Chapter 196: The Prairie with the Approaching Storm
Hubay enthusiastically introduced his products to a Uighur businessman.
"This is a fine clay pot. It is most suitable for cooking oil tea."
Hubayi held a clay pot and made a sales pitch. The Uighur businessman opposite was obviously moved.
This small kettle is quite exquisite. Just put it on the charcoal fire and you can make a pot of oil tea that is enough for the whole family.
Hubayi has dozens of identical pots in his hand, all of which are produced in a workshop in a village near the Dashui Gorge.
Hubay thought of that workshop. There were not many potters in that workshop, and each villager was only responsible for a part of the work. But such a workshop could actually produce hundreds of such small kettles a day.
The kettle also has exaggerated printed reliefs. This exaggerated style was considered vulgar to the people of the Tang Dynasty, but it was very popular among large food merchants.
Sure enough, not only the food merchants, but also the Uighur merchants also liked this exaggerated printed relief and praised it endlessly when they held it in their hands.
The Uyghur businessman opposite was so fond of the pot that he immediately collected all Hubayi's goods.
After the delivery was completed, another Uighur businessman came to Hubayi's stall.
"Do you sell ironware here?"
The Uighur merchant's voice was very low, and Hubay immediately became alert.
Ironware is a commodity prohibited by the Bafu from being sold to the Uighurs. When entering the Baowen Mountain Market, the official in charge of the market repeatedly issued strict orders. Once found selling ironware to the Uighurs, not only will the qualification to enter the market be revoked, but also
All income was confiscated.
Hubayi immediately shook his head, and the Uighur businessman opposite felt a little depressed.
Xie Liluo is the leader of a tribe on the Mobei grassland. His tribe is close to the border and cannot survive just by grazing. Therefore, he can only do business with Datang and subsidize some money to maintain the tribe.
Survive.
Hubay was wary, and after Xie Liluo left, Hubay immediately told the official at Baowenshan Market about the appearance of the Uighur who wanted to buy ironware.
This petty officer’s name is Zhang Jie, and he is a sixth-test player who has just entered the game.
If the hard-working sixth- and seventh-test players want to earn more contribution points, they can only work in remote places like Baowen Mountain.
Zhang Jie's ambition is naturally not to be a small official who watches the market. Zhang Jie, who has loved spy dramas since childhood, immediately changed his job and became an "internal guard".
After receiving Hubay's tip, Zhang Jie immediately focused on this Uighur businessman.
Xie Liluo didn't know yet that he had been targeted, and he was still asking the merchants of Tang Dynasty if he could buy iron tools.
In the evening, two sturdy government servants suddenly appeared behind Xie Liluo, and then a small official holding a document blocked in front of Xie Liluo.
The secret path was not good, so Xie Liluo looked at the sturdy yamen servant behind him and chose to rush towards Zhang Jie in front.
Well done. Although Zhang Jie only did clerical work, as a legendary spy in the game, he also invested a lot of contribution points in his agility attribute points.
Judging from his 9 points of agility, Xie Liluo's movements are very slow.
Zhang Jie quickly got out of the way, then gently raised his foot and tripped the opponent.
Xie Liluo saw the young scribe opposite him move out of the way at a speed he couldn't understand. Then Xie Liluo felt himself tripping over something and fell to the ground.
Two government officials quickly stepped forward and pinned Xie Liluo to the ground.
"take away!"
The proud Zhang Jie ordered two indigenous government officials to escort the co-worker Luo to the Salt and Iron Bureau government office next to the Baowen Mountain Market.
After the salt and iron monopoly, a series of modern tax systems such as commercial taxes levied on mutual markets were formulated by the Salt and Iron Bureau.
So now, under King Jianning, there are two sets of taxation systems.
One is a rent-to-tax system from the governor's office to the county tax collectors. This system collects taxes on agriculture and population, which is the original agricultural tax of the Tang Dynasty.
The other set is levied by the Salt and Iron Bureau, including a series of modern taxes such as industrial and commercial taxes, mutual export taxes and salt and iron surcharges.
All the taxes collected by the Salt and Iron Bureau went directly into the Bafu's pockets, so the officials of the Tang Dynasty had no idea how much money King Jianning had on hand.
It was the wealthy King Jianning who was able to spend the money to purchase war horses on a large scale in Baowen Mountain.
In the yamen of the Salt and Iron Bureau, there is a secret cell that Zhang Jie renovated. There are also various torture instruments that he personally designed. Zhang Jie's prestige in the Baowenshan Salt and Iron Bureau was unparalleled for a while, even higher than the director.
Zhang Jie often heard comments from the government officials. They all thought that Zhang Jie might be a pervert who liked to torture people.
There are rumors in the Salt and Iron Bureau that Zhang Jie has a "slightly" perverted and special hobby. Even the smoothest government servants will tremble when they see Zhang Jie, and everyone avoids him.
Xie Liluo was a little frightened when he saw these brand-new instruments of torture.
These merchant tribes close to the Tang Dynasty all received orders from the Uighur Yazhang, asking them to buy some ironware from the Tang Dynasty and go back.
As for the purpose of these iron tools, Xie Liluo naturally knew it. There were some blacksmiths in their tribe who resmelted the iron tools of the Tang Dynasty into molten iron and then forged them into weapons.
The Mobei grassland is short of iron, and the Tang Dynasty has very strict control over weapons. In the past, Mobei used this method to forge weapons.
Xie Liluo looked at Zhang Jie with a guilty conscience. Just as Zhang Jie excitedly introduced the tiger bench, Xie Liluo shouted: "I've done it! I've done it all!"
Zhang Jie looked at Xie Liluo, his heart filled with dissatisfaction. Did he recruit him? Why did he recruit him before I even interrogated you?
The Uighur spies are so rude! This is an insult to Zhang Jie’s professionalism!
Seeing the expression of the Han official in front of him became even more ugly, Xie Liluo immediately said: "I came to Datang to buy iron on orders from Ya Zhang!"
After saying this, Xie Li Luo even told his tribe.
Zhang Jie was speechless when he saw such a cowardly co-worker. He didn't expect that this guy looked tall and tall, but was actually a softie.
Xie Liluo then said: "My lord, spare your life! Spare your life! I have told you everything I know!"
Xie Liluo begged for mercy in fluent Chinese.
These border tribes close to the Tang Dynasty actually had a very subtle relationship with the Uighurs of the Tang Dynasty.
On the one hand, they need to take refuge with the Uighurs, rely on the Uighur tents to allocate pastures, and spontaneously maintain the order of the grasslands.
The living environment of the grassland is too harsh. If there is no order, everyone will fall into chaos. Therefore, although this order is not fair, most tribes are obedient.
This is why as long as a tribe emerges strongly on the grassland, the unification of the grassland can be quickly completed.
But if they were severely oppressed, these border tribes would flee to the Tang Dynasty to seek protection. Those tribes that really couldn't survive would even directly surrender to the Tang Dynasty.
Therefore, tribal leaders like Xie Liluo, who are typical double-dealers, immediately recruited all of them when they heard Zhang Jie's persecution.
Zhang Jie felt that the "Top Ten Tortures of the Qing Dynasty" he had learned from the street stalls had no use. He said with waning interest: "Tell me, tell me exactly who asked you to smuggle iron.
"
Xie Liluo immediately said: "I told you, Shangguan! I received the order from Prince Yijijian to purchase ironware in the Tang Dynasty."
Prince Kenji?
"Go on."
"In previous years, Ya Zhang would also ask us to collect iron items, but I only bought them sporadically from the countryside. This was because the prince urged me to do so, so I could only buy them from merchants."
"Is it because of the war?"
"Yes, I heard that the fighting on the front line is intense and the losses are high, so the rear is stepping up efforts to forge iron and transport it to the front."
"Loss of money?" Zhang Jie was a little confused. He had also been reading the battle reports of Beiting recently. Now the player has entered Mobei and led the Geluolu tribe to hide and seek with the Uighur Khan's army on the grassland. In the past half month, Uighur Gele
The Khan's army just circled on the grassland, and there was no major battle.
But why did the Uighur prince Yi Di Jian still force these border tribes to purchase steel in the name of the tense war on the grassland?
Zhang Jie instinctively sensed something unusual.
He then asked: "What big things happened on the grassland recently?"
"The big thing? The big thing is the war in the west. Our tribe has also lost half of its warriors. Everyone is looking forward to it ending as soon as possible."
Zhang Jie asked: "Apart from this?"
"Except for this? The tax collector from Yazhang has been here several times recently, and we have already handed over half of the animals."
Xie Liluo was quite depressed. The tax collectors from Yazhang came several times and found various reasons to exploit the tribe.
If he had not been forced to do anything else, Xie Liluo would not have taken the risk of coming to Datang to purchase ironware that was strictly prohibited for export.
Xie Liluo sighed and said: "I have only lived a peaceful life on the grassland for a few years, and in the blink of an eye it will be chaotic again."
"Chaos? Why is this?"
"The war in the west has not ended for so long. Everyone is saying that Gel Khan is old and can no longer control the grassland."
Xie Liluo is the leader of a small tribe, but he can survive in the cracks and his intuition is quite keen.
Xie Liluo said: "The wolves on the grassland are at their weakest when the wolf king gets old. It is widely spread that the Uighur needs a younger and stronger alpha wolf."