At the time when Tang Ju, the envoy of Wei State, was on an envoy to Qi State, Zhang Qigong, the right captain of Wei Tiance Mansion, also secretly sneaked to the border of Wei and Han with his deputy Bei Gongyu. In "Feicheng" County, with Anling and Song County, the giants

Uncle Fu Wen and Tao Hong met to discuss in detail what Zhang Qigong had mentioned in his previous letter to them, regarding the use of Wei Guowan coins to replace Korean coins.

Feicheng County is the border between Handan County and Julu County. Since two years ago, Wei State General Pang Huan and his anti-rebellion army have been stationed here. Their main targets are the Han generals Leyi and Yan from Julu City.

Waiting for a few people.

But to be precise, there is actually a county between Feicheng and Julu, about fifty miles northeast of Feicheng, called "Lieren" County. In this county, Le Yi's deputy general is stationed.

Ji Kuo, his own army of about three thousand Northern Yan troops - Feicheng, Liren, this is the real border between Wei and Han in this area.

Compared with the tense confrontation in Handan and Wu'an, on the Feicheng side, the armies of Wei and South Korea were relatively more restrained. After all, whether it was the general Pang Huan on the Wei side, or the South Korean generals Le Yi and Yan Kui.

, they are all calm and restrained types, not like Yan Wang Zhaojiang who has a quick temper, nor is he like Shanggu Shou Xu Li who is confrontational and unwilling to show weakness easily.

However, recently, the confrontation between Feicheng and Lieren has become a little tense. Just because the autumn harvest is approaching, Wei general Pang Huan, Han general Leyi, and Yan Cree are all wary of each other whether they will come to cause trouble during the autumn harvest.

Because of this, in this area, the sentries and scouts of Wei and South Korea are frequently dispatched, keeping an eye on each other's every move, causing the situation on the border to become more tense than in previous months.

When Zhang Qigong and Bei Gongyu came to the house, Tao Hong was still recounting the experience of a caravan under his command that went to Lieren a few days ago, but was closely interrogated by the Korean army.

"Captain Zhang, Deputy Lieutenant Beigong."

"You two are very polite."

After the two parties greeted each other, Wen Shaobo and Tao Hong invited Zhang Qigong and Bei Gongyu to sit at the same table, and ordered the servants in the house to serve wine and food.

While enjoying wine and food, Zhang Qigong first asked about the general situation at the border.

It was similar to what he had learned before. Although the situation between Wei and South Korea became increasingly tense, the generals on the front lines of the two countries still abided by the strict order of "no active attack." Although during this period, the armies of the two countries

There was a lot of friction between the sentries and the scouts, and there were some casualties, but each time the casualties were only a few to a dozen people, and in rare cases the number of casualties only exceeded fifty.

Hearing this, Bei Gongyu said thoughtfully: "Sure enough, South Korea actually does not want to start a real war with Wei Dynasty."

This is obvious. If Wei and South Korea are fighting fiercely on the border at this moment, the loser will most likely be South Korea. On this matter, the judgments of Wei and South Korea are quite consistent.

According to the judgments of Wei King Zhao Run and Tiance Mansion Counselor Zhai Huang, what best suits South Korea's interests in this matter is for the Wei army to take the initiative to attack Handan North County and Julu County. In this way, South Korea, as the defender,

Although I can't say

It will definitely be able to repel the Wei army, but at least there is still a slight chance of victory - after all, in the past two years, Han general Leyi has comprehensively strengthened the defense facilities in Handan North County and Julu County, and prepared local operations in advance.

preparation.

After chatting for a while, Zhang Qigong mentioned to Wen Shaobo and Tao Hong what he had mentioned in the letter before, about taking the opportunity to let Wei Guowan coins replace Korean coins as the mainstream currency in South Korea.

As successful businessmen, Wen Shaobo and Tao Hong were both extremely sensitive to money. When Zhang Qigong only mentioned a few words in the letter, they immediately captured the business opportunities.

In their view, if Wei Guowan coins replace the status of Korean coins in South Korea, it means that they may be able to manipulate the Korean market.

This is a very powerful weapon for both them and Wei.

You must know that in the past year, the unprecedented merchant war has fully proved how lethal this group is.

Prior to this, in the world's perception, merchants, as the bottom of the social class of "scholars, farmers, industry and merchants", had been suppressed. "Emphasis on agriculture and neglect of business" was the mainstream of this era - even in

Confucianism, which subconsciously believes that farming is "something for lower-class people," is also true on this point.

But this time, the merchant class allowed the countries in the Central Plains to see the power of merchants through an unprecedented commercial war. For the merchants, this was also a matter of pride. At least from now on, Confucianism and individual schools of thought would no longer

We cannot continue to suppress them with the argument that "businessmen are treacherous and greedy and have little contribution to the country."

The status of merchants has been improved since then.

Perhaps because of their reputation and status protection, the merchants of Wei State, although they suffered heavy losses in this commercial war, were very cooperative with the court. Perhaps they felt that they could earn more money, but it seemed like this

Opportunities that can enhance the social image and domestic status of businessmen should not be missed - these are the foundation of their establishment.

As for Zhang Qigong, he wanted to make up for the omissions in the previous plan and take revenge on South Korea for scheming with him, turning South Korea's batch of newly minted copper coins into a pile of scrap copper.

Under the premise that their interests were aligned, Zhang Qigong quickly reached a tacit understanding with the businessmen represented by Wen Shaobo and Tao Hong, and began to attack South Korea's monetary system in an orderly manner.

In this operation, both the Wei State's meticulous work and the Qingya people under the command of Gao Kuo, the Zuodu Lieutenant of Tiance Prefecture, cooperated with Zhang Qigong's actions, lurking in various counties in South Korea, spreading rumors, and attempting to destroy the Korean civilians' opposition to them.

Trust in national currencies.

The first stop is in Julu City.

At this time, Julu City was busy with the autumn harvest. Originally, Han Jiang Leyi and Yan Kui saw that there was no movement from the Wei Guozhen rebels in Feicheng, and they felt a little relieved, thinking that they could spend this year in peace.

Unexpectedly, just as he breathed a sigh of relief, a rumor broke out in the city, pointing directly at South Korea's copper coins - the national currency controlled by the South Korean court.

The main idea of ​​the rumor is very simple. It simply means that Korean copper coins have lost their original value (lost their purchasing power), and the Jicheng court is trying to use this (rapidly depreciating) national currency to purchase the newly harvested grain from the hands of civilians.

, trying to pass on the losses of the country's great nobles and great families to the common people.

As soon as they heard this rumor, the civilians in Julu City suddenly went into an uproar.

In fact, to be honest, it has always been very common for the court represented by the local county government to purchase the county's grain output. It is also a system established by various countries to protect the interests of civilians, regulate market rice prices, and effectively respond to natural and man-made disasters.

An effective strategy is actually a very powerful strategy for all parties.

But the bad thing is that some time ago, in order to resist the dumping tactics of Wei merchants, South Korea resorted to the trick of minting more copper coins. Although this successfully increased the losses of Wei merchants and effectively made up for the loss of South Korea's treasury,

After this incident was exposed by the Wei State, it was inevitable that the credibility of the Korean currency in the hearts of the people and the world would plummet.

Under this premise, the Korean imperial court's routine procurement of grain, with a little provocation, inevitably turned into something else: a means of passing on losses.

In just half a day, Korean civilians in Julu City were filled with complaints. Most of them refused to be purchased by the local county government based on last year's pricing standards.

At this time, Zhang Qigong and Bei Gongyu had both infiltrated into Julu City as merchants.

When he saw the turbulent scene in the city, Bei Gongyu was quite surprised. He was surprised that the civilians in the city could be successfully instigated so easily - shouldn't they unite and help the country tide over the difficulties?

In this regard, Zhang Qigong said with a smile: "This depends on the charm of the contemporary monarch. If the monarch wins the hearts of the people, the people will follow him, and vice versa... Don't think that the common people are easy to fool. People in the market are often smart."

Bei Gongyu glanced at Zhang Qigong after hearing this. He felt that Zhang Qigong's "little wisdom" was somewhat sarcastic.

In fact, this is exactly the case. The "little wisdom" mentioned by Zhang Qigong actually refers to the characteristics of ordinary civilians who are "selfish" and "love to take advantage of small things."

To be fair, selfishness cannot be said to be an evil, it is just human nature: most people will only have the leisure to consider other people's problems and do good deeds when they meet their own needs in life.

.

This is understandable.

If you still have time to consider others when you are not satisfied with yourself, then this person will be a saint.

There are not so many saints in the world, but more ordinary people who are running around to support their families and take care of them.

Therefore, the common people and small landowners in Julu City are concerned about their own interests and do not want the local county government to use the depreciating Korean copper coins to purchase the grain in their hands at the original price in previous years. This is not a big evil.

We can only say that human nature is like this. "Note: Human nature here is a neutral term, not praise or criticism."

In Zhang Qigong's view, at this time, it all depends on the monarch's personal charisma. If the monarch's personal charisma is great enough to make these civilians give up their "self-interest" and would rather starve the whole family to support the country, then Zhang Qigong

The plot failed.

However, in his opinion, the people's support for South Korea's monarch Han Ran should not reach this level.

"We can ask Tao Hong and the others to proceed as planned."

After seeing the messy scene on the street, Zhang Qigong ordered Bei Gongyu.

"Understood." Bei Gongyu nodded.

Soon after, many stores of Wei merchants who purchased grain appeared in Julu City. These grain stores started a battle with the local county government in Julu, trying to use Wei's money to purchase civilians in the city.

Grain in hand.

It is no exaggeration to say that the Wei State's Wan Money is already the hardest currency in the world. Especially after Wei King Zhao Run came to the throne, the Wei State's Wan Money does not increase or depreciate in value under the control of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and its purchasing power is quite strong.

.

And this is exactly the basis for Zhang Qigong to implement his strategy.

On the one hand, there are South Korean copper coins that have a poor reputation and are still depreciating rapidly. On the other hand, there are Wei coins that have a good reputation and are stable in value all year round. No matter how stupid the civilians in Julu City are, they understand which party they sell to to get more money.

big benefits.

Therefore, as soon as Wei Shang's shop in Julu City put up a sign saying "Use Wei Wan's money to purchase grain", civilians in the city immediately negotiated with him.

After learning about this incident, Julu Shou Yanju was greatly worried.

At this time, Yan Que actually did not know that Zhang Qigong's real intention was to destroy South Korea's currency system. Yan Que only saw the superficial harm, but even this superficial harm was enough to make Yan Que feel like he was facing a formidable enemy.

Thinking about it, if the merchants of Wei State really exchanged Wei State's money for a large amount of grain, wouldn't it mean that the food in South Korea was even more stretched? - He would never think that the merchants of Wei State were purchasing that grain.

After that, they would still be piled up in South Korea. This must have been shipped back to Wei, no doubt!

Under this situation, if South Korea allows this phenomenon, then once Japan, Wei, and South Korea go to war, Wei will have a continuous supply of food and grass, while South Korea will only have a large number of Wei people who can only watch.

Copper Wan - Fools also know that once Wei and South Korea go to war, Wei will definitely close its trading channels with South Korea, unless Korean civilians take the money to move to Wei and trade in Wei itself.

Realizing the stakes of this matter, Yan Kui immediately found the frontline coach Le Yi and discussed countermeasures with him.

To be fair, Le Yi is not as good as Yan Cree in terms of domestic politics and the people, but he can also see the harm behind this matter.

The question is, how should they respond?

Should we forcibly confiscate those Wei merchants and forcibly expel them from Julu?

To be honest, this is not appropriate, because once the army intervenes, the nature will be completely different - it is equivalent to South Korea taking the lead in going to war against Wei!
To be continued...