A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 563 The Aggressive Boling Cui

The Youzhou New Year Fair was held on Tanzhou Street in Beishi, the busiest commercial street in Youzhou. After the renovation, it was even more lively.

On both sides of the street, there are countless stalls, displaying the goods of various merchants.

Even on the first day of the new year, it was extremely hot.

In front of almost every stall and shop, many barbarians were crowded, and there were also many mainland businessmen who couldn't get through, as if these goods didn't cost money.

The Wu family has the advantage of being close to the water, and it also has a lot of shops and stalls. Zhao Yi, the head of the Wu family's industry and commerce, even came to Youzhou to sit in the town.

"White sugar, this kind of snow-like white sugar, our Ah Hui Department wants it all."

"Why do you want all of them? Do you Xiren have so many things to exchange?"

"My Ahui tribe is the largest tribe of the Xi clan, and the governor of Youzhou is our son-in-law of King Xi. We provide all the sugar here."

"Bah, your daughter of King Xi is just the concubine of the governor, and our Khan even gave Princess Ke He Dunyang directly to Mr. Wu. We Turks want the sugar."

A group of Hu merchants were fighting with red faces, and the shopkeeper in the sugar shop of the Wu family was also helpless. The seaport was frozen, the canal was frozen, and the transportation of sugar was restricted. There was not much sugar in Youzhou, but there were too many Hu merchants in the New Year.

As soon as the post on the fair was posted, Hu merchants from various ministries outside the Great Wall scrambled to grab it, especially because this time the chiefs of all the tribes came to Chang'an to pay homage to the angels and the governor, bringing many nobles and a large number of their own merchants. Come here, this is supposed to be a big deal, and now there are many good things in the fair, and the prices are not bad, everyone is fighting for it.

The emperor of Chang'an hadn't seen white sugar two years ago. Chang'an's white sugar used to be sold by traders from Tianzhu, and the yellow and yellow ones dared to be called white sugar.

The old rock candy from the martial arts family is whiter than theirs, not to mention white granulated sugar and white rock sugar, which are really white.

It is said that this thing is a good thing that Chang'an court nobles and Chang'an nobles can enjoy, a symbol of status,

Add some sugar to milk, or add some sugar to milk tea, the taste is wonderful.

The shop assistants can not only talk, but also sell. They keep making sugar water for Hu merchants, or adding sugar to milk tea, or frying a rice cake and then dipping it in sugar.

Fanhus have never seen such a good thing, especially after hearing that it is a good thing that only the emperor of Chang'an and the nobles can enjoy,

Immediately noticed the huge business opportunity.

Things that are popular in Chang'an will definitely be popular in the grasslands, and things that the emperor of Chang'an likes will of course be liked by the Khan King and chiefs outside the Great Wall.

what?
The cheapest white sugar costs ten cents a tael?
Is it one tael or one catty?
Wujia white sugar is divided into three grades, and each grade is divided into three grades. The ten yuan one tael is the cheapest kind, and the most expensive one is a hundred yuan and one tael. It must be Kaiyuan Tongbao coins, not other Sui five bahts.

It’s much more expensive than mutton.
Even the price is not at all cheaper than Chang'an's, and even more expensive, but the Wu family also said that the Wu family has a pharmaceutical workshop in Sanyuan, Gyeonggi, a sugar workshop in Xianyang, and sugar cane from Lingnan and Nanzhong real estate, which are processed by local juice extraction. It is cheaper to sell it in Chang'an if it is fried into rough sugar and transported to Gyeonggi for further processing, and it is of course expensive to transport it to Youzhou for thousands of miles.

And rare things are expensive.

Bucket salt is only twenty or thirty yuan, and cheap white sugar costs ten or one tael, a huge difference of dozens of times.

But the more expensive and rarer it is, the more you buy.

The more intense the fight.

Many Hu merchants even saw business opportunities and wanted to package goods, but which other Hu merchants would be willing.

Your King Xi wants to eat?My Khitan Khan can't eat it, so my Turkic Khan wants to eat it too.

Anyway, they are all under the banner of their own chief, and then they come to talk about the relationship, why my family Xi Wang married his daughter to the governor, so my Khan directly gave Kehe Dun to the governor.

Not giving in to each other.

Then the one with the highest price gets it, and each bids.

But the outcry was useless.

"Everyone, I'm really sorry. The rivers and seas are frozen and transportation is blocked. The sugar mills in Chang'an are out of raw materials. Lingnan and Nanzhong can't supply them. We can only grab a little bit of sugar from Chang'an every month. ,
The owner of the scumbag said that we can't offend everyone, and we can't treat one more than another. In this way, in order to ensure fairness, the sale is limited, and each family is limited to buy a little, so that everyone else can buy some first. "

"We increase the price. The limited quantity is too small. We need to buy more and increase the price. The price is negotiable."

Unfortunately, raising the price is of no use. The Wu family's white sugar business is booming now, but the supply is indeed insufficient. First of all, it is the problem of raw materials. Although the Qiu family, the Duan family, the Feng family, and the Xian family are expanding the sugarcane planting area in Lingnan and Nanzhong areas to increase the production of jaggery. ,

But this business is getting bigger and bigger, but there are also many participants.

The Wu family is in charge of the final decolorization and refining processing, but the raw raw sugar is mainly in the hands of the Qiu family in Jiaozhou, the Nanzhongduan family, and the Feng family in Lingnan. Wu Huaiyu takes a certain amount of white sugar from them. Their,
Then it has to be bought by some imperial courts, so that the imperial courts can make a profit, and they have to leave a share for the emperor's inner palace, which they have to use for themselves and sell.

The other is export, to Hu merchants in Chang'an, and Jiaozhou, Guangzhou, and Dengzhou, which are also directly traded with foreign merchants, including Tianzhu merchants who used to sell white sugar to Datang, and now they have started to buy white sugar back.

The market is huge, but the output is only so much. If each family divides it, the supply will exceed the demand.

The shares in Youzhou are even more limited, and the Wu family simply started marketing on hunger.

"We'll trade mink fur and pearls!"

"We'll trade it for gold!"

"We use famous horses!"

"We accept all kinds of commodity transactions, but there are really only so many goods now, I hope everyone will forgive me."

The front of the sugar shop is very hot, and the hot ones are about to fight. If the weapons were not collected before entering the city, and fighting is strictly prohibited here, they might have started it long ago.

Other shops are equally popular.

Bingyufang's wines are also popular with Hu merchants, especially those spirits. Most of the nobles in the Central Plains are not used to drinking them, and prefer to drink rice wine. But Hu people like these spirits. It is freezing in the north, so this wine is not suitable for drinking. One bite will make your whole body feel energetic, that's what suits your appetite.

It is even said that this strong wine can heal injuries. Washing the wounds directly with this wine can greatly avoid the possibility of redness, swelling and ulceration. It is said that using this strong wine to soak things like tiger penis, deer bark, ginseng, etc. is a great tonic.

Iron pots, needlework, ceramics.

tea, medicine,

It seems that all the Hu merchants can't put it down,

In the past, the Central Plains often imposed an economic blockade on Fanhu, and did not trade with them. Occasionally, they traded with each other. It was also a designated place and a designated time, and there were restrictions on commodities.

The Youzhou Fair this time has a completely different format. There are many good things, the transaction is also convenient, and the most important thing is that you can still order.

Pay a deposit and order whatever you want, or even customize it as required.

There are all kinds of good things, and it feels very cheap. Anyway, it is several times cheaper than Cui Luzufan and others who bought their goods outside the Great Wall.

Even if you have to pick up the goods yourself and pay taxes, it's still a good deal.

Compared with the goods sold by those Sogdian Hu merchants, the price is more friendly. Those damned Sogdian Hus, although they worked hard to sell them in the past, the price is too expensive.

It's like slaughtering them like sheep.

Look at Wu Dudu, there are so many good things, and the price is so cheap.

Iron pots, wooden barrels, clay pots, cloth, needlework, salt, tea, medicine, wine, sugar, everything you want.

The Governor's Mansion of Youzhou.

Wu Huaiyu welcomed Cui Dunli, the Minister of War, and his party.
On the first day of the first lunar month of the new year, Cui Shilang arrived, and Wu Huaiyu knew about it in advance, but he didn't go out of the city to meet him, and didn't even go to the city gate to meet him. He only waited for him in the governor's mansion.

"Cui Shilang has worked hard all the way."

"The delay along the way made the governor wait for a long time."

The two met and exchanged pleasantries.

Fortunately, Fan Yang and Lu Shi waited to enliven the atmosphere. Cui Dunli was also Lu's grandson after all.Cui Dunli's grandmother was the granddaughter of Lu Daoyue, the great housewife of the northern ancestor of the Lu family in Fanyang, and Lu Chengye's grandfather was Lu Daosi, Lu Daoyue's brother.

Cui Dunli had to call Lu Chengye uncle,
Lu Chengye is now the Sima of Anbei Metropolitan Governor's Mansion. Tuli came to Beijing to be the emperor, and he came to Youzhou to worship the angel. The angel Cui Shilang is the grandson of his cousin, although Cui Dunli's father was not born by Lu, but by his original wife, Li. It was not born by Lu's family.

The first house of Lu Beizu in Fanyang came from Lu Yuan. Because Lu Yuan had the diminutive character Yangwu, it was also called Yangwufang. Together with Zheng Shuzu, the sixth house of the North Ancestor of the Zheng family in Xingyang, the two houses were both called Gaomen. Even today in the Tang Dynasty, they are still called Gaomen. There is a saying that the two families of Lu Yangwu, Zheng Shuzu and Fez are called portals.

Cui Dunli's family, Boling Cui No. [-] House, was murdered by Gao Huan, and only three of them fled into Guanzhong. They even changed their surname to Yuwen, but it was a blessing in disguise and became a famous family in Guanlong.
Nowadays, there are folks who talk about family status, and some even rank Cui Mingan as the first class. When the imperial court once allocated and confiscated three-level religious temple land to hundreds of officials, yousi ranked Cui Gan, who was only the servant of the Huangmen, as the first class.

Because it came from Boling Cui, a family of seven with five surnames, and because the second family entered the Guanzhong for several generations, it became a powerful family in Guanlong. the first.

For this, Li Shimin was furious.

When Pang Xiaotai saw Wu Huaiyu, he didn't care about the eyes of Cui Dunli, Lu Chengye and others. He went up to pay respects, knelt down and even kissed Huaiyu's boots.

"Pang, a young lackey, pays his respects to benefactor!"

"What is this, General Pang, get up quickly."

There are two things that Pang Xiaotai admires Wu Huaiyu very much. One is that although he is very young, he has already given birth to eighteen sons, all of whom are quite brave. The other is that he can hold Wu Huaiyu tightly with his open face. Thighs, even if he is now the general of Yifu, the leader of the left, and he is bestowed with a purple-robed goldfish, he still kneels and kisses his boots when they meet.

Cui Dunli looked at it and wanted to explode. You are a dignified deputy envoy of the imperial court who followed you to investigate Youzhou's military exploits, but you come up with this attitude, so how fair and just.

Pulled up by Wu Huaiyu, Pang Xiaotai interrupted Cui Dunli with a smile and opened his mouth to criticize, "Cui Shilang called Uncle Lu Sima just now?

Lu Sima's younger sister Lu 35 is now Wugong's concubine, so should Minister Cui call Wugong his uncle?

Am I right? "

Grandmother's cousin is called aunt and grandmother, and the husband of aunt and grandmother is called grandfather or uncle.

"Public is public, private is private. I just said hello to the public, and I still have to see this private gift, right, Cui Shilang."

With a dark face, Cui Dunli crossed his hands at Wu Huaiyu, and called out reluctantly, "I have seen my uncle."

"Hahaha, it's not clear how to discuss the marriage between the various families. It's better to talk about each other's own. Cui Shilang can call me Erlang."

There were seven families with five surnames in Shandong, which people at that time called noble, and were subdivided into 44 families. Among them, there were eight Bolingcui families, and there were fifteen Fanyang Lu families. They came from the four families of Beizu Fang and Fangliu, the emperor of Beizu. Home is in it.

"The imperial court sent Cui Shilang to verify the military achievements of Yehuling. A certain person has already received the order and asked all the ministries to cooperate. If Cui Shilang needs it, just ask him, and we in Youzhou will fully cooperate."

Wu Huaiyu's cooperative attitude made Cui Dunli somewhat unexpected.

"I would like to summon Li Kedu, the governor of Rao Le, Li Mohui, the governor of Songmo, and Shi Li Shetu, the governor of Bei'an, to read the will of the saint to them."

"Okay, I'll send someone to invite them over right away."

The atmosphere became a little subtle.

Sitting there, Cui Dunli couldn't help asking, "Duke Yi, as a general of the imperial court, took the daughter of Lu's family of Fan Yang as his concubine and Gao Rongnv, the leader behind the mountain, as his concubine after he arrived in Youzhou. After going back to Youzhou with the pro-Turkic Tuli Ke He Dun Yang, and now without asking the court first, he accepts the daughter and younger sister of Xi Chieftain Keduzhe and Khitan Chieftain Mohui as concubines.
Whether these are inappropriate, and whether there is a sense of coercion in it, I hope Duke Yi can give a detailed explanation. "

Huaiyu smiled slightly.

"Actually, I suggest you ask a few of the people involved about what Cui Shilang said. Mrs. Gao 35's brother, Lu Canjun, is here now. Keduzhe and Mohui will come later, so you can ask them face to face.

Of course, if you want to hear the original words of my concubines, I can also immediately invite them to talk to you face to face.

Mrs. Yang also lives in Luocheng, Youzhou, and she can be invited here immediately. How about the truth, you can find out the truth if you ask her face to face. "

Wu Huaiyu was not in a hurry, but Pang Xiaotai was anxious, "Servant Cui, the court asked you and me to verify the military merits of the soldiers so that rewards could be issued as soon as possible. You are not allowed to meddle in other people's business. One is willing to marry and the other is willing to accept." , you said you’re so full that you’re going to kick in?”

General Pang Xiaotai didn't pay attention to Cui Dunli, the servant of the Ministry of War, at all.

In terms of rank, in fact, the general of the left leader Wei Yifu Zhonglang and the Minister of the Ministry of War are both under the fourth rank, and their ranks are the same. Of course, the Minister of the Ministry of War must be higher than General Zhonglang in terms of authority.

After all, there are twenty Zhonglang generals in Chang'an City, not counting the ten Zhonglang generals from the fourth rank in the six ranks of the prince, but there are only two servants of the Ministry of War.

However, General Zhonglang is not under the care of the Minister of the Ministry of War. If Pang Xiaotai ignored him, Cui Dunli could only stare blankly.

"As an official sent by the saint to Youzhou, I have the responsibility to inquire about the problems I find, and then report to the emperor."

"Actually, when I accept a concubine, I have reported to the emperor in advance. Nalu 35 Niang is a concubine, and she also reported to the Ministry of Rites. I also received her when I got the concubine's confession." Wu Huaiyu took it easy, "As for Yang I have also reported to Shengyou in detail about the matter of the lady, and the emperor also wrote a reply to both me and Mrs. Yang, asking me to take good care of Mrs. Yang in the future."

"I don't know Cui Shilang, but if you have any other doubts, why not ask them one by one, and I will reply you one by one now."

The atmosphere became tense.

But Cui Dunli still asked again, "When I first came here, I heard that Youzhou wanted to use troops against Beishan Xi, and also recruited Xi, Khitan, and Turkic tribes. Did you ask the imperial court for instructions on this matter?"

"Cui Shilang got it wrong."

"Is there no such thing?"

"Yes, but it is not the Governor of Youzhou who wants to use troops against Beishan Xi. It is the Governor of Anton who wants to attack Beishan Xi. This matter is within the responsibilities of the Governor. It is a trivial matter and a matter of responsibility."

"However, please rest assured, Cui Shilang, the Duhufu has reported this matter to the emperor and the court, and will only send troops after obtaining permission."

(End of this chapter)