Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 312 Luring the wolf into the house
"It seems that he wants to take action against the remnants of the Uighurs. Otherwise, the more than 2,000 Hankou who migrated before would be enough for him to gain a foothold in Xizhou."

At the end of July, when the government and the public were investigating the situation in Longyou, Liu Jilian, who had gone to Lanzhou, had just returned to Didao City.

At the same time, the light cavalry of Xizhou also delivered Zhang Huaishen's letter to Liu Jilian.

Faced with the contents of Zhang Huaishen's handwritten letter requesting the relocation of population, Liu Jilong thought it over again and again and decided to give him face.

If nothing else, if Zhang Huaishen can gain a foothold in Xizhou, Longyou will also be able to obtain more wealth from the Silk Road.

Compared with the nearly one million guan of business every year, a small population is nothing.

But before that, he still had to have a good discussion with Zhang Huaishen about the affairs of the Western Regions.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong picked up his pen and wrote a reply letter, the content of which was mainly to advise Zhang Huaishen to stabilize the situation and concentrate on development.

In recent years, whenever there was a population that could be migrated, he would find a way to move it to Hexi to help him gain a foothold in the Western Regions.

In addition, Liu Jilian also explained to Zhang Huaishen the court's abolition of the nine-cent tax.

Since the abolition of the nine-cent tax, and with the strict defense measures taken by various roads, the population pouring into Longyou has gradually decreased.

Liu Jilian could migrate the population to Hexi through trade, but he could not migrate the people under his rule to the Western Regions.

After finishing the letter, Liu Jilong blew the ink dry, put it in an envelope, and handed it to Cao Mao in front of him:

"I remember that there were more than 1,200 people who came to commit crimes in the past few months, right?"

"Send these people and this letter to Ganzhou. If Juyan wants to pay for the wine, just charge 10 strings of cash per person."

Cao Mao nodded in agreement, turned around and walked out of the yamen.

Shortly after he left, hurried footsteps were heard outside the main hall again.

Liu Jilong looked up and saw Cui Shu rushing over. He bowed and said from a distance of more than ten steps:
"General, the military supervisor of Xichuan, Yang Fuguang, has arrived in Pandi County and said he wants to discuss business with you. He hopes to come to Didao City to meet with you."

"Yang Fuguang?" Liu Jilong frowned slightly. He probably thought of why Yang Fuguang came.

"It seems that the decrease in the number of refugees from Xichuan is related to Cui Xuan and Yang Fuguang..."

Liu Jilong spoke calmly, and Cui Shu nodded:

"I think so too. Wang Sifeng, Liu Yingyan and others also wrote to me, saying that Xichuan has increased the number of troops patrolling the border in the past half month."

Cui Shu's words made Liu Jilong more certain of his guess.

"The last time Yang Fuguang came to buy draft horses, I remember he only bought 10,000 horses, right?"

"Yes……"

Seeing Cui Shu nod, Liu Jilong continued, "Cui Xuan has recruited 30,000 soldiers in Xichuan, and has been training them for more than half a year."

"Although Xichuan has a large population, it does not have much animal power."

"Most of the officials who previously served as the governor of Xichuan had trade relations with us, mostly trading horses."

"This Cui Xuan is blocking the border so tightly now. I'm afraid he wants to follow the example of Bai Minzhong in the past and exchange horses with me by offering refugees..."

Cui Shu frowned upon hearing this, and dissatisfaction appeared on his face: "General Jie, do you want to continue to imitate what you did before and find a way to transfer Cui Xuan away?"

"No need!" Liu Jilong shook his head and rejected his idea, while explaining:

"In the past, I took action against Bai Minzhong because he wanted horses but didn't want to make us stronger, so he always targeted us in the horse trade."

"When Bai Minzhong was in office, not many people flocked to Longyou every year, so I transferred him away because of the crowding."

"Choi Hyun is different from Baek Min-jung. If Choi Hyun can be won over by us, then we can trade horses for refugees."

Compared to Baek Min-jung, Choi Hyun is undoubtedly much easier to deal with, and is also more greedy.

Liu Jilong was not afraid of Cui Xuan's greed, but he was afraid that Cui Xuan was as far-sighted as Bai Minzhong and would restrict the development of Longyou everywhere.

If he could use this trade to tie Cui Xuan firmly to Xichuan and make him serve him, there would be no need for him to take the risk of invading and plundering the people of Xichuan.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong said, "Tell Wang Sifeng and others to send troops to escort Yang Fuguang to Didao City. Also notify the mines in Wuzhou, Dangzhou, Minzhou, Linzhou, etc., not to let Yang Fuguang know about the gunpowder."

"Yes!" Cui Shu agreed without hesitation, then left the government office and passed Liu Jilian's military order to various states.

At the same time, Liu Jilong also sent someone to summon Gao Jinda, and ordered him to bring all the documents of the six departments in the Protectorate.

Soon, Liu Jilong's front was filled with documents, more than a hundred in total.

These hundreds of books cover the development of various industries in Longyou. From arable land to tea, candles, minerals to population, the conditions of various industries are presented to Liu Jilong through data.

As the situation stabilized, the herds of cattle and sheep in Longyou Ranch continued to grow, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that there were millions of them.

Those yellow cattle that cannot be domesticated, as well as yaks in five states including Shankuo, Tao, Diesong, etc., are basically sold as beef cattle.

As for those domesticated cattle, they were basically distributed to the people by the Protectorate. After settling down, the people repaid them by giving birth to new cattle, forming a virtuous circle.

"We've consumed a lot of gunpowder, so we can barely save any saltpeter..."

Liu Jilong frowned as he looked at the documents about the gunpowder factory. Gao Jinda explained:

“Although we also have saltpeter mines, the quality is not as good as that in Hexi.”

"When there is no war, we basically rely on trade with Hexi."

"Today, gunpowder is consumed in great quantities, mainly for mining ore and repairing roads and dikes."

"Although we don't have much gunpowder stored every year, we do mine a lot of gold, silver, copper, iron and other ores."

As Gao Jinda spoke, he found the documents of the mining department under the jurisdiction of the Engineering Bureau for Liu Jilong.

"According to last month's output, Longyou can now produce more than 8,000 taels of gold, more than 500,000 taels of silver, and more than 900,000 kilograms of copper every year."

"The gold and silver are stored, and the copper ingots are made into copper coins. Nearly 200,000 coins can be made every year."

"In addition, the amount of iron smelted each year is about 1.3 million kilograms, and the amount of coal smelted is about 3.4 million kilograms."

The output of gold, silver, copper and iron recorded in the documents is eye-catching. It can be said that in terms of mining technology, Longyou today is catching up with the Ming and Qing dynasties hundreds of years later.

In the Qing Dynasty, more than 100,000 miners in Yunnan were able to dig out 8 million kilograms of copper. Although the situation in Longyou is not that exaggerated today, the more than 40,000 miners and blacksmiths actually support 40,000 households and more than 200,000 people.

"How much iron and coal are stored in the treasury?"

Liu Jilong could not help but ask Gao Jinda. Seeing this, Gao Jinda took out the document again and reported to Liu Jilong:

"The minimum amount of iron stockpiles is 500,000 jin, and the rest is basically handed over to Wang Tao and others to be sold to various states."

"There isn't much coal left. In addition to using coal and charcoal for iron smelting, people also use coal for heating."

Liu Jilian took the document and looked at it carefully, only to find that the amount of gold and silver stored in the treasury was already quite large. After converting it into money, it was worth at least 300,000 strings of cash.

However, Longyou now controls the Silk Road trade, and the noble families in Chang'an have plenty of capital in spices.

"Is the business of selling spices to Chang'an going smoothly?"

"It went smoothly..." Gao Jinda smiled happily:
"In the past two years, whenever the spice shop in Jinzouyuan opened, the most expensive spices would be sold out."

"The remaining common spices were also bought up by officials in Chang'an City."

"This year's spices were sold out in less than two months after arriving in Chang'an. Your novels and stories are also selling very well."

Liu Jilian originally thought that the hundreds of thousands of kilograms of spices produced every year would be enough to empty the pockets of the aristocratic families in Chang'an.

But the facts proved that he still underestimated the group of noble families in Chang'an.

The price of camphor was thirty strings of coins per ounce, and these nobles would buy several kilograms at a time, not to mention other types of wood such as tulipwood and black agarwood.

If the Western Regions had not been devastated by the Tubo invasion and the Silk Road had not been blocked for decades, Liu Jilian would have wanted to get a million pieces of silk to sell in the Western Regions.

At present, the Western Regions can barely digest the three hundred thousand strings of commercial goods each year, let alone one million.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong couldn't help but sigh:

"Compared with those noble families in Chang'an, people like you and me are really frogs in the well."

"That's true……"

Gao Jinda smiled bitterly, he understood what his commander meant.

Today, the Tang Dynasty is filled with refugees. Not to mention those who have become bandits, there are no less than a million beggars alone.

For those noble families, borneol is just an elegant incense.

But in a year, they used hundreds of kilograms of camphor.

If it could be converted into money and used to buy food to help the victims, it would be enough to feed millions of refugees for a whole month.

The noble families competed for wealth, the common people hoarded grain, and the common people fled to other places, begging for food on the streets, just to survive... Fortunately, there are places like Longyou in this world.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong came back to his senses and continued to discuss the various industries in Longyou with Gao Jin.

Which ones need to be laid off, which ones need to be increased...

All these various chores require Liu Jilong to solve patiently.

Time passed little by little, and half a month went by in a flash.

By the end of July, Yang Fuguang from Xichuan, led by Cui Shu, carefully walked into the main hall of Longyou Protectorate.

"Liu Jieshuai!"

Yang Fuguang began to bow from a distance, and Liu Jilong stood up and bowed in return.

Soon, Yang Fuguang walked into the main hall and began to look at Liu Jilong's appearance.

Although he had learned from his cousin what kind of person Liu Jilong was, after observing him closely, he still felt that what his cousin said was a little restrained.

Although Liu Jilong was nearly thirty years old, he looked the same age as those twenty-three or twenty-four-year-old scholars who had won the imperial examination in Chang'an City.

If his skin had not been bronzed due to years of going out, no one would doubt that he was the third place in the imperial examination.

"General Yang, please take a seat!"

Liu Jilong did not look at him as carefully as Yang Fuguang did, but just took a quick glance and then stretched out his hand, motioning him to take a seat.

"You are a very handsome man. I may have been a little rude to you at first glance. Please forgive me, General."

"No problem, the military supervisor, please take a seat first."

Yang Fuguang first praised him and then slowly took his seat.

After he and Liu Jilong sat down, he did not try to hide anything, but got straight to the point:

"General, I am going north this time not only for horses, but also for food."

Facing Yang Fuguang's words, Liu Jilong was not angry, but nodded and chuckled: "If you want to pull horses, there are plenty in our military stables, but what about food..."

He paused and couldn't help but jokingly said, "Xichuan is a land of abundance and the granary of the world. Are you trying to trade grain with me?"

Yang Fuguang smiled bitterly. He naturally knew that Liu Jilong was joking. After all, the successive military governors of Xichuan had often prevented Liu Jilong from sending people to purchase and migrate food and population.

"General Jie, you are joking. The cheap grain prices in Xichuan are a thing of the past."

"Since June, there has been a lot of grain sales in Longyou, and the grain prices in several counties near Longyou in Xichuan have fallen as a result."

"After learning of this, Minister Cui sent me here to buy grain. I wonder if the commander is willing to do this business?"

Cui Xuan sent Yang Fuguang to buy grain, which was somewhat beyond Liu Jilian's expectations.

After all, the Qiang River in Longyou leads to Dongchuan and Shannan West Road, not to Xichuan.

The only waterway leading to Xichuan in Longyou is the Minjiang River, which is mistakenly believed to be the source of the Yangtze River. However, the Minjiang River is difficult to navigate in Songzhou.

Since there is no navigation, we can only transport grain by land, but the cost of transporting grain by land will continue to increase with distance.

Wang Tao and others had thought about selling grain to southern Sichuan, but they gave up the idea due to lack of manpower and material resources, so they could only sell grain to Mianzhou and Maozhou.

If we continue to sell grain southwards, the price of grain will inevitably be higher than the market price of grain in Xichuan.

Although it is not known why Cui Xuan asked Yang Fuguang to buy grain, the autumn grain harvest will be in two months, and by then there will be about two million shi more grain on the market in Longyou.

It would be a good idea to take advantage of this opportunity to sell the grain to Cui Xuan and in exchange let Cui Xuan release the refugees to the north.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong said, "Longyou has a small population but abundant food. If Minister Cui is willing to let the refugees go north to reclaim wasteland, I am willing to sell food to him."

Liu Jilong spoke first, and he was not worried that Yang Fuguang would take the lead.

Yang Fuguang was a little surprised by this, but he came here to discuss the "people in exchange for goods" matter with Liu Jilong, so he did not hide his incompetence.

Facing Liu Jilong's remarks, Yang Fuguang simply said:

"I think the commander is also aware that the number of refugees from Xichuan is decreasing day by day, mainly because we in Xichuan sent troops to intercept them."

"However, this action was not intentionally blocked by our envoy. It was just that the court had an order and we had to follow it."

Yang Fuguang took him and Cui Xuan out first, but Liu Jilong did not answer, but just looked at him with a smile.

Yang Fuguang tried to look him in the eye, but faced with the smiling look in Liu Jilong's eyes, he finally gave in and had to say:
"I heard that Longyou lacks immigrants, and Xichuan lacks horses and food."

"If the commander is willing to send horses and food to Xichuan, then my envoy will definitely return the favor."

Compared with Yang Fugong, Yang Fuguang seemed very cautious. He did not mention buying, selling or exchanging people, but just explained the reasons and hinted at Liu Jilong with the four words "return a favor".

It’s a pity that what Liu Jilong wanted was not a hint, but the actual population.

"This is Longyou's roasted tea. Although you can buy it outside, most of them are from five-year-old plants. The tea here is from a hundred-year-old plant. Yang Jianjun might as well try it."

Liu Jilong did not say anything, but just asked Yang Fuguang to taste the tea.

Yang Fuguang was not stupid. He knew that Liu Jilong was dissatisfied with his concealment, so he reorganized his thoughts, then raised his teacup and took a sip.

"It is indeed good tea!" Yang Fuguang put down the teacup and continued to praise:
“Not only are the tea leaves intact, but the brewed tea soup is also clear enough, with a fresh taste followed by a mellow taste, full of layers.”

After the polite conversation, Yang Fuguang decided to show his sincerity, so he said:
"There are too many spies in Longzhou and Mianzhou. We can only go through Maozhou and Yizhou. After sending them to Songzhou, you can make your own arrangements."

"We only select the young and strong, never the old and weak, so the price may be higher."

Yang Fuguang carefully considered each word he spoke, and while speaking, he kept observing Liu Jilong's expression. After making sure that Liu Jilong was not dissatisfied, he continued:

"How about three people for one draft horse, or one person for ten shi of grain?"

"Tsk..." Liu Jilong couldn't help laughing when he heard that, and Gao Jinda and Cui Shu who were accompanying him also started to lower the price.

"General Yang, if these people stay in Xichuan, you won't have extra money and food to settle them, and there might be chaos."

"Three dan of grain is enough to buy five strong men at the horse trade in Xichuan."

Now that there are refugees everywhere, people have become worthless.

Ten shi of grain is enough for one person to eat for two years. Longyou will naturally not purchase people at such a price.

It is true that there is plenty of grain in Longyou, but that doesn't mean the people in Longyou Protectorate are fools.

"If Yang Jianjun is really interested in doing business, then he should offer a sincere price."

Cui Shu's tone was calm, and Yang Fuguang felt ashamed after hearing it. He could only lower the price and said, "Five people for one draft horse, or one person for eight stone of grain...how about that?"

Facing this price, Gao Jinda was still dissatisfied, so he shook his head and said, "Six people for one draft horse, and one person for six stone of grain."

"This is too little..." Yang Fuguang discussed with Gao Jinda with a smile.

Gao Jinda was about to speak when he saw this, but Liu Jilong spoke up at the right time and said:
"Six men for one draft horse, one man for seven stones of grain."

After he finished speaking, he looked at Yang Fuguang: "How is it?"

Yang Fuguang also knew that the three men were trying to lower the price in various ways, but for Xichuan, since it could solve the problem of refugees and they didn't have to spend money on purchasing horses and food, this deal was a win-win no matter how they negotiated.

The main reason why Bai Minzhong was impeached was that the Northern Division was not united enough at the time, and his father and uncle did not have much power and could not help.

Now his father and uncle are extremely powerful. As long as they don't give in, even the King of the Interior will have to nod his head.

Under such circumstances, there is naturally no need to worry about impeachment by others.

Thinking of this, Yang Fuguang bowed and said, "If that's the case, I'll give Marshal Jie a favor and sell it at this price."

"That's great." Liu Jilong raised his teacup and clinked it with Yang Fuguang from a distance.

Yang Fuguang burst out laughing when he saw this, but still raised his teacup, clinked glasses with Liu Jilong in the air, and drank the tea.

"Pass the meal around."

Liu Jilong gave instructions to the soldiers outside the main hall, and soon dishes were brought into the main hall.

Once the deal is done, it is natural to treat the guests to wine and meat.

Although paying to buy people is not as cheap as spending money to bribe them in the past two years, it can tie all the officials in Xichuan to the ship of Longyou.

If there are any changes in Xichuan in the future, it will be easier for Longyou to enter Sichuan. This is Liu Jilong's idea.

Yang Fuguang wanted Liu Jilong's capital, and Liu Jilong wanted Xichuan's plate...

(End of this chapter)