Qin Xiao smiled and said: "Who is Aunt Luo Yue? Does Mr. Hua know her origin?"
"No one cares about that wasteland, so we don't care much about it. It's abandoned there." Hua Kuan explained: "Seven years ago, a Taoist nun suddenly came to our door and said she wanted to buy the wasteland. At that time,
The villain almost forgot that there is still a piece of land. Someone comes to buy it, so naturally he wants it. The villain knows that if the waste land is not sold, no one will pay attention to it in a few decades. Since the Taoist nun wants to buy it, the villain will
After giving a very low price, the Taoist nun paid the money the next day, and the villain also gave her the land deed. The abandoned Taoist temple on the ground will naturally belong to her." After a pause, he said: "
The Taoist nun’s Taoist name is Sanjue, but on the signing document, it is signed Luo Yue.”
"Three unique skills?"
"Exactly." Hua Kuan nodded and said: "Sanjue Master Tai is in her early forties. Over the past seven years, she is now over fifty. The villain was also very curious at the time and asked why the signature was Luo Yue. She only
She said she bought it for someone else, but she didn't want to say more, and it was hard for the villain to ask. At that time, she thought that she would just buy the piece of wasteland. As for the rest, the villain really didn't care much at the time. The villain did ask at the time.
When asked where she came from, she only said that she was traveling around the world, that she no longer wanted to work hard, and that she wanted to settle down in Hangzhou, and she didn't say much else."
Qin Xiao frowned and said, "So, you don't know where they come from?"
"Them?" Hua Kuan was a little surprised: "Sir, who are they you are talking about? As far as the villain knows, only the three masters live in the Taoist temple. They are alone and there is no one else."
Qin Xiao was also a little surprised and asked: "Mr. Hua, doesn't he know there are other people living inside?"
"It turns out there are other people living there." Hua Kuan said with some embarrassment: "After Master Sanjue bought the Taoist temple, he also took a sum of money and asked me to help find some people to repair the Taoist temple. It took a
After many months of repairs, Master Sanjue moved in. I heard that she was alone when she moved in. Since then, the Taoist temple has been closed all year round, and it is also very remote, so I didn't ask much about it.
.The villain thought she was always alone."
Qin Xiao thought to himself that even the original owner of the Taoist temple knew very little about what was going on inside. It seemed that Luoyue Temple was really isolated from the world.
I originally wanted to find out the origins of Taoist Luo Yue from the Hua family, but I couldn't do it. But now I know that the old Taoist nun's Taoist name is Sanjue. This Taoist name is a bit strange, and I don't know what she has.
.
Hua Kuan looked around and saw no one. He took a few things from his sleeves and came forward to present them to Qin Xiao: "Sir, I can't repay the kindness of saving my life. This is what the villain secretly hid before the house was ransacked."
These money orders can be withdrawn from any Baofenglong bank, please accept this kindness."
"Mr. Hua, you're welcome." Qin Xiao pushed back and said, "I just did what I had to do, and I couldn't do this. Also, Mr. Fei from Dali Temple is leading some officials to count your confiscated property. You should list it as soon as possible."
Make an order and send it to Mr. Fei. When you go back to sort out your belongings, everything that should be yours will be returned. Although there is no guarantee that everything will be returned in full, there is still nothing left."
Hua Kuan was even more grateful and was about to kneel down again. Qin Xiao stretched out his hand to stop him and shook his head: "Mr. Hua, please don't do this. It is the responsibility of the court officials to let the people live and work in peace and contentment. You are all citizens of the Tang Dynasty. It is natural to protect you."
.”
"If all the officials are like this, why can't the Tang Dynasty prosper?" Hua Kuan's eyes were red. "By the way, Mr. Hua, I have some business matters that I want to ask you about. Please sit down first." Qin
Xiao asked Hua Kuan to sit down and then asked softly: "The Hua family should be a big family in Hangzhou, and their business is quite big, right?"
"Not as good as those above, but more than above." Hua Kuan said respectfully: "The Hua family is mainly engaged in the medicinal materials business. In the three states of Jiangnan, when it comes to the medicinal materials business, the Hua family is not inferior to anyone."
Qin Xiao smiled and nodded, thought for a moment, and then asked: "Is there anyone in the horse business in Jiangnan?"
"Sir, are you talking about... war horses or private horses?" Hua Kuan asked softly.
Qin Xiao said: "What about war horses, what about private horses?"
"The control of horses in the imperial court is extremely strict." Hua Kuan explained: "The founding emperor Taizu conquered the world and fought bloody battles in the mountains and rivers. Although he wanted to conquer the world, he also suffered the loss of a large number of war horses due to the tragic wars. When the Tang Dynasty was founded, war horses
They were extremely scarce, so Emperor Taizu issued an edict to encourage people to raise horses. As long as they raised horses, they would not only receive support from the court, but they could also be sold directly to the court at high prices. Therefore, at the beginning of the founding of the country, horse breeding was once in full swing."
Qin Xiao asked in confusion: "Then why are war horses of the Tang Dynasty still so scarce?"
"The failure was also due to the horse-raising order." Hua Kuan sighed: "The imperial court bought horses at high prices, and more and more people were raising horses. However, there were very few people who really knew how to raise horses. Many people regarded horse raising as a way to raise horses.
Pigs are kept in pens and fed all day long. Adults also know that the more you want to raise good horses, the more stringent the selection of horse feed. However, in private horse breeding, horses eat horse feed and pig feed.
Not much different. This is not because the people are unwilling to come up with good materials. Firstly, the people simply cannot spend so much money to purchase good materials. Secondly, it is also because there are not many really good horse materials. For example, the northern Tusun
People, their horses eat wild materials from the grasslands. Only with that kind of horse feed can good horses be raised. Where can the Tang Dynasty get such natural horse feed?"
Qin Xiao nodded slightly, and Hua Kuan continued: "The imperial court spends a lot of money on horses every year, but the horses purchased by officials are only one in a hundred that meet the conditions of war horses. And because there is profit in the middle, many officials lower the price of horses for the people.
, to line their own pockets, it is said that the people sold horses at high prices, but very few actually fell into their hands. Instead, they enriched many corrupt officials. As a result, the number of horse breeders decreased year by year, and the court was embarrassed.
With the heavy burden, the requirements for purchased horses became more and more strict, and in the end there were only a few people raising horses. The most important thing is that because of the large number of horses raised by the people, many horse dealers appeared, and some horse dealers did a huge business.
By purchasing horses from the private sector, one could even collect thousands of horses on hand, and these horses later became the source of rebellion. Many bandits owned large numbers of horses, came and went like the wind, and plundered people's property with impunity."
Qin Xiao couldn't help but shake his head, thinking that the original intention of the imperial court was to hope that the Tang Empire would have a strong cavalry regiment, but when it was actually implemented, it changed.
"So later the imperial court banned private horse breeding, and only set up horse farms in various places, and the government raised horses." Seeing that Qin Xiao was very interested in this matter, Hua Kuan explained in detail: "Countless amounts of money are spent on horse farms every year.
However, there were very few good horses produced. Until the Xiling Racecourse was established later, the racecourses in the pass were greatly reduced. The good horses produced were paid to the Ministry of War. Those ordinary horses that did not meet the conditions were circulated among the people. These are
Private horses, but every horse that comes out of the racecourse is recorded, and those who do horse business are horse dealers who are backed by the government."
"Listening to your words is worth ten years of reading." Qin Xiao said with a smile: "When Mr. Hua said this, I understood a lot." After a pause, he said: "But in our country in the Tang Dynasty, there are also many northern grassland horses.
Circulation, as far as I know, the Tusun people prohibited their horses from entering the Tang Dynasty, so why are there still horses flowing in?"
Hua Kuan said with a smile: "In the early days, the Tusun people on the grassland were worried that after their war horses flowed into the Tang Dynasty, the cavalry of the Tang Dynasty would become more powerful, so they swore to each other not to let the Tusun horses be sold to the Tang Dynasty. But that
At that time, our Tang Dynasty was so powerful that many goods were favored by the Tusun people. On the surface, the Tusun people did not trade horses with us, but privately many tribes still used horses to trade goods with us, but
Because of the covenant, they dare not make any big show, and the number is limited. In recent years, I heard that the Tusun Du'er Husband has become increasingly powerful, annexed many tribes, and has become the most powerful tribe on the grassland. The Du'er Husband once again summoned the grassland
All tribes swore to each other to prohibit war horses from flowing into the Tang Dynasty. This time, it was no longer just a superficial oath like before. Whenever a tribe sold horses privately, once it was known, the Duer Hu tribe would lead other tribes to attack, so the closer
There are fewer and fewer grassland horses flowing into the Tang Dynasty every year."
"In other words, there are still people from Tusun selling horses to us?"
"Yes." Hua Kuan nodded and said: "Man perishes for money, and birds perish for food. Prairie horses are very expensive now. As long as they can sell horses to us Tang people, horse dealers can make huge profits, so whether it is in Tusun
On the border, or in our Tang Dynasty, there are many horse dealers operating in the border area, secretly engaged in the trade of war horses. Do you know the Tusun people? They live by water and grass, and the greatest wealth in their hands is cattle, sheep and horses.
To obtain the goods you need, you need to trade your own livestock, the most valuable of which are horses. After all the grassland tribes have sworn an oath, the big tribes are fine, but if those small tribes cannot trade horses with us, their lives will go from bad to worse.
Especially in times of disaster, they have to trade with those horse dealers privately." After a pause, he said in a low voice: "The Ximen family in Hangzhou is engaged in horse business. They sent many people to the border area to secretly communicate with Tusun.
I contacted the horse dealers and found out that many of the war horses in the Hangzhou camp were brought from the north by the Ximen family and bought to the government."
"Ximen's house?"
Hua Kuan said: "Ximen Hao, the patriarch of the Ximen family, came to thank you just now outside the governor's office, but there were too many people and you didn't notice. If you knew that you were interested in the horse trade, you should have kept him here. He is very interested in this family."
The business is very clear. Our Hua family and the Ximen family are family friends, and we are also the sons and daughters of the family. I have occasionally chatted with him about this before, so I know a little bit about it. Sir, if you want to know more details, I will hand him over immediately.
come over."
"The Ximen family is also involved this time?"
Hua Kuan nodded and said: "Thirty-one people, young and old, from Ximen's family were imprisoned. Ximen Hao's father passed away a few years ago, but his mother is still alive. It's just that she is in prison this time. She suffered a serious illness and her life was exhausted.
He was just short of his last breath. He was originally going to die in prison. But the adults helped the Ximen family clear their grievances. After the old man was released from prison and returned home, he passed away that night. Ximen Hao felt that it was a blessing for the old man to pass away in his own home.
, if he dies in prison, it will be a lifetime of sorrow for him, so I am extremely grateful to you, sir."
"So, Ximen's family is having a funeral now?"
Hua Kuan nodded and said: "The old man was released from prison the day before yesterday, and the mourning hall was set up yesterday. Originally, Ximen Hao was not allowed to go out during the funeral period, but knowing that we were coming to thank you, he took off his mourning clothes and insisted on coming with us.
Now go back and continue with the funeral arrangements. After I say goodbye, I have to go over and help."
Qin Xiao stood up and said: "The old man has passed away and I should go to pay homage. Mr. Hua, let's leave immediately."