Rebirth of Shuangshu

Chapter 196
In recent years, Wei's wars have been unfavorable one after another.

After King Zhuangxiang of Qin separated the relationship between King Wei and Lord Xinling, King Wei abandoned Lord Xinling.One year ago, Lord Xinling passed away.Since then, Wei Guo lost its last pillar.

Over the past year, the surrounding countries have continued to provoke the Wei State, but the King of Wei has no generals to use.

Lin Xiaoxiao and his party crossed the border from Ruicheng and entered the old Song Dynasty. It seemed that only the Qin army could be seen at the border ten miles away, but not the Wei army.Although this is nominally within the territory of the State of Wei, the actual control has already fallen into the hands of the Qin Army.

The originally noisy inn has long been empty.Some houses are dilapidated because no one has repaired them.And some post stations were changed to the station of the Qin army.

A few days later, a group of people came to Taoqiu.

Not surprisingly, the current Taoqiu City is also not prosperous, and it is not even as good as it was before the Alliance of Soldiers.

There are still many shops on both sides of the street, but most of them are closed.The color of the seal on the door has faded, it can be seen that it has been sealed for a long time.

Pedestrians were rarely seen on the streets, and the population of the entire Taoqiu City dropped by three quarters.

It is said that when Wei Guo attacked Taoqiu, he did not use fire attack, because he was reluctant to part with the many shops in the city.Wei Guoren used aggressive tactics to break down Taoqiu's defense from the inside.

It is said that there was a civil turmoil in the Song Dynasty, and refugees who couldn't fill their stomachs invaded the city.Refugees are not as particular about the gentry, and they will rob them regardless of their property, and they are not polite to high-ranking and wealthy families.Many gentry's homes have been looted, and some of their female relatives have been robbed.

Fahrenheit had to mobilize troops to encircle and suppress these refugees.But the refugees left the city after they robbed their things, and when they went deep into the mountains, they couldn't see their shadows.And how could the high-ranking gentry who were robbed swallow this breath, if Huashi couldn't avenge them, I'm afraid they would lose the support of the gentry ever since.Fahrenheit had to continue to increase its troops to search the deep mountains, which gave the surrounding princes an opportunity to take advantage of it.

It is said that Tao Qiu was hardly affected during the civil strife, and Gain Chao and the city lord released food in time.

After the famine broke out inside and outside the city, the Chao family immediately contacted the city lord and jointly opened warehouses to release grain.While lowering food prices and suppressing hoarding merchants, they appease the refugees outside the city and the poor inside the city.Finally, the crisis will be resolved virtually.

However, due to the chaos around, Taoqiu closed the city for more than a month to prevent refugees from fleeing into the city.The impact on the business in the city is not small.

Later, Wei State attacked again, and some of the surrounding gentry fled to Taoqiu.But Tao Qiu was not immune, and was eventually besieged by the Wei army.

Wei Jun contacted the city lord in private, and the city lord has always advanced and retreated with the Chao family. After the two sides discussed, they decided to surrender.

Taoqiu is a commercial city, with many people doing business and few people who can go to battle to kill the enemy, it is not as good as Rui City led by Rui Jiang.After the Wei army besieged the city for five days, Tao Qiu surrendered.

In this way, Taoqiu City survived the internal and external strife.

However, the king of Wei was not as good as Hua Yuan, and the internal instability of the Wei state was not long afterwards.Tao Qiu was inevitably affected.

To make money, merchants have to be famous and alive.

The situation in Wei State was not good. Many merchants and their families moved away, even some noble families with shallow foundations moved away.Some moved to other countries, and some lived in seclusion in the mountains.

Even the Chao family, which has been rooted in Taoqiu for hundreds of years, is considering retreating.

Lin Xiaoxiao and his party went to Taoqiu and came to the gate of the Chaofu.

This time, Hu Zigui's name card was handed over.It happened that Zhao Xu was at home, so the concierge asked them to wait.

After a while, Zhao Xu and Anan came out together.

They took Lin Xiaoxiao and his party to a nearby restaurant and asked for a private room.

Hu Zigui looked at Hu Zigui's sad face, and asked: "Is it not suitable for us to come?"

Zhao Xu smiled bitterly and shook his head: "No, there are some things at home, but just a few of you are here, and I would like to hear their suggestions."

Chaojia is the home of merchants.With Tao Qiu's current state, it was naturally difficult to do business.In addition, the Wei state was unstable and might be annexed by other vassal states, so the court had to start thinking about retreat.

The Patriarch of the Chao family meant to disperse some of the descendants and relocate to other vassal states, while the main family had to stay in Taoqiu.As a gentry, if the main family abandons the city, they will not have a good reputation in other countries in the future.

The idea of ​​the Patriarch was approved by most people in the clan.Next, it is for the juniors of each branch to choose a place.

Some people suggest not to spread too much, after all, there are more people and more power.Only by gathering together to take care of each other can the family be re-established.Originally, most of the people who wanted to leave also agreed with this suggestion, but they chose Chu State as their place of residence, and some people were reluctant.

Located in the south of the Yangtze River, the state of Chu is rich and prosperous.Chu's business itself is also very prosperous, and it seems to be a good choice there.In addition, the Chu State has won frequent wars in recent years and its territory has continued to expand. It seems that it has the potential to dominate the world.

But Lin Xiaoxiao knew that Chu State would eventually be destroyed by Qin State.In other words, it seems that no dynasty recovered the north from the south.

But Zhaoxu and the others are businessmen.If you want to talk about where it is easy to do business, it is still the place in the south of the Yangtze River.

If you want to persuade Zhao Xu and the others to go to Xianyang, it is not easy to do business under the eyes of the emperor.

Lin Xiaoxiao told Zhao Xu about the pros and cons of both parties, and then asked them to consider where to go.

Lin Xiaoxiao and the others lived in Taoqiu for two days, feeling that there was nothing interesting to do, so they set off to return.

On the way, Lin Xiaoxiao couldn't help sighing, and talked about the process of getting acquainted with Zhao Xu and Anan.

Lin Xiaoxiao still remembers the feeling of being amazed by Zhaoxu at the beginning: "Speaking of the Chao family, they all seem to be very beautiful. Especially Mr. Zhaoxu, he is three points more handsome than Chaoyan and others."

Ying Zheng looked at Lin Xiaoxiao and frowned slightly.

Hu Zigui didn't take it seriously: "The Chao family has been operating in Taoqiu for hundreds of years, and it was one of the best merchant houses in the old Song Dynasty. With such a status, they can protect their family members from being bullied. When they go to other countries, being outstanding is not necessarily a good thing." gone."

A few months later, Lin Xiaoxiao actually met Zhao Xu and Anan in Xianyang.

They finally chose Qin because Zhaoxu didn't want to be a merchant forever.

"The Chao family has been merchants for hundreds of years, and in the end they just leave. I can't get into an official career, but I will change so that my children and grandchildren can no longer just be merchants."

Zhao Xu had a good idea.Nowadays, in the troubled times of the Warring States Period, because wars require money, the status of merchants has been enhanced.But will the world be peaceful in the future?At that time, the upper echelon will definitely suppress merchants again.

With the help of Hu Zigui, Zhao Xu donated a small official to work in the yamen of the household department.

Not long after, the daughter of the servant of the household department fell in love with Zhaoxu and married him as his wife.It is said that the servant girl is a little fatter, but has a good temper.The key is that the other party's family doesn't dislike Zhao Xu's background, which is very rare.

In order to support Zhao Xu, Lin Xiaoxiao specially asked Lin Ya to give her a congratulatory gift on the wedding day.

(End of this chapter)