After the Fairy Disappeared

  Chapter 220 New challenges ahead

  The He Lingchuan brothers were an exception, and He Chunhua would not give them.

  Wu Shaoyi picked up the bamboo tube and shook it, there was something rustling inside, solid, a lot of quantity but not big. "This is?"

   "If you open it and take a look, you will know?"

   Everyone uncorked, and a strong smell of tobacco overflowed.

  Wu Shaoyi said in surprise: "Chewing tobacco?"

  He took out a piece, put it in his mouth and chewed it slowly, while nodding: "Okay, okay, really top-quality! Thank you, sir."

  He Yue could only watch helplessly: "Father, where did this come from?"

"This is a special product of the Beja country, and it was sent all the way from the north." He Chunhua took a piece, didn't chew it, just played with it in his hand, "Dayuan has an agreement with the Beja country, and we buy a lot from there every year." Things, chewing tobacco is just one of them. Now the border line has been stuck in Xiazhou, and the task of sending people to the border market to pick up the goods will fall on me. In addition, I just learned today that the official post in Xiazhou is also It should be given priority to the Beja merchants; if the Beja caravan is robbed, the local officials must investigate and find out."

  The main function of the official station is to serve as a courier. If they don't provide drinking water, food, lodging and horses, how can X hundred miles be expedited? However, the Yuan Country actually has an agreement with Beja, and the official post cannot refuse the Beja caravan to move in.

  This kind of privilege cannot be enjoyed by the P citizens of the country.

   Zeng Feixiong didn't eat cigarettes, and frowned: "What's so difficult about chewing tobacco, why don't you produce it yourself?" It took time, effort and money to transport it all the way.

"The things produced in Bega are of the best quality and are the most popular. You see, this bamboo tube is made of green jade bamboo unique to the south of Bega. The color is like jade, and it is like gold when knocked. Some people even use it to make musical instruments; The outer skin is only a very thin layer, and the weight is light." He casually weighed the sapphire bamboo tube, "Look at the chewing tobacco produced in Yuan Country, what kind of packaging are they used, and what quality are they, huh?"

   Zeng Feixiong was speechless.

"I have been in Shihuan for the past few days, and I have seen that nobles use Bega's chewing tobacco in their communication, which shows how popular it is. The bamboo tubes they use are painted with gold for fun. Rich merchants also use Bega's chewing tobacco Treat guests to show your financial strength." He Chunhua weighed the bamboo tube, "The price of such a small tube is one tael of silver, and the further south you go, the more expensive it is. If it is the chewing tobacco in the gold tube, the quality is higher, and the price doubles." times."

   "This tobacco leaf has no impurities. It is smoked first, then roasted, and soaked in honey. The taste is really good!" Wu Shaoyi was very intoxicated, "I used to chew all the shit!"

  He used to be a mud-legged man, what good cigarette should he chew?

  He Lingchuan's heart skipped a beat.

   This sapphire and bamboo tube looks familiar. When he received military rewards in the Panlong Dreamland, this was the one he got!

  In Panlong City, there are people who specialize in collecting this kind of bamboo tubes, reprocessing them and selling them for money.

  Yes, the color and shape of the chewing tobacco issued by the Panlong City Pengcheng Administration are only slightly different from those in the hands of everyone, but it was a product more than a hundred years ago, and it is reasonable that the craftsmanship has improved over such a long time.

   That is to say, the chewing tobacco distributed to the soldiers in Panlong City is also produced by Beja!

  Cough, he seems to have heard Hu Min say that Panlong City also does business with Beja, and the annual trade volume is not small.

  The foreign trade and commerce of this country is really very developed.

He Chunhua sighed again: "Of course the most important reason is that Yuan Country has to buy it. How much to buy every year and what price to buy are all written in the agreement. Like natural and man-made disasters in recent years, we buy from Beja Country. There are fewer things, and the money is not given in a timely manner, and the Beja Kingdom is very dissatisfied."

   If the real Young Master He is here, he may directly ask "why do I have to buy it".

  So He Lingchuan did the same.

  He Chunhua didn't answer directly, and after a few moments of silence, he said: "It accepts the Xunzhou New Year's praise, and it is to give us eye drops."

He coughed again: "After we arrive in Xiazhou, we will face a more complicated new situation. This is one of the troubles. I say this so that you can have a solid foundation in your mind. No matter how we fight against Nian Lizan, we are Beijia You can't offend easily. Well, now it's time to talk about business."

  He nodded to Lao Mo, the housekeeper next to him, and the latter went out immediately, and led someone in after a while: "Master, steward Qian is here."

  Later, Lao Mo closed the window and went out to guard the door for everyone. After all, this is a post house, so beware that the walls have ears.

  He Chunhua pointed to the latecomer dressed as a businessman and said: "This is Guanshi Qian, the Zhu family sent to Dunyu to manage the business. He has been in Dunyu for 20 years, and he is more familiar with the capital of Xiazhou than the locals."

   "Boss He is overrated." Guanshi Qian paid homage to the surroundings, smiling amiably, "I have met you, my lords."

   "At my request, Mr. Zhu specially ordered him to come over from Dunyu and explain the situation in the city to us. In case we are not familiar with the place and place after I enter the city, we will not be able to develop."

  After he returned Zhu Xiuer to Zhu Xiyan, he established a pure friendship with the Zhu family. Zhu's family also has business in Xiazhou, and they also pointed out that the new general manager can be promoted, and naturally try to satisfy his reasonable requirements.

  He nodded to Guanshi Qian: "Let's talk about the war on the northern front, and what happened in Dunyu City."

   Guanshi Qian talked about it.

  He Lingchuan knew that the war on the northern front of the Yuan Country was not going well, but he didn't expect it to be so bad.

  Nian Zanli, the former general of Zhengbei, took the whole Xunzhou to the northern demon country, so the northern front line moved from the south of Xunzhou to the east of Haozhou. You must know that Xunzhou has been the border line for many years, but the soldiers in Haozhou don't have much experience in fighting the enemy. As a result, the resistance here is not good, and they were broken by the New Year's Praise in less than a month.

  With the overwhelming momentum of the New Year's celebration, the battlefield unsurprisingly fell to the southern part of Haozhou.

  It is already approaching the border between Haozhou and Xiazhou. As long as Nian Zanli wins the last three cities in the south of Haozhou, the war will be brought to Xiazhou, which is He Chunhua's territory.

  The news of He Chunhua's transfer to the northern border should have been known to Nian Zanli. The former border general was probably eager to avenge his son's murder, and launched wave after wave of offensives against the southern part of Haozhou.

   Currently standing in the south of Haozhou is the general Zhao Pan sent by the royal court. I heard that there will be winners and losers with the Nian Zan Ceremony, so temporarily hold back the latter's southward invasion.

   There is no doubt that Zhao Pan needs the full support of the rear.

   Undoubtedly, he encountered the same trouble as Ke Jihai:

   Weak logistics and shortage of supplies.

   And Xiazhou is just behind the battlefield, and it is imperative to bear a large part of the military supply. The royal court has repeatedly requested Xiazhou to fully cooperate.

"My family is in the fabric business in Dunyu. Originally, our main business was silk, satin and fur. After opening up in the north, Dunyu asked the cloth shops in the city to coordinate the transportation of cotton and rush to make cotton clothes, and so did my family." Qian Guanshi sighed, "Before General Zhao enters the winter I was urging for 30,000 winter clothes, but now that the spring snow is almost melting, there are only more than 7,000 cotton clothes to go to the front line, less than 40%."

  He Yue frowned: "Can't all the materials for the war be raised by Xiazhou?"

"Xiazhou is the closest to the front line, and the task assigned is the heaviest. More than 3,000 pieces of cotton clothes alone were allocated. We spent a lot of effort to complete the task, and we still paid for the goods and manual money out of our own pockets. Reimbursement." Qian Guanshi continued, "The lack of clothes is nothing more than the shortage of food. I heard that the front line has bombed the camp once, and some soldiers were so hungry that they defected to the opposing camp at night."

  The morale of the army is not stable, and that battle cannot be fought well.

  Mo Zhe Jingxuan asked him: "Didn't Xiazhou have good weather and good harvests in the past two years?"

   "Yes, that's why Wang Ting asked Xiazhou to send grain to the front line nearby to relieve the urgent need. But after three deliveries like this, Dunyu's largest granary suddenly caught fire."

   "I heard in Shihuan that hundreds of thousands of shi grains were burned." He Chunhua said with a blank expression, "After the king received the news, he was so angry that he broke two cups and couldn't sleep all night."

  The food that can feed the frontline for a year and a half is gone in a fire. Who can't feel bad?

There were a few frozen autumn pears soaking in the basin next to it. He Lingchuan took one casually, and then heard Steward Qian smile: "How can there be hundreds of thousands of stones? Ninety percent of them are empty. The villain has reliable news. Originally There are only 20,000 stones in it at most."

   "Most!" He held up two fingers, "No one knows the exact amount, not even the people in charge of food. After this big fire, it's all over."

  Zeng Feixiong couldn't help asking: "Where did the food go?"

"In recent years, the grain in the Dunyu granary has been rarely used, so every year after the harvest of autumn grain, I only go to the granary to pay an empty bill, and then sell it out privately, and even use the old grain to replace the new grain that has just entered the warehouse." Guanshi Qian said, " Last year, I didn't know that General Nian would betray the country, and I didn't know that Xiazhou suddenly turned around and became the front line, a lot of food was sold to Xunzhou, and the warehouse was very short."

   Several generals were very annoyed: "That is to say, the people on the other side eat our rice and kill us?"

   "Who is the chief envoy?" He Lingchuan gnawed at the pear, "There must be someone who is the leader, and he has worked for more than one year or two, once or twice, right?"

"Dunyu is the ancestral home of Mr. Li Dushan, Minister of the Ministry of War. His family members are all here, and they are doing a great job. The government dare not provoke them at will." Guanshi Qian swallowed, "Baoxiang, the largest food company in Xiazhou The owner’s family name is Liu, but the actual controller is the Li family.”

"They didn't dare to make a big show at the beginning, and it was a small matter to exchange accounts for food. However, it has been safe and sound for many years. Others are envious and follow suit. Everyone comes to exchange, and the accounts become more and more chaotic. , the inventory in the warehouse is getting less and less."

   "This food official should be killed." Wu Shaoyi said in a serious tone, "Hey, it's still a familiar trick, and it's still a familiar taste."

  He used to be under Hong Xiangqian's command. Didn't the rebels rise up to resist because of several years of floods and droughts in the south, and the royal court's excessive expropriation? They have seen a lot of these chaos, these tricks, and these tricks in the south.

   Now that he has turned into an official army, the corruption in reality remains the same.

  He Chunhua nodded.

  As the saying goes, it is said that you can know what you know, not to mention that Dunyu's old bad debts have turned into a big hole.

  (end of this chapter)