If he had not joined the sect's activities, Zhang Jingxu would actually have wanted to be more reserved.
"Then it's better to be respectful than to obey orders. But brother Zhang, in fact, these three good brothers of mine also have good talents, but due to various reasons, they are temporarily unable to leave Heshan County to join the sect, so... "
Before Zhang Jingxu finished speaking, he was interrupted by Zhang Ran, "Little brother, don't forget that our Zhang family only accepts people with the surname Zhang, so do your good brothers also have the surname Zhang?"
Zhang Jingxu didn't intend to lie, so he shook his head and said: "No, none of them are named Zhang. It's just that I want to let you guys see if there is any chance to introduce them to other sects. After all, this Boyang City can be considered a hundred thousand square meters." It is the largest city within the city. I remember that there are several sects in this city. Plus the ones outside the city, there are more than twenty sects in total, right? Now is the time to recruit new people, so if possible, I want to take my brothers with me to Boyang City."
"I didn't expect you to be so loyal, little brother! Okay, we will rent a carriage in Heshan County later, and you and your friends can ride in the carriage and come to us in Boyang City."
Zhang Yu said with a smile: "We came to Heshan County this time to purchase some special supplies, so we must return to Boyang City immediately after purchasing them, otherwise these things may go bad."
As soon as Zhang Yu said this, Yin En immediately said: "You are talking about celestial jade, right? My family runs a tailor shop, so I heard that someone mined a batch of celestial jade, and I have been looking for a buyer in the past two days! Because after the azure is excavated, if it cannot be processed into azure powder within ten days, it will become an ordinary stone."
"Oh, I didn't expect that this little brother is quite knowledgeable. Yes, we are here to buy celestial jade this time, because the Tianzhu businessman Apala we mentioned before likes to collect porcelain, and this celestial jade processing The azure powder made from it is currently the best material for making azure porcelain! Therefore, this azure porcelain is extremely valuable."
Zhang Yu shook his head and said: "Unfortunately, the production process of azure porcelain is too complicated, and the control of temperature is also very demanding. Therefore, even if the most powerful porcelain craftsmen in Boyang City and even the entire Silver Dragon Empire were to create azure porcelain, it would be no more than The success rate is about 10%! So we plan to buy more celestial jade this time. As long as we can produce one piece of celestial porcelain, it will not be a loss, and we can give away the extra money to others."
When Yin En heard what he said, he immediately nodded and said: "Yes, I also heard that celadon is very rare today! You know, our Heshan County usually relies on being a place for merchants coming from north to south, so it can be considered a I have made a lot of money, but I have never seen a piece of azure porcelain! So I heard that the azure jade unearthed this time has been targeted by several big families in Heshan County, but they are now They are not too anxious, after all, if the sapphire cannot be sold within ten days, it will be worthless, so they have chosen to lower the price very tacitly and prepare to wait until a few days before selling."
"As expected, we also heard from a friend that you have found azure jade, but if you think about it carefully, this news should be released by the person who dug out the azure jade. After all, if no outsiders come to buy it, he The sapphires in my hands must be discounted by at least half."
Zhang Ran smiled, looked at Yin En and said: "So, little brother, do you know the person who sells azure jade? Although our Zhangjiamen is not a big sect, it is still a strong sect. I I don’t think those big families in Heshan County will have a quarrel with us over a little piece of sapphire."
What Zhang Ran didn't expect was that Yin En shook his head very seriously and said: "That's not necessarily true. Brother Zhang, you may not know that several of our families in Heshan County actually dislike each other! In the Luo family back then, After the accident, these families all wanted to take the opportunity to replace them, so a lot of bad things happened between them, so now they are all at odds with each other! And now it is said that there are two families in Heshan County who are fighting against each other. But in fact, five families were fighting secretly; so this time they were able to unite and lower the price together, instead of each rushing to buy the celestial jade at a high price. In fact, the purpose was to jointly deliver a set of celestial porcelain to the lord of Far West City. "
"The lord of Far West City is Ge Qianqiu, right? I remember that he has no interest in porcelain, right? And since this is a gift, why don't you families in Heshan County buy all the azure jade separately? Although doing so The price will be a little more expensive, but it won’t be a big deal. If a set of sky celadon can be produced by then, it will definitely be able to make back the money." Zhang Ran asked puzzledly.
"Yes, that seems to be the case, but the problem is that this set of sky celadon is not so much given to Ge Qianqiu in Far West City as to Ge Qianqiu's young daughter-in-law; I know the news about this Not much, I just heard that Ge Qianqiu’s daughter-in-law likes all kinds of porcelain very much. Now she is short of such a set of eye-catching sky blue porcelain, so those families in Heshan County also know that if they send it in their own names, it is possible. It would be a bit inappropriate, so I decided to give it to Ge Qianqiu in the name of Heshan County."
Yin En thought for a while and continued: "Brother Zhang, you also know that although our Heshan County has always claimed to be a county, it is actually just a larger market, so some things have always been No; this is fine in normal times, but haven’t there been some not-so-good gossips coming from outside recently?”
At this point, Yin En stopped talking.
However, Zhang Yu understood what Yin En meant, "Are you talking about the fact that His Majesty has not gone to court for a month? So now there are rumors that His Majesty has fallen into a coma, so many interested people are starting to take action. , for example, the Ninth Prince in the west has already gathered his men, and even united the Huolun Kingdom and the Qishi Tribe... And I also heard that other princes are also constantly mobilizing their troops, so our Boyang City is in Two days ago, a thousand people were sent to camp on the edge of the Xinjiang River."
"So you, Heshan County, are planning to get a formal identity for yourself, right? So as not to be in an embarrassing situation. After all, as a market, there really isn't much room for maneuver when things happen."
Zhang Ran sighed and said a little melancholy: "If His Majesty doesn't show up in the recent period, something might really happen... After all, His Majesty has been sitting in that position for decades. His sons have grown from teenagers to old people, so this may be their only chance to become emperor! Therefore, it is no wonder that the families in Heshan County want to join Far West City. If they don't If you do that, it could become history."
"If that's the case, then we might have trouble buying those celestial jades."
Zhang Xin, who had been silent all this time, finally couldn't help it at this time, "If those families in Heshan County are determined to get this batch of azure jade, then we may not be able to buy what we want. quantity."
"There's nothing we can do about it. After all, we really just want to give gifts, and Heshan County is trying to leave a way out for itself."
Zhang Ran sighed and could only say with a wry smile: "Then let's give it a try. If it doesn't work, we will go back to Boyang City directly. But before that, we will still rent a carriage for you. Then you can go directly Just tell the dealer our names."
After hearing this, Liu Xing suddenly realized that Heshan County was not as good as he had imagined before, because Heshan County is now a large market organized by several families.
This would not be a problem in normal times, because there are not many markets like this in the Xinlong Empire. After all, places where money can be made must be indispensable for people, so markets will naturally form!
For example, the Stone Town that Liu Xing saw in a chess piece profile before is basically a large market similar to Heshan County. This Stone Town attracted a large number of miners because of the discovery of many mines. This attracted some vendors to sell various small commodities, and over time a market appeared to serve the mining area, and finally evolved into today's Stone Town.
However, compared to Stone Town, Heshan County is in a very embarrassing situation, because the importance of Stone Town is self-evident, and the ores produced will be important strategic resources! Therefore, when the world is in chaos in the near future, Stone Town will definitely be unconditionally transformed as soon as possible.
But Heshan County is different, because in the final analysis it is a high-speed service area, so it doesn't matter whether it has any impact! But the most important thing is that this high-speed service area is quite rich, so it will definitely attract the attention of interested people when the situation is chaotic!
So now there are only three roads before Heshan County - the first is that if the world is in chaos, then everyone will simply go their separate ways, and Heshan County will become history from then on; the second is that those families will Taking the lead, the market in Heshan County was directly transformed into a fortress, or it could also be said to be a bandit. In short, it was to protect oneself in troubled times and wait for an opportunity to recruit security.
Let’s talk about these two roads first. Liu Xing thinks they are not very good, because the former requires the courage of a strong man to cut off his wrist. After all, Heshan County is located in a good place, so “Liu Peng”’s family deliberately went from the next door to the other road. I moved to a county to practice medicine, and indeed gained more income! Therefore, if everyone in Heshan County is now allowed to go their separate ways, some people will definitely be reluctant to part with it. . . What's more, not long ago a lot of manpower and material resources were spent on building roads and bridges.
So I really can't bear it. . . But if you don't leave, you may lose more.
So what about the second path?
One word - gambling.
If you win the bet, you can make a small profit, but if you lose, you will lose everything.
Liu Xing has read a lot of history, so he also knows that during some war periods in history, many people would build forts in the mountains to protect themselves. The most famous one was probably built by Dong Zhuo. Meiwu in Meiwu was said to be called "Little Chang'an" at that time. This shows how impressive the defensive power of this Wubao was. Therefore, if Dong Zhuo had not been killed by his eldest son, then he might have Will hide in the eyebrow dock.
Therefore, if Heshan County can transform itself into a qualified city or fortress, it should be able to find a glimmer of hope in these troubled times, but there is no guarantee that it will be involved in a sword fight, and the most embarrassing thing is that in After the war, if no one is sent to recruit people from above, then the situation will be a bit troublesome.
Therefore, in Liu Xing's opinion, it is best for Heshan County to take this third path now, which is the way out that Heshan County wants to find for itself - to transform from the current market into a real county town.
As long as it can become a real county town, then Heshan County will be considered stable. At least there is no need to worry about someone knocking on the door one day.
However, there is a big problem in taking this third path now, that is, Heshan Market has existed for so long, and as a result, it has never thought about becoming a county seat. So what is the reason? Don’t you want someone to take care of you? After all, the market and the county seat are two different concepts.
Therefore, although in the usual Heshan Market, people pay when they should pay, it can make Boyang City and Far West City turn a blind eye, but now it is not easy to do it temporarily, because anyone with a discerning eye can I can see what you, Heshan Market, are thinking.
"With such a set of Qingyun Porcelain, it is impossible for Heshan County to become a real county. After all, Ge Qianqiu's youngest son is not too favored, but he is still better than our Boyang City."
Zhang Ran took out some dry food from the package on the side, "Our city lord of Boyang City is also old, so he has been preparing to abdicate in the past two years, but he did not expect that the current situation will change so quickly. So I didn't dare to think about retirement anymore. After all, if a fight really broke out, Boyang City might become a war zone immediately. After all, the other side of the Xinjiang River not far away belonged to another prince. Territory; so do you want to eat something with us? I see that you are leaving in a hurry this time, and you don’t seem to have brought any dry food with you? "
Zhang Jingxu nodded awkwardly and said, "Yes, if it hadn't rained we would have arrived at our destination by now, so we don't have to worry about food or anything else. But I didn't expect this heavy rain to come like this."
"Then let's have something to eat and drink together. Anyway, it's not far from Heshan County."
