After Jiang Fei's convoy entered Huni City, he found that the city was still quite prosperous, except that the population was a little smaller, and the liveliness was no less than that of the small county town in the Central Plains. Shanshan country is located at the eastern end of the Western Regions on the key pass, since the Han Dynasty has been in the Han Hu contention zone, each monarch has adopted a two-sided strategy to curry favor with itself, so the strong people of all ethnic groups have attacked, so that the ethnic group of Shanshan is weak, there are all kinds of people on the street, and it is not clear which ethnic group is more dominant in numbers.

Du Yan set up a banquet in the post house to entertain everyone, and learned that there was a great drought in the Central Plains, and there was no light rain in Guanzhong since February, Du Yan condensed a smile on his face in a frustration. Yuan Renhui asked, "Lord Du, is there anything wrong?" You should have seen this from the merchants and newspapers that came and went. ”

Du Yan relaxed a little and said: "I know, it's just that Fang Xuanling and I have always had luck in our hearts, thinking that during the great drought, there would still be some light rain locally, but I didn't expect the disaster to be so serious." ”

All of the people present were smart people, and they all saw that Du Yan was insincere, Liu Zhuo pointed at Liang Shuo and said, "Mr. Liang and Mr. Guan came to see how Gao Chang handled the affairs of the Hu and Yu people. ”

Du Yan returned to normalcy, and his words were astonishing: "Gaochang County does not have the saying of the Hu and Lu peoples, and the armor protection system implemented in the county is treated equally as long as it is a Sui people, whether it is Han or Turkic; Even the Sogdians who had lived in Gaochang County for decades were foreigners as long as they were not among the Baojia soldiers, the Fan soldiers, and the Tuntian soldiers. Foreigners, whether businessmen or commoners, are subject to the same taxes, and locals can enjoy various benefits issued by the government. ”

Du Yan took an example, starting in May, Gaochang County paid for the various yamen and the army to provide ice cubes to cool down at a price, and the ice cubes in various places in Gaochang originally came from the Tianshan Mountains and other places, and the ice was collected in winter and transported to the cellar for preservation, and used in the summer; The ice-making workshop of the Turpan Commercial Bank, like the Chang'an Snow Flower Workshop, uses the principle of saltpeter heat absorption to make ice, which is low cost and afraid of people, and monopolizes the ice industry in Gaochang County. Knowing that Gaochang County has distributed grain, salt, ice, briquettes, etc., the people were very surprised, and Guan Jin asked: "How much tax do merchants charge?" ”

Du Yan said with a smile: "Gaochang is a local collector of customs money from past merchants, even if the Turpan Commercial Bank wants to go to Qiuci, it is five percent to go, and five percent to come; If it is a merchant of Qiuzi, it will be doubled, salt, wine, ironware, and crushing are the most critical taxes in Gaochang, and there are special officials in charge, and the tax rate is between two and three times, Yang Chong himself is a big businessman, and he knows the profits better than anyone else. ”

This is the benefit of the border pass, it was originally the tax revenue obtained by the Yumen Pass, and now it is in the hands of Gaochang County, with the roads opened by Gaochang County, these merchants in the Western Regions are only left with the tax of the destination and relevant departments, and the counties and counties along the way are not allowed to collect customs duties. Yuan Renhui turned his mind and asked, "Isn't it to collect taxes in the Liupo City Pressing Farm?" ”

Du Yan shook his head and said: "The press farm is a place to promote trade between the two sides, only merchants can gather to receive taxes, Gaochang and the surrounding countries are far away, lack of materials, it is impossible to be like the Han Dynasty in the Wuhuan and Xiongnu to open the press farm, every day is a constant business." Ordinary caravans just pass through Gaochang, they don't have to go from Liupo City, they can go directly to Gaochang, Puchang or Hunicheng by crossing the desert or mountain road, and the tariffs will naturally fall to the place. ”

Only then did Yuan Renhui understand why several bigwigs in Chang'an Shangshutai sneered at the center and Gao Gong, without the support of the county guard, the squeezing field was just empty talk, and the greater role of the people who were arranged was the center's eyeliner, and Yang Chong was a hindrance. Yuan Renhui secretly made up his mind not to participate in these, the old man in the clan was right, who is the county guard has nothing to do with him, he is an official with money steadily, and he takes care of the Yuan family's business, which is better than anything else.

After the banquet, Jiang Fei, Du Yan, Yu Wenhu, Liu Zhuo, and Miao Yun gathered alone in Du Yan's study, and Jiang Fei asked, "Brother Du, to be honest, what's going on at the banquet?" ”

Du Yan smiled bitterly: "On our way to Gaochang last year, Yang Chong said that there was a big drought this year, so we tried our best to store grain, but I didn't expect it to become a prophecy; Originally, I thought that the newspaper might have exaggerated, but at the banquet, I suddenly thought that you had fled to Gaochang, so I lost my temper. ”

Du Yan used an escape word, indicating that he had seen through Yang Chong Jiang Fei's intentions, and Yuwenhu said with a smile: "Du Yan, do you know why I came?" Yuwen Rutong, the filial son, wrote a letter to Yuwenkai, persuading him to resign and go home to rest; Yu Wenkai was not at ease, so he asked me to bring someone to the Western Regions. ”

Du Yan still doesn't understand at this moment, he still doesn't think deeply enough, Yuwenkai's approach is to move Yuwen's family to Gaochang, once Yuwenhu and Yuwen Rutong lay a solid foundation, they will move all the clansmen over one after another; This shows that something is going to happen in the Central Plains, and something big is going to happen. Before Du Yan could think clearly, he heard Yu Wenhu say: "Jiang Fei, I won't go to Nanping City for the time being, I will buy some properties in Hunicheng and settle down, and then go over to congratulate you on your happy day." ”

The Yuwen family is a Xianbei person, and the mud city is naturally more suitable to live in than the Gaochang Zhucheng dominated by the Han people; Jiang Fei couldn't force persuasion, so he went to Nanping City with the Yuan family's convoy the next day, and Du Yan sent two hundred horsemen to escort them to Puchang County. The county commander of Puchang County ordered Fang Yiwu to concoct the same method and sent people to send a convoy to Nanping; When Yang Chong heard the news, he personally led a team to greet him halfway, and entered the city to settle in a large mansion that had been prepared.

Liang Shuo and Guan Jin, accompanied by Ye Heilong, took the time to walk around the city, and found that the scale of the Nanping City School and Library was larger than that of the Mud City, and they all gasped, and those who could think about the people so much were all ambitious people, and if Yang Chong only wanted to be a county guard, it seemed that there was no need to put in so much effort. Liang Shuo understood that Yang Chong worked so hard, as long as he stayed in Gaochang for five years, the people of Gaochang County would only know Yang Chong and not others.

Ye Heilong and Liang Jiang are good friends, and Liang Shuo is an acquaintance, seeing Liang Shuo's thoughts, he said: "You have seen those children in the convoy all the way, most of them were collected by us when we were in Handchuan Shu, Yang Junshou has always believed that being educated is the only way for the Hanmen to rise." These schools train literacy and craftsmen, which is why I am willing to work, even if I am not an official in the future, I have a group of people in hand, and I will not make a fortune in any business. ”

Liang Shuo and the others couldn't help laughing, what kind of boss has what kind of subordinates, Liang Shuo saw the ice shop of the Turpan Commercial Bank, and asked about briquettes by the way, which he had never seen before. Ye Heilong took the two to the coal yard in the north of the city, and introduced that it was winter when the Tuntian camp was first built last year, and Yang Chong drew the appearance of the coal stove, and no one burned coal in Gaochang County at that time, and more than a dozen small coal mines were as cheap as nothing, all of which were bought by the Turpan Commercial Bank and made into briquettes to burn for heating, and the effect was very good.

This year, it is going to be promoted to various military areas and military families, so I have been preparing since the summer, and Fang Xuanling has personally taken care of it. Fang Xuanling, on behalf of Gaochang County, has already negotiated with the Wuhu and Sugu tribes, and a cart of coal will be transported to Gaochang City in exchange for a cart of salt from Yancheng to take away. The salt in Yancheng was a little worse, but Yang Chong asked the Turpan Commercial Bank to subsidize five catties of soybean sauce for each car of salt, and the two departments of Tiele agreed to the deal; Bean sauce is a luxury in the Tiele tribe, and almost ten catties can be exchanged for a war horse.

The method of briquettes is simple, Fang Xuanling simply uses the method of forced labor, the government provides raw materials, makes 100 catties of briquettes in the workshop under the supervision of the government, and pays 5 catties of briquettes. As long as the officers and men in the army have a family or are not separated from their parents, each household will be provided with free briquettes for three months every year, and 50 catties per month. Liang Shuo and Guan Jin were completely speechless after hearing this, not to mention this kind of remote area, even a rich place like Wuwei can't do it.

(End of chapter)