Chapter 370 The sun rises in the east and sets in the west
Dunhuang County, Daqishang Road, Puheyi.
The postmaster held the document issued by the court, his hands were shaking, and asked the official who came to deliver the order: "The postmasters on the commercial road have always been served by the people of the Long tribe. Over the past few years, they have worked hard and never made any mistakes. Why did they suddenly
Want to expel us from our official status?!"
The official raised his head and said, "What kind of Dragon Tribe people are you? You are all citizens of the Tang Dynasty. Naturally, you must obey the arrangements of the imperial court!"
The postmaster gritted his teeth and asked again: "The Daqi Caravan Road is passable thanks to the dragon tribesmen as guides. Now that our official status has been removed, who will guide the caravans through the desert in the future?"
The official laughed when he heard this and said: "As long as the price is right, there will naturally be someone to guide you, so why do we need to support so many of you?"
When the postmaster heard this, his face was furious, but in his heart he was frightened.
The official's words meant that some members of the Dragon Tribe had been bribed. As a result, the only skill that the Twelve Dragon Tribe could rely on on the Daqi trade route was completely useless.
The official waved his hand behind him: "Come here, drive out all these ignorant border residents."
A group of ethnic people who were post soldiers were furious. They took the penis in their hands and wanted to resist.
When the official saw this, he sneered: "What's wrong?! The Daqi Trade Road has changed a lot. How can we allow you to be so presumptuous?!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a large number of palace guards armed with crossbows rushed into the inn and aimed at the people.
Looking at the shining crossbow arrows, the postmaster looked solemn, stretched out his palms to stop the angry tribesmen, and said in a deep voice: "Don't cause trouble, let's go!"
The same situation happened at every station on Daqi Commercial Road.
Except for a few of the Long tribe people who were originally postmasters and postmen who were bribed, most of them were dismissed from their official positions after Wang Xie took up the post of envoy of Longyou Road and took charge of the management of Daqi Trading Road.
In an instant, the foundation of the Twelve Dragons' operation on Daqi Trading Road for several years was uprooted.
The source of income that the tribesmen relied on for their livelihood was also immediately suspended.
At the same time, aristocratic families and prominent families from Guanzhong, Central Plains, Hebei, Hexi and other places extended their trading houses' power to Dunhuang County like a tide, controlling every key point on the Daqi trade route.
In less than a month, the government-run commercial district of Daqi Commercial Road was carved up by many private forces in Datang.
On this day, the clan leaders of the Twelve Dragon Tribes gathered in the camp of the Luo Tu Dragon Tribe to discuss how to deal with the situation next.
Long Maoyuan, the leader of the Luo Tu Dragon Tribe, sat cross-legged in the tent, his brows furrowed into the character "Chuan", and asked the other chiefs in the tent: "A new king has arrived from Chang'an, and he has ordered the death of Long.
The official status of the tribal people has driven us out of the inn again. Do you all here have a way to deal with it?"
The other clan leaders looked at each other with a frown on their faces.
After a while, a clan leader suggested: "Should we bring a heavy gift to pay a visit to Wang Shijun? And then persuade him to reinstate our official status?"
Long Maoyuan heard this and scolded: "How can Wang Zhi appreciate our heavy gift? He wants to control the post station and the entire Daqi trade route!"
One of the clan chiefs raised eyebrows and said, "How can we sit still and wait for death if Wang Fei doesn't give the Dragon tribe a way to survive? There are nearly ten thousand people in the Twelve Dragon tribe. Regardless of men, women, old or young, they are all good at fighting. At worst, we will fight to the death with him."
!”
Long Maoyuan smiled bitterly and said: "Fight? How can you fight with others? The soldiers in Wang's hands, plus the guards of Dunhuang County, can kill us with just one encounter, and we will be defeated. Fighting with them is just an egg against a stone."
"
When everyone heard this, they were silent for a long time.
Someone suggested in a low voice: "The people of the Long Tribe were able to obtain the official status of Daqi Commercial Road thanks to Zhou Jian. Now that Wang Jian has taken office, things have changed. We might as well send people to find Zhou Jian to find a way to deal with it."
?" Long Maoyuan nodded lightly: "This is reasonable. I have already dispatched fast horses from the clan and rushed to Liangzhou City. The results will be available within half a month."
As soon as he finished speaking, some people opened the curtains and shouted anxiously: "It's not good! It's not good!"
Long Maoyuan was shocked: "What happened?"
The ethnic group panted and said: "Yangguan has just issued a notice. From now on, any caravan that passes through the Daqi trade route and is not on the imperial concession list will have to charge three times the customs fee and road diversion fee.
In addition, there are also expenses such as land money, spring and autumn money, etc."
Long Maoyuan took a breath: "Collecting so many miscellaneous taxes? What are you trying to do?!"
Tribe: "The notice also said that if you don't want to pay more, you must join the franchise list, which will be issued by the imperial court and then unified management."
When a clan leader heard this, he couldn't bear it anymore. He stood up and shouted: "This is going to cut off our way of survival!"
Others echoed loudly.
Suddenly, the crowd was filled with emotion and rage.
Seeing this, Long Maoyuan slowly closed his eyes and whispered: "Misfortune lies where blessings depend, and blessing lies where misfortune lies... It's really like this..."
Half a month later, the messenger from the Dragon Division who rushed to Liangzhou returned to the Luo Tu Dragon Division and brought back a letter.
Long Maoyuan couldn't wait to open the letter in front of other clan leaders.
Looking around, there are only two big characters written on the huge piece of paper - Yan Qi.
On the other side, in Chang'an Bachuan, Zhou Jun finally waited for the long-awaited guest.
Yulin Military Academy Lieutenant Luo Anyuan knelt on one knee in front of Zhou Jun and said, "Anyuan pays homage to the consort."
Zhou Jun helped Luo Anyuan up and said with a smile: "You and I are old acquaintances, so why do we need so many courtesy?"
Luo Anyuan: "Fortunately, Anyuan has lived up to his command. From now on, he will be stationed in Bachuan and lead the military affairs."
Zhou Jun: "I'll take you to see the training steps later... You invited yourself to Anshengyuan this time. Did it go well with the Ministry of War?"
Luo Anyuan: "The Yulin Army is the first guard of Beiya. Among them, the military attache has lived in Chang'an for a long time, and his work is leisurely and decent. No one wants to be transferred to other places. What's more, the position of training Anshengyuan Department is also a waste of time.
Lin Jun's name, so Anyuan asked for help this time and no one competed with me, it can be said that it was effortless."
Zhou Jun nodded and said: "I hope everything goes well, it's just that I suffered a lot from Anyuan, moved from Chang'an to Bachuan, and took on this less than honorable job."
Luo Anyuan smiled and shook his head and said: "What are you talking about, Prince Consort? When I went on an envoy with Fan Jianjun, I encountered an ambush on the way. If you hadn't turned the tide, Anyuan would have died in a foreign land long ago... Now that Prince Consort has a lesson, An Yuan
Even if I risk my life, I still wish you a helping hand."
Zhou Jun heard this and said with emotion: "That's too serious."
Luo Anyuan: "Not only Anyuan, but also my father has a general view. He said that Zhou Erlang is talented and his future will be limitless. Instead of staying in the Yulin army doing nothing, it is better to stay with the consort.
Make an effort."
Zhou Jun: "Your father has returned to Chang'an?"
Luo Anyuan: "My father was demoted to Longyou earlier because of the Luoyang Lantern Case. Later he participated in the reconstruction of Daqi Trading Road. Because of his meritorious service, he was transferred back to Chang'an. Now he has joined the Ordnance Prison and became a young prisoner."
Zhou Jun made a note of this in his mind, patted Luo Anyuan's shoulder again, and said, "Let's go, first go to Bachuan Market to find a wine shop, I will help you clean up the dust, and then introduce some people to you."