In the system of dividing social classes according to the peasants, businessmen, no matter how rich the merchants are, they always occupy the bottom position of the society, and they must be ranked behind the peasants and handicraftsmen, and since ancient times, China has had the idea of not suffering from widowhood but suffering from inequality, and the more rich the merchants, the more they are looked down upon

Behind these merchants stand the status of the major families, a little higher than ordinary merchants, but only a little, and already businessmen are very sensitive, after entering Weiding City, they quickly understood the current situation, although Liu Ziqiu was not appointed by the Great Sui Emperor, the actual power is much greater than that of the Xihai Taishou, and now Liu Ziqiu not only accepted the gifts they presented, but also wanted to meet them, which suddenly made them feel flattered

Fifteen stewards of the caravan came to the mansion and walked into the hall cautiously, but saw more than 30 pairs of cases in the hall, and there were all kinds of fresh fruits and vegetables on the wine, food, wine, and food, and all the important people in Weiding City, such as Wen Hao, Zhang Liang, Shi Danai, and other eight commanders joined the army, Liu Yu, Jiang Yuchang, Shi Zhaoling, It turned out that Liu Ziqiu not only met them, but also set up a banquet to entertain them, and the people who accompanied them were the new magnates of Xihai County, and most of them were Han Chinese, which made the merchants who were far away from their hometowns feel extremely cordial, but there was a faint trace of worry, and they didn't know what Liu Ziqiu would ask

"Everyone in the world is prejudiced against businessmen, but Liu doesn't think so," Liu Ziqiu shook the silk robe on his body and said, "Take this silk as an example, and say that it is a farmer raising silkworms. The silk reeling is hard to weave, but what do the peasants need, do they need farm tools, let them take the silk and exchange farm tools with the blacksmith, even if they want to, the blacksmith will not agree, because the blacksmith wants so silk is useless, then we need the merchant to come out and buy the silk from the farmer, the farmer has the money to go to the blacksmith to buy farm tools, the blacksmith has the money to buy pig iron and charcoal, all the problems are solved."

A simple sentence dispelled the doubts of the merchants, and Liu Ziqiu said: "Therefore, if there are no merchants, there will be no circulation, there will be no merchants, there will be no transportation, there will be no communication between the north and the south, there will be no merchants, there will be no agriculture, industry and commerce, and soldiers are indispensable, no farmers will not be cured, no farmers will be unstable, no workers will not enter, no businessmen will not be rich, no soldiers will not be fixed, in Liu's eyes, everyone is just different in the division of labor, there is no distinction between noble and lowly."

The peddlers and pawns are at the bottom of the society, the world only mentions the farmers and businessmen, but not the farmers, the industry and commerce, and the soldiers, because the status of the pawns is even lower than the peddlers, so there is a good man, not a soldier, and a good iron does not nail, but in fact, the status of the soldier is often higher than that of the businessman, especially in the troubled times, Liu Ziqiu is now mentioning the Shinong, the industry and commerce, and the status of the five classes is raised to the height of the parallel, and the eyes of the businessmen can't help but show excitement, Wang Xingming, the shopkeeper of the Taiyuan Wang family caravan, stood up and arched his hand and said: " If everyone in the world is like Lord Liu, we can also hold our chests up and be human beings."

Liu Ziqiu laughed and said: "The shopkeeper Wang said seriously, Liu Mou in other places does not dare to guarantee that at least in Xihai and Weiding City, you can hold up your chest, Liu Mou welcomes you to open shops, wine shops, and inns in Weiding City, as long as you pay taxes according to the regulations, do not use shoddy goods, and do not cheat Liu, you will ensure everyone's safety, ensure that everyone is not oppressed and discriminated, and ensure that everyone can live in dignity on this land."

Although there is also a small amount of arable land in Xihai, but the main source of life is herding horses and sheep, if you want to let the people of Xihai live a good life, it is difficult to rely on these alone, and it is the best choice to use the unique geographical location of Xihai to develop commerce and trade, if Yang Guang is not dead, the situation in the Central Plains is stable, he can organize the caravan by himself, the current situation is chaotic and complicated, the caravan of 400 people he sent out is like a mud ox into the sea, there is no word and letter, this road obviously does not work, of course, everything has advantages and disadvantages, if Yang Guang does not die, he is just a small brigade commander, Xihai is not his turn to be the master

These caravans are different, they all have the shadow of the family behind them, whether it is Yu Wenhua, Yang Xuangan or Li Yuan, they are inseparable from the support of these family families, so the passage of these caravans in the Central Plains is much more important, as long as these caravans can be left, not only can they obtain a lot of materials produced in the Central Plains, but also hear the news from the Central Plains, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone

When the shopkeepers were still hesitating, Xie Laosi, the shopkeeper of the Xie family's caravan, had already stood up first, and said loudly: "Since Lord Liu loves Xie so much, he will let people rent houses in the city and open shops tomorrow."

The Xie family has retreated to the south of the Yangtze River for a long time, and has gradually drifted away from various families, but the big family that can stand for hundreds of years has its own merits, this Xie Laosi is a character, with his identity and status, of course, he does not know the transaction between the Xie family and Liu Ziqiu, but he keenly feels that this is a rare opportunity, as long as it is used properly, the Xie family will occupy an important position in this trade route connecting the East and the West, and lay the foundation for the Xie family to return to the Central Plains in the future

With Xie Laosi, several shopkeepers echoed their words at the beginning, expressing their willingness to open a store in Weiding City

Liu Ziqiu raised his glass with joy and said: "Thank you for your trust in Liu, please drink happily and get drunk."

Since ancient times, the wine banquet has been the best tool to get closer to each other, three cups and two bells, and the shopkeepers have more words, and they have long been reserved, talking about jokes with some meat flavors, talking about all kinds of interesting anecdotes, and the atmosphere has gradually become lively, but these shopkeepers have been away from their hometowns for a long time, and they are not clear about the situation in various places, so there is not much valuable content, but Liu Ziqiu is not thinking about the present, but in the future, if these caravans come here next time, it is obvious that some different information can be revealed in the conversation, Liu Ziqiu does not stand upright, and personally toasts one by one, so that the self-esteem of these shopkeepers has been greatly satisfied

After a while, Liu Ziqiu turned to Xie Laosi

Xie Laosi hurriedly got up and said, "Please rest assured, Lord Liu, Xie will wait for the shops in Weiding City to open before leaving."

"That's not necessary," Liu Ziqiu waved his hand and said, "Liu also hopes that the shopkeeper Xie will go back sooner to say hello to Mr. Xie Wengshan on behalf of Liu."

Xie Laosi was stunned for a moment and asked, "Lord Liu knows the head of my family."

Liu Ziqiu said with a smile: "Liu and Mr. Xie have had a relationship, and the two Xie Gongzi are also quite kind, Liu still has a few gifts, and when the time comes, I will have to bother the shopkeeper Xie to bring Mr. Xie's family."

Xie Laosi didn't expect Liu Ziqiu and the Xie family to be so familiar, and he was even more confident in opening a store in Weiding City, and said repeatedly: "Xie should do his best in this matter."

At this time, Da was stunned and walked in and whispered in Liu Ziqiu's ear: "Something happened to the lord."

Since this period of time, Zhao Ling has shown his best, Liu Ziqiu has gradually reassured him, and he will no longer let Da Dun follow him, and now Da Dun has returned to the mansion and Ji Rentai took turns to serve as Liu Ziqiu's escort task, these two people are very clever, if it is not a matter of great importance, Da Shou will not rush into the hall, and after entering, Da Suo's voice is also very low, only Liu Ziqiu can hear it

Liu Ziqiu's face remained unchanged, and he made a circle towards the shopkeepers and smiled: "Everyone, please use it slowly, Liu has something to deal with, just go and come."

Out of the hall, Liu Ziqiu's face sank and asked, "What the hell is going on?"

Da was stunned with anger on his face, gritted his teeth and said, "My lord, the caravan we sent to the Central Plains has returned."

Liu Ziqiu has been waiting for the news of this caravan, and now it should be a good thing for the caravan to come back, but seeing Da's stunned expression, it is obviously not like this, Liu Ziqiu did not continue to ask more, just waved his hand and said: "Take me to see"

……

At the beginning, Liu Ziqiu selected a total of 400 people to form this caravan, more than three months passed, 400 people only returned, only 18 people came back, in a small courtyard next door to the mansion, 18 soldiers were lying on the low couch with scars, Liu Ziqiu couldn't help clenching his fists, there seemed to be a ball of anger burning in his chest

When this caravan left Weiding City, Liu Ziqiu deliberately emphasized that their mission was to collect intelligence, Listen to the news instead of making money, if you encounter a gang robbery or government extortion, you would rather spend money to eliminate disasters than save your life, all the way to the land of the Great Sui, no matter which side the local government is loyal to, it will not kill the caravan, and these four hundred people are ordinary thieves or small bandits who have experienced crawling out of the pile of dead people, and they are not in their eyes at all, if they encounter a large-scale bandit, they can also pretend to surrender and join the gang, this is said in advance, in this case, who else will hit this caravan hard, it is doubtful

However, Liu Ziqiu did not immediately inquire about the situation at that time, but patiently inspected the injuries of the soldiers, all of whom were wounded, ranging from minor to severe, and under the medical conditions at the time, serious injuries often meant death

"Zhang Aniu, how is your arm?" Liu Ziqiu actually directly called out the name of a wounded soldier with a white cloth wrapped around his arm

At that time, before the departure of these 400 people, Liu Ziqiu personally fought, and these people had all participated in the defense of Weiding City with Liu Ziqiu, and some of them had also fought with him on the mud ridge, and Liu Ziqiu remembered almost all of them, and could call out the names of most of them

Zhang Aniu is a burly Hebei man, but he never expected Liu Ziqiu to be able to call out his name, and he was so excited that he burst into tears and grinned: "It's okay, I just let the mosquito bite."

Liu Ziqiu nodded with satisfaction and said, "It's good, our Xihai clan has no seeds, hurry up and heal the wounds, let's avenge the brothers together."

The soldier next to him had no blood on his face, and there was a trace of despair in his eyes, but Liu Ziqiu also remembered him and said: "You are the king of Yanmen, where is the second Geng injury?"

Wang Ergeng snorted twice weakly, and he didn't know what to say, but Zhang Aniu said for him: "The stomach of the lord Ergeng has been slashed, and the intestines have flowed out."

Liu Ziqiu nodded and said: "Ergeng is a master, so I will hold it up for me, I remember that you have not yet started a family, and I will drink your wedding wine when the time comes."

Wang Ergeng's originally desperate eyes suddenly came to life, and he nodded vigorously, in this era of lack of medical treatment, sometimes willpower can determine a person's life and death

Liu Ziqiu asked one by one, and suddenly felt that the soldier in front of him was a little familiar, but he couldn't name it