Yuwen Chengchao said: "Naturally, the matter will not be small, but it has not yet reached the point of no return." ”

"Oh?" Zhao Yi hurriedly asked, "Eldest prince, is it .....?" ”

"If the White Wolf King leaves no room for improvement, it won't just let people burn down Chinatown City." Yuwen Chengchao said: "I heard from the people who came back that although the Wutuo cavalry set fire, they did not kill anyone. The white shopkeeper was only captured by the Wutuo soldiers, and he was not injured. ”

Fat Yu immediately said: "Eldest prince, it seems that although the White Wolf King is angry, he has not completely lost his mind, at least he has given him a chance to maneuver." ”

Yuwen Chengchao said: "Tang City is a trading field, the merchants who come and go from east to west bring so much benefit to the White Wolf King, he burns the trading field, if it is you, what is the reason for this?" ”

"The trade ground can bring huge benefits to the White Wolf Clan, even if it is not for the sake of individuals, for the sake of the entire clan, no matter how big it is, I will endure it." Fat Fish sighed: "This fire will not only burn the Tang City, but also burn the hearts of those merchants, who will dare to continue trading there in the future?" ”

"The dead fat man is right this time." Zhao Yi immediately agreed: "If it's me, unless the people in Tang City have a hatred for killing my father and taking my wife, why should I trouble them?" ”

"Chinatown is in business, who will offend the White Wolf King?" Dapeng frowned and said, "The hatred of killing the father and taking the wife is almost impossible to happen. And as far as I know, the White Wolf King's royal tent is a day or two away from Tang City, so how can there be a direct conflict? ”

Qin Xiao thought for a while, and finally said, "Eldest Prince, is it possible that the White Wolf King was forced to do that?" ”

"As a last resort?" Yuwen Chengchao looked at Qin Xiao: "How do you say it?" ”

"I don't know much about Chinatown." Qin Xiao said: "But listening to you say this, Tang City is too important to the White Wolf Clan, and no matter how stupid the White Wolf King is, he will not cut off his arm." Since he did this, there must be a reason, and even had to do it, that is, compared to the benefits brought by Tang City, if he didn't do this, he would bring more trouble to the White Wolf Clan. After a pause, he continued: "Although he did this, he did not do anything but set fire to it and did not kill people, leaving room for maneuver." ”

Yuwen Chengchao nodded and said: "Father's meaning, the White Wolf King only arrested people, and arrested the white shopkeeper, which probably means that the Yuwen family will send someone to deal with this matter." Although he didn't know what happened, the room for maneuver left by the White Wolf King should be left for the Yuwen family, he knew that the white shopkeeper was a member of the Yuwen family, and deliberately captured the white shopkeeper, hoping that the Yuwen family would send someone to explain clearly, if the matter could be properly resolved, it would be beneficial to both parties. ”

"You want to send someone to the Uda?" The fat fish's face tightened: "Eldest prince, who is the old marquis going to send?" ”

"Me!" Yuwen Chengchao said lightly: "The stakes are very high, if you just send someone to go at random, the White Wolf King may feel that our Yuwen family doesn't take this seriously at all, and even anger the White Wolf King because of this, and the matter will not be easy to clean up." I am the eldest son of the Yuwen family, and if I go there in person, at least it will make the White Wolf King feel that we value him. ”

Zhao Yi's face also became solemn, and he said, "Hasn't Uncle Meng been in charge of the accounts?" Tang City belongs to trade and is related to accounting, why don't you let Uncle Meng go over to solve it this time? ”

"It's useless to say that now." Yuwen Chengchao said: "And Uncle Meng is just a relative of the Yuwen family, even if his father is very important to him, but in the eyes of the Woods, he is not a member of the Yuwen family at all." ”

Fat Fish sighed: "Such as."

If you don't care about anything else, this time you will go to Wutuo to solve the dispute in Tang City, and only the eldest prince is the most suitable. Regardless of identity or ability, the Yuwen family can't find a more suitable person than the eldest prince. He asked again: "Eldest prince, did the old marquis say when he left?" ”

"My father told me to wait for two more days to see if anyone would come back to report the details." Yuwen Chengchao said: "If there is no other news in two days, then we will leave in two days." ”

"In such a hurry?" Zhao Yi was surprised.

"The white shopkeeper is in the prison of the Vedas, but I am afraid that it will be more urgent." Yuwen Chengchao said: "Father's meaning, among the eight tribes of the Wutuo, the white wolf king of the white wolf tribe has always belonged to the main and faction, and he does not want the Wutuo to meet the Tang Dynasty swordsmen. ”

"If other tribes can sit and take silver like him, they will not be hostile to Datang." Zhao Yi said: "If we work day and night, it won't take seven or eight days, and we should be able to reach Tangren City." ”

Yuwen Chengchao shook his head and said, "You can't go directly like this." ”

"The eldest prince is worried about being targeted?" Fat Fish asked.

Yuwen Chengchao said: "What Wang Xiao said just now, don't forget, the White Wolf King set fire to arrest people, it is probably not his own intention, but forced to do so. Think about it, who can make the White Wolf King have no choice but to cut off his arm? ”

"In the territory of the Vedic Khanate, only the King of the Veda Khan has this ability." Fat Fish said: "But why does the King of the Veda Khan have a hard time with Tang City? ”

"We don't know what the situation is, so we can't directly negotiate with the White Wolf King." Yuwen Chengchao thought thoughtfully: "Maybe the White Wolf King's side doesn't want us to find him directly." ”

Fat Yu understood, and said: "The eldest prince wants to hide his identity first, what is the situation in the past, and have the opportunity to contact the White Wolf King again?" ”

"It just so happens that I know that the Dou family and the Tian family seem to be preparing to leave for Guanwai these days." Yuwen Chengchao said: "They are going to go out of the customs under the banner of Longhe caravan, and they have been preparing for a month or two. ”

Zhao Yi reacted: "Eldest prince, do you mean that we will go out with the Longhe caravan?" ”

"The Vedas have always been wary of the people in the Guannei." Yuwen Chengchao said: "If a few of us go out of the customs on horseback and saber, we will be targeted by the Vedas immediately, and it will not be easy to get rid of them." Only when the caravan is out of the customs will the Vedic people relax a little, and we will not be conspicuous when we are mixed in the caravan. ”

Fat Yu frowned and said: "Eldest son, Tang City was burned, it shouldn't be just us who got the news, but the Dou family should also know that something happened over there." I'm worried that after getting the news from there, the departure of the Long and caravan will be delayed or even abandoned. ”

"I'll take care of that." Yuwen Chengchao said: "After dawn, you go directly to Longhe Commerce and Trade and tell him that this time the Tian Dou family must go out of the customs, there is no room for negotiation, if they don't agree, they don't have to go out of the customs to do business in the future." The tone was very strong.

Zhao Yi saw that Qin Xiao was not familiar with this, so he came close and explained: "If a merchant wants to leave the customs, it must be organized by the trading house, and the trade guild will arrange guards and routes to ensure that the merchant's goods can be sold smoothly, but the profit of the goods must be charged 20%. ”

Qin Xiao thought to himself that if he was responsible for protecting safety and clearing the checkpoints along the way, it would actually be reasonable to charge 20% of the profit.

Qin Xiao is not very clear about the doorways in commerce, but he knows some of them.

Xiling gate valve

In addition to the taxes collected from the people, the most important one is actually trade.

Xiling has always been the trade center of the merchants between the east and the west, before the Wutuo people were prosperous, the Central Plains had already had commercial contacts with the Western Regions, in the hundreds of years before the founding of the Tang Dynasty, there were many caravans who braved the hardships to go to the Western Regions, which opened up the Xiling trade road, and the merchants of the Western Regions also learned from the Tang people, and entered the territory of Xiling to the east.

However, many years after the Vedic Rebellion, the trade route was interrupted, and the King of the Veda Khan took the initiative to request the resumption of trade, and the Xiling Gate Valve also tried to facilitate this matter.

After the resumption of the trade route, because of the existence of horse bandits, it also affected the smooth flow of trade routes, after the Xiling gate valve cracked down on the horse bandits, began to implement various strategies in commerce, such as to trade in Xiling, the merchants on both sides must pass through the trade house controlled by the gate valve, and must not trade directly in private.

If there are merchants who want to strive for higher profits and are willing to take risks to get out of the customs, it must also be organized by the trading house in Xiling and hang the flag of the trading house.

Although the Dou family and the Tian family are also Xiling gentry, if they want to get out of the customs, they still have to take advantage of the Longhe trading house controlled by the Yuwen family.

In other words, whoever wants to go out of the customs to earn silver, without the permission of the three major gates of Xiling, it will never be possible.

"Yes!" Fat Fish nodded and said, "I'll go there as soon as it's dawn." ”

"Also, we have some goods on our side." Yuwen Chengchao said in a low voice: "The Hou Mansion will prepare, but it will not be used for trading, but for gifts." When we arrived at the Wutuo side, we first checked the situation, and heard that the White Wolf King was also a greedy and beautiful person, so we prepared a gift for him first, and found an opportunity to give it away. ”

"If the white shopkeeper knows that the old marquis and the eldest prince are so worried about his affairs, he will have no regrets in dying." Zhao Yi sighed.

Fat Yu glanced at him and said lightly: "Don't worry, if you are imprisoned by the Vedas one day, the eldest prince will not ignore it." ”

"Dead fat, you can't spit ivory out of your mouth." Zhao Yi scolded: "This time, you will be the first to be ..... by the Wutuos!" Halfway through the talk, I knew that even if I said such a thing as a joke, it would be a bad omen, and the rest of the words would be swallowed back.

"We'll be in the guise of a caravan escort." Yuwen Chengchao said: "There are hundreds of caravans that go out of the customs every year, and each team is accompanied by escorts, so when we go out of the customs, it will not attract attention." ”

"The eldest prince has thought about it." Fat Fish said: "Take precautions, then there will be no problem." ”

Yuwen Chengchao shook his head and said, "It's not that I have thought about it, it was Deputy Commander Liu who made a statement to my father and made arrangements." ”

"Deputy Commander Liu?" Fat Yu was stunned: "Liu Wenxuan? ”

As soon as Qin Xiao heard Liu Wenxuan's name, he thought of the strange scene at dusk that day, and his back was numb.

For some reason, since he knew that the inexplicable disappearance of many people in the White Tiger Camp had something to do with Liu Wenxuan, Qin Xiao felt uncomfortable as soon as he heard this name.

"Father's intention, let him go with him this time." Yuwen Chengchao said: "Deputy Commander Liu has won the trust of his father, he is cautious and steady, and he is very resourceful, the truth of the incident in Tangren City, we don't know anything until now, what will happen on this trip, we don't know, with Liu Wenxuan with him, we are more sure to deal with the difficulties." ”