The peaks and mountains are like gathering, the waves are like anger, and the mountains and rivers are on the surface of Tongguan Road. Looking at the western capital, he hesitated, sad that the Qin and Han dynasties were in the office, and the palace was made of soil. Xing, the people suffer; Death, the people suffer.

Although Kang Peng led Dong Zhuo's army to invade Yizhou in order to avoid greater turmoil in the Three Kingdoms, and also for Kang Peng's own selfish interests, Kang Peng was unable to hold high the banner of the military and the people in this era, and he could only turn a blind eye to the army's behavior of disturbing the people, making Dong Zhuojun go like locusts crossing the border, looting the people's property and making the local chickens and dogs jump. But Kang Peng didn't expect that Liu Yan was actually more ruthless than him, and actually resorted to the trick of scorched earth tactics, turning the once prosperous and wealthy Yizhou into ruins, and throwing more than two million Yizhou people who had no food and clothing to Dong Zhuojun, Dong Zhuojun took this burden, then Dong Zhuojun's abundant logistics were bound to be dragged down; If he doesn't, then Dong Zhuojun will fall into an endless hunger riot. Kang Peng had no choice but to take the lesser of the two, and was forced to abandon the strategy of rapid territorial expansion and put the main force on the reconstruction of Yizhou.

Not to mention that the refugees in Yizhou are in dire straits, just say that Kang Peng's order was brought to Li Ru and Sima Lang by the flying pigeon, Li Ru did not dare to slack off after seeing the letter, and was about to send someone to invite Sima Lang to discuss, but saw Sima Lang come in with a holy decree, and said angrily as soon as he entered the door: "Brother Xianjia, the saint is getting more and more excessive, we only paid a tribute of 100,000 grains last month, and today we came to the holy decree again, asking us to pay another tribute of 300,000 grains and 100,000 gold coins, saying that he wants to build a Guangwu Palace, and he wants us to pay for the palace and give us money and grain. It's really wronged us. ”

"I can't give a single piece of food, let him gather it on the spot in Luoyang." Li Ru said contemptuously, and held up Kang Peng's flying pigeon to pass the book, "Look at it, something big has happened in Yizhou, and our food is also going to be tight." ”

After reading the letter, Sima Lang's face immediately turned pale, and he said dumbfounded: "More than two million disaster victims, still have to transport relief through the plank road, can we do it?" ”

"If you can't do it, you have to do it." Li Ru shook his head and said: "The Taishi and the military master also know that this is a trap, but we can only jump down, I will give an order to mobilize grain and grass, you go and invite the big businessmen of Yongji and Liang Prefectures to see how many victims they can bear for us." ”

Sima Lang left in response, with the order of Li Ru, who was fully responsible for the administrative affairs of the three states, Chang'an, Fengxiang, Tianshui and Xianyang and other important economic towns all took action, countless warehouses were opened, and tens of thousands of carriages full of grain shuttled back and forth on the newly built roads in Yongjiliang and Liangzhou, sending countless grains to Chencang, Meridian Valley, Xiegu and Qishan, and at the same time, the small cities of the three prefectures also concentrated the surplus grain in the major cities and then transferred it to Yizhou. Fortunately, Kang Peng had put grain production in the first place in logistical preparations, and he had high-yield grain in hand, and the grain preparations were sufficient, although it was necessary to bear the basic livelihood of more than 2 million disaster victims, it would not affect the livelihood of the people in the three prefectures, but the trouble was in the transportation through the Qinling Mountains.

That night, the big businessmen, big landlords or their representatives in Chang'an all rushed to Li Ru's Yongzhou Prime Minister's Mansion, and there were more than 500 people of all kinds, and many people from other places could not arrive in time, filling Li Confucianism to the brim, and many people could only sit in the courtyard. After each of them sat down politely, Li Ru explained the situation, and then said tentatively: "Everyone, I have already said the situation, now the most prosperous area of Yizhou has been reduced to a ruin, and the number of victims has exceeded two million. As long as the factories and workshops opened in the affected areas are exempted from all taxes for three years. With such generous conditions, I don't know what you think? ”

The merchants of Sanzhou actually knew what Li Ru's intentions were for them that afternoon-they couldn't see that big movement, and they were also in vain, and they had already discussed with each other how to take advantage of the fire to rob and distribute the interests of the country of abundance, but out of the nature of merchants, they also had to bargain with Dong Zhuojun to fight for their own best interests.

At the moment, the businessmen of Sanzhou exchanged ears, you pushed me to let go, and Ai Quan, who had the closest relationship with Dong Zhuojun, came out to speak, Ai Quan was not humble, and first glanced arrogantly at Tan Mi, the largest landlord in Yongzhou, who had always been at odds with him, and then hugged his fist to Li Ru and said: "Li Xiang, we have already discussed, and there are more than two million victims ...... this area." "Li Ru and Sima Langxin said that you have such a big tone, with a population of more than two million? Do you know how much more than two million people eat? But Ai Quan's next words almost didn't make Li Ru and Sima Lang think that they had heard it wrong! Ai Quan continued: "We have a total of 1,600 businesses in the three states that can accept all of them as workers!" ”

"Wait!" Li Ru interrupted Ai Quan's words and said in surprise: "Boss Ai, I heard you right, more than 2 million people can be eaten by more than 1,000 of your merchants?" ”

"Lee Sang-young, you heard it right." Ai Quan's white and chubby face smiled into a flower, and said with a smile: "Two million people is a lot, but on average, our household is less than 2,000 people, and just one small family can accept more than 30,000 workers in Yizhou." But not all of the people in Yizhou are able to work, and on average there are even fewer, so we can accept them all. ”

Li Ru was dumbfounded, although he knew that the merchants of Sanzhou had exploded a lot in the past two years, but he did not expect that they had become rich to this point, in fact, even Kang Peng did not expect that the merchants had developed so much, high-yield grain caused the price of grain to plummet, after the supply of grain production exceeded demand, the demand for commodities would inevitably soar, and industry and commerce got rid of the feudal system with the help of Kang Peng, which made commerce advance by leaps and bounds, and the germ of capitalism that Kang Peng looked forward to had been produced in advance in the three states of Yongheliang in just a few years.

"Great." Li Ru and Sima Lang both breathed a sigh of relief and applauded: "In this way, the Taishi will be much easier." The businessmen of Sanzhou led by Ai Quan and Ma Zhuang were full of smiles, but the big landowners of Sanzhou led by Tan Mi were pale, and Tan Mi quietly snorted a few times.

"Li Xiang, but the villains still hope that the Taishi will agree to a few conditions." Ai Quan said with a smile on his face: "In this way, the villains can better help the people of Yizhou to survive the turmoil, and when the Taishi crusades against the rebellious ministers and thieves in the future, we will have the ability to help more people who are suffering in the war." ”

Li Ruhu glanced at Ai Quan suspiciously, "Say, as long as it is for the people, the Taishi will definitely agree, and if it is reasonable, I can also promise you on behalf of the Taishi." ”

"Little people hope." Ai Quan nodded and said: "Taishi has canceled those regulations on contract labor in Yizhou, and the wages and rest time of workers are decided by the villains themselves. It also allowed the state to open a monopoly ban on salt, tea, and liquor, allowing the little people to operate freely. In addition, the Shu brocade in Yizhou is monopolized by our merchants from the three states, and merchants from other states and counties are not allowed to interfere. ”

"No way!" Li Ru was anxious when he heard this, and said angrily: "You are too greedy and insufficient, not to mention anything else, salt, tea and wine are the pillars of taxation, and they are handed over to you to operate freely, so the soldiers in front of you shed blood and sweat, didn't it become a profit for you in vain?" In addition, if the wages and rest of the workers are not enforced, you will definitely dare to offer a price that only gives rations and not wages! ”

"Li Xiang is too careful." Ai Quanxiang said with a smile: "The villains dare to only give the black price, but the wages that the Taishi used to ask us to give to the workers were too high, and we had to take a day off every seven days, so we really didn't have much profit." ”

Before Ai Quan's words fell, Tan Mi had already shouted: "Ai Quan, you are too greedy and insufficient, salt, tea, wine, and Shu brocade are all swallowed by you, and you still want to exploit the people again?" Tan Mi's thin face and beard were full of anger, the grain harvest in Sanzhou in the past two years, the most unlucky is Tan Mi and other big landlords, although the grain price has Kang Peng's administrative intervention, it has not fallen to the bottom, but the grain price in Sanzhou is only maintained in the ordinary years before Emperor Ling, and the only ones who really make a lot of money are the merchants of Sanzhou who transport grain to the Central Plains for sale. Seeing that the merchants eat meat and drink soup by themselves, it is strange that the major landlords in Yonghe and Liang can still balance their hearts.

Tan Mi turned to Li Ru again and said: "Li Xiang, I still have 200,000 stones of grain in my house, and I am willing to take out half of it to help the Taishi help the victims of the Yizhou disaster, and I only ask the Taishi to hand over the monopoly trade of well salt to the villain, and the villain is also willing to bear 30,000 workers and tenant farmers, and the wages offered to them are half of the Yongzhou contract workers, and they have one day off every month, which is much more preferential than Ai Quan, who eats people and does not spit out bones." Then open up barren land in Yizhou for cultivation, so that Yizhou will have a bumper harvest of grain this autumn, and solve Taishi's worries. ”

As soon as Tan Mi's words came out, the merchants of Yongjiliang and Liangzhou shouted one after another, they were willing to pay money and grain to help Dong Zhuojun solve the problem of Yizhou disaster victims, and they wanted to compete with the merchants of Yizhou for the monopoly of various specialties in Yizhou, and the landlords of the Central Plains were different, the scholars and landlords of Yongjiliang Sanzhou were not so sensitive to the status of merchants and their own status, and they were affected by Kangpeng's policy of supporting industry and commerce, and they did not feel that the status of businessmen was inferior, and they were more envious of the rich income of businessmen, such as the big fat meat of the country of Fuzhi in front of them today. The big landowners in the three states came up with the idea of going to the sea to do business.

Ai Quan and other businessmen are in a hurry, they are just nouveau riche, and Tan Mi and they are all big landowners who have accumulated several generations or even more than ten generations, and it is really difficult to say who wins and who loses when they really fight for financial resources. Ai Quan and the others secretly regretted that they should really discuss with the big landlords and exchange voices, otherwise if it goes on like this, it will only be the big businessmen and big landlords in Sanzhou who will suffer, and the fat sheep of Dong Zhuojun and Yizhou will be cheaper.

"Master Tan, there is something to discuss, something to discuss." Ai Quan glanced at Tan Mi while killing chickens and wiping his neck, and nodded and said to Li Ru: "Li Xiang, the villains are all businessmen, and they are asking for a price all over the sky, Li Xiang can repay the money on the ground, Li Xiang will make a price, and we will give Li Xiang an answer after we discuss." ”

Ai Quan's calculation is a delaying tactic, but how can Li Ru not see it? Li Ru and Sima Lang glanced at each other, and immediately said, "Time waits for no one, let's decide things tonight." Boss Ai, you represent the businessman, Master Tan, you represent the Shi family, you each put forward your own conditions, and we will decide who will monopolize the interests of Yizhou based on the merits. ”

Ai Quan had no choice but to negotiate with the businessmen about the new monopoly conditions, and Tan Mi also discussed with the scholars as if he had won a big battle, and after whispering, Ai Quan and Tan Mi, the old enemies, began to compete for bargaining, the purpose was to monopolize the economic interests of Yizhou. After two hours of verbal rhetoric, such a result was reached, Ai Quan and other businessmen monopolized Yizhou's tea, horse transportation, shipping and other businesses, as well as one-third of the production of well salt and Shu brocade, and the price of contract labor in Yizhou was set at half of Yongzhou's, but the cancellation of the mandatory time for workers to rest, what made Ai Quan and other businessmen angry the most was Tan Mi's proposal that no tax exemption would be paid for three years, and half of the tax should be paid. The big landlords headed by Tan Mi obtained two-thirds of the wine monopoly and one-third of the salt and Shu brocade monopoly, and the rest was controlled by Dong Zhuojun, and all the fertile land in the prefecture was also sold to the big landlords in the three states first, and the tenant rent was increased to sixty percent. The big businessmen and big landowners in the three states will bear all the expenses for the relief of the victims of the disaster in Yizhou in exchange for the benefits of Yizhou.

After these vampires negotiated with Li Ru and Sima Lang to divide the interests of Yizhou, Tan Mi and other big landlords happily went to prepare grain money and prepared to make a big profit in Yizhou, but Ai Quan and other businessmen lamented that they were cut too hard, but they could only sigh and go down to prepare. Li Ru took care of them, but the flying pigeon passed on to his father-in-law and informed his father-in-law of the good news.

Kang Peng naturally couldn't help but be overjoyed, and cheered: "Damn, it's finally starting to sprout, Lao Tzu's efforts are not in vain!" Kang Peng thought about it, and wrote back to Li Ru, asking Li Ru to tell the big businessmen and big landlords in Sanzhou that it was decided to increase the time for exempting half of the tax to five years, and also rewarded the landlords and businessmen who were willing to go to Yizhou to engage in monopoly operations this time, so that they could send one person from each household to Yizhou to take up official positions in Yizhou to take care of their business. And as long as they support Dong Zhuojun's expansion, Dong Zhuojun's newly opened territory in the future can be divided into them, and let them monopolize the economic interests of the new territory with Dong Zhuojun.

In Kang Peng's vision, unifying the whole country is not his ultimate goal, allowing China to dominate the world and establish an empire on which the sun never sets in the East is his pursuit, and to achieve this goal, it is necessary to let the Chinese have the motivation to establish this goal, and monopolizing the economic interests of the occupied land and enslaving and exploiting the new occupants is the best motivation, and even the sale of black and white slaves is in Kang Peng's consideration, but as long as it can seek benefits for the country, Kang Peng will not consider what means to use. Although Kang Peng knew that this would have a great impact on the centralization of power, and in the future, it might even cause the world to be divided into several Chinese countries. But Kang Peng didn't care at all, it must have been a matter of how many years after his death, not to mention that no dynasty can really last for thousands of generations, and he Kang Peng himself is not sure how long the empire established by Kang Peng can exist, but as long as the Chinese rule the world, it is enough for Kang Peng.

While Kang Peng was cheering for the budding capitalism, Zhang Song finally found Jia Long's troops in Langzhong, and Jia Long was also planning a plan that might turn the Yizhou army into victory.