Taiyuan is currently a vassal town of the Yuan family. After the Yuan family surrendered to Chang'an, Yuan Xuanhu was named the merging king and administered eight states north of Taiyuan Prefecture. His military strength has increased to 50,000.
Being in the Four Battles of Hedong, the Yuan family was not safe, but the direct threats to them were from the south and the north, with Zhu Tao in the north and Li Huaiguang in the south.
Last year and this year, Li Huaiguang has sent small-scale troops to the north three times, but they were all defeated by the defenders of Jiexiu County. Li Huaiguang was named King of Jin. Of course he wanted to rule the entire territory of Hedong. He was the biggest enemy of the Yuan clan in Taiyuan and could be attacked at any time.
The scale goes north.
There is also Zhu Tao. Zhu Tao once invaded Hedong, but was defeated by Li Sheng and had to retreat to Youzhou in embarrassment. However, his ambition was not lost, and he still occupied Jingxing and Feihuxing, and would send troops southward at any time.
It was these two major threats that made the Yuan family dare not take it lightly and sent heavy troops to defend the three passages to the north and south.
During this time, the Yuan family discovered Zhu Tao's intelligence network in Taiyuan. The army searched the entire city and arrested a total of twenty-seven spies, causing chaos in Taiyuan City.
In the Bing Palace, Yuan Xuanhu was listening to a report from his nephew Yuan Zheng. Yuan Zheng was appointed as General Qilin Guard, commanding five thousand people. He was responsible for maintaining the internal security of Taiyuan and dealing with enemy spies planted in Taiyuan. It was also his important responsibility.
"The humble position has been repeatedly confirmed. All Zhu Tao's spies in Taiyuan have been arrested, and no one has escaped. Li Huaiguang's spies in Taiyuan are also under investigation. According to the current clues, Li Huaiguang's spies are likely to be arranged in Taiyuan and Jiexiu."
Yuan Xuanhu pondered for a moment and said: "I have three requests. First, if Zhu Tao has spies in other counties, they must be severely tortured; second, Li Huaiguang's spies must be found as soon as possible and arrested; third, if other vassal towns are in
Are there spies in Taiyuan? I suspect there are, so we have to investigate carefully and not take it lightly, especially Zhu Si. He is only separated from us by the Yellow River. I heard that he signed an armistice contract with Guo Song, so he will definitely go eastward with all his strength.
development, it is very likely to cooperate with Zhu Tao to attack Taiyuan from north to south, and Guo Song, who has already captured Fengzhou, which is actually bordering Yunzhou, may also attack Taiyuan, so the two of them are also likely to have spies in Taiyuan.
Strict prevention and control must be carried out.”
"I understand the humble position!"
Yuan Xuanhu asked again: "How are the arrangements for going to Hexi to buy war horses?"
"Reporting to the prince, news came from Hexi a few days ago. The Hexi government has recently stipulated that foreign merchants going to Hexi for trade must use Hexi money, gold and silver or barter, and are not allowed to buy directly with copper coins."
Yuan Xuanhu was startled, "What do you mean?"
Yuan Zheng explained: "That is to say, when going to Hexi for trade, they no longer recognize copper coins, but only gold, silver and physical objects, or Hexi coins they cast themselves."
"It's just nonsense. Who has Hexi money? Gold and silver are so precious, who would be willing to give them out?"
"So now the merchants who go to Hexi for trade bring goods. General goods are not enough. The government only purchases a few kinds of goods, such as cloth, tea cakes, medicinal materials, paper, pen and ink, copperware, pig iron, wood and daily necessities, like other luxury goods.
You can sell silks, satins, famous porcelain, jewelry, etc., but the government won't accept them. If the government doesn't accept them, you won't be able to buy war horses. You can only buy some wine, sheepskins, cotton, etc."
"What is cotton?" Yuan Xuanhu asked puzzledly.
"It's Baidianzi, which is grown in large quantities in Anxi. It is used to replace kapok, cashmere, duck down, etc., and is used to make winter clothes or bedding. It is very warm. It is said that it is very popular in Chang'an now."
Yuan Xuanhu nodded, "How many war horses can I buy?"
"There are no restrictions on the purchase of war horses in Hexi, but the problem is how to send them back. If you buy too many, Zhu Si will definitely take action. According to my understanding, you usually buy 500 horses, which is the upper limit that Zhu Si allows to cross the border."
"We need at least 3,000 pieces of cloth. We can come from Fengzhou, but I want to know how many pieces of cloth are needed?"
"About 150,000 pieces of cloth, but we can transport it by ship, using the Yellow River water, and send it to Jincheng County, Lanzhou, where there is the Municipal Shipping Office of the Hexi Government. We can sell it directly to the government, and take the horse ticket to Liangzhou to pick up the war horses.
."
Yuan Xuanhu made a quick calculation in his mind and asked the Huihe people to buy a horse. The price was 200 pieces of cloth. It was obvious that he was ruthlessly killing himself. Buying a horse from Hexi only cost 50 pieces of cloth. Although this price was not cheap, it was at least much cheaper than that of the Uighurs.
, and there is enough cloth in the warehouse to exchange for 3,000 horses to form a cavalry. This deal is still very cost-effective.
Yuan Xuanhu immediately made a decision: "I will buy three thousand war horses and send them back from Fengzhou."
.........
Yanzhou is today's Yan'an and belongs to the Guannai Road. To the north is the Great Wall. On the north bank of the Great Wall is Xiazhou. To the northeast is Suizhou. To the north of Suizhou is Yinzhou. Currently, both Xiazhou and Yinzhou are controlled by the Hexi Army.
There are very few troops stationed in Yanzhou, only a thousand soldiers stationed in Fushi County, the prefecture's administration, and they are only responsible for maintaining local security.
Yanzhou basically has no special products, but it does produce an extremely important strategic material, Gaonu oil, which is kerosene. There are many such self-spill oil wells in the Yanzhou area, and the most important large wells have always been controlled by the government.
, it is strictly prohibited to sell to feudal towns and foreign races.
Dozens of other private wells generally lack management. Over the past decades, smuggling has been rampant, and various feudal towns have obtained large amounts of kerosene through various means.
There is a wealthy family in Yanzhou called the Gongsun family. Among the more than thirty small oil wells under private control, the Gongsun family controls at least half. As a result, the Gongsun family has made a lot of money and has become the largest wealthy family in Yanzhou.
The head of the Gongsun family is called Gongsun Liang. He is about fifty years old, has a lion's nose and a square face, and is handsome. During this time, Gongsun Liang was worried. The war that broke out in the north made him feel unsafe. As the head of the family, he must
They are responsible for the life and death of their family. Now that the situation is so chaotic, where should they hide?
That afternoon, Gongsun Liang was sitting in the study hall reading, when footsteps sounded in the yard, and he immediately heard the excited voice of his brother Gongsun Qing, "Brother, are you here?"
Gongsun Qing is Gongsun Liang's fifth brother and is responsible for the sales of the family's Gaonu oil. Gongsun Qing is smart and very good at observing people's emotions. Gongsun Liang values him very much and puts the family's most important assets in his hands.
"What's going on? I'm so anxious." Gongsun Liang put down the book and glared at him.
Gongsun Qing rushed in and whispered: "Brother, it's a big deal!"
"What's up?"
"Today a merchant came to buy Gaonu oil, and he asked for five thousand barrels."
Gongsun Liang was also shocked. A barrel of kerosene weighed fifty kilograms, and five thousand barrels weighed two hundred and fifty thousand kilograms. The total inventory in their warehouse was only three thousand barrels.
Gongsun Liang immediately realized that this must be a feudal town coming to buy oil. Over the years, he had bought oil from many feudal towns, buying hundreds of barrels at a time, but this was the first time he heard of the feudal town buying five thousand barrels of kerosene.
"Which feudal town is it?"
Seeing his eldest brother's keen reaction, Gongsun Qing couldn't help but give a thumbs up and praised: "Brother is smart!"
"Nonsense, which one is it?"
Gongsun Qing took out a coin from his arms and handed it to his brother, "They are going to use this to pay the bill!"
Gongsun Liang took the money, and his eyes suddenly narrowed. It turned out to be a piece of money, made of gold, with three seal characters "Hexi Zhu" engraved at the bottom.
"Guo Song sent someone here?" Gongsun Liang asked with surprise in his eyes.
"The person who came here is Cancao from Jiedu Prefecture in Hexi who joined the army. His name is Zhang Shu."
Gongsun Liangliang nodded. He had heard that Zhang Shu was in charge of the warehouse supplies of Hexi Jiedu Mansion, and was nicknamed "Zhang Rich Man". He did not expect that he would take action personally.
"Brother, should I do this business or not?"
Gongsun Liang paced back and forth in the lobby with his hands behind his back. Although the Gongsun family was rich and powerful in Yanzhou, in the eyes of the feudal town, they were nothing, so Gongsun Liang had long wanted to hug him. He once sent people to Chang'an to help Zhu Si
The army donated 5,000 yuan, and Zhu Si granted him the title of Count of Fushi County.
At first, he was very proud, thinking that the Gongsun family had a backer, but soon, another wealthy family in Yanzhou, the Zhao family, donated two thousand guan of money and was also named the uncle of Fushi County. Only then did Gongsun Liang realize that Zhu Si had no
They didn't take their family seriously. How could a county be named after two earls? Rang was extremely disappointed. Thinking about it, the imperial court owned ten large oil wells in Yanzhou, so how could they take their small oil wells seriously?
.
In addition to Zhu Si, it was either the Yuan family of Taiyuan, but the strength of the Yuan family was still a little weak, and I am afraid it was unreliable. It was not until the Hexi Army captured Shuofang that Gongsun Liang's eyes finally fell on Guo Song. This was a truly powerful sect.
ah!
He was still worried that he would not be able to find a chance to hug Guo Song's thigh, but he did not expect that the opportunity would come as soon as he could.
Thinking of this, Gongsun Liang immediately said to his brother: "Please make arrangements, I want to meet Zhang Canjun!"