After the first huge trading team of tens of thousands of people formed by the Zhoushui Alliance went to Jicheng for a long-distance trade, on January 22, this huge trading team returned to the Zhoushui Walled City with more than 20,000 NPC slaves, 7 million catties of grain, and a huge harvest of thousands of ordinary horses. Most of the players and NPCs involved in this trade have tasted the sweetness of long-distance trade.

The great chieftain Ji Zhi, Guo Kui, Situ, Sikong, Sigong, Sima, and more than a dozen civil and military ministers gathered together like a group of money fans, and calculated that if the tax was calculated at 2%, the total income of such a long-distance trade alone would be equal to the tens of thousands of original inhabitants of the entire walled city before them; Situ sighed very much, "Great Chief, this is really amazing! These newly relocated aristocrats are not ordinary rich. It really surprised Wei Chen, from the earliest newly moved nobleman Xiaobai to come to us, it has only been more than a month now. When they first arrived, they had almost no money, and they even had to sell food and other materials, mortgage mud houses, and borrow money from us to make ends meet, but why did they become so rich after such a short period of time? has been far beyond the ministers and other loyal ministers who serve the country! Among them, I am afraid there is a key point. ”

Sikong and other ministers also agreed, and said loudly from ear to ear.

"What Lord Situ said is exact, there must be a key point to make it possible to get rich overnight like this."

Wei Chen thought that it was probably the two key places of the Eagle Hand Mining Area and the North Water Spring, which were the source of the new nobles' sudden wealth. Almost all of the bronzes and herbs in their hands were obtained from the Eagle Hand mining area. In the past, we underestimated these two places. It was too easy to give it to these newly relocated nobles. ”

The priest was deeply worried, and said in a tone of concern for the country and the people: "There are tens of thousands of newly relocated nobles, and their power is growing day by day, and they are well-equipped and have a huge team. I'm afraid sooner or later, alas, it's too late to say anything. My heart aches, I can't sleep day and night, is this still my Great Yan Kingdom? Even the army of the Monarch Land was still using crude and inferior stone spears and halberds, and they were already armed with the sharpest bronze swords. The weapons of the kingdom are not in the hands of the king's army. But in the hands of some uncertain manpower, China will not be at peace. ”

Situ was shocked and hurriedly said, "Oh, Master Sigong also noticed this?" The sophisticated equipment in the hands of these newly relocated nobles is exactly what I am worried about! ”

Ji Zhi sat in the lobby, watching the more than a dozen ministers below exchange ears, and some surprised and shocking remarks. couldn't help frowning, and said, "The ministers are muttering, what do you want to say?" Don't think Lone doesn't know what's going on in your heart. Seeing that these newly relocated nobles are making a lot of money, but you don't get much, so your eyes are red and you want a piece of the pie, don't you? If you have something to say, it's not good to beat around the bush. It's not a gentleman's doing! ”

Ji Zhi's eyes were blazing, looking at the ministers. It's not so easy to deceive him with some surprising words.

The ministers' faces were flushed, and they didn't know what to say for a while, so they all looked at Situ.

Situ blushed, and hurriedly bowed his hand to Ji Zhi and said, "The big chief has misunderstood, and the ministers think." These newly relocated nobles must be slightly restricted, so as to be conducive to the stability of our Zhoushui Walled City. The Eagle Hand Mining Area and the North Water Spring cannot be completely controlled by these people, and must involve our people. The current trade tax is also too low, and it should be raised, 5% is appropriate. Other than that. I heard about it a few days ago. A large number of newly relocated nobles privately concluded a Zhoushui alliance and privately prepared an army of nearly 10,000 people. I don't know what they're trying to do? ”

Ji Zhi said lightly: "The attack of the 70,000 army of Shanrong is mainly defeated by the strength of these newly relocated nobles, and it is reasonable for them to get the Eagle Hand Mining Area and the North Water Spring." As for this Zhoushui Alliance, Xiaobai has already asked Gu for instructions in advance, and Gu Qinkou approved the establishment, so there is no need to make a fuss. Its full name is the Zhou Aquaculture Industry, Commerce and Security Alliance, a long and strange name, which was mainly formed for large-scale long-distance trade, and there is nothing special about it. Such a trade caravan, of course, needs to have a special escort team. 10,000 is a little bit more, but it's also to ensure safety. ”

Situ hurriedly said: "But the bronze sword equipped by this army is stronger than our regular army!" Xiaobai promised to give the big chief 3,000 sets of bronze equipment, but he hadn't seen the shadow of these equipment yet, so he used it himself. ”

Ji Zhi frowned and said, "Tens of thousands of people are all equipped with bronze swords? Impossible! ”

Situ hurriedly said: "Great Chief, this matter is true, and Weichen does not dare to deceive. The minister specially sent a number of them, about six or seven thousand bronze swords, and thousands of war bows, which were far beyond the equipment of our garrison army. I'm afraid that in less than a month, this army of 10,000 people will all become an army in bronze armor, not to mention the army of the great chief, I am afraid that even the army of the monarch will not be able to resist. Wei Chen was worried that Xiao Bai might not hand over 3,000 sets of bronze equipment to the Great Chief and other loyal ministers after two months, and there was no lie. You have to be careful, you need to plan ahead. ”

Ji Zhi really frowned this time.

Six or seven thousand bronze swords is not a small number. The power of the bronze weapon, he has seen it with his own eyes. There is no way to compare it with a bronze weapon. A bronze sword can easily tear through animal skin armor and split copper weapons. Stone soldiers and bronze soldiers cannot compete with bronze soldiers at all.

Although Situ, Sikong and other ministers were alarmist, they tried to stick a foot in the bronze and share some money. But there was some truth in what they said, and it was not appropriate for the bronze to be completely controlled by the newly relocated nobles. If the newly moved nobles have an army of tens of thousands of bronzes and rebel, they really have nothing to do with them.

Ji Zhi looked at Guo Kui next to him, wanting to get some advice from him. But Guo Kui closed his eyes and was speechless, sitting still, not saying a word.

Ji Zhi is helpless, and he can't make an immediate decision on such a big matter for a while, otherwise it is easy to cause chaos. He waved his hand at the ministers. "Let's think about it, you guys retreat first, go back and consider countermeasures. We'll talk about it tomorrow! ”

Although Situ and Sikong saw that Ji Zhi did not immediately make a clear agreement, they were already obviously relieved. Daxi, "Yes, the ministers are leaving!" The ministers withdrew from the council hall one after another, and went back to each other, carefully preparing for tomorrow's countermeasures. Do your best to convince the Great Chiefs to change their policy so that they can also intervene in Bronze.

After all the ministers left, Guo Kui opened his eyes.

Ji Zhi immediately asked: "I don't know what the teacher thinks about this matter?" ”

Guo Kui sighed: "The ministers of the palace are all selfish. There are more than ten ministers, and none of them are capable of taking on a big responsibility, which is a pity. Their talents combined. It's not as good as a white. Xiaobaidi's strategy of enriching the country and strengthening the army turned out to be a misguided move in their eyes. I think that my Zhou Shuicheng is only 3,000 soldiers, if he really wants to rebel, he will rebel early, why wait until later? If the ministers were allowed to meddle in the affairs of the Eagle Hand mines, bronze, etc., I am afraid that would be the real bane of the rebellion. ”

Ji Zhi was silent for a while, and said, "These ministers are really useless? ”

Guo Kui said: "The population brought by the newly relocated nobles is already two or three hundred times the original population of my tribe. Great Chief, you are choosing to be with 1 old nobleman. Or choose to be with 20,000 new aristocrats? ”

Ji Zhi was completely silent. The answer is clear, naturally with the new aristocracy.

Guo Kui said: "If the big chief is willing to sit in a corner of the water this week, it is enough to use these more than ten old ministers." If you look forward to being able to enter Jicheng one day in the future, you need to be assisted by more talented new ministers. Ministers are asking for wealth, you are asking for land and talent, and please keep this in mind the great chief. As for who is poor and who is rich in the walled city of Zhoushui, it has nothing to do with the overall situation. ”

Ji Zhi thought about it for a long time. Feeling deeply reasonable, he said, "What does the teacher think of Xiaobai?" ”

Guo Kui said: "It's okay." One is not enough, though, more is needed. A small white assistant can make the big chief grow half of the Yan country, and two little white assistants. You can sit firmly in the Yan Kingdom. If it's four or five. But Xu Tu the world. It's just that it's hard to come up with such a character. The minister was ashamed. Failing to find more auxiliary talents for the Great Chief is the fault of the ministers. ”

Guo Kui bowed to the ground.

Ji Zhi was suddenly moved, and hurriedly stepped forward to help, "Teacher, please get up!" ”

Guo Kui was helped up and returned to his seat.

Ji Zhi thought for a while and said: "Lone still has to think about how to deal with these ministers tomorrow, they can't do things for Lone, but they are very good at fighting for power and profit." ”

Guo Kui said: "Although these old ministers have no merit, they still have hard work, and they are not lacking in loyalty. They need to be reassured so that they don't get into trouble. Some important things in the future mainly need to be completed with the help of the newly moved nobles. ”

The next day, the Executive Yuan held another political discussion. The ministers gathered again in the Executive Yuan to discuss the resumption of some of the power of the Eagle Hand mines, the increase in the collection of the bronze tax, and the bronze equipment.

Ji Zhi had already figured out a way to reply to the ministers, and his answer was very crisp.

"The opinions of the ministers, Lone already knows. However, Gu had already given the management rights of the Eagle's Hand Mine and the North Water Spring to the newly relocated nobles, and the taxes had already been set and could not be changed at will. In this way, I see that all of you are also very rich, so it is better to go to them yourself and discuss the partnership to pay for the business. As for whether they agree or not, it is not a matter of being alone to come forward and ask, this is a private matter, let's solve it ourselves. Scattered! ”

The ministers looked at each other.

Originally, they wanted the High Chief to give direct orders, such as "divide part of the Eagle Hand Mine and put the bronze in the hands of the minister", etc., so that they could directly intervene in the most profitable industry in the player's hands.

But now the big chief asked them to pay for it themselves and find new nobles such as Xiaobai to partner in the business. The idea also seems like a good one. Anyway, it's all about making money, so you don't have to mind too much which method you use. Anyway, the big chief didn't intervene in this matter, and he had to solve it himself.

The ministers also have a lot to do with the player power organizations, and they each find familiar player forces to talk about "investing" in the partnership area.

Situ came directly to the dumb shop, found Qin Xiaobai, talked privately, and said that he hoped to invest in his bronze industry. This is the most profitable industry. was directly preempted by him. Other NPC ministers didn't dare to fight with him, so they could only go to other player forces.

Qin Xiaobai was stunned for a while, almost suspecting that he had heard it wrong.

Situ asked him to cooperate in business? The combination of government and business is the most coveted thing for all business people in the world.

He immediately asked the NPC clerk to serve the tea. Asked Situ to sit down in the back of the shop, and said with a smile: "It's easy to say, Lord Situ is willing to invest in the bronze industry, and the lower officials can't ask for it!" Don't dare to say otherwise, invest in my bronze. Definitely make money. I wonder how much you plan to invest? ”

Situ blew on the tea and said, "About, there are tens of millions of copper coins!" I'm not sure how much. ”

Qin Xiaobai was drinking tea, and was startled by the astronomical figures reported by Situ, and squirted out a sip of tea. looked at Situ in shock. Just kidding. The financial resources of the entire Zhoushui Walled City are only 7 million. Can the Situ family come up with tens of millions of dollars? Although he knew that Situ was a great nobleman, it was too shocking to have so much money.

Situ laughed in a low voice: "Hey, Xiaobai, of course it's not just my family's money. In addition, Ji Mansion and Guo Mansion both hope to invest in bronze and entrust me to talk to Xiaobai. ”

Qin Xiaobai suppressed the shock in his heart. Ji Mansion, isn't it the big chief? Guo Mansion. It is Guo Kui, the teacher of the Great Chieftain. Plus a Situ Mansion.

Situ came here today, not only on behalf of himself, but also on behalf of the other two great nobles for huge investments. The 10 million copper coins turned out to be funded by the three largest NPC nobles together, which is no wonder. With the power of the three major aristocratic lands, it is not surprising that they have such a large amount of funds.

Qin Xiaobai agreed. Directly establishing a private trading relationship with Ji Mansion, Guo Mansion, and Situ Mansion was something he couldn't ask for. Other than that. With these three huge capital investments, it can also directly stimulate his expansion in the bronze industry.

Situ was very satisfied. "The money of 10 million copper coins is not a one-time investment. Invest more than 100,000 copper coins to see the effect, and if the income is good, continue to increase the investment. I also have an explanation to Ji Mansion and Guo Mansion to avoid losses. ”

Qin Xiaobai smiled: "Okay." Give me too much at once. I don't know how to spend it. Take your time. I think about how I can use the money. ”

A court discussion in the Executive Yuan that might lead to a rebellion was invisibly eliminated by the clever tactics of the Great Chief.

The ministers are eager to seek "wealth". They have taken the initiative to seek cooperation with player forces, make investments, and make money from them. The players of Zhoushui Walled City had no idea about the scene when they were born in the Executive Yuan, and they naturally welcomed the generous investment of the ministers.

The next few days were very calm, and it was the time for the players of Zhou Shui City to absorb and digest these trade gains with all their might and transform them into production capacity.

More than 20,000 NPC slaves were sent to the Eagle's Hand Mine and the North Water Springs, where most of them mined and gathered herbs in small quantities.

And it will take some time for the camp to make more bronze tools for the slaves to use, and these slaves will use copper and tin ore to pay off their debts. The statistical work is done by the sheep chamber of commerce, and it will take a certain amount of time to calculate these current accounts.

In order to expand the scale of bronze production, Qin Xiaobai recruited several henchmen in Xiaobai Jundi to participate in the casting of bronze. These members of the Little White Army are the first group of people to follow Qin Xiaobai, and they are dancing in the blood and so on.

The bronze industry, under the deliberate control of Qin Xiaobaidi, has gradually begun to become an industrial chain. At the top of the chain is the tribal camp of Qin Xiaobai and sheep, where craftsmen master the techniques of copper smelting, tin smelting, and bronze, and they make bronze in different proportions. Only the bronze fee is charged.

The bronzes were then sent to the casting workshops of several members of the Little White Army, where they were cast into bronze tools and agricultural tools for various purposes, from which they were charged casting fees.

These cast bronzes were sent to some larger chambers of commerce organizations such as the Sheep Chamber of Commerce, the Nameless Chamber of Commerce, the Shanhai Chamber of Commerce, and the Xiaoyu Chamber of Commerce, and these merchants who specialized in commerce sold them, transported them to the Eagle Hand mining area, cultivated land, workshops, or transported and sold to other places to collect sales fees.

The Bronzes were sent to the Hawkhand Mine, where thousands of player slaves mined. The Blood Killing Legion and the Thousand Miles Legion, which are responsible for the production and management of the mining area, share a part of the profits obtained from mining.

After the bronzes were damaged, the god king of the Zhoushui Walled City, becoming a king, hooligans are not crimes, mountains and seas, light rain, and gray glass. There are also workshops run by NPCs, all of which are able to repair bronzes. They charge a repair fee. Of course, that's only a small part of their income, they have other major incomes.

Bronze industry chain. It has become the primary industrial pillar of Zhoushui Walled City, and its interests involve almost all the local production industries in Zhoushui City, and the vital interests of 20,000 or 30,000 players are directly related to this industry.

In addition, in terms of grain, one million catties of it were transported to the Eagle Hand Mining Area and the North Water Spring to be hoarded and supplied to the slaves. The other six million catties were left in the Zhoushui tribe's player's own warehouse.

Including Qin Xiaobai, there are many Zhoushui rich players and leading players in the mainland. They all began to have a very tacit understanding to hoard a large number of strategic materials such as grain.

Because the second motion of the Zhoushui Alliance is precisely for grain.

The player representatives of the grain industry submitted the "Food Security" bill to Qin Xiaobai, and with the consent of one speaker and three deputy speakers, all members had a heated discussion and voting on it.

At the beginning, 90 player representatives discussed the food security of the water city around the city. And set the rules of the game for the food industry. But unexpectedly, the scope of the discussion was quickly expanded to other industries, and the discussion lasted for a long day.

The Zhoushui Alliance Council decided to divide all the industries and all materials of Zhoushui City players into four important categories for special management.

1. AAA category, core strategic materials:

Bronze and grain - the only two highest-level core strategic materials at present.

2. AAB category, sub-strategic materials:

Red medicine, leather armor, war bows, horses, transport wagons, slaves - strategic supplies, military supplies

Wheel technology, war bow technology - technical category

Herbs, copper ore, tin ore, leather, animal skins, salt, tea, oil - raw materials

3. ABB category, important military and civilian materials:

Silk, ceramics, wine, livestock

4. BBB, general supplies:

Not yet

Through the establishment of four categories of materials, all materials are directly included in them for unified management. Grain is also included. Together with Bronze, it was identified as the top core strategic material and received the strictest attention from the entire Zhoushui Alliance.

Food, still very scarce in the Bronze Age, could cause widespread famine at any time due to natural disasters, and it was the first thing to prepare for war. You can't feed people without food. So it's listed as one of the top supplies.

And bronze. It is a core tool for promoting production capacity, and it is indispensable in almost any industry. Without it. It will not be possible to promote the exhibition of the whole tribe.

Other local materials, such as medicines, leather armor, etc., are one level less important than these two materials, and are classified as secondary strategic materials.

In this long-distance trade, Qin Xiaobai exchanged 10,000 bronzes for more than 5,000 slaves, 1 million catties of grain, and nearly 1,000 ordinary transport horses. He personally didn't need NPC slaves and ordinary horses, and sold them to other players in exchange for food.

Now there are millions of catties of grain piled up in the private warehouse in Xiaobai's camp.