ps: Thanks to brother zc58 for the monthly ticket encouragement!
Laishui County and Laishui are very close to each other. Walk two or three miles out of the city and go around a hill to reach the place where Yao Ji built the bridge. It is very convenient for Li Xiaoxi and Zhang Gongqing to "communicate".
In the past few days, Li Xiaoxi fully demonstrated the tact of a "veteran oil man". First, he sent a few fat sheep to Zhang Gongqing's headquarters, and then invited Zhang Gongqing to go out of the city to reminisce about the past. After Zhang Gongqing's caution gradually disappeared, he simply stayed in the city.
A banquet was held by the Laishui River, and Zhang Gongqing and a dozen senior officers of the Yizhou Army were invited to have a drink together. Of course, Li Xiaoxi applied for "reimbursement" from Han Yanhui for this expense. The money was not much, but it would be nice to pay less.
During the banquet, Li Xiaoxi also presented Zhang Gongqing with some military armors on the spot. After Zhang Gongqing received these fine military armors produced in Youzhou and stamped with the "Guo Ji" logo, his wariness towards Li Xiaoxi was completely eliminated.
Drink and talk about life, ideals...and women.
Wang Chuzhi, the envoy of Yiwu Jiedu, rushed to Laishui County in person. He was accompanied by an aide from Yuan Xiangxian, the envoy of the Recruiting Envoy.
Looking for an opportunity, Zhang Gongqing reported to Wang Chuzhi alone the ins and outs of Yao Ji's construction of the bridge over Laishui River. Wang Chuzhi couldn't help but be surprised. After pondering for a moment, he said: "Is there a fraud in this?"
Zhang Gongqing had already fallen under Li Xiaoxi's "silver bullet". At this time, he couldn't help but defend Li Xiaoxi. He took out the armor given to him by the other party and asked Wang Chu to look at it. Finally, Zhang Gongqing said what Li Xiaoxi said: "
The theory of "Hebei people rule Hebei" was sold to Wang Chuzhi, and Wang Chuzhi was moved.
Wang Chuzhi’s ancestral home was Wannian County, Jingzhao. He was born into a wealthy family at the foot of the Emperor, so the Wang family was not from Hebei in the strict sense. But when Wang Chucun was visiting Yiwu, the young Wang Chuzhi followed his elder brother and moved to Dingzhou.
I grew up in Hebei. Although I am not from Hebei, I consider myself a Hebei person.
In this era, the concept of locality is very strong, and after hundreds of years of separatist feudal towns, Li Chengzhong's rhetoric is still quite popular. Especially in Yiwu, since the establishment of this feudal town, it has never had the final say.
.At first it was under the control of the imperial court, but it finally broke away from the imperial control and became attached to Hedong. Then Wang Chuzhi came to power and leaned towards Xuanwu. Yiwu was a barren town, and Wang Chuzhi never thought that he could truly stand on his own.
If you don't rely on strong towns, the Yiwu Army is nothing. But even if you want to find a backer, wouldn't it be easier to find a strong town in Hebei than relying on foreign vassals? In the end, Yiwu is still a member of the Hebei system.
!
Of course, the theory of "Hebei people govern Hebei" is just a banner. When it comes to specific matters, it cannot solve any problems. Wang Chuzhi is a smart man. He cannot defect to Lu Long just because of this banner. The reason
It's very simple. In his perception, Xuanwu is powerful and Lulong is weak. This is an indisputable fact. Anyone with a discerning eye can tell at a glance what choice he should make.
Although Wang Chuzhi was just excited, this little "movement" was enough for him to accept the fact before him, that is, to let Yao Ji build the bridge. In addition to the above reasons, the key to making him make this decision was
Benefit.
Well, since this is a business issue, let's treat it as a business deal. Yao Ji wants to build a bridge, but what benefits can I, Wang Chuzhi, get?
Before Wang Chuzhi opened his mouth, Zhang Gongqing had already conveyed to him Li Xiaoxi's invitation to hold a banquet at the same place by the river.
"I'm afraid it won't be possible to attend the banquet. Yuan Zhaoping's people are watching beside him. If he thinks that someone is having an affair with Lu Long, something bad will happen. Our Yiwu army cannot stop the anger of King Dongping.
"Wang Chuzhi shook his head.
Zhang Gongqing thought for a while and said: "Commander, why not ask Li Xiaoxi to come to the city in disguise and let's discuss it face to face?"
This is a good idea, but will they come? Wang Chuzhi has doubts about this.
Li Xiaoxi entered the city that night, and he was accompanied by proprietor Yao Ji. As intermediaries, Li Xiaoxi and Zhang Gongqing introduced proprietor Yao Ji to Wang Chuzhi. Everything went smoothly. Proprietor Yao Ji said that as long as Wang Chuzhi did not interfere with the construction,
Bridge, Yao Ji will present a batch of high-quality Youzhou armors to the Yiwu Army. These armors are apparently donated by Yao Ji, but they actually come from special military expenditures from the United Front Office.
Wang Chuzhi expressed satisfaction, but this was not enough. He hoped to get more benefits.
In this regard, the proprietor Yao Ji said that building three wooden bridges on the Laishui River and collecting bridge tolls were not very profitable, so Yao Ji could not afford to get more from it. Seeing Wang Chuzhi,
Wanting to get angry, proprietor Yao Ji quickly added, but——
Upon hearing the word "but", Wang Chuzhi's anger was temporarily suppressed.
The proprietor of the Yao family said that if Wang Jiedu could hand over the official road from Laishui to Yixian and from Yixian to Dingzhou to Yao Ji for repair, he promised to provide Wang Chuzhi with no less than "this amount every year".
"What is this number?" Yao's proprietor stretched out two fingers.
"Two thousand strings?" Zhang Gongqing was moved.
Yao's proprietor shook his head and said with a smile: "Twenty thousand guan!"
Wang Chuzhi and Zhang Gongqing took a breath of air-conditioning at the same time, while Li Xiaoxi was drinking tea with a smile.
The Yi and Ding prefectures under the jurisdiction of the Yiwu Army are relatively barren, and Hengzhou is also a battlefield. The tax collected by Jiedu Prefecture every year is less than 80,000 yuan. Just building a road can earn 2.5% of the entire Jiedu Prefecture.
The profits made Wang Chuzhi and Zhang Gongqing somewhat unbelievable.
Yao's proprietor explained that if we only rely on road construction to collect tolls, we will definitely not reach this point. Two conditions must be met at the same time. First, the rebel army will not interfere and will not inspect the traffic on the official road.
Business travelers must ensure the personal and cargo safety of business travelers; secondly, the Yiwu Army must acquiesce in the non-war status with Lulong through civilian channels, creating conditions for civilian communication and exchanges between the two towns. Yao's proprietor further explained
, only when these two conditions are met, normal trade relations can be established between Yiwu and Lulong, and this official road can truly be "travelers like weaving, carriages and horses like dragons". In other words, with Yiwu's poverty, only Lulong can rely on it.
Only by prosperity can we truly "get rid of poverty and become rich".
Wang Chuzhi and Zhang Gongqing are both smart people. They keenly grasped two key points from the words of Yao's proprietor. First, Yiwu is barren. What are the weaving travelers and dragon-like carriages and horses doing in Yiwu?
Obviously, they want to go to Hedong through Yiwu; secondly, in order to achieve the so-called "non-war state", they must reach a consensus with Lulong Jiedu Prefecture, and the so-called "through civilian channels" is agreed by Lulong.
Yiwu does not need to disclose the relationship between the two parties, but only needs to communicate in private. This approach gives Wang Chu room to change things, and will not cause the Yiwu army to openly anger King Dongping.
The matter was already obvious. Wang Chuzhi was 80% certain that Li Xiaoxi and the proprietor of the Yao family in front of him were both from Lulong Jiedu Mansion, or at least they had received instructions from Lulong Jiedu Mansion. A small businessman
, even if there are merchants with strong financial resources, plus Li Xiaoxi who is also doing business, even if they are doing health care and can mobilize thousands of warriors, they will never have the ability to discuss such a major matter that affects the pattern of Hebei. The other party's
Where is the confidence? Naturally, it comes from Lulong Jiedu Mansion!
For a moment, four words flashed in Wang Chuzhi's mind - play both ways! The Lulong Jiedu envoy Li Chengzhong, whom he had never met before, actually gave himself room to play both ways! It can be seen from this that Li Jiedu opened up Hedong.
How strong is Tong Tong's determination, how strong is Li Jiedu's confidence in confronting Xuanwu, and how broad-minded is Li Jiedu!
The proprietor Yao Ji continued: "As long as Wang Jiedu agrees to someone's request, in addition to sending 20,000 guan to Jiedu Mansion every year, someone can also hire the army of Jiedu Mansion to follow Lulong's example to guard the official road and confiscate all the money.
, divided equally between Yao Ji and Jiedu Prefecture. Just like Mr. Li’s Youyan Security Corporation." Now, he introduced the similar policies being implemented in Lulong Prefecture.
Li Xiaoxi also intervened at the right time, describing his Youyan Security Corporation to Wang Chuzhi in detail, and then said: "Yiwu is poor, but Lulong is rich. As long as the two towns have close communication, Yiwu will rely on its unique location and conditions
, you will definitely get rich rewards. One even suggested to Wang Jiedu that the rebel army can try to make a living as a guard. This is a very easy way to go."
Wang Chuzhi and Zhang Gongqing looked at each other, thinking silently. Li Xiaoxi continued to drink tea slowly, while the proprietor of the Yao family smiled and said nothing, waiting for Wang Chuzhi's reply.
Zhang Gongqing asked: "Dongzhu Yao, when will this official road be repaired?"
Yao Dongzhu had already made a plan: "Originally, there were official roads from Dingzhou to Yixian, and from Yixian to Laishui, but no one was cleaning them up, and a lot of them were abandoned. Once they were built, they would be built very quickly. Within three months, someone would be able to
Ensure that the official road is open. What really takes a lot of work is the cold road. It will take eight months or a year for a certain road to be cold enough to allow three carriages to pass at the same time. Of course, the expansion of the road will not affect the use of the official road. Three
After a few months, the official path can be opened, and in the fourth month, someone can pay in advance the fees for the first half year, 10,000 yuan!"
Wang Chuzhi struggled in his heart for a long time. He knew that once he made this decision, it would inevitably affect the power structure of Hebei. However, when he thought that in addition to sending troops and food in vain every year to blockade Hedong for Xuanwu, he also had to regularly
After sending a large number of military supplies to Weizhou and giving gifts to Yuan Xiangxian, he finally fell in front of the annual income of 20,000 yuan.
Wang Chuzhi was already moved. At the last moment, he murmured: "What should we do if we summon the envoys? If the secret is not kept secret, and Yuan Zhao takes the blame, I'm afraid Yiwu will not be able to bear the responsibility."
Host Yao Ji said calmly: "Tomorrow night, I want to hold a banquet by the river and invite Wang Jiedu and the envoy. As long as Wang Jiedu can invite the envoy, Yao will definitely be able to convince the envoy."
Wang Chuzhi looked at the confident proprietor Yao Ji and asked curiously: "Are you sure?"
"Of course, we can't tell him about the agreement with Wang Jiedu, but it's not difficult to get Xingyuan to acquiesce in building the bridge."
"you mean?"
"I have heard that Yuan is recruiting people to make a living, and Yao wants to do a big business with him!"