Datang: Ten Years of Proton, Leading an Army of Millions to Return

This also means that the smell of gunpowder is quietly spreading in the Western Regions!
At the banquet, Li Kuan had nothing to say. He sat with Li Xueyan and Du Ruyan and ate by himself.

He has a lot of things on his hands now, and it is unlikely that he would go to the Western Regions to kill a few people at this time.

There are too many uncertainties!
People make mistakes, horses stumble!
If Li Kuan fails in the Western Regions, the consequences will be disastrous!

Du Ruhui, Tang Lao, Guan Shurong and others were chatting all the time. In fact, if they were not old and had not been in the battlefield for a long time,
Old man, you have no choice but to go back with these old friends!
The friendship between men is actually very simple. There are only a few types: living and dying together, fighting together on the battlefield, visiting prostitutes, getting drunk together…
Among these, the bond between comrades is the most solid!
That is a kind of friendship between close friends who can truly trust each other with life and death and who can completely trust each other with their backs.

After three rounds of wine, the dishes have five flavors!
Li Kuan stood up and said with emotion:

"One day, the Great Yan Iron Cavalry will sweep across the Western Regions! We must make it clear to all foreigners: All land under heaven belongs to the king, and all people in the land are the king's subjects!"
"Wherever the sun and moon shine, wherever the rivers flow, all belong to the territory of Da Yan!"

"…and wherever the blade points, that is where our hearts are, all for…"

"Han Township!"

He spoke word by word with great passion and enthusiasm, which made Guan Shurong, Gu Cheng and other veterans excited as they listened.

The Chinese lineage, even though it has experienced ups and downs, will still have a prosperous and joyful song, just because the words "Yanhuang" are still imprinted in their bones, and the blood flowing in their veins..
It is also the hope of our ancestors!
No one will slack off!
Li Kuan drank the wine in the bowl, performed a military etiquette to those people, and said:
"Everyone, drink to win!"

"Drink victory!"

Du Ruhui, Guan Shurong and others also stood up and bowed.

Even little Yanyan stood up properly, holding up the cup full of juice with her little hands, and said in a baby voice:
"drink!"

"belch"

The departure of Guan Shurong and his group of twenty people did not alarm too many people. They came and left in a hurry.
It flashes by like a comet, or like fireworks blooming in the night sky. After the splendor, it leaves people with endless reverie.

Du Ruhui did not try to dissuade them, as he knew that the Western Regions were the final destination for these old guys. Even if there was a bloody battlefield, it was just their fate.

No complaints, no regrets!

After seeing this group of people off, Li Kuan's life returned to normal and he continued to live his days at a leisurely pace.

It's getting hotter today!
The boring atmosphere also made people more anxious. There were many troublemakers on the streets, but there were also more and more elderly farmers who seemed to realize something...
Everyone looked at the scorching sun hanging high in the sky, with a frown on their face, shaking their heads and sighing!
A drought that occurs once in a century has just happened. What good solutions can be found?

Some people still vaguely remember the words passed down from their ancestors: After a severe drought, there will be locusts!
Even though they knew there would be locusts coming through, these people were helpless because the crops were still growing in the fields and were far from mature.
As soon as these remarks were made, they immediately aroused contempt and criticism from most people!

The reason is very simple. You can never wake up a group of people who are pretending to be asleep.

No one is willing to face the locust plague. It seems to have already cast a shadow in people's hearts.

The eastern suburbs of Yanyun City are sparsely populated and heavily guarded. Not even a fly can fly in.

Here are the potato fields!

There are thousands of acres of land, and they are still being cultivated and planted with potatoes. At first glance, the scene is still spectacular.

The potatoes are planted in batches, and now they are harvested every ten days or so.

They could gain something from it, and Mrs. Du and others were busy.

Fortunately, although it was a bit tiring, we had a good harvest every time. After planting a new batch, we continued to distribute the extra ones to the people.

It proceeds in an orderly manner...
The people and even some ministers did not expect that while they were still confused and even laughing at the actions in the palace, measures to deal with the disaster had already been quietly launched.

Some things don't need to be spoken out, as doing so will not only fail to solve any problems, but will instead cause panic.

Fishing reels have always been easily misled, and the cost of spreading rumors is really too low. In this period, they cannot withstand such a hassle.

As long as everything is under Li Kuan’s control, it will be fine!

The scorching heat was unbearable, and Yanyun City quietly opened a dozen ice shops and cold drink shops overnight, and also built ice rooms, which did not cost much to open.
Enjoy some coolness during the hot summer!
This was certainly Li Kuan's work. After all, he had a recipe for making ice, so it might not be a bad idea to do something that would benefit the people.

However, the advantage is that "small profits but quick turnover". Yanmeng can still take the opportunity to make some money and will not suffer a loss, because the cost of making ice is not high.

In addition to ice shops, there are also perfume shops. The perfumed dew in exquisite porcelain bottles attracted the attention of the noble ladies in Chang'an.

They are all wealthy families, not short of money!
Even though a small bottle can be sold for several strings of cash, these women rarely hesitate and just buy, buy, buy!
And Li Kuan also used hunger marketing!

In other words, those perfumes are produced in batches, in relatively small quantities, and the product number is printed on the bottom of the bottle to highlight its unique charm.

The first batch, only 50 bottles! Sold out in two days!

The appearance of this rare thing, especially the booming business, also attracted the attention of many foreign merchants, some of whom were more discerning...
I quickly realized this business opportunity!

Businessmen these days are just running around all-in, buying low and selling high, and then making a profit from the difference. If they are lucky, they can become rich overnight.

If this fragrant dew could be transported back and presented to the queen, princesses and others in the country, would they still worry about wealth and glory?
With Li Kuan's deliberate promotion, many big Hu merchants contacted Cui Jin, hoping to take over this business.

Monopoly is the most profitable business!

Cui Jin is also a veteran. Now that the initiative is in his hands, he is of course not in a hurry. Instead, he spreads the news to gather more Hu merchants and then carefully select one.

He has always been in charge of the Du family's business affairs. He has also investigated the intelligence of various Hu merchants and compiled a copy to hand over to Li Kuan.

Li Kuan was not impatient about the plan of the Yan League, which was also the beginning of the Silk Road. Instead, he asked his thousand men to analyze it carefully.

The so-called subordinates are the managers who are responsible for managing the business of each family. It has to be said that the foundation of each family is really not to be underestimated.

Today, there are more than a hundred managers of all sizes under the Yan League. In Yanyun City alone, there are two to three hundred shops, restaurants, blacksmith shops, etc.

If it spreads to the entire Da Yan, it will be impossible to count!

Moreover, each family will join the Tang Alliance by purchasing shares, and they will not invest their entire fortune just because of Li Kuan's words.

Even so, Ma Zhou, Xin Qiji and others were very trustworthy.

He also moved out most of his family property, leaving it to Li Kuan to do whatever he wanted.

Du Ruhui knew more about the situation, so of course he gave unconditional support!

As for Guo Shoujing, Heshen and others, they were all shrewd and calculating people. They believed in Li Kuan's ability and invested a lot of money.

The first wave of fundraising went quite smoothly, with at least twelve companies providing strong support, and the rest were not far behind.

The Yan League was also wealthy, at least enough to play around! What no one expected was that this fundraising had already confirmed the status of each family in the Yan League, which could be said to be a prototype.

Core family: Li Kuan, royal family, Du Ruhui, Ma Zhou, Guo Shoujing, etc.

The next level is: Xin Qiji, Yue Fei, etc.

After that: Li Xiaogong and others.

This ranking is only temporary. The specific subdivision will have to wait until the Yanmeng has made some achievements and recruits more members in the future.

Until many years later, these families will become extremely mysterious, still with their heritage, and they will be ancient families whose world will tremble even if they stomp their feet!
They are also called "descendants of Yan and Huang"!
The word "Huaxia" is born to be feared by foreigners!
Among the civil and military officials such as Guo Shoujing and Xin Qiji, the most wealthy was the Duke of Zhao's Mansion, that is, Heshen's family.

Controls Da Yan and most of the iron mines!
mineral
The "Da Yan Law" also had strict regulations that no one except the imperial court was allowed to dig privately, otherwise they would be severely punished!
There is also the sale of illegal salt and so on!

Those with serious circumstances may even be exiled or executed!
The fact that Heshen had this privilege shows how much Li Kuan favored him.

Afterwards, Li Kuan gave the task to Ma Zhou to arrange.

Of course, Ma Zhou would definitely not touch things like iron ore and gold mines because he did not have Li Kuan's permission, let alone sell them to other countries for the sake of making money.

nonexistent!

He even wished he could plunder these minerals back from various countries!
The items that need to be sold out are definitely luxury items such as tea, fine wine, and perfume, which are also the easiest to consume. Even silk and porcelain are
That's something to consider!

The people who could be sent out from the Bei family to manage the business were all extremely smart and capable, which saved Li Qiu a lot of trouble.

There were four or five people gathered in the study, all of them were managers.

The Silk Road has not yet been opened, so a caravan from the Tang Dynasty should be sent out.

This is not very realistic. Ma Zhou's plan is to select candidates from among the many Hu merchants.

After all, most of the guys who can come to Yanyun City to do business are well-connected people, and connections, resources, channels, etc. are all indispensable!

Otherwise, there are so many countries to pass through along the way, and without customs documents, it is necessary to find people everywhere to handle it, which will cause the goods to be delayed and many unexpected events will definitely occur.

To put it bluntly, it means temporarily finding a Hu merchant as a spokesperson, which can save you a lot of trouble!

After careful selection by those in charge, they compiled a total of seven pieces of intelligence on Hu merchants, all of whom they thought were guys worth winning over.

It is only natural for businessmen to pursue profits!

However, among these people, each of them has a very different character. For example, those who are pure villains...
That definitely can’t be used!
Ma Zhou looked carefully and fixed his eyes on a document:

"Qu Xinli? Is he a Hu merchant? Why did he choose a Han Chinese name?"

Chen Wencai, the manager of the He family, said: "This is a Hu merchant from Tianzhu. He admires the culture of the Central Plains very much, and is particularly fascinated by Chang'an, so he gave it this name."

"This guy is quite capable and once had a very large business. Unfortunately, he was unlucky and got into trouble with the Jiangnan Gu family two years ago."

After a pause, he continued, "The Gu family is not easy to deal with. Even an apology is not enough to settle the matter. They insist on making Qu Xinli apologize and kowtow in front of the mansion gate."

"This guy is quite tough"

Chen Wencai did not continue speaking, and Ma Zhou roughly guessed what was going on.

Among the four classes of scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans, merchants were originally at the bottom, and the status of merchants was even lower, especially the Hu merchants, who were more likely to be controlled by the powerful.

This Qu Xinli offended the Jiangnan Gu family, and this feud was difficult to resolve, so the business naturally plummeted and was even on the verge of bankruptcy.

“It is better to give timely help than to add icing on the cake…”

Ma Zhou smiled.

The information came into his hands because it was of course from people who had been carefully screened by people like Chen Wencai and were worthy of being used.

The other six were all wealthy and their businesses were going smoothly, so there was no need to use their money at this time.

Only when there is no choice will one have the mindset of fighting with one's back against the wall, because this person cannot afford to lose, so at the moment Qu Xinli is the most suitable person.

After all, it is the first step taken by the Tang Alliance, so shouldn’t it be a beautiful victory?

"understood!"

Chen Wencai and others nodded.

The next day.

Zuixianglou.

Cui Jin and Chen Wencai also gathered those Hu merchants. There were quite a lot of them, estimated to be around forty or fifty.

Of course, there is no need for Li Qiu to step in for such a matter!

Qu Xinli was a man in his forties with dark brown curly hair. He sat in the side room, looking quite uneasy.

Most of the other Hu merchants knew about this guy's situation, and few of them came forward to talk to him, for fear of being hated by the Gu family!

Doing business in Dayan is already a very cautious thing, but it is also very easy to make a fortune!

Perfume shop...
Although the person behind the scenes did not show up, seeing that Cui Jin was in charge, most of these guys could understand.
These goods are all from your Majesty!

Your Majesty, Li Kuan!
Even among countries, he is undoubtedly a legendary figure!

To be frank, among the forty or fifty foreign merchants in this private room, there are probably only a handful of them who can really see the opportunities in the perfume business.

After all, these guys have traveled all over the country for so many years, what rare things have they not seen?

So many people can gather here, most of them come here for Li Kuan’s reputation!
If I can get on board this young lady, I can really walk around Dayan with my head held high in the future, and I won't have to look up to anyone else for his opinion.
In Yanyun City, having power is worse than having money!
"Kuna? Why are you still here? I thought you had gone back in disgrace!"

Just when Qu Xinli was worried, a rather joking voice sounded in his ears.

Kuna, that was his former name! (End of this chapter)