Wang Changling stroked his beard and stood facing the sea breeze.

It was his first time in Dengzhou, and he was very curious about the cement wharf. In fact, the wharf is not big, because the cement workshop in Dengzhou has only been built not long ago, and all parties want to use cement, but Dengzhou Sima Yuan Highway insists on building a wharf first despite public opinion.

The cement wharf is indeed much cleaner than in the past, and seeing the sails on the wharf going back and forth to the fishing boats, Wang Changling nodded secretly: This Yuan Highway does not have a very good reputation in Shilin, but he is a capable official.

The reason why Yuan Highway has a bad reputation is that he cooperated with Ye Chang and overthrew his top boss, the former Beihai Taishou Li Yong. Of course, he just doesn't have a good reputation, and Ye Changna is even more notorious, among the orthodox literati, except for a few people who have always been good friends with him, the rest of them respect him.

Think about the celebrities who have fallen indirectly or directly because of Ye Chang over the years, even if it is just for self-preservation, they should stay away from Ye Chang.

Thinking of this, Wang Changling couldn't help but laugh at himself, others were afraid of getting too close to Ye Chang, but he came all the way to Ye Chang's side.

The six letters invited by Ye Chang were all placed by his side, and the earnest meaning in the six letters moved Wang Changling's heart. The reason why he was willing not to listen to the advice of his friends and also resigned and went to Liaodong played a key role in the content of these six letters.

The first letter mentioned that the two met at the beginning, which was regarded as reminiscing, and then inviting each other, but the words were just mediocre, but another letter from Cen Shen was attached to the letter.

The second letter talked about meritorious ambitions and motivations with ambitions, and Wang Changling was quite moved after reading it, but it was only heartbeat.

In the third letter, the fourth letter, the fifth and sixth letters, when Ye Chang analyzed in the letter, Wang Changling was born poor, so although he was famous in the world, it was difficult for him to have ambitions, but because of his false name, he was hated by others, excluded by his colleagues, and took an ordinary official career, and almost had no future. Only by pinning hope on the frontier can it stand out.

Combined with what he has experienced over the years, Wang Changling has to admit that Ye Chang is too right.

Although the Tang Dynasty has been repeatedly attacked by Emperor Taizong and Empress Wu, and selected talents through the imperial examination, the strength of those scholars has been greatly reduced, but the children of the Han family want to climb up to the court, and they still face many more shackles than the children of the family. Wang Changling is known as the "poet of heaven", his poem is like this, but he has always been depressed, the reason for this is that his family background is one of them.

Therefore, he made up his mind to go to Liaodong. However, it took nearly two months from the decision to the trip, and by this time, it was already August of the fifth year of Datang Tianbao.

August is the time of autumn high horse fat, and the situation in Liaodong does not know what is going on.

"Prince, the boat is coming," the little guy next to him suddenly shouted as he pointed to the sea.

Wang Changling squinted his eyes and looked over there, only to see the brocade sail like a cloud, slowly floating over from the sky and the sea. He was now over fifty years old, and his eyes were beginning to grow a little, but he could vaguely see that there seemed to be some flag hanging on the brocade sail.

"What's embroidered on that flag?" Wang Changling asked his little servant.

"It's two words...... 'Anton, two words'"

"That's it, hehe, Anton, Anton Chamber of Commerce." Wang Changling said with a smile.

In order to wait for the ship from Lushun, he stayed in Dengzhou Harbor for five days, so he was already somewhat familiar with the situation here. There will be two ships from Lushun to Dengzhou every month, carrying some products from Liaodong, from Liaodong paper and ironware to books, medicines, and leather goods, and all kinds of goods, while Dengzhou is full of manpower, grain and coal.

Wang Changling once visited the Sima Yuan Highway in Dengzhou, and listened to the direct presentation of the Yuan Highway, and Dengzhou extracted commercial taxes from it according to the value of goods and the number of personnel, and the average commercial tax could reach 3,000 yuan in a month

Three thousand guan a month, 36,000 guan a year, this is only the commercial tax of the two ships that came from the Andong Chamber of Commerce, if more ships are calculated, even if there is no Ye Chang who will make money, it is always okay to make a business tax of 50,000 guan a year. Dengzhou is a port, and there are 50,000 commercial taxes every year, so if the world's commercial ports are like this, the imperial court can't count the money until the hand cramps?

Like Wang Changling, there were many people who watched the boat sail away, like Qiao Jian, who was one of them. However, Qiao Jian was not invited by Ye Chang, he was just a landless people, but he heard that there was land in Liaodong, a family of four, and only one person was needed to serve as a servant, and he could get 20 acres of Yongye field for men and 15 acres for women, so he was moved, so he dragged his family to Dengzhou.

According to the agreement between Li Linfu and Ye Chang, people like them only need to rely on a piece of paper sent by the Andong Chamber of Commerce to reach Dengzhou unhindered, and the Andong Chamber of Commerce has a guidance department in Dengzhou, which is responsible for their accommodation, food and drink during their stay in Dengzhou.

"It's just a little tighter, and you can't go around if you want to." Qiao Jian muttered in his heart: "I just don't know if it can be like this when I get to Liaodong, I don't have to worry about eating and drinking......

"The ship is coming, the ship is coming," someone next to him shouted, and Qiao Jian also looked up at the sea, looking at the gradually approaching sail shadow.

"Aye, are we going to take this boat to Lushun?" His son, thirteen-year-old Qiao Dog, was holding his clothes beside him and asked a little nervously.

"It should be, listen to Bian Langjun's ...... over there"

Bian Langjun is Bian Ping, Ye Chang arranged him to the Reception Division, and the task on the surface is to attract immigrants to Liaodong. He smiled and looked kind, helping this Qiao Gou'er not to be afraid of him, hearing what his father said, he trotted to Bian Ping's side and asked, "Bian Langjun, but the boat came to pick us up?" ”

"It should be." Bian Ping squinted for a while: "That's it...... I changed the ship. ”

It was indeed a change of ship, and it was usually the two original sea ships, each carrying seventy or eighty people, plus some cargo, basically to the limit. Now this one is roughly twice the size of the original two, and it should be a new ship built this year.

During these years, Bian Ping worked hard and learned some words, so he still recognized the "Anton Flag" hanging on the mast of the ship.

The so-called Anton Banner is the flag of the Anton Chamber of Commerce, on which the word Anton is written, and it is said that it is still the imperial pen. After the ship docked at the port, Bian Ping saw more than 20 people coming down from the ship, the leader of which was Ye An.

"An Langjun, why are you here?" Bian Ping immediately greeted him with a smile, his face was flattering.

"I miss your flattery, so I came to see you" Ye An laughed.

"What An Langjun said, you don't think anyone will think of me" Bian Ping whispered to him, and then asked: "The lord and his old man are in good health, have you worked too hard recently, I haven't seen him for so many days, but I really miss the lord and his old man, I don't see him for a day, and I feel that I have no strength in my whole body......"

"You flatterer, let me tell my lord these words when you go back to report on your work." Ye An smiled and patted this guy's shoulder, and then retracted his smile: "When the last boat went back, there were other boats following behind, so this time I took someone with the boat." On this trip, glass was transported. ”

"Ah, that's no wonder" Bian Ping was taken aback: "An Langjun, don't tell me, this matter is confidential, don't tell me." ”

"Your level, you can know this secret." Ye An said: "This is what Sima said personally, let me tell you." ”

Bian Ping's face suddenly bloomed, although he knew that this was Ye Chang's means to control people's hearts, he was still extremely useful.

"Did the boat that followed you inquire?" He smirked, then asked again.

"Naturally, I inquired, and as soon as I entered Port Arthur, I was detained, but I said that I was a maritime merchant who came to Lushun Trade...... Hehe, because there is no evidence on the side, they can only be released, after all, what we need in Lushun will need to be transported with the help of them in the future. ”

"I should deduct some more time, and when I go back, there will be a way to find out their details," Bian Ping said indignantly.

Ye An shook his head with a smile, he remembered Ye Chang's expression at that time, not only was he not angry, but he was extremely happy, and he said again and again that this was a good thing.

I also asked what is a good thing.

"There are countless places overseas, where there are not only rare and rare things that cannot be eaten, but also good things that can be used as food and clothing, and some of them are produced in much higher quantities than corn and rice beans. If Datang is willing to look for it overseas, it will eventually introduce such good things to Datang. ”

Ye Chang replied like this at the time, Ye An didn't understand this answer very well, he was the same as Bian Ping, he just felt that these snoopers who followed him behind his ship were trying to crack the secrets of Aolai Kingdom and threaten the interests of Lushun.

"What if they find out the secret of the Aolai Kingdom?" Bian Ping was a little worried.

"We can see farther than them on the sea, our ship runs faster than them, Lang Jun said, let us go to sea if we have something to do." Ye An laughed twice.

Bian Ping couldn't help but laugh when he thought of Ye Chang's style of acting. One can imagine what the guys who followed the ship of the Anton Chamber of Commerce and tried to find the country of Aolai would have looked like if they were taken to the open ocean and then left behind by the suddenly accelerating Anton merchant ship.

"How long will you be in Dengzhou this time?" Bian Ping asked again.

"One day, tomorrow will return to Lushun, and then rest in Lushun for a few more days, the Anton is still on its first voyage, and the ship has to go back to the dock for maintenance."

While the two were talking, a sailor who followed Ye An came over and said, "An Langjun, there is a Langjun over there who said that there is an invitation letter from Sima, and he hopes to take our boat back to Lushun." ”

"Eleven Lang's invitation letter? Which talent must be that" Ye An was slightly surprised: "Which one is Lang Jun?" ”

The waterman led Ye An back to the dock, and Wang Changling hugged Ye An with a fist: "Contemptible here, here is the letter written by Ye Sima, please ...... Your Excellency. ”

The clothes Ye An wears are a little weird, they are not the official robes or military uniforms of the Tang Dynasty, nor are they ordinary people's clothes, they look a little like Hu people's clothes, with narrow sleeves and wide hips, which is convenient for human activities, and the clothes are also cotton, so Wang Changling cannot judge Ye An's identity by his clothes.

But this young man is heroic, and although he looks ordinary, he has a kind of self-confidence, calm and not arrogant. Seeing this person, Wang Changling secretly praised in his heart that Ye Chang would use people.

"It must be a prince." Ye An didn't open the letter, looked at Wang Changling carefully, and then saluted happily: "My family Sima has already said that the prince may come, let me pay attention." ”

Bian Ping, who was next to him, also interjected when he heard this: "Is it the prince of the poet Son of Heaven?" ”

"It's not who else is"

These two people are in a block, Wang Changling is used to traveling around the world and seeing people in the world, but he can't help but feel that his heart is surging: Ye Chang seems to really attach importance to him rather than fake attention, and he is invited to come to entrust him with a heavy task rather than raising a doorman and idler

"Don't dare, it's Wang Changling here, I don't know what to call the two."

"A certain is Ye An, who served as the captain of the imperial insult under Sima Tent, this is Bian Ping, the deputy lieutenant of Renyong." Ye An vaguely reported their Wusan official ranks.

"It turned out to be two captains, I wonder if I can take this ship to Lushun?"

"It's a good thing that you can't get the prince on the same boat," Ye An said with a smile: "But we still have to bother the prince to wait for another day, we have to unload and load the cargo today, replenish fresh water, and only set sail tomorrow." Naturally, if the prince wanted to get on the ship now, he could also live on the ship. ”

"In this case, please ask Ye Yu to insult." Wang Changling saw that he had an extraordinary temperament, and he didn't dare to look at him as a small military attaché, and secretly thought in his heart, Ye Chang's little military attache was like this, and he didn't know what Lushun would look like under his rule.

Waiting an extra day was nothing to him, and the next day, when the weather was fine, someone came to invite him aboard. When he reached the bow of the boat, he happened to see many people dragging children and daughters moving towards the boat. He was a little curious in his heart, and it happened that Ye An came to greet him, so he pointed to these people: "Ye Yuyu, what do these people do?" ”

"Oh, it is a concession from the imperial court, the Andong Chamber of Commerce recruits landless people to Liaodong reclamation, all the recruited population, are registered in Dengzhou, their taxes are collected by the Andong Chamber of Commerce, and they are deported to Chang'an in March every year.

"Liaodong is allowed to recruit civilians?" Wang Changling perked up when he heard this: "The imperial court has such an enlightened policy

He fished and farmed in Bashang for 20 years, and traveled around the Tang Dynasty, and it is said that he reached Broken Leaf City as far as Broken Leaf City, so he was very clear about the collapse of the Juntian system, and during his time in Jiangning, he realized that in fact, there were still some fields in Jiangnan and other places that had not been reclaimed. It's just that the household registration system of the imperial court makes it very difficult for immigrants to reclaim, and only those local officials who are bold and not afraid of impeachment can organize exile to reclaim famine in other places.

"This is a special favor between the imperial court and Liaodong, and it cost us 100,000 yuan." Ye An compared, and Ha Luha laughed.

"How many people are recruited?"

"Recruit in Hebei Province and Huainan Province, no more than 200,000 people."

Wang Changling's heart moved slightly, he looked at the immigrants who were boarding the ship, the total number of these people added up, when there were more than 100 people, one boat only carried more than 100 people, two ships a month, and at most 300 people...... There are only 2,000 people a year, what use can it be?

But I think this is just the beginning, when the Andong Chamber of Commerce has more ships, its reputation is greater, and all the joints in various places are opened, then there will be more people recruited.