On June 15 of the third year of Gwangshun, it rained heavily in Gyeongju.

The heavy rain continued for two days and two nights, and did not stop until noon on 17 June. In the early morning of this day, in the torrential rain that was still raging, the carriage of the No. 3 person of the Yanqing military and political authorities, the head of the Yanzhou Buzheng and the governor of the Yanzhou military and political affairs, Qin Gu, entered the north gate of Gyeongju under the escort of a small group of regimental soldiers.

Although the rain had stopped, the thick clouds had no intention of dispersing, and the gloomy cloud curtain slowly moved slowly and sluggishly to the southeast. The fields and roads outside the city were still shrouded in clouds of mist that had not yet completely dissipated, but as soon as the city gate was opened at noon, an endless stream of people began to appear on the official road south of the city. A small number of these men were men belonging to the various caravans, and were ordered to survey the road. The vast majority of the flow of people are northbound displaced people who were stranded in the area of Lepan County by heavy rain.

Only two months ago, the movement direction of the displaced people in northern Guanzhong was still from north to south and from west to east, but now, the law from west to east has not changed, but the displaced people who originally moved from Gyeongju to Ningju have turned upside down and turned back from the direction of Ningzhou to Gyeongju.

Summer was originally the peak period for the movement of displaced people, but the situation changed so quickly that neither Qin Gu nor Gao Shaoyuan, who was also aware of the political affairs of Gyeongju at the moment, did not expect it.

"What the troubled people are looking forward to is just a word of An......" stood on the ridge of the field next to the official road outside the south gate. Qin Gu looked at the busy scene on the official road and sighed.

Gao Shaoyuan was not as optimistic as him, looked at the sky with a worried face and said: "The sky is not beautiful, although it rains." But he refused to let it shine, and in such weather, the road surface did not dry for three or four days. According to the current situation, the number of displaced people who enter Gyeongju every day is between 700 and 800, the state government treasury only has 10 days of grain storage, and the grain caravan from the direction of Ningzhou will not be able to go on the road until five or six days at the earliest. These thousands of displaced people are afraid that they will soon become mobs......"

Qin Gu smiled: "Don't worry, the ten boats of grain transferred by Li Xianggong should have been on the road at this moment, the waterway is fast, and the slowest will only take four days to reach Gyeongju, with these ten boats of grain, it shouldn't be difficult for you to cope with it until the beginning of next month!" ”

Gao Shaoyuan frowned: "Ten boats of grain is too little, by the beginning of next month, the number of Dingkou in Gyeongju City will exceed 20,000, it's really weird, only two months ago." The population of the state city was less than 4,000, and in two months, it had increased fivefold. ”

Qin Gu nodded: "So it's not possible to sit and eat empty, you have to screen and assign these homeless people as soon as possible, I took a look when I came, the road in the northeast seems to have been repaired for less than five miles, just transfer these homeless people!" ”

Gao Shaoyuan was taken aback, he glanced at Qin Gu in great surprise, and asked, "Two years ago, didn't you resolutely oppose our marshal abusing the people's power to build this kind of pavement?" ”

Qin Gu's expression on his face did not move. His eyes faintly glanced at the homeless people who were constantly wading on the muddy road, and replied with a little emotion: "That's my mouse eyes......"

"What?" Gao Shaoyuan almost couldn't believe his ears, was this kind of self-deprecating words really from Qin Gu and Qin Zijian, who were famous and conceited in Yanzhou officialdom?

"North of Yanqing, Yinsui Youxia.||||Now the war is raging. The war is a heavy burden of money and food, and the Yanzhou Water Battalion is responsible for the logistics of the whole army, and the burden is extremely heavy. Li Xianggong broke his mouth this time, and only then did he ask for ten ships carrying grain from Zhou's guerrillas, and originally wanted to ask for more, but Zhou's guerrillas refused to give ...... anyway"

Gao Shaoyuan was confused, and he didn't understand why Qin Gu told him about the military in the north, which was not what he, a pure administrative official, should have heard of.

Qin Gu turned his face. Look at the muddy and difficult official road. said: "If this road between Yanqing is repaired, why should Li Xianggong go to the water camp?" ”

Gao Shaoyuan was stunned. Qin Gu's tone became more and more solemn: "Do you know how many four-wheeled heavy vehicles are there that transport grain and straw from Yanzhou to the baggage transit station in Luziguan every day?" ”

The so-called four-wheeled heavy public opinion, is Li Wenge insisted on the research and development of the four-wheeled carriage, this type of carriage because of the current two-wheeled carriage unimaginable maximum load capacity of 2,200 catties, so by Yanzhou businessmen called "heavy public opinion".

This kind of car was made by Gao Shaoyuan, and he was naturally familiar with it, so he sneered at the moment: "How many cars can there be such an expensive car, and the thirty sample cars that were handed over half a year ago can only continue to run until now, but only seventeen or eighteen!" This kind of car is flashy, and it is helpless to leave the hard road, and even if the transportation capacity is amazing, it is just a rich man's toy! ”

A mysterious smile appeared on Qin Gu's face: "Only half of the earliest prototype cars can still run normally, and the others will probably have six or seven cars that can continue to run after a repair, which is generally not bad." But you are wrong about one thing, the heavy trucks that transport the army to and fro on the Yanlu Highway are not thirty, but two hundred and sixty......"

"Ah----?h Gao Shaoyuan's mouth suddenly opened wide and blurted out: "Impossible!" ”

Qin Gu smiled and shook his head and sighed: "Originally, I also said that it was impossible, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, who would have thought that such an impractical thing could really come in handy?" ”

Gao Shaoyuan said: "The car manufacturing process is too complicated, only the spokes will consume four manual two or three days of man-hours, the cost of the whole vehicle is as high as 280 yuan, planing out the man-hours are not counted, just to build 200 such cars, it will cost the state capital 56,000 yuan, 260 cars is more than 70,000 yuan, the state government is start-up, even if it has the floating wealth of Gyeongju, how dare you come up with such a large sum of money to cast this kind of car?" How could Lee Sang-gong approve and approve such a payment? ”

Qin Gu smiled faintly: "Xiang Gong naturally refuses to approve these vehicles." Except for the original thirty prototypes, the rest did not cost the state capital half a penny......"

Gao Shaoyuan's eyes stared at Qin Gu: "Zijian, are you talking nonsense?" ”

Qin Gu smiled bitterly: "I'll tell you the truth." ::::Until this moment, I still find it unbelievable that such an expensive and impractical car, those businessmen who have opened an account in Yanzhou and set up a branch will rush to it, rushing to customize it like a swarm......"

Gao Shaoyuan held his face for a long time, and asked with his mouth wide open, "Are these businessmen so rich?" The price of 300 is six times that of an ordinary two-wheeled carriage, which is enough to buy four good horses......"

Qin Gu sighed and said, "As far as I know. The price of this kind of carriage does not seem to be two hundred and eighty yuan, but one hundred and twenty yuan, and the carpenter battalion of the Zhou guerrillas seems to have found some way to reduce the cost......"

Gao Shaoyuan frowned and thought for a while, shook his head and said: "Impossible, I am most familiar with this kind of carriage, and the most critical component is the connecting rod between the spokes, which is complex and exquisitely structured, I am afraid that it is the technical skill used on the big ship, but although the connecting rod is exquisite." The production process is not complicated, and the accessories used can be mass-produced on Fenglin Mountain. But compared to the two-wheeled vehicle, the four spokes of the heavy public opinion are absolutely sloppy, must be solid planing than cutting, the four wheels are slightly different, it will lead to uneven force on the body, such a car is a waste product, here labor and man-hours are not saved. One hundred and twenty, I'm afraid that Zhou Guerrilla will lose everything......"

Qin Gu shook his head: "Guerrilla Zhou shouldn't have lost ......"

Gao Shaoyuan was surprised: "What do you say? ”

Qin Gu sighed and said, "Buy these heavy merchants. Each family signed a requisition document with the Chambers Division, and requisitioned livestock according to the standard of four mules and horses in one cart. That is to say, all merchants who have customized this kind of heavy opinion, if you order one. Four horses were to be taken out for the requisition, and if two were ordered, eight were to be taken out for requisition. Two hundred and sixty chariots, more than a thousand mules and horses......"

Gao Shaoyuan: "There are still people like this."

Qin Gu smiled: "The state border is under martial law, and there are more than 100 merchants stranded in Yanzhou who are not allowed to go north?" The mules and horses of the caravans are idle, and they have to be fed every day, and this food money is a loss, and now it is taken out to honor the government and the soldiers. Not to mention the money saved on food. You can also buy a four-wheeled heavy public with a capacity far exceeding that of a two-wheeled carriage at half price, and you can also keep a file in the Carriage Division. What kind of exemplary bronze medal was awarded, and with this bronze medal in the future, you can have priority in obtaining trading qualifications from Cao Liu Zhiguo...... With so many benefits, who wants to be left behind? ”

Gao Shaoyuan was still incredulous: "How can Zhou Guerrilla make up for the difference in the number of cars?" ”

Qin Gu smiled dryly: "The military expenses of the Northern Expedition are 88,000 yuan per month, plus half of the deposits paid by various merchants, a total of more than 100,000 yuan, Zhou Guerrilla can be supported, if you buy horses and livestock temporarily, according to the market price, the value of more than 1,000 horses itself is nearly 100,000 yuan, and now the two families are at war, even if you have money, where can you buy horses?" In this way, the Zhou guerrilla actually spent more than 30,000 yuan to solve the problem of horse transportation capacity for several months during the war, and the battle lasted three or four months, and the average monthly land cost was only seven or eight thousand, which was very cost-effective......

Gao Shaoyuan was dumbfounded when he heard this, and only said after a while: "This week's guerrilla seems to be honest, but I don't want to be a good hand at maneuvering financial and business opportunities......"

Qin Gu shook his head slightly: "Zhou Guerrilla is just according to the map, the whole strategy is planned by Li Huairen, Yu Housi and the Xiangbing Division for several months, the Liu Zhiguo who bought Cao, although he was born obscenely, is a genius in this area, and many ideas and ideas are all thought up by him......"

Gao Shaoyuan asked, "Is the use of heavy public opinion really beneficial?" ”

Qin Gu said: "I don't know, but since the appearance of heavy public opinion, the merchants stranded in Yanzhou have begun to requisition people to build warehouses around the three post stations along Yanlu, at this moment you go back to Yanzhou to see, you will be surprised, the population of the nine counties of Yanzhou this month has been nearly 180,000, most of them are landless displaced people, but there is no idle people's power at all, the vast majority of those displaced people are requisitioned for various merchants, either to build warehouses or repair shops, although it is wartime, but it is more lively than usual......

"What's more......" Qin Gu paused and said with a wry smile: "Chen Zhe of Yanzhou is your old friend Chen Shutong's son, who has co-branded ten local businesses. Sent a letter to the state government and asked for funds to repair the hard road surface from Yan'an to Jincheng for 50 miles, and the conditions they put forward were. Levy road money on passing merchants according to the number of vehicles, tentatively set at 100 yuan per wheel, 200 yuan per two-wheeler, and 400 yuan per four-wheeled vehicle......"

Gao Shaoyuan was shocked: "Li Xianggong agreed?" ”

Qin Gu waved his hand: "Xianggong and I are not fools, the pros and cons of this matter are unknown, how can we easily agree?" ”

Gao Shaoyuan sighed: "The Chen family is really a snobbish genius, and he can squeeze oil out of the stones......"

Qin Gu shook his head: "You are wrong, as far as I know. The money was divided equally among the other nine local merchants, and Chen Zhe did not share the profits......"

Seeing that Gao Shaoyuan was puzzled, Qin Gu took a deep breath and said, "Chen Zhe and the other nine families have privately agreed that his family's convoy can be exempted from road fees on this section of the road, and no merchant except his family can enjoy this treatment......

Gao Shaoyuan was puzzled at first, but then he had a flash of inspiration, thought carefully for a long time, and couldn't help but clap his hands and say: "It's really a wonderful ......."

The reason why Chen Zhe doesn't want to share profits. On the contrary, it is indeed a smart move with a long-term vision to ask for the exemption of the road money of their own fleet.

In fact, the key to this matter lies in the word "exclusive".

The Chen family participated in taking money to build the road, and did not share the profit afterwards, in the eyes of the other nine families, this is naturally a good thing, and one less person will be able to share the profit, and he will be able to share more. However, Chen Zhe demanded that only his own convoy could pass this road for free, in fact, he monopolized the exclusive right to transport this road, and this "only" was to require all merchant convoys except Chen's carriage to pay money as long as they crossed the road, even if the other nine were no exception. Of course. Compared with the income of the busy business in the future, this road money is negligible, but the nine merchants are missing a --- businessman's profit-seeking nature.

Once the road starts to be tolled, it means that the convoy of goods will have to pay an extra fee. The more large merchants with many vehicles, the more considerable the cost.

This situation will inevitably lead to some merchants because of the cost of transporting the goods to Jincheng County after no longer carrying their own transport, but subcontracting the transportation of goods to the Chen family fleet that has the right of duty-free passage on this road, so that the Chen family will monopolize the transportation right on this hard road for more than 50 miles in the future, and the nine merchants will have less and less income because there are fewer and fewer businesses passing alone, and the money is earned by the Chen family.

And that's just the small heads, and the merchant's transactions are peer-to-peer. Whoever contacts more business partners will have greater commercial trade volume. This is a basic arithmetic problem. It is not easy for ordinary merchants to find sellers or buyers, especially for bulk goods. This is especially true and therefore carries a high level of business risk. However, because the Chen family has an exclusive transportation monopoly, all kinds of caravans and merchants will take the initiative to find them, in this case, they are actually free to choose sellers and buyers unilaterally.

In this era, commercial transportation is more risky, and more merchants will shorten the time for goods to turn around in their hands as much as possible in order to reduce the risk, and the Chen family provides them with this opportunity and convenience.

It is conceivable that in the future, foreign merchants will have to sell their local goods to the Chen family, while the vast majority of retailers in Yanzhou can only buy goods from the Chen family......

On the surface, it is only a monopoly on the right to transport a 50-mile-long road, but in fact it is a monopoly on the right to govern and trade in the entire state.

Fortunately, although Li Bin and Qin Gu still can't understand this for the time being, their years of experience in governing the government have made them instinctively disgusted and wary of delegating power to business, although the temptation in front of them is real, they are not willing to make a decision easily before communicating with Li Wenge.

In their opinion, Li Wenge, who was the first to advocate the construction of hard pavement, is undoubtedly the person who understands the pros and cons of this kind most clearly.

Although sometimes Qin Gu is reluctant to admit this, the fact is that he, an intellectual who has been an official for several years, has indeed been less knowledgeable in many aspects than Li Wenge, a vulgar warlord who started from the army......

"It's also raining in Yanzhou, if the road between Yanqing can be repaired one day earlier, then even if it rains, the heavy public opinion caravan will still be able to travel between Yanqing, and it won't be like now, and it can only rely on waterways...... as it is now," Qin Gu said lightly. Gao Shaoyuan was speechless, and he began to doubt his inherent concept---- what Li Wenge did was really not an abuse of people's power?

"I all complain about this rain ----," Gao Shaoyuan said hatefully.

Qin Gu sneered: "It doesn't have to be like this, although it has caused some inconvenience temporarily, but there has been a great drought since this spring, and this rain is still a great thing for Yanqing and Yanqing after all......"