Thief Emperor

Chapter 305: Pinglu Zibo Qing Jiedushi

In the Wuzhou Camp, Li Yun had already arranged for several newly appointed captains and lieutenants. After making the arrangements, he looked at the generals in the tent and said in a deep voice, "Wuzhou Camp is newly built, and the captain camps are also newly built. Many of them are former subordinates of General Su. It will take some time to integrate them. Everyone, go back to your headquarters and make the captain camps take shape as soon as possible."

Everyone clasped their fists and saluted.

"Yes!"

After everyone had left, Li Yun kept Su Sheng, pulled him to sit down, and said with a smile: "Brother Zixing, I only have this little foundation now, so I have to inconvenience you."

Su Sheng used to hold a very high position in the imperial court, higher than Li Yun now, so no matter what position he was given, he would feel somewhat "unfair".

Su Sheng waved his hand and frowned, "It's really polite of Erlang to say this."

"Let's not talk about the favor that Erlang has done for our Su family. Putting aside this favor, I am now a stray dog ​​in the court. I have just arrived, and being able to be the captain of Wuzhou is already a bit high."

He looked at Li Yun and said in a deep voice: "I will definitely take good care of this school lieutenant camp for Erlang."

Before the defeated soldiers from Jiangnan arrived, Su Sheng, as the commander of Wuzhou, was not very popular. But now, half of the soldiers in Wuzhou are the defeated soldiers from Jiangnan. Among the commanders under Li Yun, none is more popular than Su Sheng.

The two chatted for a few more sentences before Su Sheng said goodbye and left.

It was already afternoon and approaching evening. Li Yun looked at the sky outside, took off his armor, and rode back to Wuzhou City.

When he returned to Wuzhou City, it was just getting dark. Li Yun prepared a table of wine and food in the governor's mansion and asked someone to call Du Qian over.

After the two of them sat down, Li Yun spoke up, "Brother Du will be returning to Yuezhou tomorrow. If there is anything else, let's discuss it today."

At this point, Li Yun smiled and said, "Whether it's Wuzhou or Yuezhou, they're both too small. If we could occupy Yangzhou and Jiangning, Brother Du wouldn't have to run around so much."

Du Qian shook his head slightly and said, "If we really occupy those big cities, it will be too conspicuous. At that time, unless the capital has collapsed and my family has successfully escaped from Guanzhong, I still can't go with Erlang."

Li Yun thought about it and nodded, "Yes, Brother Du's family is still in Beijing."

Du Qian lowered his head and drank, "I will start to arrange the Du family's affairs."

He clinked glasses with Li Yun, then said with a smile, "Gu Wenchuan came to see me during the day."

"Oh?"

Li Yun drank it all in one gulp and said with a smile, "What did he say to Brother Du?"

"It's nothing more than the same old story, but he mentioned that the court sent him a letter. It seems that Erlang's method of cutting off the court's money and grain has worked."

"Moreover, it hits the court right where it hurts."

Du Qian said with a smile: "After I leave, Gu Wenchuan will definitely come to see Erlang again. If Erlang is a little polite, he will probably tell Erlang the truth."

"The Jiangnan East Road Recruiting Envoy."

Du Qian said softly: "Maybe I can really get it, but if the court really gives this position to me..."

"Then Erlang should be careful. The imperial court must be very angry with you."

Li Yun nodded gently and said calmly: "It's not hard to understand. If I had a subordinate who did something like me, I would definitely be unhappy."

He grinned: "Originally, I had no intention of trying to curry favor with the court. It is unknown whether the court can survive."

"That…"

Du Qian said silently: "Then the next primary target is very clear. We need to find a way to take over Yi'an County that Erlang mentioned earlier as soon as possible. In the next few years, copper will become more and more important."

Li Yun didn't think much about it at first, but he was startled when he heard it. He looked up at Du Qian and said, "Brother Du, you mean that other forces will also..."

Du Qian whispered, "Privately casting coin molds is not a rare thing. Since decades ago, most of the major military governors have their own coin molds. With the coin molds, the only thing they lack is copper."

At this point, he looked at Li Yun and suddenly smiled: "If Erlang can secure the position of the Recruiting Envoy, further control the entire Jiangdong, and also make a fortune, it would not be a bad idea."

Compared with Du Qian, Li Yun's biggest shortcoming is that he doesn't know enough about this era. Hearing this, even a bold man like him couldn't help but exclaimed: "Qian... Qian Fan?"

"Then are the coins minted from these molds the money of the major military governors themselves, or... are they Xian De Tong Bao coins?"

Du Qian said helplessly: "Of course it is Xian De Tong Bao. If we mint our own coins, wouldn't that be a rebellion?"

At this point, Du Qian sighed and said, "Starting about thirty or forty years ago, the governors of various places have become more and more daring. In the past, they may have only minted coins secretly for fear of being discovered by the court. Later, after the court gradually found out, the governors of various places became bolder. Their private minting of coins has become a secret known to almost everyone."

"Erlang, do you know how the imperial court discovered that the major military governors were minting coins privately?"

Li Yun put down his wine glass, thought for a while, and seemed to understand something. He asked, "Are these privately minted coins better than the imperial court's money?"

"Ah."

Du Qian nodded helplessly and said, "And it has to be much better, otherwise, it won't be easy to find."

In the beginning, copper coins, as the name suggests, were naturally made of copper. At that time, the value of the coin itself was almost the same as the price of copper used to mint the coin. At that time, copper coins were simply a symbol of transaction.

Anyone can mint coins as long as they have copper.

But people are always smart.

Later, various "financial methods" emerged, such as cutting the edges of coins and adding lead when casting coins. Later, the imperial court also discovered these "clever tricks" and took back the right to mint coins.

From that time on, copper coins were no longer made entirely of copper. If 50% of the coins were copper, it would be considered the conscience of the court.

This actually means that the imperial court took away nearly half of the copper coins in the hands of the people through the right to mint coins.

The same was true of the Great Zhou.

In the first hundred years, all places were relatively peaceful. In recent decades, although the situation can be maintained on the surface, it has already become a mess secretly.

The reason why people discovered that some people were privately minting copper coins in local areas decades ago was because the imperial court once again adjusted the proportion of copper, resulting in the official coins of the imperial court being of far inferior quality to the privately minted coins in local areas.

Until now, ordinary people prefer local privately minted coins because they contain more copper and are copper-colored, while those containing more lead are a bit gray.

Ordinary people naturally prefer copper coins that look better.

This is extremely absurd.

Li Yun shook his head helplessly and smiled bitterly: "It's amazing."

Du Qian lowered his head to drink and said with a smile: "When I was young, I knew about this and felt that the Great Zhou had entered its twilight years."

"However, it is also for this reason that the imperial court's official money and local private money circulated together. In the first few years, the local private money with better quality was actually helpful to the imperial court."

"But after a few years, the private money in the localities became the same as the imperial court's, with less and less copper."

He looked at Li Yun and said, "So, if you can get the Yi'an Copper Mine, you should get it as soon as possible. Whether to mint coins or not is another matter. Having a copper mine is a great benefit."

At this time, the Great Zhou was still far from entering the "Silver Age" and could even be regarded as an era of "copper standard". Therefore, copper mines were almost equivalent to wealth.

Moreover, Li Yun is in urgent need of upgrading his equipment, as various metal minerals are in short supply.

Li Yun nodded silently and said, "After a while, when I finish my work in Wuzhou, I will go back to Xuanzhou to take a look."

Du Qian picked up the wine glass, toasted Li Yun, and said with a smile: "I am in Yuezhou, waiting for good news from Erlang."

The two clinked their glasses and drank it all in one gulp.

The next morning, Li Yun saw Du Qian and Du Laian off.

After seeing them off, Li Yun began to busy himself with recruiting craftsmen.

During this period, Wuzhou has recruited two to three hundred craftsmen, and corresponding workshops are under construction, but both the manpower and raw materials are far from enough.

You don’t know how expensive firewood and rice are until you become the head of the household. Once you become the head of the household, there will be trouble everywhere.

Just when Li Yun was extremely busy, a thin middle-aged man in black clothes came to the door of the governor's mansion and handed in his visiting card.

Request to meet Li Yun.

The identity was not mentioned on the greeting card, only the words "Qingzhou Fan Chanbai" were written.

Li Yun was not busy at the moment. After seeing the visiting card, he stretched and said to the servant outside the door, "Tell him to wait for me in the main hall."

A moment later, Li Yun, who had also changed his clothes, appeared in the main hall. He looked at the middle-aged man in black and with a pale face sitting in the main hall, and sat down in the main seat.

"Mr. Fan, right?"

Li Yun once again looked at him and asked, "What do you want from me?"

After seeing Li Yun, Fan Shen did not rush to stand up. Instead, he looked Li Yun over before slowly standing up and bowing: "Fan Shen of Qingzhou, I greet Envoy Li."

Li Yun pressed his hands.

"You're welcome, sit down and talk."

Mr. Fan sat down, looked at Li Yun again, and said with emotion: "Envoy Li is really young."

Li Yun smiled faintly and did not respond: "I am very busy. If Mr. Fan has nothing to do, I will not accompany you for long."

"Something's going on. Something's going on."

He looked at Li Yun and said with a smile, "My master would like to ask Envoy Li for help."

Hearing the word "lord", Li Yun frowned slightly, and then asked: "What help? Who is your lord?"

"My master wants the taxes of the entire Jiangdong region, as well as the corresponding copper and iron mines."

"As for who my master is."

Fan Shen raised his head slightly, with a somewhat arrogant look on his face, and spoke word by word.

"Jiedushi of Pinglu, Zibo and Qing."

(End of this chapter)