The world is bustling, all for profit; The world is crowded, all for profit. Whether it is a war between countries or a dispute between people, most of them are because of those entangled interests.

The three roads in Youbei, which had just been replaced by the emperor, were now in ruins, and it was urgent to open up a stable way to make money to alleviate the imperial finances that were about to collapse; And what about the Northern Yan Dynasty, which seems to have a big family? In fact, just one financial problem is enough to give Emperor Tianyou a headache.

This is exactly what everyone has the difficulties of, and the small family has the suffering of the small family.

The imaginary enemies that the Northern Yan people should always be wary of are not only the Youbei Yan family and the Mobei Khan King; For example, the big and small golden boy Buddha in Western Xinjiang; the shamanic branch of southern Xinjiang - Miao Wu Village; There are also a large number of Yeni believers in those poor areas......

There is a very different difference between these religions, which come from different origins, and the shamanism that prevails in Youbei and Mobei. The shamans of shamanism only care about the affairs of the heavens and the earth, but they never ask about the government; And the leaders of those sects scattered throughout the Northern Yan Dynasty were all princes of the 'integration of politics and religion'!

The believers under their command are usually pious and good people; But once they are bewitched and instigated by people with hearts, these harmless and kind people will immediately become tigers and wolves who are not afraid of life and death!

It is precisely because of the light and dark restraint of these religious groups that the three roads in the northern part of the country were able to 'steal' the final victory of the war between the two norths with the 'corner of the whole country'.

Because the Northern Yan Dynasty is located on the north bank of the Huajiang River, it is an agricultural civilization born along with the Yuhe River of the Huajiang River; Coupled with the guiding ideology of the Confucian school of 'everything is inferior, only reading is high', which has led to the current Northern Yan Dynasty, although there are many well-educated people like carp crossing the river, but most of the merchants who can be named are those 'red-top merchants' who eat official meals.

Because of the War between the Two North and the civil strife in the Yan family, the land on Dongyou Road, which had been idle for a whole year, could no longer produce new grain to support the people; However, fortunately, a Li Zilin was born in Dongyou Road, and he was able to temporarily control the Li family, the largest grain merchant in Youbei, so that they could not participate in the ranks of raising grain prices.

However, due to the fact that the old grain of previous years was previously transported to the Mobei grassland in the form of half selling and half giving away, it also directly led to the situation that the official grain warehouse in Youbei is also ten warehouses and nine empty. In desperation, Li Zilin could only suggest that Wan Changning, the new prime minister of Youbei, secretly buy back some emergency food from the Nankang people. In Li Zilin's view, as long as Youbei can survive this cold winter, then next year's Dongyou Road will be able to get back on track smoothly.

With such 'allies' as the Huayan Merchant Gang and Huinan Qianzhuang, it is not a problem to buy the silver for relief grain. However, because there was a roadblock on the way to transport grain, the 'Northern Yan Dynasty', the grain transported from Nankang to Youbei could only be delivered by Nankang officials and merchants who pretended to be ordinary caravans, and most of the lively scenes he saw when Shen Gui entered the city were caravans that came to transport grain.

The reason why Fengjing City is so crowded now is also because these merchants are stranded in Fengjing City for some reason, wanting to wait for this year's medicinal herbs and winter skins in Youbei to start selling...... Anyway, the 'ticket money' back and forth has been reimbursed, so why don't they delay for more than 40 days to fill the convoy carrying grain again? After all, those medicinal herbs and furs are far more valuable than food!

Such a 'delivery conference' in full swing, watching the caravans coming and going pass by the 'door of their own homes', but they couldn't eat half a bite, how could they not make the Northern Yan Dynasty anxious?

In fact, since the end of last year, Beiyan and Nankang have had a very unpleasant quarrel because of the issue of tariffs.

The cause of the dispute is not complicated: whether it is tobacco, alcohol, sugar and tea, as long as the caravan from Beiyan to Nankang can show the road guide issued by the official Beiyan department, then Nankang will be exempted from taxes and fees; As for Beiyan, they naturally reciprocate and make it convenient for each other.

Your family's business tax is collected by your family, and my family's business tax is collected by my family; Such a simple and direct unilateral taxation method has been implemented by both parties by default for nearly 100 years......

But in recent years, as the natural and man-made disasters in Beiyan have intensified, and the treasury has become increasingly empty, Emperor Tianyou, who is full of copper plates, has gradually discovered some of the tricks in this 'gentleman's agreement'......

From the perspective of the market alone, Nankang's goods are exquisite and beautiful, and the price is extremely close to the people. As for the goods of the Northern Yan Dynasty, except for those raw materials that cannot be sold at high prices, even the poor people in their own country are unwilling to buy them, let alone the Nankang people......

Until recent years, even a brush and a twist of wick were all 'imported' Nankang goods. Under this 'trade upside down' situation, how could the Northern Yan Dynasty not be anxious?

Of course, Emperor Zhou Yuanqing was not a fool, and he was not 'simple' enough to completely drive Nankang's goods out of Beiyan by increasing his commercial tax, nor did he expect that by collecting some more commercial taxes, he would be able to awaken the dying Beiyan 'industrial and commercial industry'. He just wanted to use such a 'proposal' that was greater than the actual name to test the reaction of those Nankang people, and also to estimate the courage and bottom line of Nankang people......

To put it simply, it is to use this unilateral increase in commercial tax to ask for directions, so that in the future, it is just to 'gain an inch'!

However, those Nankang merchants are obviously not easy to deal with; Regardless of whether they knew the small abacus of the Beiyan people in their hearts or not, they still couldn't tolerate such an act that was close to 'tearing up the agreement'! It can even be said that if it weren't for the previous tax deductions of the two sides and the only verbal covenant, maybe the Minjiang River sailors would have already landed on the beach at Weijin Port at this moment!

It is precisely because of the endless negotiations and sparring between the two sides that Emperor Tianyou can't spare his hand to beat the 'dog eats dog' Youbei Third Road

But then again, in the minds of the kings of Northern Yan in the past, there was actually no idea of recovering the lost territory in the northern part of the world. Although the slogans were shouted loudly, if you really wanted to fight, even if the Yan family had three heads and six arms, it would not be enough for the million-strong army of the Northern Yan Dynasty to cut down!

In the eyes of the Beiyan Zhou family, since his Yan family likes to call them lonely, let them play by themselves; Anyway, now Nankang is also self-established as the king, there are not many of him in the north, and there are not many of him in the north; Moreover, even if there is a chance to recover the dark north without bloodshed, what is the point? In that icy and snowy place, crops could not be cultivated for half a year; The population is pitifully small; Even though the natural resources are abundant and abundant, the road is rugged, the transportation is inconvenient, and the consumption of transportation is very large, so there is no profit at all, and it is not even a 'chicken rib', it is a 'money-losing goods'!

Once the Northern Yan Dynasty really succeeded in recovering the entire territory of Youbei, then what awaited them was only more than 5 million people waiting to be fed, as well as the ice and snow where everything withered......

Therefore, the attitude of the Northern Yan Dynasty is: just consume their backbone on time, so that those Youbei people can neither die nor sit big. As for the unification of the Huayu Continent, no matter how you look at it, you must first recover the rich land of Nankang, which is known as the 'granary of the world'!

And there is a little benefit to keeping Youbei Third Road: since the goods of Beiyan are not wanted by the Nankang people, and the locals don't like it, then simply sell them all to Youbei Third Road!

Next, they only need to ask the Youbei side to strictly investigate all smugglers when they sign the trade agreement, then the entire 'market' on Youbei Third Road will become a 'back garden' for their own dumping. In this way, it can not only alleviate the financial crisis of the Northern Yan Dynasty, but also completely cut off the trade road between Youbei and Nankang.

All this is just as the four princes said: steel swords and war horses can only cut off the heads of enemies; But yellow and white things can corrode the marrow of the enemy!

Therefore, although the war between the two norths can indeed be temporarily put to an end; But the next 'battle of gold and silver' was more brutal and hidden.

And such a harmony is the 'first knife' swung by the fourth prince Zhou Chang'an to Youbei Third Road.

Emperor Tianyou, who was not good at financial management and business, rubbed his chin and thought about it after he understood the overall plan of the four princes. After a long silence, he raised his head again and looked at his son, and the admiration on his face was overflowing:

"That's a good idea... However, my father is not good at financial matters, and he has not yet understood the key points. Therefore, my father wants to discuss your overall plan with Cai Youcheng again, I don't know if you are willing? ”

"Everything is up to the father, and I hope that the father can forgive the sin of his son's ministers who cut off first and then play......"

Although Emperor Tianyou still has a smile on his face, he likes this fourth son more in his heart! Even his appearance of 'getting cheap and selling well' seems to him to be so cunning and cute at this time......

"Hmm...... The death penalty can be avoided, but the living sin is unforgivable! After a while, I will go to the harem to say goodbye to your imperial grandmother and concubine, and then accompany them to have lunch, and then I will allow you to leave the palace! Your imperial grandmother is talking about you every day, hahahaha...... Oh yes... It is said that the eldest princess of Youbei is a first-class standout in terms of appearance and talent......"

Zhou Changan originally planned to ask An to retire, but he didn't expect his father to suddenly mention the 'pretense', so he had to reply with a little surprise:

"Yes, Erchen has heard of it a little......"

"Chang'an, you two are the same age, what about your identity...... It's also a good match; As a father, I now advise you: Don't treat anything as an exchange of interests. Life flies for a hundred years, and there are not many things that can really change...... Only the person next to the pillow is going to accompany you through your life! My Fair Lady and Gentleman, if you really like that Fengyang princess, you might as well use your sincerity and treat others well......"

These words made the fourth prince a little stunned, but then nodded with relief:

"Yes, Erchen wrote down ......"