After leaving Fangshi, Kang Fujin planned to ask for an audience with the Lingwu County King.
There is less than half a month before the Spring Festival trade meeting, and he has already sent people to Lingzhou to transfer a batch of goods to the north.
Of the eight counties in Lingzhou, currently only Huaiyuan County and Fang City are designated as the only bulk trading locations.
However, I heard that after this year's event, next year's spring trade fair may be moved to around the Cold Food Festival to make use of the river water transport to facilitate the transportation of merchants and goods.
The use of gold and silver to trade goods is not unfamiliar to Kangfo Gold. This is because Helong under the rule of Tubo used this method. Nowadays, gold and silver are still used in Dunhuang trade, and silk is rarely used.
Of course, it's mainly silver and less gold.
According to businessmen from the Western Regions, all countries are now short of gold, but with more and more silver mines being developed, silver is relatively abundant.
Kang Fu Jin once did business with Gaochang Uighur merchants. The "currency" was mainly silver bowls, silver bottles, and silver plates. The common people even used gold and silver, such as "a silver bowl is worth the price of a cow." But the silver bowl is not easy to divide.
Sometimes you have to use grain to make up for the price difference, which is very different from the silver coins minted in Shuofang Town.
Hearing that this was Shao Dashuai's idea made Kang Fujin very emotional. It doesn't matter whether the silver coins are minted or not. They are just for keeping accounts, and there is no need to actually have them.
It is enough to put one in the market for everyone to see and act as a "scale". When everyone trades, write down on the account paper "Buy something for one thousand yuan" and "Sell something for eight yuan."
"One hundred yuan" can be settled uniformly in the end. It doesn't matter whether there are actual silver dollars or not.
"Well, if I hadn't been burdened with a lot of things, I would have had to run the business well this time." On the way to the Lingwu County Prince's Palace, Kang Fujin sighed.
He is a businessman, but he is not a pure businessman. Marshal Zhang of the Guiyi Army and the Prince of Lingwu County are married, but some things that are not convenient to talk about publicly have to go through his private channel, such as the matter of Zhang Huaiding.
Kang Fujin quickly arrived at the county prince's palace and waited for the message from his own soldiers.
Shao Shude happened to be in the mansion today. He was taking a bath. After hearing the report from the maid Shu, he patted the talented young lady Queen's bare back and got off her buttocks.
"What are you doing with Kangfo's gold?" Two Sogdian girls, Cao and Kang, came forward together, cleaned him carefully, and then brought him robes.
"Kang Hao was hesitant and didn't explain clearly," Ge Shu replied.
"Hmph! Something must have happened to the Guiyi Army." After putting on his robe, Shao Shude, escorted by his own soldiers, strode to the front hall.
"Greetings to Prince Lingwu." Kang Fojin said with a flattering smile on his face.
"What are you doing?" There was a very vulgar picture of a tiger descending from a mountain hanging in the hall, and Shao Shude's tiger-skin chair was under this picture.
"Zhang Pushe of Dunhuang, to show the close relationship between the two towns, plans to send his younger brother Zhang Huaiding to Lingxia as a hostage. I don't know..." Kang Fojin asked cautiously.
Shao Shude laughed when he heard this.
Sending a relative as a hostage is generally a sign of respect. But could sending Zhang Huaiding serve as a hostage?
There are quite a few hostages in the mansion!
Li Xiaochang's son Li Jiong, Dongfang Kui's son Dongfang Fu, Zhao Jian's son Zhao Ye, and Meng Zhixiang who just arrived the day before yesterday - even during the Chinese New Year, they traveled day and night to be hostages. This kid is also a miserable man.
"Since Zhang Pushe wants to deliver the pledge, just give it to him," Shao Shude said nonchalantly.
There is no doubt that Zhang Huaiding mostly failed in political battles.
Without the support of the general Suo Xun, the Yin family, the Li family and other weaklings will probably not express their stance. The Cao family, the Kang family and other Sogdian families are even more on the side of Zhang Huaishen, and Zhang Huaiding is gone.
"Anything else?" The soldier handed over an official letter, and Shao Shude asked as he opened it.
"Zhang Pushe said that if the commander-in-chief goes on an expedition this year, he would like to send three thousand troops to help." Kang Fojin added.
"That's all, Zhang Pushe just needs to keep an eye on Qingtang and Tubo for me. Shuofang's army is more than 100,000, and these three thousand are not enough."
The 8,000 cavalrymen of the Heyuan Army have already headed to Qingtang City, led by Li Renjun.
The envoy of the Jishi Army is Guo Qi. The army has 6,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry. The personnel are also in place. After the four towns of Yifang and Yandan have been reorganized, the 5,000 infantry have been selected and are heading to Huizhou.
On the way, they were "escorted" by the Zhenwu Army.
After the Heyuan and Jishi armies were sent out, the Shan and Kuo prefectures and Shao Shude breathed a sigh of relief. Not long after they defeated the Tibetans, the Tuoba, Bai, Yang, Luo and Liang troops were sent to contain them.
The two armies have 17,000 infantry and cavalry. The Tibetans should not dare to cause trouble again in a short period of time, and they should pay tribute honestly.
The Shunyi Army has recently added 3,000 infantry and 1,000 cavalry. After such reorganization, the Shuofang Army now has 76,500 infantry and 39,500 cavalry, with a total strength of 116,000, firmly ranking second in the country.
However, the Tingwangsi intelligence I just saw mentioned that Chengde Jiedushi Wang Rong had assembled "one hundred thousand cavalry".
Shao Shude was not very interested in what Wang Rong was doing with his troops, but he had 100,000 cavalry? He must be bragging!
The total number of cavalry and mounted infantry is about 100,000, and 100,000 professional cavalry is impossible. If Marshal Shao did not recruit Tibetan tribes, there would be less than 40,000, half of which are auxiliary troops with weak combat effectiveness and are scattered in various places.
The horse administration in Chengde is done well!
He remembered that in history, Li Keyong attacked Chengde and killed several generals, which took many years.
No matter how Li Ke used this person to manage internal affairs, the Hedong Army's combat effectiveness was first-rate, but the heavy casualties suffered in Chengde Town showed that the capital of the three towns in Hebei was indeed strong enough.
If it were true that the three towns would form an alliance based on their blood as advocated by Le Yanzhen, would Li Keyong and Zhu Quanzhong really dare to attack Hebei?
"Kang Hao, do you have any connections in Hedong?" After playing with the information in his hand for a while, Shao Shude suddenly asked.
"Yes, yes, it is..."
"It's good to have it." Shao Shude said: "Don't worry, there is no need to do too many dangerous things. Let Hedong merchants come to Lingxia more often. If possible, I will hold a market in Linzhou, and conduct a trade every year during the Cold Food Festival and the Autumn Society Festival.
Yes. Over the years, Lingxia has bought a lot of Hedong iron materials, so we should be able to trust our reputation."
Kang Fujin understood it as soon as he heard it.
Businessmen are probably the best people in the world who know how to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages. Just like Kang Fujin himself, because Shazhou has been plundered by Gaochang Uighurs for many years, he feels very unsafe and is prepared to take advantage of it after the Huaiyuan Trade Fair.
A lot of silver coins were "imported" and were stored in the military envoy's office. In the future, they would find ways to purchase land and houses and transfer some of the property to Lingzhou to avoid being plundered by the Uighurs.
The situation in Hedong in recent years has not been very good.
It's not because the weather is not good, but because of the continuous wars, the gentry and merchants were severely exploited. In addition, under Li Keyong's rule, the Hedong Army, which originally had poor military discipline, became more and more cruel to the people, even in his own prefecture and county.
It's really too much to plunder them all.
If you are a Hedong businessman, don't you want to transfer part of your property to Lingxia?
But, does Prince Lingwu actually want to reach east of the river? So bold?
Kang Fujin didn't dare to think about what would happen if two powerful vassals collided. Small people like them would probably be crushed to death.
He suddenly felt regretful again. Is it really safe to transfer part of his property to Lingxia?
Seeing the troubled look on Kang Fujin's face, Shao Shude sneered and asked him to get out of the way.
Making blind guesses and worrying about gains and losses is the nature of a businessman!
Attack Hedong? No, not now.
Although through the narration of the envoy from Xingzhou, it was learned that Li Keyong was now listening to the opinions of his staff with an open mind and was focused on expanding to Hebei, Shao Shude was not worried that Li Keyong would be in a catastrophic situation.
The three towns in Hebei are not that easy to fight, especially with Zhu Quanzhong watching from the side. Li Keyong must have been attacking them for many years, wasting people and money, and finally gained nothing.
Moreover, now the three towns in Hebei are extremely worried about the ambitions in Hedong. Xingzhou Mengqian sent envoys to accept the hostages, and Zhenwu Army City just came to report that envoys from Youzhou hastened to Lingzhou, saying that Li Kuangwei, the envoy of Youzhou Jiedu, sent envoys to bring gold and silver.
Come to Xiazhou City for horse racing.
Today, I am just like Zhang Xueliang during the Central Plains War, with envoys from all walks of life coming in droves.
Okay, very good!
"Fetch Deputy Envoy Chen and Sui Envoy Zhao." After thinking for a while, Shao Shude decided to find the two of them to discuss the strategy.
Chen Cheng and Zhao Guangfeng were resting at home. When they heard the commander's call, they quickly changed their clothes and rushed there.
"Boy, I want to keep Datong Helianduo, what impact will this move have?" Shao Shude asked straight to the point.
Chen Cheng glanced at Zhao Guangfeng and immediately answered: "Commander, the three states of Datong are extremely important, and we must protect Helian Duo."
"Oh? What's the reason?" Shao Shude asked.
"If there is no Helianduo, how can we contact Youzhou Town?" Chen Cheng asked rhetorically: "Zhenwu Military City can lead directly to Yunzhou. From Yunzhou to the east, you can go to Yuzhou. Now Weizhou is guarded by Yan general Liu Rengong. As long as Yunzhou is not lost
, our town can communicate with Hebei through Yunzhou. If there is a loss in Yunzhou, Li Keyong can go deep into the grassland and cut off my channel to connect with Youzhou. It is quite inconvenient for messengers to come and go, which is harmful to the overall plan."
Chen Cheng's meaning is very clear. Even if he does not plan to plot Hedong now, he must maintain the communication line with Youzhou. After all, there is no other route except Yunzhou. Henan is Zhu Quanzhong's territory, and Hedong is Li Keyong's territory.
, it is unlikely that people from Shuofang Town will be allowed to cross the border.
"However, in the past, I had clearly separated the boundaries between the Huayue Temple alliance and my sworn brother. Now if I want to protect Helian Duo, wouldn't it be breaking my promise?" Shao Shude asked.
"Commander, I think it's impossible." Zhao Guangfeng said suddenly: "If Li Keyong attacks Datong, Youzhou Town may send reinforcements, but if Cheng De is defeated, Weibo Town will only sweep away the trouble on its own and won't do anything at all.
Send troops. Nowadays, in the three towns of Hebei, Luo Hongxin is unable to go out to fight. Wang Rong just wants to protect the territory and the people. For this reason, he bribes Li Keyong with gold, silver, silk, grain and grass, which shows his ambition. That is, Li Keyong of Youzhou
Kuangwei still has great ambitions and is willing to send troops for Helianduo. To protect Datong, it is actually to protect Youzhou. Li Keyong's intention to plot Hebei is known to the world. Li Kuangwei will not let Hedong annex Datong or Chengde.
town."
This relationship is really fucking complicated! Shao Shude thought to himself.
They also wanted Li Keyong to use as a shield to harass and contain Zhu Quanzhong, to buy themselves time and gain benefits, but they also wanted to keep Li Keyong at bay, trying to keep Datong Town, so that they could connect with Youzhou at any time and unite to suppress Hedong.
Li Keyong is not stupid. He also has capable people under his command, so he can naturally see this.
This guy has a bad temper. If you get caught up in him, you won't be able to do many things.
"Let's wait until the envoy from Youzhou comes. In addition, let Li Hang go to Yunzhou. I want to find out the background of Helianduo." Shao Shude said: "You really need to be cautious about this matter. Now the most important goal of this town is
, or Guanzhong. According to the informant of Han Quanjie, the Zhongguan, the saint's time is running out, and he may be defeated at any time. Cheng Zongchu of Jingyuan has also been in a daze these days. If he can't save it, he follows the saint to the west. What we must do
Be prepared. This month, let the soldiers relax first, and next month, they will practice hard."