20demayo Chapter 46 Li Wei's Third Way
Chapter 46 Li Wei's Third Way
After the banquet, the guests left one after another.
But Samuel did not leave.
He waited until only the servants cleaning up the mess remained in the hall before finding Li Wei, who was looking out at the night sky from the window.
"Mr. Li, thank you for tonight!" Samuel's voice carried a complex mix of gratitude and wariness.
"I'm just protecting my investments," Li Wei replied casually.
"They're relying on you more and more. But some are... becoming more and more wary of you. They need you to prove your loyalty."
"Beware of my greed, or beware of my ability?"
Samuel did not answer; instead, he pulled a slip of paper from his pocket.
"The British Army has a batch of the latest Brownbes smoothbore muskets, which will soon be transported from Britain to Boston to replenish the garrison. We need to know the exact ship name, arrival time, and transport route from the dock warehouse to the barracks."
Li Wei took the note but didn't read it.
"Is this a test for me?"
"It's our...request," Samuel uttered with difficulty. "The payment is negotiable."
After seeing off the preoccupied Samuel, Levi hadn't even had a chance to catch his breath when Andrew Gage emerged from the shadows.
He seemed to have been waiting for Samuel to leave.
"That hot-blooded youth, did he talk to you about freedom?" Andrew asked lazily, his usually sleepy eyes suddenly gleaming with a long-lost sharpness.
"He wants to buy some Eastern tea from me."
"Really? Can he taste the flavor of your tea?" Andrew smiled noncommittally.
He also took out a folded letter from his silk vest.
"My uncle also has a business deal he'd like to discuss with you. He wants to know whose warehouses have been receiving the sulfur and saltpeter that are currently in short supply in Boston."
Sulfur and saltpeter are key raw materials for making gunpowder.
Li Wei took the second note, but did not open it either.
Andrew patted him on the shoulder. "Lee, don't let us down. The Governor's House needs friends, but never fools."
After the adjutant, whose allegiance was uncertain, left, Li Wei was left alone in the huge banquet hall.
Fiona walked silently from outside the banquet hall and draped a coat over his shoulders.
Li Wei gently patted Fiona's back and stood beside her in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling window.
On the left is a note left by Samuel, on which he hastily wrote his desire for the new smoothbore muskets of the British army.
On the right is a letter handed over by Andrew, requesting him to find out the final destination of the gunpowder raw materials in the city.
The two pieces of paper are like two verdicts with predetermined outcomes.
He looked down at the dominoes on the table, which had been played with by many people. The ivory was white and the ebony was black, much like the two distinct forces on this land.
And he was the one in charge.
To survive, both sides must be kept gambling at their own tables forever.
Li Wei stretched out his hand and placed a black card and a white card side by side in the center of the table.
Fifteen minutes later.
He pulled another domino from his pocket and threw it, knocking down both dominoes on the table.
"Fiona, go and fetch Finn and Seamus!"
……
Finn and Seamus arrived quickly.
One-eyed Finn strode forward, his leather boots clattering heavily on the maple floor, his clothes still carrying the salty smell of the docks and the tobacco scent of the tavern.
Seamus followed behind him like a silent wall, his footsteps almost silent. He habitually stood in the shadows, blending himself into the environment.
"Sir, what's the job?" Finn's loud voice broke the silence in the hall.
Li Wei didn't answer directly; instead, he pointed to two slips of paper on the table.
"One client wants us to steal a batch of goods, and another client wants us to find out who is buying another batch of goods."
He used business jargon to describe the current predicament.
"We can't accept either of these deals, but we can't refuse either of them either."
Finn scratched his left eye, which was covered by an eyepatch, his face showing undisguised confusion.
"Damn it, let's just ignore them!"
"Then we'll be wiped out by both sides." Li Wei stated a fact in a calm tone.
He looked at Seamus.
"Seamus, what do you think?"
The burly, bear-like man simply replied, "I'll do as you say, sir."
Li Wei tapped his knuckles three times on the table, producing a crisp sound, as if he were organizing his thoughts.
"I don't believe in any coincidences. The fact that guns and gunpowder became problems at the same time is a problem in itself."
Levi gently fastened the coat Fiona had draped over him, then turned his gaze to Finn.
"You have the widest network of connections at the docks. I need you to investigate a British munitions ship that will be arriving soon. Don't worry about how many guns are on board; that's a military secret, and you'll die if you touch it."
"I want you to find out exactly which ship it is, who the captain is, his background, his habits, who he owes money to, and which tavern he has his own private seat in."
Finn blinked his one eye and immediately understood the key point: checking the goods was suicide, checking the people was a way to survive.
"Understood, sir. In Boston's docks, there are no secrets that stay hidden forever."
As he lowered his head, a glint of excitement flashed in his single eye. This concrete task suited his taste far better than pondering those convoluted schemes.
Levi's gaze then shifted to Seamus.
"Seamus, the governor's mansion wants me to find sulfur and saltpeter, but we don't source them."
"Sulfur and saltpeter are conspicuous items. Tracing the goods directly would be like telling everyone what we're doing. Let's try a different approach: investigate the money."
"money?"
"Yes, money. Have your newly recruited lads find out who's been buying things from the black market lately, in small batches, and frequently, with cash."
"We call these kinds of people ghost buyers, but even ghosts have to pay. I need you to draw the faces of these 'ghosts' for me."
"I don't need to know how much they bought, I need to know who paid for it and where the money came from."
Finally, Levi looked at Fiona, who had stopped what she was doing and was standing quietly to the side.
"Fiona, your ledgers are very well done. But from today onwards, you are no longer an accountant, but will learn to be an analyst."
Levi took out a small booklet from his pocket, which was a record of Boston black market commodity prices compiled by Boyle.
"You need to compile a list of all contraband in Boston over the past six months, especially the market price fluctuations of gunpowder raw materials. Then, try to obtain the pay disbursement dates for each regiment stationed in the British Army. Put these two documents together and review them."
Fiona raised her eyes slightly, as if she understood something, but she didn't ask any further questions.
The three men accepted the order and left, leaving Li Wei alone in the empty hall once again.
He picked up the two slips of paper from the table, walked to the fireplace, and threw them into the roaring flames.
The paper curls up, turns black, and eventually turns to ashes.
This is a multiple-choice question, but every choice leads to a dead end.
He didn't want to make a choice; what he wanted to do was dig out the person who set the question.
Having received his orders, Finn strode out of the gates of Oak Bay Manor, the cool evening breeze dispelling the slight intoxication he felt from the "Jade Dew."
Li Wei's tongue twisters about "clients" and "business" gave him a headache, but the task itself was simple and direct, which suited him perfectly.
Nowhere on this land is more filthy and corrupt than the docks, and nowhere is more well-informed.
He became the one who made the fastest progress among the three.