The Youzhou New Year Fair is located in Tanzhou Street, Beishi City, the busiest commercial street in Youzhou. After the renovation, it became even more lively.
Along both sides of the street, there are countless stalls selling goods from various merchants.
Even on the first day of the Lunar New Year, it is extremely popular.
Almost every stall and shop is crowded with many Hu people, and there are also many mainland businessmen who can't get through, as if these goods are free of charge.
The Wu family was on a first-come-first-served basis near the water, and they also built many shops and stalls. Zhao Yi, the general manager of the Wu family's industry and commerce, even came to Youzhou in person to take charge.
"White sugar, this snow-like white sugar, our Ah Hui Department wants it all."
"Why do you want everything? Do you guys have so many things to exchange for?"
"My Ah Hui tribe is the largest tribe of the Xi tribe, and the governor of Youzhou is the son-in-law of our King Xi. We take care of all the sugar here."
"Bah, your King Xi's daughter is just the concubine of the governor. Our Khan also gave Princess Kehe Dunyang directly to Mr. Wu. We Turks want these sugars."
A group of Hu merchants were quarreling with red faces, and the shopkeeper of the Wu Family Sugar Shop was helpless. The seaport was frozen, the canals were frozen, and sugar transportation was restricted. There was not much sugar in Youzhou, but there were too many Hu merchants coming in the New Year.
As soon as the post about the exhibition was posted, Hu merchants from all over the Great Wall rushed to grab it, especially because this time the Tibetan chiefs came to Chang'an to pay homage to the angels and the governor, bringing many nobles with them, and also brought a large amount of their own merchants.
Come here, this is meant to be a big deal. Now there are a lot of good things at the exhibition, and the prices are pretty good, and everyone is competing for them.
The emperor of Chang'an had never seen white sugar in the past two years. The white sugar in Chang'an used to be sold by merchants from Tianzhu, and the yellow ones dared to be called white sugar.
The Wu family's old rock sugar is whiter in color than theirs, let alone white granulated sugar and white rock sugar. It's really white.
It is said that this thing is a good thing that only the Chang'an court nobles and Chang'an nobles can afford, and it is a symbol of status.
Add some sugar to milk, or add some sugar to milk tea, the taste will be wonderful.
The shop assistants are not only good at talking but also selling. They are constantly making sugar water for the merchants, adding sugar to milk tea, or frying rice cakes and dipping them in sugar.
How have you ever seen such a good thing, especially since I heard that it can only be enjoyed by the emperor of Chang'an and the nobles?
I immediately realized the huge business opportunity.
What is popular in Chang'an will definitely be popular on the grasslands. What the Emperor of Chang'an likes will of course be liked by the Khans and chiefs beyond the Great Wall.
What?
The cheapest white sugar costs ten cents a tael?
Is it one tael, not one pound?
Wu family white sugar is divided into three grades, and each grade is divided into three grades. The one with ten cents and one tael is the cheapest kind. The most expensive one costs one hundred cents and one tael, and it has to be Kaiyuan Tongbao money, not any other Sui Dynasty five baht, etc.
Much more expensive than mutton,
Even the price is no cheaper than that of Chang'an, and is even more expensive, but the Wu family also said that the Wu family has a pharmaceutical workshop in Sanwon, Gyeonggi Province, a sugar workshop in Xianyang, and the sugar cane from Nanzhong Real Estate in Lingnan has been squeezed and processed locally.
It is naturally cheaper to fry the raw sugar and transport it to Gyeonggi Province for further processing. It is naturally cheaper to sell it in Chang'an, but it is certainly more expensive to transport it to Youzhou for thousands of miles.
And things are rare and valuable.
A bucket of salt costs only twenty or thirty cents, while cheap white sugar costs ten cents or one tael. The difference is dozens of times.
But the more expensive and rare they are, the more they buy.
The fight became more intense.
Many Hu businessmen even saw business opportunities and wanted to contract the goods, but none of the other Hu businessmen were willing.
Your King Xi wants to eat it? My Khitan Khan can’t eat it, so my Turkic Khan wants to eat it too.
Anyway, they all used the banner of their own chiefs, and then they came to make connections. Why did my King Xi marry his daughter to the governor, and my Khan also directly gave Kehe Dun to the governor.
No one gives in.
Then the one with the highest price gets it, and everyone bids.
But it's useless to shout out the price.
"Everyone, I'm really sorry. The rivers and seas are frozen and transportation is blocked. The sugar mills in Chang'an have no raw materials. Lingnan and Nanzhong can't supply them. We can only grab a little bit of sugar from Chang'an every month.
,
As my boss has said, I can’t offend you, let alone favor one over another. In this way, to ensure fairness, the sale is limited, and each house is limited to buying a little, so that other houses can buy some first.”
"We are increasing the price. The limit is too small. We need to buy more and increase the price. The price can be easily negotiated."
Unfortunately, raising prices is of no use. The Wu family's white sugar business is booming now, but the supply is indeed insufficient. First of all, there is the problem of raw materials. Although the Qiu family, the Duan family, the Feng family, and the Xian family are expanding the sugarcane planting area in Lingnan and Nanzhong areas to increase the production of jaggery.
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But this business is getting bigger and bigger, but there are also more participants.
The Wu family controls the final decolorization, refining and processing, but the raw sugar raw materials are mainly in the hands of the Qiu family in Jiaozhou, the Duan family in Nanzhong, the Feng family in Lingnan, etc. Wu Huaiyu takes the jaggery from them in order to give him a certain amount of white sugar.
Their,
Then it had to be given to some imperial courts and bought, so that the imperial courts could make a profit, and a share had to be left for the emperor's inner palace, which had to be used for their own use or sold.
Furthermore, it is exported to the Hu merchants in Chang'an. In addition, Jiaozhou, Guangzhou and Dengzhou also trade directly with foreign merchants, including the Tianzhu merchants who used to sell sugar to the Tang Dynasty. Now they have begun to buy sugar back.
The market is huge, but the output is only so much. If each family divides it, the supply exceeds demand.
The share allocated here in Youzhou is even more limited, so the Wu family simply resorted to starvation marketing.
"We'll trade it for mink skins, and trade it for pearls!"
"We'll give you gold in exchange!"
"We use famous horses!"
"We accept all kinds of commercial goods transactions, but there are only so many goods available right now. I hope everyone will bear with us."
It was very hot in front of the Sugar Shop, and it was so hot that they were about to start a fight. If the weapons had not been confiscated before entering the city, and fighting was strictly prohibited here, they might have started fighting long ago.
Other shops are equally popular.
Bingyufang's wines are also popular among Hu merchants, especially those spirits. Most of the nobles in the Central Plains are not used to drinking them and prefer rice wine, but Hu people like these spirits. It is freezing in the north, so this wine is not suitable for drinking.
It's good for your appetite if you feel your body is full of energy after one sip.
It is even said that this strong wine can heal injuries. Washing the wounds directly with this wine can greatly avoid the possibility of redness, swelling and ulceration. It is also said that using this strong wine to soak things like tiger penis, deer bark, ginseng and so on is a great tonic.
Iron pot, needlework, ceramics.
tea, medicine,
It seems that everything Hu merchants can’t put down,
In the past, the Central Plains often imposed an economic blockade on Tibet and did not trade with them. Occasionally, they traded with each other, which was only in designated places and at designated times, and there were restrictions on commodities, etc.
This time, the Youzhou Fair has a completely different model. There are many good things, transactions are convenient, and most importantly, you can place orders.
Pay a deposit and order whatever you want, or even customize it as required.
There is a dazzling array of all kinds of good stuff, and it feels very cheap. Anyway, it is several times cheaper than what Cui Luzufan and others bought from their merchants outside the Great Wall.
Even if you have to pick up the goods yourself and have to pay tax, it's still very cost-effective.
Compared with the goods sold by those Sogdian Hu merchants, the prices are more friendly. Those damn Sogdian Hu merchants used to work hard to sell them on the fortress, but they were too expensive.
They are simply being slaughtered like sheep.
Look at Dudu Wu, there are so many good things and the prices are so cheap.
Iron pots, wooden barrels, pottery basins, cloth, needlework, salt, tea, wine, sugar, I want everything.
The Governor's Mansion of Youzhou.
Wu Huaiyu welcomed Cui Dunli, the Minister of War, and his party.
On the first day of the first lunar month of the new year, Cui Shilang arrived. Wu Huaiyu knew about it in advance, but he did not go out of the city to greet him, or even went to the city gate to greet him. He only waited for him in the Governor's Mansion.
"You have worked hard all the way, Mr. Cui."
"The delay along the way has kept the governor waiting for a long time."
The two met and exchanged polite greetings.
Fortunately, there is Fan Yang Lu waiting to liven up the atmosphere. After all, Cui Dunli is also the grandson of Lu. Cui Dunli's grandmother is the granddaughter of Lu Daoyue, the eldest son of Fan Yang Lu's northern ancestor, and Lu Chengye's grandfather is Lu Daosi, Lu Daoyue's brother.
Cui Dunli had to call Lu Chengye uncle,
Lu Chengye is now the Sima of the Governor's Office in Anbei. He suddenly went to Beijing to pay homage to the emperor. He came to Youzhou to pay homage to the angel. Angel Cui Shilang is the grandson of his cousin. Although Cui Dunli's father was not born to Lu, but to his original wife Li.
He was not born to the Lu family of Xuxian.
The first house of Lu Beizu in Fanyang came from Lu Yuan. Because Lu Yuan had the diminutive character Yangwu, it was also called Yangwufang. Together with Zheng Shuzu, the sixth house of the North Ancestor of the Zheng family in Xingyang, the two houses were both called Gaomen. Even today in the Tang Dynasty, they are still called Gaomen.
There is a common saying that the two families of Lu Yangwu, Zheng Shuzu and Fesi are called the gateway.
The second member of the Cui Dunli family, Boling Cui, was killed by Gao Huan, and only three of them fled into Guanzhong. He even changed his surname to Yuwen, but it was a blessing in disguise that he became a famous family in Guanlong.
Nowadays, there are people who talk about family status, and some even rank Cui Minqian as the first class. Previously, when the imperial court allocated and confiscated the land of the third-level religious temple to Xunqi Baiguan, some officials ranked Cui Qian, who was only the Huangmen Minister, as the first class.
Because he comes from Boling Cui, a family with five surnames and seven families, and the second family has been in Guanzhong for several generations, he has become a wealthy family in Guanlong.
head.
This made Li Shimin furious.
When Pang Xiaotai saw Wu Huaiyu, he didn't care about the looks of Cui Dunli, Lu Chengye and others. He came up to pay homage, knelt down and even kissed Huaiyu's boots.
"Pang, the little lackey under the sect, pays homage to his benefactor!"
"What is this? General Pang, get up quickly."
There are two things that Wu Huaiyu admires about Pang Xiaotai. First, although he is very young, he has already given birth to eighteen sons, all of whom are quite brave. Second, with his open lower face, he can hug Wu Huaiyu tightly.
Thighs, even if the commander-in-chief of the left army, Yi Fu, gave him a purple-robed goldfish, he would still kneel down and kiss his boots when they met.
Cui Dunli looked at it and wanted to have a fit. You, a dignified deputy envoy of the imperial court, came to investigate Youzhou's military exploits, but you came up with this attitude, how can you be fair and just?
Pang Xiaotai was pulled up by Wu Huaiyu, and he interrupted Cui Dunli with a smile, opening his mouth to accuse, "Cui Shilang just called Uncle Lu Sima?
Lu Sima's sister Lu Sanwuniang is now Duke Wu's concubine, so should Cui Shilang call Duke Wu his aunt?
Am I right?"
Grandmother's cousin is called great-aunt, and her great-aunt's husband is also called great-uncle or great-uncle.
"Public is public, private is private. After the public greeting just now, this private gift needs to be seen in person, right, Mr. Cui."
With a dark face, Cui Dunli crossed his arms at Wu Huaiyu and reluctantly called out, "I've met my great-uncle."
"Hahaha, it's hard to discuss the marriage between different families and the increasing number of relatives. It's better to discuss it separately. Cui Shilang can just call me Erlang."
There were seven families with five surnames in Shandong, which people at that time called noble, and were subdivided into forty-four families. Among them, there were eight Bolingcui families, and there were fifteen Fanyang Lu families. They came from the four families of the Northern Ancestral Fang and the Imperial Master of the Northern Ancestor.
The six Fang families are among them.
"The imperial court sent Cui Shilang to verify Yehuling's military exploits. I have already received the order and asked all ministries to cooperate. If Cui Shilang needs anything, just ask, and we in Youzhou will fully cooperate."
Wu Huaiyu's cooperative attitude surprised Cui Dunli.
"I would like to first summon Li Kedu, the governor of Raole, Li Mohui, the governor of Songmo, and Shi Li Shetu, the governor of Bei'an, to read the saint's will to them."
"Okay, I'll send someone to invite them over right away."
The atmosphere became a little subtle.
Sitting there, Cui Dunli couldn't help but ask, "Gong Yiguo was a frontier general of the imperial court. After he came to Youzhou, he took the daughter of the Lu family of Fanyang as his concubine, and the daughter of Gao Rong, the leader of the back of the mountain, as his concubine. He also took the daughter from the grassland as his concubine.
The former court and the pro-Turkish Tuli Kehedun Yang family returned to Youzhou. Now, without asking the court for instructions first, they took the daughter and sister of Chief Xi Ke Duzhe and Khitan Chief Mohui as concubines.
Whether these are a little inappropriate, and whether there is any intention of coercion, I hope Duke Yi can give a detailed explanation."
Huaiyu smiled slightly.
"In fact, I suggest you ask several people involved in the matter that Cui Shilang mentioned. Gao Sanwuniang's brother Lu Canjun is here now. Ke Duzhe and Mo Hui will also come soon. You can ask them face to face.
.
Of course, if you want to hear the original words of my concubines, I can also immediately invite them to talk to you face to face.
Madam Yang also lives in Luocheng, Youzhou, and she can be invited immediately. What is the truth? We will know if we ask her face to face."
Wu Huaiyu was not in a hurry, but Pang Xiaotai was anxious, "Servant Cui, the court asked you and me to verify the military merits of the soldiers so that rewards could be issued as soon as possible, but you were not asked to meddle in other people's business. One person is willing to marry and the other is willing to accept it."
, you said you’re full and ready to kick in?”
Pang Xiaotai, the lieutenant general, did not take Cui Dunli, the minister of war, seriously at all.
In terms of rank, in fact, the Zhonglang General of Wei Yifu, the leader of the left army, and the Minister of War are both of the fourth rank, with the same rank. Of course, the Minister of War must have higher authority than the Zhonglang General.
After all, there are twenty Zhonglang generals in Chang'an City, not counting the ten fourth-rank Zhonglang generals among the six princes, but there are only two ministers in the Ministry of War.
However, General Zhonglang was not under the control of the Minister of War. If Pang Xiaotai did not criticize him, Cui Dunli could only stare blankly.
"As an official sent by the Saint to Youzhou, I have the responsibility to inquire about the problems I discovered and then report them to the Emperor."
"Actually, when I took a concubine, I reported it to the emperor in advance. Nalu's thirty-fifth mother was a concubine, so she also reported it to the Ministry of Rites, and even got the concubine's declaration before welcoming her through the door." Wu Huaiyu said unhurriedly, "As for the
Regarding Madam Yang, I have already made a detailed report to the Holy Emperor, and the Holy Emperor also gave me and Madam Yang a written reply, asking me to take good care of Madam Yang in the future."
"I wonder if Mr. Cui has any other doubts. Why don't you ask them one by one and I will reply to you one by one now."
The atmosphere became solemn.
But Cui Dunli still asked again, "When I first came here, I heard that Youzhou was going to use troops against Beishan Xi, and that it was recruiting Xi, Khitan, and Turkic tribes to join the expedition. Did you ask the imperial court for instructions on this matter first?"
"Servant Cui heard wrongly."
"Isn't this the case?"
"Yes, but it is not the Governor of Youzhou who wants to use troops to attack Beishan Xi. It is the Governor of Anton who wants to attack Beishan. This matter is within the duties of the Governor. It is a trivial matter and a matter of his own duty."
"But please rest assured, Mr. Cui. The Protectorate has already reported this matter to the emperor and the imperial court. We will send troops only after getting permission."
