Entrepreneurship in the Late Tang Dynasty

Chapter 65 Noble Prime Minister
Zhao Huaian led the Baoyi Army to make a fortune again. The distribution ratio was the same as before: one third was given to the superiors, one third was kept for himself, and the rest was distributed to all the officials and soldiers.

You know what, Zhao Huaian is indeed capable of doing great things. The fact that he divides the money so clearly alone has earned him the trust of both his superiors and subordinates.

However, even though Zhao Huaian handed over a large sum of money to Yang Qingfu, his comfortable life soon ended.

Because the Fengxiang Army, which had been defeated before, brought the lawsuit to Yang Qingfu, they put all the blame for the defeat on Bao Yidu, saying that if Bao Yidu had not moved in the middle of the night without telling them, how could they have been so unprepared.

To some extent, what these people say makes sense.

But the army doesn’t talk about this. Just like when the Fengxiang army cheated Zhao Da and his men before, it was done with. Who would stand up for the losers?

So at the beginning, Yang Qingfu didn't even pay any attention to these Fengxiang troops. What a joke! I didn't even punish you for fleeing in the face of battle, and you are now attacking their meritorious troops?

But these Fengxiang soldiers were determined, especially when they knew that Zhao Huaian and his men had made a lot of money this time, which was more painful than killing them.

So they threatened that if Zhao Huaian was not dealt with, they would report it to the Jiedushi and let Minister Gao make the decision for them.

This made Yang Qingfu worried, because he had not yet found a suitable way to get along with Gao Pian, and he was also worried that the Jiedushi would use this to control him. Moreover, although the Fengxiang Army did not belong to the Shen Ce Army, it was also located within the Great Wall. Who knew if there was any relationship between them?
Therefore, Yang Qingfu had no choice but to transfer Zhao Huaian from the front line and let him escort food and grass to the rear.

So, Zhao Huaian and others who were ready to continue their big fight received a transfer order to return to Shuangliu to raise food and supplies.

……

The second year of Qianfu, the eighteenth day of the first month of spring.

Zhao Huaian brought a thousand people from Baoyi to a military camp east of Shuangliu to prepare to receive the military rations this time.

There was an open space outside the village, which was temporarily built by the Tang army and was specifically used to store supplies shipped from Chengdu.

Since the war began, the only four places in western Sichuan that had not fallen were Chengdu, Pengzhou, Shuzhou, and Maozhou. Among them, Maozhou was poor and weak, so the task of supplying the army fell on the counties in Chengdu, Pengzhou, and Shuzhou.

At present, the strength of the Tang army near Chengdu is maintained at around 50,000. Among them, there are more than 10,000 soldiers from western Sichuan in Chengdu, 10,000 soldiers from various vassal states on the front line and the foreign troops from western Sichuan, and then there are about 15,000 people left behind in various counties, villages and important garrisons.

The remaining 15,000 were from the five armies of Changwu, Fufang, Hedong, Zhaoyi and Yicheng brought by Jiedushi Gao Pian. Under the order of Jiedushi Gao Pian, they were launching an offensive against the Nanzhao army in the Qiongzhou area.

Although Zhao Huaian had a prejudice against Gao Pian because of the murder of the old general, he had to admit that this man was indeed well versed in the art of war. After entering Shu, he quickly organized his forces to launch a counterattack. In just five or six days, the offensive and defensive momentum of Nanzhao and his side was reversed.

However, such a large number of troops launching counterattacks from several directions at the same time also put tremendous pressure on logistics.

Fortunately, these Nanzhao troops launched the attack in November of the winter. At that time, the autumn grain in various parts of western Sichuan had already been taxed and stored in the warehouse, so Chengdu still had a certain strength to supply the army.

If the Nanzhao troops had been like the Tibetans in the past, coming down from the plateau during the autumn harvest, looting the Tang territory, burning and harvesting wheat, and returning, then even if Gao Pian wanted to launch a counterattack, he would not have the military rations.

Now, Zhao Huaian and his men came to this military camp to hand over military rations, which were directly supplied by Chengdu, so it was also the largest grain storage station among the nearby ones.

But when Zhao Huaian arrived with Bao Yidu, he found that the security here was very weak. Not only were the military rations piled on the haystacks outside, but even the patrols nearby were lazy and sloppy.

Sometimes Zhao Huaian also thought that those Nanzhao troops were also fighting to the death. If they learned the military tactics from Cao Cao, and directly infiltrated into the plains with light cavalry, and set fire to and looted these military farms, the outcome of this battle would probably be very different.

However, it was good for the Nanzhao army to fight a dull battle, which was just right for Zhao Huaian's development.

After arriving with the team, Zhao Huaian asked Wang Duo and Xue Hang to receive the military rations, and then he took Lao Liu and a few of his confidants to find the guards of the military camp.

Of course, Zhao Huaian didn't know this person, but the Shen Ce Army who were around the military inspector Zhou Congyu found him after learning that Zhao Huaian was going to the rear to escort military supplies, and they meant to continue doing business with him.

What business?

Of course it is reselling military rations.

At that time, Zhao Huaian was shocked and said that he would definitely not take this job. He even advised Song Wentong and other members of the Shen Ce Army not to commit crimes against the wind.

These days in the rear, Zhao Huaian has already understood the style of their new governor, that is, Gao Pian is really a self-righteous person. To put it simply, he is the kind of person who prospers those who obey me and perishes those who disobey me.

As long as you are in his way or feel that you are an eyesore, he will kill you without hesitation.

Wasn't that what happened to his old general? Because he lost his troops and felt he needed to make an example of someone, he executed him without hesitation. It was truly disheartening. Therefore, working under such a Jiedushi, Zhao Huaian would never engage in reselling military rations.

And even putting all that aside, damn, these Shen Ce Army are really cruel. He had just come down from the front line, and the supply was already not very good at that time. At that time, he thought it was due to the tight supply. Now he thinks it was caused by these Shen Ce Army.

It's really no injustice to kill them all.

Zhao Da himself is a military commander and would never get involved in such things. If he gets involved, his reputation will be ruined.

Compared to earning that little money, Zhao Huaian cares more about his reputation.

He also discovered that this group of Shen Ce Army definitely wanted to drag him into the water. The business they wanted to do together was either burning large trees or reselling military rations. They were deeply afraid that Zhao Huaian would not go down the same path with them.

So Zhao Huaian didn't bother to pay attention to these people.

However, these members of the Shen Ce Army did not say much. Instead, they introduced the local military camp guard to Zhao Huaian. This had no other meaning. It was just a small show of connections to tell Zhao Huaian that there would be as many people willing to join their Shen Ce Army as they wanted.

Here, Zhao Huaian brought Zhao Liu, Dou Pangzi, and the newly appointed secretary Zhang Guinian, prepared a gift and went to visit Dong Gongsu, the guard of the military camp.

Dong Gongsu was from a prominent family in Luzhou. It was said that his family lived in Fuyi County and was one of the richest people in the county.

When Zhao Huaian heard this, he thought that this man had made his fortune by reselling military rations to the Shence Army, but after Zhang Guinian's explanation, he realized that this was not the case at all.

The Dong family is a real local tyrant in Fuyi, Luzhou. Unlike the hollow local tyrants like Fatty Dou, the Dong family is said to have taken root in Fuyi during the Han Dynasty.

Whether it was true or not is impossible to verify, but in Fuyi, no one dared to go against the Dong family.

In the past few days, Zhao Huaian discovered that Zhang Guinian was indeed a talented person. Although his military skills could not be seen, he was very clear about the human relationships and stories of this world.

It was he who told Zhao Huaian that there were actually very few real wealthy families in the local area now. The wealthy families that used to rule the prefectures and counties have basically moved to the two capitals, and the only ones left in the local area are some powerful local tyrants.

But never look down on these powerful local tycoons, because although they may not be high-ranking officials, they are definitely rich and powerful.

Just like the Dong Gongsu that Zhao Huaian is going to meet today, he is such a person. You should know where his hometown Fuyi is? It is the area with the largest salt production in the entire Shu.

The Fuyi Salt Well here has been the number one salt-producing area in Shu since the Han Dynasty. It has become even more amazing in this dynasty. The monthly salt production is 4,000 dan, and this is still the official output. No one knows how much is produced in private.

Anyway, Zhang Guinian told Zhao Huaian that there were no poor people in Fuyi, so this place was formerly called "Fushi", but it was changed to avoid the taboo of Emperor Taizong.

Zhao Huaian understood what Zhang Guinian said. In his later life, not to mention the camels far away, even when the new energy was booming, the villagers in Yichun, Jiangxi, made a fortune just by picking up lithium ore in the mountains.

Knowing that Mr. Dong was wealthy, Zhao Huaian specially prepared a generous gift, all of which were seized from the Nanzhao Army, in order to establish a relationship with this wealthy local tyrant.

As for why? Of course, it’s to attract investors.

Baoyi is now a startup team with more than a thousand officers and soldiers and hundreds of auxiliary soldiers and slaves, but the central army is still paying Zhao Huaian according to the establishment of about a hundred people. Even though Zhao Huaian went to Yang Qingfu to cry when he returned this time, he only managed to get 200 in the end. Any more than that could not be afforded by the western Sichuan side.

In recent years, Xichuan has been plagued by wars. Although its vitality is not seriously damaged, it will definitely take a long time to recover. Now it has to supply the more than 10,000 troops brought by Gao Pian. How can it have rice to give to Zhao Huaian?

So there was no other way, Zhao Huaian could only find a way himself, and Dong Gongsu was the one he had reserved as the main person.

Because of the intermediary from the Shen Ce Army, Zhao Huaian and his men were able to meet Dong Gongsu easily.

Before meeting him, Zhao Huaian thought that Dong Gongsu's family was involved in smuggling salt, and that they must be ruthless characters who were involved in both the white and black worlds.

But when we met, I found that this man had a very kind face, thick lips, big square ears, and was always smiling. He looked like a novice monk, and definitely not a military general.

Can you suppress those soldiers like this?
Zhao Huaian didn't know that Dong Gongsu actually had a nickname in the army, "Grandma Dong". This showed that the soldiers in the army really didn't take Dong Gongsu seriously.

At this moment, Zhao Huaian and his group entered the military tent. Dong Gongsu looked at these people with a smile, then looked at Zhao Huaian in the middle and said:
"Noble appearance, noble appearance, noble beyond words."

After hearing these words, Zhao Huaian's hair stood on end and sweat broke out on his back. He looked around carefully, thinking that a Hongmen Banquet had been held!

(End of this chapter)