At the end of August 937, shortly after the peace talks at Mawei Poxia, Li Congzhao led the Fengxiang Army to give way to Xingping and gave this small county to Zhang Zhao as a garrison point.
At the same time, part of Fengxiang's army was still surrounded near Maweipo, and Li Congyao was also taken to Xingping County by Zhang Zhao.
Li Congzhao and Fengxiang went to collect supplies, and Zhang Zhao would not release him until the 350,000 yuan they promised had been collected.
An Shenqi's speed was much faster than that of Fengxiang's army. Zhang Zhao only waited in Xingping County for three days. Cloth, gold and silverware, copper coins, and tens of thousands of stones, grain and grass worth 180,000 guan were all delivered.
Xingping County.
However, something was wrong with Guo Tiance's expression. He found Zhang Zhao with a thick stack of classified lists. This list was used by Zhang Zhao to tally the various goods and materials sent by An Shenqi.
"Sikong! Among the 180,000 guan, except for gold vessels and brocade silk worth more than 70,000 guan, many of the other materials should have been collected from the private sector.
Many of the cloths also have paintings and stamps that each family has kept for themselves. Judging from the degree of wear and tear, the copper coins are not stored in the treasury, but are used frequently."
Guo Tiance used the word "shou" in a very gentle way, but Zhang Zhao knew that this was not "shou", but something An Shenqi had stolen from the people.
In other words, the money was paid equally to everyone near Chang'an, and it was a few hundred dollars.
Don't think that this money is not much, in fact it is quite a lot. Those poor families, including the elderly and children, have five or six people in each family. They have lost two or three coins at once. It is not an exaggeration to say that they have gone bankrupt.
Moreover, in today’s officialdom, it is normal to exploit people from one level to the next. The rich can’t get much out of it, and it is often the poor who get the bulk of the money.
What's more, after giving Zhang Zhao 180,000 guan, those corrupt officials are not allowed to use their hands to get another 100,000 guan for themselves and share the profits?
Zhang Zhao pondered for a moment, and An Shenqi was indeed an old fox. By doing this, he legally allowed the Jinchang Army to raid a wave of civilians and win over the Jinchang Army's military morale.
They also put a shit basin on Zhang Zhao's head, causing the people's support he had gained over the past few months to vanish in an instant.
"Tiance, please spread the word and say that a certain person wants to return the 100,000 guan of poor people's money and give him 100,000 guan as a reward. Let's see what the soldiers think?
If the soldiers don't have much resistance and even think that someone is doing the right thing, then you should quickly organize people and organize the village elders, li chiefs, and elders from Chang'an and several surrounding counties.
We will return these 100,000 guan to the people of Chang'an in proportion to the payment!"
"Lord Sikong is truly benevolent and righteous. On behalf of the people of Chang'an, I would like to thank Sikong!" Guo Tiance was so moved that he knelt down and bowed his head to Zhang Zhao.
"Okay, get up! Go down and make arrangements."
Zhang Zhao understands Guo Tiance's mood. The Guo family can be regarded as Chang'an people, and the tombs of their ancestors are also near Chang'an.
After Guo Tiance went out to make arrangements, Lady Han Qi and her husband Zhao Jinfang were called in. After these days of recuperation, Zhao Jinfang's body has fully recovered.
Zhang Zhao found more than twenty helpers for him. Well! They said they were helpers, but they were actually apprentices.
Moreover, Zhang Zhao also appointed Zhao Jinfang as the medical supervisor of the eighth grade and the supervisor of the accompanying army doctors. The more than twenty medical doctors Zhang Zhao brought from Liangzhou were also managed by Zhao Jinfang.
However, this time the couple was called here not to discuss medicine, but to discuss matters related to the Kingdom of Shu.
Bashu is located in the southwest. Compared with the war-torn Central Plains, especially after the establishment of the Meng family's Later Shu, it has become a paradise.
According to later statistics, at this time, there were more than 200 counties in more than 40 prefectures in Meng Shu, with a population of more than 3 million. Including hidden households, the number was at least about 5 million.
Sichuan is rich and prosperous, a land of fish and rice, and is known as the land of abundance.
In such a land, there must be many wealthy households, and in such a paradise, extravagance is bound to be common, and the consumption power is overwhelming.
Compared with the Central Plains, which has a population of more than 10 million, but is plagued by wars all year round, and people are trying to hoard food and dare not consume it, they are the biggest customers of rock sugar and white sugar.
Moreover, brocade silk, tung oil, tea, and raw lacquer from Shu are also urgently needed commodities in Longyou, Hexi, and Hezhong, Anxi.
Developing economic and trade relations with Hou Shu has become Zhang Zhao's greatest concern.
Thinking about it this way, Zhang Zhao didn't hate An Shenqi so much anymore, because even just to open up the trade route, he still had to fight with Li Congyao who was entrenched in Fengxiang and held the passage to Shu.
However, in order to open up the trade routes of Shu and allow merchants from Hexi to enter Shu, Meng Chang, the leader of Later Shu, must give his nod.
However, although Zhang Zhao is about to get the official position of Longyou Jiedushi, he can even become the king. The total population of Longyou in Hexi Province is between one million and two million.
But compared with the Meng family, which occupies a wealthy place in the middle of Shu, Zhang Zhao's status is still a bit lower.
What's more, he is still a minister of the Central Plains Dynasty after all, so it is not appropriate to send envoys to communicate with Shu with great fanfare.
After Lady Han Qi learned about this situation, she took the initiative to find Zhang Zhao.
Only then did Zhang Zhao remember that Mrs. Han Qi was from Zizhou (Santai, Sichuan), the military governor of Sichuan. More importantly, her brother was Han Baosheng, a famous doctor in Sichuan.
Han Baosheng was a famous Confucian doctor in history. He compiled the book "Shu Materia Medica" based on "New Materia Medica" and was often cited in Li Shizhen's Compendium of Materia Medica.
He was proficient in medical theory and knew the properties of medicine. People at the time praised him as "the medicines used to treat diseases are not limited to local prescriptions, and the medicines used clinically always have miraculous effects."
Moreover, Han Baosheng had a very good relationship with Meng Chang, who was proficient in medical science. He was Meng Chang's Hanlin bachelor. The preface to the Illustrations (illustrations) he made for Shu Materia Medica was written by Meng Chang himself.
With such a relationship, it was greatly facilitated for Zhang Zhao to take the Meng Chang line and expand the trade route to central Sichuan.
Zhang Zhao immediately asked his second uncle Song Shanrong to be his secret envoy, and asked him to take the family letter written by Lady Han Qi to his brother Han Baosheng and go to Shuzhong to ask for an audience with Meng Chang.
The next day, Guo Tiance came to report that everyone in the Guiyi Army supported Zhang Zhao's move to return 100,000 coins to the people of Chang'an.
Zhang Zhao immediately appointed Guo Tiance and Guo Guangsheng to take full charge of the matter. The two convened hundreds of township chiefs and elders from six counties in Chang'an to prepare a detailed return compensation plan.
This plan stunned An Shenqi of Chang'an City.
This is not as simple as just returning 100,000 yuan, it also shows that Zhang Zhao has a very efficient administrative team.
He originally wanted to damage Zhang Zhao's reputation, but instead it allowed Zhang Zhao to gain another wave of reputation.
Moreover, during the process of the organization's return, the officials of the Guiyi Army went deep into the villages and towns of various counties, collected a large amount of local intelligence, and even began to draw maps near Chang'an to master grassroots information.
....
The ninth day of September is the Double Ninth Festival, which was one of the most important festivals in the Tang Dynasty. At that time, people would climb high to pray for blessings, worship gods and ancestors, gather with family members, have banquets, etc.
The Double Ninth Festival was not popular in later generations because half of its functions were allocated to the Mid-Autumn Festival and half to the Spring Festival, so it became neither embarrassing nor awkward.
But in this era, the Double Ninth Festival was extremely important, so Zhang Zhao simply chose this day to return one hundred thousand guan of goods to the people of Chang'an.
For Zhang Zhao, with the Silk Road Small Circulation, the Buddhist Bank and the three major killer weapons of sugar, rock sugar and tea bricks, he has no shortage of money in the real sense.
One hundred thousand guan and two hundred thousand guan are just numbers. If he were not afraid of causing inflation in Hexi, he could easily produce hundreds of millions of guan.
What he lacks is real goods, smooth trade routes, and huge reputation. He wants everyone in the world to know the benevolence and righteousness of Hexi Zhang Erlang.
For this reason, Zhang Zhao did not hesitate to spend one hundred thousand gu in wealth, and even prepared four gifts of rice, flour, meat, and candies on the Double Ninth Festival. All citizens over fifty and under five years old who arrived at the scene were rewarded.
Well, it looks quite generous, but it really doesn’t cost much.
In this era, there are not many people over fifty years old. Even if they are from wealthy families, it is not bad to live to be fifty years old. Many people generally live to be in their thirties.
And although there are many five-year-old children, the rewards are also few!
After a day of vigorous work, thousands of Sikong princes and princes filled the mountains and plains, and amidst the shouts of Sikong Daren and his righteousness, Zhang Zhao did not even pay 7,000 guans.
Moreover, this also produced a very good unexpected effect, that is, a large number of people who suffered from the military disaster could not survive, or wanted to leave this sad place. Seeing Zhang Zhao's benevolence and righteousness, thousands of people expressed their intention to follow Zhang Zhao on the spot.
Go to Hexi.
In addition to the people from Qian, Ying, Ning, and Jing who were rescued by him before, Zhang Zhao can bring back at least tens of thousands of Tang'er.
At the same time, he also ordered local people like Han Qiniang to search for elders with skills among the people for him.
If the land is cultivated well, it will be allocated when they arrive in Hexi. If the cultivation is particularly good, they will be given the status of agricultural officer, and not only will they be allocated land, but they will also receive rewards.
The same goes for those with passable medical skills. As for other carpenters, stonemasons, bricklayers, plasterers, boatmen, butchers, who can repair houses, dig ditches, and even weave good peasant women, as long as they are willing to go to the west of the river, they will all be rewarded.
If you are a literate scholar, that would be even better. Generally, you will be given five guan of settlement allowance first.
"Boy, your request is very big! If Emperor Zhuang Miaomin had such a heart for these things, the Tang Dynasty would have been unified long ago!"
Kang Fu has been following Zhang Zhao these days, but he only drinks tea and eats braised pork with rock sugar, and has no words. Until this moment, he couldn't help but speak.
Zhang Zhao came back to his senses and looked at Kang Fu, "Lieutenant, the situation is unpredictable now, who can know what will happen in the future?
To be honest, the great thing I seek is nothing more than the unification of the country, the submission of all barbarians, and the clearing of seas and rivers.
If this was such a prosperous time, it is very likely that I, Zhang Zhao, would not even appear here."
Only Zhang Zhao understood this sentence, while Kang Fu seemed to understand but thought of elsewhere.
"The country is unified, the barbarians are surrendered, and the seas and rivers are clear. What a wonderful scene! If the world is really like this, I, Kangfu, should be at ease in Kaifeng Mansion in Tokyo now!"
After saying that, Kang Fu took Zhang Zhao's hand and said, "Since Sikong is so generous, if you give me 30,000 guan, I will sell you the Xiongwu Army and draw you into Daibei Martial Arts!"
Zhang Zhao looked at the old fox and laughed. Kangfu must have been frightened by the Song family's exclusion of him this time. Moreover, he was already in his fifties, and his desire to return to Kaifeng Mansion in Tokyo to enjoy his old age was getting stronger.
"What's the color of the Grand Lieutenant's granddaughter?"
"Are you still thinking about my granddaughter? That's 50,000 yuan. Let me tell you, I have eleven granddaughters, all of whom are beautiful and fragrant. Keeping them will dazzle you!"
Kangfu spoke in a joking tone, but his eyes were serious.
"Is Kang Weng really going back to Tokyo?" So Zhang Zhao also asked seriously.
"It's time to go back. After you return to Liangzhou, take Weizhou (Longxi) as soon as possible. I can stay in Qinzhou for half a year at most. After half a year, Enzhun's decree to retire and return to his hometown will definitely come."
Zhang Zhao nodded, "The 50,000-guan silver note will be delivered to the Taiwei tomorrow. It can be accepted by all the major Buddhist temples in Tokyo!"