In times of war, food prices rise sharply. This is not only due to the fact that the war has destroyed agricultural production, but also because unscrupulous businessmen are hoarding and driving up the price of grain. But in the area under Liu Xin's rule, this kind of thing will not happen.

Because in the process of Liu Xin's continuous expansion, most of the farmland in various places was taken over by the government, and in addition to taxes, the rent was also paid to the local government. Therefore, most of the grain harvested every year did not actually fall into the hands of those large scholars, but went into the granary of the government. On the other hand, Liu Xin has always attached importance to grain production, vigorously built water conservancy, and cultivated grain varieties, resulting in a substantial increase in grain output. Take wheat, for example. In the past, the main wheat producing area in Dahan was Hebei under the control of Yuan Shao, with a yield of about 200 catties. And now in Nanyang, the yield of wheat has reached 300 catties. Not only that, in the Jingnan area, the yield of rice has far exceeded that of wheat, and the yield has reached an unprecedented 500 catties.

It was precisely with the abundant granary as a guarantee that Liu Xin was able to confidently ask the government to determine a unified price for the purchase and sale of grain, so that the price of grain on the market would remain at about 20 yuan. However, in this way, there was a big price difference between the grain in the area under Liu Xin's rule and other regions, and the smuggling of grain happened from time to time.

As an important strategic material, the sale of grain will of course be strictly controlled. It is impossible to smuggle grain on a large scale, and to ensure the need for a long-term confrontation between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, Liu Xin must expand the scale of grain smuggling, so it is necessary to use some hidden forces. Liu Xin quickly wrote a reply letter, putting Fu Zhi in charge of the matter. In the letter, Liu Xin also explained that he should make good use of this opportunity to save someone from Puyang.

Cao Cao and Yuan Shao had already started a war, and Liu Xin no longer had any worries and could handle the affairs of the Western Regions with peace of mind. So, the group left Wuwei, traveled westward, passed through Zhangye, Jiuquan, and Dunhuang counties, and finally arrived at Yumen Pass.

Yumen Pass and Yangguan Pass in the south are the two only roads to the Western Regions, and outside the pass is the vast Gobi. Once upon a time, there was a busy scene of camel bells and caravans coming and going. And now, standing on the gate and looking at all sides, except for the swamps, vertical and horizontal ravines, and tall poplars, there is no longer a single figure to be seen outside the pass.

Liu Xin thought that his trip to the Western Regions would reopen the Silk Road and restore the prosperity of the gates, so he couldn't help but feel a burst of pride, couldn't help but be poetic, and sang in a low voice: "The Yellow River is far above the white clouds, a lonely city and ten thousand mountains. ”

Of course, this popular "Liangzhou Ci" was "plagiarized" by Liu Xin, but he only read the first half of the poem and couldn't read it anymore, because the following two sentences are "Why should the Qiang flute complain about the willows, and the spring breeze does not pass the Yumen Pass", which obviously does not match the current scene.

Jia Xuzheng listened with a reverent face, but there was no follow-up, and he couldn't help but say with some regret: "My subordinates have long heard that the lord's literary style is unparalleled in the world, and today I can hear the lord's chant with my own ears, which is really my life's wish, but the lord's poem ......"

Liu Xin waved his hand, and said: "The great cause is unfinished, how can Liu have any leisure!" It's not too early, let's get out of the customs! ”

Just when Liu Xin led a large group of men and horses to leave Yumen Pass and go straight to Shanshan Wangcheng Mud City, a caravan also quietly left Runan and entered the territory of Qian County. Runan and Qian County originally belonged to Yuan Shu's territory, and now they belong to Liu Xin and Cao Cao, but the contact between the two places is still very frequent, and there are often caravans, of course, there are more smuggling teams between these two places. Because Runan is mountainous and there are many hidden trails, and Liu Xin's local army here has not yet been formed, it has become a hard-hit area for smuggling, and the smuggled goods are of course mainly grain, sometimes mixed with a small amount of paper and white porcelain.

However, this caravan that set out quietly at night did not take the small road like other smuggling caravans, but took the sunny road. Because the backstage of this caravan is very hard, as the saying goes, there are people above the people.

This caravan came from the Mijia family in Xuzhou. It is true that the Mi family is second to none in Xuzhou, but it is nothing in the entire Han world. However, Mi Zhu, the head of the Mi family, is now an official in charge of the world's commerce in the household department, and doing business has unique conditions for the Mi family, so this caravan has an official certificate and can go out of the customs by road. Of course, it is not possible that the documents listed on the voucher are strategic materials such as grain, nor can they be monopoly commodities such as tea, silk and white porcelain, which are clearly recorded on it, but are just ordinary commodities.

According to the regulations, no matter which caravan leaves the customs, it must be strictly inspected before it is released. The regular legions stationed at the border are not controlled by the local government, so even if someone can get an official certificate, if they carry prohibited items, they will choose to take those hidden paths.

But the Mi family's caravans were in a special situation. Because the soldiers stationed at the border are all soldiers of the Fourth Legion, and the commander of the Fourth Legion, Zhang Liao, is the son-in-law of the Mi family, and the leader of this caravan is Zhang Liao's brother-in-law Mi Fang. A few days ago, the soldiers here had been notified by Zhang Liao that they would exempt the Mi family's caravan from inspection. Of course, even with such convenient conditions, he didn't dare to openly clear the customs in front of everyone, so he still chose to pass the customs quietly at night.

As soon as he entered the boundary of Qian County, Mi Fang's head was raised. His goods were all in short supply, not only the food that Cao Cao urgently needed, but also luxury goods such as paper and white porcelain that were deeply loved by those in the upper class. Especially for grain, Mi Fang actually transported as much as 100,000 stones in one go this time. With this batch of goods, Mi Fang is the uncle on Cao Cao's territory, and he can walk horizontally.

Runan is the hardest hit area of smuggling, and the Runan of Qian County is bordered, where smugglers from Runan can be seen everywhere, and most of those smugglers will also get rid of the goods that have been smuggled through great difficulty in Qian County. Anyway, these smugglers got grain and other items that were urgently needed by the local people, and the local government turned a blind eye and rarely took the initiative to inquire.

But the sudden appearance of such a huge caravan as Mi Fang still attracted the attention of the government. When Mi Fang and the others came to the outside of the city, they were stopped by a team of officials and asked, "What is the car loading?" Where is it going? ”

Mi Fang waved her hand, and the servants behind her hurriedly presented the certificate issued by the government.

Although the princes of each region were hostile to each other, the people-to-people trade did not stop. However, there are certain regulations on the goods that are allowed to be bought and sold. For example, in Liu Xin's place, it is not allowed to sell grain out of the country. In the area under Cao Cao's jurisdiction, it was forbidden to buy white porcelain and restrict the purchase of Xiang paper.

Among the goods shipped by Mi Fang, these three commodities are the main ones. However, there are no names of these goods in the vouchers listed by the government, and some are just coarse cloths, sacks, kudzu, etc., both daily necessities and ordinary medicinal materials, anyway, they are all worthless things.

The official at the head of the team turned over the voucher and looked at it several times, but there was no flaw. Of course, there is no flaw, this is Mi Zhu personally opened from the household, the certificate is written in high-grade Xiang paper, there is an anti-counterfeiting mark of the household department, others can not counterfeit. Such a certificate has also been seen by the officials of Qian County. The people who can get such a certificate are all people with heads and faces over there.

However, this is Qian County, not Liu Xin's territory, so these officials did not look at him differently because Mi Fang had the ability to get such a certificate, but shouted loudly: "Open everything in the car, I want to check!" ”

A person who looked like a steward saw the opportunity quickly, quietly stuffed a small purse into the hand of the official leader, and said with a smile: "Brothers have worked hard, a little meaning, please drink tea." ”

Normally, as soon as this purse is shot, any problem will be solved, but today this official errand is a little surprising, not only did not take the purse, but also sneered and pulled out the saber he carried with him, and shouted: "If you don't get out of the way, I'm welcome!" ”

Mi Fang shouted in a deep voice: "You dare! ”

Although it is in someone else's place, Mi Fang is not afraid at all. Although he came this time to smuggle, it was smuggling under Liu Xin's secret order, and these people who escorted the vehicles were all good hands selected from the Fourth Army Corps, and there were as many as 1,000 people even escorted by the carts. And this place is not far from Runan, and the tens of thousands of troops stationed there are his backing, and he has nothing to fear.

With Mi Fang's shout, dozens of guards standing behind him rushed to draw their knives first, which startled the dozen or so foreign officials and retreated again and again.

Mi Fang snorted coldly, led people into the city gate step by step, and said loudly: "To tell you the truth, this cart is full of grain, what are you going to do?" ”

Although Cao Cao welcomed the entry of grain from other places, anything not listed on the official certificate could be considered smuggling, and could even be confiscated according to the law. However, under normal circumstances, everyone knows that the official is almost getting some benefits, and the smugglers are happy to make profits. Although Mi Fang is smuggling for the first time, she also knows the rules, but today this official seems to be a little unreasonable.

When the officials saw Mi Fang's aggressiveness, they were a little overwhelmed.

At this time, a person walked out of the city gate hole with his hands behind his back, arched his hand towards Mi Fang, and said, "This brother, can you take a step to speak?" ”

Mi Fang pressed her hand to the hilt of her sword and asked vigilantly, "Who are you?" ”

The man waved his hand at the officials, and when the officials bowed and retreated, he said: "It is Liu Dai, the Taishou of the county, and these people under him have offended a lot just now, so don't blame them." ”

Mi Fang always felt that today's incident was strange, these officials refused to accept bribes, just like cats suddenly stopped eating fish. Now that he finally understood, it turned out that there was this Tai Shou beside him, so he couldn't help but let go of his hand, gave a deep salute, and said, "It turned out to be Lord Liu, please forgive the grass people for being rude." I don't know what the adults command? ”

Liu Dai returned the salute and said, "If this brother's car is really carrying grain, then Liu will buy it all." I don't know if I can say yes? ”