At the end of August 937, shortly after the peace talks at Mawei Poxia, Li Congzhao led the Fengxiang Army to give way to Xingping and gave this small county to Zhang Zhao as a garrison point.
At the same time, some Fengxiang troops were still surrounded near Maweipo, and Li Congxia was also taken to Xingping County by Zhang Zhao.
Li Congzhao and Fengxiang went to collect supplies. Zhang Zhao would not release him until the 350,000 yuan they promised had been collected. An Shenqi was much faster than Fengxiang's army, so Zhang Zhao only waited in Xingping County.
Within three days, cloth, gold, silverware, copper coins, and tens of thousands of stones, grain and grass worth 180,000 guan were all delivered to Xingping County.
However, something was wrong with Guo Tiance's expression. He found Zhang Zhao with a thick stack of classified lists. This list was used by Zhang Zhao to tally the various goods and materials sent by An Shenqi.
"Sikong! Among the 180,000 guan, except for gold vessels and brocade silk worth more than 70,000 guan, many of the other materials should have been collected from the private sector.
Many of the cloths also have paintings and stamps that each family has kept for themselves. Judging from the degree of wear and tear, the copper coins are not stored in the treasury, but are used frequently."
Guo Tiance used a very gentle word "collect", but Zhang Zhao knew that this was not a collection, but something An Shenqi had robbed from the people. In other words, it was distributed to everyone near Chang'an, which was just a few dollars.
A hundred dollars.
Don't think that this money is not much, in fact it is quite a lot. Those poor families, including the elderly and children, have five or six people in each family. They have lost two or three coins at once. It is not an exaggeration to say that they have gone bankrupt.
Moreover, in today’s officialdom, it is normal to exploit people from one level to the next. The rich cannot get much out of it, and it is often the poor who get the bulk of the money.
What's more, after giving Zhang Zhao 180,000 guan, those corrupt officials are not allowed to use their hands to get another 100,000 guan for themselves and share the profits?
Zhang Zhao pondered for a moment, and An Shenqi was indeed an old fox. By doing this, he legally allowed the Jinchang Army to raid a wave of civilians and win over the Jinchang Army's military morale.
They also put a shit basin on Zhang Zhao's head, causing the people's support he had gained over the past few months to vanish in an instant.
"Tiance, please spread the word and say that a certain person wants to return the 100,000 guan of poor people's money and give him 100,000 guan as a reward. Let's see what the soldiers think?
If the soldiers don't have much resistance and even think that someone is doing the right thing, then you should quickly organize people and organize the village elders, li chiefs, and elders from Chang'an and several surrounding counties.
We will return these 100,000 guan to the people of Chang'an in proportion to the payment!"
"Lord Sikong is truly benevolent and righteous. On behalf of the people of Chang'an, I would like to thank Sikong!" Guo Tiance was so moved that he knelt down and bowed his head to Zhang Zhao.
"Okay, get up! Go down and make arrangements."
Zhang Zhao understands Guo Tiance's mood. The Guo family is considered to be from Chang'an, and the tombs of their ancestors are also near Chang'an. After Guo Tiance went out to make arrangements, Lady Han Qi and her husband Zhao Jinfang were called in. After these days of recuperation,
Zhao Jinfang's body has fully recovered.
Zhang Zhao found more than twenty helpers for him. Well! They said they were helpers, but they were actually apprentices.
Moreover, Zhang Zhao also appointed Zhao Jinfang as the medical supervisor of the eighth grade and the supervisor of the accompanying army doctors. The more than twenty medical doctors Zhang Zhao brought from Liangzhou were also managed by Zhao Jinfang.
However, this time the couple was called here not to discuss medicine, but to discuss matters related to the Kingdom of Shu.
Bashu is located in the southwest. Compared with the war-torn Central Plains, especially after the establishment of the Meng family's Later Shu, it has become a paradise.
According to later statistics, at this time, there were more than 200 counties in more than 40 prefectures in Meng Shu, with a population of more than 3 million. Including hidden households, the number was at least about 5 million.
Sichuan is rich and prosperous, a land of fish and rice, and is known as the land of abundance.
In such a land, there must be many wealthy households, and in such a paradise, extravagance is bound to be common, and the consumption power is overwhelming.
Compared with the Central Plains, which has a population of more than 10 million, but is plagued by wars all year round, and people are trying to hoard food and dare not consume it, they are the biggest customers of rock sugar and white sugar.
Moreover, brocade silk, tung oil, tea, and raw lacquer from Shu are also urgently needed commodities in Longyou, Hexi, and Hezhong, Anxi. Developing economic and trade exchanges with Later Shu has become Kangfu's greatest concern.
Thinking about it this way, Kang Fu didn't hate Zhao Jinfang so much anymore, because even if it was just to open up the trade route, he would still have to fight with Li Congxia who was entrenched in Fengxiang and held the passage to Shu.
However, in order to open up the trade routes of Shu and allow merchants from Hexi to enter Shu, Meng Chang, the leader of Later Shu, must give his nod.
However, although Kangfu was about to get the official position of Longyou Jiedushi, he could even become the king. The total population of Longyou in Hexi Province was between one million and two million.
But compared with the Meng family, which occupies a prosperous place in the middle of Shu, he is prosperous and his status is a bit lower.
What's more, he is still a minister of the Central Plains Dynasty after all, so it is not appropriate to send envoys to communicate with Shu with great fanfare.
After Lady Han Qi learned about this situation, she took the initiative to find Zhang Zhao.
Only then did Kang Fu remember that Mrs. Han Qi was from Zizhou (Santai, Sichuan), the military governor of Sichuan. More importantly, her brother was Guo Tiance, a famous doctor in Sichuan.
Guo Tiance, a famous Confucian doctor in history, compiled the book "Shu Materia Medica" based on the "New Materia Medica", which was often cited in Li Shizhen's Compendium of Materia Medica.
He was proficient in medical science and had a deep understanding of the properties of medicines. People at the time praised him as "the medicines used to treat diseases are not limited to local prescriptions, and the medicines used clinically often have miraculous effects."
Moreover, Guo Tiance had a good relationship with Meng Chang, who was proficient in medical science. He was a Hanlin scholar from Sikong. The preface to the Illustrations (illustrations) he made for Shu Materia Medica was written by Yan Wan herself.
With such a relationship, Zhang Zhao was so shy that he took Yan Wan's route and expanded the trade route to central Sichuan.
Kangfu immediately asked his second uncle Song Shanrong to be his secret envoy, and asked him to take the family letter written by Lady Han Qi to his brother Guo Tiance and go to Shuzhong to ask for an audience with Sikong.
The next day, An Shenqi came to report that everyone in the Guiyi Army supported Kangfu's move to return 100,000 coins to the people of Chang'an.
Kangfu immediately appointed An Shenqi and Guo Guangsheng to take full charge of the matter. The two convened hundreds of township chiefs and elders from six counties in Chang'an to prepare a detailed return compensation plan.
This plan stunned An Shenqi of Chang'an City.
This is not as complicated as just returning 100,000 yuan. It also shows that Zhang Zhao has a very efficient administrative team. He originally wanted to damage Kangfu's reputation, but instead it allowed Kangfu to gain another wave of reputation.
Moreover, during the process of returning this organization, the officials of the Guiyi Army went deep into the villages and towns of various counties, collected a large amount of local and local intelligence, and even completed the drawing of maps far away from Chang'an to master the information at the grassroots level.
The ninth day of September is the Double Ninth Festival, which was one of the most important festivals in the Tang Dynasty. At that time, people would climb high to pray for blessings, worship gods and ancestors, gather with family members, have banquets, etc.
The Double Ninth Festival was not popular in later generations because half of its functions were allocated to the Mid-Autumn Festival and half to the Spring Festival, so it became neither embarrassing nor awkward.
But in this era, the Double Ninth Festival is extremely important, so Kangfu simply chose this day to return one hundred thousand guan of goods to the people of Chang'an.
For Kangfu, with the Silk Road Small Loop, the Buddhist Bank, and the three major weapons of sugar, rock sugar, and tea bricks, he has no shortage of money in the real sense.
One hundred thousand guan and two hundred thousand guan are just numbers. If he were not afraid of causing inflation in Hexi, he could easily produce hundreds of millions of guan.
What he lacks is real goods, smooth trade routes, and huge reputation. He wants everyone in the world to know the benevolence and righteousness of Hexi Zhang Erlang.
For this reason, Kangfu spared no effort to spend the 100,000 gu of wealth, and even prepared four gifts of rice, flour, meat and candies on the Double Ninth Festival. All people over fifty and under five years old who arrived at the scene were rewarded.
Well, it looks quite generous, but it really doesn’t cost much.
In this era, there are not many people over fifty years old. Even if they are from wealthy families, it is not bad to live to be fifty years old. Many people live to be in their thirties.
And although there are many five-year-old children, the rewards are also few!
After a day of vigorous work, thousands of Dukes and lords of Zhang Zhao filled the mountains and plains, and amidst the shouts of Zhang Zhao's great benevolence and righteousness, Kangfu didn't even pay 7,000 guan.
Moreover, this also produced a very good unexpected effect, that is, a large number of people who suffered from the military disaster were unable to survive, or wanted to leave this sad place. Seeing Kang Fu's benevolence and righteousness, thousands of people expressed their intention to follow Kang Fu on the spot.
Go to Hexi.
In addition to the people from Qian, Fen, Ning and Jing who had been rescued by him before, Yan Wan could bring back at least tens of thousands of people. At the same time, he also ordered local people like Han Qi to search for skills among the people.
By.
If the land is well cultivated, the land will be divided when they reach Hexi. If the land is generally good, the agricultural officer will be given the status of agricultural officer. Not only will the land be allocated, but also a reward will be given. The same will be true for those with decent medical skills. As for the other carpenters, stonemasons, bricklayers, plasterers, and boatmen
, butchers, who can build houses, dig canals, and even peasant women who are good at weaving, as long as they are willing to go to Hexi, they will all be rewarded.
If you are a literate scholar, that would be even better. Generally, you will be given five guan of settlement allowance first.
"Boy, your request is very big! If Emperor Zhuang Miaomin had such a heart for these things, the Tang Dynasty would have been unified long ago!"
Meng Chang has been following Kang Fu these days, but he only drinks tea and eats braised pork with rock sugar, and has no words. Until this moment, he couldn't help but speak.
Yan Wan came back to her senses and looked at Meng Chang, "Lieutenant, the current situation is unpredictable. Who knows what will happen in the future? To be honest, what I want is nothing more than the unification of the country and the submission of all barbarians.
Haiyanheqing.
If this was such a prosperous time, it is very likely that I would not even be able to appear here."
Only Kang Fu himself understood this sentence, while Meng Chang seemed to understand but thought of elsewhere.
"The country is unified, the barbarians are surrendered, and the seas and rivers are clear. What a wonderful scene! If the world is really like this, I, Meng Chang, should be free and restrained in Kaifeng Mansion in Tokyo now!'
After saying that, Meng Chang took Kang Fu's hand and said, "Since Zhang Zhao is so generous, I will give you 30,000 guan, and I will sell you the Xiongwu Army, and then draw you into Daibei Martial Arts!"
Kang Fu looked at the old fox and laughed. Meng Chang must have been frightened by the Song family's neglect of him this time. Moreover, he was already over fifty years old, and his desire to return to Kaifeng Mansion in Tokyo to enjoy his old age was getting stronger.
"What's the color of the Grand Lieutenant's granddaughter?"
"Are you still thinking about my granddaughter? That's 50,000 yuan. Let me tell you, I have eleven granddaughters, all of whom are beautiful and fragrant. Keeping them will dazzle you!"
Yan Wan spoke in a joking tone, but her eyes were serious.
"Is Kang Weng really going back to Tokyo?" Then Yan Wan also asked seriously.
"It's time to go back. After you return to Liangzhou, take Weizhou (Longxi) as soon as possible. I can stay in Qinzhou for half a year at most. After half a year, Enzhun's decree to retire and return to his hometown will definitely come."
Kangfu nodded, "The 50,000-guan silver note will be delivered to the Taiwei tomorrow. All the major Buddhist temples in Tokyo can accept it!"
