At the beginning of May 890, more than 50 large and small ships of the northern line set off from Jizhou and Tianjin, and under the escort of three newly-powered patrol ships, they passed through the Cangzhou River Pass and sailed to the Xuanwu Military District, aiming directly at Bianzhou and Luoyang.

At this time, Luoyang has a trace of the breath of the eastern capital under Zhang Quanyi's painstaking management, and the traces of the destruction of the Huangchao rebel army earlier are also covered little by little, after the Zhaozong Emperor visited the eastern capital, due to the stationing of a large number of personnel and Zhu Quanzhong's vigorous investment, not only the city palace was repaired, but the private market is also becoming more and more prosperous, although there is no former prosperity, but in the Central Plains at the end of the Tang Dynasty has been regarded as vibrant.

At this time, the fleet organized by the Xuanying Guard of the Tiance Army was navigating for the first time, so a large number of secret guards were arranged along the way, and even Zhao Si directly asked people to find Su Xiaohu with Hu Xiaosi's warrant, and seconded the Flying Eagle Brigade detachment to accompany the guards, just in case. As the fleet crossed the river pass into the Central Plains, countless pairs of eyes from the base camp Chang'an and the Tianjin headquarters were staring at whether the fleet could reach the first stop, Bianzhou.

Cen Tianshi, who accompanied Li Xuanqing to wait in the base camp, also deeply felt how much influence this emerging class had on Tiance Mansion. In the face of the shortage of funds, Li Xuanqing's first thought was not to increase taxes and levies, but to use the core combat power of Tiance Mansion to help the industrial and commercial community open trade barriers, so as to use this canal trade route as a guide to accelerate the development of all industries in the country.

In fact, the deep-seated reason for this large-scale shortage of funds lies in the fact that the gold standard was established in advance without taking into account one of the most realistic factors: the economic foundation of the northwest region is too poor, the amount of gold and silver stranded in itself is too small, the Silk Road has been cut off for a hundred years, and the gold and silver hard currency in Xizhou cannot be imported into the land of China in the past, and China itself has been short of gold and silver since ancient times. This is also the reason why copper coins were basically used before the Song Dynasty, and sometimes silk was even traded as hard currency. And it is precisely because of the small amount of gold and silver that there are few Tang coins that can be issued in connection with it, so that it cannot support the growing demand for currency in the process of industrial and commercial development. In short, the speed of currency issuance cannot keep up with the speed of economic development, thus artificially causing deflation. This phenomenon has become more prominent after the implementation of industrial and commercial support policies by the Department of Industry and Commerce. Because there is a large amount of consumption in the industrial and commercial support policy itself, the allocation of funds in part of the bonus situation cannot be recovered. As a lever for financial regulation, the money bank has not even been fully deployed at the moment, and the precipitated funds in some new areas cannot enter the financial system for circulation. After Li Xuanqing returned to Chang'an, he specially convened a financial work conference, and after the meeting, the Qianzhuang Management Department of Chang'an's headquarters sent people to Bingzhou and Youzhou respectively to demand the establishment of Qianzhuang branches at the state level within a time limit, and to open Qianzhuang branches in every county by the end of the year.

In the face of this kind of environment, Li Xuanqing did not want to destroy the financial system of the gold standard, and all he could think of was to rob foreign wealth to supplement his own financial system. And Zhu Quanzhong, who is located in the Central Plains and has recently made a windfall, has become the first choice. After the occupation of Xuzhou, the strength of Zhu Quanzhong's group rose in an instant, gold, silver, goods, grain and grass and population were greatly replenished, and the manpower factors that originally plagued the Central Plains were also linked because of the change of ownership in Xuzhou, and a large number of prisoners of war were escorted back to Bianzhou, and Xie Tong even had spare strength to carry out canal renovation work. And these have become the excuses and reasons for Li Xuanqing's robbery, so when Hu Xiaosi proposed to set up a canal smuggling trade route, Li Xuanqing would let his five wealthy merchants collectively go out to dump industrial products, transfer this wave of wealth to the north, and turn it into his own primitive capital accumulation. In addition to the luxury auctions hosted by the Treasure Pavilion, the eastern route was transported to produce daily necessities, except for a few varieties in the secret list of Xuan Yingwei, almost all the industrial manufactured products in the north were loaded onto ships, from all kinds of new food to textiles, ready-to-wear, from the latest printed books to other exquisite printed materials, from iron daily necessities to all kinds of medicinal materials, medicines, etc., a total of more than 140 categories, and even industrial groups came to join in the fun. The latest spinning machines and looms were loaded onto the cargo ship, which were basically out of stock in the area under the jurisdiction of Tiance Prefecture, and the Yelu family and the Xu family heard about these two artifacts in the textile factories in Guanzhong and Fengzhou, and even expanded the factory overnight, waiting for the new factory of the industrial group to ship. As a result, Qiaoxi directly moved a few and prepared to go to Bianzhou and other places to test the water. In addition to the industrial group, the five wealthy businessmen also transported a lot of finished cement products in their hands and sold them to the Eastern Capital, and even secretly sent people to do business with Xie Tong, directly stating that this was cement smuggled from the north.

It can be said that Li Xuanqing is ready to try to penetrate the protective layer of the small-scale peasant economy with industrial products in advance, and to attack in advance at a time when the world is in turmoil and the agricultural economy is being hit to pieces. This is also one of the reasons why Li Xuanqing summed up why Western industrial capital in later generations quickly broke through the shackles of the feudal economy, and the agricultural economy in the troubled times was reduced to a minimum because of artificial destruction.

Originally, Cen Tianshi was still a little uneasy about selling cement, but Qiaoxi on the side smiled and said: "Mr. doesn't know, we have developed the second generation of cement, the first generation has actually been eliminated, and now what we sell is actually our previous inventory, otherwise our own cement is not enough, how can there be a margin to sell to Zhu Quanzhong." ”

"Sir, don't worry, Xuan Yingwei has already inspected the goods entering the Central Plains, and there will be no problem." Li Xuanqing knew Cen Tianshi's thoughts and said with a smile.

While a few people were talking and laughing, the fleet also crossed the border of Cangzhou and began to enter the territory of the Xuanwu Army, escorted by Xuanyingwei throughout the whole process to several small docks near Bianzhou to unload their cargo. Because the Xuanwu Army did not pay much attention to the canal in the early stage, the wharf facilities along the line were outdated and backward, and some of them were even unusable, which also led to the underdevelopment of water transportation in its territory. From Dezhou to Luoyang, and then from Luoyang to Xuzhou, this trumpet-shaped canal system actually does not play any role in the territory.

The fleet arranged by Zhao Si did not concentrate all the goods near Bianzhou to disembark, but partly in Bianzhou, and partly westward to the vicinity of Luoyang, these two places consumed the general freight volume of the fleet, and the rest passed through Luoyang and turned east to continue southward.

And all this was under the operation of Xuan Yingwei, and no one stopped him throughout the whole process, except for the Xuanwu Army and no water army, and Zhu Youshu's help was inseparable. At this time, Biaozi seemed to have become Zhu Youshu's guest, and when Biaozi took out his customs clearance documents, Zhu Youshu waved his pen and signed his name and said with a smile: "What Mr. said before made my son's mouth open, and I will ask Mr. to carry more in the future." It's not a matter of trade. ”

Biao Zi smiled secretly and said: "Don't worry about the child, as long as you act according to the strategy below, you will definitely be able to quickly stabilize the situation, so that the prince will pay more attention to the child." As for the eastward direction of the other two sons, if the son needs it, he is also willing to help the son. ”

"Haha, please rest assured, my son will definitely act according to Mr.'s wishes." Zhu Youshu didn't have so many scruples at this time, and his father's reaction in the Treasure Pavilion made him deeply feel how much energy this somewhat cynical young man in front of him was, and he was able to guess his father's mind with great resourcefulness. That night, his father saw how ambiguous the second sister-in-law's eyes were, but Zhu Youwen actually didn't see it, so he smelled something different. After thinking about this clearly, Zhu Youshu decisively remembered Biaozi who had mentioned this matter to him before. And Zhu Youshu, who was originally suspicious of Biaozi, let go of his mind after seeing the customs clearance documents he took out, as long as it was not Zhu Youqi and Zhu Youwen's people, they were his allies, so he didn't look at what Biaozi's goods were and signed directly.

"What should you do, sir?" Zhu Youshu thought about all this in his heart, and finally couldn't help asking.

"Doesn't Childe think this is the rhythm of the harem competition for favor? The prince is now the lord of the Central Plains, and the prince should let the lady see him more, and there is a baby who can help the prince succeed. Biao Zi smiled slightly, took out a delicate small porcelain vase from his sleeve, and said with a smile: "This is rosemary from the Western Regions, which has a kind of charm that is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and the best thing is that this is a pair of incense, does Childe know what it means?" ”

Looking at Biaozi's two hands and gesturing back and forth, Zhu Youshu reacted, and said with a teasing smile: "Mr. actually has such a strange thing, why didn't he take it out earlier?" ”

"Childe said with a smile, this kind of rosemary traveled thousands of miles from the Western Regions before I was fortunate enough to buy it, and there were many obstacles on the way, fortunately, there was a caravan from the Western Regions passing through Yumen Pass, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to get this strange thing." Biao Zi handed the small porcelain bottle to Zhu Youshu with a painful face: "If the son uses it alone, he will light the red spice in the dark grid, and then go to the lady's room to light the green spice." If you mix them, you can do both. Do not exceed the size of a small fingernail at a time. ”

Zhu Youshu smiled and said: "Such a strange thing, this son naturally wants to try, if there is really a miracle that Mr. said, he will naturally reward it at that time." This sentence is also equivalent to indicating that he has understood what Biaozi's strategy is.

After talking about the big event, the two began to push the cup to eat and drink, under the abundant supply of materials in Xuzhou, the extravagant wind in Bianliang and other places can no longer be blocked like a flood that bursts the embankment, and the life of the high-level of the Xuanwu Army quickly broke away from the hard style of the early days, and the lights began to spread again in the Central Plains.

And the situation in Luoyang and other places was quickly transmitted to the base camp and Tianjin with Xuan Yingwei's flying pigeon biography. Compared with Zhao Si who began to mobilize materials for the next transportation, Hu Xiaosi in the base camp was thinking about opening another line at this time.

"Little Si, do you plan to cross the Qinling Mountains and go to Sichuan to open a trade route? The canal trade has not yet made any profits, so I want to go somewhere else? Cen Tianshi and Murong Hanhai, who heard the news, were shocked and said: "There are originally trade routes from Sichuan to Hanzhong, but they are mostly mountain roads and plank roads, which are not conducive to the entry and exit of bulk goods. It's not once or twice, what can you do? ”

Li Xuanqing looked at the direction of the Qinba Mountain Range for a while, but after carefully comparing the map, he suddenly found Hu Xiaosi's plan, and said with a smile: "You don't plan to go to Fengyuan Ridge and then turn to Meridian Valley, although it can be more spacious, it is still bumpy and difficult to walk compared to the straight road." ”

"If it's just a matter of roads, there is still a way for the caravan to pass, but I heard that Wang Jian and Li Maozhen have exhausted their blockade of us, and almost every city has a card specifically aimed at us, and the He family's business in Sichuan is now almost cut off." Murong Hanhai pointed to the map and smiled bitterly: "Unless you send an army to fight it." Before he finished speaking, he was surprised: "The lord doesn't plan to do anything to Sichuan, right?" ”

"I'll go to Murong, your reaction is too fast, right? Just come to my Xuanying Guard. Hu Xiaosi also glanced at the other party in surprise and smiled: "I guessed it so quickly." The General Staff of the General Staff is still secretly planning this matter, and originally planned to do some tactical feints, but now it's better to just fight it. ”

"Lord, don't we have no money? I don't have money to fight, I don't know the bottom of my heart. Cen Tianshi was very angry about Sichuan, if it wasn't for the fact that the Eastern Front was fought too fast last year, he would have proposed that the army send troops to Sichuan first.

"It's just that I don't have any money, so I'm going to war. Wouldn't it be a loss to my grandmother's family if I didn't raise so many troops and didn't rob money? Hu Xiaosi laughed, and didn't care about Li Xuanqing's eyes glaring at him.

"Since Murong has guessed, let the General Staff secretly form the Hanzhong Group Army in the Hanzhong area, and in addition to the local infantry corps in Hanzhong, transfer the recruit corps and the artillery battalion brigade directly under the battalion, Qian Ning, and prepare to enter Sichuan, with Xue Yang as the acting general general." Li Xuanqing was not very interested in the tactical feints of the General Staff Headquarters. Logistics has always been greater than military in Sichuan, and if you can solve logistics well, you will basically win. But as soon as he saw the endless mountains around Sichuan, Li Xuanqing had a big head, and simply threw all these brains to Xue Yang, maybe the first person of the new generation of generals of the Tiance Army had something to do.

"Tell Tianxiang not to worry, Irikawa, play slowly, and cooperate with Tiancheng. I guess Xie Tong should turn his attention to Sichuan after he is busy with the canal, just to cover your canal trade and make more money. Li Xuanqing continued after explaining.

"Brother Hu, remember to ask someone to help me see how those textile machines and looms are selling." Qiaoxi interjected after seeing Li Xuanqing.

Qiaoxi's words made Hu Xiaosi's head big for a while, and he didn't have enough good looms and looms to sell, but he wanted to sell them in the Central Plains, and he was not afraid of the Xu family and the Yelu family. But he didn't dare to complain, and he agreed again and again.

"Okay, let's just do one task now, make money. Whether it's trade or war, making money is the first priority. Li Xuanqing clapped his hands and said with a smile: "The Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Logistics must seize the time to mine the gold and silver mines in Tiance Mansion, only when the gold and silver reserves increase, can the issuance of Tang coins go up, and your Ministry of Civil Affairs will have money." ”

"I never thought I'd care so much about money one day." Cen Tianshi shook his head and smiled.

"The Ministry of Civil Affairs is in charge of the national economy and people's livelihood, and naturally everything has to deal with money, otherwise how to govern the thousands of people in the world." Li Xuanqing said disapprovingly.