In July of the third year of Zhongping (186), Mayi.
The entire city of Mayi was preparing for war. The prosperous city of Mayi had disappeared. The streets were filled with soldiers marching everywhere. Instead, there was a sense of murder.
Zhen An, who came to Mayi again, was very helpless when he saw that Mayi was full of soldiers. It was going to be a war and naturally business would not be able to continue.
They merchants are particularly sensitive to such things. Now most of the Hu merchants in Mayi have fled. They are afraid that Xu Wei will anger them. Most of the Han merchants have also left. They are worried that if He Lianzhen breaks through Mayi, they will
At some point, the Xianbei people would be kidnapped and sent to the grasslands to eat the wind and sand. In this case, everyone would have no choice but to fly away when the disaster strikes.
Zhen An didn't want to come to Mayi at this time, but he had to come. After all, he had proposed to the Zhen family to open up trade routes in Mayi. The Zhen family had already made a lot of preparations and even purchased grain. If Zhen An gave up halfway, Zhen An would
The loss to his family was huge, and he had to walk around without food, so he had to take the risk and come here again when the Xianbei people were about to attack Mayi.
But now, let alone buying grain, Mayi may not even be able to get the 100,000 pieces of woolen cloth originally agreed upon. The only way Zhen An can think of to stop the loss is to trick Xu Wei into turning wool into woolen cloth.
, in this way he not only has no fault but also has merit.
So when Xu Wei met him, he asked: "Shuai Qu, do you have any plans to escape back to Dahan? Our Zhen family can help the commander return to Dahan!"
Xu Wei smiled and said: "Can a rebel like me return to the Han Dynasty?"
Zhen An said: "There are tens of thousands of people in the entire Han Dynasty. If Qu Shuai doesn't tell me, who would know that you are Thunder Lord!"
Xu Weidao: "Then what should I do with my 300,000 people? Let them become slaves of the Xianbei people!"
Seeing that he could not convince Xu Wei, Zhen An changed his words and said: "Qu Shuai, it is too unsafe for the textile factory outside Mayi City. The war will destroy all these workshops. Has Qu Shuai ever thought that the textile factory can actually be placed near Yanmen Pass?"
Inside, this is not only safe, but also convenient for transportation. As long as Qu Shuai agrees, our Zhen family can help Qu Shuai overcome the official obstacles. We guarantee that Qu Shuai will not suffer any loss."
In fact, the Zhen family also wanted to make their own woolen cloth, but it was difficult for them to purchase wool. Secondly, they did not know how to process the wool and spin the wool into yarn. The Zhen family themselves experimented in Jizhou and found that they could make a woolen cloth by themselves.
The color and quality of cloth are not only inferior to those in Mayi, but the manufacturing price is also higher than the selling price in Mayi. It can be said that making is not as good as buying. Under such circumstances, the Zhen family will naturally not waste money on building a textile factory.
Zhen An felt that she could not persuade Xu Wei to escape from the Han Dynasty, but it was a great achievement to persuade Xu Wei to get the textile factory to the Han Dynasty.
Xu Wei said calmly: "You are not optimistic about Mayi's future either?"
Xu Wei is not stupid. He really moved the textile factory to Yanmen Pass. This textile factory has its own affairs. The technology of wool cloth is not very high-end. As long as experienced weavers watch the process, they can basically copy it.
Now, his eyes are everywhere in Mayi, so he can naturally protect the technology of woolen textile industry, but when he goes to Han Dynasty, he cannot control it.
Just like the briquette stove in Mayi and the tools for making briquettes, they are inventions that can be understood at a glance. They are inventions based on ideas. Now only the barbarians from the grasslands come to Mayi to buy them. Basically, merchants in the Han Dynasty will not buy anymore.
Because there are already many local workshops that make briquette stoves and briquette tools, and Xu Wei did not receive a single dollar of patent fees.
Of course, honeycomb briquettes and briquette stoves don't make much money, so Xu Wei doesn't care if they are copied. But now the textile factory is a pillar industry that Xu Wei considers. If the technology spreads now, Xu Wei's losses will be huge.
, you must know that woolen cloth can be used as money in many places. Even Xu Wei cannot afford to lose such a money printing machine industry.
Xu Wei can guarantee that if his textile factory really goes into the Zhen family's sphere of influence, the Zhen family will soon open a textile machine 10 times larger than their own, and even water conservancy spinning machines will bloom all over the Han Dynasty. By then, he will have no place.
To reason.
Zhen An smiled bitterly and said: "Shuai Qu, you are also a man who has experienced hundreds of battles. Do you think Mayi can survive under the 100,000 Xianbei cavalry?"
Xu Weidao said: "I also have an army of 100,000 people. Why can't I win? If Helian dares to come to Mayi, I will definitely chop off his head!"
But obviously Zhen An did not believe Xu Wei. After all, in this era, the Han people had a psychological advantage over any Hu people, but not the Xianbei people.
After all, the Han army was defeated by the Xianbei a few years ago, and in recent years, under the intrusion of the Xianbei, it has become even more unprepared. In everyone's opinion, the Xianbei cavalry and elites are of the same level as the Han army.
Most of the 100,000 troops summoned by Xu Wei were farmers who had just put down their hoes. He even saw that most of these militiamen were wearing rattan armor. It would not be an exaggeration to say that they were a mob. How could Zhen An believe this?
The army can defeat the Xianbei cavalry.
Zhen An didn't believe it, and Xu Wei had no choice. He did not continue to struggle with Zhen An on this issue. Instead, he said: "Is there any way for the shopkeeper to buy 20,000 pieces of silk and bring it to Mayi? The silk is not beautiful, but thick."
Durable! Money is not a problem, I can exchange it with gold, but the time has to be fast, and I have to lead the troops south with He Company, preferably within a month!"
Xu Wei remembered that silk was used as inner armor in many novels. It seemed that it could be used to defend against long arrows, and even if it was shot, the arrow could be easily pulled out because it was wrapped in silk, and the injury would not be too serious. But Xu Wei wanted to
When making silk inner armor, it was discovered that the entire city of Mayi only had more than 3,000 pieces of silk, which was not enough to make inner armor for a 100,000-strong army.
Although Zhen An didn't know why Xu Wei bought so much silk at this time, when he heard that Xu Wei wanted to pay the bill with gold, he immediately said: "Time is too tight, I can only give it a try!"
Mayi, coal mine!
There are 30,000 horse thieves captured by Xu Wei here. Most of them were placed in various mines by Xu Wei. It can be said that the most dangerous and hardest work in Mayi was done by them.
But these horse thieves didn't have much resistance. Firstly, Xu Wei made an agreement with them that they could regain their freedom after working for three years. Secondly, Xu Wei treated them very well. Not only could they have three meals a day,
Moreover, there is also a monthly salary of 100 yuan. It is this 100 yuan monthly salary that makes these bandits believe that Xu Wei will let them go.
With hope, their will to resist is naturally not strong! Therefore, there are only a group of soldiers guarding these mines.
The news that the Xianbei people were going to attack Mayi also reached the mine. Everyone was a little scared. The hundreds of thousands of Xianbei cavalry gave the entire Mayi a heavy sense of depression.