Seeing that the ministers were all confused, even Bi Shu and Bai Lixian didn't seem to understand Xiang Zhuang, so he knew that he should discuss this matter with Widow Qin and Tang Tong, and then said: Forget it, let's not talk about it in advance, let's talk about the dirty matter between the Han Kingdom and the Yue Clan, what do you Aiqing think

Xiang He said: The minister thought that this was a good opportunity to win over the Yueshi people to contain the Han Kingdom

Wu Shidao: But the question is, if the Yueshi people get the support of our Great Chu, will they occupy the desert in one fell swoop and become another Xiongnu, if this situation occurs, it will be more than worth the loss

For this problem, Bai Lixian and Bi Shu are also a little hesitant, and it is necessary to consider the Yueshi people from the standpoint of dealing with the Han State, but from the standpoint of the entire Huaxia clan, they should cooperate with the Han State to suppress the Yueshi people, otherwise if the Yueshi people take advantage of the weakness of the Xiongnu and become stronger, sooner or later it will be a disaster

Xiang Zhuang pondered for a moment, and finally decided to let Pang Yu send someone to contact the Yue's people first

##########

On the gallop road from Handan to Jixian County, a troika is galloping

On the left and right of the carriage, there were more than 20 Jian riders, and it was obvious that the owner of the carriage was not an ordinary person

In fact, the owner of this carriage was none other than Xiang Zhuang's mistress, the head of the Qin family in Badong, the widow Qin, who had just left Luoyang ten days ago and stayed in Handan for a while, and then went straight to Jixian

As soon as the car drove over the dune platform, a fast horse suddenly flew from the direction of Handan, and the knight on horseback waved his hand and shouted: Mrs. Qin, stay and stay......

Madame Qin is a well-known red-capped merchant in the Chu State, but when she travels to various countries, she will use other identities to come, but she shouted out the identity of Madame Qin, obviously not an ordinary person, and the more than twenty Jian riders who guarded the carriage suddenly became alert, and they all reached into the bags on the horse's back, which contained small repeaters

The horse approached quickly, and the carriage slowly stopped on the left side of the road

More than ten horsemen quickly surrounded the knights, but the knight looked calm, just waved towards the carriage, and said loudly: Mrs. Qin is in Xiashi, Ji is Xuanyi, and Handan Zuo Sima came to deliver a letter to Madame on the order of the commander, and then took out a fire paint letter from his arms

It turned out to be more than ten people from Xuanyiwei, and his expression was slightly relaxed, but he was still a little suspicious

The curtain of the carriage lifted a corner, and then a beautiful girl leaned out of it, and a healthy rider took the letter from the knight's hand and handed it to the horseman, who took the letter and retracted it back into the carriage, and the curtain fell again, and the knight waved it again towards the carriage, and then immediately reined in the horse and turned around and galloped away in the direction of Handan

In the carriage, Widow Qin was leaning lazily on the brocade mat and asked, "What's the matter with Mei'er?"

The girl held the secret letter in both hands and handed it to the widow Qin and said: It is a letter sent by the Handan branch of Xuanyi Wei

Widow Qin opened the secret letter and hurriedly looked at it, and a strange bright color bloomed in her eyes, this letter was indeed sent by the Handan branch of Xuanyi Wei, undoubtedly but what was said in the letter made Widow Qin a little surprised, so she immediately ordered the girl to say: Mei'er, let Hebo turn around, let's go back to Handan

Back to Handan, Mei'er was stunned and said, Madam, we won't go to Liaodong

No, the Qin widow shook her head with beautiful eyes, and said In Guanzhong, Handan, and Anyi, there are several big deals waiting for us to do it, but there is no need to go to Liaodong, a bitter cold place

##########

Bai Mo's salt and iron official camp has been forcibly pushed away in Guanzhong

In the first stage, Bai Mo only nationalized the source industries such as salt farms and iron smelting mills, and set up official monopoly industries, and allowed private operations in the middle of the trafficking, deep processing, and retail businesses in the midstream

But Bai Mo has already given a two-year deadline

Two years later, the production, transportation and marketing of salt and iron will be completely monopolized..., the merchants engaged in the salt and iron business in Guanzhong are now naturally full of complaints, since ancient times, the two major industries of salt and iron are the most lucrative industries, and one of the two legendary giants in the Warring States period Yidun is relying on the salt industry to accumulate huge wealth, and its wealth is not even lost to the overlord of the Central Plains at that time - the King of Wei

More than 500 years ago, Guan Zhong had calculated an account for Qi Huan, and finally came to the conclusion that the capitation tax paid by a large country with a population of tens of millions was less than half of the profits of the salt and iron government, which shows how profitable the salt and iron industry is, and now these two major industries are all monopolized by the government, and the merchants in Guanzhong have no complaints

Among them, the biggest opinions are the Sima family and the Lu family

The Sima family arose hundreds of years ago, to Sima Cuo's generation, it was among the ranks of the top families in Guanzhong, and later gradually got involved in the salt industry and accumulated huge wealth, Sima Zhong, the contemporary head of the Sima family, is the fifth grandson of Sima Cuo, Sima Zhong also has a younger brother, Sima Ji, is a business wizard

However, due to the Han state's national policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing business, Sima Ji's business talent was difficult to get the most out of his business talents, and it was for this reason that Sima Ji often attacked Prime Minister Bai Mo's conservatism and stupidity when he met with friends, believing that if the Han State wanted to become strong, it must follow the example of Chu and implement the national policy of encouraging industry and commerce

This will Sima Ji lash out at Bai Mo in front of Sima Zhong: Bai Mo is so perverse, Guanzhong will be in chaos sooner or later, and the Han Kingdom will die at the hands of this person sooner or later

Sima Zhong's face changed slightly: "Third brother, let's say a few words."

What is the second brother afraid of, Sima Ji disagreed, and said that what the younger brother said was the truth, and now there are many people who have opinions about Bai Mo, but there are not only our family, but nothing else, just say that the Lu family is afraid that he already hates Bai Mo to the bone, and the little brother dares to assert that Bai Mo will die at the hands of the Lu family one day

Sima Zhong was silent, and no one knew about the grievances between the Lu family and Bai Mo

Sima Ji said again: The second brother and the younger brother think that we must not sit still, but should unite with the major merchants in Guanzhong to put pressure on the imperial court, and let the king withdraw the edict no matter what

Putting pressure on the imperial court, Sima Zhong lost his voice and said, Don't die, you need to know that your arms can't reach your thighs

That may not be, Sima Ji said coldly, thousands of merchants united, Bai Mo still dared to mess around

Thousands of merchants, Sima Zhong's face changed greatly, and he asked in a low voice, The third brother told me honestly, tell me if the person who found you last night was a traitor of the Chu State, but don't believe their greedy words, the prime minister is ruthless, and if you want to fight him, it is impossible for you to win if you want to die

Sima Ji's face became more and more cold, and said: Second brother, it is too late to say this now, and thousands of merchants in Guanzhong have already secretly started to act, and in less than three days at most, the consequences of Bai Mo's forcible establishment of officials to monopolize salt and iron will be revealed, and when the time comes, not only the price of salt and iron will skyrocket, but the price of grain will also skyrocket

What Sima Zhong said awe-inspiringly, has it begun?

Yes, it has already begun, Sima Jidao, second brother, if we don't follow up, we will lose a lot

Seeing that Sima Zhong was still a little hesitant, Sima Ji said again: What else is the second brother worried about, once the matter breaks out, Bai Mo will definitely be drowned by the saliva of the people in Guanzhong, at that time, if he wants to calm the salt and grain crisis in Guanzhong, he can only admit defeat to us, and he can only cancel the salt and iron official camp

Sima Zhongdao: But after all, he is the prime minister of the Great Han Kingdom

Sima Jidao: The second brother has the law, and he does not blame the public, which is the spontaneous action of thousands of merchants

Sima Zhong finally made up his mind and said in a deep voice: Okay, then let us follow up with dozens of commercial houses in Xianyang, Hanzhong, Beidi, Longxi, and Shangjun with all our might, and buy as much as you want

Sima Ji suddenly responded and hurriedly turned around

##########

Chen Ping came to visit Bai Mo and did not dare to slack off and personally greeted the door

After the ceremony, Bai Mo let Chen Ping into the living room again, and then asked: Taishi Yin's visit at night must be something big, but I don't know what it is

Chen Ping bowed his head lightly and said worriedly: According to the report of the Prime Minister, hundreds of grain and salt merchants in Xianyang City are moving around frequently in secret, and the old man suspects that they are likely to have some ulterior motives, and it is related to the salt and iron official camp that the Prime Minister has just implemented, and it must be taken as soon as possible..., Bai Mo was stunned when he heard this, and said disapprovingly: Is the Taishi too worried

Bai Mo has always looked down on the traders, in his opinion, that is, a group of sheep to be slaughtered, such as the Sima family and the Lu family, even if they have accumulated countless family wealth, how can they only confiscate all their family assets with a piece of edict from the king

Chen Pingdao: If it is only one or two merchants, it is naturally not a matter of concern, but if hundreds of merchants are united, its influence will be extraordinary, if all the merchants in Guanzhong are united, then the imperial court should be in big trouble

All the merchants united, Bai Mo waved his hand, disapprovingly, Dao Taishi was too worried, these merchants were all mercenary, for a little rope profit, they could fight for a little profit, how could they act together, these merchants really want to act together, unless the sun comes out from the west

Seeing that Bai Mo didn't think so, Chen Ping had to say helplessly: In short, the prime minister needs to be careful

It's okay, Bai Mo can't be too flicked, Chen Pingzi said at the moment, then there is Lao Taishi to let Heibingtai strengthen the monitoring of businesses, if they really have any bad intentions, it is better to stop it in advance (to be continued, if you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations, monthly passes, your support is my biggest motivation)