As a near-new nation, the key factor in gaining a foothold is population. With a sufficient population, they can farm the land and obtain rations to feed themselves, they can levy conscription to build water conservancy and city projects, and they can recruit troops to defend the king and the people from other countries.

The third of these is the most important thing, because the real news of the war in Gyeonggi will come at any time. Once Yu and Yi Erjun knew that Zheng Guo had lost power, they would inevitably turn around and take back the land. With the amount of troops in the current hands, there is no chance of winning a real fight.

In this eastward migration, they brought a total of 10,000 people. In addition to the 3,000 troops, most of them were members of the Zheng Guo Office, hundreds of officials and ministers, and accompanying servants, and the rest of the craftsmen and peasants had little to talk to. At this time, it is early winter, and spring plowing is still early, so recruiting farmers is not the most urgent. The ranks of artisans were filled by armies, led by a handful of skilled craftsmen who fortified the walls, built houses, and built chariots and weapons. The most urgent thing is to recruit soldiers, and Neizai estimates that it will have to be at least doubled in half a month to ensure the safety of the capital. However, the people of the agrarian era were very relocated to their land, and they were rarely willing to leave their homes unless they were in war, so they were very slow to recruit people. Lord Naijae couldn't sleep peacefully because of this.

After some observation, he was a little puzzled by this and asked, "I see that there are a lot of people coming and going in the capital every day, why can't they recruit people?" ”

"They were merchants, parasites, wanderers. What we need are people like farmers and craftsmen who keep to themselves! ”

"The small capital is not a metropolis, and there is no consumer population, how can there be so many businessmen?"

"Probably because it's so easy to get around."

He realized that the ancients of Neizai had the idea of valuing agriculture and suppressing business, and did not regard merchants as normal people. But he thought to himself that this was an opportunity for a transformation. The education of modern history has long taught all modern Chinese the importance of business, and if we can reverse or partially improve the thinking of valuing agriculture and suppressing business, it will obviously be of great help to change the trend of history.

So he boldly suggested recruiting these merchants to be Zheng Guo's subjects and encouraging them to join the army. When Lord Neizai heard this, he shook his head like a rattle: "How can a merchant be accepted as a soldier if he forgets his righteousness for the sake of profit and is not loyal to any country?" ”

He knew that the current situation would become tense at any time, and if Lord Neizai couldn't recruit troops by then, he would still have to bow to him. So he played a trick and said with a smile: "Then you should recruit according to the ideal standard first, and if there is really no way, come to me again." ”

The old man looked at him with a wicked smile on his face, thinking that this boy was only a little more mature, and what kind of moth was he going to do.

In the next few days, Di Tu put on the clothes of ordinary people, walked around the capital, and played a private visit to the micro-service. He wanted to find out why the merchants were gathering here, and if they were as disloyal and unreliable as Nejae had claimed.

The capital is a small city, so unlike the big cities of Hojing, Luoyi, and Qufu, which have had rigorous and careful planning, they are completely developed naturally. It's natural, but it doesn't mean there's no pattern. Although there are no horizontal and vertical roads and neighborhoods, this kind of city has a clear texture like leaf veins. The main road has a bend to connect the northwest gate and the east gate, and the road is full of horse-drawn carriages carrying goods. On both sides of the avenue, many tiny branch alleys have grown, which penetrate into all corners of the city like capillaries.

Many of the entrances to these lanes were hung with signboards, such as "candles", "strings", "cables", "grids" and so on. When you go inside, you find that it refers to the main commodities traded in the alley. For example, "candle" refers to a candle, and "string" refers to a bowstring. Most of the people who operate in it are also relatives of a clan, and they take this character as their clan and take their name before their own name. From this, he remembered that Candle Zhiwu and Xiangao, two famous figures in the Spring and Autumn Period, happened to be Zheng Guoren, and perhaps they were the descendants of these people. It seems that Zheng Guo does have an indissoluble bond with the businessman.

After observation, he found that the trades of these merchants were mainly large-volume transactions, colloquially speaking, wholesale, confirming his suspicion that there was no local consumption here. According to the point of view of modern economics, such large-scale wholesale transit cities are generally located in places with developed transportation. Dutu found an old man from the Candle clan to chat, and sure enough, it was convenient for people from all over the world to come and go.

"The Yellow River in the north can be traced back to the Gyeonggi kingdoms through Luoyi, down to Wei, Xing, and even as far as Beiyan. The Jishui in the east leads directly to Qi and Lu. Yingshui and Jushui in the southeast can reach Xu, Chen, Song and Cai in the Huaihe River Basin. It can be said that except for Wu Chu Nanban in the Yangtze River Basin, the Great Zhou Dynasty was a famous country, and I ran it all when I was young. The old man Candle talked about his experience like a treasure, and his eyes were bright.

"But since it mainly relies on water transportation, it should be more convenient to gather cities near the water? For example, the capitals of the Dongyu Kingdom and the Yi Kingdom have such conditions, so why don't you go to those places? The dug continued to probe.

Speaking of this, the old man's expression changed to a bitter gourd face: "It's not that we don't want to, it's that we can't go!" He shook his head helplessly, "Most of our merchants are the remnants of Yin Shang, and which prince of the Great Zhou Dynasty looks at us well." ”

"There is no need to hold such a grudge against ordinary people when changing the dynasty, right? And these are all old accounts from hundreds of years ago, who can tell whether the people who do business are the remnants of the previous dynasty? ”

"Don't forget, in the early years of the Great Zhou Dynasty, when the Duke of Zhou became the king, he specially sent his own brothers to watch the remnants of Yin Shang. Originally, it was all right, but his brothers wanted to rebel, and by the way, they instigated our ancestors to get involved. After Zhou Pingping's rebellion, he naturally hated us so much that he gritted his teeth, so he did not allow us to engage in serious industries, and could only do business for generations. He also specified that except for the eastern capital Luoyi, the old capital of the Shang Dynasty, Chaoge, and the Song Kingdom, where the younger brother of the king of the Shang Dynasty was entitled, we were not allowed to live for a long time anywhere. We had to find these places where the borders of countries meet, so that no one cared about them! ”

"Hey, if it weren't for you, where would those princes and princes go to enjoy the delicacies of the mountains and seas from all over the country? The people also have to rely on the transportation and trade of your merchants to communicate with each other and to deal with the famine. These old men in the palace are obviously inseparable from you, but they still don't want to see you, it's really hypocritical! ”

"Yes, yes" The old man Candle became even more excited when he saw his bosom friend, and he couldn't wait for a handful of snot and a handful of tears, "I heard that this capital has recently been assigned to Zheng Guo as the capital, and it is no longer a place to do nothing, it seems that we have to suffer again and find another place to stay." ”

"No, the monarch of Zheng has always been kind to all people, regardless of ethnicity." As he tried his best to appease them, he pondered how to win the hearts of the merchants. Now that he has figured out the weaknesses of these people, he has a plan in his mind.

After returning to the palace, he sent people to post notices at various city gates, announcing that the new owner of the capital would not expel the merchants like the monarchs of other countries, and hoped that everyone would live and work in peace and contentment. As soon as this post came out, there was a lot of discussion in the city. Some businessmen praised this, others were skeptical, and some even felt that there might be a conspiracy behind it.

When Lady Nezai heard this, he sighed vigorously and shook his head. He wanted to intervene, but since he was under house arrest, not only did he not find fault with him, but he basically obeyed his words, making him embarrassed to discipline him in everything. And although this thing is not in line with his original intention, it can play a role in stabilizing people's hearts. If the merchants really fled one after another because of Zheng Guo's rule, the people outside would not know what was inside, and they would be even more reluctant to come over when they saw it. So in the end, he decided to turn a blind eye and forget it.

This is the first step in the excavation plan.

Then, rumors began in the city that the government was going to adjust the commercial tax. Now Nezai is in a hurry. Originally, it cost a lot to move eastward, and it cost a lot to bribe the second monarch, and now the palace is being built everywhere to repair the city wall, and the money is flowing out in an uproar. Moreover, when they first arrived, the land had not yet been cultivated, the agricultural harvest would not be until next year, and the commercial tax was almost the only income now. If this part is moved, where can the finances he manages stand it, in modern terms, it will simply "cut off the cash flow"!

So the old man hurriedly ran to the newly built simple palace to find the excavator to ask for the guilt.