The prince said hatefully: "The second brother's pig iron was obtained from the king of Goguryeo, and he hoped that the Turks would restore their strength in order to contain the Great Sui, so that the pressure on Goguryeo would be relieved." And the pig iron of the third brother Duji was obtained from your wealthy family of the Great Sui, the eldest grandson ambassador and the prince Donggong Zuo Wei rate, and the family of General Yuwenshu. ”

Wang Shichong was already mentally prepared, but he was still taken aback: "What, the deal that Changsun Sheng made with you?" Also, why is Yuwenshu also involved? ”

Prince Dubi sighed: "I was told by the people in Duji, the first time was the third son of Changsun Sheng, Changsun Wuxian, personally brought two sons of the Yuwen family, one is called Yu Wenhua, and the other is called Yuwen Zhiji, because of the son of the eldest grandson ambassador as a guarantee, the third brother was relieved, and bought 100,000 catties for the first time, and then Changsun Wuxian did not come forward again, and the two Yuwen sons personally led the team to go out of Xiazhou every time. ”

Wang Shichong frowned: "Is it Xiazhou in the north of Daxing?" Isn't it from Shuozhou or Daizhou in the merged state? ”

Prince Dubi shook his head: "No, at first I also wondered, why did Yuwen Gongzi take such a risky road, but later I figured it out, Bingzhou is the territory of Yang Liang, the king of Han, and Shuozhou and Daizhou are guarded by Yang Yichen and Li Jing, the generals directly appointed by the Great Sui Imperial Court, and it is difficult to get out of the customs from here, but it is the land of Xia Zhou, and it is not too difficult to get out of the customs." As long as you can find a way to transport the pig iron out of the customs, you can complete the transaction. ”

Wang Shichong understood: "Now the defense of Daxing City and even the Guanzhong region is in charge of Changsun Sheng, no wonder he asked his son to accompany the two boys of the Yuwen family on this road." And what he didn't say was that this matter must have been instructed or acquiesced by Yang Guang. Showing grace to the Duji of Monan. At least let them not help Han Wang Yang Liang in the future. It seems that in this matter, Changsun Sheng is on Yang Guang's side again.

Prince Dubi smiled and said: "General Wang, I heard that you had a good relationship with the eldest grandson ambassador and the crown prince Yang Guang back then, this General Yuwenshu is the prince's left guard rate, and this matter must also be known to the prince, can you tell the prince and let him let you also let you go on a line and trade this pig iron with me?" ”

Wang Shichong shook his head: "Absolutely not." The prince can do this, I can't, the reason why he just let Yuwenshu's son and Changsun Sheng's son participate, but he didn't send his son, is to draw a line with this matter, in case the matter is revealed, take these two people out to blame, and I am not his descendant, don't say to do this, just mention it. It's a capital offense. ”

A hint of disappointment appeared on the face of the Dubi Prince: "Then there is no other way?" ”

Wang Shichong thought to himself that this was a great opportunity to get to know the Turkic prince. That Qimin Khan is cowardly and incompetent, and the throne of the Khan should fall to these princes in the future, and Prince Dubi, as the eldest prince, naturally has the right of priority to inherit, but the grassland has always been the king of the capable. Helping him now can be described as a relief in the snow, and it is an emergency move, which is enough to make him grateful to himself for the rest of his life.

So Wang Shichong groaned for a while, and said in a low voice: "Your Royal Highness, for the sake of friendship with you, I can trade with you for 500,000 catties of pig iron, but this transaction cannot go from the territory of our Great Sui, otherwise if it is exposed, it will be a disaster of annihilation." To tell you the truth, I have some secretly opened businesses in the Western Regions, and when the time comes, I will buy some pig iron from the Altai Mountain Iron Mine in the Western Regions and find a way to transport it to you, but now I don't know too much about the situation in the Western Regions, does Bujia Khan still dominate the Western Regions, and is he still stuck to you very dead? ”

A hint of surprise flashed in Prince Dubi's eyes: "General Wang also has a relationship in the Western Regions?" ”

Wang Shichong nodded: "There are some old friends, it is not a big problem to get pig iron, in the north of Yumen Pass outside Guazhou City, there is a Star Gorge about a day's journey, I wonder if the prince knows?" ”

The prince immediately said: "Of course I know, it is a boundary between us and the Western Turks, and it is very famous, but it has always been the sphere of influence of those wealthy merchants in Guzang City, if General Wang trades there with me, is he not afraid of being discovered by them?" ”

Wang Shichong smiled slightly: "It's not a secret, many years ago, Wang Mou once teamed up with the wealthy businessmen of Guzang to do a pig iron transaction there, and now that I think about it, it is still like yesterday." As he spoke, he remembered the Xingxingxia transaction back then, the battle of wits, betrayal, betrayal, escape from death, and the relationship with An Suiyu that had experienced life and death, An Suiyu's face seemed to shake in front of his eyes again, making him feel heartache for a while, and he actually stopped talking.

Prince Dubi didn't know what Wang Shichong was thinking, and said with a smile: "I can't imagine that General Wang has contact with those Guzang merchants, this is easy, Bujia Khan because he lost too badly in the east a few years ago, and after returning to the Western Regions, his tribes are also constantly rebelling, and even the tribe surnamed Tiele Jiu has taken advantage of the situation to unite with the local servant people, the Hui people, etc. to attack him, Bujia Khan is now too busy to take care of himself, where is there any air traffic control of this pig iron smuggling, but I don't know anyone in the Western Regions, so I can't make a fuss here, If you go to Xingxing Gorge, we take the most suitable route in Mobei. ”

Wang Shichong nodded: "I have never traded pig iron in the Western Regions, and now I can only have an intention first, whether I can operate it specifically, and I have to see the situation at the time, but please rest assured, since I said this, I will definitely try my best to do it, and when the time comes, I will also ask the prince to send a competent person to go to the Western Regions with me to finalize the details of the transaction." ”

He groaned for a while and said, "This time Mr. Gao followed me to the Central Plains, I think he should go back with General Wang, where he can find the Tiele people, and it is convenient to help spread the message." ”

Wang Shichong smiled and said: "That's very good, oh, by the way, what form is the prince going to trade at that time?" ”

Prince Dubi thought for a while and said: "We don't have any special products in the north of the desert, that is, furs and war horses, but if you bring a large number of war horses to the south, it is easy to expose the target, so I don't think it is better to trade in other places." I sent someone to bring war horses to this Youzhou or Daxing. Give the horse to you directly. Then you will convert the price of the horse into money, and scrape together enough pig iron for me, what do you think? ”

Wang Shichong nodded, he is indeed the most sought-after and most lacking in all the business now, after all, Tuyuhun in Hexi is sparsely populated, and the number of Hexi horses and heavenly horses produced is limited, and since An Suiyu's death, he has no stable trade relationship with the Turks. The horse business is always not very good. This time, if you can do a business of 500,000 catties of pig iron, you can exchange it for two or three thousand horses, whether it is to prepare for your own future troubles, or to sell them for money, it is a very good choice.

So Wang Shichong said: "Okay, just do what the prince said." These details will be discussed by Mr. Gao and Wei Zheng. It's just that Wang still has important things to do, and it will take some time to go back to Daxing or even to Guzang City, I'm afraid that Mr. Lao Gao will go to Daxing City alone to wait for me for a few days. When I was done, I went to meet him. ”

Prince Dubi finally smiled on his face this time: "Then I'll wait for the good news from General Wang." ”

The two discussed and agreed, and Gao Baoyi, Wei Zheng and others who were guarding outside, were called in. Prince Dubi and Gao Baoyi walked aside and discussed for a long time, before taking the Turkic merchant to break up with everyone, Wang Shichong kept thinking about the next action, without saying a word, until Prince Dubi left, and then returned to the city with Gao Baoyi and Wei Zheng.

The three of them waited until dawn to enter the city, Gao Baoyi first returned to the inn where he lived, and Wang Shichong and Wei Zheng returned to the pavilion and discussed for a while behind closed doors, Wei Zheng also agreed with Wang Shichong's approach, but he mentioned that after the horse was bought, he might as well spread it in the key cities where he had industries and shops, and usually used it as a pack horse to hide people's eyes and ears, and once an incident occurred, he quickly fed grain and fattened the horse for cavalry use.

After discussing about the middle pole, Wang Shichong went to the governor's mansion to resign to Dou Kang and Yuan Hongsi and others, and together with Wei Zheng and Zhang Jincheng, he embarked on the road to Bingzhou, which was his last stop before returning to Daxing, and it was also the most important stop.

Fifteen days later, the state was merged, Taiyuan City, and the palace of the Han Dynasty.

Bingzhou is also known as the land of Hedong, the Yellow River has nine bends and eighteen bends, and suddenly turns sharply here in Bingzhou and Guanzhong, forming the heavy vertical of the zigzag bend, and Bingzhou is therefore called the land of Hedong, and the Guanzhong area on the other side of the river faces each other across the river.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, in the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty, when King Zhou Cheng was a child, he played with his younger brother Shu Yu and gave a sycamore leaf to Shu Yu, and the Duke of Zhou sealed Shu Yu to the Tang Dynasty, that is, Quwo, the southern region of today's Bingzhou, and the area of Yicheng, only a few hundred places around Fenshui.

After Tang Shuyu grew up, he made great efforts to implement the policy of national reconciliation in this barbarian tribe of Beidi, and also governed it in an orderly manner, and his descendants also worked hard to expand to the uncivilized barbarian areas in the north, and during the reign of Shuyu's son, because there was Jin water in the territory, the name of the country was changed to Jin, which was the origin of the most famous power in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.

Throughout the Spring and Autumn Period, the Jin State was the most powerful candidate state, and Taiyuan was also gradually incorporated into the Jin State in the process of the Jin State's continuous expansion to the north and the conquest of the Beidi tribe, until the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, the three families were divided into Jin, and became the three candidate states of Wei, Zhao and Korea, in the land of Taiyuan, Dong An, a retainer of the Zhao State, built a strong city that was one of the best in the world at that time, named Jinyang, which was also the predecessor of Taiyuan City.

Jinyang has been the capital of Zhao for 70 years and has always been a famous metropolitan city in the north. For a long time, respectively as the Taiyuan county of the Qin State, the capital of the early Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty and the state of the Han Dynasty, the Jin Dynasty to the Northern Wei Dynasty and the actual capital of the Northern Qi Dynasty, and here by the mountains and rivers, the terrain is dangerous, the Western Jin Dynasty was expanded in the former site of the original Jinyang City, and the Northern Qi Dynasty was built in the east bank of the Fenshui near the Jinyang City to build a larger, more solid new city, which is for Taiyuan.

Today's Taiyuan is the third largest city in the world in addition to Daxing and Luoyang, the population of the entire state has reached 850,000 households, nearly 3.8 million people, and this Taiyuan city has a population of 6.7 million, Hedong and Zhou, there are many nobles, Taiyuan Wang, Hedong Pei, Hedong Liushi and other famous families, in the land of the three Jin Dynasty, spread out and leaf, everywhere.

Now opposite Wang Shichong, there are two children of the family, one is an old acquaintance, Wang Fei, who is currently consulting the army of the Han Prince's Mansion, and the other is Pei Shiju's brother, the son of the Pei family, Pei Wen'an, Hedong.

Wang Shichong arranged for Wei Zheng to observe the situation inside and outside Taiyuan City early this day, especially the city defense and armament situation here. He came to the Han Palace. Visit Wang Fei. Today's Wang Gong seemed very busy, and he didn't come out to meet Wang Shichong until the evening, and he came with Pei Wen'an, who was in his thirties, with a white face and a slight beard, and a shrewd face.

Wang Shichong had long heard Pei Shiju say that the next generation of young people in their Pei family were among them. With this Pei Wen'an is the best. Pei Wen'an is a famous northern scholar, Hedong Pei's branch of the family, Hedong Pei has a long history, the earliest can be traced back to the ancestor of the Qin State, Feizi's sixth grandson tomb was sealed in today's southwest of Shanxi Xie Yi this place, so go to "Yi" for "clothes", the upper non-lower clothes, and create their own Pei surname.

Later, the Pei clan went through many migrations, and finally lived in Hedong, Xiliang, Yanjing and other places, but the source was in Wenxi County, Hedong. And Wen Xi Pei's family has also become a super wealthy family in the land of Sanjin.

This Pei Wen'an is a branch of the Wenxi Pei family, so he can't enter the imperial court. can only mix the role of a staff officer in the Han Palace, but he is full of talent, although he is not yet forty years old, he looks shrewd and capable, and the temperament between his eyebrows is very similar to Wang Hao, which can only be described in four words: ambitious.

Wang Yan opened his mouth first: "Brother Xingman, you and I haven't seen each other for many years, I thought you had forgotten my old friend, but I didn't expect that at such a time, you would come to Bingzhou to meet me." ”

Wang Shichong smiled slightly: "Over the years, I have been running around non-stop, it is rare to be idle, and I have no time to come to this state, Jingwen (Wang Fei's word) brother is very free, not only has he now become the chief staff of His Royal Highness the King of Han, but also has written 30 articles of the Five Classics and 10 volumes of anthologies over the years. ”

This time the fart slapped on Wang Fei's heart, he laughed, stroked his beard, and had a proud look on his face: "My Wang Fei is only a shallow learner, I don't know how to read at the age of twenty, I only know how to hunt as a ranger, and later after being educated by my deceased brother Wang, the prodigal son turned back and studied hard, and when he was young, he liked to read the Five Classics the most, and the righteousness of the Five Classics is just some of my reading experience when I was a teenager, and I ask you to give me more advice." ”

Wang Shichong said with a smile: "Brother Jingwen is really polite, now you are in a high position, I want you and I to cross the Yangtze River at night together and conquer Chen Guo in the south, what a young man's spirit, these fourteen or fifteen years, but it is already a thing or a person, mixed up to now, I am just a five-grade Yitong, not as good as your brother is like a fish in water here." ”

Wang Fei smiled and waved his hand: "It's just luck, Wang Moumeng and Han Wang have a good eye to save me from danger, and I should do my best to repay it, as for this fame and fortune, it is not what my Wang Gong is pursuing." ”

Wang Shichong knew that Wang Gong was talking about a few years ago, when Gao Xi had not stepped down, Wang Fei himself was also in Daxingcheng for a while as a doctor of Guozijian, and later was exiled to Lingnan because of illegal things, Yang Liang, the king of Han, heard of Wang Fei's name, and sent someone to invite Wang Gong back to his palace to join the army.

Yang Jian is extremely doting on his sons, even to the point that he can abandon the law of the country, and the officials who were exiled for committing crimes, as long as they are not involved in rebellion, if his prince's sons want to get this person back to their own mansion as an official, Yang Jian never refuses, in addition to Wang Gong, Xue Daoheng, the historian of the year, was also exiled to Lingnan because of his crimes, and was invited to Yangzhou by Yang Guang, who was the king of Jin at the time and guarded Yangzhou, was invited to Yangzhou halfway, but Xue Daoheng sternly refused and went directly to Lingnan from Jiangling.

But Wang Fei is obviously very close to this Yang Liang, Wang Shichong concluded that Yang Liang must be opposed, a very important reason is that Wang Fei, a talented careerist, became his number one military advisor, Wang Fei's talent is needless to say, he studied at the age of twenty, and within a few years he was known for his talent, and he could even enter the country as a doctor, which shows his talent, but he is not allowed to be reused in the imperial court. Wang Shichong knew that he and Yang Liang got together, presumably what Cheng Tian was talking about was how to raise troops to seize the throne, when Yang Jian was there, they didn't dare to have two hearts, but once Yang Jian died, I was afraid that Wang Jian would have prepared a perfect plan for raising troops.

So Wang Shichong deliberately said: "Alas, Brother Jingwen can naturally show his talents, but the younger brother is unlucky, I don't know if there are any vacancies here in King Han, so that the younger brother can also come to Brother Jingwen for advice?" ”

Wang Hao's face changed slightly: "Xingman, you are now an official of the imperial court, how can you say such a thing, the matter of transferring to the subordinates of the vassal king requires the emperor to be the master, and the approval of the ministry, how can it be regarded as child's play like this?" ”

Wang Shichong said with a smile: "In the court anyway, it is not allowed to be reused, Brother Jingwen knows that I, Wang Shichong, have been fighting in the south and north for many years, but I have not been promoted, and the King of Han has always had clear rewards and punishments here, and talents like Brother Jingwen are deeply used, and they are not talented, and they are not as good as Brother Jingwen's ability, I just want to come over and eat, and I will help you and come up with some ideas, how about it?" (To be continued......)