

"I want to cut out your tongue." The bloodshot gradually intensified in his eye sockets: "And your eyes, they are so bright, I have to dig them out." ”

"Thanks for the compliment." Tianhao owed slightly, and smiled faintly: "I have always thought that this is my greatest strength." ”

"You must think I can't do anything about you?" The king of the bulls was grinding his teeth, and his face was ugly.

"This is Rock City, not Horn City." Tianhao does not intend to argue on this issue, and it is pointless.

Niu Lingxiao's face became gloomy again, and he looked at Tianhao with a snake-like clammy gaze: "Young man, pay attention to your wording, even Niu Weibang doesn't dare to talk to me like this." ”

"He's him, I'm me." Tianhao's answer was simple and direct.

"If it weren't for His Majesty's ban on private fighting, I'd send troops right now and bulldoze this damn city." Niu Lingxiao slowly licked his lips and let out an ugly and threatening sneer: "You should understand that I have this strength. ”

Tianhao shook his head calmly: "It's hard to draw an equal sign between hypothesis and reality, especially now. ”

The King of the Bull stared round, a sense of frustration that he had never felt before wandered through his body. He put away his fierce and intimidating momentum, his brows furrowed very tightly, his body leaned back on the chair, his eyes were level with Tianhao's eyes, and he confronted him in silence for a long time, he slowly inserted his right hand into his pocket, took out a shiny metal coin, threw it on the table, pressed it with his middle finger, and slowly pushed it in front of Tianhao.

This is a silver coin unique to the lion family, made in the form of minting and polishing, the round shape is not very regular, and the head of the lion king in the center is a little blurry, but in terms of craftsmanship, it is already the highest level of the lion family.

"I'm a reasonable person." Niu Lingxiao's eyes were shrouded in a layer of gloom: "For the sake of the same clan, I think this matter can be solved in another way." ”

He raised his right index finger: "One silver coin for one pig, this is my last concession." ”

Without waiting for Tianhao to answer, Niu Lingxiao continued to whisper full of deterrence, and his speed of speech was extremely slow: "For the sake of you being a lord, I have already given you enough courtesy." You'd better agree to this condition and don't try to provoke me, if that's the case...... I promise, you'll regret it. ”

He said the last few words very clearly.

Tianhao is as calm as water.

For half a minute, he remained silent.

After a long time, he slowly opened his lips: "This thing does not contain enough silver." ”

Expecting to be like an untamed fierce horse, it rushed up from the top of the cliff and fell rapidly towards the bottomless abyss in Niu Lingxiao's heart.

He understood what that sentence meant.

Gold and silver were the universal precious metals of the northern barbarians.

Genetic memory has ingrained the concept of wealth into the marrow of savages, including whites and blacks in the southern part of the continent, who have treated these two metals as hard currency. Although most of the northern barbarians did not have the concept of money, they liked gold and were willing to accept the trade method of exchanging silver for goods. It was on this basis that the monetary system initiated by the Lion King was based on the practice of white Southerners, minting gold and silver coins.

Finance is a complex discipline that goes beyond the normal perception of barbarians. The Lion King is the best of them, and it is difficult or even impossible for ordinary civilians to understand or even understand the meaning. The exchange of non-pure silver currency for goods is essentially equivalent to wealth plundering, and in the case of silver coins minted by the Leon Clan, the silver content of which is not more than 20%.

This is an open secret in the upper echelons of the barbarians. The reason why the great master Wu Peng vigorously opposed the monetary system was precisely because the gold and silver content of this "adulterated" coinage was not high, and the lion clan was fully prepared, once the trade was fully liberalized, the Niu clan would definitely suffer heavy losses.

As the king of the clan, Niu Lingxiao knew all this. In fact, including him, many nobles believed that the monetary system was imperative, and the way of physical transactions was too old and extremely inconvenient, especially as the most effective means of plundering the wealth of the lower classes.

The yellow gold, the white silver, how dazzling, just like the most beautiful woman, with the most graceful part of the body to tempt men, crazy for it.

Niu Lingxiao never thought of starting an all-out war with Rock City. It is impossible for neither His Majesty nor the Great Powers to agree to such an act of infighting. When the deputy envoy brought back the news of Yu Zheng's death, the enraged King of the Bull cut off his head on the spot, and for the first time in his life, he felt ashamed, like being ridden by a bastard on his neck, shit and pee, and finally have to pull his hair and wipe his buttocks.

Blackmail is also a symbol of power.

When he learned that Panshi City had won a great victory in attacking the Pig Clan, Niu Lingxiao was so stimulated that his eyes turned red. He couldn't wait to send emissaries asking for an exchange of prisoners. Although rude and ignorant, the pig people are recognized as warriors. exchanging more than 10,000 old, weak, sick and disabled people for the same number of pigs, this deal is worth it no matter how you look at it.

He felt that there was no problem in doing so, after all, the Rock City Lord was a young man, even if he had Niu Weibang behind him, but age and experience were here, as long as he opened his mouth and made a request, a young junior who had just risen would definitely offer what he wanted with both hands.

I'm a king after all. Flattery and flattery are something that everyone who wants to climb up will do.

But I just met a stunned young man who didn't understand anything.

Kill my messengers, and rob my men.

Niu Lingxiao was so angry that his liver hurt.

He was shrewd and prepared several plans.

Since the other party's attitude is so tough, then retreat and pull this young man into his own circle of interests.

Let's just treat this as a transaction, settled in monetary terms.

There was no one in the world who didn't like gold and silver, not to mention that Rock City was located on the edge of the Thunder Bull Tribe's territory, bordering multiple tribes, including the Leon Clan, and the young city lord should know the value of silver coins.

But he just said such a damn thing!

The silver content is insufficient.