After the nine crossings of the Yellow River into the Hulu River, the Yellow River exits the mouth of the gorge, the river surface becomes wider, and the water flow is gentle, bringing abundant water and fertile soil to this area. The tall Helan Mountain in the north blocks the cold wind, and this plain with abundant water and soil under the mountain is a rare place suitable for farming in the desert outside the Saiwai. "The Yellow River is harmful, but only one set of riches", where Xingqing Mansion is located, is the Hetao Plain, which was later called "plugging the south of the Yangtze River".

It is precisely with this irrigated plain as the foundation that the party has the capital to stand on its own.

However, at this time, Xingqing Mansion, there is no scene of rice mulberry everywhere in later generations, and the reclamation of this place in the Tang Dynasty has mostly been abandoned in the five dynasties of troubled times, and it has just been restored at this time. One of the reasons why the Central Plains Dynasty repeatedly occupied and abandoned the Dangxiang area north of Hengshan and Hanhai was that there was no stable agricultural base, and it was difficult for the Central Plains regime to take root in the nomadic areas.

Starting from Jingyuan Road and Qinfeng Road, the strategic advantage of attacking the party is that there are a series of agricultural basins on this route, all the way to the Xing and Xia plains in the heart of the party.

Outside Xingqing City, by the Tanglai Canal, in a quiet Handi-style courtyard, Tong Dalang and Sick Wei Chi sat opposite each other according to a small table. A small stove next to it, boiling a pot of mutton, gurgling and steaming.

After drinking a glass of wine, the sick lieutenant Chi put down the cup in his hand, smacked his lips, and said: "It's still our Da Song wine's good taste, the strong liquor here in the party is just a punch, and it doesn't taste at all!" ”

Tong Dalang looked at the wine glass in his hand and remained motionless. The sick lieutenant went to pour the wine later, Tong Dalang drank the wine in the cup in one gulp, pressed the cup on the table, and said in a deep voice: "Brother, what do you think of what Zhang Yuan's guy said today?" ”

The sick lieutenant said: "Everything is good, but I just did things for the people and humiliated the ancestors." ”

Tong Dalang nodded emphatically: "I think the same way!" But Zhang Yuan has climbed into the elite in the party, if we don't obey him, I am afraid that he will come to harm us. Heroes don't suffer immediate losses, our heads are not easy, and we must cherish them. ”

"Brother Mo really wants to help Zhang Yuan's company run something? Don't say that there is no work and no business here in the party, it can't be done at all, but it can be done, we have helped Fanren do things, will we never go back to our hometown for the rest of our lives? The sick lieutenant's hand stopped in mid-air, and he looked at Tong Dalang puzzled.

Tong Dalang sighed and said, "What if you don't go back to your hometown?" Brother, you can help people do things without going back to your hometown! We are just hiding from the party here, do we really want to become a fan! ”

Seeing that the sick lieutenant Chi was full of doubts and looked at himself puzzled, Tong Dalang said again: "Now that the chieftains of the party have gone to the border with the leader, Zhang Yuan's family is very powerful, and if you want to survive, you have to make peace with him." I mean, I'm here to do a company with them, and I can't do it anyway, so it's just perfunctory. You take the gold and silver to the Song Land, and find the powerful officials in the border areas to be accommodating and take a look, if we give the money, can we avoid the death penalty. ”

After speaking, Tong Dalang put a bag of gold and silver on the table: "This is what we brought out from the Song Realm, except for the expenses of these times, they are all here." When the two countries go to war, our sins back then may not necessarily be dead. ”

The sick lieutenant Chi looked at the gold and silver, thought for a while, looked around carefully, leaned forward and whispered: "Brother, if you really have this heart, you may not have to give the money." I listened to the people who sold things in the Song realm, and now in Yanzhou, the Great Song Dynasty has opened a reward and is recruiting Zhang Yuan. Why don't we take him and solve him to the Song Realm, isn't it a hundred? ”

Tong Dalang listened, smiled and shook his head: "Brother, where is it so easy." Zhang Yuan has been wandering in the border area for several years, where it is so easy to hold. Since last year, no one has tried to recruit him, but the result is that his family members have been sent to the mainland and replaced with a reward for his head. Now to solicit is just Yan Yan's own assertion with there. ”

Zhang Yuan and Wu Hao, two people who were loyal to the party, were looked down upon in the Great Song Dynasty, and promised that once they returned to the Great Song Dynasty, they would give money to the officials. And those who resolutely do not cooperate with Fanren are not cared for, and I don't know what the border marshal who made this decision thinks.

After being stunned for a while, the sick lieutenant said chi: "If that's the case, we can't go to Yanzhou." When we got there, we have always known Zhang Yuan's family, and they must not believe us, and if they are not good, they will take our heads-"

"Yes, don't go to Yanzhou, go to Qinzhou. When we were in Luoyang, Xu Jingliu was in charge, and it seemed that he was reliable in all aspects. Moreover, the company and the bank were originally set up by Xu Jingluo in the Great Song Dynasty, and it was only useful to tell him. As long as you get a message there, we will go back to the Song Realm and don't ask about the past crimes, and I will go there in the next year. ”

The sick lieutenant thought for a while before he said, "We have dealt with this counselor, so we know a little bit about it. Brother, I didn't say it, but I was afraid that it would be of little use to bring gold and silver to him. To exempt him from his previous sins, I am afraid that there must be other benefits. ”

Tong Dalang raised his head and looked at the endless night sky in winter, the sky was full of stars, as if studded with gems. The cold wind rushed out of the night and hit the face, and it was cold.

After being silent for a long time, Tong Dalang sighed: "Other benefits? If this is the case, it is nothing more than me and Zhang Yuan working together to build some bank or company, and bring him down. If there is no money for the war, how long can the party support it? Is this good enough? ”

Since Yuan Hao succeeded to the throne, he has been fighting abroad for many years, and the national strength has been consumed hugely. Now that the war with the Great Song Dynasty is going on, spending money is like flowing water, and it is extremely difficult to support it. Originally, relying on green and white salt, smuggling to the Song Realm could exchange a lot of money and come back, but now the Great Song Dynasty sells fine white salt at a low price on Shaanxi Road, and this financial road is cut off. Not only has the financial route of smuggling party items been cut off, but now it is also the other way around, many of the border areas along the party items have begun to use smuggled Da Song fine salt, and even the good restaurants in Xingqing Mansion have used Da Song fine salt, which has made the party's finances even worse. Fanren is not meticulous in finance, Yuan Hao and other leaders do not pay attention to these things, unless the whole country is against it, he will not admit that the war has made the people of the country miserable. However, Tong Dalang and these people have always been in contact with the economy, but they can see that if this continues, as long as the party does not even have enough military rations for the expedition in two or three years.

If the party wants to rely on paper money to make money, what else will they rely on to support the war? Other border marshals can't say it well, Xu Ping in Qinzhou must be able to see this. Tong Dalang was originally burning a cellar by the Yellow River, living happily, but he was inexplicably involved in a gambling case, and was assigned to fill the army, and since then he has embarked on a different path in his life. It was Xu Ping who dealt with him back then, and when he committed a big case in Luoyang, Xu Ping was the capital transfer envoy on Jingxi Road. There is a huge difference in the identities between the two, and there is no chance of contact, but Tong Dalang can feel that he will definitely seize such an opportunity when it is sent to Xu Ping.

It's hard to do something, but it's much easier to break something. Now Zhang Yuan, who is in charge of banks and companies, has not actually been exposed to these, and when the Great Song Dynasty began these reforms, he was pretending to be a ghost on the side of the Shaanxi Road. Li Zhongtan just wants to make money, Jinshan Yinshan is in front of him, he can even sell his father, not to mention Zhang Yuan and Wu Hao.