Dao Fruit

Three days later, a heavily guarded carriage, bid farewell to the officials, slowly left the capital and headed east along the official road. [23[w]x

Among the people bidding farewell, there were many high-ranking people like the Prime Minister of the dynasty, and even eunuchs in the palace——

Eunuch Wei, who was trusted by the emperor, was also among them. He came to see him off on behalf of the emperor. If Li Kun had not been unwell and could not show up, the emperor would have come in person.

"Master, if you leave the capital at this time, what if something happens to the emperor, and you won't be able to come back in time? If someone else gets the upper hand, I'm afraid it will be difficult to deal with it in the future."

Not far after leaving the capital, there was a man dressed as a servant sitting on a horse outside the carriage, saying this beside the curtain of the carriage.

The person sitting in the car was the protagonist who had been seen off by the ministers before. The only one who could alert the emperor and send a representative to see him off was Qiu Yan, the Minister of the Ministry of War, the Prime Minister, and the Marquis of Dingguo.

The court meeting three days ago was just a quarrel on the surface, but the hidden intrigues, swords and shadows behind it were countless. Even if Qiu Yan existed side by side, both in terms of vision and strength, he surpassed Donghua, but in the starry sky forces Under the pressure of Donghua, if you want to complete the layout in Donghua, you have to accept the rules of the game——

Power may be able to defeat others and even make people surrender, but how much strength can a Donghua who has been forcibly suppressed face the changes in the starry sky and the promotion of Buzhou?

Therefore, even though Qiu Yan had launched a counterattack in the court and even dropped a lead that could cause a storm, this journey to the east to recruit surrender was still unavoidable, and at the same time, there was a deeper purpose hidden.

Then, Qiu Yan's voice came out from inside——

"Today's capital city is full of undercurrents. Staying here and getting involved is just a deeper level of intrigue. I have experienced enough of this intrigue. There is no need to get involved. It is better to leave temporarily and sit on the mountain. Watch the tiger fight, and when the time is right, it will be easy to defeat it in one fell swoop.”

"So that's it." When Qiu An heard this, he nodded and kept it in his heart.

If anyone pays attention, they can find that Qiu An is still wearing the clothes of a servant. But in terms of demeanor and temperament, he is getting closer to Qiu Yan. There is an unspeakable aura on the horse. Even among the elite soldiers around him, no one will look down upon him just because of his servant attire.

"By the way, how are you going to deal with the rebels during this trip? I remember that when I asked General Zhang and the others to lead the army there, my original intention was to train with the help of those rebels. But now that I have taken action myself, General Zhang and the others... …”

Qiu Yan's voice came out again: "Zhang Qi leads the troops, what should we do, or what should we do. He is a military general, and I am a civilian official. Even if I am in charge of the Ministry of War, I cannot control him leading the troops. Otherwise, it is overstepping his authority. Let's talk about it. , This kind of thing should not have come to my attention if there was no family behind it, so this matter should be allowed to take its course."

After the words fell, a burst of chirping suddenly came from the carriage. Qiu An didn't think it was strange. He knew that it was the many things Qiu Yan raised that were making the noise. These guys had been living in the capital in recent years and were suppressed by the dragon's energy and the will of the city. , losing more and more vitality, so Qiu Yan took many things with him when he left the capital this time.

Listening to the sound, Qiu An pulled the reins and spurred his horse to leave the carriage, while he was thinking about some questions in his mind.

"I don't know how this matter will end in the end, but now that most of the thousands of miles of mountains and rivers have been stabilized after the master's conquests, only Qilu and Hebei Province still have sporadic military disasters. When the banditry here is calmed down, , maybe when the swords are stored in the warehouse and the horses are released in Nanshan, what is the use of training the troops now? "

This thought completely faded away, and Qiu Yan's voice came again -

"Actually, this trip to Beijing, I can experience the folk customs along the way and experience the changes among the people, which will be more helpful for me to govern in the future. Besides, many mortal world will also come to an end..."

The journey of their group was not peaceful, because the news that Qiu Yan was going to Qilu had been widely circulated since the day he left the city, and was known to people along the way. There were also various rumors mixed in during the period.

The first people to respond were the Confucian scholars and students along the way, who gathered one after another and wanted to learn from him, followed by some businessmen.

Through many channels, these people found out about the deal that Qiu Yan had taken, and they immediately became anxious all day long, fearing that Qiu Yan would come to their door and die...

The story about Qiu Yan's deeds during the Southern and Northern War has been widely circulated, and in some areas it is known to all women and children. Among them, Qiu Yan's ruthless method of treating the enemy is repeatedly mentioned. Once the enemy is determined, he will be merciless. .

Now, many thieves who have had contact with the rebels have already placed themselves in the category of this enemy.

"I heard that in three or four days, the prince of Dingguo will come to Zezhou. You guys should come up with some countermeasures!"

Zezhou Prefecture is located between Guanzhong and Dongdu. It is not the only way to go eastward. However, after Qiu Yan left Gyeonggi this time, he took a boat and went down the river. However, he went ashore again on the way and took a carriage instead. , this move does not have much hidden meaning in the eyes of the people. It is nothing more than a manifestation of Qiu Yan's desire to explore the public sentiment. However, in the eyes of interested people, it is tantamount to a reminder, especially the four largest merchants in Zezhou Prefecture. , even more anxious like an ant on a hot pot.

As soon as they heard the news, knew about the memorial, and found out about Qiu Yan's itinerary, they immediately gathered together to discuss countermeasures.

The person who was speaking now was a middle-aged man with a big belly. He spoke too quickly, and the fat on his face trembled.

This man was one of the four major merchants in Zezhou, named Lei Yuan. His ancestors were also Jinshi, which allowed the Lei family to rise, but they lacked foundation, and in the end they could only turn political capital into primitive accumulation and engage in business.

Zezhou was also a major transportation route at this time. To the north was the Three Jins, to the south was the fertile land of the Central Plains, and to the east was not far from the Eastern Capital. With the help of the water transportation of the North River, it was not surprising that merchants could develop from the goods of the Hetao to the materials of Guanzhong.

However, there were still disadvantages here, so there were not many big merchants, and the aristocratic families with some foundation would not pay too much attention to this place, making the wealthy families in it somewhat neither high nor low.

Such a situation also gave rise to their desperate thoughts. They often transferred the materials that were banned by the court, then transported them to the Three Jins, and finally sold them to the grasslands.

The profits from this kind of transportation under blockade can be imagined, but the merchants in Zezhou cannot get the lion's share, because at most they earn the cost of transportation and storage, and the rest is divided up by major forces. Even so, these profits are enough to give birth to a certain degree of wealthy families.

The merchants in Zezhou who have tasted the sweetness will certainly not be satisfied with this, but the sudden outbreak of the war in the northern border, the rapid changes in the political situation, and the consensus of various forces have continuously squeezed the living space of smuggling in the border areas. Finally, with the pacification of the northern border, the government took the initiative to open the mutual market after implementing Qiu Yan's memorial on the resettlement of various tribes, and gave some materials sales space at the official level, which has long created a broader profit market, and forced the major forces that originally controlled the smuggling channels to bring some things to the table.

In this way, it actually brought serious economic changes.

The concept of economy was widely circulated in Qiu Yan's previous life, and it gave rise to various studies, as if only then did there exist economic studies. However, even if there were no corresponding disciplines in ancient times, it did not mean that there were no similar phenomena.

A typical example is the Meng family, one of the three Jin families. As the movable type printing and the new ceramic firing and forging method were taught to them by Qiu Yan, this undoubtedly opened up a new way for such a family to make money to supplement the income that had been sharply reduced after the withdrawal of smuggling.

There are many examples like the Meng family, but most of them are aristocratic families with certain strength and background. New merchants and wealthy families like the Lei family do not have such qualifications.

Of course, even without the smuggling and transshipment business, Zezhou still has the ability to transship ordinary goods, and it also has considerable profits, but it is easy to go from frugality to luxury, and it is difficult to go from luxury to frugality. After experiencing the huge profits of smuggling, how can the merchants in Zezhou still tolerate the meager profits of ordinary transshipment?

There are also many practical problems here. For example, their family business is constantly expanding and needs to maintain a certain cash flow. This calculation is based on the original. Once the income drops sharply, the entire system will be impacted, and the ability to resist risks will become worse and worse. Even maintaining the daily expenses of the family will be stretched.

In this situation, many merchants can only choose to increase revenue and reduce expenditure.

This cost-cutting is not easy, and it cannot be done overnight. As for increasing revenue, there is no clue.

At this time, the Tiangang Disha thieves sent a Mr. Huang. After being moved by the eloquent speech of this gentleman, several major merchants began to transport materials and transport them to the land of Qi and Lu with the help of Beihe water transport.

They are not unaware that the Tiangang Disha thieves are rebels, but under the coercion and use of the other party, they still cannot refuse. At the beginning, they seemed to be reserved, but after getting rich rewards again and again, they finally couldn't hold back and began to support without reservation.

However, now it is still exposed.

"What should we do about this?" Faced with Lei Yuan's urgent question, the others looked at each other, speechless, and their hearts were in a mess.

Just then...

"Brother Lei, why are you so anxious? Since this matter is caused by us, we have no choice but to do it. As for the matter of Dingguo Hou, we will do justice for him!" (To be continued. Please search for Piaotian Literature, the novels are better and updated faster!

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