The reason why the desert north captives have re-emerged in just over a decade or so is entirely due to the stable north-south relations. Relations between the North and the South are stable, the North and the South are peaceful, and the North and the South maintain trade and exchange with each other, which gives the two sides the best conditions for recuperation.

The desert is barren, the natural environment is harsh, and there is an extreme shortage of strategic materials and talents such as salt and iron, millet, and craftsmen, and for Middle-earth, what is most needed is war horses, so in the trade between the north and the south, Middle-earth has an overwhelming advantage. In order to contain and weaken the strength of the Northern Captives, Middle-earth strictly controlled the export of strategic materials, and violators were killed. But in the face of such a huge interest, who is not tempted? As a result, the official market secretly cheated, and black market transactions were even more popular, and they were repeatedly banned.

In the border area, the strategic position of Hexi and Daibei is very important, the "eyes" of the upper and lower parts of the Middle Earth are staring at these two places, and the supervision of the imperial history is also running back and forth, and the punishment is very large, and the head is flying, so these two places are mainly official trade, and private market transactions are also under the strict supervision of the official. Of course, the law is dead, people are alive, and the interests of local protectionism, local forces, and local wealthy families must be taken into account, as well as the interests of local officials and local town garrisons. As far as the central government is concerned, taking into account the intricate interests between the government, the military, the wealthy families, and the wealthy businessmen, and considering the unstoppable and uncontrollable corruption behind the North-South trade, sometimes they can only turn a blind eye, otherwise pulling out the radish and bringing out the mud and checking a large area will inevitably affect the political situation in the eastern capital, the border towns, and the relations between the north and the south.

At that time, Yu Wenhua and Yu Wenzhi and his brothers secretly sold weapons to the Beiyu, and were discovered, and the East Window incident immediately triggered a political storm, and the two major political factions in the court fought fiercely, and as a result, the conservatives were defeated, and a large number of meritorious ministers such as Gao Gong and He Ruobi died unexpectedly, which is a bloody lesson.

However, this normal official trade will certainly not be able to meet the huge demand for strategic materials in the process of rapid development. More than ten years ago, the Turks "crawled" from division and war, weakened, and after more than ten years, they not only recovered their vitality, but also unified the desert again, and actively sought to establish a unified Great Turkic Khanate. War horses, cattle and sheep can be raised by themselves, but what about salt, iron and millet?

Middle-earth is rich in salt, iron, millet, and only from Middle-earth can these strategic materials be obtained, and there are only two means of obtaining them, one is trade, and the other is war. The cost of war is too great to outweigh the losses, and it is impossible to wage war unless it is absolutely necessary or without absolute certainty of victory, and only through trade.

There are also two means of trade, legal trade and illegal trade. Legal trade includes official trade and private trade, of which official trade is the main means, and the merchants in the private market can only be used as a supplement to official trade because of the limited variety and number of transactions, but it is impossible for Middle-earth to provide strategic materials unconditionally and endlessly to strengthen opponents, so the total trading volume is still very strictly controlled.

In desperation, the Northern Captives could only expand illegal trade channels and obtain more strategic materials through border smuggling and black market trading, so the importance of Yanbei was highlighted.

Yanbei not only faced the desert captives, but also faced the northeastern captives such as Xi (xi), Xi, Khitan, and Murowei, and there were conflicts of interest between the Middle Earth and the desert and the northeast captives, and there were many contradictions between them. Both the Middle Earth and the Desert North captives wanted to win the benefits of the Far East, and the Far Eastern captives took the opportunity to play the trick of "the snipe and the mussel compete, and the fisherman profited". At that time, China was not ready to go eastward, so it deliberately connived at and acquiesced in the black market trade in Yanbei, and used smuggling trade as a means to divide the facts, deliberately intensifying the contradictions between the northern and northeastern captives.

This is indeed a good idea, but it needs to be executed, and once the executor can't stand the temptation of profit, seek skin with the tiger, dance with the wolf, and practice the way of greed, it will be over. As a result, the people of Middle-earth fell into the eye of money, sold their souls for their own selfish interests, and betrayed the country, while the captives in the north of the desert and the northeast of the country exchanged boxes of gold and silver treasures for truckloads of valuable strategic materials.

The smuggling of strategic materials, and the smuggling of strategic materials in large quantities, on a long-term basis, and in an organized and planned manner, requires strong strength to back it up, and it is obvious that it cannot be done without an official and military background. The wealthy families in Yanbei and its surroundings have naturally become the main force in the Yanbei smuggling market.

Of course, this kind of thing will not be seen in the light, the wealthy families will not admit it, the local government and the town army will not admit it, and even the northern captives and the northeastern captives will not admit it, after all, once this kind of thing is exposed, not only will it be severely punished in the law, but the head will fall to the ground, and it will be morally condemned, and the north-south trade will also be affected, so the "black hands behind the scenes" are "muffled and rich", and all the risks are pushed to the specific executors. However, those border smuggling gangs of all sizes, large and small, composed of local tyrants, local officials, border soldiers, Han merchants, thieves, and horse thieves, are driven by profits, take risks, and use all kinds of means to go into battle.

After the outbreak of the Eastern Crusade, smuggling in Yanbei became more rampant. In order to ensure the smooth progress of the Eastern Crusade, Middle Earth had to stabilize the situation between the north and the south to the greatest extent, and for this reason, it was inevitable to win over and appease the northern captives of the desert and the northeastern captives such as Xi and Khitan, and even make some compromises and concessions, such as expanding bilateral trade and reducing the intensity of the crackdown on border smuggling, so the smuggling of Yanbei became more and more strict under the protection of the "general environment", and as the smuggling interests became more and more abundant, this "chain of interests" The people on it have become more and more greedy and unscrupulous, and they have seriously endangered national defense security.

At present, the shape of the north and south is very unfavorable to Middle-earth, and it is very likely that the Holy Lord and the center will launch the Third Eastern Crusade at any cost and regardless of the consequences, in order to delay and prevent the outbreak of the Great War between the North and the South, and the desert northern captives will inevitably deal with it, and they will actively prepare for war, so the demand for scarce strategic materials will be greater, and they will inevitably increase their support for the smuggling of Yanbei.

Obviously, the Holy Lord and the Central Center don't want to see Yanbei's smuggling out of control, and they don't want to raise tigers, but the interests of Yanbei's smuggling are too rich, involving the interests of all aspects, if the crackdown is too strong, or even a complete ban, the impact is too great, the consequences will be severe, and it will even detonate the Great War in advance, which makes the Holy Lord and the Central Center in a dilemma and fall into a dilemma.

The reason why Li Fengyun took the initiative to enter Yanbei was that he saw the dilemma mentality of the Holy Lord and the center, and he seized this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

The alliance is a "behemoth", its strength exceeds all the smuggling gangs in Yanbei, so it is conceivable that when the alliance enters Yanbei, the first to be hit is the smuggling gang in Yanbei. Then, under the pretext of suppressing the thieves and stabilizing the situation in Yanbei, the Holy Lord and the Central Council sent a large number of Weifu troops into Yanbei, and the first to kill must be the smuggling gang in Yanbei. As a result, the Weifu Army and the alliance formed a "tacit understanding", and the two sides took what they needed, and the alliance took the opportunity to gain a foothold in Yanbei for development, while the Weifu Army took the opportunity to exterminate the smuggling gang in Yanbei and cut off the illegal channels for the northern captives to obtain strategic materials from China, and both sides were very happy.

Of course, in the end, the Weifu Army still has to kill the alliance, after all, it is still crucial to stabilize the frontier, but the alliance has won precious "foothold" time, plus the Third Eastern Crusade may be launched soon, and the threat of the Northern War to the frontier is becoming more and more severe, and the Holy Lord and the center may be forced to "open the net" to the alliance, and this is the opportunity for the King of Qi.

If the king of Qi goes north to the border and follows the Zhao'an Alliance, he will make meritorious contributions in the first battle and win the victory, which will not only improve his personal strength, but also consolidate and strengthen his position in northern Xinjiang, and at the same time, it will also be conducive to the suppression of northern Xinjiang and the upcoming war between the north and the south.

Li Fengyun's analysis and deduction of the situation in Yanbei surprised Cui Yu and Cui Jiu, and at the same time, they also felt the crisis that was coming.

Cui Jiu said bluntly, "I admit that you have a thorough analysis of the situation in Yanbei and an accurate grasp of opportunities, but you have ignored more important things. ”

"I know, cut off people's money, and have a deep grudge." Li Fengyun sneered, "I entered Yanbei, cut off the smuggling channels between the north and the south, offended you wealthy families, offended the northern captives of the desert and the northeast, and offended the Yanbei government, border army and local forces, and the enemies of the alliance spread all over the Great Wall. ”

"You're on your own."

Li Fengyun scoffed, "All those involved in the smuggling between the north and the south are traitors to Middle-earth, traitors who have lost their conscience, and they are innocent of death." Do you know what the purpose of a certain trip north is? It is to garrison the northern frontier, that is, to kill and defend the country, so the northern captives are the enemy of a certain one, the northeastern captives are the enemy of a certain one, and the traitors of Middle Earth are even more of a certain enemy. Li Fengyun waved his hand vigorously and said murderously, "After a certain arrives in Yanbei, he will definitely start killing, and the blood will flow, and the corpses will be all over the field." ”

Cui Jiu was dumbfounded, "Do you know the consequences?" You might detonate the Civil War early? ”

"Could it be that if you don't kill someone, you can delay or even prevent the outbreak of the Great War between the North and the South?" Li Fengyun scoffed, "Or, is he also a traitor, colluding with you people to the Turks and betraying Middle-earth?" ”

Cui Yu was furious, "How did you betray Middle-earth? How could the Cui family ever communicate with foreign countries? ”

"Really?" Li Fengyun looked at Cui Jiu, who was pale, and asked, "Can you sue Sù, who is the giant thief of your Cui family in Yanbei?" Wang Suba? Wei Dao'er? Zhen Zhai'er? Or Song Jingang? ”

Every time Li Fengyun said a name, Cui Jiu's eyes became a little more frightened.

Cui Yu knew at a glance that Li Fengyun was right. She couldn't imagine how wicked Li Fengyun was, she didn't know anything about such secrets, but Li Fengyun knew it clearly, it was terrifying.

"You don't have to sue sù." Li Fengyun's eyes were murderous, and he said coldly, "But one mountain does not allow two tigers, Yanbei is so big, since a certain person has gone, there is no place for others, and traitors will be killed." ”

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