Chapter 293: The profit is in a dizzy way

Since ancient times, China has been paying too much attention to face. As early as the reign of Emperor Yang of Sui, Emperor Yang Guang sent his important minister Pei Ju to the Western Regions to lure the Hus into the dynasty. Seeing that it was profitable, the Hus in the Western Regions rushed to Luoyang and welcomed the county along the way, which was very expensive. Not only that, Emperor Yang of Sui also ordered a grand 100 theater on the street outside Duanmen on the imperial city on the night of the Yuan Dynasty to perform 10,800 operas for the Western Regions. There were as many as 18,000 musicians. The Śrāvakas had dozens of miles of lights, and the lights were shining like daytime. It was not stopped until the end of the first lunar month.

People from the Western Regions entered the Feng City of Luoyang to trade. Emperor Yang of Sui ordered merchants to play the city with rich appearance and store precious goods. Merchants' clothing was gorgeous. Even vegetable sellers used dragon beard mats to spread the floor. Major wine shops even invited people from the Western Regions to be like seats, allowing them to be drunk and full without paying for money. They called it: The Sui Dynasty was rich, and they did not charge any money as usual.

There were even winners, even the trees in the market were wrapped in silk satin. The Hu people were not stupid, so they asked sarcastically: "There are many poor people in the Sui Dynasty who were not covered by clothes. Why don't they cover their own people's bodies with cloth but use them to wrap trees to show off their wealth?"

The merchants were speechless.

The same is true for Li Longji today. The commitment of the Grandmaster Mansour, the crown prince of the Great Food, greatly satisfying his vanity. When Mansour hesitated to ask for the release of the Great Food prisoners and let them go home to reunite with his wife and daughter, Li Longji and the prime minister immediately felt compassion and agreed to Mansour's request without hesitation. He immediately ordered Li Qing'an to release the prisoners of war. He even almost forgot that there were more than a thousand prisoners of war from the Tang Dynasty there. It was Li Qing'an who reminded Li Longji.

However, Mansour also made a mistake that made him regret. After signing the peace agreement, he proposed that he could learn the papermaking technique of the Tang Dynasty and spread the culture of the Tang Dynasty to the West, and Li Longji also agreed.

But Mansur felt guilty and did not propose to learn the armor-making and bow-making techniques of the Tang Dynasty. He realized afterwards that he could have obtained these two secret military skills by using the excuse of attacking the Western Turks for the Tang Dynasty, because the Tang Dynasty did not regard their food as an equal power, and it was a gift to them. If so, the Tang Dynasty would most likely pass on these two technologies to them.

Unfortunately, he did not make this request, which caused him to waste such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. When the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty cooled down, he might not agree.

The singing and dancing feast held by Xingqing Palace for the Grand Turkish Crown Prince did not end until the afternoon. Li Qing'an sneered in his heart and left Xingqing Palace. He didn't know how long the friendly contract signed by Chen Xilie, the left prime minister of the Tang Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty Emperor Li Longji personally could last? Even if the Grand Turkish Man did not want to break the contract, Li Qing'an would tear it to pieces with his own hands.

The carriage was driving slowly on the street, and Li Qing'an leaned on the cushion and closed his eyes to rest. At this time, he suddenly heard several personal guards whispering about the Tang Dynasty's permission to release prisoners of war.

"It's so cheap that they are let go of them. I really don't know how to explain to the brothers who died on the battlefield?"

"That's right, the civil officials of the court are too soft-hearted and are self-righteous. The emperor is a little old and confused. He just promised to let them go in vain. At least they have to use money to redeem them!"

Li Qing'an punched the wall of the car twice, and the outside immediately became quiet. When Li Longji ordered him to release the prisoners of big food, Li Qing'an did not object. In that kind of occasion, he could not defeat Li Longji's enthusiasm, but he would not have let go of 20,000 prisoners of big food. It was the same old saying that the decision to let go of whether to let go is Li Longji, but Li Qing'an had the final say. Will he just let go of people so easily? Mansour also thought things too simple.

The carriage left Mingde Gate. At this time, Li Qing'an suddenly remembered the refugees in the morning. He opened the curtain and looked from a distance. He saw hundreds of tents had been set up on a clearing field several miles away. There were several large porridge sheds around the tent, all of which were lined up in a long queue. There were only a few thousand people in the morning, but now it seems that there are tens of thousands of people.

At this time, he suddenly saw several people riding horses and running towards this side, but it was Cui Guangyuan, the magistrate of Chang'an County. He also saw Li Qing'an's team and rushed up.

Since the last military meeting in the military camp, Cui Guangyuan began to dream of becoming an official in Anxi. He is now the county magistrate of Jingxian County. If he went to Anxi, he would at least be a governor. If he was lucky, he might even be the governor of Xiazhou. Cui Guangyuan's biggest wish in his life was to join the army as a general. As early as his youth, he was a rebel of the Cui family, brave and fierce, and a famous gossip in Chang'an (the street hooligan Tang Zhi). Later, when he got Menyin went to Jiannan to become an official, he was unable to enter the military route, but became a civil servant.

Now that he defected to Li Qing'an, he began to dream of being a general again. Cui Guangyuan rushed forward, turned over and dismounted and saluted, "See General!"

Li Qingan smiled and asked, "Eunuch Cui, how have you resettled the refugees?"

"Report to the general, there are now 18,000 refugees in Hedong. It is said that there are still a large number of refugees rushing to Chang'an one after another. Currently, Chang'an County and Wannian County are in charge of each party. I have hosted nearly 10,000 refugees and started the relief porridge in the morning. It is now the second round. I estimate that nearly 100,000 refugees will come to Chang'an in the end."

"Is there enough food?" Li Qingan asked again.

"The food is definitely not enough. There are 30,000 shi of grain in the official warehouse of Chang'an County, but Xianyu Jingzhao Yin only allowed us to use 3,000 shi, saying that military rations should be requisitioned and we are not allowed to use them for disaster relief without authorization. We are preparing to write to the emperor and ask the emperor to agree to open the warehouse to provide disaster relief."

This is indeed a dilemma. Li Qing'an was not optimistic about the result of the letter. Li Longji was determined to start a war. He didn't care about these victims. Li Qing'an thought for a while and said, "I'll give you an idea to mobilize the wealthy households in Chang'an to open a porridge shed. Someone should come to make this reputation. In addition, I have a manor in Weinan County. In the past two years, 8,000 stones of grain can be stored. All of this grain can be handed over to you for disaster relief. In addition, you can go to Juhaixingguillot in Dongshi to withdraw 3,000 guan of money. It's my order. It's the same. Use this money to buy food for disaster relief."

Cui Guangyuan was very surprised. If he bought the cheapest brown rice at the market price of 60 cents, he could buy 5,000 stones of brown rice for disaster relief. In other words, Li Qing'an took out 13,000 stones of rice alone. This was a big deal. He was extremely moved and hurriedly thanked: "Thank you for the donation of the general. These grains can support me for a long time."

"You don't have to be polite. In addition, I have something to ask you for help."

"Please give your orders, General."

Li Qing'an pondered for a moment and said, "I can buy another 10,000 stones of grain, but this 10,000 stones of grain is not used for disaster relief, but you recruit 10,000 refugees who are willing to settle in Anxi. These grains can be used as food consumption on the road. In addition, I will give each household another money. You tell them that there will naturally be officials to pick them up when they arrive in Anxi."

Cui Guangyuan also knew that the court would move 300,000 Central Plains immigrants to Anxi. Since the court had agreed, he could carry out this matter for Li Qing'an. There were only nearly 60,000 refugees in 10,000 households, and it is estimated that not so many families were willing to go to Anxi.

Cui Guangyuan felt a little embarrassed: "I'm worried that there wouldn't be as many as 10,000 refugees!"

"It doesn't matter, as much as you count, I will order someone to help you, and I will also tell the refugees about the benefits of going to Anxi."

Speaking of this, Li Qingan saw that the personal soldiers next to him were reluctant to say something and seemed to have something to report, so he said to Cui Guangyuan: "Then you go and do it first, and I will send someone to contact you in detail."

Cui Guangyuan bowed and said goodbye. When Cui Guangyuan walked away, Li Qingan turned around and asked his guards, "What's the matter?"

"Report to the General, Chang Dongzhu of Rehaiju said that there is something important to report to the General."

"Chang Jin?" Li Qingan was slightly stunned. What's wrong with him?

"Bring him up!"

After a moment, Chang Jin was brought up. When he saw Li Qing'an, he said, "Eunuch, I discovered a secret of a big cannibal at noon today."

"What's the secret?"

"There are officials from the court who want to sell military secrets to the cannibals."

Yang Wang thought about it all night, and Huang Cancan's gold finally made him decide to take the risk and sell the most advanced armor-making techniques and bow-making techniques of the Tang Dynasty to the cannibals. Logically, Yang Wang is the son of Yang Li, one of the "Five Yangs" in Chang'an. His family should not be short of money, but he never minded that he had too much money. Although he had tens of thousands of dollars in his family, the gold of the cannibals still made him unable to suppress himself.

He earned 200 taels of gold with just one papermaking technique, which was only half of it, and he would give it to him after the other half was done. But in the morning, Yang Wang heard a news that the emperor had promised to teach papermaking techniques to the Great Cannibal, which meant that his other half of gold would be gone. Maybe the Great Cannibal would still ask him for the 200 taels of gold that he had obtained, which was quite a possibility.

In order to save the 200 taels of gold in his hand and to get more money, Yang Wang finally decided to sell the two techniques of armor-making and bow-making that they longed to the cannibals.

At noon, he found Saif, one of the three deputy envoys of the Dashi Envoy who was having dinner here in Atamiju, near the West City, and told him that he could get two skills: Armor and bow making. Saif was very happy and immediately expressed his willingness to buy these two skills for a thousand taels of gold. And if he could get the fire thunder formula, he would add two thousand taels of gold.

One thousand taels of gold is ten thousand guan. If this transaction can be made solid, Yang Wang can get three thousand taels of gold and three thousand guan. Yang Wang is already faint. If he can really get the 30,000 guan, even if he sells him to a cannibal, he will never frown.

It’s a pity that there are ears in the walls, and their deal was told by the wine-sheep beside them all the time.

In fact, the Tang Dynasty did not have a strong sense of confidentiality. As early as the end of the Sui Dynasty, due to the chaos in the Central Plains, many Han people fled to the Turks to seek refuge, and passed on the Central Plains bow-making technique to the Turks, which greatly improved the Turks' bow-making technique. Moreover, among the people, the Tang Dynasty did not ban bows and arrows. The Tang Dynasty was a martial arts trend, and there were countless people walking on the rivers and lakes with swords and arches. Any blacksmith shop could learn the art of making swords and bows.

But what the Great Cannibal wants is not ordinary bows, arrows and swords. When Saif gave Yang Wang the sharp weapon picture book of the Tang army seized from the battlefield, Yang Wang immediately understood that what the Great Cannibal wants was military crossbows and Mingguang armor, which is not possible among the people. Only the government can have it. Moreover, the crossbow-making and armor-making art painting book representing the highest level of the Tang Dynasty was only preserved in Weiwei Temple, military weapon supervision and several major Jiedu Palaces.

In the afternoon, Yang Wang found Zhao Xin, the Weapons Department of Weiwei Temple. The Weapons Department was responsible for collecting the weapons of soldiers who went out to fight. The Order was just an eighth-rank sesame official with a very small official position, but Zhao Xin could get what Yang Wang thought of.

Zhao Xin is an ordinary small official with no family background and no professional background. He was transferred from an official to an official. He is over 50 years old this year. He has reached the peak of the eighth-rank small official and will not have any chance of promotion.

Zhao Xin has three sons. His two sons have exhausted his life savings and still owed a lot of debts. Seeing that his younger son is going to get married again, the family can no longer afford money, and even if he borrows money, no one will lend him. Not only that, when the creditors heard that his younger son was going to get married, they were afraid that he would borrow usury, so they ran over to coerce the debt every few days, which made him frustrated.

Zhao Xin's two married sons were not promising. They were both friends for others and earn some hard work to support their family, but they couldn't help him.

The youngest son didn't study well, so he wandered around the streets all day, stealing and fighting, and his wife was sick, so his whole family lived on Zhao Xin's salary.

Zhao Xin's monthly salary was small, and Yongyetian was also distributed to his two sons. The monthly salary was used to pay off his debts. He, his old wife and young son only rely on the subsidy he received from his job to share the land. In addition, when the damaged weapons were destroyed, a few of them would be left in the warehouse. He sold them to a small amount of money.

What Zhao Xin most hopes for every year is the Lumi at the end of the year. These Lumi can allow him to live a good life, but what makes Zhao Xin extremely frustrated is that it is already mid-February of Tianbao eleventh year. Lumi, which should have been issued two months ago, has not been seen yet, making the small officials panic. It is said that the imperial treasury is empty and there is a war. No rice is sent to them at all. Everyone is uneasy and no one is in the mood to deal with government affairs. Especially Zhao Xin is under greater pressure. In another three days, he will give gifts to the woman's family, but his family is barely bare, so there is no money to give.

The bell for the next court rang, and the officials closed the doors and windows one after another, preparing to go home. Zhao Xin also put away the keys and prepared to go out with great worries.

"Old Zhao, have a drink!" The chapel office ordered Lao Sun to shout in the courtyard.

"He actually still has money to drink?"

Zhao Xin's eyes lit up, and he rushed to the door and shouted: "Old Sun, I have something I want to discuss with you!"

"No! No! I have no money."

Lao Sun turned around and ran away at the gate of the yard. He almost hit someone at the same time. Zhao Xin was dejected. These people were all afraid of him. Is it so difficult to borrow money?

At this time, he saw a person walking in the yard, who was quite young and looked familiar, and said, "I have already gone to court. If you have anything to do, come back tomorrow!"

The person who came was naturally Yang Wang. He had already turned around and found out about Zhao Xin's dilemma, which was his opportunity.
Chapter completed!