Defend the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 20

Someone was stirring up trouble in secret, not only bewitching the Yele tribe to rebel, but even harming their father and son. I don’t know how many frontier soldiers and Sogdian merchants participated. In his opinion, it was a trivial matter...

Chen Yichang is not only very busy these days, but also sleepless at night because of fear.

It is even conceivable that Lord Jiedushi, who is far away in Guishu, will be worried about whether something will happen to Yele Town after seeing the secret letter that Lord Siyu sent six hundred miles to deliver urgently.

Yichang Chen suddenly regretted driving him crazy. After a moment of silence, he raised his head and said, "Sanlang, I know you are very smart, and it's not that I don't believe you, but I have to remind you of something."

"What?"

"The frontier army can't be chaotic, and neither can the Sogdian merchants!"

Chen Yichang said very seriously, Han Pingan not only knew what he meant, but also knew that he was not alarmist.

Because the Silk Road is not only the supply line of the Datang Frontier Army, but also the lifeline of the Datang Frontier Army!

Not to mention Anxi and Beiting, the two major guardians, Gua, Su, Gan, Liang and other prefectures are also far away from Chang'an, and the food and grass needed by the frontier army cannot be transferred, so the imperial court can only allocate money and cloth for the frontier army. Buy locally, and at the same time let the frontier army garrison the fields.

Datang did not have so much copper, and the money it cast was not much.In the beginning, the military salary was half of money and half of cloth, but now it is all cloth, and money has not been seen for decades.

And Sogdia, a unique commercial nation, was proficient in business and planning, was not afraid of hardships and dangers, was familiar with the languages ​​of various places, and frequently traveled between Dashi and Datang through long trade routes.

Those Sogdian merchants, due to the long distance to travel, mainly sold valuable and light goods such as jewelry, spices, medicinal materials, dyes, and iron weapons, as well as slaves who could walk on their own.

The goods purchased from Datang to Dashi are also precious and light goods such as jewelry and lacquerware. Porcelain is not the first choice for sales because it is too heavy and easy to break. Silk cloth is not the main commodity it deals in because it is too bulky, let alone Dashi. The countries in the west also have silk food and even food.

When they returned, they couldn’t let it go, so they helped the imperial court to transfer the silk cloth allocated to the frontier army. At the same time, they also purchased some cloth and sold them to the various ministries of the Western Regions attached to the Tang Dynasty. There were very few silk cloth and porcelain that were actually sold to Dashi, because they were very expensive. Not worth it for them.

The Sogdians, who lived along the trade route, set up merchants to distribute the goods of merchants, dealing in jewelry, curios, livestock, slaves and even lending interest.

It can be said that they covered almost all important market areas, controlled the economic lifeline of the Western Regions and even the entire Tang Dynasty, and were the main source of commercial taxes for Anxi and Beiting.

Without them, the "military salary" would not be able to be transported, and the business tax would not be paid, and it would be difficult for the frontier army to be self-sufficient by farming alone.

All in all, no matter the black sheep among the Chabian army or the ulterior motives among the Sogdian businessmen, they must be cautious and cautious. Without sufficient and conclusive evidence, they must not act rashly.

Han Ping'an could understand Yichang Chen's worries, and said in a low voice, "Uncle Chen, don't worry, I have my own measure."

"It's good to have a sense of proportion."

Yichang Chen smiled gratifiedly, and continued: "The people you want, Cui Mingfu and I tried our best to find three. Don't think it's too little, and don't think it's not enough. You must know that this is Yele, not Chang'an , It is too difficult to find a few literate people."

"You can teach slowly if you don't have the strength, who is born with everything?"

"You, you seem to know everything."

"Uncle Chen, you really know how to joke."

Han Pingan laughed and asked, "Did someone clean up the front yard for me?"

"It's inconvenient to put the things you're going to do in the City Lord's Mansion, but it's also inappropriate to use the front yard or open the south gate. Should you write a letter first and ask Lord Siyu?"

The so-called South Gate is the main gate of the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion, which was once the South Gate of Yele Palace.

The front yard is the main hall of the royal palace a long time ago, and later the main hall of Yele Metropolitan Governor's Mansion.

However, the palace of a vassal king of the Western Regions is no big deal, and its scale is much smaller than the sparsely populated Anxi Grand Protector's Mansion and Four Towns Jiedushi Mansion.But in any case, it is also the residence of the former vassal king and the current governor of Jimi.

Han Shimei, the Jiedu Tuiguan of the four towns, has a lot of power, and can even supervise General An, the envoy of Yele Town, but his rank is not high, he is only down from the sixth rank.

Although you can temporarily live in the Governor's Mansion, you can't enter and exit through the main entrance, and you can't openly handle official business in the lobby of the front yard.

Of course, there are not many servants and maidservants in the Han family, and they don't need such a big place.

The front yard is big enough, there are enough houses, and it is magnificent enough. It's a pity not to use it as the government office of the thief Cao Wei. In fact, there is no more suitable place in Yele City.

Thinking of this, Han Ping'an said casually: "You don't need to ask my father, the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion is not my house, my father is also a tenant."

"Well, since you're in charge, you can do whatever you want."

"Just having a place is not enough, everything is difficult at the beginning, can you lend me a Youyi person."

"It's not impossible to borrow You Yiren, but you have to report to Cui Mingfu first. Without Cui Mingfu's warrant, they won't listen to your orders."

"Where's the night watchman?"

"Same."

"Uncle Chen, aren't they all under your control?"

"I'm just a postmaster. Although I can ask them to help keep an eye on what's going on inside and outside the city, and inquire about news, it still needs to be approved by Cui Mingfu."

Han Pingan didn't believe his nonsense, and asked with a half-smile: "Uncle Chen, how many people do you have?"

Chen Yichang said angrily: "Yes, there are several postmen. If you want them to help run errands and do chores, you don't need to tell me."

The so-called postmen are actually the young and strong people in the various workshops in the city and the villages outside the city. They work as clerks in the posthouse or help run errands to deliver official documents, which is exactly the same as guarding the city.

To put it bluntly, it is a group of farmers who are farming, and they can't help much at all, and they are not very useful.

Han Pingan was secretly slandering the old fox for not trusting him, and Yichang Chen suddenly laughed and said, "Cui Ming's mansion is so busy, sometimes you can't find anyone if you want to. But you have to do so many things, and you really have to have a few people under your command. "

"What should I do?"

"It would be great if there is a official official seal letter from Lord Siyu. No matter what happens, if you draft an official document and affix it with a big seal, it's not a problem to call the night watchman, let alone the Youyi people."

It turned out that he was worried that he would be investigated when he caused a mess. It is estimated that Cui Han, the city lord, also had the same worry.

Han Ping'an was happy, and couldn't help laughing: "Go back and see if my father has taken the seal away. If he took it to Baisha City, please find a way to help me send a message to my sister, and ask my sister to send the seal as soon as possible." return."

"Send a message to your sister... It's not safe, what if it gets out, why don't you just write a letter to Lord Shi Yu."

"Isn't this nonsense, if you tell my father directly, can he give me the big seal?"

"Let your sister steal it!"

"It's all from my own family. How can it be called stealing? This is called taking."

"Don't tell me, I didn't hear anything, I don't know anything, and it's none of my business to blame you."

"Don't worry, I won't betray you. Even if my father finds out, he won't blame you. Isn't it just to borrow a seal for a few days? It's not like I haven't borrowed it before."

(End of this chapter)