Ye Zhao's cavalry lieutenant is considered to be in name only, and the person sent out to negotiate with the captain of Wuhuan has not heard back for a long time, Ye Zhao knows that this weapon and armor has to find a way by himself, after all, nominally speaking, although he has a lot of autonomy as a cavalry captain, he is still under the command of the captain of Wuhuan, and it is not difficult for the boss to give his subordinates small shoes to wear.

"Lord, this captain of Wuhuan is the brother of Guo Xun, the assassin of Youzhou." Qiu Chi carefully explained to Ye Zhao.

"So what? I have no ill relations with this Guo Xun. Ye Zhao frowned and said, now Macheng can really be regarded as a combat power, only the more than one hundred and eighty people he brought, the four hundred Zhuang Yong selected by Meng Hu can only be regarded as reserve soldiers now, and there is a shortage of major generals, although there should be no war at the moment, but this side of the village, even if a Wuhuan tribe is temporarily suppressed, other grassland tribes may not be deterred, and at this time, which tribe that can't think of it comes to add to the blockage, it is definitely not a good thing for Macheng.

"Don't you know that Guo Cheng is also Guo Xun's brother." Qiu Chi smiled bitterly.

Ye Zhao was slightly stunned, turned his head to look at Qiu Chi and said, "In this way, the military and political power in Youzhou is in the hands of the Guo family, and the imperial court will allow such things to happen?" ”

No matter how corrupt it is, it will not entrust the military and political power of a state to one family, so that the Guo family will be equivalent to the king of Youzhou.

"Back to the lord, although this matter is not a secret in Youzhou, but on the side of the imperial court, Guo Cheng and Guo Tai, the captain of Wuhuan, are not Guo Xun's own clan." Qiu Chi smiled bitterly.

Poke this out?

Ye Zhao's first thought was to report this matter, a crime of bullying the king was inevitable.

But then he reacted, there was no reaction from the imperial court for such a big thing, and let the Guo family sit on this side, the water in it, I am afraid that if he sends it with a piece of paper, the emperor may not even be able to see it.

Qiu Chi couldn't see anything from Ye Zhao's expression, but he still bowed down and said: "Lord, my subordinates think that it is not only a matter of armament, but more importantly, my Macheng has always been based on commerce for a living, and I am backed by Daijun. ”

"Mr. Qiu, are you worrying about the sky?" Ding Li on the side frowned and said: "I don't believe it, no matter how bold he Guo Cheng is, is it difficult for him to dare to send troops to directly block us?" ”

"It's a good thing to send troops to blockade." Ye Zhao shook his head: "What I am most afraid of is that the other party will come to Yin, if you want to cut off our way of life, sending troops is the stupidest way." ”

"What the lord said is good." Qiu Chi bowed and said: "Guo Cheng doesn't even need to openly tear his face with the lord, he only needs to add one more tax to other cities in Daijun, so that the past traders will give up trade with our Macheng because of heavy taxes, and in less than three months, Macheng will become a completely ruined city." ”

Business is sometimes like this, it is not that you have the ability to play around, contacts and official face are indispensable.

"It's not that hard to crack." Ye Zhao sat on the bed of Hu, shook his head and said: "This trick may be useful for some merchants, but Guo Cheng does not have the ability to cover the sky with one hand, and ordinary traders are acceptable, but big families like the Zhen family, the Cui family, and the Gongsun family, he still doesn't dare to raise taxes so blatantly, if he really does this, it will be a public outrage." ”

"That'...... The lord is saying, I don't have to worry about Ma Cheng? Qiu Chi wondered.

"No, it's a matter of life and death." Ye Zhao looked at Qiu Chi: "What is Ma Cheng's biggest weakness?" ”

"This ......" Qiu Chi shook his head blankly, Ma Cheng had taken care of it very well before, if the business road was not cut off, Guo Cheng was just suppressing a group of small businessmen, and for Ma Cheng, it didn't make any sense at all.

"Grain!" Ye Zhao frowned and said: "The grain in Macheng is all purchased from other places by using commerce, if I am Guo Cheng, if I really want to deal with Macheng, I don't need to make much action, I just need to persuade the grain merchants." ”

"The lord is saying that grain merchants are forbidden to transport grain to Macheng?" When Qiu Chi heard this, his face changed.

"There is no need for this, just need to negotiate with the grain merchants, raise the price of grain in Macheng, and let our economic chain in Macheng form a chaotic, the people take food as the sky, if the price of food is high, then the inevitable price will also rise, as soon as the price is high, there is no need for Guo Cheng to do anything, the businessman drives profits, when the time comes, there are still a few people who are willing to do business here, and the most important thing is that Guo Cheng will not have any losses, and he will not be angry." Ye Zhao knocked on the table and said.

"This ...... How can this be good!? Qiu Chi couldn't help but panic a little when he heard this, if it was really as Ye Zhao said, the consequences would be really unimaginable.

"How's that good?" Ye Zhao glanced at him: "I can think of it, it doesn't mean that Guo Cheng can think of it, after he reacted, he was ready, in addition to the necessary things such as salt traded with the grassland, he immediately began to hoard grain, saying to the outside world that there was a drought in the grassland, and a large amount of grain needed to be purchased, and these grains were hoarded to at least survive this year, and in addition, find someone to farm." ”

"Farming?" Qiu Chi looked at Ye Zhao in astonishment, and said with a wry smile: "Lord, farming can indeed alleviate our external food demand, but this Macheng has been dominated by commerce and trade for so many years. ”

"Then you have to plant it." Ye Zhao shook his head: "If there are not enough people, just recruit, I have the right to be exempt from taxes for three years, and I can greatly reduce taxes to attract displaced people to come and reclaim wasteland, in this world, because there are many people who can't survive because of heavy taxes, as long as the taxes are low, I am not afraid that no one will come." ”

It's not just because of the current crisis, in this era of agriculture, a completely commercial city should not exist at all, the weakness of agriculture will limit the upper limit of Macheng, it's not that commerce is bad, it's just that the limitations of this era limit the vigorous development of commerce, and even basic survival is difficult to maintain, how can there be so many abundant materials to promote the circulation of commerce? If you want to make commerce flourish, the first problem is to increase the efficiency of agricultural production and liberate a large number of laborers to engage in other industries, at least the current Han Dynasty, which does not have this condition, agriculture has no chemical fertilizers, and the tools are very simple, and agricultural production can be improved.

However, at the moment, Ye Zhao is not ready to change anything on a large scale, after all, his goal is not here, Ma Cheng is just a pedal for him to enter his career, good things, he has to keep them as hole cards and become his advantages in the future.

"Whoa!" Although Qiu Chi and Ye Zhao have not been together for a long time, they can feel that their lord is a very assertive person, once the strategy is set, it is difficult to change it, and he will not say much at the moment, but begin to consider some details.

"I don't know how to collect the agricultural tax prepared by the lord?" Qiu Chi bowed and said.

"If you want the horses to run fast, you have to let the horses eat enough, as far as I know, in the Han world, the agricultural tax is generally between seventy and eighty percent, right?" Ye Zhao asked.

"Yes, there are fewer near Luoyang, between five and sixty percent, and with Youzhou as the benefit, the taxes in various places are basically about seventy and a half." Qiu Chi nodded, the grain business has always been in the hands of the major families, and they do not pay taxes to the imperial court according to this ratio.

Why did the Yellow Turban Rebellion spread like a plague in a short period of time, in Ye Zhao's view, such a heavy tax is definitely a key reason, seventy percent of the tax, in terms of agricultural output in this era, the annual output of thirty acres of land may not be able to feed a family of three after putting aside the tax, and they can't survive, so what are you waiting for?

"Tax exemption is impossible, we have to feed the army......" Ye Zhao shook his head, this matter, he also thought about it along the way, after all, now that the Han Dynasty is generally heavily taxed, how to set this tax is the key, to maintain the reputation, but not too much: "In this way, you first send people to the counties to recruit strong and brave soldiers into the army, and at the same time secretly spread remarks, just say that Macheng has low agricultural taxes, and the target is set in some villages that can't survive, don't publicize it in the county, it's easy to cause trouble, let Gao Sheng do it, he is better than you in this regard, Let's take a look at the effect first, as for taxes, I will make a charter in the next few days, but the most important thing is to buy grain, and before Guo Cheng reacts, he will stock up on a batch first, and it will be much better if he can survive until the autumn harvest. ”

"Well, my subordinates will do it." Qiu Chi stood up, bowed to Ye Zhao, and left in a hurry, he had to implement these things as soon as possible.

"Lord, then I'll wait ......" Ding Li, Meng Hu and Guan Hai looked at Ye Zhao.

"Continue to train the troops, you don't have to worry about other things, train the soldiers first, as for the equipment, I will find a way, what the court promised me, it is not so easy to be greedy for ink." Ye Zhao waved his hand.

"Whoa." After the three of them bowed, they got up and left, in fact, there is no need for them to participate in today's meeting, but at present, Ye Zhao's subordinates have three or two kittens, and they are invited to express their attention to them and win people's hearts.

After everyone left, Ye Zhao groped his chin, and after a while, he spread out a bamboo note and began to write hard, wanting to move the Guo family for the time being, but since the captain of Wuhuan was unwilling to cooperate, then in this matter, you can disgust them, by the way, the equipment of two thousand people, not to mention that the Ye family can't afford to add it, even if it can be added, Ye Zhao is never ready to buy this order, there are people in the Guo family, and he Ye Zhao also has it, anyway, first ask for the equipment.