After being silent for a long time, Natalia suddenly asked, "Can Xia Guo replace Ross and become an ally of Lu Mei?" Her eyes widened, as if Zhao Xingde was the envoy of the Xia Kingdom. Xia Guo was originally an ally of Lu Mei, which is why we are here to serve Your Majesty. Zhao Xingde recited the answer issued by the marching division, and was secretly ashamed in his heart.

"If the Great Food and the Turks come to attack us, will the Xia Kingdom send troops to help?" Those big eyes stared at Zhao Xingde tightly, as if trying to discern any hint of a lie in his gaze. Zhao Xingde sighed and said, "Between countries, any help is not gratuitous. There are no eternal allies, only eternal interests. ”

"I guess the Latins said that." Natalia pursed her lips, the Latins in the mouth of Lumei refer to the people in the land of the old Lumei, especially the merchants of Venice, these people have been partially barbarized, especially for profit.

After returning to the camp of the Praetorian Guards, Zhao Xingde immediately pulled the marching Sima Huang Zongdao and asked, "Do you know who Natalia Brinnius is?" Huang Zongdao looked puzzled: "What Natasha, is it a famous singer nearby?" Jin Changtai, who was next to him, heard it and said with a smile: "This is the famous little beauty, the only daughter of Princess Taiping." What do you ask her for? The marriage custom of this Lumei person is a man and a woman just a couple, one more is not good, you already have a family, unless you stop marrying another wife, otherwise ........"

"Bah, his grandmother's," Zhao Xingde scolded, "You just stopped marrying another wife." Thinking in her heart, this little princess seemed to think that she didn't know her identity, but she could extract from her mouth some of the true thoughts of the nobles of the Lumei Kingdom about the Xia Kingdom and the Rus' people, especially the one who had a huge impact on the Lumei Emperor and state affairs, Princess Anna's thoughts.

In the early morning of the next day, Zhao Xingde received a famous post from Chen Xizhai again, saying that the proprietor of this merchant fleet specially held a banquet in Wangdong Tower, and thanked Ming Hongdu for his escort. The Chengying camp walked in all directions, and there were many places to deal with these merchants, so Zhao Xingde was inconvenient to refuse, and instructed Jian Cheng and another ten-master named Du Tang to keep an eye on the drills in the camp, and he took Chen Yongqi, Du Fujiao and other eight ten-masters to the banquet.

Lumei people often feast and drink the guests and hosts half lying on the bed, and the Xia people are not solemn, so they are sitting in danger. Wangdong Building dismantled the screen partition between the two Accords to accommodate the guests of this large table. Chen Xizhai smiled slightly and introduced to the officers of Minghongdu the owner of the merchant ship's cargo, Kang Wendu's fur business, which transported the furs of Xia Guomobei into Lumei to sell, Huang Shenwei was a big tea merchant, Tan Shiyong was a seller of woolen wool, and Qiu Bosun was a monopoly on high-quality porcelain. Li Yong was planning to open up a trade route south through the Resha Sea, and had been traveling in Dashi for seven years, and he could talk to many officials and princes along the way, and he heard Chen Xizhai say that Zhao June, the envoy of Ming Hongdu, was a learned man, and he came to meet him.

Chen Xizhai introduced the Zhao military envoy of Minghongdu to this group of merchants, and after Zhao Xingde introduced the ten commanders one by one, the watch plate and wine also came up, a piano master and a singer were on the side, and the atmosphere gradually became a little warmer.

"This business, thanks to Zhao Jun's envoy and the sergeants and soldiers, has made the Chamber of Commerce have no money to return to." Kang Wendu raised his glass and smiled. He was the leader of the caravan and also had a place in the guild. For the Chengying Camp that protects the business and the road, the Chamber of Commerce has always been interested in making friends. Because piracy has been rampant since the beginning of autumn, this is the delivery of a large number of goods together, if this trip is robbed, it will not only be in vain for most of the year, but the guild will also make up for the loss of part of the goods to the merchants, the wool is out of the sheep, everyone has to give some blood. Had it not been for the decree of the Pillar State that officials and sergeants were strictly forbidden to accept gifts from merchants in private, these merchants would have agreed to offer a large amount of thanks.

"It's just a matter of duty." Zhao Xingde humbly said, and heard Tan Shiyong smile again: "Zhao Jun's envoy is young and promising, and the magic arrow is amazing, which makes the young people frightened, comparable to the general Li Guang of Han Shifei. With a wave of his hand, the man lifted up a plaque painted with gold and silver, and wrote four big characters on it: "Li Guang is reincarnated". This compliment is really numb, Zhao Xingde almost squirted out a mouthful of wine, and he could only smile and be humble. The ten-captains, you look at me, I look at you, and they are all smiling and silent. Since then, Zhao Xingde has had the nickname of "General Li", but he laughed more at it.

Li Yong's face changed slightly, this group of businessmen did not understand poetry and books, the so-called Li Guang was difficult to seal, and compared the officer to Li Guang, and there was a suspicion of cursing the other party not to be promoted to general. This Zhao Jun envoy is full of poetry and books, and he will be able to associate this verse. If you are narrow-minded, you are afraid that you will have to be bitter at that time. Seeing that Zhao Xingde didn't seem to mind, he secretly observed and felt that this person was not very deep in the city, but a magnanimous person who could be friends. Thinking of this, Li Yong also saluted each other with a wine glass: "I hit it off with Zhao Junenvoy at first sight, and I drank this glass first." After speaking, he covered the wine glass with his left sleeve and drank it all. After Zhao Xingde also drank a lot, Li Yong approached and said: "I am preparing to sell a batch of goods through the hot sand sea, if this trade route is opened, there may be a place to disturb Zhao's military envoys in the future." ”

Zhao Xingde remembered that Kim Chang-tae once said that trafficking a piece of salt through the hot sand sea can be exchanged for a piece of gold. He said secretly: "This is a golden road, if it is opened, it will be a great fortune." He said with a smile on his face: "Where does the shopkeeper Li come from, wherever the camel caravan of the trading house goes, my sergeant's sword will accompany him, and everyone will do their best and perform their duties, all for the sake of the society and the country." Li Yong was overjoyed when he heard that he agreed to colonize the southern trade routes, so he intended to make friends and introduce to Zhao Xingde his green-clothed princes, and even the customs and customs of the north and south of the Hot Sand Sea.

After the wine was hot, the businessmen also opened the topic, Kang Wendu said to Qiu Bosun with the intention of drinking: "Qiu shopkeeper, you sold the workshop in Chang'an to Qiu Tianrui from the Kanto, this business is not authentic." "In the autonomous area of the Chang'an Chamber of Commerce, many big merchants in the Kanto region were buying up industries on a large scale, setting up workshops to manufacture goods and sell them to Mobei and the Silk Road. This situation has become more and more intense in recent years, and in the autonomous area of the Chang'an Chamber of Commerce, the proprietors behind many workshops have been replaced, and I really don't know how these Kanto businessmen can be so rich and like to spend a lot of money in Chang'an. It's just that the conduct of these people is not very good, and they often trick some displaced people who escaped from the Kanto region into working as cattle and horses in the workshop, and in the autonomous place of the Chamber of Commerce, as long as the taxes are sufficient, the government generally does not interfere.

Qiu Bosundui said with a smile: "In business, it is too expensive to burn porcelain in Chang'an, and I have long wanted to close that workshop." Qiu Tianrui bid high, and asked me to monopolize the sale of porcelain from his workshop to the west, which is really comparable to my old workshop. ”

Kang Wendu said in a deep voice: "Don't you know that Qiu Tianrui is a master of the rules of the guild, the homeless people he recruited are only used as cattle and horses, and they can't learn the craft for three or five years. Only in an autonomous place such as the Chang'an Chamber of Commerce, can he tolerate a scum from the Kanto. Qiu Bosun smiled stupidly and did not refute, he also simply sold the workshop because he could not compete with the workshop of the Kanto merchants in terms of the price of goods. The craftsmen in the Kanto workshops had a hard life, working for seven or eight hours a day, and were controlled by the workshop owners by various means, and there were even rumors of abducting young children as domestic workers. Some businessmen in Xia Kingdom are also in cahoots, which makes businessmen like Kang Wendu very unaccustomed to it.

Although Kang Wendu is a businessman, he is fast-talking, and he realized a slip of the tongue when he said it, and said to Huang Shenwei next to him: "Old Huang, I didn't mean you." It turned out that this Huang Shenwei was also a businessman from Kanto, he was originally a little unhappy, and he smiled when he heard this: "It's okay, Qiu Darui is also a scum in the southeast." After speaking, he took a sip of the wine in the cup. Kang Wendu smiled, took a sip of the wine glass, and muttered: "I'm sorry, make amends." After a pause, he said: "But you big businessmen in the Kanto region are too bold in their shots, and they all spend a lot of money to raise the price, and they have fried the shops and workshops too high." ”