Da Wei Chun

Chapter 248 Where Does the Grain Come From?

Li Chengzhi explained in a persuasive manner: "This time, I will pick out some officials and scribes from among the rebellious people to assist you in governing. At that time, you should treat them as preferentially as possible. Of course, you must also take strict precautions..."

Only by reading can you enlighten your mind, but if you read more books, your mind will become alive...

Every time more dogs are slaughtered in righteousness, most of them are scholars who are ungrateful!
There is still some truth in this sentence. If you don’t see some public knowledge in later generations, which one is not a generation who is well-educated and full of economics?
Because ordinary people simply don't have the ability and opportunity to be public officials...

Literati have more minds, and Li Chengzhi doesn't have to doubt it: if Li Song and others don't notice, there will be a few bastards who want to make meritorious deeds and atone for their crimes, and want to inform the court.

"Even those refugees, you can't be too harsh, at least you have to wear warm clothes and eat well..."

Having said this, Li Chengzhi gave another sharp meal.

Eat enough and wear warm clothes... These four words are so easy to say, but how difficult is it to do it?
When Li Song fled, he only brought more than 2000 stone grains with him. If he hadn't robbed the cattle and sheep of those Hu tribes, he probably could have survived for two months at most.

Even if more than [-] livestock have been robbed, the number of refugees will at least double when the refugees arrive, and it is impossible to kill all those sheep.

Therefore, Li Chengzhi not only has to consider how to snatch people back, but also how to support them after they are snatched back.

Not surprisingly, within at least three years, there is no need to expect any surplus from the cultivated fields.Whether it can be balanced depends on whether God gives face or not.

Therefore, the urgent matter is where the food will come from.

Li Chengzhi hesitated for a while, he felt as if he had returned to more than two months ago...

"Grain, cloth, etc., I will try to transport part of it next time I come, but this is not a long-term solution. You still have to find a way to be self-sufficient..."

Li Chengzhi pondered, "Now there are only two ways: one is to pretend to be a miscellaneous Hu, and buy (smuggle) in batches from Dunhuang, Gaoping, and Woye Town (six towns) with iron materials.

The second is to pretend to be a Hu merchant and do business directly with Guanzhong..."

These are the few ways Li Chengzhi can think of.

Although no matter which road it is, it is not so far away, but the advantage is that it is relatively safe.

Especially the latter.

In the words of some scholars, the Hu merchants of this era, that is, the Sogdians, are simply "global buyers"!
As far as India in the south, Rome in the west, and China in the east, there is no place they cannot reach...

Later generations often talk about the Silk Road, but they don’t know that from the time when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty pacified the Western Regions and opened the Silk Road to the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, this road was completely monopolized by the Sogdians.

As for the Han merchants, at most they acted as transporters for the Sogdians, transporting goods from Chang'an, Luoyang and other places to Hexi, and as far as Dunhuang Town.

Then they were trafficked to Central Asia by the Sogdians who settled in Hexi and Dunhuang...

Moreover, the status of the Sogdians in various dynasties was still extremely high.

There have been strict orders in all dynasties that the government and the town army must strictly protect the barbarians in the Western Regions who are merchants.

For example, Dunhuang Town at this time was used to defend the Gaoche tribe in the Western Regions and the Huns in the desert, and to ensure the smooth flow of the Silk Road.

Since Emperor Xiaowen, from Luoyang in the east to Dunhuang in the west, all the prefectures have set up Sabao Mansions, which are official offices specially established for Hu merchants in the Western Regions.

Just like the Zhaoxuan Temple of the monk-official system, the leader of the Hu merchants, that is, Sa Bao, has official positions.

In the Sui, Tang, and even Song dynasties, although the monk-official system disappeared, the bureaucratic system of the Sabao Prefecture continued until the Mongols penetrated Asia.

In the past few dynasties, there are many Hu merchant leaders who are doing business while being high officials in the Central Plains court.

Especially in the Tang Dynasty, some officials paid homage to Daduhu (officials who specialize in Xinjiang, above the second rank), and some officials worshiped the governor of a prefecture. Special people, the examples are too numerous to mention.

Therefore, the various dynasties are surprisingly consistent: almost the Hu merchants are favored to the extreme.

In this way, the collusion between the government and businessmen will definitely be unavoidable, and naturally there will be no things that these Hu merchants dare not traffic.

More than once, I have used these words to describe Hu merchants: good merchants, good profits, and profits are everywhere...

In addition to using handicrafts such as small and easy-to-carry jewelry, jade, copper, silver, and tin to collect the IQ tax of the Han people in the Central Plains, what Hu merchants like most is to smuggle and sell Han women and children.

Half of them came from Hu merchants who bribed the chief officials of various states, counties, and counties, or the generals of various army towns, and stole family members who were imprisoned for crimes and who were exiled into the army for crimes.

The remaining half is to lure and snatch.

If it is a prosperous place, a method similar to patting flowers is used: when single or unaccompanied women and children enter the shops of Hu merchants to choose goods, they are knocked out and taken away.

Not to mention the Northern Wei Dynasty, let alone the civilians, it was as prosperous as the Tang Dynasty. From time to time in the city of Chang'an, there would be cases of official family members being plundered by Hu merchants, and they were repeatedly prohibited.

If it is a remote county, it will be easier to handle.

On the way to the west, what Hu merchants love most is to pretend to be a bandit and plunder villages, and they will even take down a county or two, burning, killing, looting and doing everything...

In the end, these women and children were all transported by Hu merchants to the Western Regions, West Asia, and the Middle East, and sold to various Hu countries in the Western Regions to increase their population.

The child is better off, those girls end up worse than being a prostitute...

So for these Hu merchants, Li Chengzhi didn't have the slightest favor.If he wasn't afraid of attracting the court's attention, he would have asked Li Song to buy road money in Biaoshi County.

Sooner or later these Sogdians will be taught how to behave, but certainly not now...

The imperial court treated Hu merchants so favorably, so it would be no problem for Li Song to find a way to capture a few Sogdians, or buy a Sogdian caravan, and go to Guanzhong to sell some grain and come back.

Or, to be more direct...

Li Chengzhi pondered for a while: "You can also form a caravan caravan, go west to Yiwu (Hami), and directly trade with Hu merchants in the Western Regions..."

They even dare to sell people. For these Hu merchants, trafficking some food is of course a trivial matter.

As long as they make money, these Hu merchants dare to sell their own mothers, so they don't care whether you are a Hu thief or a rebel, just like those Shanxi merchants in the late Ming Dynasty...

This is a good idea, which saves a lot of trouble, Li Song's eyes lit up suddenly: "What do you want to exchange?"

Yes, what can I exchange for it?
Li Chengzhi let out a heavy breath: "Bingjia!"

Everyone's eyes popped.

Soldier?

This is the foundation of the Baijia Battalion...

But think about it the other way around, what else can be sold?
What the Sogdians like most is jewelry, and what they love most is silk cloth.

These two things are also what Li Chengzhi has the most and what he lacks the most.

As far as Hu Shang is concerned, only Bingjia is left in Li Chengzhi's hands to make the most profits.

"But don't worry, it will definitely not flow into the hands of the Hu people... With the mind of the Hu merchants, [-]% of them will be sold to the Central Plains... There is a [-]% possibility that they will not be bought to the imperial court, but will only be bought to the aristocratic clan..."

Just because the Hu people only had horses, the Sogdians did not lack them.And if you sell it to the imperial court, you won't be able to get a good price at all...

The faces of Li Song and others darkened: Is this what they are afraid of?

If nothing else happens, ninety-nine out of ten of these aristocrats will become a stumbling block for Mr. Lang to fight for world hegemony...

(End of this chapter)