The cooperation with the Huns was not a decision made by Guo Bin with a pat on his head, but a prudent decision made after rigorous argumentation and calculation. Guo Bin's decision is an important measure for him to expand his trading partners and enhance the industrial security of interest groups in Yangzhai County and even Yingchuan County.

As far as the current situation is concerned, Guo Bin Group transports materials from the three cities outside the Saiwai to the Central Plains, which is divided into two lines: east and west. The eastern route is from Youzhou to the south, crossing Jizhou, passing through Yanzhou, and then entering Yingchuan County; The western route is from Yanmen County in Youzhou into the Han realm, southward through the entire Bingzhou, and then from the Bingzhou into the Jingshi Luoyang. In addition, the trade route between Yangzhai County and Luoyang, Jingshi, is only more traffic-intensive than these two lines.

These three trade routes are currently the three most important golden business lines of the Yingchuan interest group headed by Guo Bin, and they can be called the three main arteries connecting Yingchuan County between Saiwai and Jingshi. These three trade routes draw a not too regular triangle on the map, which is a high-speed passage for important strategic materials such as horses, cattle and sheep skins, dairy products, and other important strategic materials from outside the Central Plains to enter the Central Plains.

However, with the outbreak of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Jizhou and Yanzhou suffered the most, and the people in both places were displaced and even became thieves. The bandits who occupied the top of the hill on the eastern trade route posed a great threat to the transportation of goods to and from the country. As a result, the relatively less affected by the Yellow Turban Rebellion, although the roads were rugged and difficult to navigate, because the territory was relatively safe, the cost of transporting supplies was much lower than that of the North China Plain.

The Xiongnu royal court, very close to Taiyuan City, Taiyuan City to Beijing Luoyang has an official road feasible, coupled with the relatively safe public security environment in the state, so that the transportation cost is greatly reduced, even less than one-third of the cost of transporting materials on the western route, which makes the cooperation with the Xiongnu more important.

As the political, economic, cultural and military center of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Luoyang ranked first in the entire empire due to its high consumption level and convenient transportation environment. It is no exaggeration to say that the sales of hero blood alone, Jingshi Luoyang accounts for half of the national sales. In addition, the guiding effect of Jingshi Luoyang on popularity and brand is also very conducive to the establishment of brands for various products in Yangzhai County, and then forms an excellent reputation and brand awareness in the entire empire, thus ensuring the sales of Yangzhai industrial products.

Therefore, Guo Bin has set up many industrial production workshops in Luoyang, including the production workshop of Yang Zhai clothing, the production workshop of pencils and paper, etc. At present, in order to build the South Palace, Guo Bin even took the opportunity to set up a cement burning factory on the outskirts of Luoyang. This will undoubtedly greatly reduce the transportation costs of these raw materials and even industrial products, and will continue to play a great role in the construction of houses by wealthy families in Beijing after the completion of Nangong.

Luoyang is different from Yang Zhai, she is the heart of the entire empire, and you can find all the products with commercial value in the world here. The silk silk of Linzi, the splendid and Wenbei cups of Shudi, the horses of Xianbei, the spices of the Western Regions, and even the goods of the Far West Sabbath, the Kushan Empire and even the Roman Empire can also be seen here. Therefore, Luoyang is naturally used as the material distribution base of Yingchuan Trading Group, and the tea and silk transported from Shu and the silk silk transported from Linzi are gathered in Luoyang, and then transported north to Saiwai, and even many materials trafficked to Saiwai are directly purchased from the merchants in Luoyang City.

Therefore, Luoyang occupies an indispensable and important position in Guo Bin's overall layout of national commerce, and its material distribution capacity is even higher than that of Yangzhai County, which is a production base. The formation of a trading partnership with the Southern Xiongnu will play a great role in enriching the Luoyang market. In addition, the excavation of new economic growth points for the Xiongnu tribes and the addition of butter and cheese to the list of traded products undoubtedly increased Guo Bin's status in the hearts of the Xiongnu Shan Yu Qiangqu. Because of this demand, the scope is very small, and there is only a demand in Yingchuan County at present, but it is of great help to the economic situation of the Xiongnu tribe.

Moreover, business cooperation is not only an economic activity, but also an excellent tool to increase understanding and trust between the two parties. Through trade with Qiangqu, the original distrust of the Xiongnu towards the merchants of the Central Plains will gradually dissolve and disintegrate, of course, this dissolution is only aimed at Guo Bin's trading group. From then on, if there was no great accident, the trade object of the Southern Xiongnu could only be Guo Bin.

Therefore, in the calculations of Guo Bin and Xi Zhicai and others, the trade cooperation with the Southern Xiongnu tribe is a real win-win situation.

After returning to the camp, in the tent, Guan Yu, who was puzzled, asked Guo Bin: "Lord, this place is very close to Taiyuan City, and it is extremely convenient for goods to enter Beijing, so is the establishment of the three cities outside the Saiwai not so important?" ”

Looking at Zhang Fei, who was full of agreement, Guo Bin patiently explained: "It is precisely because of the importance of cooperation with the Xiongnu that our side must strengthen the connection with the three cities outside the Saiwai. Because if the Huns were allowed to monopolize our foreign trade routes, then the acquisition of strategic materials such as war horses would be completely controlled by them. Rather than being controlled by others, it is better to prepare at this time. ”

Seeing the suddenly realized looks of Guan and Zhang, Guo Bin continued: "Not only that, the Xiongnu are attached, although it is the kindness of Emperor Guangwu, but it also makes the Xiongnu farther and farther away from the grassland. Today, the Huns are half-ploughing and half-pasting, and they are by no means pure nomads. Although this has strengthened the stability of the lives of the people in his ministry and strengthened his economic capacity, it has also weakened his strength to a certain extent. Today, to the west of the Yellow River, a large amount of land has been occupied by Qianghu, and to the north of the Yellow River, it has become the pasture of the Xianbei people. Therefore, the production capacity of cattle, sheep, horses, and even felt and dairy products that the Xiongnu people needed in large quantities in the Central Plains was undoubtedly greatly reduced. ”

Dong Xing'er said: "Brother Bin means that the current production capacity of the Huns is not enough to supply the huge market in the Central Plains?" ”

Guo Bin touched her head and said dotingly: "That's right, that's what it means." ”

Dong Xing'er frowned at her cute little nose and said, "What about butter and cheese?" Why trade these things? The butter is quite delicious, but I'm not used to eating cheese. ”

When Guo Bin heard this, his face turned solemn, and he said slowly: "Butter is a precious luxury, and it can be put aside, but this cheese is definitely an extremely important strategic material. ”

Guan Yu raised his eyebrows and said, "Oh? What do you mean by that? ”

Guo Bin said: "Although the production process of this butter is not too difficult, it is time-consuming and laborious, and the output is very low. Besides, this kind of thing is okay to use as a seasoning, but it is not suitable for satisfying hunger. "Butter is extremely nutritious and is the crown of dairy food, because only about two catties of butter can be extracted from 50 or 60 catties of yogurt, which shows its preciousness. Moreover, its production needs to be extracted from milk skin or oil skin condensed from fresh milk, which is time-consuming and laborious, and the yield is also very low.

"Compared to the value of butter, cheese is much more common. This kind of food is high in calories, low in price, and can be stored for a long time, which is very suitable as a reserve food for the troops. Guo Bin said.

Zhang Fei glared at a pair of big donkey eyes and said, "This, what's the heat?" ”

Guo Bin was full of black lines, and he always unconsciously came up with a few words from later generations, confusing the civil and military forces under him. But, then again, isn't vocabulary a reflection of IQ? Guo Bin thought proudly.

At the moment, he had to explain the meaning of heat to everyone in a more lame way. Although looking at the appearance of everyone in the clouds, it is obvious that he does not fully understand, but Guo Bin does not care about this. He went on to explain the important role of cheese, saying: "Cheese can be made very dry and hard, and it only needs to be heated when you eat it. This hard and dry cheese is extremely light and can be stored for one to two years. ”

Guan Yu listened, full of shock. Although the biggest role of military rations is to feed soldiers, the convenience of carrying them is also an important basis for consideration. You've never heard of broth as a military ration, right? Because the broth needs to be placed in a well-sealed container (such as a crockpot), it must be a heart-wrenching experience to carry a crockpot with you at all times while marching!

It can be said that the extreme example of broth explains several elements that are least suitable for military rations. This kind of food itself is extremely heavy, because it is liquid and not easy to carry, and its shelf life is also very short, at most two or three days. And if you switch to cheese, it's much better.

Not only can cheese be used as a staple food in the military, but it is also lightweight and extremely easy to carry, so you can put it in a cloth bag. In addition, the shelf life is long, I don't know how many times longer than the cake made from flour. If possible, bring a full month's worth of food before the expedition without worrying about it getting rancid. Therefore, as long as the reserves are sufficient in peacetime, the preparation time for military rations before the war can be greatly shortened, the speed of army assembly and combat can be increased, and the cost of military ration transportation can be greatly reduced, and at the same time, the cost of the war itself can be greatly reduced.

The so-called soldiers and horses go first before they move grain and grass, and what is contested in war is not only the combat effectiveness of front-line soldiers, but also the ability to transport military rations and equipment and the ability to organize logistics. Therefore, in Guo Bin's prediction, the reserve of cheese, a strategic material that can greatly relieve the pressure on logistics, is also extremely important in the war.

With Guan Yu's keen sense of war, he could even predict that after Yangzhai County used cheese as a soldier's ration, such an extremely inconspicuous little thing would definitely change the future war behavior and speed up the pace of war.

Naturally, at the time of this earnest discussion, Wang Yue and Lu Bu were not in the military tent.

The next day, Guo Bin led the soldiers to bid farewell to the Xiongnu Shan Yu Qiangqu and went to Taiyuan City, accompanied by the second prince Hu Chuquan and his entourage. Hu Chuquan's trip was to give gifts to the officials and lords in Taiyuan City as a representative of Qiangqu Shan Yu. The Xiongnu were not wealthy, and the so-called gifts were only cattle, sheep and horses. Although Guo Bin will greet Ding Yuan and others, if he wants to engage in bilateral trade in Taiyuan, the necessary dots are naturally indispensable.

In addition, since the Central Plains Dynasty sent Guo Bin to the Xiongnu Ministry to send silk, grain and many other materials, the Xiongnu Department naturally sent people to thank the Shang Dynasty for their kindness. Of course, by the way, it is also very necessary to have a good relationship with Bingzhou Thorn Shi Dingyuan.