It was not only Cao Gan and Wei Qun who inadvertently noticed that the Xuzhou merchant ship sailed into Jinling again, and also entered the field of vision of many people.

It's just that most of these people, like Wei Qun, think that after the battle in the Wuchuan River Valley, Xuzhou cleared the suspicion of collusion with the righteous army and the Shu army, and began to seek closer ties with the hinterland of Great Chu.

The information on the types and quantities of personnel and goods carried by this Xuzhou merchant ship was transmitted to Jinling one step ahead of schedule after entering the territory of Wuling County in Langzhou through the Ruan River.

Therefore, those who can know this information in advance will also know that the Xuzhou merchant ships entered Jinling again after a lapse of two years, mainly for profit-although the southwestern states do not prohibit business travelers from passing, but the pass requires a strengthened check.

Although Xuzhou is connected to Langyuetan and Shaoheng Prefectures through the Yuanjiang River and Xuefeng Mountain Post Road, and bulk goods such as tea, medicine, cloth and iron can be exported nearby, these prefectures and counties are mainly based on the self-sufficient family manor economy and small-scale farmer economy, and the demand for external commodities is relatively limited.

Once the tea and medicine cloth iron exported from Xuzhou to Langyuetan and Shaoheng Prefectures exceeds a certain scale, the selling price will be suppressed, and it will be difficult to grab more profits.

Not to mention the medicinal materials, mules and horses, gold and silver utensils, pearls, jade, gems, and spices in Qianzhong, Nanzhao and other places cannot be sold at a high price in Hunan Prefectures.

The real large-scale commodity consumption market in Dachu is still in Jinling, which is prosperous in the south of the Yangtze River.

Just like Qianyang cloth and Yandang spring wine, the price in Langzhou and Yuezhou is nearly three or four percent lower than that of Jinling.

The price difference between the two places is even more staggering.

Therefore, the appearance of Xuzhou merchant ships in Jinling, in the eyes of some people, is regarded as the Marquis of Qianyang choosing to give in in to practical interests.

Xuzhou, as a feudal state, that is, Fanzhou in the ordinary sense, merchant ships entering the country need to report to the local salt and iron court supervisor or the city ship under the jurisdiction of the salt envoy department, and only after the salt and iron court supervisor or the city ship field extracts and buys a part of the goods as a tax, and is allowed to trade with the local merchants.

The salt and iron envoys were located in the market yard of Shenjiaji, next to the inn where Cao Gan led the envoys of the Shu State - the boat that Cao Gan was on was ordered to stop in Shenjiaji, and it was also treated as an ordinary boat.

Cao Gan also had no way to go to the dock to see if it was a merchant ship from Xuzhou, so he sat in the room and continued to talk to Wei Qun, telling him some of the latest situations in Shu.

After all, Wei Qun has always been in power.

In the evening, there was a noisy quarrel on the stone street in front of the inn, and Cao Gan and Wei Qun walked to the window facing the street and saw a number of people arguing about something around the two officials of the market.

After listening for a while, they realized that the people surrounding the officials of the market were all merchants who had entered Jinling on the merchant ships of Xuzhou, and because they were dissatisfied with the new system of extraction and purchase implemented by the Salt and Iron Envoys, they had quarrels.

After listening carefully for a while, I learned that the Salt and Iron Envoy Department had imported the commercial goods imported from Zhufan Prefecture into the Great Chu Jingzhao Mansion and Zhujing Prefecture, in addition to the old system and extracting one out of ten of all kinds of goods, it also stipulated that forty percent of the goods should be purchased at a low price as a lottery.

This is equivalent to directly erasing nearly half of the profits that can be obtained by these businessmen and others.

Cao Gan saw Wei Qun's dazed face, presumably he had been imprisoned in Dutingyi these days, and he had no chance to contact the outside world, and he was not aware of the changes in many details in Jinling City.

Regardless of whether the new system implemented by the Salt and Iron Envoy was aimed at Xuzhou, the Shu State would also be subject to this system if it wanted to export goods to the Chu State after re-establishing the alliance.

Of course, Cao Gan knew in his heart that the quarrels of these merchants in Shiban Street were in vain, and he was not allowed to entangle with Chu State in these details.

Cao Gan called several of his followers who had accompanied him to Xuzhou upstairs, telling them to distinguish whether there were any familiar people in those merchants, and if so, it might be spies sent to Jinling by Xuzhou through merchant ships.

It's a pity that his subordinates didn't recognize any familiar personnel.

…………

…………

The letter of the Lord of Shu was carried into Jinling City by the officials of the Great Chu Rite Department and Honglu Temple, and it sank into the sea like a stone, and no news came.

The merchants who set out through Xuzhou finally had no choice but to accept the new regulations of the salt and iron envoys, and after batches of extracted and purchased goods were transported to the large warehouse in the market, they then contacted the merchants in Jinling City through the tooth merchants and sold the remaining goods in bundles.

By the fourth day, Cao Gan still couldn't see any clues, he was somewhat out of breath, and the next day he couldn't help but hire a canopy boat, and took a few followers to sail on the Xiaotang River in the name of fishing, taking the opportunity to observe the Xuzhou merchant ships up close, but there was still no gain.

In the evening, Cao Gan took a boat back to Shenjiaji, and when he was about to return to the inn on the shore, he staggered by with a cloth guest, and heard the cloth guest whisper to him: "The Chunhong girl in Yingchun Building, the piano is played very well, and my husband wants to invite Lord Cao to come over at night to listen to the piano together." ”

Before Cao Gan could see the man's face clearly, the man had already walked straight over, blending into the rather dense flow of people in the Shen Family Market without looking back.

The Shen family is the most important town in the west of Jinling City, and there are tea shops, restaurants, inns, and brothels.

Jinling City was seriously damaged in the previous war, and in order to limit the infiltration of enemy spies into the city, the trade of large quantities of goods was designated to be limited to a few relatively intact towns outside the city, which were not affected by the war and had convenient transportation.

This also contributed to the fact that Shenjiaji was much more lively and prosperous than ordinary county seats.

Seeing that it was getting late, Cao Gan didn't go back to the inn, and walked directly to the Yingchun Building at the south end of the street, and after asking the guys, he went directly to the second floor and sat in a small pavilion.

Yingchun Building is a hollow-shaped wooden building, the second floor is distributed with many small pavilion rooms, push the window to look inside, across the patio, opposite is a small hall open on all sides.

There are official geisha singing in the small hall, and the guests sit in the small pavilion room to drink, and you can have an unobstructed view, but it is very elegant.

It wasn't until seven o'clock in the evening that Cao Gan heard someone in the small pavilion next door walking in under the guidance of the guys from Yingchun Building.

Cao Gan waited for a while, confirmed that the guys from Yingchun Building walked out, and then he walked to the window facing the patio in front of the small courtyard, and looked next door, but saw that Feng Yi was already standing in front of the window over there, looking at it with a smile:

"Lord Cao, I haven't seen each other for a while!"

"When the Xuzhou merchant ship re-entered Jinling, I expected that the Marquis of Qianyang would send an important person to go first, but I didn't expect that it would be such an important person as Lord Feng," Cao Gan asked with a smile, "I heard a few days ago that the merchants of Xuzhou were arguing with the officials of the market, and I seemed to be dissatisfied with the new system of the salt and iron envoys. ”

"Da Chu's internal and external troubles have not been solved, and the officials who raise troops and fight are paid, all of which are hundreds of millions of dollars, and it is also helpless to levy more things from the commercial market to make up for the lack of national funds, how can Xuzhou not know the overall situation and take such a trivial matter to bother you?" Feng Yi said with a smile.

The new regulations of the salt and iron envoys have been established, not only Jinling City, Jingzhao Mansion, and the economic states of Dachu must be implemented, which means that the commercial goods of Xuzhou are imported into the nearby Langyuetan Shaoheng Prefectures, and they must be bought at a low price in addition to the tax of one out of ten.

If this is all a trivial matter, Cao Gan secretly thought that Feng Yi came to Jinling on behalf of Xuzhou on this trip, and he really had other intentions.

Of course, Cao Gan also knew that Feng Mi met him at this time, not to reminisce or simply show that the Xuzhou merchant ship had ulterior motives for re-entering Jinling, and he didn't play any dumb riddles with Feng Mi, and asked directly: "Lord Feng asked me to come to Yingchun Tower to meet, what do you have to say?" ”

"My lord expected that this trip would be an envoy from the Marquis of Changxiang to Jinling—since it was Lord Cao, it would be the best—and specially instructed me to hand over this list to Lord Cao." Feng Yi stretched out his hand and handed over a page of the list, and then retracted into the small pavilion room next door.

Cao Gan walked back to his seat and spread out the list, but what was written on it was that when the Marquis of Qianyang hoped that Shu and Chu would make peace, it would involve some matters between the two countries at the junction of the Qianjiang River.

Obviously, Han Qian, the Marquis of Qianyang, was worried that he would send someone to Yuzhou to meet the Marquis of Changxiang to negotiate, and then the Marquis of Changxiang would send someone to chase him to Jinling, and it was likely that he would not be able to catch up with the peace talks between the two countries in terms of time, so he simply asked Feng Yu to come directly to Jinling to intercept him.

It's just that the more Cao Gan looks at this list, the more puzzled he becomes, and it is difficult to understand that the Marquis of Qianyang actually asked Yuzhou to greatly increase the price of salt exported from the well to Chenxuzhou and Zhuzhou in Qianzhong through the Qianjiang River, and at the same time imported Xuzhou products such as Qianyang cloth and armor, marine canvas and other Xuzhou products into Yuzhou, and carried out a comprehensive low-price requisition.

Qianyang Hou wants to use this to further clarify the involvement with Yuzhou, Cao Gan can understand, but if it is really implemented according to the list, Xuzhou will be unprofitable?

Could it be that the Marquis of Qianyang's jealousy of Emperor Chu is really so deep?

Cao Gan lightly buckled the wall of the chamber, walked to the window again, and asked, "Lord Feng confirms that there is nothing wrong with this paper list?" ”

"There is no mistake in writing, Lord Cao will help with this, and Yuzhou should not suffer." Feng Yi said.

According to this list, Yuzhou will not only not suffer, but also take advantage of it, Cao Gan confirmed that it is correct, and of course he will not refuse to help with this.