"Not bad, well done"

Yue Xi's always serious face showed a rare smile, and he gave a thumbs up to some of the stewards who were staring at him in front of him, and then these stewards also laughed.

"It's rare, Yue Langjun smiled today"

"That's natural, we completed it 20 days ahead of schedule, this is not an ordinary project, since then, from Chang'an to the East China Sea, can be connected by rutted tracks, even if the Yellow River is frozen in winter, it is not dangerous that Liaodonghai goods will not be able to enter Chang'an."

"Not only seafood, but also grain - in previous years, the Central Plains transported grain to Liaodong, but last year it was Liaodong to the Central Plains to transport grain, if it wasn't for the timely arrival of Liaodong grain, I don't know how to survive last year"

"Yes, yes, I don't know why in the past few years, don't talk about natural disasters, food prices are rising day by day, Chang'an Luoyang is saying that it is running a chamber of commerce, but I have never seen any chamber of commerce like Anton and Yunnan, even the Anxi Chamber of Commerce, it is far inferior"

The discussion of the people around him made Yue Xi's smile retract.

These stewards are small foremen, according to Ye Chang's idea many years ago, a track that runs across the middle of the Tang Dynasty and is basically parallel to the Yellow River, and with the efforts of these small foremen and disciples of Lushun Academy like Yue Xi, it has finally been completely completed.

At this time, it was already the fourteenth year of Tianbao, and another three years had passed since the Wang's Rebellion. In the past three years, Ye Chang first guarded Anxi, presided over the war with Dashi and Inurong, and at the same time opened the middle and hoarded fields, and immigrated to Shibian. In the thirteenth year of Tianbao, he was awarded the title of Zhu Guo and the founder of Dongmu County by defeating the crime of Dog Rong against Anxi and luring the Prince of Dog Rong Subi to Xi Nuoluo.

However, taking advantage of the opportunity to crown him as the county prince, Li Longji also recalled Ye Chang, and Cheng Qianli was appointed as the deputy envoy of Anxi Jiedu, Nan Jiyun was the envoy of Beiting Jiedu, and Zhang Hao was the ambassador of Anxi Yingtian, taking over Ye Chang's authority in Anxi. Ye Chang himself only stayed in Anxi Dadu, and was also the secretary of the Ministry of Industry and the ambassador of roads and bridges, specializing in water and land roads.

In a sense, Ye Chang was relieved of military power, but the trilateral system of Liaodong, Anxi, and Yunnan is mainly presided over by his protégés and former officials, so his influence is still there. And road construction is something that Ye Chang has always strongly advocated, and he has no resistance to this appointment. After returning to Chang'an, he began to run around, taking a group of his subordinates to check the geography of mountains and rivers, draw maps everywhere, and prepare to be busy for the construction of Datang's national road network.

In the past few years, Datang seems to have some troubles, either the rain for many years, or the drought and locust plague, Yang Zhao deliberately concealed the disaster in order to cater to the wishes of the emperor, Ye Chang did not persuade too much about this, but silently transferred excess grain from Liaodong, so as to exchange for more population. In just three years, the Han population in Liaodong surged to more than 1.8 million, and with the rest of the ethnic groups, there were more than 2 million people.

Not only that, because Fumeng Lingcha was involved in concealing the household registration of the soldiers in the battle, so the Andong Protectorate was withdrawn, and the territory and troops that originally belonged to him were transferred to Liaodong and Lulong to divide up, roughly bounded by the Liao River, east and south of the Liao River, and governed by the Liaodong Marching Governor's Office. In this way, Ye Chang held the coal and iron production areas of Liaodong in his hands, and in Jian'an Zhou City, he established a new smelting center, using coal and iron nearby, so that Liaodong's steel production increased again, not only exceeding the total amount of the rest of the Tang Dynasty, but also far exceeding

People related to the three major chambers of commerce in Andong, Yunnan, and Anxi are still living a prosperous life in such a scene, but those who are not related to them are a little sad.

"See, Brother Fang, this is the rut track, the rut track to the sea" Yue Xi was thinking about what had happened over the years, when he suddenly heard someone not far away speaking in a southern accent.

He tilted his head, and saw more than a dozen men standing on a mound next to them, pointing to the rut in front of him. These men looked extremely strong, with the ruffian aura of a rogue ranger, and Yue Xi looked down on them very much.

A manly man, when he has made contributions in all directions, how can he nest in the township as a city fox and a mouse

The person who is called Brother Fang is Fang Qing, who escaped from Chang'an City three years ago, and the person who talks to him is Yuan Ying.

In the blink of an eye, three years have passed, and the Yuan brothers and Fang Qing have returned to their hometowns, and they have their own foundations. The two sides have repeatedly exchanged letters, and they gathered in Henan Road at this time, which is also their own plan.

"If there is no way, I am afraid that the Central Plains has become a land of famine." One of them lowered his voice.

"It does ......"

Yuan Chao was also here, and found that Yue Xi was looking over here, glanced at the left and right around him, and then hugged his fist at Yue Xi: "This Lang Jun is familiar, but his surname is Yue?" ”

Yue Xi was a little surprised: "My surname is Yue, could it be that Lang Jun recognizes me?" ”

"Three years ago, outside the Chunming Gate of Chang'an City, I was fortunate to see Yue Langjun's demeanor." Yuan Chao looked heroic: "I was deeply impressed at the time, so I won't forget it for a long time... Yue Langjun is in charge of the track here? ”

"I don't dare to say that I am responsible, but I just do my best."

The appearance of these dozen people is not kind. Yue Xi muttered a little in his heart, because of the continuous disasters in the past few years, Yang Zhao has also been exploiting, so the life of the people in Guanzhong and Henan is not easy, it is said that Huainan is even worse, and in the south of the Yangtze River, due to the rapid replacement of silk silk by cotton cloth, the silk industry has also been hit hard, so it is also not good. Even if it is not full of smoke and dust, at least it is rampant crown theft, and it is difficult for ordinary merchants and travelers to walk on the road.

Even the rutted tracks now need a lot of people to guard, no longer like in the first two years, one or two people on a car were enough.

"My brother came from Taizhou, originally selling seafood, and when he heard that the track here would be fully opened, he came to see the excitement. Yue Langjun knows where there is a restaurant nearby, my brother has always admired Yue Langjun for such skills, and is willing to borrow a restaurant to toast Yue Langjun with a few glasses of turbid wine."

Yuan Chao said very politely, but Yue Xi was not Yang Fan, and he had no intention of befriending such a person, so he politely refused at the moment: "Lang Jun's favor and invitation, I shouldn't have gotten it, but now that I am in my position, I can't help myself, and I ask Lang Jun to forgive me." ”

Yuan Ying heard his refusal, and her brows suddenly wrinkled: "You are so good that you don't know how to lift ......."

"Wulang, don't talk nonsense, bumped into Yue Langjun, he is a scholar, and he is not ordinary with our old man" Yuan Huang stopped Yuan Ying, glanced at Yue Xi, and found that Yue Xi was not moved at all, so he knew that he had no way to invite Yue Xi, and after laughing, he left with everyone.

"Brother is too polite to Fang Cai's erection" Far away, Yuan Ying said proudly: "Invite him to come, he won't come, Yu Crisp is tied up"

"Don't want to talk nonsense, when Ye Chang brought the shaft to Chang'an to compete with the people of the Arithmetic Museum, he thought that he was Ye Chang's proud disciple. I originally wanted to invite him to explore his details and see what Ye Chang had in his skills. Your rashness will inevitably arouse suspicion and mislead us in our major affairs."

"What's the matter, there are no heroes in the court, so that juniors like Ye Chang become famous, didn't Khalid teach us the strategy of breaking the imperial court, and the dead ghost surnamed Xing three years ago also revealed to us the truth of the imperial court" Yuan Ying's tone at this time was more arrogant and domineering than the same three years: "In the past three years, we have not been idle"

"It's always right to be careful...... Brother Fang Xian, let you see the joke. ”

"Why did Yuan Dalang say this, we are a lifelong friendship, and we are like brothers, what kind of jokes are there." Fang Qing smiled.

Three years ago, they took advantage of the chaos in Chang'an City to get out, Wang Weld and his party were killed in Jing, so no one pursued it, after rescuing Khalid, he started with the gems carried by Khalid, and he took Wang Qinian's door to get a sea boat, and they made a lot of money. Thinking of the pomp and circumstance of seeing Li Longji on patrol three years ago, and thinking of the ambitions of Wang Weld and others, there is always a fire burning in their hearts.

And now, they feel like their opportunity has come.

At this time, they were already far away from Yue Xi, and they were surrounded by their cronies, so after Yuan Chao stood still, he looked back at Zhengse and said: "Brother Fang, this trip to the Central Plains and Guanzhong, I have made up my mind, what about you?" ”

"Me too" Fang Qing said categorically: "When this time is bestowed, if you don't take it, there will be trouble"

"Yes, Guanzhong, the Central Plains, year after year of famine, the government does not know how to pay for it, and the taxes are even heavier than in the past, the court is full of princes, poor and extravagant, and intends to take advantage of this famine to merge again, Ye Chang has nearly half of the world's wealth, but he sits idly by, and even adds fuel to the fire, so as to deceive the hungry people to the frontier as their slaves......"

Yuan Chao told in detail what he had seen and thought along the way, and everyone nodded again and again. This time, the Yuan brothers and Fang Qing met in Shezhou, and then went north to enter Guanzhong, and then turned east to Hedong and Henan.

A large number of people have lost their land, coupled with natural disasters for many years, and the situation in the Central Plains can be said to be full of dangers. Not only the Central Plains, Huainan and Jiangnan, the most important cash crops were originally sericulture and linen, which were affected by the cotton industry in Andong and Anxi, and they have been very wilted, and the taxes of the imperial court cannot be reduced, which makes the people also difficult.

"Don't talk about the people, just say the rich families in the city, at the moment is also full of complaints, in recent years, various chambers of commerce have been popping up, one after another, and all kinds of stock tickets - we all understand, now in Chang'an and Luoyang is flourishing in the so-called Luzon golden ticket, we have been to Luzon, naturally we all know that it is pure nonsense, such a big island, where to find the gold mountain, besides, it is not so easy to go to Luzon, although you can buy a big ship in Liaodong, but it is not easy to come and go"

The so-called Luzon Golden Ticket is the news released by someone three years ago, saying that it is 400 miles southeast of Liuqiu, there is a large island of Luzon, and there is a golden mountain. At this time, when Wang Qinian and others discovered the legend of Liuqiu Jinshan, Wang Qinian and others, like Ye Chang, became idols in the minds of the middle and lower class people in Chang'an and Luoyang. Therefore, some people took the lead and established the so-called Luzon Chamber of Commerce to issue Luzon gold bills - that is, everyone held this share capital and distributed dividends with the votes after Luzon looked for gold.

Most of the wealth of the Yuan Chao brothers came from Nanyang countries such as Luzon and Linyi, and they went to Luzon several times in the past three years, so they were more familiar with the situation there. The island country full of mosquitoes and snakes that even the natives are like mosquitoes and poisonous snakes is even more disgusting than Lingnan, which is considered a miasma land, although there is also some gold, but it is not something that can be mined by the Tang people.

"Scams like the Luzon Golden Ticket are very popular in Luoyang, Chang'an, but when this kind of scam is finally exposed, Chang'an and Luoyang are afraid that there will be riots." When Yuan Chao said this, his expression was a little excited, he had not studied in vain with Khalid in the past few years, and his vision could be said to be very different compared with before: "In short, now the Tang Dynasty seems to be flourishing with flowers, but in fact, it is outside the gold and jade, and it is ruined." Although the imperial court has a large army, it is distributed in all directions, and it is difficult to mobilize between eagerness, and Ye Chang, An Lushan, and Ge Shuhan's generation have no objection, as long as we start an incident in the Central Plains, these border generals must first wait and see and then stand on their own, and at that time, we will raise the manpower and material resources of the Central Plains, and then sweep the Quartet, and great things can be accomplished."

He said excitedly, but everyone around him heard it thrillingly, although everyone knew that the Yuan brothers and Fang Qing had been against it since three years ago, they never thought that Yuan Chao would think so much in order to rebel.

"Therefore, this rut track will be the first to be destroyed at that time, so that the imperial court will not be allowed to use the rut track to transfer troops and transport grain." Yuan Chao pointed to the rutted track at the foot of the mountain again: "The volume of rutted rail is ten times that of the road, if it continues, it will eventually be a problem for the henchmen."

He was pointing, but saw Yue Xi in the distance, stopped a galloping fast horse, the horse seemed to be a messenger, was talking to Yue Xi, although Yue Xi was calm, but when he heard what the other party said, he still used more exaggerated movements to express the surprise in his heart.

"Isn't it anything...... Duan Jiu, you go and inquire and see what happened," Yuan Chao ordered.

Duan Jiu ran over, but before he arrived, the messenger urged the horse to leave again, Yue Xi seemed to think of something, and left in a hurry, leaving only some stewards and workers nearby, and continued to pack up their things and prepare to sweep the tail. Duan Jiu found a worker, stuffed some money, and then got the news from the worker.

When he came back, he looked a little strange, and Yuan Chao said, "What's wrong?" ”

"Li Linfu is dead," Duan Jiu said.

Li Linfu ...... Li Linfu? ”

After only a few years, the name Li Linfu has been forgotten a little, just because the situation in Datang has changed too much in the past few years. But when Yuan Chao thought clearly who Li Linfu was, he was taken aback, and then raised his eyebrows again: "So, isn't Ye Chang going to send his wife back to Liaodong?" ”

"This is a good opportunity to gather the brothers, intercept him in the middle of the way, and then lie about what the court has done, so that his subordinates will not feel at ease," one man shouted.

"If there are fewer people, it will not work, although the Gyeonggi Forbidden Army is unbearable, but the personal guards around Ye Chang are tigers, and it is difficult to succeed if there are fewer people. There are too many people, and it is easy to alarm the court and miss the big things of your brothers. Another retorted.

"Ye Chang's death is his business, what do we have to do with it, we act according to our own plans, don't care so much." Yuan Chao waved his hand: "As long as you can take the capital, you can command the Quartet, originally I was still a little afraid of Ye Chang, if Ye Chang left the capital, it would be the best"