Han Hai Tang Ergui

People die for money, birds die for food, this sentence is most suitable for Cao Renzun.

Doesn't he know the prestige of Zhang Tie, the founding hero?
Didn't he know that both Helong Jian'er and Guan Zhong Yicong treated the emperor as a god?
He knows, he knows very well!
That's why people spread the story of Sun Ce of the Three Kingdoms and Emperor Zhuangzong of the later dynasty to the whole world, just to use this method to offset the halo of some emperors.

When others called Pei Yuan a traitor, they might be jealous, or they might just follow suit, but Cao Renzun called Pei Yuan a traitor, and that was really a scolding from the bottom of his heart.

As an elder of Shazhou Cao and the actual patriarch of Sogter Xicao inside Shazhou Cao, Cao Renzun had a relationship with Cao Wanjin of Hexi Chamber of Commerce very early on, or in other words, their relationship has never been broken.

Because Cao Wanjin's ancestor, Cao Wantongxi, was originally separated from the Sogdian branch of Dunhuang, they were originally a family.

At this time, the Sogdians could be said to be a better commercial nation than the Jews. After Zhang Ting opened up the trade route, the dying Hexi immediately ushered in great development.

In particular, Zhang Ting hopes to use Hexi white sugar and rock sugar to influence the Central Plains.After using Hexi refined salt and tea bricks to influence the plateau, grassland and river, the Hexi Chamber of Commerce came into being and played a pivotal role.

To be honest, the Hexi Chamber of Commerce has made great efforts in the process of Zhang Tie's unification of the world.

More than [-]% of the military expenditure was spent on the campaign, and more than [-]% was spent on the placement of pro-military and forbidden troops.

And more than [-]% of the wealth and goods rewarded by Zhang Yu to his ministers, large and small, came from the Hexi Chamber of Commerce.

At the same time, the Hexi Chamber of Commerce cooperated with the imperial government's policy, used weapons such as salt, sugar and tea, and monopolized the Hexi trade route to a certain extent, and formulated precise strike strategies against various places, which objectively accelerated the unification process of Zhang and Zhou.

Even Jinyi Qinwei's local network development was initially dependent on the development of the Hexi Chamber of Commerce.

But now, when only the Southern Han Dynasty is still stubbornly resisting in the whole world, and the Southern Tang Dynasty and Qian Yue are about to lose their ability to resist, the disadvantages of the Hexi Chamber of Commerce have begun to appear.

This large semi-government business organization that has existed for 13 years has now become a leader on the Hexi Commercial Road.

Buying and selling by force, buying low and selling high, hoarding strange things, armed attacks against them to manage other firms, and even to the point where they do not participate in the actual sale of goods at all, but sit on the ground and collect membership dues.

After leaving Guanzhong, the household department of the imperial court is not as good as the Hexi Chamber of Commerce.

And within the Hexi Chamber of Commerce, the Sogdians occupied an extremely important position.

Cao Wanjin, the leader of the chamber of commerce, was from Sogdia and Xicao.

The person in charge of the production enterprise of key materials such as white sugar, rock sugar, and tea bricks in Hexi is Kang Jinshan, a native of Sogdian in Kangguo.

The Hexi Chamber of Commerce was stationed in Beiting Province, and Mi Guozhong, who specialized in reviewing the sale of strategic materials such as sugar, tea and iron to the nomadic peoples from Moxi to Yibohai, was also a Sogdian.

At the same time, the third concubine daughter of Cao Wanjin Meiyan was one of the two concubines of Murong Nobunaga, the king of Liaoyang County, and the fifth concubine daughter was the concubine of Zhang Liecheng, the Duke of Jiaocheng and the commander of Jinyi's personal guard.

Kang Jinshan's eldest daughter married Zhang Lie and became his official wife under the help of Zhang Tie.

Mi Guozhong's prostitute daughter is married to one of Zhang Ting's most important personal followers, Gong Fanquan of Xinping County, as his wife.

In the very beginning, this relationship ensured the unity of the Hexi Chamber of Commerce and ensured Zhang Ting's instigation to them, and it was indeed very useful for a period of time.

But now, Zhang Zhou's court has begun to operate normally, and it does not need to rely on the donation from the Hexi Chamber of Commerce as before.

At the same time, since Meng Shu, Ma Chu, and Nan Ping belong to the country equally, there is no need for the Hexi Chamber of Commerce to assist the court to hold them back.

Under such circumstances, the role of the Hexi Chamber of Commerce began to rapidly slide from positive to negative.

In the chamber of commerce, corruption, embezzlement and even deception began to appear frequently.

Even within the Hexi Chamber of Commerce, [-]% of the profits went to the emperor, [-]% became funds, and the remaining [-]% were divided among each family.

Among them, it is not Cao Wanjin and Kang Jinshan, nor Mi Guozhong who is far away in the sky, but Cao Renzun, who played the greatest role in the rapid decline and corruption of the Hexi Chamber of Commerce.

After Cao Wanjin became the head of the Hexi Chamber of Commerce, he immediately entered the Hexi Chamber of Commerce with the nod of Empress Cao Yanxi.

Then, taking advantage of the geographical advantage of Dunhuang in Shazhou and the advantage of sitting tigers of the old Guiyi Army faction headed by the Cao family, they quickly expanded their influence in the Hexi Chamber of Commerce.

Now the Hexi Chamber of Commerce is in Chengtian Liangzhou Mansion and Dunhuang Mansion, the mode of collecting money on the ground at the east and west gates of the two Hexi Corridors, and the current distribution mode were established by Cao Renzun.

It is true that the reason why Cao Yanxi agreed to Cao Renzun's entry into the Hexi Chamber of Commerce was actually Zhang Tie's consent.

Zhang Ting's original arrangement was to let Cao Renzun, the elders of the Guiyi Army, join the Hexi Chamber of Commerce, so that they could enjoy the benefits of Zhang Zhou's domination of the world without too much involvement in the political and military circles.

After all, although the Guiyi Army of the older generation is a burden to Zhang Tie, the Guiyi Army of the younger generation and the next generation are still useful to Zhang Tie, and he must even be cited as his confidant.

Let these old guys enjoy the dividends, take advantage of the semi-official advantages of the Hexi Chamber of Commerce, casually engage in a little resale trade, or just set up some inns, mules and horses, and bank tickets in Dunhuang, and earn tens of thousands of coins every year. comfortable.

But I, Zhang Shengren, still far underestimated the degree of greed of human nature. The old guys headed by Cao Renzun don't even want to do this kind of business that can make money without losing money.

What they want to do is a business that is less troublesome and more capable of seizing power.

In fact, Zhang Huaiqing mentioned the matter of Cao Renzun and the others to Zhang Tie. Although this old grandfather of the Zhang family is not very capable, he has an advantage. As the only surviving nephew of Zhang Yichao, he really regards Zhang Zhou as a Zhang's family business.

So he would rather take his daughter and granddaughter to Zhang Tie for a marriage, and receive a gift of more than 20 Guan, rather than fooling around with Cao Renzun and the others to make money.

When he was staying behind in Xijing, Zhang Huaiqing secretly wrote to Zhang Ke several times to complain.

It's just that Zhang Yu was in a critical period at that time, and he didn't have the energy and couldn't solve this problem immediately, so he could only pretend to be deaf and dumb.

This frightened Zhang Huaiqing, and then he deliberately messed up, and finally managed to throw the time bomb into Pei Yuan's hands.

As soon as Pei Yuan took over, he immediately began to hate Cao Renzun from all aspects. The relationship between the two can be said to be very bad.

If someone could analyze Cao Renzun at this time, he would find that what he was facing was not a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

The so-called emperor may not come back, or it may not be possible to come back in time, it is simply impossible.

The seemingly bright future in front of him is actually a huge trap, a trap that Emperor Zhang had planned before he set off from Tokyo.

Because no matter if it is the Old Guiyi Army or the Hexi Chamber of Commerce, no matter how messed up, they are all members of the emperor's confidantes.

Even if Zhang Tie wants to target them, small punishments and big commandments are okay, but ruthless killing is impossible, because the relationship involved is too deep.

If Zhang Tie dared to attack them harshly, the entire Old Guiyi Army faction, and even most of the Donggui faction and Yuan Cong faction would be implicated, which would be self-destructive.

Unless unless someone jumps out by himself and does something rebellious.

So Zhang Tie took a risk and made such a situation. The emperor directly took away the core force of the empire, and once he went out, there was no news for seven or eight months.

Pei Yuan was crazy. On the surface, he seemed to be rectifying the nobles of Buddhism and Kaifeng in Tokyo, but in fact he was holding a big stick and kept hitting the Hexi Chamber of Commerce and the Lao Guiyi Army on the head.

Originally, the relationship between Cao Renzun and Pei Yuan was very bad. After being persecuted like this, and the emperor seemed to have disappeared, his inner ambition could no longer be restrained. This huge turmoil happened.

This is Cao Renzun's lack of knowledge!Although this master is good at manipulating business and seizing power, he is all clever.

He didn't even look at how silent people like Ma Xiguang, Gao Baorong, Fu Yanqing, An Shenqi, Zhe Congyuan, and Guo Wei have been since the emperor left the fortress.

Then what does Pei Yuan do, from helping the emperor enter Liangzhou, to going to the Central Plains to fool Shi Jingtang for the emperor, to going to Shuofang to act as the emperor's countermeasure against Zhang Xichong, he has always been by the emperor's side, helping the emperor to do dirty work' black gloves 'ah!

When the others saw that Pei Yuanquan was in power, they immediately knew how to behave with their tails between their legs.

Even an idiot like Shi Chonggui, after being bullied by Pei Yuan once, was so frightened when he saw Pei Yuan's fangs and claws that he opened his house every day, moved a bed and lay at the door every day, so that everyone could see him Shi Chonggui's daily life.

But Cao Renzun swallowed this bait without hesitation, and even bet all his wealth with the old guys from the Hexi Chamber of Commerce.

. . . .

In Daxingshan Temple, Cao Renzun was running around anxiously, because he had imprisoned Cao Yuanzhong for three full days.

Cao Yuanzhong is not an ordinary person, not to mention his status as the head of the state, even his status as the Pingzhang of the Guanzhong Province and the defense envoy of the Guanzhong Province, if he does not show up for more than three days, it is very noticeable.

During these three days, although he sent the younger generation of the Cao family and his colleagues who were officials in the Guanzhong provincial government to cover up, it is bound to not be able to cover up for a long time.

He felt that he could last two days at most. If Cao Yancun and Luo Yuer in Tongguan didn't send troops to control Chang'an city defense, he couldn't last.

However, Cao Renzun was not without people. He opened the door of the Zen room, and there were five or six strong men with big arms and scars on their faces standing outside.

Although these people are dressed in black clothes, their whole body reveals a fierce temperament. Among them, the leader even has a small inner armor. This inner armor is remade from cloth-faced iron armor, which is enough to protect the upper body. Not hurt by knives and arrows.

Seeing Cao Renzun come out, he intentionally lowered his posture a little bit, as the strong man with a scarred face wearing his inner armor and outer armor deliberately smiled.

"Renweng, a certain Liang and Master Shanfa would like you to go there all the time. Waiting like this is not an option. Why don't you try to get people to let go of Baqiao and let our people come into the city."

Cao Renzun's face turned cold. He knew that these people had brought many desperadoes into Guanzhong.

But in Guanzhong, especially near Chang'an, the soldiers and catchers of many inspections and inspection yamen are not vegetarians. Without the cover of the Hexi Chamber of Commerce, they would not be able to enter Chang'an.

Cao Renzun was about to answer, but he heard footsteps outside, and then the door was suddenly knocked open!

A burly man with a head as black as carbon but a stature as majestic as a tiger was holding two wrought copper maces. He looked at the scar-faced monk in inner armor and said lazily.

"Tian Shenu, you still want to enter Chang'an? Kneel and kowtow now, yeah maybe I can spare you!"