"The cooking skills of the owner are really amazing, why not open a shop in Chang'an? Business will definitely be great." By the post road outside Yehu Spring, Liu Sandou and his men finished eating the cooked meat and Hu pancakes and praised.
"There are foxes and rabbits in Chang'an, so I'm afraid there won't be much business." A scholar just sat down, shook his head and sighed.
"This year is a little better." Liu Sandou said: "The imperial officials are gradually returning, and the number of family members has increased. Last year, Li Keyong from Hedong donated large trees, and this year, gold merchant Li Xiang donated wood again to help the saints, and the officials repaired the palaces.
The mansion must be popular now."
"A few years ago, thieves burned down the palace, and Taoist soldiers entered the city to plunder. The temples and houses were also severely damaged, with 16 or 16 people destroyed. Wang Sikong spent many years repairing the palace, and only one or two of the palaces were completed. If there is another attack later,
, I'm afraid there are no survivors." The scholar sighed.
Suddenly I saw a lot of people sitting by the roadside. Their faces had the look of dust on their faces. They had their families and their families, old and young. They asked curiously: "Who is this? Is it possible that there are people in Shaanxi and Guo who are causing trouble?"
"These are all people from Heyang, with a total of more than 160 households, who want to go to Tongzhou." Liu Sandou replied: "The situation in Heyang is unstable and the people are in poverty, so they go to other towns to beg for work."
“Shaanxi and Guo are relatively stable, why don’t you stay there?”
Liu Sandou took a look and said, "My commander-in-chief rescued him from the fire, so how can he stay in Shaanxi and Guozhou?"
"This..." the scholar said in surprise: "Isn't this robbing good people?"
After saying that, he looked at the thirty or so men in the store who were armed with bows, swords and guns, and immediately shut up and stopped talking.
There are more than thirty people who are skilled in bow and horse, and their hands may have been stained with blood. Is it useful to argue with them?
Liu Sandou was too lazy to talk nonsense with him. If he had time, he might as well close his eyes and rest his mind for a while. The trip to Tongzhou Horse Festival was not close.
The horse business is booming this year. The five horse racing shops in Guanzhong, namely Tongzhou, Huazhou, Fuping, Chang'an and Wugong, have all sold out their horses. In fact, the most sold horses are not war horses, but draft horses and pack horses.
The Qinghai Cong in Yinchuan Ranch are just like people, so naturally they cannot be the same. Some are tall and powerful, which are good horses and can be sold at high prices. Some are average in appearance and can also be used as war horses. Some are shorter.
, it can be used as a riding horse, a draft horse for pulling a cart, or a pack horse for carrying goods.
Now that the situation is tense and war clouds are gathering, there is a great demand for war horses, draft horses, pack horses, and riding horses.
A carriage carrying more than 20 hu of grain per carriage is not enough for 30 sergeants to consume in one month. If there are 30,000 sergeants, the monthly consumption of military rations will exceed a thousand carriages. In fact,
It is impossible for the front line to only store military rations for one month. Unless there is really no food, it is necessary to stock up on two or three months to avoid accidents and the food route being intercepted.
In addition, there are fodder, ordnance and other various supplies. It is normal to need thousands of horse-drawn carriages to transport goods at the same time, which creates a huge demand for draft horses.
The same is true for pack horses. In places where it is inconvenient for large vehicles to pass, horses and mules are needed to carry goods, and the demand is also not small.
So the business of Yinchuan Ranch is indeed good this year. In the first half of the year, more than 5,000 horses were directly sold, of which the majority were draft horses and pack horses, all of which were purchased by Guanzhong Prefecture County.
But by the second half of the year, War Horse's business should pick up.
In war, every effort is made. Sometimes, in order to win, we rush all the way, and it is common for hundreds of horses to die in one trip. More than a thousand horses are very common. If there are cavalry fighting and charging into battle, it is not surprising that thousands of horses die.
ah.
The Qinghai Cong is of slightly better quality than the prairie horses used by Li Ke. Customers from Guanzhong, Jinshang, Sanchuan, Shaanxi, Guo, Hebei and other places like it very much, and they all buy it first. The Dingnan Army's horse dealer even goes as far as Zhao
Yi, Pei Tong, the general manager of the horse bank, has more than a thousand people who are skilled in bow and horse. It costs money from selling three hundred horses a year to support these people, but it is still worth it.
The world is not peaceful, how can we do business if we don’t have some manpower? Look at the merchant houses in various places. Anyone who wants to do business across the state or county has a lot of people with complete equipment and skilled bows and horses. Anyway, the cost will be added to the goods.
.
"This guest has misunderstood. The people of Datong Horse Store have always helped people in trouble. Wei Bo's army and the jackals from Hedong have caused chaos in Heyang, Zhaoyi and other places. Datong Horse Store has provided money and food to rescue the tired people.
This is a righteous act." The shop owner came over, served soup cakes to the scholar, and said: "If the family business hadn't been here, I would have gone to Xiazhou. I heard that it is very peaceful there and the soldiers do not rob the people.
The taxes are light, and the party affairs are handled very honestly, which is very different from Guanzhong. The guest is also a scholar, so you might as well go and have a look, and tell someone when you come back whether the rumors are true or false."
"Xiazhou is poor, and there are Tubo rebellions and Party disasters." The scholar shook his head and said: "Under the influence of Hu Feng, the people are all aggressive, and they often kill and injure people. After the Emperor Daizong, there were many officials there, a certain
After reading the essays, it’s not a good place.”
“No matter how bad it is, can it be worse than a war-torn place?” the shopkeeper sighed.
"There is no guarantee that there will be a fight in Guanzhong." The scholar said: "The commander-in-chief of King Yiwu has already set off for Hezhong. If he can successfully go to his post, the battle will not start."
Wang Chucun had indeed set off on his journey, and he was really a loyal minister. At first, the court asked him to move the town, but he expressed his wish to change the town and regain it, but his people were not at ease and could not leave office. Later, the court urged him to go on the road, but he could not shirk it, and actually
We are really on the road, going to Hezhong to take up the post.
Combined with the previous news that Huang Chao burst into tears after he captured Chang'an, and then led troops all the way from Hebei to Guanzhong to quell the rebellion, Wang Chucun really had nothing to say to the court and the emperor, and he was a rare loyal minister.
"Well, maybe you're talking too much. I haven't read a book and don't understand this very well." The shop owner said, "But the price of salt has gone up. It costs a hundred and fifty yuan a dou. The merchants in the river are still knowledgeable, and they are still rushing to buy it.
The prices of corn, wheat, rice, cloth, and leather are rising twice a day. I don’t want to go to war, so I have to continue this business.”
The scholar was a little unsure after being told this by the shopkeeper. Wang Chongrong had been in charge of Hezhong for many years, and Wang Chucun came to take office. Do the four states really buy it? If not, if you are lucky, you can go back, but if you are not lucky, you will be attacked and killed.
There is nowhere to redress the injustice.
This battle is indeed very likely to happen!
“You’ve had enough rest, let’s go.” Liu Sandou stood up and said after leaning on the wooden pillar and dozing off for a while.
Following his order, more than thirty horse guards immediately checked the equipment and went out to greet the households resting on the roadside to get up and go on their way. The shopkeeper's family brought out basket after basket of Hu cakes from the kitchen, which Liu Sandou and the others bought.
Yes, replenish the food reserves in the team.
When traveling to Shaanzhou, they carried more than 10,000 vinegar-dried Hu cakes and more than 100 grains and beans, enough to last for half a month. Everywhere they went, they also used money and silk to buy food and try their best to replenish their consumption until they arrived.
The next horse will stop.
Liu Sandou once calculated that if the people were escorted from Heyang to Suizhou, an average family would consume seven bushels of food on the way. The people may or may not have some food before going out, but the consumption is very large.
One thousand households means seven thousand grains, which is equivalent to the income from selling two to three hundred horses. If there are four thousand households a year, the money for one thousand horses will be gone. Liu Sandou felt very distressed about this, but the commander felt that
It doesn't matter, I even think it's worth it. If it weren't for the fact that he couldn't get more people, the commander would have spent half of the horse money to recruit immigrants.
Of course, as Suizhou’s foreign trade continues to flourish, more and more merchants have been to Xia Sui, and the true situation about the world north of Hengshan has also begun to spread on a small scale.
In the eight counties of Fuping in the north of Guanzhong, people had a good impression of Marshal Shao, who protected the country and the people and punished the people. As the clouds of war in Guanzhong gathered, some people simply gritted their teeth and went north directly.
This kind of spontaneous immigration is still very rare now, but as the world situation becomes more and more chaotic, I believe there will be more and more.
After leaving Yedian, Liu Sandou and his party walked for seven days and finally arrived at Tongzhou Maxing, handing over these Heyang households to the next wave of people to take them to Danzhou. They themselves would return to Shaanzhou.
If nothing unexpected happens, Liu Sandou will continue to stay in Shaanzhou for four years. Four years later, he will be transferred to Hezhong, with constant rotation. Before that, he also stayed in Zhaoyi Town, and he has rich experience.
In fact, there are many people like Liu Sandou, and their origins are also very complicated. There are older sergeants who have retired from the army, usually in their forties. Their strength is not as strong as before, and they are no longer suitable for front-line fighting. There are also new recruits recruited from Guanzhong.
, there are even many Hengshan party items. It is the persistent work of these people day after day that allows a large number of Kantung refugees or family members of soldiers to cross the state and county and start a new life on the territory of the disaster relief army.
Over the past few years, many of them have died or been injured due to various reasons. Some died of illness, some were attacked by bandits and killed in battle, and some were robbed and killed by insurgent soldiers. For every one who was killed or disabled in battle, if his family members are still alive in Ding
In the six prefectures of Nanyang, you can receive one bushel of food per month and be directly awarded for ten years, which is the same as the standard for sergeants.
In order to trick people, Marshal Shao really spent a lot of money.
Of course, this is also inseparable from the cooperation of other feudal towns. Shaanxi, Guo, and Hezhong are the key. Brothers Wang Chongrong and Wang Chongying are good at dancing. They never offend neighboring towns or strong towns, and even deliberately make friends with them. If it were a bad neighbor like Wei Bo, Marshal Shao
It is estimated that there is no way to do this business, and the horse bank will close early.
Therefore, Marshal Shao has a very good impression of Wang Chongrong brothers. In addition, he does not want Li Keyong to use his in-law Wang Chucun as the commander of the Hezhong Festival. As long as Wang Chongrong can get money and food, he will help.