Chapter 228 Wei Name? Li Yuanhao!
On the second floor of Tokyo Building, Li Zhang booked a seat here early. When it was almost noon, he took his wild dog to the second floor and ordered a few specialty dishes here. Although the dishes here were not authentic, they tasted good. It was quite rare to eat these dishes in a place like a border city.
Just after Li Zhang sat on the second floor for a while, he saw the young man suspected of Li Yuanhao taking two entourages to the second floor, and then sat in the window as usual. Li Zhang's position was just opposite to him, and when the other party sat down, he also saw him. He was stunned at first, and then smiled kindly at Li Zhang.
Li Zhang also nodded to the other party, but did not come forward rashly. The other party seemed to no longer pay attention to him. Instead, he ordered a few dishes as usual, and then drank it by himself. The two followers behind him looked around with vigilance, and their whole body was like a full bow and arrow, as if they would suddenly hurt people at any time.
"Brother, drinking alone is a bit boring. Why not drink as much as we do on the table?" Li Zhang looked at the other party a few times, and after a moment, he suddenly spoke on his own initiative. Although it was a bit abrupt, he couldn't think of any good way to get close to the other party.
Hearing Li Zhang's words, the young man who was suspected of Li Yuanhao also looked at Li Zhang with a strange look, then suddenly smiled and said, "If you don't dislike me, you can come and sit down!"
When Li Zhang saw the other party agreeing, he laughed and moved the things on his table to the other party's table, then sat opposite the other party. However, the two minions behind him seemed a little nervous, especially when they noticed the wild dog, they seemed to be facing a big enemy. I guess they also instinctively felt the threat from the wild dog.
"I don't know what my brother calls me, what are you doing in the border market?" Li Zhang ate two bites of food casually at this time, and then asked.
"I am a native of Dangxiang, just call me Weiming!" The young man smiled heartily.
"Wei Ming? This name is strange. My name is Li Zhang. I am currently joining the army in Qingzhou!" Li Zhang also smiled at the moment, but although his face was silent, his heart was shocked because the surname Wei Ming was the surname of the Dangxiang royal family.
When it comes to the origin of the surname "Wei Ming", many people don't know. If Li Zhang had not searched a lot of information to deal with Li Yuanhao, he would probably not know the origin of the surname. Speaking of which, the surname was still in the late Tang Dynasty, Tuoba Sigong, a Dangxiang man, made great contributions to quelling the Huang Chao Uprising, so he was given the surname "Wei Ming". This is the first time that the surname Wei Ming appeared on the historical stage.
However, not many people use the surname Wei Ming, and even fewer people know it. Because shortly after the surname was given, Tuoba Sigong quickly made great contributions, so he was given the national surname "Li", which was a supreme honor. Therefore, the Dangxiang royal family later took Li as their surname. Later, the Song Dynasty was established, and Dangxiang surrendered to the Song Dynasty, so he was given the surname "Zhao".
Of course, there are also some people who are unwilling to surrender to the Song Dynasty, such as Li Yuanhao's grandfather Li Jiqian, so he never accepted the surname Zhao. However, Li Deming surrendered to the Song Dynasty and accepted the surname Zhao. However, Li Deming has always been a hypocritical person. When facing the Song Dynasty, he said his surname was Zhao, but he still had a surname of Li in normal times. The Song Dynasty had no choice but to deal with him.
As for the surname "Wei Ming", the Dangxiang royal family, which only uses very short, has long been buried in the old papers of history. Except for a few historians or those who have searched for this information, no one knows that the Dangxiang royal family also has the surname Wei Ming. It was not until Li Yuanhao later proclaimed himself emperor and changed his name to Wei Ming Nanxia, which made Wei Ming an official surname of the Western Xia royal family.
"It turned out to be Li Zongjun. I had heard that a young and promising army had been transferred to the border market. This period of time has also made the border market look brand new. Today, I saw that this young man who claimed to be Wei Ming also bowed to him when he heard about Li Zhang's identity, but looking at him, he seemed not surprised by Li Zhang's identity.
"He must be Li Yuanhao!" Li Zhang also shouted in his heart at this time. The other party dared to take the old surname of the Dangxiang royal family, and was not surprised by his identity. Obviously, he had known his identity for a long time. In addition, the surname Wei Ming was later designated by Li Yuanhao as the Dangxiang royal family surname. From this, it can almost be concluded that the young man in front of him must be Li Yuanhao in the future.
However, although Li Zhang was excited, his face remained calm. He smiled calmly and said, "I am just temporarily stationed here. Seeing that the border market is too messy, I have to make some rectifications. Should Brother Wei Ming come here to buy or sell things?"
It is because of the surname Wei Ming that there are so few people who know that Li Yuanhao dared to be so bold as his name. Unfortunately, he didn't know that the young man in front of him was a person who was determined to plot against him. Therefore, the two words Wei Ming had already exposed his identity and also aroused Li Zhang's intention to kill. Now he is already thinking about how to kill this future enemy?
"It's mainly to buy some things. After all, it's going to be winter. The northern border is bitter and cold. If there is no goods from the Song Dynasty, my tribe members will suffer in winter." Wei Ming answered again. When he said this, a complex look seemed to flash in his eyes.
"Haha, the original intention of the imperial court to set up a border city was mainly to appease all ethnic groups outside the country. After all, it is much better to communicate with each other than to fight." Although Li Zhang confirmed the other party's identity, he still said patiently to the other party. He could not arouse the other party's alertness, so as not to miss this great opportunity if the other party ran away before he took action.
"But the merchants of the Song Dynasty were so unintentional. They exchanged inferior products as good ones for cattle, sheep and horses that we finally raised. For this reason, we also lost countless property every year, which was greater than the loss of being robbed by robbers!" Li Zhang's words might have touched the pain point in the other party's heart, and Wei Ming's eyes stood up with hatred.
"You can't say that. Those merchants traveled thousands of miles to transport goods, and they were taking great risks. If they didn't make money, there would probably be no one to do business. As for inferior products as good ones, there are indeed such things, but I am also rectifying the border market, so I believe that such things will only become less and less in the future." Li Zhang said a little disagreeable.
There are indeed black-hearted businessmen who are inferior to others, and there are quite a few, but they can't blame them completely. After all, they also have to make money. They just want to gain a foothold in the border city. Not only do they have to manage their own points, but they also have to pay taxes on the road. They even risk their lives. So if they don't have more than ten times the profit, they will not make much money, and their efforts will not be proportional to their returns.
However, the Hu people abroad didn't care about these things. They had no idea in their minds. They only saw the cows, sheep, fur and other goods they sold to merchants. They were transported to various places in the Song Dynasty and sold them at more than ten times the price. This made them very jealous. Therefore, in the eyes of the Hu people, the Han people were very cunning and would only try their best to lower the price, collect their goods at extremely low prices, and then make money by themselves, but they could only exchange for meager supplies to survive.
Hearing Li Zhang defended the merchants, Wei Ming's face also looked a little annoyed, but soon he controlled his temper and directly changed the topic: "I heard that the famous musket camp is stationed here. Is Li Chanjun the person who commanded this musket camp?"
"Haha~, it's almost the same. In fact, I'm going to tell you that the musket was built by me personally. At the beginning of the establishment of the musket battalion, I was also the first battalion commander. But I am not a general, and I am now re-elected to join the army. However, the musket battalion is full of my old subordinates!" Li Zhang did not worry about the topic just now. After all, the two sides have different positions, so naturally they are not speculative.
However, Li Zhang threw another bait to Wei Ming in his words, telling him that he was the one who invented the musket and built the musket camp with one hand. If the other party was really Li Yuanhao, he would definitely be more interested in him and naturally would not leave easily.
Sure enough, when he heard that Li Zhang was actually the first commander of the musket battalion, a glimmer burst out in Wei Ming's eyes, but it was quickly covered up by him. Then he deliberately showed a shocked expression and said, "I didn't expect that since the famous musket battalion was built by Li Zhanjun, I really admire him!"
"Haha, muskets are indeed Li's proud work. Speaking of which, this thing is powerful and has a much higher range than bows and arrows. With it on the battlefield, bows and arrows will sooner or later be eliminated!" Li Zhang also deliberately made a proud expression at this time, and even deliberately exaggerated the power of muskets. Of course, he did not lie. Muskets did eliminate bows and arrows, but it took time.
Hearing Li Zhang boasting about the power of the musket, Wei Ming showed a solemn expression at the moment. Then he began to inquire about the musket from Li Zhang. However, Li Zhang deliberately refused to say more, but he seemed to reveal some half-true and half-false news "unintentionally", which made Wei Ming unable to stop and kept talking to Li Zhang for a long time.
Before he knew it, the afternoon passed. Finally, Wei Ming found that he could not find anything else in Li Zhang, so he found an excuse to get up and say goodbye. Li Zhang also personally took the other party out of the restaurant, and then watched the other party leave. Just looking at the other party's departure, Li Zhang showed a sneer on his face.
Chapter completed!