The Maojin knife from the late Jin Dynasty

Chapter 225 Wei Xiong goes south
Zhao An's arrival immediately aroused the vigilance of Tuoba Sixth Cultivator. However, Zhao An sent envoys to Tuoba Sixth Cultivator and Tuoba Pugen to express that he was not interested in the affairs within the Tuoba tribe.

However, the market where the Tuoba tribe trades with themselves and others will continue to be passed down. I wonder if they are interested in continuing to trade with Youzhou.

Armor and equipment cannot be obtained due to the strict management here in Youzhou, but if you want weapons, especially arrows, you can definitely manage them.

Tuoba Liuxiu kept Zhao An's gloating expression in mind, but how could Tuoba Liuxiu refuse the weapons sold by the Han people.

Because Tuoba Liuxiu can be sure that if he doesn't buy it, the other party will turn around and sell it to Tuoba Pugen.

"I am naturally very happy that our Tuoba tribe's deal with Duke Liu can continue, but there is a condition, that is, your weapons can only be sold to me!" Tuoba Liu cultivated.

"Oh, my respected prince, you are Tuoba's future khan, so you can naturally make such a request.

But we in Youzhou have signed a contract and made an oath with Tuoba Khan, so only Tuoba Khan can modify the content.

So before the Tuoba tribe has a new Khan to revise the new covenant, we will trade equally with everyone in the Tuoba tribe, everyone! "

The messenger spoke the language of Xianbei and never backed down, but showed no fear when facing Tuoba Sixth Cultivator.

In fact, there is nothing to be afraid of. Zhao An is nearby with his army. If he dies, a war will break out the next second.

As a messenger, his life is sometimes very light, but when facing barbarians, he is naturally fearless.

After all, for the Han people, who would be the envoys if they were afraid!
Tuoba Liuxiu looked at the Han envoy in front of him. Although he gritted his teeth, he finally chose to send the envoy away.

He knew that he could not stop Liu Tai from continuing to sell weapons to his opponents, but he hated it when he thought about it.

As for killing the Han envoy, if he had been a general in the past, he would have been able to get a powerful crossbow from Diao Ying's hand like he did to kill Tuoba Yilu, and then he would have given it a try.

But as soon as a person sits in a leadership position, his thinking will immediately change.

Because when I was still my little brother, I basically just focused on completing the task without worrying too much.

But now that you are the boss, the first thing you have to think about is whether you can secure this position, and all other issues must give way.

This is the same for everyone who becomes the boss, even Liu Tai doesn't make any difference.

At most, Liu Tai is more afraid of history books and has a longer-term perspective, so Liu Tai will be more restrained in his actions.

Now that Tuoba Sixth Cultivator is here to visit, it is natural that Zhao An is not idle at Tuoba Pugen, saying that the people of Youzhou ignore your Tuoba tribe's internal struggle for control. Khan says it again.

As for myself and others, I am very willing to continue bilateral trade with you. Your horses, sheepskins, gold, or people can be traded and exchanged for the weapons, salt, and cloth you need.

As for food, you also know that we have traded with so many people and we don’t even have enough to eat, so how can we have any extra for trading?

All in all, Zhao An said, look at what I do, you keep fighting, I am just a melon-eater who comes to this market to watch the market, I want to see a river of blood...

Because there was no movement from Zhao An, Ge Xin evacuated the market and continued back to Youzhou to replace equipment.

After both sides saw that Zhao Anzhen was gradually withdrawing their troops as he said, they finally let go of Liu Tai's desire to take advantage of the situation.

At this moment, both Tuoba Liuxiu and Tuoba Pugen were smiling ferociously at their brothers. It was time to settle the score!

Zhao An wrote down the situation and development of the situation clearly, and then sent it to Liu Tai.

Wei Xiong also took the Wei family to Youzhou with a little anxiety.

Wei Xiong thought about it again and again, and finally decided to go to Qingzhou to fight for himself and the future of his family.

As for Jidan, who was relatively older and chose to stay in the familiar Youzhou, he really didn't want to get involved in the chaos in the Central Plains.

And compared with the dangers in the Central Plains, at least it is much safer to deal with the barbarians here.

Wei Xiong took his family from this market and passed through Youzhou City all the way. He was amazed at the prosperity of Youzhou City.

Of course, the prosperity here is natural, mostly due to Cao Yi's hard work, and also due to Liu Tai's grace.

After the craftsmen who work on the canal have a little money in their hands, if they get married, they will save money and save money for their women and children.

After all, men’s consumption since ancient times has not been as good as that of dogs, and they cannot be raised in a day.

Only the word responsibility forces men to save their expenses and leave them to their families to spend.

But those men who are not married and have children, especially those who are tall and can move bricks quickly, because Liu Tai prefers the basic salary plus piece rate method, they work hard but also earn a lot.

With current prices, they can certainly afford to buy goods, listen to opera, and even hang out in brothels.

Spending the salt stamps in their hands little by little can create prosperity in the entire city.

After all, our current environment is not as good as the era of reform and opening up. At that time, there was a serious imbalance between foreign material living standards and domestic living standards.

Under such circumstances, all domestic milking industries are used to raise funds to supply projects that need development, so as to prevent domestic people from completely losing confidence in catching up due to the gap in internal and external hard power and becoming the target of remote farming. .

But Liu Tai didn't need to be so messy, because the situation he faced was much better.

China has always been the beacon of East Asian civilization. Although the foreigners defeated the rubbish Jin Dynasty by force, the Han people suffered disaster.

But this did not make the Han people lose confidence in their own cultural system. On the contrary, after experiencing the Five Husties in China, the Han people realized that their own culture was actually so powerful. As long as they accepted it, no matter who invaded China, they would be slowly destroyed. Assimilate away.

In this case, what is the use of military generals? To protect our country and achieve cultural victory, we still have to rely on our literati and gentry.

This led to later generations of civil servants choosing to surrender rather than fight. After all, they could not defeat the aliens, but their descendants could always educate the aliens through education. As for themselves, of course they continued to play music and dance!

However, for Wei Xiong, he saw the prosperity of Youzhou City and the excitement of the Grand Canal being built.

The people above didn't look like they were doing hard labor at all. Even when they were working, they were full of energy and vitality.And how can we not have hope? They work and have food and accommodation included, and they also get salt coupons, which can be used to exchange for the goods they want in the city.

In such a happy life, when they work, they are afraid that they will do less and others will do too much. As a result, others will take away their work.

After all, there are only so many jobs on the Grand Canal. How many kilograms of soil are dug per person every day, how many stones are carried by each person, and how many stone pillars are erected by each person. These jobs are all calculated here on a piece-by-piece basis.

If others work more, you will work less, and if you work less, you will earn less. This simple calculation method was quickly accepted by these hardworking people.

As they became more and more troubled, Cao Yi applied to Liu Tai for nurses and doctors in the medical camp, saying that they would try their best to recuperate the bodies of these corvees, and he was afraid that they would die of exhaustion no matter how hard they continued. ah!

Cao Yi felt that as an official, he could not at least tire out the workers who worked hard for him.

Then I am too useless, and the Grand Canal is still growing. If there are more hard-working corvees, my future work will be easier!
And Wei Xiong came all the way to Jinkou, where there were many merchant ships and it was very lively. Ships entered the dock almost all the time.

Then a lever device was used to lift the surprisingly large box down and send it to the carriage. One carriage followed another, but they rushed towards the destination in a steady stream.

It can be said that although this place is busy, it is very orderly. Wei Xiong has never seen such a lively scene.

Wei Xiong went to Qingzhou by sea. After taking out Zhao An's transfer order, he rented three 300-person ships from Tian Tian's fleet and asked Wei Xiong to transport his whole family and all the supplies they carried in one go. Sent to Qingzhou.

Wei Xiong felt the convenience brought by shipping. He had to say that from Youzhou to Qingzhou, if he passed through Jizhou, with such a large scale and population, it would take at least a month.

But as this trade route becomes more and more mature, it can now be reached in two days from Jinkou to Qingzhou with favorable winds and currents. As for the headwinds and currents, it should be almost the night of the third day.

In comparison, it took me a full month to travel from Jiaozhou Port, and I encountered rocks and ice along the way.

In this normal season, people are becoming more and more accustomed to taking the Bohai Bay trade route between Youzhou and Qingzhou.

The corresponding supporting facilities are also being implemented in an orderly manner under Liu Tai's promotion.

For Wei Xiong, after seeing what he saw, he just felt that Liu Tai, Chu Hui and other senior officials in Qingzhou were well managed.

But for Liu Tai, the waterway in the Bohai Bay determines that when he fights with Shile, he can abandon large tracts of land at any time to become his strategic depth without affecting the normal operation of his economy.

To be honest, the situation that Liu Tai hoped for the most was that Shi Le could not help but send an army to attack him.

Unlike the Jie tribe under Shi Le's command now, who only harass the people on their borders just to hunt for people.

"My lord, the Imperial Guard of Jizhou sent another report, saying that they captured a slave-catching team of Shile's army, causing nuisance around Jizhou!" Chu Fei said and handed Wang Sang's report to Liu Tai.

"Assign some of the armor to Wang Sang. He knows how to deal with it!" Liu Tai said calmly.

"Won't the Duke let Wang Duhu retaliate against Shi Le? We will also send an army to harass Shi Le!"

Yang Yu looked at Liu Tai and said in a deep voice, "If this continues, it will do great harm to the morale of the border soldiers!"

"Don't cross the border, this is the red line and don't cross it!" Liu Tai shook his head and said,
"Ge Xin is training cavalry, Zhou Ping is training new soldiers, and we have a lot of soldiers waiting to change their uniforms.

And we can also use the Jie clan to wreak havoc and help us train a local army in Jizhou.

So since we are not completely ready to fight against Shi Le, let's just endure it and be fully prepared.

The intensity of those slave-catching teams was still within a tolerable range, and that was the time to test our strategic determination.

If you want to fight against Shi Le, you must hit it with one strike. If you delay and stalemate, there may not be peace in the south! "

"General, are you worried that the Sima family will attack us?" Chu Hui couldn't help but frowned.

"I'm not worried about the Sima family. Even if they send people, I believe that my soldiers can defeat them!"

Liu Tai said, "But the problem is that after Zu Ti returned to Yuzhou to reorganize, he began to erode Yanzhou and win over many powerful people in Yanzhou. It seems that he was also looking for opportunities to go to the north.

Our Taishan County is the nail we buried in Yanzhou. If we have a stalemate with Shi Lezhen, Taishan County will be in danger! "

"General, aren't you worried about Gou Xi?" Chu Hui asked Liu Tai,
"After these years of recuperation and recuperation, he now has tens of thousands of soldiers in his hands. He is gradually gaining a foothold in Xuzhou again!"

"Gou Xi..." Liu Tai shook his head and said calmly,
"The same thing goes, Gou Xi can fight anyone, but he can't fight us.

At the beginning, we only approved the soldiers' clear policy on our prisoners, and let them fight without any thought of death.

How many of their soldiers have received salt stamps now? If they start a fight with us, I think they will even sell Gou Xi to us! "

What Liu Tai said was true, because Gou Xi was able to recover this time because it was really his own fault.

In addition, everything like snowflake salt, Qingzhou cloth, and raindrop porcelain were all sent from his side to Gou Xi for trading. Taking advantage of the favorable location of the transfer station, Gou Xi recovered quickly.

Well, this raindrop porcelain is Liu Tai's first harvest after using a large amount of coal.

Because the coal increases the calcination temperature, making the flame calcination more stable, and coupled with the craftsmanship of the porcelain craftsmen, some special shapes and lustres are produced. Anyway, Liu Tai's shallow appreciation level only knows blue and white porcelain.

After Chu Hui's introduction, Liu Tai learned that Zibo ceramics had been a craft inherited in Linzi since ancient times.

But as time went by, earth kilns in other places developed, and porcelain in Qingzhou declined.

However, with the excavation and use of coal mines, there are more stable and higher-temperature flames here. This makes porcelain craftsmen say that it is not that Qingzhou does not have good porcelain, it just does not have good flames.

After using coal, they came up with this raindrop porcelain, which became a new product for Liu Tai to collect IQ tax.

Needless to say, the luster alone has a dimension-reducing impact on the ceramics of this era, and it can be regarded as an unexpected gain.

(End of this chapter)