Donglai County is not a county, Wang Ling stood on the city wall, looked at the sky, and was silent.

He wasn't in a good mood.

In the past few years, the war has not been smooth, the imperial court lost Guanzhong, and continued to use troops, the loss of war horse resources is too great, in order to ensure the supply of war horses for the forbidden army and the war zone of the state, Qingxu and other places can only be put aside. Without the advantage of war horses, in the battle with Sun Shao, he was defeated and retreated. Most of Xuzhou was lost, Yuzhou was lost, and he, the top general of the Yangzhou Theater, could only shrink the defense line to Qingzhou now, which was really speechless.

In the year of the sixtieth year, I was beaten by a junior, and I really didn't feel good in my heart. Now, Wei Ba is stationed in Guangling, intending to go north, and the imperial court sent Tian Yu to help, obviously knowing that he did not have a sufficient number of cavalry to resist Wei Ba's attack, so he transferred Tian Yu to come.

This made him feel even more uncomfortable, and he couldn't help but sigh again.

"Daddy, you sighed too much today." Wang Ling's son Wang Guang couldn't help but say. Wang Guang was originally a scholar in Luoyang, but this time the Son of Heaven gave Wang Ling an edict and specially asked him to come. probably also wanted to use the relationship between father and son to make Wang Ling a little more acceptable.

"Gongyuan, you don't know." Wang Ling slapped the battlements: "I have fought for my father all my life, but I didn't expect to be desolate when I got old." Now it's just that Wei Ba intends to take the state prestige, and the imperial court is going to send Tian Yu to help, where is my old face going. ”

Wang Guang shook his head: "Daddy, you are too underestimated." It can be seen from this that it is very necessary for the imperial court to send General Tian to support you. ”

"Underestimating the enemy?" Wang Ling raised his eyebrows, a little unhappy. When he was young, he was implicated in the affairs of his uncle Wang Yun. Having a son late, only having a son after the age of thirty, every son is a talent, it is inevitable that he is a little spoiled, and some fathers are not fathers, and sons are not sons, and even the most polite Wang Guang actually accused him of underestimating the enemy in person.

"Daddy, you can't despise Wei Ba just because he is young." Wang Guang realized that his tone just now was wrong, so he quickly softened his tone and explained softly: "Do you think about how Wei Ba's military exploits came about? Battle of the New Town. He defeated the hussar generals of the time. The current general, the Battle of Guanzhong, he blocked the pace of the general Cao Zidan and took away Guanzhong. Battle of Xiangyang. He defeated Bixia's pro-army. Enter Wuling. He defeated Lu Xun, the most famous warrior of the Wu Kingdom. and Li Yan out of Nanyang. He defeated the Great General again. Which time was his opponent the weakling? ”

Wang Ling frowned, not knowing how to refute Wang Guang. Wang Guang was right, several of Wei Ba's opponents were famous generals in the world. But he stepped on them all the way, which was enough to prove that Wei Ba's ability was extraordinary.

"However, when he first arrived in Guangling, his strength was limited." Wang Ling turned his head sideways and squinted at Wang Guang. "Could it be that he could attack now? Besides, he doesn't have cavalry. ”

"Wei Ba doesn't have cavalry, but he has warships, and we can't go to the sea to pursue them, but he can attack along the coast, and he can't be guarded against. With cavalry support, it is better than foot soldiers after all. ”

Wang Ling sighed lightly, he didn't understand this truth, but he felt that these cavalry should be under his unified command, what was it to send Tian Yu? His friendship with Tian Yu is very ordinary, and he may not be able to cooperate easily.

"It's a pity that your uncle won't go out of the mountain, otherwise, how good it would be for him to come."

Wang Guang did not answer. His uncle is Guo Huai. After Guo Huai was defeated in Longyou and fled back to his hometown, he studied behind closed doors and refused to hold a military position again, as if he wanted to end his old age. This made the imperial court very dissatisfied, and now even if he wants to make a comeback, he has no chance. If it weren't for this reason, with Guo Huai's ability, he wouldn't be worse than Tian Yu now.

Of course, even if Guo Huai is a leader, it is impossible for the imperial court to send him to Qingzhou. It is an unwritten rule that people who are related to each other cannot be officials together.

Wang Ling naturally knew this truth, and when he said this, he was just emotional.

As the father and son spoke, they walked forward along the city wall, don't drive Wang Ji to meet them, his steps were hurried, and his expression was serious. Wang Ling glanced at it, and his heart suddenly tightened. Wang Ji rarely appears with this kind of expression, and once he appears, it usually means that he has encountered something difficult.

"Boyu, what's wrong?"

"Envoy, the price of raw silk in the cloth market has risen for ten consecutive days, and it has risen to twice as much." Wang Ji said as he handed a list to Wang Ling. Wang Ling glanced at it, and immediately frowned: "Is this someone buying raw silk in large quantities?" ”

"So Jun Mingjian, not only are people buying raw silk in large quantities, but also some people are buying finished products, especially those high-end finished products."

Wang Ling didn't dare to slack off, so he stood by the city wall and looked at it carefully. After the loss of Xiangyi in Yanzhou, Qingzhou became the main supplier of silk weaving for the imperial court, and the official uniforms of the important ministers and the clothing in the palace required a large number of silk fabrics every year. If someone buys a large number of raw materials and finished products, it will inevitably lead to insufficient use in the palace, and of course it will seriously affect the Son of Heaven's perception of him. If you can't even supply this, what else can you do.

The costumes in the palace are produced by the workers and do not circulate in the market, but the raw silk is purchased from the market, and once the price outside rises, it is natural that some people will find a way to sell the raw silk to those with high prices, which will also affect the output of the workers. Even if the workers have no influence at all, the price fluctuations in the outside market will also affect the money buds of the important ministers of the court, and they will also reach the ears of the Son of Heaven.

"Is it still profitable at such a high price?" Wang Ling felt a little incredible, the price of raw silk had actually soared to two times in ten days, and it continued to rise, which was too unusual.

"I think it's incredible, too." Wang Ji was also suspicious, "The amount is huge, it doesn't look like some rich businessmen are hoarding." ”

Wang Ling pondered for a moment: "Is this just the case in Donglai, or is it the same in other counties?" ”

Wang Ji smiled bitterly: "Donglai is an insignificant county among the counties of Qingzhou, and there has been such a big movement in Donglai, how can Qi State, Jinan and other places be peaceful." The envoy is busy with the military these days, and he doesn't pay much attention to the economy and people's livelihood, so he hasn't had time to read the official document a few days ago. ”

Wang Ling smiled awkwardly. He was distraught for the past two days, and on the one hand he wanted to inspect the defense of the coastal counties, and on the other hand, he was secretly sentimental, and he really did not read the official documents sent by Wang Ji in detail. However, as Wang Jiru said, it takes a lot of money to buy so much raw silk and fabrics at such a high price.

Wang Guang, who had been listening to the side, suddenly interjected: "It can't be Wei Ba's people who are making waves, right?" ”

"Wei Ba?" Wang Ling and Wang Ji said in unison, turning their gaze to Wang Guang.

Wang Guang coughed: "Do you know that three months ago, Wei Ba met with the giant ship in Chengdu?" ”

Wang Ling and Wang Ji shook their heads at the same time, they didn't have such a channel to get news from far away in Chengdu.

Wang Guang roughly recounted the news he heard, and Zuihou said: "Wei Ba used the conquest of overseas as an excuse to win people's hearts. Judging from the current situation, the use of troops overseas can basically only stay on paper, but trade with overseas is a practical and feasible method. It is said that when Zhuge Liang was in Guanzhong, he also bought a large number of raw silk and built workshops, intending to reopen the Western Regions and export silk. With so many high-quality silks, apart from export, what other channel can obtain such a high profit, so that it is profitable to be able to raise the price more than twice as much? ”

Wang Ling was taken aback. If it was just some businessmen who were driving up prices in order to obtain higher profits, then things would not get out of control, and if this was the economic offensive used by Wei Ba, then it should not be taken lightly. When the war is fought to zuihou, it is the money that is fought, and the money is earned by Wei Ba, so what else is there to fight, not only is it a matter of the emperor and ministers having no clothes to wear, but a question of whether there is money to pay military salaries.

Wang Ji's face was even more ugly, and he said hurriedly: "Envoy, the most terrible thing is not raw silk, but grain, if anyone ......"

Before Wang Ji finished speaking, Wang Ling's face changed.

……

In Linzi, an inconspicuous courtyard, Elway, who is alias Lu Dai, looked through the account books. He smiled and reached out to close the ledger.

"From today onwards, a large number of raw silk and fabrics purchased will be sold and grain will be purchased with all our might. No matter what kind of grain, rice, wheat, corn, beans, cattle, sheep, pigs, dogs, chickens, ducks, geese, as long as they can be eaten, they will all be purchased at a high price. Wrought iron lacquer, cowhide copper nails, as many as you want. ”

Several of the merchant-looking men stood up and responded in unison.

"Inform General Zhuge and let him prepare to receive the goods." Elk Wei stroked the short beard under his chin and smiled proudly: "I heard that Wang Ji is a talent, I can't be careless, I have to send the goods out before they react, the general can wait for these big uses." ”

A lean retinue answered, got up and walked out.

Elway was relaxed and relaxed, and arranged things in a few words. He is a native of the East China Sea, but he was born in Chengdu and is not familiar with this place, but he has already been to Qingzhou last time in order to pick up Yinbo's family members to Jiaozhou. With his habit, he will pay attention to three points everywhere he goes, and scatter a few seeds at will. As soon as Wei Ba gave him the task of capturing Qingzhou in economic warfare, he activated the seeds that had been sown, took control of the market in Linzi, and disrupted the prices in Linzi in just a few days.

He doesn't lead troops to fight, but when he commands these subordinates and controls the market trend, he feels that he is a famous general who strategizes and wins thousands of miles. Compared with his uncles Elfang and Zhuge Zhi, he is the real pioneer of Wei Ba.

Inadvertently, several markets in Linzi surged at the same time. After a few days of a large number of purchases, raw silk and fabrics have long been priceless, as soon as they saw someone shipping, they immediately pounced on countless buyers, almost without bargaining, and sold out in a blink of an eye.

At the same time, there were many merchants of unknown origin in the rice market, poultry market, and gold market, who purchased a large number of grain, poultry, livestock, copper, iron paint, and other materials.

Five days later, when Wang Ling's order arrived in Linzi, Elk Wei had already withdrawn from Linzi City and boarded Zhuge Zhi's warship...... (To be continued......)