The first thousand four hundred and forty-two chapters
Sitting in a house, Peng You smiled slightly, with a slight smile on the corner of his mouth.
He is one of the three great generals under Zhuo Wangsun, and he is also the great demon king whose expressions change in the southwestern barbaric countries.
Since the third year of Yuande, he has been active among the countries in the southwestern Yi mountains. As long as it is profitable, there is nothing he dares to do.
There are thousands of dead souls under his command in the barbarian countries in the southwest, and his name is enough to make a child stop crying.
But now, he is still unknown on this grassland.
No one has heard of his deeds, and few even know his origins.
For an arms dealer and war fanatic, this is simply the most wonderful thing.
He can do whatever he wants without being secretive, and do whatever he wants to do openly.
"Ming Gong..." A man in regular clothes and a Confucian crown, who looked like a gentle scholar-bureaucrat and a gentleman, bowed his hands to Peng You and said, "How will you and I divide the labor this time?"
Peng You glanced at the man and said with a smile: "Mr. Zhang, why are you so anxious... It's better to sit down and taste this year's new tea and see how it tastes..."
Upon hearing this, Mr. Zhang smiled slightly and quickly accused him: "It's someone who was rude..."
Then he found a seat, sat down, picked up the tea served by the maid, and drank it like a scholar-official, exclaiming in praise: "Good tea! Good tea! It must be this year's new Jiangnan tea!"
Peng You gave this man a cold look and didn't really want to talk to him.
Even if possible, Peng You would find someone to kill this guy.
The reason is very simple, he is Zhang Wen, the adopted son of Cheng Zhengying, Peng You's biggest rival.
It is said that this son's father used to be the housekeeper of Cheng Zheng family, and he once died to protect Cheng Zheng Ying. Therefore, Cheng Zheng Ying regarded him as his own, not only trained him carefully, but also spent a huge sum of money to send him to the prison more than ten years ago.
In Guanzhong, he became a disciple of Wang Ju, a native of Changling, and studied the Analects of Confucius, the Book of Changes and the Book of Dharma.
Originally, his life trajectory should have been to achieve success in his studies, then become a disciple of a certain nobleman, and eventually be recommended as an official. After climbing to a high position, he would take care of the Cheng Zheng family and nurture them in return.
but……
The new king came to the throne seven years ago and changed the whole world.
First of all, Zhuo Wenjun and Cheng Zhengxuan both changed from the prince's concubines to the emperor's concubines.
The Zhuo family and the Cheng Zheng family became relatives of the emperor. With the royal family behind them, naturally there was no need for anyone to be an official to protect the family.
Moreover, as a businessman and a relative of the emperor, if you send an adopted son to the officialdom, even if others don't gossip, there will be people in the palace who gossip about him.
Naturally, this article returned to Shu County.
Then along the way, he became the general manager of Cheng Zheng's affairs in the southwestern Yi region.
As an old enemy, Peng You knew exactly what kind of person this smiling and seemingly gentle 'friend' in front of him was.
The word "dressed beast" is tailor-made for him!
Among the Yi countries in the southwest, Zhang Wen's name is enough to scare people.
So much so that when nobles, kings and even common people in various countries see people wearing Confucian crowns, they are trembling with fear and caution, not even daring to show off their dignity.
It is true that what this person has done is too 'brilliant'.
He was the first person to invent the model of "sell arms first, buy population later".
Today, more than 70% of the conflicts among the barbarian countries in southwestern China were instigated by him and his men.
What makes other countries fearful and fearful is that he always does things openly and honestly.
For example, he once told the king of Dian, a powerful country in southwestern Yi: Your Majesty, your neighbor King Qiong bought three thousand crossbows from me. I think it is necessary to tell your Majesty...
This is of course a fact. King Qiong did purchase a large amount of ordnance from him.
Although the number is not that exaggerated.
But the problem is that Dian and Qiong are feuding states.
At that time, the former king of Dian Kingdom marched southwest first on the order of King Chu, and fought with the Qiong people. For hundreds of years, the grievances between the two could be written in a book.
How dare the Dian King ignore this information.
I had no choice but to spend all my money and buy four thousand crossbows from Zhang Wen.
Then, after getting the weapons, the King of Dian felt that an opportunity had come, although King Qiong actually did not want to go to war with the Dian Kingdom at all.
However, after the Dian Kingdom obtained sophisticated weapons, both the government and the public felt that it was necessary to fight and fought.
As a result, the Dian army went to war against the Qiong Kingdom, and it took half a year to destroy the Qiong Kingdom, and annexed all its people, nobles, and wealth.
Then, all the surrounding countries were frightened to death.
While uniting, they cried and shouted to Zhang Wen to buy weapons.
After annexing the Qiong Kingdom, the Dian Kingdom also grew in size, and the King of Dian even arrogantly declared that he would unify the southwest.
Then, the seemingly powerful Dian army was violently beaten by the coalition forces of the southwestern Yi countries.
There has always been a legend that in that war, two thousand Han troops disguised themselves as soldiers from the southwestern Yi countries and joined the battlefield...
But in any case, the Dian Kingdom suffered heavy losses that time, not only the land they had just snatched back from the Qiong Kingdom was lost.
They also lost a large amount of territory.
There was no other way. The King of Dian had no choice but to find Zhang Wen again, beg his grandfather to sue his grandmother, took out the last coffin book from the treasury, and bought a batch of armor and swords to stabilize the war situation.
But after reaping the benefits of war, each country has its own dissatisfaction.
Before the war was over, they started fighting each other.
After three years of fighting, there were originally more than ten countries, large and small, and dozens of tribes in the south and east of the Dian Kingdom.
By the sixth year of Yuande, there were only three countries left.
Dian, Baima and Zuo Kingdom.
These three countries are still at war.
The culprit of all this is Zhang Wen, who grew up reading Confucius's articles.
Originally, Peng You didn't know why it ended up in this situation.
But then he finally figured it out.
The answer is human nature!
The special environment of the Southwest Yi region has amplified this kind of human nature.
For hundreds or thousands of years, various ethnic groups have lived together in this area. Countries vary in size and are scattered, but each is close in strength.
Even powerful countries like Yelang, Bo and Dian did not have the power to crush the surrounding countries.
At this time, when a country's power surges due to external forces, the balance is immediately broken.
Therefore, in order to protect themselves, countries have to seek help from outside forces and buy weapons, either for self-defense or expansion.
But the problem is that if you buy it, others will buy it too.
Moreover, weapons are expensive.
Even for self-defense, you must find a way to rob others.
As a result, countries have fallen into a vicious cycle.
Because the enemy country has bought weapons, you must also buy them. Because weapons are very expensive and you cannot afford them, you must find ways to attack others and use other countries' prisoners and wealth in exchange for weapons.
When other countries see you buying weapons and destroying your enemies, they will be afraid. If they are afraid, they will have to buy them. If you buy them, they will have to fight.
In the end, the wealth, population and labor force of the southwestern Yi countries all flowed into Zhang Wen's hands.
In order to please him, the King of Dian sent troops to explore the south every year in exchange for rewards for finding the land route to Shendu; in order to please him, the Bo people went through great pains to destroy a country and gave away its most beautiful princess.
Tune him up, teach him to be docile and well-behaved, and then give him as a gift.
And Peng You was actually forced to learn Zhang Wen's methods to do those things.
There is no way, if we don't learn, then the wealth, population, and especially the cheap labor force of the southwestern Yi countries will all belong to Cheng Zhengying's family.
This is not good.
Besides, who can have trouble with money?
Unfortunately, it may be that they went too far in Southwest Yi, or it may be that they were squeezed too hard.
Therefore, starting from last year, the southwestern Yi countries began to connect in series.
Dian, Bo, Zuo, Yelang, Baima and even some kingdoms further away began to prepare to send envoys to Chang'an at all costs to pay homage to the emperor and request for attachment.
Although Zhuo and Cheng Zheng can temporarily stop one or two things, they can delay one or two things.
But they knew that their era of making trouble in the southwestern barbarians was over.
Besides, the land of the Southwest Yi is barren and the population is sparse. They have brought it to this point, and their oil has been exhausted. They can no longer squeeze out too much oil and water.
Therefore, as early as the fifth year of Yuande, both the Zhuo family and the Cheng Zheng family began to transform.
Of course, it is just a matter of changing the input area of labor.
The South Vietnamese people were led astray by them, and they tried their best to capture and kill wild people in the jungles of Jiaozhi County and Rinan County, and sent them to the mines and smelting fields of Linqiong.
But in the jungles of South Vietnam, one day there will be no one left to catch.
what to do?
Only body poison can save Zhuo and Cheng Zheng from their ever-expanding appetites.
But the road to body poisoning is far away and mysterious.
There are now more than a dozen expedition teams that have set out from the Dian Kingdom to the south. The furthest ones even traveled thousands of miles and penetrated deep into the primitive jungle, but found nothing.
Of course, it is also possible that someone has found a poison in their body.
However, none of these people can come back.
At least for now, the road from Dian Kingdom to Shendu is still full of thorns.
Of course, the information that drugged merchants and monks once came to China from the sea was naturally taken seriously.
The Zhuo family and the Cheng Zheng family would hire merchant ships every year to sail out of the ports of Jiaozhi and Rinan counties and explore toward the south and southeast.
There are many dangers on the vast sea, and it often takes half a year to go out to sea.
Moreover, according to those who came back, even if someone is lucky enough to return home occasionally, they only report that the sea is endless, and except for islands, there is rarely any land.
A thousand miles south of the sun is a barren land with no sign of human beings except seabirds and flying fish.
This really made Mrs. Zhuo and Mrs. Cheng Zheng panic.
Without cheap labor, their industries will be unsustainable and it will be impossible to expand their operations.
What's even more troublesome is that without the glorious industry, the status of the two imperial concubines will also be damaged.
The highest goal of the Zhuo family and the Cheng Zheng family is to maintain the status of the two imperial concubines and the princess and prince they gave birth to at all costs.
At this time, the Battle of Yanji broke out, which made both Zhuo and Cheng Zheng overjoyed.
The vast prairie is said to be home to thousands of nations and races.
From Munan to Mubei, and throughout the Western Region, the number of people and tribes living there is hard to count.
At least, the population is so much larger than that of the Southwest Yi that I don’t know where they are!
And this place is a whole new world.
There are enough sources of cheap labor for Zhuo's and Cheng Zheng's industries to continue to prosper.
Therefore, as the top thugs of the two families, Peng You and Zhang Wencai were sent to Dragon City to take charge of the major plans related to the rise and fall of the family.
To put it simply, it is selling arms.
But how to sell arms is a more complicated matter.
"It's been half a month in Dragon City, brother, have you found your target?" Peng You asked while drinking tea.
Zhang Wen naturally knew what the other party meant.
The situation in the grasslands is no better than that of Southwest Yi. The countries of Southwest Yi are basically in a closed environment, and their land and people will not escape.
But grasslands are different. Tribes migrate nomadically, often covering thousands of miles or even thousands of miles at a time.
Moreover, it is difficult to ensure the monitoring and control of these tribes.
Therefore, it is very important to choose a suitable object.
This target must be strong enough, at least stronger than other tribes, otherwise, there will be no way to cause trouble!
Secondly, it must have a feud, and it must be ensured that this feud is equal to its power.
Last but not least, it must be ambitious enough, and its leader must be a confident and strong person.
Otherwise, it will be difficult to achieve the effect.
Just like the story of the southwestern Yi countries, if the Dian King had not been ambitious, the Qiong King was also ambitious, and Zhang Wen would not have been able to do so well.
Of course, after many years of hard work and training, Zhang Wen's methods and abilities have improved a lot. Naturally, Zhang Wen has a partner.
But, how could he tell Peng You these things?
Just like Peng You would not tell him that this afternoon, he sold five hundred bronze crossbows to a tribe.
Therefore, Zhang Wen just smiled, changed the topic, and said: "At this Dragon City meeting, I heard that not only the Western Huns sent multiple representatives, but also the Guli Lake in the north.
People and horses are coming to buy grain, silk and rhubarb, and I even heard that someone is secretly spending a lot of money to buy various books and literati..."
Nowadays, both the Western Huns and the Northern Huns are engaged in the sinicization movement in order to save themselves from the nation and survive.
To be honest, this matter should be about Xiu Yiwei.
but……
As long as there is profit to be made as businessmen, there is nothing they cannot do.
Now that the Huns are here, how can we not make a fortune?
But the problem is, you can earn this money, but you can’t put your wealth and life into it.
Therefore, when Peng You heard this, he immediately understood what the other party meant and said with a smile: "I'm going to sell some Lu Ru's books... This time I came from Chang'an, and I specially ordered hundreds of copies to be printed..."
Nowadays, the Huns are willing to buy books as long as they are books, and the prices are quite high!
Anyone who doesn’t earn this money is a fool!
The imperial court did not restrict the outflow of books by Lu Ru, Gu Liang, or even Gong Yang.
However, malicious competition must be prevented to avoid ruining the business.
Therefore, it is necessary to communicate in advance and be prepared.
"In that case, let me sell some of Gu Liang's works..." Zhang Wen laughed when he heard this.
As for whether the Huns would do what the book says when they take it back?
