Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 127 Tuoba and Ye Li

On June 25th in the fourth year of Zhonghe, Youzhou City.

Youzhou City is the city of Changze County, which originally belonged to Xiazhou. There is Huluo Salt Pond outside the city, which produces green salt and white salt.A bucket of salt in the four prefectures of Xia and Sui is worth less than a hundred renminbi, but in Guanzhong it may reach 40 or 50 renminbi.But this has nothing to do with them, because most of Guanzhong eats salt from the two salt ponds in the river, with an annual output of 70 to [-] shi.In other words, Wang Chongrong can earn about [-] yuan a year by selling salt, and he is really a rich man.

The output of Yanchi in Youzhou is only 60 shi a year, and the income that can bring more than [-] yuan to the Tuoba family is actually not much.Their location is too bad, and there are no densely populated places nearby.In the Guanzhong market, it is not only difficult to compete with Hezhong salt, but also to compete with Sichuan salt, whose annual sales are nearly [-] yuan.

These days, it is not possible to sell salt and turn it into money.The Fengzhou Tiande Army also has salt ponds, and the quality is good. It was still a tribute during the Kaiyuan period. What is the result?It is far away from the main market, and there are few people interested in it. It is just satisfied with the local and Zhenwu Army, and the market share is pitifully small.

Yanzhou under the Shuofang Army is the largest salt-producing area in Xixia in later generations.Their business operations are even worse, and their market share is larger than that of Fengzhou Salt, but far inferior to that of Yuzhou Salt.

Therefore, the Tuoba family's main income is actually from selling livestock, leather, and medicinal materials, rather than selling salt.Unless they have a "good neighbor" like the Northern Song Dynasty, through the government's actions, the price of salt was greatly increased, and a bucket was sold for several hundred dollars, which led to the massive smuggling and invasion of Xixia salt, which cost more than a hundred yuan per bucket, and expanded the market in disguise. share.

But these days, the price of salt in Datang is very low. If you want to sell it, will anyone buy it?
But then again, more than [-] yuan a year is a small benefit to the Tuoba family.It allows them to purchase a lot of things outside, such as ordnance.Youzhou's iron smelting industry is not as good as Xiazhou's!

But since the end of last year, Shao Shude, the governor of the Dingnan Army, secretly interviewed salt merchants in Xia, Sui, and Yinzhou, ordering them to purchase Fengzhou salt as much as possible.And the Tiande army also cooperated very much, keeping the price very low, which suddenly reduced Youzhou salt to a large market, and its income plummeted.

After Shao Shude led his army northward to the grassland in April this year, the miscellaneous tribes surrendered one after another, and they also began to use Fengzhou salt. The income of the Tuoba family further decreased, and financial problems began to appear.

Tuoba Sijian has been troubled by these things recently.The family is big and the business is big, and the elder brother has raised so many soldiers, the daily expenses are very huge.Now there is a problem with the sale of salt, and the miscellaneous captives on the northern grassland no longer offer cattle and sheep, leather, medicinal materials, honey, wax and other things. If this continues, the family will not be able to manage.

"Brother, today the Luo Shu Department sent people to ask for equipment. They said they wanted to go north to the grassland, kill Wei Cai Sudu, and take back their own grassland." Tuoba Sijian walked into the room and said anxiously: "How to respond?"

"Give them some salt." Tuoba Si respectfully looked out the window and said.

"This..." Tuoba Sijian was choked, and could only change things and said: "The Ministry of Weimu sent people to ask for [-] bolts of silk, saying that the department is short of money."

"Give them some salt." Tuoba Sigong said without moving.

Tuoba Sijian was tongue-tied, and sat down speechless after a long time, looking a little annoyed.

"Are you angry?" Tuoba Sigong finally turned his head, glanced at his younger brother, and said, "Shao Shude's move northward to the grassland is a wonderful move. I never thought that he would move so fast, and it took more than a month." , It messed up the foundation that we have been running for three generations."

"How could it be so easy without the help of the Linzhou Zheju clan?" Tuoba Sijian couldn't help but said.

"The daughter of the Zheju family married Shao Shude, how can I not help?" Tuoba Sigong shook his head, and said: "At first I didn't quite believe it. I don't believe that Shao Shude wanted to kill our Tuoba family so soon, but now The facts are all there, it is someone's fault, a big one!"

"Brother, why are you so discouraged? There are still more than ten thousand soldiers in the state, and the city of Youzhou is high and deep, what are you afraid of him doing!" Tuoba Sijian said.

"It was a big mistake to go south to hunt for thieves without following the imperial edict. Now I sit back and hesitate, and lose the help of the grassland. I made mistakes." Tuoba Sigong couldn't help sighing, and said: "Shao Shude took Xia The three prefectures of Sui, Sui, and Yin have been well-organized in recent years, and the disparity in strength makes it even more difficult."

"Brother, why don't you go find Yang Yue, the Jinglue Army. He has five thousand troops and is also a powerful man. Could it be that he just watched Shao Shude cut down the feudal clan? If you cut Youzhou today, you can cut down the Jinglue Army tomorrow. Yang Yue should understand the truth." Tuoba Sijian stood up and said.

"You can try it, but don't get your hopes up too much. Someone like Yang Yue can't see it through." Tuoba Sigong said: "Our hope is still in Hengshan."

"Brother, you mean?"

"Take a trip to the southeast." Tuoba Sigong said: "The Wuzang clan in Chuanzhou, Hunzhou has always been respectful to our clan, so it should be helpful. The Yeli clan in Nanshan, alas, let's try it. If the two can rely on If we come here, at least half of the Nanshan tribes can come here, and we can provide more than [-] soldiers. In this way, we will have an army of more than [-], which is no worse than that of Shao Shude."

Nanshan Dangxiang's [-] soldiers are useless, and there are not many armors!Tuoba Sijian originally wanted to say this, but when he saw his brother's face, he couldn't continue.

Let's treat a dead horse as a living horse doctor, that's the only way to go.

******
"General Feng, just wait here, Ye Li doesn't dare to do anything to someone." Li Hang cupped his hands and said.

"Well, I'll wait here." Feng Yin also replied politely.

He is about to leave the Tielin army system and be promoted to be Shao Shude's deputy general, because the number of personal soldiers is about to expand to 200.

Everyone in the army respected him very much, but it was really not respectable, which made Feng Yin very depressed.

He wanted to climb up with solid military exploits, even if only two or three out of ten such people could survive.

Now one of the three brothers of the Liu family has been transferred to the Wuwei Army as the team leader, the other has been transferred to the Tielin Army as the team deputy, and the other has been transferred to the commander-in-chief's personal soldiers. All of them have developed well, and they climbed up by virtue of their solid military exploits.

As for myself, I have benefited from the favor of the two younger sisters!well!
With his head held high, Li Hang entered the main hall under the guidance of two members of the Yeli clan.

It is said to be the main hall, but it is actually similar to a cottage.Made of rough wood, unpainted, uncarved.The place is not small, many torches were lit, more than ten people stood in the hall, and the one sitting at the top should be Yeli Jingchen.

Yeli Jingchen looked to be almost 40 years old, but Li Hang reckoned that he was probably in his early thirties, with great courage. When he was young, he went to Yanzhou many times to do business, selling cattle and horses, and buying utensils.

The Yelibu lived in the eastern section of Hengshan, south of Suizhou, north of Danzhou and Yanzhou, and had a large territory. It was one of the larger tribes in the Hengshan Dangxiang.Later generations here have always been the key to the competition between the Northern Song Dynasty and the Western Xia Dynasty, because "Hengshan stretches for thousands of miles, many horses are suitable for crops, and the characters are strong and good at fighting...The fortresses are all dangerous and strong enough to defend."

"The ancestors (Yuan Hao) were often able to be patients on the border. They believed that there were millets in the mountains in the south of the curtain to eat, the people in the mountains could use them, and the water and grass in the mountains could be protected."

"Golden Soup and White Leopard occupy the foot of Hengshan, surrounded by thousands of hectares of fertile land, both of which occupy tens of thousands of hectares of fertile land in Hengshan."

In short, when Xixia won Hengshan, it could control many dangerous passes, and then requisition local food, cattle, horses, and soldiers to attack the Song Dynasty in the south, which has great strategic advantages.

For this big family with a population of tens of thousands, Shao Shude also had to pay attention to it, it can even be said that he deliberately wins over, and must not let them be dragged over by the Tuoba clan.

"What's the matter with your envoy?" Yeli Jingchen sat on the head, and the old god asked on the ground.

"Come here for the two alliances." Li Hang said directly.

Nori Keitomi was a little moved.Those present are all foxes who have been around for a thousand years. Who doesn't know your purpose.To speak out so bluntly at the moment, either has sufficient confidence or is a fool.

"My department is under the rule of Yanzhou and Danzhou. The king of Lingwu County stretched his hand too far." Yeli Jingchen said.

"Li Xiaochang, the envoy of the Baosai army, is very close to my king, and he is very respectful." Li Hang said.

These words were actually implicitly saying that Li Xiaochang was afraid and even took shelter of Shao Shude, everyone understood.It was also the first time Yeli Jingchen heard about this, so he was a little uneasy.

The Ministry of Nori has a population of tens of thousands. Once something happens, it will not be a problem to draw 8000 troops.With this level of strength, even the Tuoba family in Youzhou can only adopt a gentle policy towards them and deliberately make friends with them.

But their strength is still not enough to resist the rule of the Baosai army. Sometimes they produce food, cattle and horses. Gein's soldiers are well-equipped and well-trained, and they are not comparable to those farmers and soldiers in their own tribe.

Now with the addition of the Dingnan Army, it is really not difficult to deliberately suppress their Yelibu.As long as you are willing to spend time, you don't need to attack those fortresses with dangerous terrain. Blocking them from the north and south will make the Yelibu suffer.

This Li Xiaochang is too shameless, right?Is it plausible to be so respectful to a junior who is 20 years younger than you, for being so handsome?

"Your envoy's words are true?" Yeli Jingchen didn't ask, but someone from the bottom helped him to ask.

"Next month, my king will inspect Suizhou. At that time, Li Xiaochang, the envoy of the Baosai Army, will also come to Suide to deliver the war horses. If Patriarch Yeli has time, you might as well go down the mountain to have a look. My king will also give you a reward."

Yeli Jingchen was silent when he heard the words, and all the big and small leaders also looked at each other in blank dismay.As soon as Shao Shude yelled, Li Xiaochang ran over in a hurry.If this is true, then they are in an embarrassing situation.The Dingnan Army and the Baosai Army are united, won't they eat them to death?
Everyone has also heard about the current situation in the four prefectures of Xia and Sui.Originally, the result of the discussion was that the two would not help each other, and lived behind closed doors.The Muzang clan is still hesitating and has sent people over to discuss it, but the Noribe has really made up its mind not to wade into this muddy water.

But what if someone forces you to stand in line?This is difficult.

(End of this chapter)