"When I was shocked to hear that Lord Han and Princess Qingyang were missing, the Marquis was very anxious. He was worried that Lord Han and Princess Qingyang would be taken away by thieves. He was also worried that someone under Lord Han had disloyal intentions and wanted to sacrifice Lord Han to the rebels.
Later, Xu Hui asked for the reward and sent Tiqi to search for Master Han's whereabouts, and therefore detained many of Master Han's subordinates. After learning that Master Han had returned to Xuzhou, the Marquis realized that it was a false alarm, and currently, Master Han's
The subordinates, Lord Guo, and Lieutenant Zhou sent a ship to Yiling, and specially ordered Cao Qian to go to Xuzhou first to inform Lord Han..."
Han Qian was guarding the tomb in mourning on the mountain. After Cao Qian, a member of the Judiciary Army of Yuzhou, arrived at Longya City, he had no choice but to climb the mountain to see Han Qian.
Han Qian met Cao Gan twice when he was in the capital of Shu. At that time, Cao Gan was serving in the Changxiang Marquis Mansion and was not a prominent figure, but in fact he was one of the remaining core figures of the Shenling Division in Shu. Changxiang
Cao Qian was mainly responsible for the liaison between Hou and Jing Qiongwen and others, as well as the manpower secretly cultivated by the Changxiang Hou Mansion.
Cao Qian was in his late fifties, with a pair of bright triangular eyes on his skinny face. He also looked energetic and did not look old at all. This was due to his long-term practice of boxing and kicking and physical training. He was standing in front of Han Qian.
The explanation of Yuzhou's detention of the wedding embassy was made lightly, as if it was really a misunderstanding caused by strong concerns about Han Qian's personal safety, and it seemed that so many people were really detained by people sent by Yuzhou.
There are two people behind Cao Gan. One is his son Cao Zhe, who is wearing a plain robe, but looks like a sharp sword hidden in a sheath, with only a faint edge showing through. The other is a man who has followed Cao Gan and served in the Changxiang Marquis Mansion for many years.
Disciple Jiang Lian, they followed Cao Qian to Xuzhou, but it was not as simple as accompanying them as guards.
Yiling in Xiazhou is adjacent to Jingzhou, both to the east of Wushan, west of the Han River, and north of the Yangtze River. Even if Zhang Wei's attitude in Jingzhou is still unclear, it is most direct to send Guo Rong, Zhou Chu and others back to Xuzhou.
The best way is to send Zhou Chu and others to Yueyang or Langzhou.
The more difficult and difficult to deal with is Guo Rong.
Guo Rong was an eunuch of the Anning Palace, and Han Daoxun was brutally tortured by the Anning Palace. According to the idea of the Marquis of Changxiang, Cao Qian could just send Guo Rong, Zhou Chu and others directly to Yueyang.
Finally, at the strong request of Zhou Chu and others, Cao Gan decided to go to Xuzhou to see Han Qian first, and then decide whether Guo Rong should stay or go.
Han Qian sat under the bamboo shed, with the wind blowing from all directions, and said: "Guo Rong can stay or leave as he pleases, and everyone else should just go back to Xuzhou!"
Without passing through Yueyang or Langzhou, Zhou Chu and others can directly cross the river from Yiling, go south along the western foot of Wuling Mountain, and reach the Yuanshui River before taking a boat back to Xuzhou; he can also directly send a boat to stop in Wuling County.
Go to the west bank of the river and pick them up from Zhou Chu.
As for Guo Rong, although he was an eunuch of the Anning Palace family, he had no bad deeds to harm others, and even helped them to successfully escape from Shu.
Han Qian had no intention of killing Guo Rong to vent his hatred, nor did he have any intention of handing him over to Yueyang for disposal.
"When I crossed the river from Yiling to Xuzhou, Mr. Guo told me that he seemed to be interested in coming to Xuzhou." Cao Gan rubbed his nose and looked at Han Qian and said.
"Since Mr. Guo thinks of Xuzhou, it's up to him. Xuzhou is not a forbidden area in the world where people are prohibited from entering and exiting." Han Qian said noncommittally.
"Except where Master Guo, Captain Zhou and others are going, Lord Marquis sent Cao Gan to see Master Han, and he also thought about asking the coalition troops about Sizhou." Cao Gan narrowed his experienced triangular eyes and stared at Han Qian and asked.
, "I came to Longya City by borrowing the road from Wuling. I heard that the Hunan Shangshu Province officially entrusted Mr. Han to take over the governorship of Xuzhou. Cao Gan boldly asked again, can Xuzhou also send troops to participate in the suppression of the Wu Liao people?"
"To unite troops in Sizhou, this requires Mr. Cao to go to Sizhou in person. He will know after meeting Yang Xingfeng, the governor of Sizhou, and other figures of the Yang family. As for whether to send troops to Xuzhou, Mr. Cao will march west along the Chen River.
Looking at how dangerous and steep the trail from the southern foot of Wuling Mountain is to Sizhou, we know that sending troops to Xuzhou is really difficult," Han Qian said slowly, "But after the waterway of the Qianjiang River is unblocked, even with Ding Zhuang
Carrying one's head over the mountains, Xuzhou can still send tens of thousands of pieces of Qianyang cotton to Shu through Sizhou every year..."
Cao Gan was slightly startled, thinking that they were in Yuzhou and united with Sizhou Yang Xingfeng to attack the Wuyuan people. Xuzhou did not send troops to contribute, but they still had to enjoy the benefits of opening up the Qianjiang River waterway?
However, since Han Qian said that the trail at the southern foot of Wuling Mountain was extremely dangerous and steep, making it difficult for the army to pass through, he did not send anyone to go there himself, and he had no right to speak at this time.
Besides, the main reason they persuaded Sizhou to send troops is that after the Qianjiang waterway is opened, the Butie tea medicine from Xuzhou and the salt horse from Yuzhou can be transported to various places through Sizhou, and what is needed can be exchanged. Sizhou can not only transform
If you are not so closed-minded, you can also make huge profits by levying overtaxes and municipal parking taxes.
For Yuzhou, passing through Banan will not only extend the hinterland controlled by Yuzhou to the hinterland of the middle reaches of the Qianjiang River, but also cut off the private salt source of the Shanliao people in southern Sichuan, laying the foundation for completely quelling the rebellion of the Shanliao people in southern Sichuan.
Changxiang Marquis replaced Qingjiang Marquis to lay the foundation.
Whether Xuzhou sends troops or not is not very important. What is more important is that Xuzhou can take an active participatory stance.
"Then we need to ask Mr. Han to send someone to guide us on our behalf," Cao Gan said.
Cao Qian was really unfamiliar with the mountains and terrain in the Chenxu area, and he hoped to go there in person so that he would be more confident to meet the Yang family in Sizhou.
At the same time, Yuzhou and Sizhou are located in the upper and lower reaches of the Qianjiang River, but apart from the exchanges between private salt dealers, there is no official contact. Cao Gan does not think that with a spy document from the Yuzhou Governor's Office, he can knock on the Sizhou Yang family
At the gate, even if Xuzhou does not send troops, dragging people from Xuzhou through can still increase the bargaining chips.
Sizhou is adjacent to Chenzhou and Xuzhou. At the same time, it is also nominally attached to Dachu. It is the Jisuzhou of Dachu. Every year, it sends some symbolic tributes to Jinling and asks for some rewards back.
"Of course, when Mr. Cao comes over, we always have to provide convenience as much as possible,"
Han Qian didn't know when the situation would suddenly take a turn for the worse. Xuzhou's troops were too limited to take care of multiple directions, but he sent as few guides and scouts as possible to assist Cao Qian and the others. It was just a little effort, so he agreed immediately.
Besides, regarding the cooperation with Prince Wang Yong of Changxiang, we need to show some sincerity here.
Han Qian said again,
"At this time, the war in Jinling is chaotic, and we don't know when the war will stop. Jingxiang and Jiangnan West Road are in urgent need of Sichuan salt. It may be most convenient to transport Sichuan salt by ship along the Yangtze River, but the salt in the hinterland such as Chenxu, Jingshao, etc.
Even if you go to Sizhou, it will still be profitable. When Mr. Cao saw Governor Yang, he said that Xuzhou can buy all the Sichuan salt that arrives at Laolong Gorge for two thousand yuan per stone."
Wells are dug in Banan to collect brine and boiled salt, which is used as well salt. Each rock salt costs only two to three hundred yuan. It goes south through the Qianjiang River and is transported by horseback on horseback via the trail at the southern foot of Wuling Mountain. No matter how difficult it is, each rock salt costs five or six hundred yuan to transport.
A hundred dollars is a lot of money. Han Qian promised to go to Longya City to buy it for two thousand dollars per stone, which means that for every stone of Sichuan salt transported to Xuzhou via Sizhou, Yuzhou and Sizhou will get one thousand, two thousand, three hundred dollars.
Huge profits from money.
If Yuzhou takes less salt profits, 50,000 to 60,000 shi of Sichuan salt is imported into Xuzhou through Sizhou every year, which is a huge profit of 70,000 to 80,000 taels of salt. This alone can probably make the Yang family of Sizhou boom.
Is it exciting?
Although the Tanlangyue prefectures can levy a total of hundreds of thousands of land taxes every year, it is a large state with 100,000 hectares of land and 100,000 households, and Tianzhou has less than 10,000 households.
, the land is poor, no matter how harsh the exploitation is, the annual rent, taxes, and labor can add up to twenty to thirty thousand yuan, which is enough to make up for the sky, and there are all kinds of expenses to deal with, so it is a poor and remote place.
In many cases, the Central Plains dynasty was unwilling to directly bring these states and counties under its rule.
To put it bluntly, in these poor and remote places, the cost of governance is too high and the income from food and tax is low.
Not only could these prefectures and counties not be expected to have grain taxes imported into Beijing, but they would also have to pay a large amount of money to maintain the operation of the government offices.
Once local chaos breaks out, the imperial court will need to send troops to conquer it, which will make the already stretched central finances even worse and cause holes one after another.
As a result, maintaining nominal rule and actually letting these states and counties manage their own affairs became a pragmatic choice forced by the reality of the rulers of the past dynasties.
Of course, with so much Sichuan salt imported into Xuzhou, Cao Gan didn't care what Han Qian would do with it. He thought that Han Qian and his father, Han Daoxun, had successively served as governors of Xuzhou. Han Qian had the final say in everything in Xuzhou.
He has no way to extract more huge profits from these Sichuan salts.
"Master Han will have to worry about the marriage between the princess and His Highness Prince Tan," Cao Gan said.
"The princess's sent-off relatives, horses and ceremonial guards should also have arrived in Qiazhou. After the three-month national mourning period has passed, the wedding envoys selected by the Lord of Shu should have rushed to Yueyang to organize everything. Han Qian sent the princess off
After arriving in Yueyang, the responsibilities of the wedding envoy have been completed. At this time, I just want to attend the funeral and guard the tomb, and I really have no time to care about worldly affairs." Han Qian declined, indicating that he would not get involved in going to Yueyang at this time.
Damn it, why don't you have to do anything in Xuzhou? Cao Gan cursed, but Sanjiang's eyes narrowed and seemed to be full of smiles, and he said: "The princess married into the Chu land for the first time, so it is inevitable that she is not familiar with the place. In addition,
Being a pampered child in the Shu Palace will inevitably lead to some petty tempers. Even if the head of our country will send a few experienced Mo Mo to serve around him, he may not be able to get along well with the Chu king and his ministers in a short period of time. At this time, Mr. Han will be required to accommodate him.
Already."
"It's easy to say. After all, it was Han who welcomed the princess into Da Chu. It is impossible to just sit back and watch the princess being bullied by those ungrateful people. Please rest assured, Mr. Cao and the Marquis." Han Qian said, next
He stood up and signaled to see off the guests that he would continue to stay in the mountains and keep on track. More detailed negotiations would be left to Feng Liao, while Tian Cheng and the others were responsible for contacting Cao Gan.
Tian Cheng, Gao Shao and Feng Liao accompanied Cao Gan, Cao Zhe, Jiang Lian and others to go down first. Zhao Ting'er was pregnant and was afraid that the steep mountain road would be slippery at night, so she went back to Longya City first.
In addition to Lin Zongjing leading a team of guards, Xi Rong was accompanying Han Qian to take care of his daily life, and mainly helped to organize the manuscripts.
Han Qian stood in the mountains, watching the red sunset covering the top of the Western Mountain. At this time, he saw Guo Nuer coming up the mountain and handed over an opened secret letter: "Master Jiang has just received a secret message from a spy."
I will bring the secret letter sent back by Liang Guoxin for your lord to read."
