Liaoguo, Liaoyang Prefecture, Tokyo.

The city is changing these days.

The first is that the scale has expanded. Last year, with the inflow of a large number of Khitans - especially the migration of Shangjing's family members, the population of Liaoyang Mansion swelled all of a sudden, originally the city was dominated by Bohai people and Liaodong Han people, as the upper rulers of the Khitan, in terms of numbers, it was only a minority group like the Xi and Goryeo, but now the Khitans have accounted for nearly half, and there are at least hundreds of more than hundreds of "nobles".

The second is that law and order have deteriorated. This large group of "nobles" are not good to serve the lord, they are used to being powerful and blessed in Beijing, and they may know how to be humble because of fear in the face of Tiance, but in the face of Liaodong Han people, Bohai, Goryeo, and female straight, they are still arrogant, and they are also in Linhuang Mansion to break, both as a lost dog grief and grumpy, but also may "lose the country" and bring about crisis anxiety, for other ethnic groups, especially the Han people in Liaodong.

In the end, in the midst of the chaos, business became prosperous. Tens of thousands of Khitan moved into Liaodong, they lost their homes in Mobei and Monan, and had to settle down again. After all, the Khitan has been established for decades, and there are hundreds of years of ethnic accumulation before, although the Khitan lower-class herdsmen are poor, the upper-class nobles are actually rich, and the capital is broken, the pasture can't be brought, the homeland can't be brought, the city can't be brought, but the pearl gold can be brought, and if you want to rebuild your home here, you have to sell these rare and precious metals in exchange for various settlement expenses and living materials.

Therefore, after Dazhijie arrived in Liaoyang Mansion, he was honored and welcomed like never before, although this honor was superficial - the Khitan people still looked down on the Bohai Sea that they destroyed - but at least it made Dazhijie feel that he was valued.

His family was originally in Liaoyang Mansion and was an old resident in the city. The house covers a wide area, after the Khitan moved eastward, the original city was very narrow, but after the funeral, it was unable to build, and the nobles invaded the houses of many old residents, causing a great contradiction. Dazhijie's family was also in turmoil, but fortunately, he went to sea and was protected by Yelu's house, so he kept the family business.

I haven't been home for more than a year, and nothing else has changed at home, but there are more things called kang head - coal, once used, it is impossible to give up, with the development of coal and the rapid popularization in Liaodong. Kangtou also appeared. The reason why the Han people have not been able to open up to the northeast for a long time, or repeatedly occupied and abandoned, the severe cold climate, the inconvenience of life has always been one of the reasons, such as coal stoves, kang heads, cotton clothes and other warm supplies, the improvement of the lives of Liaodong people is immeasurable. With its sensitive business intuition, Dazhijie realized that if these three things could be popularized in the future, Liaodong would not necessarily lose to Shandong.

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I was at home for a few days, and people kept coming to the door. Some of them came to visit—mostly friends and relatives in business; There are also some noble domestic slaves who hope to buy "Tang goods" from him.

On the third day. Even Han Deshu, the prime minister of Da Liao, took the time to meet him and promised to transfer the treasures of the Western Regions he had collected in the Tang Kingdom to the Empress of the Earth.

Due to the extensive travel and the ability to get involved in the high-level of the Khitan, after half a month, the Dazhijie has a new understanding of the current political ecology of Liaodong.

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Today's Liao State's political system is very different from that before the destruction of Shangjing, and the power structure has changed greatly. After his defeat, Jerod fell seriously ill. For a long time, he was even unable to move in Wuzhou, but after the situation improved slightly, he was carried to the boat on a stretcher, and went down the river to Liaoyang Mansion. But people are no longer able to govern, just hanging their days.

The ministers then supported Yelujing as the crown prince to supervise the country, and the queen of the land listened to the government - this is the core political reality of the Liao State today.

Khitan was formally established in the era of Abaoji, the sinicization is not deep, the concept of imperial power and the inviolability of the royal family has not yet been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, Yelu Deguang as the son of the country and the succession is a little wrong, when the overall national strength of the Khitan is on the rise, it is also counted, now not only lost land and lost the land but also defeated the city, after losing the ability to govern affairs, even if there is a legitimate heir, the Liao State is still in a big crisis of falling apart.

It is also thanks to the fact that the queen of the land has a good wrist and protects her grandson, so that she can finally reluctantly unify a Liao country that may be divided at any time, but if the internal unification wants to achieve the Cheng dù when the Khitan was founded, it is not necessary to think about it.

The first faction is the Sinicization faction called "Han slaves" by its opponents.

The people of this faction have the vast majority of the high-level officials of the Great Liao who have deep contact with the Han civilization, as well as most of the Han officials, and they have relied on them to govern the Han people in Liaodong, stabilize the situation in Liaodong, save the finances of Liao, and win the hearts of the people in Liaodong for more than a year.

Economically, the Sinicization faction has 870,000 registered Han people, 400,000 registered Bohai people, and more than 100,000 Goryeo people, all of whom are valuable agricultural populations in Northeast China. It is no exaggeration to say that the Sinicization faction has now mastered more than ninety percent of the economic resources of Liao, and this absolute monopoly position is still in urgent need of strengthening.

And militarily, the power of the Sinicization faction is not weak. In addition to the Khitan troops of more than 30,000 people, the Sinicization faction also controlled the Han army of more than 50,000 people and the Bohai Navy of more than 30,000 people, as well as the miscellaneous troops with the Goryeo people as the main body and the number of about 10,000 people, and was responsible for Yuzhou, one of the two most important border passes of the Liao State to the Tiance and the Tang Dynasty.

In politics, Han Yanhui, as the prime minister of the Liao State, at least on paper, was the highest in the Sinicization faction, of course, as a Han Chinese. In fact, he only has the power to make decisions, and he has influence but no substantive decision-making power. However, the Sinicization faction has two other important ministers, Xiao Meisi, who is the privy counsel of the Northern Court, and Yelu Wuzhi, who is the privy deputy of the Southern Court, but they do occupy an important political position within the Khitan, and if they say it, even the queen of the land is not easy to dismiss casually. As for Jerushuchus. As the supreme leader of the Sinicization army, there is already a faint tendency to become the number one boss in the Liao military, although he rarely intervenes in political affairs, but the queen of the earth must consult him when she really encounters any important affairs.

This is already a military, political, financial, and civilian integration of the power group, you can control the center, control the situation, and retreat can guard your own basic plate, although in the eyes of the Khitan extreme purists, these people "sooner or later become Han family slaves", but even the purebred Khitan who hates the Han people the most have to rely on the taxes provided by the Sinicization faction, and have to eat the grain provided by the Sinicization faction.

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In opposition to the "Sinicization faction" is the orthodox faction that claims to be Khitan orthodoxy. This faction had Jerodach at its core. The core military members fled from Mobei to the Khitan leather room in the Tongtong River Valley, they refused to be sinicized, hated the Han civilization, and insisted on continuing the nomadic life in the Mingtong River Basin, although they still had to hide their ears and steal the iron pot imported or built by the Sinicization faction, bake the coal stove that Zhang Mai "gifted" to the Liao people, wear cotton clothes imported by maritime merchants, and eat the grain provided by the Sinicization faction. The high-level would also scold their mothers while drinking the tea leaves re-exported by Liaojin, but everyone hated the qiē related to the Han civilization. You are not even allowed to speak Chinese words.

Despite being absolutely economically weak, the army controlled by this group had very strong combat effectiveness, including 15,000 Khitans, and the most barbaric of the Khitans, and the barbarian tribes in the northeast such as Muwei and Nuzhi, as well as a group of hated Han people in the tribes such as Enemy Lie and Wugu. In the event of a need, it was possible for Jerodzachel to mobilize an army of 50,000 men, although the numbers seemed to be less than half of the Sinicized army. But if there is a real conflict, I am afraid that winning or losing will be five or five.

After the Liao capital moved eastward, he thought that Tokyo had been "polluted" by the Han Chinese, and never wanted to set foot in Liaoyang Mansion for half a step. There was little substantial influence on the day-to-day government affairs of the Liao state, but Yelu Chacha's father, Abaoji's younger brother Yelu Anduan, was honored for his son's survival, and the old man was now crowned King of Dongdan. The queen of the earth is very wary of this uncle who has rebelled since the time of Abaoji, but she still has to maintain superficial respect.

Due to the geographical relationship, the Sinicization faction is also known as the southern faction, and the orthodox faction is also known as the northern faction.

The conciliators were called centrists by the southerners, and "peacemakers" by the northerners. Economically, they had to rely on the southern faction, while militarily they wanted to unify the north and the south and unify with the outside world. But in fact, the real power figures of the northern and southern factions now have a tendency to listen to the tune and not listen to the propaganda, and what the queen can really grasp is only the twenty or thirty thousand people who fled back from Linhuang Mansion, but after being released back by Zhang Mai, Xiao Han, who was the prime minister with Han Yanhui, and the two major commanders who were defeated in a row, were not enough to convince the countrymen, and the military was not enough to suppress the army, so those who pursued enjoyment often moved closer to the southern faction, and those who were full of hatred took refuge in the northern faction.

As time went on, both the North and the South grew stronger, while the conciliators, who had nominally supreme ruling power, shrank.

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After learning more about this qiē, Dazhijie was even more reluctant to stay in Liaoyang Mansion. On the surface, the city seems to be peaceful and prosperous, but in fact there are torrents lurking and dangers lurking, and it is said that on several occasions, Yelu Chachai had to lead his troops south to "admonish the army"! If you hate Sinicization, what good will happen to those of them who have a lot to do with the Tang Kingdom?

After the beginning of spring, the Great Wisdom Festival arranged for two distinguished guests to inspect the forests, and they hurriedly raised funds in Liaoyang Mansion, due to the success of last year, countless nobles in Liaoyang Mansion are full of expectations for his upcoming trip to Tianjin, although this time the Great Wisdom Festival continues to claim that the profits of this trip to Tianjin are definitely not as big as last year, and in the end I am afraid that it will only be tripled, and there is also the danger of wind and waves at sea, but everyone seems to be blinded by huge profits, Regardless of the situation, he stuffed his domestic slaves and goods into the caravan of the Great Wisdom Festival.

When the Great Wisdom Festival was raising funds, it also discovered a very interesting thing: it was not only the southern faction and the centrist who stuffed domestic slaves and goods into it. There are even northern factions that claim to be incompatible with the Han people!

"These people, shouting in their mouths to refuse something related to the Han family, saying that they want to keep their pure Khitan heart, but as long as they can make money, they don't even want a Khitan heart."

When the Great Wisdom Festival was planning to go to sea again, the young man of the Liu family and the shopkeeper of Murong also entered the mountains and forests respectively. Go in search of a palace suitable for building a ship and suitable for building a house.

The deep mountains and old forests in the northeast stretch for thousands of miles, a Changbai Mountain on the left, a Dajin Mountain (Daxinganling) on the right, good wood is all over the mountain, and logging is not prohibited in this era, so the main consideration is the traffic problem.

Timber is a bulk commodity trade, according to the previous Dazhi Festival and Tianjin merchants and Dengzhou merchants agreed, will be able to exchange for many bulk commodities that affect the national economy and people's livelihood, it can be said that this is also a national event for Daliao. So the queen of the land must support, this big deal Han Yanhui has already been invited, and the queen of the land also opened her mouth to support, in the end, the political forces of various factions continued to infiltrate, and Dazhijie became the smallest shareholder, but he was also interested and took advantage of the situation to retreat. Just keep a little bit of dry stock that can make money.

For this big deal, far back last winter. The queen of the land specially sent an army to cross the border to Goryeo to beat the grass valley, and captured 10,000 or 20,000 Goryeo people to go up the mountain to cut wood. After the timber is chopped, it is thrown into the Yalu River, tied into a raft, and dragged down the river into the sea, and then part of it is directly towed to Dengzhou. The other part was dragged all the way to Liaojin and then to Tianjin.

The timber shipped to Dengzhou arrived in May, and the timber shipped to Tianjin was also delivered before the autumn, and these timbers were exchanged for a large number of cotton clothes, iron pots, iron needles and tea as scheduled. Even sea vessels. One of the reasons for the strong rise of the Khitan people is that they have been able to forge iron, so Zhang Mai does not prohibit the import of iron household utensils into the Khitan - this is meaningless. And the Liao side is in great need of pots, needles and other daily necessities, whether it can be used to forge weapons with iron is one thing, and whether iron daily necessities are developed is another matter.

Due to the large-scale import of timber from Liaodong, the development of coastal shipbuilding industry has been greatly accelerated, and the construction of Yanjing New City and Tianjin New City has also been greatly accelerated.

Tianjin New Town has already taken shape, the governments of the administrative districts have begun to work, the construction of two commercial streets is nearing completion, and the first houses in the residential area have also been put into use. The scale of Yanjing New City is too large, the foundation and infrastructure have not yet been completed, and the administration and industry are still operating in the old city of Youzhou, but everyone is looking forward to the completion of the new city, and some people are running to the new city every day. And with the opening of the timber route, the largest source of timber for the two new cities turned out to be from Daliao.

If you look at it from the standpoint of the northern faction of the Liao Kingdom, it is equivalent to the empress of the Great Liao Land who took the trouble to use military means to help Tiance and the Tang Dynasty transport wood to build the capital, which is really an extremely ironic thing.

In May of the ninth year of Tiance, the Great Wisdom Festival came to Dengzhou, and presided over the delivery of the timber business while not delaying his own business, and he carried out the same major event in Tianjin in July of the ninth year of Tiance, and then returned to Liaojin by ship, and delivered the first batch of goods of the year, at this time Liaojin compared to last winter, the scale has been very different. And at this time, the Great Wisdom Festival, not only has the net worth doubled, but the bearing has become very different unconsciously!

As a big businessman who can mediate in the business circles of various countries and may affect the timber trade, he has become a big man with a status second to none in the business circle of Liaoguo, and even Yelu Wuzhi did not dare to be as arrogant as last year when he saw him, but to politely call him a "big boss".

At this moment, Dazhijie heard from his eldest son that there was an uproar in Liaoyang Mansion, and it seemed that the northern faction was forcing the palace to the queen because of some incident, and then the southern faction frequently suppressed the northern faction, and the two sides even had a bloody conflict in Tokyo! Even Yelu, who was originally in Liaojin Xuanfu, had to run back to help put out the fire.

Dazhijie was wary for a while, so he was reluctant to go back to Tokyo, and found him before Yelu Yaqi set off, saying that he was going to Tianjin again, and that he might spend the winter in Tianjin this year. And after a deep groan, Jerod answered him.

So Dazhijie collected another batch of goods, stuffed six sea ships, left the eldest son in Liaojin to take care of the warehouse inventory, and slipped "back" to Tianjin.

At this time, the first batch of houses in the residential area of Tianjin had been completed, and this batch of houses was divided into two categories.

The first type is dense housing, rows of houses, divided into a small and complete set of houses, suitable for middle-class families to buy, can also be converted into small hotels.

The second type is villa-style. There are courtyards and gardens, which occupy a small area, except for the courtyard garden, which is usually three into five rooms, and the system is similar, one household after another. There are only trails separated by non-rich people, and people who are not rich and noble cannot afford to buy them - this batch of houses was allocated by the government, handed over to the construction for construction, and then sold out.

Dazhi Festival - oh, it should be called Boss Dai - I ordered a set here, don't you see "Dai Zhai" hanging on the door number of the mansion?

Here, a Shandong boss has already found him a small family jasper in Cangzhou. Although it is a small door, but it is an orthodox Han girl, Dai boss cherishes and respects the politeness of the wife to marry the door, after the door love is like a treasure, the whole winter in the husband and wife good honey oil blending, shopping during the day to enjoy the scenery, sleep on the warm kang at night to do things, the bride has not yet been happy! Boss Dai touched his wife's belly, which had not yet bulged. As if he were overjoyed, he said to his wife, "Take good care of your body." If a man is born in the future, this is the eldest son of our Dai family, and my family business in Tianjin is his. ”

But he was dissatisfied and said, "What is there in this business! Now that the school in Tianjin has been opened, my son will go to school in the future, and he will become an official when he grows up. That's the real glory of the ancestors! ”

Boss Dai said: "I...... After all, I am an outsider, although I may settle down in the future, but my son can also enter the academy and become an official of the Tang Kingdom? ”

"Why not! My uncle had already inquired about it. In the case of our family, as long as it is a Han family surname, it can be noted as Chinese on the household registration in the future, then it can enter the school like the children of other families, and if it can pass the imperial examination selection when it grows up, it can be an official and be listed in the Shilin. It is no different from the Zhang family next door to the left and the Fu family next door to the right. ”

Boss Dai asked in a trembling voice: "Is it the rank of Shilin and the entry of the liuguan system, not the kind of official set up for the border clan Huyi?" ”

During this time, he was very sensitive to the changes in the political system of the New Tang Dynasty, and knew that there were currently three systems of the Tang Dynasty: the first was called the old officials, which were all officials who had just surrendered and temporarily used their previous official positions in order to settle them, such as some prefectures and counties in Jingbei, Guanzhong and Lunan still existed; The second type is called Fanguan, which is aimed at the annexes of the four frontiers, and gives them official titles according to local conditions and customs; The third type is called liuguan, where the juvenile has to go to a newly established school, and the adult and talented have to pass the guò imperial examination to obtain the selection qualifications, and then start from the grassroots level and enter the entire liuguan system step by step.

With Boss Dai's vision and IQ, it can naturally be seen that the first two kinds of officials have no future, one is temporary, the other is appeased, the former is not long-term, and the latter cannot gain the real trust of the center. But if you can enter the Liuguan system, it will be different!

With his status as the boss today, it is not impossible to get an official, but what is the point, it is just a name, neither can he get real honor, nor can he protect the family's net worth and property, and he is still in the waist and his life hangs in the hands of others. In this world, being rich without power is not a good thing, but a source of trouble.

"Of course it's not Fanguan! He is a serious scholarly officer. ”

Hearing this, Boss Dai rubbed his hands excitedly and said, "I have to inquire about this matter again, inquire again!" Gotta inquire for sure! ”

He touched his wife's belly and said, "You take good care of your body, but don't worry, I'm not old, you're still young, in case this one gets a tile, let's work hard, and one day we can get Zhang!" I have no hope, but if our son can go to school and become an official, then what is this family business! Don't say that Tianjin's family business, as long as our son can be listed in the Central Plains Shilin, that is, the family business in the northeast is also fighting, and we have to help him improve! ”

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The ninth year of Tiance was a truly peaceful year, there was no war in the eastern countries, and in the Great Liao, although the three major factions had bloody conflicts, they generally maintained a delicate balance, and within the Tang Kingdom, Zhang Mai, who had always been known for his strength, even allowed Taiyuan and Chang'an, two important militaristic towns, to be divided by An Chongrong and Liu Zhiyuan respectively.

According to Zhang Mai's public statement, he was unwilling to use swords and soldiers within the Han family, and did not want any more Han family Miao descendants to die in the civil war, so he preferred to adopt more moderate political means to persuade him.

Under this strategic concept, Dongshu even issued a "three-year no war order" that was not officially recognized, and it is said that Zhang Mai was preparing not to wage war for three years in order to rest with the people, whether internal or external.

Although this "three-year non-war order" has not been officially recognized, it seems that Tiance really has no intention of carrying out military action from the situation of the past year or so.

In this context, the farmers have been well recuperated, and the economy of the entire Central Plains has been activated as never before in Tiance nine years ago, and it can be expected that this vitality will continue to heat up in the ten years of Tiance.

Not only were the people happy, but even Li Shouzhen in Xuzhou, An Chongrong in Taiyuan, and the Gao family in Jiangling were relieved. These three are all located in the commercial strongholds, but they can't resist the thunderous blow of the Tiance army at all.

For this reason, Taiyuan, Xuzhou and Jiangling's attitude towards Zhang Mai was even more humble, although the Taiyuan army was still unwilling to accept the reorganization, but Taiyuan's trade routes had been liberalized, and what An Chongrong was fighting for now seemed to be only autonomy like Li Shouzhen.

As for Meng Shu and Li Qi, after hearing this rumor, they also relaxed their originally tense nerves, especially Jiangnan, which has been divided by dividing the river for decades, and the Central Plains war horses have never crossed the Yangtze River, maybe this situation will continue to be maintained.

But Chang'an is strange, Liu Zhiyuan is bounded by the Wei River in the north, and the Qinling Mountains are used as a barrier in the south, and the east and west have built a defense line that stretches for hundreds of miles, enclosing themselves, and tens of thousands of troops and hundreds of thousands of people under his rule have destroyed the market, rested the temple fair, and the people are also militarized and managed, and they have lived a life of self-sufficiency, and they neither resist nor respond to Zhang Mai's advice and orders.

Such a situation is believed by all people of insight to be impossible to last, but neither Guo Wei in the west nor Murong Chunhua in the north can help him.

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Yedu, Zhang Mai, who moved the big tent here, listened to the reports of Li Fang and Wang Pu.

Now that Fan Zhen and Wei Renpu have been used, Li Fang and Wang Pu have become Zhang Mai's secretaries, and the position is a bit similar to Fan Zhen and Wei Renpu at the beginning - the two young men are extremely excited about this, and there is continuity in politics, many times it is just a coincidence at the beginning, but when a coincidence becomes a habit, when a habit becomes a convention, it may eventually become a system!

Li Fang and Wang Pu are not of high grade now, but Shilin is full of expectations for them, and vaguely regards them as the successors of Fan Wei Renpu.

"This year, under the rule of Dongshu, the five prefectures of Qi, Cang, Hebei, Xiang, and Yan have all had a bumper harvest. The harvest in Tuntian here in Yanjing is also very good, and there are small famines in the four prefectures of Ru, Tang, Deng and Lai, and the rest are ordinary years. Wang Pu said: "Laizhou is close to the sea, you can rely on Dengzhou seaport, from Wuyue to buy grain, the problem is not big, Jingbei side, may need to transport grain from Kaifeng to adjust." However, Jiangling Mansion heard that it is also a bumper harvest, and if we exert coercion, we may not need to move the Kaifeng inventory, and let them sell grain to Jingbei. ”

Zhang Mai nodded and said, "Let Wei Renpu be in charge of this matter." ”

Wei Renpu made an order according to his words, and then handed it to Zhang Mai to sign, and Li Fang next to him suddenly said: "Liaodong has also had a bumper harvest." In the past two years, Shu Luping trusted Han Yanhui, and the Khitan was lightly endowed with the agricultural power and raised quickly. Now it's a complete respite. According to the spy report sent by General Cao, there was already a surplus of grain in the Khitan during last year's autumn harvest, and with this year's autumn harvest, Liaoyang Prefecture's inventory, in addition to the scheduled use, has accumulated 600,000 people a year. ”

Zhang Mai raised his eyebrows and said, "This is a good thing, a good thing!" He asked again: "What happened to Mo Nan?" ”

Li Fang sighed and said: "Liaodong has a bumper harvest, but there is an animal plague in Monan, and the herdsmen are only afraid that it will ...... this winter It's miserable! ”

Zhang Mai sighed, lowered his head, the two young secretaries didn't know what he was thinking, and after a while, they heard Zhang Mai say something that surprised them: "After the small wilderness in Jingbei is settled, inform all parties to prepare, I want to tour the west." ”

———————————————————————————— (To be continued......)