Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 242 Seeking to Advance Westward
"Crackling..."

The north wind blows the snow at the beginning of the fourth round, Jiarui Tianjiao and Sui Chu.

Amid the sounds of a small amount of firecrackers and a large amount of poppers, the Tang Dynasty entered the twelfth year of Dazhong.

For people all over the world, whether it was the tenth year of Dazhong or the eleventh year of Dazhong, all provinces seemed to be in unrest, with either floods or droughts.

Of course, these things are not untreatable, but due to the huge military expenditures in various places, they cannot be diverted for disaster relief, resulting in the displacement of people.

In such an environment, if it is easy to live in peace somewhere, the spread of the virus will be extremely fast.

People who have suffered a disaster will also spontaneously migrate, which is better than staying in the place and waiting to die.

"I heard that Longyou is recruiting hungry people, distributing farming tools, oxen and grain, and opening up wasteland for three years without taxation. They only collect business taxes and land taxes, and no miscellaneous items."

"Really?"

"Really, but the commercial and farm taxes in Longyou are a bit high. After the reclamation period, you have to pay 20% of the grain as tax."

"That's more than 20%! It would be fine if there were no miscellaneous taxes!"

"Longyou won't force us to borrow money to repay our debts, right?"

"I haven't heard of it, but it's not easy to go to Longyou. I heard that there are checkpoints in various places that don't allow people to go to Longyou."

"What should I do..."

"Alas... I don't know either. I just heard that if you flee to Longyou, you will see many porridge stalls. If you walk along the porridge stalls, you will be able to find a place to stay."

"There's porridge?!"

"Damn it! If I stay here any longer, I'll starve to death. I'd rather die of starvation on the road than here!"

Since the first day of the first lunar month, there have been many rumors in Shu, most of which describe the prosperity of Longyou and the kindness of its officials.

If it were any other day, these rumors would be nothing, but as the disaster relief efforts in Xichuan, Dongchuan, Shannan West Road and other places gradually decreased, the hungry people could no longer bear it and could only eat tree bark and wild grass, trying to escape to Longyou.

Most of the people in Xichuan fled to Songzhou, while the people in Dongchuan and Shannan West Road fled to Chengzhou and Wuzhou.

The rumors spread downstream along the Yangtze River, and the hungry people in the counties and cities along the Yangtze River in Jiangnan West Road and Huainan Road often heard these rumors.

A small number of hungry people walked along the rivers to Longyou, but more of them took the official road.

Officials in various states and counties were worried that the hungry people would cause unrest, so they passed the buck and drove the hungry people out of their states and counties, and the military governors of various regions also passed the buck to each other.

Because of this, many hungry people were driven back and forth, and finally joined the bandits in the mountains.

The bandits had no food, so they could only plunder the villages around the prefectures and counties. As a result, the public security in Huainan was in turmoil, and Cui Xuan, the governor, was also very busy.

Under such circumstances, Liu Jilong, who was in Longyou, ushered in his own Changchun season.

"The Lantern Festival hasn't even passed yet, and nearly a thousand hungry people from Chengwusong and the three states have fled into the country. Marshal Jie's method must be effective."

In the main hall, Gao Jinda was smiling as he took notes on the documents on the table. Cui Shu, Li Shangyin, Zhang Chang and others were also handling government affairs in a corner of the main hall.

Liu Jilong sat in the main seat and wrote a book. Everyone took a look and found that it was all simplified Chinese characters, so they stopped reading.

After half an hour, Cao Mao came from outside the hall and bowed and shouted from a distance: "General Ji, I'm back!"

"It's General Cao who's back."

"Happy Lantern Festival, General Cao..."

Gao Jinda and Cui Shu greeted Cao Mao, Li Shangyin also bowed from a distance, only Liu Jilian and Zhang Chang lowered their heads and worked.

When Cao Mao entered the hall, Liu Jilong put down his pen, looked up at him and asked, "How is it?"

"Thirteen states have been inspected, twenty-seven officials have been involved, and four hundred and fifty-two people have been found guilty!"

"In addition to the more than 100 officials and more than 400 family members who were sent to Ganzhou before the snow closed the mountains, there are still 316 officials and more than 1,300 family members."

"General Jie, do these people have to wait until the Dadouba Valley Road is unsealed before being sent to Ganzhou?"

Cao Mao asked Liu Jilong, and Liu Jilong calmly said, "Send them all to Hexi, and the rest of them will be used to exchange for spices and military horses, each worth twenty strings of cash."

“If you don’t have money, set the price of spices, roasted tea, horses, cattle and other commodities, sell them to us first, and then trade for these people.”

There are many spices introduced from the Western Regions, such as tulips, camphor, agarwood, exotic aromatic treasures, black agarwood, etc.

These spices were not expensive in their places of origin, and were not considered precious after being introduced into the Western Regions. However, their prices doubled after flowing into the Central Plains through Hexi.

Longyou itself produces musk, which is worth hundreds or even thousands of dollars per ounce, depending on where it is sold.

Liu Jilian had always sold spices to Chang'an, and he could earn thousands of strings of cash every year from this alone.

The reason why there is so little is mainly because the musk production in Longyou is not much.

Because of this, after Zhang Huaishen wrote to him half a month ago, Liu Jilian replied and agreed to the trade with Hexi.

Longyou could completely rely on a small amount of population trade and grain trade to obtain a large amount of spices from Hexi, and then sell the spices to Chang'an, and buy various silks, brocades, porcelain and lacquerware from various roads.

Zhang Huaishen had more than a hundred loads of spices in his hands, each load weighing a hundred kilograms. Although the prices varied, if they were transported to Chang'an and sold, they would be worth at least hundreds of thousands of strings of cash.

After using these hundreds of thousands of strings of cash to buy porcelain, lacquerware, brocade and silk, they can be sold to Zhang Huaishen for double the price.

It doesn’t matter if Zhang Huaishen has no money, he can just exchange it for horses.

Anyway, when he resells it to the Western Regions, he can make at least 30% profit, and their business will grow bigger and bigger.

"Come on!"

While Liu Jilong was thinking, Cao Mao had already bowed and left, and Chen Ying hurried in.

"I heard that you want to suspend trade with Guannei Road?"

Chen Ying hurriedly walked into the main hall and bowed to ask, and Liu Jilong nodded and explained:
"It's not a suspension, it's just that we need to select the trade categories."

"Fried tea and linen are still the biggest items, but there is a quota for fried tea. After all, we have opened a trade with Shang Bibi and her friends, and they have a quota of 5,000 dan of fried tea with us every year."

As Shang Bibi and others took over Luomenchuan, roasted tea became a necessary commodity for them.

After several expansions, the tea fields in Longyou now cover an area of nearly 30,000 acres. The areas around Minzhou, Dangzhou and Wuzhou are all tea mountains.

These 30,000 mu of tea mountains are managed by more than 3,000 households, and can produce 40,000 to 60,000 dan of tea every year. Each dan of tea can be exchanged for two dan of grain, and the cost is about 900 coins.

If these teas were transported to the interior of the country for sale, the price of each dan of tea would be around two guan, but in Bashu it would only be worth around one guan and four.

If it was sold to Shang Bibi and others, one load of tea would be exchanged for one horse, and one horse sold to Bashu was worth six strings of cash.

Shang Bibi's 5,000 dan of tea is equivalent to 5,000 horses, which can be sold in Xichuan for 30,000 strings of cash.

These horses are all castrated, so there is no need to worry that Xichuan will use these draft horses to develop his own horse farm.

"General, what is the quota for roasted tea sold to the inner roads?"

Chen Ying asked Liu Jilong about this, and Liu Jilong thought for a moment before saying, "Temporarily set at 20,000 dan."

"As for the rest, we will sell them to Shannan West Road and Jingzhao."

Although the price of tea in Guannei Road is higher, as more tea flows in, it becomes less valuable.

Twenty thousand dan of tea is only enough for more than 300,000 people to drink in a year, and the population of Guannei Road is more than 1.5 million, which is suitable for hunger trafficking and drives up the price of roasted tea.

In addition, I should also plan for Hedong Road, Hebei Road and Henan Road.

"Chen Ying, after you go to Guannei Road this time, you don't have to rush back. You can go to Hedong Road and Hebei Province to have a look and contact some merchants who are willing to become brokers of Longyou Road and come to Longyou."

"I plan to select a tea merchant in each state to specialize in Longyou tea roasting."

After Liu Jilong finished speaking, Chen Ying bowed and saluted: "General, what about the money and grain earned from selling goods in the Guannei Road?"

"You keep 20% and ship the remaining 80% back." After Liu Jilong's response, Chen Ying left without any problem.

After he left, Gao Jinda spoke:

"According to the situation in the government warehouse this year, tea roasting alone can bring in 120,000 strings of cash, and linen and well salt can bring in at least 200,000 strings of cash."

"With the spices we agreed with Hexi, and the goods we bought from Yu Conghui, we can deposit at least 500,000 strings of cash."

"Hexi should also be able to earn tens of thousands of guan to ease the military expenditure."

Gao Jinda was good at calculating, and Liu Jilong said, "Just like last year, use half to buy grain and fill up the government warehouse in Lanzhou."

"In addition, when the money and grain transported by Chen Ying arrives in Lanzhou, immediately take out 7,000 strings of cash and send them to the governors of Xing, Feng, Li, Wen, Fu, Long, and Yi states."

For Liu Jilong, giving gifts doesn’t cost much, as long as the gifts are given to the right people.

At least for now, there is no problem with the governors of the seven southern states adjacent to Longyou.

As long as they stay in office for a long time, Longyou’s population problem will not be a problem.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong was ready to continue handling government affairs, but at this time a soldier came from the inner hall and bowed to him happily: "General, Madam asks you to go to the inner hall."

"What's the matter?" Liu Jilong saw the soldier laughing so happily, and obviously knew what was going on. The soldier saw Liu Jilong asking, and immediately scratched his head and said, "I think I heard the word 'morning sickness' just now."

Hearing this, Liu Jilong's eyes lit up and he immediately stood up and walked towards the inner hall.

After he left, Gao Jinda, Li Shangyin and others looked at each other, stroked their beards and chuckled.

Feng Hui and Liu Jilong have been married for so long, and now they are finally pregnant with a child.

Regardless of whether the baby is a boy or a girl, this at least proves that Liu Jilong has no health problems, and that is enough.

At the same time, Liu Jilong also went to the inner courtyard and met the medical officer who had just taken his pulse.

"how?"

"Marshal Jie, Madam is indeed suffering from morning sickness. I estimate that she will be able to give birth to a child in August this year."

When the medical officer saw Liu Jilong, he immediately stood up, bowed, and told Liu Jilong about the seal.

Liu Jilong breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this. He had been married and had concubines for two and a half years, and finally there was some movement.

Although he was sure he wouldn't take any pills or mess around to harm his body, he didn't know how long he could live.

Although he had asked military doctors to study surgery and internal medicine a long time ago, the medical conditions were so poor that only a few people could live to their seventies or eighties.

He is twenty-five now. If he dies in his fifties or sixties, he must leave offspring now.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong also looked at Feng Hui, sat down and comforted him, "Don't worry, Huimin Pharmacy has a lot of experience in delivering babies and taking care of children."

"Haha..." Feng Hui laughed, "I think you are more worried than me."

Liu Jilong smiled when he heard this. Feng Hui also looked at Mrs. Zhang and said, "Mrs. Zhang, it's getting late. Let's take Doctor Wang to the restaurant to have lunch before going back."

"Yes," Mrs. Zhang replied with a smile, then left the inner hall with Doctor Wang.

After they left, Feng Hui took out a letter and handed it to Liu Jilong: "This is the letter that Grandpa sent just now. I got morning sickness before I even read it. Take a look now."

"Okay," Liu Jilian nodded and accepted it. Although Feng Ao had been transferred to Chang'an, due to the fighting nature of officials in the late Tang Dynasty, officials like Feng Ao with a background as "old minister of Emperor Wuzong" would always be sent away.

Because of this, it is impossible for me to ignore his affairs.

Thinking of this, Liu Jilong opened the letter and read the contents at a glance.

Most of the content is about the plans of Zhang Yichao and the court, as well as Feng Ao's concerns about the future of Longyou.

"Tell Grandfather that I have been very busy these days and you rarely see me. If you see me, you will tell me about the letter."

"Why do you say that?"

Feng Hui was a little puzzled. After all, she was with Liu Jilong almost every day. Even if Liu Jilong stayed overnight in the West Flower Hall, he would return to the bedroom in the inner hall to rest.

Because of this, when Feng Hui learned that she was suffering from morning sickness, she thought about helping Liu Jillong take in more concubines to prevent Liu Jillong from losing interest in sex and looking for someone else outside.

It is better for her to take the initiative to find someone than to let Liu Jilong or his subordinates look for someone blindly.

"Just do as you are told."

Liu Jilong chuckled and avoided the question. After all, the affairs of Liangzhou were of vital importance, and only he, Zhang Yichao and Zhang Huaishen knew about it. No one more would be allowed.

"Okay." Feng Hui nodded in agreement, then said:

"I am suffering from morning sickness now. If you need anything, please stay in the West Flower Hall for a while."

"In addition, I will also inform Grandfather about my morning sickness, so that Grandfather and my brother can find some new concubines for my husband."

"That's not necessary." Liu Jilong shook his head. He felt that four women in the inner courtyard were enough.

But Feng Hui smiled and said, "My dear, if you don't let me find it, I will always worry that someone else will prepare it for you."

She was referring to Liu Jilong. Don't forget how the three ladies Chen, Guo and Hu in the West Flower Hall came from.

Liu Jilong didn't feel embarrassed after hearing this. He laughed heartily and said, "Then let's find two. Two is enough."

"Okay." Feng Hui breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Liu Jilong like this.

Soon, Liu Jilong hugged her and began to tell her some stories.

At the same time, the letter written by Liu Jilian after the New Year was also sent to Guzang, Liangzhou via Lanzhou.

Zhang Huaishen read it and burned it. Jiu Juyan and Zhang Huaiman couldn't help asking:

"Envoy, what did Commander Liu Jie say?"

"Liu Jilong won't refuse, right?"

"No." Zhang Huaishen shook his head, then looked at the two of them and said:
"Liu Jilong has already agreed to trade with us. When the snow on the Dadouba Valley Road melts, Zheng Chu from Shanzhou will trade with us."

"Yanzhi Mountain will melt earlier than the Dadouba Valley Road. We will lead our troops to Ganzhou in advance and deal with Li Yizhong and his son first."

With Liu Jilong's help, Zhang Huaishen felt relieved.

Even though he was reluctant to give up Liangzhou, it was only a matter of time before Liangzhou fell.

He would rather hand over Liangzhou to Liu Jilong than leave it to Suo Xun, Uighurs, Umu and others.

What's more, Liu Jilian also mentioned a lot of cooperation in the letter. For example, after he got Liangzhou, he would join forces with him to launch a northern expedition against the Uighurs and Umu.

He is not afraid of the Uighurs and the Umu, if one of them were to be his enemy.

The only problem now is that there are the Ganzhou Uighurs and Liangzhou Umu in the north, interference from the Tang court in the east, Uighurs from the Western Regions in the west, and Tuhun causing trouble in the southwest.

Even if he had a way to repel these forces, the generals under his command were not capable enough. If any one of them was defeated, it would be a huge loss for Hexi.

Give Liangzhou to Liu Jilian, and then deal with the Ganzhou Uighurs and Liangzhou Umo, then the north and east of the Hexi Army will be safe.

In addition, the Ganliang official road is wide and can transport more supplies, so Hexi will not be in trouble due to lack of money and food.

My uncle has already thought of so many escape routes for himself. I must manage Hexi well and must not make any mistakes.

"By the way, sir, what does that fellow Li En mean?"

Zhang Huaiman asked Zhang Huaishen, and Zhang Huaishen frowned when he heard it.

He naturally knew what Zhang Huaiman was talking about.

Three days ago, Li En's letter arrived from Shazhou, and the content of the letter was nothing more than advising him to put the people of Hexi first, and that the Li family would do their best to help him stabilize Hexi, and so on and so forth...

Zhang Huaishen didn't quite believe what he said.

Unless Li En behaves himself when he deals with Li Wei and Li Yizhong, father and son, he will not believe anything Li En says.

"Envoy, if we really move our population to Gua and Su states, then Suo Xun..."

Jiu Juyan frowned and said, "His father still occupies Yizhou."

"I have already made a plan." Zhang Huai took a deep breath and said:
"I will use the condition of giving up Liangzhou to let Suo Xun write a letter to Suo Zhongyi."

"As long as Suo Zhongyi gives up Yizhou, I will give Changsong to Suo Xun."

"When Wang Jingyi takes over Yizhou and Suo Zhongyi comes to Liangzhou, I will give up Guzang."

"Once I get Yizhou, I will move Jialin Hankou to Guazhou, and Fanhe Hankou to Yizhou."

After he finished speaking, Zhang Huaiman and Jiu Juyan looked at each other in confusion and asked, "Why do we need to relocate people to Yizhou?"

"Do you really want to recapture Xizhou?" Jiu Juyan asked.

"Yes!" Zhang Huaishen nodded in response and explained:

"Recovering Xizhou is not only my uncle's order, but also one of Liu Jilong's conditions for cooperating with us."

"The population of Xizhou is nearly 50,000. Although most of them are foreigners, it is still 50,000 people after all."

"Besides, after we recover Xizhou, Shazhou will not be harassed by the north. We only need to guard against Tuhun in the south."

"I will be stationed in Shazhou by then, and will be able to provide assistance to Xizhou or Ganzhou with ease."

Xizhou is a key point on the northern route of the Silk Road. Even if Liu Jilian and Zhang Yichao do not speak up, as long as Zhang Huaishen has the strength, he will seek to recapture Xizhou.

After all, given the current situation around him, it seems that the only way out is to go west.

He would not touch the east again. It seemed that nothing good had happened to them since they returned to the east.

With Liu Jilian blocking the way in Liangzhou, he no longer had to worry about internal provocations.

Thinking of this, Zhang Huaishen said to the two of them:

"Reorganize the troops and march west to Ganzhou in the spring!"

(End of this chapter)