The movement of Gyeongju Mansion did not make much waves in Zhongdu, especially after Wan Yankang sent 500,000 taels of silver tickets to Beijing.

A month later, the whole Gyeongju government accepted the fact that a strong new owner had moved in.

For ordinary people, the food they get in their hands is real.

The hungry, beggars, and even the poor can still beg for a bowl of porridge to drink every ten days, and they are even more grateful to Dade.

The rest of the magnates and gentry, after spending a period of trembling days, found that as long as they could keep to themselves, His Royal Highness the Prince was not a murderer.

After Yan Kang organized a few football matches and showed a little bit of the meaning of meeting friends with football, the hearts of these powerful and wealthy gentry who had been talking about all day finally let go.

Today, summer is approaching, His Royal Highness the Prince of the World held a feast in Zuixiang Building, inviting the well-known families, heroes, and wealthy families in the city to come to the banquet.

At first, everyone was quite restrained, but after seeing that Yan Kang was unusually arrogant, and everyone in the seat had a big bowl of wine, they relaxed. After three rounds of drinking, everyone admired the amazing amount of wine of the little prince, and dozens of bowls of wine were eaten, but his face still did not change.

How do these people know that the little prince who seems to have an amazing amount of alcohol is actually relying on his internal strength to force out most of the dozens of bowls of wine he drinks, and the most stored in his stomach is only one-tenth.

Wan Yankang saw that the atmosphere was gradually becoming more and more lively, and got up and said: "Everyone, this prince has been in Gyeongju for two months, and there is something unclear, and I hope you will see it." ”

Everyone didn't dare to say anything, so they asked the prince to show it.

"Gyeongju City is bordered by the grassland in the north, and the location is unique, so it stands to reason that there should be a lot of transactions with the Mongolian tribes of the grassland, why is the business tax mediocre?" Wan Yankang threw out a question.

Everyone was silent for a while, and a businessman surnamed Huang said: "The prince is giving porridge every day, and the house is quite expensive and food-consuming, and I, Zhu, am willing to donate 10,000 taels of silver to fill the consumption in the house." ”

The others also suddenly came to their senses, and they patted their chests and expressed their intention to donate money and food to fund the treasury.

Wan Yankang stretched out his hands and pressed them slightly, signaling everyone to shut down: "What this Shizi Shicai said has no other meaning, just talking about business." The surplus horses, cattle, sheep, and skins of these Mongolian tribes had to be sold. The tea, cloth, and salt they needed had to go south to procure. If we talk about the convenience of trade with the grassland, within a thousand miles from north to south, who is Gyeongju. ”

As soon as these words came out, everyone experienced it carefully, and realized that the little prince was really asking questions.

After a moment of silence on the table, the businessman surnamed Huang said: "The villain has an opinion, I don't know if it's right or not, should I not talk about it?" ”

Wan Yankang smiled: "But it doesn't hurt to say it!" ”

"My Gyeongju Mansion is bordered by the grassland in the north, and if you talk about the geographical advantages of trading with the Mongolian tribes, it is second to none in my Dajin. In the past ten years, the Mongol army has become stronger and stronger, and there are often Koubian moves, and most of them are engaged in war defense, and there is very little trade. ”

"As far as I know, in the past three years, the behavior of the Mongolian tribe Kobian has decreased sharply, why is Gyeongju still not prosperous in commerce?" Wan Yankang asked.

"Your Highness Mingjian, in the past three years, for some reason, the Mongols have not gone down to Gyeongju on horseback, but the Mongols have not come, and the trade route is also difficult to pass." After opening the chatterbox, the businessman surnamed Huang gushed about his opinions.

As he said, the Mongol tribes, known as the Great Metal Country, have become increasingly powerful in the past decade, and have often been taken captive by the Koubian. In the past three years, I have suddenly become honest for three reasons:

First, because there are only two strong forces left on the grassland, Temujin and Wang Han, the two strong are-for-tat, and when there is no winner or loser, who doesn't want to be the first to provoke Daikin, so the two tribes are safe and secure for Gyeongju.

The second is that a tribe called Xinghuo has risen on the grassland, and some small and medium-sized tribes originally near the south are busy dealing with the invasion of the Xinghuo Department, where is there still the idea of going south.

The third is the blessing of two horse thieves, among these Mongolian tribes, there are often incarnated horse thieves, who go south to plunder, although it is not a big trouble, but it is also quite troublesome. Originally, there were more than a dozen famous horse thieves on this grassland, but now it is said that there are only two big forces left. These two horse thieves did not take the initiative to provoke the Gyeongju army, and they were quite disciplined about the merchants who came and went, as long as they paid the money to buy the road, they could go all the way and go straight to the tribes.

After the merchant surnamed Zhu opened his mouth, the other merchants also spit out their own grooves, you and I said a word, and in Wan Yankang's mind, he sketched the current trade scene on the grassland.

Since the Mongolian tribes did not dare to take the border and let them bring a large number of horses, cattle and sheep to Gyeongju to trade, the leaders of these tribes naturally refused, fearing that they would swallow up all of the land in Dajin.

Therefore, although Gyeongju Mansion is in a unique location, it is now only used as a transit and supply place for merchants going north.

The large transactions in the north depend more on the skills of wealthy merchants from all walks of life, relying on personal relations with various tribes, going deep into the grasslands, and exchanging tea, cloth and other items in their hands for horses and other goods.

In this way, the road of trade has been lengthened a lot, and the risk of merchants has increased several times. Although it comes and goes, the profits of the horses and furs exchanged can be ten times or even dozens of times.

But if you encounter a natural or man-made disaster, you will lose all your money, or even lose both people and money!

For the Mongols, the merchants came from thousands of miles away, and the prices of tea and other goods sold were high, while the prices of horses and leather goods were extremely low.

It's just that in this way, this tribe that broke the rules was naturally blacklisted, and no merchants came to the door for at least a year or two.

Wan Yankang originally wanted to solve the problem of Gyeongju's lack of commerce, but found that it was really impossible to solve the root problem, so he had a whim and asked: "If a bazaar is built on the grassland, it is not too far away from Gyeongju, and the Mongolian tribes are only a day or two away from driving horses. ”

When the wealthy businessmen heard this, they thought about it for a while, and said that it was a good idea.

It's just that this bazaar must not only choose a good place, but also the person in charge must have enough force to deter all parties, otherwise everything is empty talk.

Wan Yankang smiled mysteriously, picked up the wine bowl to greet everyone, and continued to drink heartily.

Ten days later, on the banks of the Hale River, 500 miles northwest of Gyeongju City, a group of strangers were welcomed.

A big fat man in a mink coat rode a big red horse, a horse that was one in a thousand, and after galloping for two days, he was a little overwhelmed by this huge body. When the fat man slid off the horse, the horse bent its front hooves and nearly fell to its knees.

The fat man pointed to a ruined wall not far from the river bank and said, "Your Highness, this is it!" ”

After Yan Kang's legs were slightly forced, the little white dragon knew his intentions, let go of his hooves and ran towards the broken wall, and in a moment he came to the front.

Judging from the traces, this place has been barren for at least decades, with rubble and gravel everywhere, and there are more than a dozen broken eaves in the middle, which is a relatively complete building in this ruin.

In terms of scale, the ruins occupy a large area, and as far as the eye can see, tens of thousands of people lived in it.

"Your Highness, when we are waiting for business, most of us will pass through this Black Sheep City, and if there is a storm, we will take shelter from the wind and rain inside." The big fat man ran over with a hum and acted as a commentator.

The big fat man is a big businessman in Gyeongju Prefecture, surnamed Huang Jide, named Jide and doing good. Hwang Jide has lived in Gyeongju for several generations and has been doing business for generations, and among the merchants in Gyeongju, both his family property and connections are second to none.

It's just that this guy's figure is like a family property, and his development is beyond ordinary people.

After Yan Kang's visual inspection, this guy weighed at least more than 200 catties.

If it is a later generation, Huang Jide is a standard dead fat house.

In this era, Huang Jide's figure is a symbol of blessing and strength.

At the banquet that day, after listening to Yan Kang's faint words, Huang Jide paid attention to it, and the next day he took a post and prepared a generous gift, and made a special trip to visit Yan Kang.

Wan Yankang thought at the beginning that this person just wanted to hug his thighs, just drink a cup of tea and leave, but he didn't know that this Huang Jide was here to offer treasure.

Huang Jide is not offering a treasure, but a treasure.

This Black Sheep City was one of the border towns of Liao State, and its geographical location was very superior. The Hele River flows through from the northwest and forms an angle with the Daxinganling Mountains that spread from the northeast, and there are natural barriers on the east, west and north sides. The general city is built as a square, but this black sheep city was built according to the topography back then, but it was a triangle.

The northwest of Black Sheep City is a big river, and the northeast is a big mountain, if the enemy invades, it can only deploy troops from the south, and it is easy to defend and difficult to attack, needless to say.

Originally, when the Liao Kingdom was prosperous, Heiyang City was also prosperous for a while, and the east, west, north and south were traded, and Xian gathered here. Later, the Liao Kingdom was destroyed by Dajin, and the Black Sheep City was not spared.

But at that time, Black Sheep City relied on its dangerous terrain and stubbornly defended it for three months.

When the golden dragon was prosperous, the momentum of the soldiers and horses was like a rainbow, the battle must be overcome, and the attack must be taken, under this small black sheep city, it actually lost soldiers and lost generals, and spent countless money and food.

After the lord captured the Black Sheep City, he ordered the city to be slaughtered and even set fire to the city.

Once a pearl on the grassland, it has turned into today's ruins.

The rolling Yangtze River is passing away, and the waves are sweeping away the heroes. To this day, almost no one knows where it came from. When Huang Jide's ancestors were in the Liao Kingdom, they lived in the north, and they passed through here for generations, so they knew the history of this place very well.

Wan Yankang listened to Huang Jide's narration, and at the same time measured the width of the place with his eyes and measured the difficulty of reconstruction. After pondering for a long time, he suddenly jumped off the horse and grabbed Huang Jide's hand: "Huang Da Rich Man, you have made great contributions, and you will be rewarded when you turn around!" ”

Huang Jide also had tears in his eyes, and knelt down and said: "The villain is willing to serve His Royal Highness the Prince, do his best, and die, and never dare to covet any reward." ”

"Your Huang family's money can't be spent in a few lifetimes, I was thinking about what kind of official to give you, since you don't want any reward, that's fine." Wan Yankang showed a look of great regret.

Huang Jide's fat face was like constipation, and he wanted to slap himself.

Wan Yankang looked at the joy in his heart, stretched out his hand and gently lifted Huang Jide up, and laughed: "Huang Da Rich Man, this son is joking with you, you have made such a great achievement, how can you not appreciate it." Seal you as a six-grade official, how! ”

"Thank you for your great kindness!" Huang Jide fell to the ground, sobbing and flowing.