Historical records record that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty rewarded the meritorious generals who conquered the Xiongnu, and the shot was tens of thousands of catties of gold.

But after arriving at Liu Xiu, the gold that the heroes can get is only a few catties and dozens of catties.

That's clearly recorded gold, not the concept of gold, it's real gold.

Ma Yuan and others held meetings to study this issue and brainstormed several times, and Guo Peng also joined in.

Guo Peng's view is that the gold did not disappear mysteriously, nor did the official record error, but that the gold was buried deep in the ground with the death of its owner, and was used as a burial object and withdrawn from circulation.

Because a large amount of gold was buried underground as burial goods, there was less and less gold on the market.

In the end, it was the turn of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the amount of gold in circulation was extremely limited, and the emperor was naturally very stingy when he made a move.

The amount of gold owned by Guo after he unified the country was not much, and in order to get enough gold, he also sent people to Qingzhou to find gold mines.

As for the grave digging thing, Guo really wanted to let the captain who specializes in touching gold engage in their own work, but after thinking about it, he gave up.

Destroying people's graves for the sake of gold and making people unable to rest in peace is a bit lacking in morality.

There are already a lot of immoral things done by despicable people like Guo, and the lack of virtue such as digging graves is still left to those who lack money in the future to do.

The Wei Empire had a good economy and did not have to dig graves to the point where they had to dig graves, so Guo felt that it was better to send people to look for mines than to dig graves all over the world to find gold.

But it was no secret that the Wei Empire lacked gold.

When Guo Peng rewarded the heroes, he was cautious, for fear that the gold reserves would be lost if he was too fierce.

Now seeing that the Kushan people are rich in gold coinage and circulation, Ma Yuan suddenly thought about it.

That's kind of interesting.

If he can earn back a lot of gold, Guo Peng must be very happy.

The two sides checked each other's gold and silver purity, and found that the purity was close, so they were very satisfied and decided to trade gold and silver, and use the weight of gold and silver alone to measure the value of the goods.

Under the translation of the envoy of King Dawan, the two sides launched a very fierce bargain.

When it comes to bargaining, business travelers all over the world are the same, bickering and trying to prove that their goods are better and worth more money.

For example, Shu brocade.

Ma Yuan tried his best to prove that Shu brocade was the best silk and deserved a higher price, but the Kushan merchants did not think so.

In some areas of traditional Chinese goods, the Kushan people do not seem to be strangers.

For example, they know very well about goods such as silk, porcelain, and lacquerware, saying that these things are sold as much as they want, and they can't sell them expensively, because if they are expensive, they can't make money, and they sell them to anyone.

The envoy of King Dawan explained that the merchants of Guishan also went to the Western Regions to do business, and they also went to the Central Plains of the Han Empire to do business when the Western Regions were unblocked, and they had been getting silk and other goods in some way over the years, so they were not surprised at all about these things.

That is, it is relatively small, so the price is so expensive, and it is difficult to continue to increase it.

Ma Yuan felt that he was still a little lacking in this area, and he didn't know much about the local market, so it was easy to suffer.

Therefore, he only made a small part of the transactions with these Guishan merchants, and then felt that if he continued to do business, he should have a good understanding of the local prices and transaction levels, and he could not suffer losses.

After getting some gold and silver coins, Ma Yuan said that he would no longer trade and would go to Lan Clan City, and if they wanted, they could go to Lan Clan City to find them.

The Kushan merchant was obviously not satisfied with such a small number of transactions, so he offered to take them into the city and arrange accommodation.

Ma Yuan felt that there was no problem, so the group arrived at Lan City together, and then entered Lan City under the curious gaze of the city gate defenders, and came to the capital of the Kushan Empire.

Lan City's first impression of Ma Yuan was that it was dirty and messy.

It's really dirty and messy.

It's a mess that I can't get used to.

The narrow streets, the low and dilapidated houses, the muddy ground with some stagnant water, the inexplicable stench, and the people who come and go are even unclothed, you can see their humility and poverty at a glance.

Many of the people of the combined caravan, including Ma Yuan, frowned and covered their noses.

The air was still fresh when I drove through no man's land before, but I didn't expect to smell so bad after entering the city.

Speaking of which, it was a few years that such a smell could not be smelled in the territory of the Wei Empire.

Guo Peng called on everyone to gather all the feces and urine together and turn them into fertilizer for farming, so all prefectures, counties and counties have set up public toilets at a very fast pace.

There is also a special person in charge of feces and urine, who is responsible for making manure and distributing it to various places to increase grain production.

Food production has increased, and the stench has gradually disappeared in the population areas.

When they were young, they could still smell the strong stench in the city.

At that time, people didn't have that kind of concept, and they would splash their feces and urine on the street in the morning, and the smell was really unforgettable.

But in recent years, it has hardly been seen, especially in urban dwellers and even more so in rural areas.

They regard feces as a treasure, and are more reluctant to defecate in the open than city residents, and are more willing to go to a designated place to solve the problem of feces and urine, and then exchange it for manure that can increase food production.

After many years, it was difficult to smell the stench in the cities and farms of the Wei Empire, and the streets and roads were clean and tidy, and no one poured and urine on the streets anymore.

After this kind of behavior disappeared, the air naturally became fresher, and even the incense of the scholars and bureaucrats became somewhat redundant and funny, and became a pure sense of ritual.

This is an important feature that distinguishes them from ordinary people and cannot be discarded.

As the imperial capital, Luoyang is a collection of clean, tidy, serious and fresh in one, at the beginning Guo Peng's request was only to pave the main road with stone slabs, and the rest of the streets and alleys can be allowed to use straight road technology without paving stone slabs.

However, later, because the budget was not spent, and the imperial officials felt the benefits of the stone road, they all thought that the imperial capital of Luoyang should be paved with stone slabs to show the status and courage of the imperial capital.

So Guo Peng nodded and agreed, and the streets and alleys in Luoyang City were paved with stone slabs.

On a rainy day, you won't have to worry about muddy roads full of mud, you will fall after walking a few steps, and you don't have to worry about the wind blowing all over Luoyang City when the weather is sunny, and no one knows anyone.

Living in Luoyang City is very comfortable.

Later, important cities such as Chang'an City, Yecheng, Puyang City, and Linzi City began to promote the action of paving stone slabs.

From large cities to small cities, the main roads of many counties have been paved with stone slabs over the years, which has also greatly increased the cleanliness of the city.

Based on what these business travelers have seen and heard when they travel from south to north, it can even be said that any county town in the Central Plains is a little cleaner than Lan's City, and the taste is also good.

The muddy road and the smell are secondary, the key is the people who come and go in tattered clothes and dirty, and the people who are looking at them curiously.

Looking at it, all of a sudden, Ma Yuan and one of them met their eyes.

What kind of eyes are they?

Curious?

No, it's a little envious.

No, there seems to be numbness and sluggishness.

Ma Yuan didn't know what was in his eyes anymore.

But for some reason, his nose suddenly became sore, and tears suddenly filled his eyes, and he almost fell into tears.

How could these people be similar to himself back then?

From these people, Ma Yuan saw himself back then.

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