Chapter 184 The old friend is as far away as Congling
In early May of the 26th year of Kaiyuan, the Anxi Protectorate issued an official letter, commending Congling for his military exploits, giving him a number of cloth and copper coins on behalf of the imperial court, and promoting Li Siye to the rank of Zhaowu Colonel. The official letter did not specify where he would serve.
We can only wait until he goes to the Governor's Mansion to receive the reward before making a decision.
Why is it said to be on behalf of the imperial court? Because the Anxi Protectorate has no right to promote officials privately. They need to report to the imperial court, and then the imperial court will issue an official document for promotion. However, Qixi is too far away from the two capitals, and there are usually only two official exchanges a year.
.Should promoted officials have to wait for a year and a half? Wouldn't it delay their tenure?
The governors of major border towns adopted a compromise approach. The promoted officials took office first and then reported them to the court uniformly at the end of the year. If there were no unexpected circumstances, Zhongshu Ling could approve them all, even if the minister thought someone was unqualified.
, no reply will be given. The official document was delivered to Anxi. This person has been in office for a year. Even if the person is changed again, the court will need to approve it again. The report will be submitted until the next year. Unless the husband has a grudge against this person, it will probably be OK.
Approval was given. In the long run, the appointment power of border town officials was actually in the hands of Jiedushi.
Li Siye's Zhaowu captain will have to wait until next year, the 27th year of Kaiyuan, to be officially recognized by the court.
The weather was sunny that day, and the grass was luxuriant at the foothills of Congling. A caravan returning from the Central Plains came to Congling. The jingling camel bells dispelled the haze of war scars in this land.
The men and women of the Hidden Division opened markets around Shouchuo City and sold their own products to the caravans. Although most of the well-informed business travelers looked down on these local products, they still sold them at extremely low prices.
The price was sold out.
Li Siye stood on the top of the city, looked down, frowned and said, "You will make money by doing business, but you will lose by doing business."
Suo Yuanyu snorted and argued with him: "How do you know they lost money? Making these things just wastes some time and doesn't cost money. If you can sell them, you will make money."
"Time is not money?" Li Siye pointed to the market below with great satisfaction and said: "The three-color fabrics in the hands of the ladies are Pupu. They are ox hair and wool fabrics passed down from Tubo. A skilled woman can spend a day
It can be weaved for ten feet. Due to the long-term war between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo, the trade routes were blocked, so Pupun was sold as a rare commodity in the two capitals and was worth a lot of money."
"Look at these Sogdian merchants below. They deliberately pretend to be cold and distant, and make great derogations of the goods. In fact, they are already laughing out loud in their hearts. It is not terrible that the middlemen make the difference. What is terrible is that the middlemen make the lion's share."
When Li Twelve Niang heard this, she showed a look of compassion on her face, but Suo Yuanyu was annoyed. She rolled up her sleeves and was about to go down and beat him up: "What an unscrupulous profiteer, how dare you bully an honest person like this! See if I go down.
His leg is broken!"
Li Siye grabbed her arm and said, "I am not a man as angry as you. These Sogdian merchants are all doing this. How can you break their legs?"
"Then what do you think we should do?"
"Of course, we don't need middlemen. The Shini tribe was originally a tribe of more than 6,000 people. Even if their vitality was severely damaged after this battle, there are still 3,000 or 4,000 people. They can completely prepare a caravan on their own and collect the tribe's year's worth of handicrafts and
The fabric output can be transported to Chang'an and sold, and the financial profit obtained is dozens of times greater than selling it to merchants."
What follows is Li Siye’s soliloquy: “The Sanskrit Tribe has obtained more than 30 Tibetan war horses this time. Together with the original camels and horses in the tribe, it is completely possible to organize a caravan of more than 60 people... Sigh.
, what do you think that is?”
The sound of camel bells rang again on the distant hillside. It seemed that another caravan was coming from Yanduzhou. The caravans on the camels were not as black and white as Dashi. Instead, they were in rich red and yellow tones. This rich color
The color is very similar to the robes of Tianzhu monks.
There was an escort team behind and behind this caravan, flying a dark black flag, with the word 'suo' in seal script faintly visible on the flag.
Li Siye pointed to the flag in the distance and said with a smile: "Finally, the rightful owner has arrived."
He turned around and saw that Suo Yuanyu had disappeared. He looked around and saw her walking along the female wall towards the city head with her waist bent, for fear of being spotted by the second uncle of the caravan in the distance.
Li Siye felt very happy. Every thing fell down, and finally someone who can control you has arrived.
While he was proud of his chest, he received a resentful glance from Li Twelve Niang, who was wearing two swords and wrapped in white. She sighed softly and followed Suo Yuanyu's footsteps down the steps.
The look in Li Twelve Niang's eyes made him take a breath of air. Did he offend her again with something he said?
When friends from afar came, of course he had to go out of the city to greet them. As soon as he stepped off the city wall, he heard someone sighing behind him.
Li Siye turned around to look, but it was Suo Yuanyu hiding in the hole in the wall, curling his fingers at him.
If a gentle and beautiful beauty like Li Twelve had hooked her finger at him, his blood pressure would definitely soar. But Suo Yuanyu, well, there is still a lot to be desired. No matter how beautiful she is, she can't stand her blowing her nose against the wall.
As soon as Li Siye walked up, Suo Yuanyu raised his arm and patted him on the shoulder as if nothing had happened. Siye ducked away expressionlessly, frowning and said: "Wipe the wall!"
Suo Yuanyu smiled coquettishly, and as expected, she stretched out her index finger and thumb and rubbed them against the earthen wall. Then she bent down and wiped the uppers of her Liuhe boots.
"Don't let outsiders see you doing this in the future, otherwise you won't be able to get married."
"Okay, just eat carrots and worry less." Suo Yuanyu retorted, suddenly thinking of the current situation, a flattering smile appeared on his face: "Brother Siye, Yuan Yu has something important to discuss with us."
"Just in time, I'm going to meet your second uncle outside the city. You should go too, and we'll talk while we're walking."
"No, what I want to say is, can you please not mention what happened that night to my second uncle?"
"What's up?"
"It's about us assassinating you."
"Okay," Li Siye nodded: "As long as he doesn't ask, I won't mention it."
Suo Yuanyu hurriedly stood in front of him, put her hands on her hips and said, "Even if he asks you, don't mention it." Then she added in a low voice: "As long as you agree, I will tell you a secret of Twelve Niangs."
He took half a step back and asked in surprise: "What does this have to do with Li Twelve Niang? Why do I need to know her secret? Since you are quite well-behaved these days, I'll just keep it quiet."
Li Siye had already turned around and left. Suo Yuanyu stamped his feet angrily behind him and complained: "A person like you should live with a war horse for the rest of his life, why bother marrying a wife!"
…
Suotong dismounted outside the city gate. His temples were covered with wind and frost, but he was still full of energy. He cupped his hands towards Li Siye and said: "Si Yelang, I haven't seen you for more than a year. You have changed a lot."
Li Siye bowed his hand and returned the gift: "Suo Gong has not changed much, he is still so energetic."
"I can't do it anymore, I'm getting old." Suotong smiled and shook his head.
Suo Yuanyu moved out from behind Li Siye, lowered her waist and crossed her hands towards Suotong. Li Twelve Niang also stepped forward and bowed gracefully to Suotong: "Second uncle, Suo second uncle."
Suotong smiled broadly when facing Li Twelve Niang, but had a serious face when facing his niece. Yuan Yu instantly turned into a submissive girl with low eyebrows, and quickly moved to stand behind him. Suotong raised his hand and pointed in vain, and finally opened his mouth
Without saying a harsh word, she said reluctantly: "My niece is naughty by nature. She didn't cause you any trouble."
Li Siye shook his head against his will: "No, although Mrs. Suo is outspoken, she has a pure nature and is easy to get along with. She also has the heroic spirit of a man..."
Suo Yuanyu coughed heavily behind his second uncle, and Li Siye showed mercy. Suo Tong raised his eyebrows, as if he already understood it, but just pretended not to hear.
He welcomed Suotong and his entourage into the thatched cottage, and they chatted happily, but the topic got further and further away. This Alang of the Suo family seemed to have forgotten the serious matter of the day, or had no intention of mentioning it at all.
Li Siye had no intention of playing riddles with him, so he suddenly cut in a sentence: "Let's talk about escorting the trade route. Congling Shouchuo City has robbed a lot of business from the Suo family in the past year."
As soon as these words came out, the atmosphere suddenly became awkward. Suo Tong forced his beard to lower his head. Even Suo Yuanyu, who jumped away, took a deep breath nervously.