Guo Nuer, He Liufeng and others escorted Cao Gan to Sizhou to meet Sizhou governor Yang Xingfeng at the end of February. They also proposed conditions for Han Qian to leave Xuzhou on behalf of Han Qian.
On March 10, Yang Xingfeng, the governor of Sizhou, sent his son Yang Hu, along with Cao Qian, Guo Nuer, and He Liufeng, to return to Longya City to meet Han Qian.
The conditions offered by Han Qian and Marquis Changxiang were too tempting. Not to mention other things, only 100,000 Ishikawa salt passed through Sizhou every year and was imported into central Guizhou and southern Hunan. For Sizhou, it was worth 89,000 yuan per year.
Huge profits.
The scope of Sizhou is similar to that of Xuzhou and Chenzhou, but it is more closed than Xuzhou and Chenzhou.
In the direction of Sichuan and Chongqing, the Qianjiang River leads to Sizhou, but there are many Wuliao people's villages in the middle, blocking the connection between Sizhou and Sichuan and Chongqing.
The Liao people were driven out of the Nanzhao area hundreds of years ago and moved north to the mountains of southern Sichuan. They also took away the mountain forest land from the local indigenous people. The hatred between the indigenous people in Sizhou and the Wu Liao people was extremely deep.
In the direction of Jingxiang, Chenshui, a tributary of the Yuanjiang River, originates from the mountains in the east of Sizhou. However, the river is fast and narrow, and there are many dangerous shoals in the river, making it difficult for navigation. Only the north bank of Chenshui has a dangerous trail that can lead to the hinterland of Sizhou.
The trail at the southern foot of Wuling Mountain, which bypasses the Sizhou City controlled by the Yang family and connects the east bank of the Qianjiang River and the west bank of the Chenshui River, was completely forged by private salt dealers.
Sizhou is so closed, and the number of foreign residents who have moved and settled within its territory is also very limited. Native-registered households account for 90% of the total population. Therefore, starting from the previous dynasty, the military and political power in Sizhou has been firmly controlled by native surnames.
Here, it has been almost a hundred years since the hereditary governor of Sizhou of the Yang family came to Yang Xingfeng.
Even so, the Yang family in Sizhou is far from comparable to the Ma family running Tanzhou.
Sizhou is too barren. Even if the Yang family and other big surnames have thousands of village slaves for exploitation, their lives are very poor. Even if they are governors, their prestige is not even as good as that of Feng Changyu, Xiang Jianlong, and Yang Zaili in their early years.
and others, not to mention Xiying, who holds the power in Chenzhou at this time.
Even if the Yang family maintained a force of two thousand men in Sizhou, it was quite difficult.
Yang Xingfeng's son followed Cao Qian to Longya City and went into the mountains to ask for a meeting with Han Qian. In addition to further implementing the salt profit issue, he also wanted to purchase the armor and weapons produced by Longya City.
Zheng Hui led Xuzhou troops to attack Chenzhou. Although Sizhou did not intervene and chose to stand aside, he always paid attention to the war. It can be said that he was very wary of the development of the Han family and his son in Xuzhou.
At present, Han Qian has officially been awarded the title of governor of Xuzhou. Although the strength and cohesion of Xuzhou will only be stronger and will not be weakened, from another perspective, the Han family in Xuzhou has undoubtedly officially become the surname of southwestern Hunan and Qianyang.
Being a member of a wealthy clan has also invisibly weakened the vigilance and hostility of other native clans towards Xuzhou.
What they were more worried about before was the reform of land ownership, the promotion of the unified registration of natives and guests, and the complete annexation of the two states of Chenxu to Dachu. Then they would no longer be able to be the emperors and overlords of the natives.
Now it seems that the Han family has replaced Feng, Xi and other families as the lords of Xuzhou, and the threat they feel is weaker. In their view, on the one hand, Han Qian only relied on the power of Xuzhou to defeat Xuzhou.
It cannot pose a fatal threat to them. The second aspect is that once the situation in Chu State stabilizes, even if it officially recognizes the fact that Han Qian separatized Xuzhou, Han Qian will not be allowed to continue to expand beyond Xuzhou.
In this way, Yang's attitude towards Xuzhou has naturally changed from vigilance to cooperation, not to mention there are such huge benefits to be gained.
However, the armaments of Sizhou's soldiers and horses were so poor that the soldiers no longer needed iron armor and sharp swords, and even the reserves of iron arrow clusters were extremely limited. The main armaments were rattan armor, rattan shields, short bows, and stabbing spears.
The Fan soldiers are warlike, brave, and unafraid of death. This is the biggest advantage that has dominated this landscape since the past dynasties. However, the inferiority of military preparations was fully demonstrated in the battles such as Jiming Village and Chenyang City. The Chenzhou Fan soldiers were beaten like dogs.
undoubtedly.
Sizhou needs Bingjia to improve his combat power, and at the same time, he also wants to test whether Xuzhou really has the intention to cooperate with Sizhou, not just to use Sizhou, but even to have hidden ill intentions towards Sizhou.
Han Qian always accepted all comers. Sitting in a bamboo shack in the mountains, he said to Yang Hu, who was over thirty years old: "If you have something to ask for in Sizhou, you can barter with money or barter with goods.
You can also borrow money through work - Xuzhou is sparsely populated, and there have been wars for many years before, and there are too many casualties among young men. If you want to do anything at this time, you feel that there is a severe shortage of manpower. If there are more young men in Sizhou, I will
You can hire them to do work and pay the wages to Sizhou on a monthly basis!"
Yang Hu was slightly startled. Although he was in a remote place in Sizhou, his father had also brought Confucian scholars from other places to Sizhou since he was a child and taught them calligraphy. His vision was much broader than that of ordinary people, but he didn't
I thought that I could use this method to exchange for the scarce weapons and armor from Xuzhou.
However, if you think about it carefully, there is nothing wrong with it.
The Yang family alone in Sizhou had more than 10,000 village slaves, who could be used by women and children to cultivate the fields. After deducting the state camp and direct line guards, there were almost 2,000 young men who could be sent to work in exchange for soldiers and armor.
"I dare to ask Mr. Han, how do you calculate the workmanship?" Yang Hu faced a young man who was six or seven years younger than him, but he did not dare to show any slightness. The Feng family in Xuzhou was destroyed, and the Xi family in Chenzhou was killed.
Like dogs, there may not be many rumors about them in other places. Sizhou is so close that it feels the pain of dying lips and cold teeth.
"Qianyang, Linjiang, whether it is recruiting workers or soldiers, how the treatment is, and the price of the swords and armors produced in Longya City are not secrets. Mr. Yang must also know it, why bother to ask?"
Han Qian smiled.
Yang Hu hesitated for a long time and said: "Master Han treats the workers too well, which may make them arrogant. The slaves I send from Sizhou can just obey Master Han. There is no need to be so generous in food and clothing. Can I give you more wages?"
?”
Zhao Ting'er sat next to Han Qian, but she didn't expect that Yang escorted the slave workers over. It wasn't enough to take all the wages from these slave workers, but he even wanted to withhold food so that they could exploit more!
Zhao Ting'er looked at Yunlin in the mountains with a cold face. She was obviously pregnant at this time. She thought silently that she could not get angry over such a trivial matter. She held back and did not directly reject Yang Hu's unreasonable request on Han Qian's behalf.
"Young Master Yang is right to think so, but it's difficult for us to operate here. In this case, Master Yang, do you think it's okay?" Han Qian said calmly, "The manpower sent by Sizhou should still be made by
Sizhou will send people to govern, and we will allocate money and food according to the head. When the time comes, how much food these slave workers will be given every day will be decided by Sizhou. Sizhou only needs to ensure that these people are not lazy at work."
"Okay!" Yang Hu said with a loud heartbeat.
He was thinking that if he sent two thousand village slaves over, according to the food supply standards here in Xuzhou, they would be able to deduct almost 20 shi of grain every day, which would be 600 shi of grain every month, and seven shi of grain a year.
One thousand two hundred stones of grain.
This is a huge sum in Sizhou.
Han Qian determined the general scope of the cooperation, and more specific matters were discussed by Feng Liao, Zhao Jicheng and Yang Hu.
After Cao Qian facilitated this, although he was not a wedding messenger and did not need to be responsible for the marriage between Princess Zhang Luo Qingyang and King Tan Yang Yuanpu, he still had to go to Yueyang on behalf of the Marquis of Changxiang to discuss the specific conditions for cooperation between Yuzhou and Yueyang.
This was also the original purpose of Princess Qingyang's marriage to Prince Tan Yang Yuanpu.
Although a considerable part of Sichuan salt will go through the Qianjiang River and the southern footpath of Wuling Mountain into Xuzhou in the future, the Yangtze River is still the main road for material exchange between Yuzhou and Yueyang. At this time, Yuzhou wants to obtain the high-quality battlefield created by Longya City.
At present, armored vehicles can only be detoured from the Yuanshui River and the Yangtze River.
Seeing that Han Qian and Yang Hu had reached an agreement and that his purpose of returning to Xuzhou had been achieved, Cao Qian asked Han Qian again: "Today is the three-month period since Mr. Han was killed. Mr. Han really doesn't go out of the mountain. How can he accompany Cao Qian?"
Going to Yueyang?"
"..." Han Qian shook his head. Wang Chan'er, Zheng Yu, and his uncle must be very satisfied with him staying in Xuzhou at this time. He hopes that those people think that this is a tacit understanding recognized by everyone, and it is not time to break this tacit understanding.
When he arrived, he said to Cao Qian, "I'm waiting at Longya Mountain to hear the good news about Yuzhou."
"According to Lord Han's good advice," Cao Qian said, knowing that he did not expect that he could reverse Han Qian's will, "Then it is not convenient for me to stay here longer. I will go down the mountain to Chenyang and take a boat to Yueyang to meet King Tan and talk to Lord Han.
We’ll see you later.”
"Master Cao probably doesn't really hope that we will have a date in the future." Han Qian said with a smile.
Cao Gan was slightly startled, and thought to himself, he and Han Qian were ministers of two countries respectively. Even if he had the opportunity to go to Chu as an envoy in the future, he would not come around to Xuzhou. If he wanted to meet again, either Han Qian would
Qian followed the Chu army into Shu, or he followed the Shu army into Chu.
This is not a good sign!
Cao Gan smiled awkwardly and said: "My king sent Wei Qun, the minister of Honglu Temple, as a wedding envoy to Yueyang to preside over the marriage between the princess and King Tan. Lord Han is unwilling to come out at this time, and I rushed to Yueyang, Tan
The king may think that I am not worthy enough!"
In the eyes of ordinary people, Wei Qun's weight is much greater than that of Cao Gan. Even if King Tan Yang Yuanpu and Shen Yang know that Cao Gan represents the Marquis of Changxiang, there is no guarantee that Princess Wang Chan'er and Zheng Yu will use their identities as an excuse.
There is no guarantee that Wei Qun has a closer relationship with Qing Jianghou, the prince of Shu.
Although he could not openly violate the will of Shu Lord Wang Jian and disrupt the marriage between Princess Qingyang and King Tan Yang Yuanpu, many of the cooperation between Yuzhou and Yueyang could not be made public in Shu, so he still had ways to interfere.
Of course, when Cao Qian said this, he still hoped that he could intervene in these matters.
Han Qian also wanted to open the Qianjiang channel as soon as possible, so he turned around and said to Feng Liao: "Feng Liao, please accompany Master Cao!"
Han Qian used his trip to Yueyang as his spokesperson. Naturally, Feng Liao would not refuse. He agreed and said, "I will accompany Mr. Cao to Yueyang. Is there anything else you want me to say to His Highness?"
?”
"You go to see His Highness, Mr. Shen, and tell him that the Lord of Shu has no intention of scheming, and everyone can just go about their own business. In addition, Han Qian is filial piety for the marriage between the Princess and His Highness, so he cannot go to Yueyang in person to congratulate him. Feng
You should prepare enough gifts for Princess Qingyang this time, but you have to put more thought into the gifts that are specially prepared for Princess Qingyang."
Han Qian had completely seen through Shu's trump cards. Cao Gan could only touch his nose in embarrassment, and without saying anything more, he said goodbye to Han Qian and joined Yang Hu, Feng Liao, Zhao Jicheng and others.
Go down the mountain; wait for Feng Liao to prepare enough gifts in Longya City to congratulate Princess Qingyang and King Tan on their marriage, and then take a boat to Yueyang via Jiming Village.