The Two Wolves Pass closed the pass privately under the pretext of the plague, which naturally angered Zhang Xiaowu and the soldiers and civilians of Mucheng.

Most of the salt and spices needed by the soldiers and civilians of Mucheng were purchased from the Central Plains, and if there was no trade in the Central Plains, the people of Mucheng would have problems eating and drinking. However, the reason given by the wolf guard is also irrefutable, after all, because of the plague caused by the lack of wolf guards, Gu Wolf Guard soldiers said that 20,000 wolf guards were sick and 18,000 were sick, and only more than 2,000 people held the city, and they were really overwhelmed every day and had to close the city gates.

Zhang Xiaowu knew that this was just an excuse, Murong Yan had no need to stop his caravan, but he didn't give himself face, which showed that Murong Yan had torn his face with him. Since the last time Murong Yan took the soldiers privately and joined him, this Liangzi has been concluded.

"Marquis Yingchuan, Marquis Yingchuan, this old dog!" Zhang Xiaowu couldn't help but scold, but Murong Yan's closure of the customs brought a benefit, that is, Xiao Kai and the others could not enter the Central Plains for a while, and the generals sent by the imperial court could not come out of Mucheng.

Zhang Xiaowu is equivalent to raising a few generals in the house, in order to avoid the boredom of these people, Zhang Xiaowu gave them the position of general, and helped Wen Ruyu to do things in the army to train soldiers, so as not to make them idle.

Xiao Kai took Bao Yin and Jas to return to the army happily and began to find a way to torture the soldiers.

The news of Murong Yan, the Marquis of Yingchuan, quickly spread to the imperial court, but at this time, the plague gradually began to spread in the Central Plains. Another minister reported that the plague was brought by the alien race, and that the trade with the alien race should be stopped now to prevent the alien race from bringing the plague into the Holy Han Empire. After some arguments among the courtiers, Emperor Dade also listened to the opinions of the courtiers and ordered the two wolves to be closed and reopened after the plague was over.

After the imperial court's holy decree reached the Two Wolves Pass, Murong Yan became even more unscrupulous, and even used a bow and arrow to disperse the Saibei ghost guards who wanted to enter the pass, and warned: "Respect the holy decree to seal the pass, if you approach, you will not be killed." ”

After hearing this, Zhang Xiaowu sneered a few times and said: "The plague in the north has stopped, the plague in the Central Plains has begun, we have not forbidden the people of the Central Plains to look at the north, but they have retreated first. So very good, so very good, that he will have a time when they weep. Let's ignore it. ”

Because of the closure, a few months later, the soldiers and civilians of Mucheng began to lack salt and spices, and the leather boots produced in Mucheng could not be sold. He found Zhang Xiaowu and told Zhang Xiaowu about today's difficulties, and Zhang Xiaowu also convened everyone to discuss. Although this Wu Song was born as a salt merchant, he didn't know how to do business, and when he encountered economic problems, he could only hold the book and shake his head and say: "Fight!" Didn't the two of them get the plague? Just hit it. ”

"What kind of military advisor are you?" Guan Xiao couldn't cry or laugh, "You're going to rebel." ”

Wu Song said: "I know how to march and set up formations, and I also know how to make hundreds of schools, but I am negligent in calculating, and this problem should be solved by Lord Ruan." ”

Ruan Qingwen said: "This Marquis of Yingchuan is Wang Ba who eats scales and is determined to oppose us, what can I do?" It's better to really hit him in the mouth and scare him as you said, so that he will know the severity. ”

Guan Xiang said angrily: "Let you come up with ideas, it's better to think for yourself." Shogun, why don't we do business with Inuyi? We sent the caravan directly west to the territory of the Uzkhanate and northwest to the Wuhuan Empire, or north to the Northeast Yi Khanate, and east to the Tartar Khanate, in short, since we could not continue to trade with the Central Plains, we would trade with them. ”

Ruan Qingwen said: "It is indeed dangerous to trade with Inuyi, we only fought with them before, I'm afraid it will ......"

Zhang Xiaowu said: "How do you know if you don't try, so, Guan Xiang, send a caravan to the Tucheng of the Yan people to ask what they need and what they can provide." I remember that they liked to herd cattle and go to the mountains to pick dried mushrooms, and we lacked dried vegetables, but we had many swords and weapons. "Speaking of which, I have to say that because there have been too many wars in Mucheng, a lot of blades, armor, leather armor, military uniforms, and even war horses have been captured. Moreover, Guan Xiang also made people make wine, so that Mucheng's materials were quite rich, but the species was a little single.

Wu Song smiled: "I support the exchange of money with Inuyi. ”

Guan Xiang also said with a smile: "Last year, we tried to exchange markets with Inuyi, and they didn't have a conflict with us. ”

"Last year's rain was abundant, and this year the north of the country is full of greenery, so we should follow the example of the Tatar herders for grazing and breeding, and then look for some drought-tolerant crops to plant," Zhang said. Last year, there was no harvest on our land, firstly, because the people of the Central Plains are accustomed to planting crops in the Central Plains, and many crops are drought-tolerant and drought-tolerant, so starting this year, we must look for drought-tolerant and cold-tolerant crops for planting. Saibei is so big, and our wooden city has only a population of 40,000 now, so we will definitely not go hungry. As long as people don't go hungry, they have the motivation to live. ”

Guan Xiang suggested expanding the city and building a city wall on the periphery of the wooden city, quadrupling the size of the wooden city, but Zhang Xiaowu and others rejected the proposal to build a city wall after consideration. He allowed the people to build houses outside the city, and opened handicraft workshops and bazaars, and established "tithes" and collected ten percent of the income as a tax, outlawed centimen and any other taxes, and encouraged commerce and commerce, which greatly encouraged the people.

As the Mucheng caravan looked around for trading possibilities, Mucheng became prosperous again, people would not be suffocated by urine, and everyone in Mucheng also tried their best to make Mucheng more abundant. Soon, in the summer, many foreign caravans also came here, and they brought goods and even slaves from all over the country.

Contrary to everyone's expectations, the trade between Mucheng and the surrounding nomads and fishermen was not rejected by the foreign race, but attracted more merchants, and for a while, Mucheng actually became a city of gold. In fact, in many cases, the desire of foreign races for the prosperity and prosperity of the Central Plains does not require the use of force as the only means.

Aliens are also human beings, they are not beasts, they are not idiots, and when they are allowed to exchange their favorite things through their own trade, they are naturally willing to trade in the simplest way.

And by doing business with other races, Zhang Xiaowu also learned more about other races, what they were thinking, what they were doing, and what they were longing for. In order to better trade with foreign races, Zhang Xiaowu ordered that people were forbidden to use discriminatory words such as "inuyi", and only allowed to be called "aliens" or "foreigners", and wrote propaganda slogans on the walls of Mucheng: "All men are created equal, and all races are sons of God." ”

In fact, this sentence is a translation of Western Sakism, the original text of Sakism is "the people are the sons of God", which means that as long as they believe in Sakism, they are the children of God, and the children of God are equal. Zhang Xiaowu changed this sentence to change the sentence that all ethnic groups are gods, and he was supported and welcomed by other races, and some people even said that he was one of the few Han officials who really understood foreign races.

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