Among the series of commercial agreements reached between the Taxation Department of the Tang Dynasty and the Cen family, military rations were the most important item, but they were not the only ones.
In addition to the most important military ration supply agreement, the two parties have also reached various material supply agreements. The Cen family will use its supply channels throughout Guangdong and Guangxi to provide the Tang Dynasty with various strategic materials that are urgently needed, including copper, iron, and saltpeter.
, lead, cloth, salt, etc.
Especially sulfur and iron!
Because the Cen family stated that they have channels to contact large quantities of these two materials, such as sulfur, they can even purchase them directly from Guangzhou and then transport them back.
Guangzhou is a coastal city and one of the few ports for foreign trade in the Ming Dynasty. The main source of sulfur in East Asia is Japan.
The easiest and cheapest way to obtain sulfur in large quantities is to import it from Japan.
As for iron, Foshan in Guangdong was an important iron and steel town during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and its iron output was huge.
These materials can be transported all the way through the Xijiang River into Guangxi and even to Liuzhou.
Of course, there will definitely be checkpoints guarded by the Ming Dynasty along the way, but how to get through it all depends on the ability of the Cen family.
In addition, the most critical point is that the transaction price of the above-mentioned various materials, including military rations and steel, is only a few percent higher than the market price!
This alone can save the Tang Dynasty a lot of money!
The Cen family's supply price and Old Man Sun's supply price are simply the same as the sky and the earth. Old Sun's supply price, no matter what the material is, is never less than twice the price, and some strategic materials are even three times the price.
Double or even four times the price, such as sulfur, Old Man Sun dared to shout out the price of five times the market price, but the Tang Dynasty could only hold its nose and buy it.
There is no way, who makes the Tang Dynasty temporarily unable to obtain a large amount of sulfur, and the prices offered by these things, whether it is Old Man Sun or other businessmen, are not cheap.
Moreover, other people's supply capabilities are not as strong as Sun Laotu's. Even if the price is cheaper, it is of no use if the quantity is not enough.
Otherwise, the officials of the Tang Dynasty would not have shouted that all the taxes of the Tang Dynasty had been stolen by black-hearted businessmen like Sun Laotu.
Many officials of the Tang Dynasty, especially the tax department and military generals, have secretly sharpened their knives, waiting for the day when Old Man Sun is no longer useful, then they will definitely destroy this bastard named Sun's family!
However, this kind of thought can only be an idea. It's okay to think about it now, but if you really fall out with Old Man Sun, it will be a loss that outweighs the gain.
It's easy to kill old man Sun or even ransack his family's house. It's also easy to rob him of his goods and money!
But the value of Old Man Sun does not lie in his own property, but in his supply and transportation channels!
Not to mention supply channels, it is not an easy task to collect so many military supplies that are widely available in the market and strictly controlled by the Ming Dynasty.
Moreover, transportation is troublesome. Nowadays, the Ming army in Huguang, Guangdong and other provinces surrounding the Tang Dynasty has basically blocked contact with the areas controlled by the Tang Dynasty.
If you dare to arrogantly bring a caravan full of steel, copper and other controlled materials to the area controlled by the puppet Tang thief army, are you really going to be a target of the Ming Dynasty?
In the past year, Old Man Sun was definitely not the only businessman who traded with the Tang Dynasty. There were many businessmen. However, some businessmen often stopped coming after one or two transactions?
Why?
Is it because they have made enough money that they dare not come here for fear of death? Or is it because their patriotism suddenly bursts out and they no longer want to betray the country?
Just kidding, the profits are several hundred percent, enough for them to continue doing this kind of business with their heads stuck in their trouser pockets.
And patriotism? I'm sorry, in the mid-16th century, there was no modern concept of country and nation. There was just a family world, with at most a Chinese and foreign division, but even this was limited, because
Some people believe that "when the Chinese invade the barbarians, they will become barbarians, and when the barbarians enter China, they will become Chinese." Otherwise, there would not be so many scholars kneeling on their knees to welcome Master Wang, otherwise the Mongolian and Yuan invasions and the Manchu and Qing invasions.
So not trading with the Tang Dynasty because of patriotism is sheer nonsense. If this kind of thing were done in modern times, it would still be possible in modern times, but in the mid-16th century, there was no such concept at all.
Most of these merchants who no longer come to the Tang Dynasty to trade have only one reason, that is, their liaison with the puppet Tang Dynasty was exposed, and then they either died or escaped!
Several prefectures and counties adjacent to Huguang, opposite Xingquan Prefecture, have set up layers of checkpoints on the passages leading to Xingquan Prefecture. Every month, many daring businessmen are caught trying to transport supplies to Xingquan Prefecture.
It is not easy to transport materials smoothly into the areas controlled by the Tang Dynasty.
Without a deep network of relationships, it would be impossible to transport materials, let alone large quantities.
But Old Man Sun was able to do it, and this was his value, the key to making the Tang Dynasty pay several times the price to purchase the materials he supplied.
It's a pity that Old Man Sun keeps his channels secret very well. The Commercial Department of the Taxation Department of the Tang Dynasty has sent many spies to try to dig out his network of channels and replace them with one, but they can't figure it out.
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The matter of digging up Old Man Sun's transportation channels has been taken over by the Investigation and Statistics Section of the Hanlin Academy which was just established.
Not only that, Li Xuan also gave the Investigation and Statistics Section of the Hanlin Academy a task, which was to infiltrate and win over Ming Dynasty officials from surrounding provinces and establish intelligence channels in the Ming Dynasty officialdom.
Although the Investigation and Statistics Section of the Hanlin Academy has just been established, its personnel are all veterans transferred from other departments. Many of them are still government officials, police officers, and spies from the pre-Ming Dynasty. These are all veterans of the world.
relatively quickly, and now the intelligence network has penetrated into several counties in Huguang near Xingquan Prefecture, and even won over a few Ming Dynasty officials to secretly surrender.
However, after the intelligence work was launched to the outside world, the nature of the tasks of the Investigation and Statistics Section of the Hanlin Academy somewhat overlapped with that of the Intelligence Department of the Privy Council. Recently, these two intelligence agencies, which both belong to the Tang Dynasty, have been having a lot of wars, and no one is convinced.
who.
In this regard, Li Xuan also ignored it for the time being. No matter what it was, they had to compete to be motivated. Letting them compete with each other would also allow the Tang Dynasty's intelligence system to take shape as soon as possible.
After reaching an agreement with the Cen family, the negotiating team of the Tang Dynasty did not return to Xingquan Mansion, but continued to stay in Huaiyuan County to be responsible for the subsequent handover work.
This has also been the practice in recent times. Middle- and high-level officials sent to Guangxi often no longer return to Xingquan Prefecture, but continue to work in Huaiyuan County or Rong County.
In addition to their original tasks, their official duties also have another one, which is to prepare for the relocation of the political and industrial center of the Tang Dynasty!
There are already many senior officials of the Tang Dynasty working in Liuzhou Prefecture, and there are four of them at the level of minister alone. The Ministry of Personnel, Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Rites, and Ministry of Taxation all have minister-level officials staying in Guangxi.
All this means that the Tang Dynasty has made final preparations for its official march south!
But the specific time of relocation depends on whether the frontline army's operations are going smoothly, such as when Liuzhou is captured.
As the commander-in-chief of the southward detachment and the first major general in the army in the Tang Dynasty, Hao Bainian was naturally very aware of the responsibilities he shouldered!
But he still dragged Liuzhou City away from fighting, and set his sights on Xiangzhou and the Wuxuan area in the south of Liuzhou. He wanted to annihilate the Ming army's effective forces here as much as possible through head-on field battles where the Tang Army was best at fighting!
Twenty miles south of Wangyun River in Xiangzhou, Anjia Manor and Anjia Wharf along the Liujiang River were originally just farmyards and private wharves where local landlords settled, but now they have become the garrison of eight thousand Ming troops.
The temporary official office of the extremely distinguished Guangxi Governor Wei Yan and the command center of the 8,000-strong army are located in the Anjia Courtyard. Surrounding the Anjia Courtyard is the Ming Army Camp!
At this time, the Ming Army's camp no longer had the calmness of the previous few days. It seemed a bit noisy and even chaotic. The Ming Army soldiers were being pushed by the officers to build and fortify the camp, and more soldiers were lining up urgently.
Some generals rode horses and galloped past the camp. They went in different directions, but many of them were heading towards Anjia Villa.
Some of the Ming soldiers on the arrow towers outside the camp and on the wooden walls were looking at the north with expressions of curiosity or panic!
Directly north of the Ming Army's camp, the sun was shining brightly in winter, but there was a shadow slowly pressing in like a dark cloud!
This dark cloud is still more than four miles away from the Ming army camp, but in this open area along the river, you can see it if you climb a little higher!
This shadow that looks like a dark cloud is the southward army of the Tang Dynasty King's Division led by Hao Bainian himself. Including the baggage troops, the total strength is nearly 10,000 people!
In order to quickly and simply defeat the eight thousand Ming army, Hao Bainian almost completely gave up the siege of Liuzhou City, leaving less than three thousand people in Liuzhou, and they were all garrison troops.
The main force, the 1st Infantry Brigade, and several other auxiliary units were all brought here, and even the soldiers of the 2nd Baggage Regiment were brought with them to prepare for them to participate in the battle.
Hao Bainian did not underestimate the enemy due to past victories. He thoroughly implemented the strategy of a qualified general: concentrate superior forces!
For a qualified general, the most important thing is to always maintain the strength advantage of his troops in battle!
Even if the overall military strength is at a disadvantage, we must still form a local superiority in military strength!
This is also a characteristic of modern cavalry tactics. Wall cavalry charge uses this tactic to form a local strength advantage through a denser formation, allowing several of your own cavalry to attack one enemy cavalry together!
Nearly ten thousand troops are coming slowly. Just looking at their momentum is enough to make people feel powerless. The pressure on the Ming army in the Ming army camp is undoubtedly huge!
This can be seen from the chaos in the Ming army camp!
At the same time, in the Anjia Courtyard, Wei Yan looked at a group of generals who looked obviously very serious and did not speak for a long time. After a long time, he said: "The enemy is currently facing us. Do you have any good strategies to retreat from the enemy?"