Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 145 White Sunset Kunming (1)

After a long silence, Natalia suddenly asked: "Can Xia Guo replace Ross and become Lu Mei's ally?" Her eyes were wide open, as if Zhao Xingde was Xia Guo's envoy. "Xia Guo was Lu Mei's ally in the first place, that's why we came here to serve His Majesty." Zhao Xingde recited the answer issued by the Army Commander, feeling a little ashamed in his heart.

"If the Dashi and the Turks come to attack us, will Xia Guowei send troops to help?" Those big eyes were fixed on Zhao Xingde, as if trying to discern any signs of lies in his gaze.Zhao Xingde sighed and said: "Among countries, any help is not free. There are no eternal allies, only eternal interests."

"This sentence should be said by a Latin." Natalia curled her lips. The Latin in the population of Lumei refers to the people in the old land of Lumei, especially the merchants of Venice. Barbarianized, especially mercenary.

After returning to the camp of the Imperial Guards, Zhao Xingde immediately pulled the marching Sima Huang Zongdao and asked, "Do you know who Natalia Brinnius is?" Huang Zongdao looked puzzled: "What Natalia? Sha, is she a famous singer nearby?" Jin Changtai who was nearby heard it, and said with a smile, "This is a famous little beauty, the only daughter of that Princess Taiping. What do you want her to do? This Lumei People's marriage customs are exactly a pair of a man and a woman, one more is not enough, since you already have a family, unless you stop your wife and marry another..."

"Bah, he's 'grandmother'," Zhao Xingde scolded, "You just stopped marrying another wife." Thinking to herself, this little princess seems to think that she doesn't know her identity, but she can get something out of her mouth The real thoughts of the nobles of Lumei Kingdom towards Xia Kingdom and the Ross people, especially the thoughts of Princess Anna, who has a huge influence on Emperor Lumei and state affairs.

In the early morning of the next day, Zhao Xingde received another name card from Chen Xizhai, saying that the proprietor of the merchant fleet specially hosted a banquet at the Wangdong Building to thank Ming Hongdu for his service in protecting him.Chengying Ying traveled all over the world and had many dealings with these businessmen. Zhao Xingde was inconvenient to refuse, so he ordered Jian Cheng and another ten-man named Du Tang to watch the camp and practice, and he brought Chen Yongqi, Du Chuijiao, etc. The other eight ten husbands went to the banquet.

Lumei people often have banquets where the host and guest lie half-lying on the bed, Xia Guo people think it is not solemn, so they all sit upright.Wangdong Building dismantled the screen partition between the two Accords to accommodate the guests at this large table.With a slight smile, Chen Xizhai introduced to the officers of Ming Hongdu the owner of the merchant ship's cargo, Kang Wendu's fur business, which transported the fur from Xia Guomobei to Lumei for sale, Huang Shenwei was a big tea merchant, and Tan Shiyong was Qiu Bosun, who sells sheep's wool, specializes in fine porcelain.Li Yong is planning to open up a commercial route going south through the Resha Sea. He has been traveling in Dashi for seven years, and he can talk to many Dashi officials and princes along the way. He heard from Chen Xizhai that the Zhao Jun envoy of Ming Hongdu was a A learned man, I came here to meet you.

Chen Xizhai introduced Zhao Junshi of Ming Hongdu to this group of merchants, and after Zhao Xingde introduced each of the ten husbands one by one, the trays and drinks were served, a luthier and a singer joined the fun, and the atmosphere gradually became lively.

"Thanks to Zhao Jun and all the soldiers for this business, the chamber of commerce has not lost its money." Kang Wendu raised his glass and laughed.He is the leader of the caravan and also has a place in the guild.The Chamber of Commerce has always been interested in making friends with Chengying Ying, who protects the merchants and roads.Because pirates have been rampant since the beginning of autumn, a large number of goods have been transported together. If this trip is robbed, not only will the half a year of tossing be wasted, but the guild will also have to make up for the loss of part of the goods to the merchants. On the sheep, everyone will bleed a little.If it weren't for the laws of the Zhu Kingdom Mansion that officials and soldiers were strictly prohibited from accepting gifts from merchants in private, these merchants would definitely offer a large thank you gift.

"It's just a matter of duty." Zhao Xingde humbly said, and Tan Shiyong said with a smile: "Zhao Junshi is young and promising, and his arrows are astonishing, which makes Xiao Xiao's generation frightened. He is comparable to Li Guang, the flying general of Han Dynasty. I made a plaque, and we talked about our intentions." He waved his hands to ask the staff to lift up a plaque painted with gold and inlaid with silver, and wrote the four characters "Li Guang is reborn".This compliment is really nasty, Zhao Xingde almost spit out his wine, he can only smile and be humble.All the ten husbands looked at me and I looked at you, all smiling and silent.Since then, Zhao Xingde has gained the nickname of "General Li", but it is often used for jokes.

Li Yong's face changed slightly, this group of merchants didn't understand poetry and books, the so-called Li Guang was hard to seal, comparing an officer to Li Guang, there was suspicion of cursing him not to be promoted to general.This Zhao Jun envoy has read poetry and books, so he must be able to think of this section.If you are a narrow-minded person, I am afraid that you will have a grudge at that time.Seeing that Zhao Xingde didn't seem to care about it, he observed secretly, and felt that this person was not a man of great wealth, but rather a magnanimous person who could be trusted.Thinking of this, Li Yong also held up his wine glass and said: "I hit it off with Zhao Junshi, so I drank this glass first." After speaking, he covered the wine glass with his left sleeve and drank it down.After Zhao Xingde also had a full drink, Li Yong approached and said: "I am preparing to sell a batch of goods across the hot sand sea. If this trade route is opened up, there may be places to bother Zhao's military envoys in the future."

Zhao Xingde recalled what Jin Changtai once said, a piece of salt can be exchanged for a piece of gold through the sea of ​​hot sand.He secretly said: "If this golden road is opened up, it will be a great fortune." He said with a smile on his face: "Wherever the treasurer Li speaks, wherever the camel caravan of the commercial firm goes, my sergeant's sword will accompany him. Do your best and perform your duties, all for the sake of the country." Li Yong was overjoyed when he heard that he agreed to expand the southern trade routes, so he intended to make friends, and introduced Zhao Xingde to Zhao Xingde about his princes in green clothes and big food, and even the hot sand sea north and south customs.

After the wine was hot, the merchants also changed the topic. Kang Wendu said to Qiu Bosun through the drunkenness: "Master Qiu, you sold Chang'an's workshop to Qiu Tianrui who came from Kanto. This business is not authentic." In the self-governing area of ​​the Chang'an Chamber of Commerce, many big merchants in the Kanto region are buying properties, setting up workshops to manufacture goods, and selling them on Mobei and the Silk Road.This situation has intensified in recent years. In the autonomous area of ​​the Chang'an Chamber of Commerce, the proprietors behind many workshops have changed. I really don't know how these Kanto merchants are so rich and like to spend a lot of money in Chang'an.It's just that these people's behavior is not very good, and they often trick some refugees who escaped from the Kanto to work as cattle and horses in the workshop. In places where the chamber of commerce is autonomous, as long as the taxes are paid enough, the government generally does not intervene.

Qiu Bosundui laughed and said: "In business, it is too expensive to make porcelain in Chang'an. I have long wanted to close that workshop. Qiu Tianrui paid a high price, and let me specialize in the sale of porcelain from his workshop to the west. The price is really unbeatable." My old workshop."

Kang Wendu said in a deep voice: "Don't you know that Qiu Tianrui is dedicated to breaking the rules of the guild? The refugees he recruited are only used as cattle and horses. They can't learn the craft in three to five years. If they are useless, they will deceive them again." Approval. Only in an autonomous place like the Chang’an Chamber of Commerce, where filth and evil people hide away, can he tolerate scum from the Kanto.” Qiu Bosun smiled bitterly and did not refute, because he could not match the price of the goods with the Kanto merchants. The workshop competed with each other, so it simply sold the workshop.The life of those artisans in the Kanto workshops is really hard. Not to mention they have to work seven or eight hours a day, and they are controlled by the workshop owners in various ways. There are even rumors of abducting young children as servants.Some merchants in the Xia Kingdom were also collaborating with him, which made conscientious merchants like Kang Wendu very uncomfortable.

Although Kang Wendu was a businessman, he spoke quickly. He realized his slip of the tongue when he said it, and said to Huang Shenwei next to him, "Old Huang, I didn't mean you." It turned out that Huang Shenwei was also a businessman from the Kanto region. He smiled and said: "It's okay, Qiu Dorui is also a scum in the southeast." After speaking, he took a sip of the wine in the glass.Kang Wendu smiled, took a sip from the wine glass, and muttered: "I'm sorry, I apologize." After a pause, he said: "But you big businessmen in the Kanto region are too generous. Everyone raised the price by spending a lot of money, and the shops and workshops were overpriced."