"Monkey King means that Huaiyou will take out something that convinces us?" An Chongxi couldn't help asking.

Kang, Cao, and An are the three major surnames among the nine surnames of Zhaowu, and the three surnames have always been the most prominent three surnames among Sogdian merchants. Among the Sogdian merchants, they are also divided into some small groups, but the small groups of Sogdian merchants are mainly divided into business categories and are also intertwined.

For example, the Sogdian merchants surnamed Cao mainly sell horses, while the Sogdian merchants surnamed Kang mainly sell porcelain and silk, while the An family members mainly sell loans.

The Sogdian merchant surnamed Kang had always hoped to open the porcelain kiln in Huaiyou (Wunning), but the porcelain kiln was monopolized by the Persian Hu merchants, which made him regret it.

As the situation in the north became increasingly tense, many kilns in the north had been discontinued, while most of the kilns in the Fujian area in Yue were monopolized by the Hu merchants in Dashi. The Sogdian merchants could not get in. The porcelain kilns in Tanyue were controlled by local gentry. They also worked harder and still did not make much progress. So in the end they turned their attention back to Huaiyou, hoping that Shouzhou kiln could properly consider Sogdian merchants when it expanded its scale.

The purpose of the Sogdian merchant surnamed Cao has been achieved, which is to provide war horses and livestock to the Huaiyou (Wunning) army. Kang Guoying has not made much progress. However, with Luzhou and Haozhou included in Huaiyou, the silk weaving industry in Luzhou Haozhou will also resume, which is what Kang Guoying expects. An Chongxi focuses more on how to reach a closer cooperative relationship with the expanding Huaiyou (Wunning) army. As long as Huaiyou (can) provide more channels for commodity goods, he will of course not hesitate to provide more money loans to Huaiyou (Wunning), which is originally a business.

"Haha, that's about that." Jiang Feng had no intention of hiding it, "But it's too early to say this now. Everyone won't believe it after I said it. I just hope you will prepare according to this plan. At that time, Jiang will always have to come up with something that convinces everyone."

"Since that's the case, we will do it according to the opinions of the county magistrate." The three Sogdian merchants exchanged their eyes, and Cao Jushi pondered for a moment and agreed: "In March, we will send 8,000 good horses to Sucheng one after another, and then ask the county magistrate to arrange someone to accept it."

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The reception finally dispersed, and several Sogdian merchants returned to the guild hall.

This is also the Sogdian merchants originally settled in Xuzhou.

The three major Hushang Groups all have guild halls in various major cities to facilitate business negotiations and contacts.

Sogdian merchants have now established guild halls in Shouzhou, Xuzhou and Luzhou in Huaiyou (Wunning). No matter what business they are in, as long as they are Sogdian merchants, they can get the fastest message transmission and business support, the transportation, storage, capital loans, and even the clearance and contact with local governments, and dispute mediation and arbitration between merchants.

"Looking at this county lord seems to be confident, is this county lord really having something new that has not been announced?"

Kang Guoying has been obsessed with Shouzhou Kiln. Although silk is also a major business for their Kang family, the profit of transporting porcelain to the northwest is too high these days, so no one is willing to give up.

"Pengcheng County Duke currently has control over the prefectures of Huaibei Yanyun, but for us, the prefectures of Huaibei Yanyun are not the most important thing. It is because the products are salt and iron and salt. They are produced in all regions. If there is no war, they will share their own benefits. Even if we take over, the interests will not increase much, and it is easy to conflict with salt merchants in various places. Therefore, we would rather accept the salt tax from Pengcheng County Duke. After all, no matter who is doing the salt business, the tax will never be eliminated."

"But if it is used to pay for the salt tax, it is too risky if it is used to mortgage such a large amount of money." An Chong said with great concern.

Although he accepted this suggestion, he was still a little worried in his heart. Although the Pengcheng County Duke valued credibility, he was unable to protect himself or even did not exist in the current period. No matter how good the credibility was, it would not be possible to make up for the losses.

"Xuzhou has only iron except salt." Kang Guoying continued: "But although Xuzhou is a few major iron smelting centers, it is not as large as Nanyang in terms of scale. The quality and output of iron are inferior to Nanyang. In addition, there is a lot of iron required in Huaibei Yanyun, so if you want to make money here, you can only say it is unsatisfactory."

"Yes, the Huainan land is actually more abundant. Porcelain, silk, tea, medicinal materials, and grain in the past two years are all urgently needed by the north. Unfortunately, the Duke of Pengcheng County only took over the two prefectures of Luhao. Even if Shouzhou and Wuzhou are added, it is just a matter of confidence in food. However, although the price of grain is high now, once the harvest in the north improves, the price of grain will plummet, and its price is far less stable than that of other people. Porcelain is monopolized by the Persians. Silk and tea are mainly in Yue and Xuanzhou along the river. The Duke of Pengcheng County has not yet extended there."

"What else?" An Chongxi pondered. They still had some understanding of the character of the Pengcheng County Duke. They would never be aimless. Moreover, it would not seem like they were trying to cheat themselves if they said it in advance. Otherwise, it would be completely necessary to do this. "Silk and tea are not something that can be achieved overnight, and the same is true for medicinal materials, and salt and iron are not much different, and they cannot increase overnight."

"I said we shouldn't think so much. The county duke of Pengcheng is now on a strong upward trend. In my opinion, Pinglu is probably going to fall into the county duke's hands sooner or later." Cao Jushi stroked his jaw, "And now the Huang Ant Thief and Jiangnan are fighting fiercely. If not, they will be a loss-making situation. Maybe the county duke will gain something in Jiangnan..."

Kang Guoying and An Chongxi were both excited, "Is it because the county magistrates that Jiangnan is the one who can take over the two states of Chu and Yang?"

No wonder these two people are so anxious. If Jiang Feng can take over the two states of Chu and Yang, this amount of money and loans will really be nothing. Even if they add twice, they dare to let go!

The wealth of the two states of Chu and Yang are not comparable to those of Xuzhou and Yanzhou. Whether it is the population, the wealth of the people, or the production, they are several times the prefectures and counties that are similar to Yanzhou and Xuzhou in terms of status.

Chuzhou is also a major state of Huai salt production, no worse than Haizhou. The salt produced in Haizhou and Chuzhou basically monopolizes the entire Jiangnan, Huaibei, Huainan, Yanyun, Pinglu and even Tanyue all use the salt from these two states.

Not to mention Yangzhou, it is located in a critical situation. The river water and canal make it the largest port in the south of the Yangtze River. Moreover, Yangzhou is a hometown of fish and rice. It produces extremely large grain, silk and aquatic products, making it an important material distribution center, even better than Shouzhou.

More importantly, this is the most important shipbuilding center in the entire river downstream. Its shipbuilding volume and shipbuilding scale are more than Shouzhou. Even the Shouzhou navy often ordered customized military ships from Yangzhou at that time.

It was not until Jiang Feng took over Shouzhou that he began to vigorously develop Shouzhou's shipbuilding industry, especially to manufacture medium-sized ships suitable for the Huai River front-line.

Cao Jushi hesitated for a while, and then shook his head: "It's not like that. The county magistrate bought a large number of war horses at this time, obviously to strengthen his cavalry construction. The goal should also be to Pinglu and Heshuo. The battles in Jiangnan should be dominated by boats. Although the shipbuilding industry in Shouzhou is developing very fast, its naval army has not expanded much. I am afraid that it will not be able to conquer the four prefectures of Chu, Yang, Runchang and Yue, right?"

Cao Jushi's words made Kang Guoying and An Chongxi feel a little regretful.

From this perspective, it is indeed different. Moreover, Huaiyou (Wunning) is obviously enhancing the military strength of Huaibei Yanyun on a large scale. It is not like fighting in the south. Huang Ant Thief and Li Wu have not yet reached a conclusion, and Huaiyou (Wunning) will not choose this opportunity to intervene. Sitting on the mountain and watching the tiger fight is the right thing.

"Forget it, we can't judge this county magistrate's actions. He has his own reasons for saying this. We should follow our path. Shouzhou kiln needs to find another way. At present, Shouzhou yellow porcelain is very popular in the northwest and Khitans, and the prices are very high. If it can promote the increase in production in Huaiyou, we will also have the opportunity to gain some share, which will be of great help to expand our path,..."

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For Jiang Feng, he is really not a pretentious act.

The importance of Xuzhou's status lies in the area. In addition to being at a critical level and being important, the most important thing is its iron smelting industry. However, it seems that the scale of the iron smelting industry in this era is very small, and its production capacity cannot meet the current civil needs, let alone military use.

No wonder iron is so expensive now. Only a few households in the countryside can have an iron pot, a kitchen knife, and iron plows, chopping hatchets, axes and other things together are common. Those who can wear swords and swords must be children of large gentry families to have the financial resources. People who are robbers can only use wooden sticks and bamboo spears.

Military uses are the big iron users in this era. Horseshoes, horse armor, heart protection mirrors, helmets and even high-end Mingguang armors, mountain leaves armors are all big iron users. Not to mention the types of knives, guns, swords, and halberds in weapons, arrow clusters are the big consumption users, so the northern manhus' demand for iron is concentrated in these aspects.

It can be said that every war preparation is accompanied by a surge in iron prices, which is also an important factor in why Shi Feng firmly controlled Xuzhou and the Liu family in Nanyang could gain a foothold in Nanyang.

Jiang Feng now wants to significantly expand the scale of Xuzhou's iron smelting industry in the shortest time, and at the same time, he needs to have a leap forward in iron production efficiency, production capacity and quality.

In his opinion, this was not impossible.
Chapter completed!