From this day on, in places unknown to the common people, the rich of those sides began to gather in the capital somehow.

Many of these people came from all over the country, such as the Jin merchants in Shanxi, the Hui merchants and salt merchants in Lianghuai, and then those big families in the south of the Yangtze River.

After these people came to the capital, they did not go to the flower street and willow lane to enjoy, but gathered together in groups of three or five, discussing something with each other.

And the most important of these people is the leader of the three major merchant gangs, and every time there is turmoil in the imperial court, the three of them are the first to come out.

The Jin merchants were headed by George Yong of the Qiao family, the Hui merchants were headed by Bao Shufang, and the salt merchants were headed by Wang Yinggeng.

This time is no exception, in the champion building in the capital, the three major merchant gangs have fully covered the champion building today, just for the three leaders to come here to gather.

Before noon, the three men arrived one after another, and they entered the innermost private room, and told all the servants and attendants to retreat, according to the custom, and then set up a banquet, and then began to discuss the matter.

Wang Yinggeng was the youngest of the three, so he was a little impatient, and said directly: "Is this incident true?" ”

George Yong looked at the somewhat impatient salt merchant and shook his head, "Don't be in such a hurry, let's eat and drink first, and it's not too late to discuss things after we are full." ”

"Okay, my brother, how can I be in the mood to eat and drink now, I'm about to finish discussing things, and then I can eat how I want, so that I can be happy, otherwise, I always have things in my heart, and the meal will not be delicious."

Bao Shufang looked at him a little helplessly, "Since that's the case, then let's discuss things first." ”

George Yong could only nod, and then said: "I have received news from the officials of the court, Arslen Khan has returned from the west, and has brought back a large number of slaves and mercenaries, I am afraid that this year will not be resting." ”

Wang Yinggeng then asked: "What does the general in the court mean?" ”

George Yong picked up a glass of wine and took a sip, and then said: "What else do you mean, naturally you have to go north to resist." ”

Bao Shufang was much older than the two of them, and was silent after hearing this. If someone else goes north, this old man is not optimistic, but he is still somewhat sure of Jia Ke.

Because Jia Ke has been invincible since his debut, even against the Tatar Jia Ke has never been defeated.

"If that's the case, then this time the north shouldn't be defeated."

George Yong, as the leader of the three of them, naturally saw the situation very clearly, "I also agree with the old gentleman's opinion, our prime minister was killed from the battlefield, and this time he went north to gather the strength of the whole country, I think he will definitely be able to win and succeed immediately." ”

Wang Yinggeng's mind was not on this, "If this is the case, then the imperial court does not seem to have deceived us, and we will definitely get a lot of land this time." ”

Although Wang Yinggeng is the leader of the salt merchants, the land in the south of the Yangtze River is very precious, most of it is in the hands of the big families, although they have money, but the land they buy is not very much.

In ancient China, land was regarded as the root of life, and if it was not at the last moment, it would never be sold.

Therefore, although these salt merchants are rich, the court is still in good governance, and there is no opportunity to forcibly seize them, so over the years, although they have spent a lot of money, they have not bought much land.

This time Jia Ke gave them a blank check, but they thought it was an opportunity, if the imperial court could win, then a large area of land in the north was waiting for them to collect.

Although Bao Shufang is optimistic about Jia Ke, he doesn't want to take risks when he is old, "This is not the same as doing business, when it comes to the battlefield, the soldiers are fierce and dangerous, and it may change at any time, I think it is better to be cautious." ”

George Yong sat there with wine and kept thinking, he was thinking not about the land and the victory or defeat of the court, but about the changes in the situation of the court in the future.

Jia Ke is now Sima Zhao's heart, and everyone knows it. This time, he promised to buy land to the world's wealthy businessmen, and many of them invested in him only after looking at the land.

But George Yong didn't think so, this time whether Jia Ke won or lost, it would not affect his control of the Central Plains.

Then these businessmen will probably have to look at the face of the Jia family from now on, and now is the opportunity to invest, otherwise if they miss this time, it will not be easy to show their faces in front of Jia Ke in the future.

After thinking about it, George Yong said to the other two: "I see that this time the army going north still has a chance to win, and let's invest a little bit to give the face of the imperial court." ”

Bao Shufang shook her head when she heard this, "I'm too old to stand such a fright." In the future, the world will be all you young people, and this time I will not mix. ”

Wang Yinggeng pouted after hearing this, this old man is too cautious, although the development of Hui merchants has been stable in recent years, but it has begun to fall behind a little bit compared to Jin merchants and salt merchants, just because this old man is too conservative.

After listening to Bao Shufang's decision, George Yong asked Wang Yinggeng: "Brother, what do you think?" ”

Wang Yinggeng's eyes are red now, just thinking about the fertile soil in the north, you must know that in ancient times, a family land was the foundation, otherwise, no matter how much money you have, you will not be looked down upon by those gentry and clans.

"I don't have anything else to say, I have already raised 1.5 million quintals of grain, and this time all of them will be donated to the imperial court for military use."

George Yong nodded after listening, although Wang Yinggeng was a little reckless, but he still dared to fight, this time he actually made such a big capital, if the court wins, then at least hundreds of thousands of acres of land can be obtained, and Wang Yinggeng will have a foundation in the future.

George Yong also said his final decision: "I also decided to donate 2.5 million quintals of grain to the imperial court, after all, the Tatars invade the south every year, and if we don't teach them a lesson this time, our business will not be easy." ”

Bao Shufang looked at these two people and shook his head, thinking to himself, he is still young, he doesn't know that it is not easy to keep it, they donated so much food at this time, although it will not make them short of money, but once they lose, I am afraid that the business will shrink for a long time, but this is good, just let the Hui merchants under their command be able to erode their territory, the two of them have developed too much in the past two years, and if they continue like this, I am afraid that there will be no foundation for these people to stand on.

So then these people stopped talking about the affairs of the court, and each began to drink and have fun.

In the next few days in the household department, many people began to donate grain to the imperial court, especially George Yong of the Jin merchants took out 2.5 million quintals of grain, and Wang Yinggeng of the salt merchants donated 1.5 million denier of grain, just to support the imperial court's Northern Expedition.

After Jia Ke knew about this, he understood the meaning of these two families, one was for the land in the north, and the other was to give himself a name.

Since this is the case, Jia Ke accepted their kindness, after all, the world's trade still depends on these few companies.

In addition to them, other wealthy merchants in the capital also began to take action, these people saw that even the leaders of the three major merchant gangs had already donated grain to the imperial court to buy land, what was so terrible about these small families?

So these people almost broke the threshold of the household department, because there were too many people coming, even Liu Wan, the secretary of the household department, had to come out to receive him in person.

Liu Wan registered the names of these people and the number of grain and grass to be donated, and then he was a little surprised, and the total amount of these grains was more than 3 million quintals.

If you add in the grain donated by the Jin merchants and salt merchants a few days ago, this is much more than the number set by Jia Ke.

The extra grain and grass are all land, so Liu Wan can't be the master himself, so he hurried to the palace to report to Sun Yan, the foreman of the Military Aircraft Department.

Sun Yan got the news of Liu Wan, pondered for a while, and then said: "Since ancient times, trading has gone up and down, even if so many people buy it, then we should increase the price." ”

Liu Wan has also worked in the household department for so many years, so he naturally understands what Sun Yan means.

Liu Wan said tentatively: "What does Lord Shoufu mean?" ”

"Count the total amount of this grain, and finally see how much land we can get, and then divide it equally among them."

Liu Wan nodded immediately after hearing this, this matter can only be done like this.

The next day, the court's disposal plan was announced to the world, and the rich people all talked about it when they heard the news.

This matter seems to have drawbacks, but in fact, it does not mean that there are no benefits, it depends on how much land the imperial court can obtain in this war.

If they get less land, they will naturally suffer, and if the imperial court wins a big victory and seizes a large piece of land, the imperial court will not sell all the land, and they will not let them suffer in the future.

Merchants and landlords from all over the country have relieved themselves, and some even regret that they have donated less grain.

When Jia Ke was actively preparing to go north, Arslen Khan in the north was not idle.

In the past few years, Arslen Khan has not had a good time, at the beginning, because of Jia Ke's relationship, the steppe tribes began to split, and it took him a lot of effort to reunite, but the people of the Western Regions turned against him.

In the past few years, Arslen Khan had to refocus his forces on the Western Regions, but he encountered black-clothed food in the Western Regions, and these soldiers armed with religion were simply not afraid of death, if they were not steppe people, skilled archers and horses, they were almost forced to retreat.

Fortunately, Arslen Khan knew a lot of strategy, and defeated them in several battles with the black-clothed masters, and expanded the land to the west for more than 1,000 miles.

Now the black-clothed food has been beaten by Arslen Khan and has no temper at all, so he can only cede the land and sue for peace, so Arslen Khan can return to the steppe with a large number of slaves and mercenaries as a victor.

Arslen Khan now once again set his sights on the south, where his lifelong enemy was located.