A few days later, Duguxin left Huazhou and set off to return to Longyou, and the send-off people gathered in the west of Huazhou City and did not disperse for a long time. It wasn't until late afternoon that Dugu Xin was able to pull out, bid farewell to the crowd of send-offs, and head west.

Li Tai did not go to Huazhou City to see him off, but set off directly from Shangyuan and rushed to the vicinity of Shayuan to wait for Duguxin and his party. The reason why I did this was also a bit of a cover-up, and I didn't want the intimacy between them to be known to outsiders too early.

The situation in Kansai is not stable, and everyone who is in this situation will inevitably be affected by the change of situation, even Yuwentai is no exception, let alone Duguxin and Li Tai.

They value this relationship very much to each other, but they still need to wait for a while to really get married. During this time, it is uncertain whether there will be any twists and turns, or whether there will be people who are not happy to see them come together and interfere.

Needless to say, Dugu believes that there are many people who want to marry him. Li Tai is also not bad, and even more sought-after than Duguxin to some extent. Both sides are in the spirit that more things are better than less, and if it is not necessary, they will not inform outsiders about this matter first.

In the sand garden, the woods became denser, several forts were added along the river, and a ranch was expanded to raise thousands of horses. Yuwentai really spared no effort to expand the army.

Li Tai led the staff to wander around the Shayuan for most of the day, until the afternoon was nearly evening, Dugu Xin and his party were late, and after meeting, Dugu Xin sighed and said: "The group is difficult to love, it is distressing, there is a long time to wait for the Bo Mountain, in order not to miss the travel period, let's continue to go on the road at night." ”

Although it is late autumn, the season has not completely turned cold, and there is even a little bit of heat at dusk when day and night are transitioned, and I am not afraid of the cold and wet cold when I am in a hurry at night.

On both sides of the Weishui River between Chang'an and Huazhou, Hejin and the road are becoming more and more prosperous, and there are many travelers. The living environment in Guanzhong is becoming more and more stable, and agricultural production has also increased year after year, which naturally makes people's livelihood better and better, and exchanges between regions are becoming more and more frequent.

Although it is now dusk, they are not the only pedestrians on the road in Weibei. Some large and small business travel teams are also traveling day and night, on the way.

Among them, there are even some caravans of Hu people with high noses and deep eyes, and their descriptions and costumes are full of exotic style, although the number is not many, but it is very eye-catching.

Li Tai was also quite curious about these Hu merchant teams, and observed and inquired along the way, asking them where they came from and what goods they handled.

However, these Hu merchants looked deeply vigilant, and they were silent about all the questions raised by Li Tai, especially the goods they carried.

Although Li Tai was bored with himself, he didn't mind because of this, and when he returned to the team, he smiled at Dugu Xin and said: "Longbian hooks up Hexi, so that you can sit in the other realm and spread the power of the distant frontier." These Hu businessmen are really profit-making shrewd, and they are ...... in everything."

When Dugu Xin heard this, he looked at the Hu merchant team, shook his head and said: "I don't know where Zahu pretends to be a distant guest, they are not business travelers from far away in the Western Regions at all. Even if there are any goods with you, it must only be inferior materials, and you want to defraud the ignorant rich in the customs! ”

Li Tai couldn't help but widen his eyes when he heard this, he saw that these Hu businessmen were full of exotic style, and they almost shouted "I love Da Wei" with an awkward accent, how could they actually be a group fraud?

Duguxin casually explained to Li Tai the characteristics of the real Sogdian merchant group in the Western Regions, these Zhaowu Zhuhu generations lived in commerce and trade, so a series of conventions and customs were derived, and the merchant group had a clear and strict hierarchy within the group, and even had detailed etiquette when talking to people and soliciting business.

Li Tai also heard of this knowledge for the first time, and after listening to it, he compared these characteristics with what he had seen before, and found that they really did not match at all, and he couldn't help but laugh dumbly.

The Hu people of the Western Regions surnamed Zhaowu are good at business and trade, and they are also the most important business group in the Silk Road trade.

On the way, these Hu merchant teams obviously took advantage of people's habitual thinking to swagger and deceive. Although he knew what their background was, Li Tai did not investigate deeply, after all, there was no conclusive evidence, and he was not a local incumbent security official, and at the same time, he was not without schadenfreude and secretly wondered who would be the wronged boss who was deceived.

After talking about this knowledge, Dugu Xin sighed again: "Although the rule of a great country is not based on business, whether commerce is prosperous or not can also show whether the national fortune is peaceful and prosperous. Zhaowu Zhuhu in the Western Regions, although he can say that he can benefit and do everything, but there are really not many people who really come and go to our country. These Hu merchants would rather go around the Jinshan moraine and enter and exit the white road, but rarely walk in Longbian. In the old township, there is no shortage of people who know Jinyang, but there are few people who know Chang'an......"

Li Tai didn't know much about the current situation of Longbian's commerce, but he was not surprised that the Hu people mentioned by Duguxin no longer knew where Chang'an was.

He was deeply touched by the low productivity and poor production environment in Guanzhong. Even the local trade activities in Guanzhong are almost non-existent and stagnant, not to mention large-scale foreign trade. No matter how worthless the leg strength is, the Hu businessmen must at least have benefits in order to attract them.

But hearing Duguxin say that Jinyang's popularity among the Hu people is even higher than that of Chang'an, Li Tai is still a little surprised.

The so-called emaciated camel is bigger than a horse, although Guanzhong has been deserted for a long time, but Chang'an was the former capital of the strong man and the center of an empire after all. Although Jinyang is not bad, the real military and political significance has risen, and it is only that as Er Zhurong and Gao Huanbafu successively, his popularity among the Hu people in the Western Regions is actually qualified to be on a par with Chang'an, or even surpass?

In the night, Dugu Xin didn't notice Li Tai's expression, but smiled again and said, "Boshan, if you still insist on going out to defend Beizhou, I have a plan to teach you." Don't just dry up the Luoshui and just make a plan for reclamation, if you can train elite soldiers, drive between the river and Shuoshui, and hunt Hujia in the south of the desert, the benefits will be considerable. If Hu Jia between Pingcheng and Jinyang can be killed, then my Longbian will also be a big profit! ”

The speaker is unintentional, the listener is intentional, Dugu Xin may just say it casually, but Li Tai is interested in this, and he is busy asking about the clues and connections.

Dugu Xin saw that he was full of interest in this, so he also took advantage of the night to tell him about the origin.

As early as the Pingcheng period of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the importance of the Silk Road Longyou Line of trade exchanges between the East and the West was surpassed by the Monan Grassland Line, until Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital to Luoyang, this situation was not reversed, but the eastern starting point of the Silk Road was transferred from Pingcheng to Luoyang.

Jinyang is located between Pingcheng and Luoyang, and has long served as a transit hub between the two places, and the trade and handicraft industry have developed rapidly.

When Erzhu Rong established a hegemon here, in order to consolidate his rule, he scavenged a large number of productive forces and means of production in the Luoyang area to Jinyang, and after Gao Huan defeated the Erzhu clan, he naturally inherited all this, and added an important part of Hebei to the original hegemonic territory of the Erzhu clan, which made Jinyang's status as the economic center of the north more established.

It can be said without denying that in the current post-Three Kingdoms era, Jinyang is the central city with absolute advantages in all aspects of politics, economy and military in the whole north, and the two ancient capitals of Chang'an and Luoyang are dwarfed by it, and Yecheng, the capital of the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi Dynasty, is also inferior to Jinyang in status and strength.

The reason why Jinyang can have a unique position in the current era, in addition to factors such as strategy and current situation, there is also a key point, that is, Jinyang is the largest window for exchanges between the Central Plains and the grassland peoples and even the countries of the Western Regions.

Tuyuhun in the Qinghai region can bypass the barrier of the entire Western Wei territory and marry with the Eastern Wei Dynasty.

After listening to Dugu Xin's explanation, Li Tai also had a preliminary understanding of this series of problems. Compared with the native figures of this era, he only has more knowledge of the general trend of history, but when it comes to the details of the era, his knowledge is not as comprehensive and detailed as that of the contemporaries.

When it comes to pure productivity and production level, the Western Wei Dynasty is still far behind the Eastern Wei Dynasty, so although the Western Wei Dynasty has more geographical advantages than the Eastern Wei Dynasty, the volume of the Eastern Wei Dynasty is difficult for the Western Wei Dynasty to reach in the cross-regional commercial activities such as the Silk Road trade.

The reasons for this situation are naturally varied, and the solution is not the only one, Dugu Xin pointed out a clear way for Li Tai to do it, although the business can't do it, but it can be robbed!

Jinyang was the starting point of the eastern route of the Silk Road, and the trade team needed to pass through the Monan grassland along the Hetao line before entering the Western Regions. If the goods in the Western Regions want to reach Jinyang and enter Hebei, the same is true for the route.

Therefore, if you can plant a flag on this line, the benefits will naturally be considerable, and it will also be a major blow to Jinyang's business security.

I didn't dare to do this before, because Rouran, the overlord of the grassland, was also an important participant in this Silk Road trade, and the Western Wei Dynasty still didn't dare to completely tear his face with Rouran.

But now, Rou Ran is already in full decline, struggling to cope with the constant challenges of the Turks, even if there is still some residual power, they have all been taken by the Worm Princess to Jinyang to press pear flowers, what else is there to fear?

Li Tai thought about it for a while, and felt that this plan was feasible, if he could form a certain effective blockade around the northwest of Jinyang, and specifically capture those Hu merchants who traveled back and forth to the Western Regions, not to mention his own benefits, he could also drive these caravans on the grassland back to the Longyou route, and the old man could set up a card to extract road and bridge tolls!