The struggle of the reborn prince

Chapter 95 Workarounds

In the midst of the busy schedule, it will soon be the Mid-Autumn Festival of the year again. Zhao Tang cordially received the heads of the three newly incorporated caravans and hosted a dinner for them.The banquet is placed in the small square in the front hall, the bright moon is in the sky, and the surrounding red candles are shining brightly, which is really interesting.

After three rounds of wine and five flavors of food, Zhao Tang looked at a middle-aged man on the left. This man was not very good-looking, with pimples all over his face, but he was very sturdy, with a height of more than six feet. Now he is also a big man of nearly 1.9 meters. Now that everyone else has stopped chopsticks, he still holds a wine bowl in one hand and a chicken leg in the other, eating while drinking, as if he has never eaten in eight lifetimes. look.

"Shopkeeper Sun, how about this wine?" Zhao Tang asked with a smile.

"Good wine, I have only heard of it in the past, but I have never drank it. I only know the taste today. I am afraid that it will be meaningless to drink other things in the future." Shopkeeper Sun's name is Sun Erqian. His mother had a difficult labor, and his father borrowed two coins and hired a midwife to save his life, so he named it after that.

"If this wine is sold to the Northwest, how do you think it will sell?" Zhao Tang waved his hand and asked the attendant Xiao Huangmen to give Sun Er money to fill the wine.

"Second Lord, I can't bear you calling me shopkeeper. You still call me Erqian." Sun Erqian put down the wine and meat in his hands and stood up and said, "Northwesterners are good at wine. They can go without food for three days, but they must not." There is no wine for a day, although the wine produced in Lingzhou is known as good wine, it is nothing compared to the wine in our mansion. When our wine gets there, those barbarians will probably sell their wives and drink the wine in our mansion." He What he said was funny, but serious, which made everyone laugh.

"Two money, is the business going well in Northwest now?" Zhao Tong asked again.

"Second Lord, the imperial court has frequently used troops against the Northwest in the past few years, and some of the trade sites have been closed. Now the rest of the stores are open and closed from time to time, which is extremely abnormal. I also had to sell the goods because of the closure of the market twice. Selling at a reduced price, losing money???" Sun Erqian said with a bitter face.

"Old Sun, I heard that you were caught by the frontier army for smuggling horses with copper coins. It seems that you spent a lot of money to get away." Zhang Que, the shopkeeper of another caravan beside Sun Erqian, revealed his identity. old bottom.

"Hehe, Lao Zhang, everyone knows the truth. The two of us are crows that fell on pigs. No one is any whiter than the other." Sun Erqian retorted with his expression unchanged.

"You two are arguing in front of the lord, what's the matter?" A guy who looked like a Confucian businessman who was sitting at the end of the room interrupted the two of them.

"Old Liu, we are no better than you. We are going to the Liao state. The two countries have not fought for more than a hundred years. Of course it is easy to do business," Zhang Que said with a cold snort.

"Shopkeeper Liu, you lost your capital this time, isn't it because you shoddy the good ones, let others see the flaws, and got a batch of old horses back?" Of course, Sun Erqian would not let go of the opportunity to attack the opponent, and in time Exposing the old bottom and digging out the roots.

"Old Sun, haven't you done these things? Everyone knows what you rely on to start a family." Liu Song was robbed by Sun Erqian, of course he refused to let him go, and shouted anxiously, with a pale face. A little bit of gentleness disappeared in a blink of an eye.It is said that buying and selling is business, and fraud is always unavoidable in commercial activities, and bilateral trade at that time was no exception.Generally speaking, people of ethnic minorities are more honest, while people of Han nationality are a little more treacherous, especially those corrupt officials who gather money by unscrupulous means.The Han people deceived the ethnic minorities with old tea, Cijin, and silver with copper pieces, and they "returned" with sick horses and weak horses.

Zhao Tong shook his head and didn't speak. Even though the three of them were "dog eating dog" at the banquet, he could learn something real and useful from it.In the need of military struggle, the Song Dynasty frequently imposed economic sanctions on Xixia, blocked the border, and closed the market.As far as reality is concerned, the social and economic structure of Xixia is unreasonable and imperfect. Agriculture is mostly concentrated in small alluvial fans in the mountains around Hengshan. Affected by the climate, it can only be cultivated once a year. The grain output is not abundant, which cannot meet the needs of Xixia. Consumer demand.Xixia's animal husbandry occupies an important position in their economy, but they need to trade with the Liao and Song Dynasties to obtain the necessities of life.The Song Dynasty’s trade with them was mainly to obtain horses, but once the trade with them was terminated, they could be obtained from other means. The impact of the termination of the trade was not great. In order to obtain the necessities of life, Xixia had to find ways to exchange them, which gave birth to rampant horses. smuggling.

Smuggling trade is a high-risk, high-return illegal economic activity, which is also the direct reason for promoting smuggling trade between Song and Xia.The ethnic minorities in the west mainly eat meat, and tea can help digestion.The silk weaving technology of the Han nationality is advanced, and silk fabrics have always been very popular. In some areas, ethnic minorities regard brocade as a treasure. When a person dies, he must wrap a piece of brocade to rest in peace. This custom further stimulated their demand for brocade silk.When normal trade was banned, a piece of silk in Xixia could rise to more than ten guan, or even more than 50 guan, which was close to the price of a horse, while a piece of silk in the Song Dynasty cost only one or two guan.The price difference of tea will be even higher. Stimulated by dozens of times the profit, of course, a large number of merchants from the Central Plains were attracted to trade in spite of the ban, and participated in all kinds of smuggling activities.

"Where did the lord find so many profiteers back? So many good people don't need it, but these guys who have no morals, no quality, and no self-cultivation". Good people, often do some business without money in the sea." Zheng Lu, the chief steward who accompanied him, looked at the three guys who were blushing from the quarrel, and wished to overturn the table, angrily said to Zheng Shou beside him.

"My lord's move may also have other meanings," said the lord, who was listening with gusto, taking a sip of his wine and secretly pointing to the presence of the old god.

"My lord used to tell us to be honest when we do business, but you see how good these people are. I'm afraid they will smash the signboard of our palace." Zheng Lu said with a sigh.

"Hehe, don't worry about the chief steward. I wondered if the lord was trying to cheat someone, so I found these messy people back." Zheng Shou said with a smile.

"Well, what you said is reasonable." Zheng Lu said with a jolt, the prince's work has always been elusive, but he always surprises people, and this time it may be the same.

The next day, Zhao Tong talked to three people separately. When they came out, Sun Erqian looked frightened and trembling; but Zhang Que was like a big lesson, and he hadn't digested what he had learned, and he still didn't know it until he went to bed late. He looks like a thoughtful idiot; Liu Song is not like the two of them, he is as happy as if he has eaten a duck fart, and some people even heard him laughing loudly while hiding in the toilet??? After five days, all kinds of goods were prepared and sent out one after another. Of course, each of them had an extra deputy, and several new faces appeared in the caravan. Everyone knew that this was the "supervisor" sent by the prince, but they all I can understand, after all, they are still 'newcomers', it is impossible to gain the trust of the leaders right away, it is lucky that they are still in charge this time, so how dare they talk too much.

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It has been several months since the "Prince Kidnapping Case". Chen Tang has been transferred to Beijing because of his leadership in solving the case. The Xiangyang County has also been promoted and sent to other prefectures to serve as a general judge.Those who should be promoted have been promoted, and those who should be rewarded have been rewarded, but when the matter came to Zhao Tun, there was no letter. There was news from Beijing that several executives had different opinions, and they were discussed in the court several times.Some people think that the prince should send soldiers to protect him when he is out of Beijing. This has precedents in previous dynasties, and there has been a precedent in this dynasty; while others hold opposing opinions that since Emperor Taizong, the princes have always lived in the capital. , Security has always been in charge of the Dianzhi squads, and there is no precedent for the Dianzhi army to be dispatched abroad.The two groups are still arguing endlessly, citing scriptures and classics every day, checking files, looking for new evidence, but forgetting about the safety of the person involved.

"Bureaucracy kills people, and this incident has fully proved it," Zhao Tong said with a long sigh after listening to the report. Now, as Prime Minister Cai's new policies continue to deepen, the situation is getting better and better. There were "groups of bandits" on West Road and Jingdong Road, ranging from hundreds to thousands, who rose up to fight against the government.Even the Gyeonggi area is a "thief" business, and the talk of rich people has changed.With the expansion of their territory, the business is getting bigger and bigger, which will definitely attract the attention of interested people. At this time, they may still be concerned about the "prestige" of their prince, but one day they will not be able to hold back and find the door to "do chivalry" , Acting on behalf of the sky', at that time, with the dozens of nursing homes in the mansion, it would definitely be unstoppable, and the millions of wealth I had saved with great difficulty would be taken away by others.

"The only way now is to make a fuss from the Baojia law." Zhao Tong turned around a few times and thought.After Wang Anshi promulgated the Baojia Law in the third year of Xining, it was stipulated that five households should be one insurance, 25 households should be one big insurance, and 250 households should be one capital insurance.Baojia was a township soldier, and the Song court adopted two measures: "Fan" and "Teaching and reviewing" in order to implement "Alliance with soldiers" and "Participate in recruiting soldiers".It is stipulated that during the "farming gap", "Baoding will practice martial arts at will." After passing the school examination, those with high martial arts skills can be promoted or exempted from part of the tax.In the eighth year of Xining, Hebei, Hedong, and Shaanxi five roads were ordered to implement slack farming drills. From October to the first month of the next year, volunteer Baojia went to prefectures and counties in batches to participate in teaching reviews. Later, the winter teaching time in Hebei and Hedong was changed to October every year. From January to February next year, the Fan Press will be implemented nationwide.

After the death of Shenzong, the young Song Zhezong had just ascended the throne, and the anti-reformist sent Taiwan to abolish the regiment education. Although the "winter education" was still implemented according to the regulations, it was actually in a state of "laxity". That is to say, it is still legal to train local soldiers.