Han Du shook his head slightly and explained: "It's not that I'm worried, it's just that he has just succeeded to the throne and is young, so some of his thoughts are natural."
"Yun Ye is young, doesn't he need to rely more on important ministers like you?" An Qing wondered, "Didn't the emperor also tell you to assist him?"
Han Du smiled faintly and said, "Don't treat the emperor like a child. He is in his twenties and has children. He is already an adult. If you still treat him like a child because of his seniority, you will be in trouble." A loss."
Seeing that An Qing was beginning to think deeply, Han Du continued: "Even if the emperor personally said that he needed my assistance, I would not agree. The emperor obviously has his own ideas, so I'd better not interfere casually. If the emperor really needs me, He will find me. Now, we’d better live our own lives.”
Han Du waved his hand to stop An Qing's doubts and said with a smile: "I have served Emperor Gaozu for more than ten years, and assisted the late emperor for more than ten years. How many good years do people have in a lifetime? I have been in my prime for more than ten years. I gave it to Lao Zhu’s family, so I have to leave some time for myself to enjoy it, right?”
"Glib tongue!" An Qing slapped Han Du playfully and stopped talking.
?????????????????? Early the next morning, Yu Qian hurriedly came to see him.
"What's wrong?" Han Du asked directly after seeing Yu Qian.
It stands to reason that Yu Qian is very busy at Sihai Trading Company now. Unless there is something important, he will not come.
Yu Qian quickly bowed and said: "Teacher, there are Ottoman businessmen coming to Horumos."
Since the Ottoman Empire was defeated by Timur, even the trade route to Khrumos was interrupted. Now that Timur's empire was in chaos, they found the opportunity to reopen their trade routes.
But when they arrived at Horumos, they found that the place had completely changed its owner.
"Are they here to buy Da Ming goods?" Han Du was confused.
Yu Qian nodded, "Yes, but they require that the transaction must be based on the previous price."
"Must?" Han Du smiled immediately when he heard these two words.
Now that Sihai Trading Company has a complete monopoly on all Ming Dynasty goods sources, it is natural to raise prices to increase profits. In addition, due to the chaos in Timur's empire, Sihai Trading Company more than doubled the price of materials such as grain and cloth.
"Teacher, I have repeatedly confirmed that this is what they meant." Yu Qian nodded and replied.
Han Du pondered, these Ottoman businessmen really deserved the word "Oman" in their name.
"Come on, let me go take a look."
...
Entering the city lord's mansion, Han Du heard an arrogant voice as soon as he came outside the hall.
Since he didn't understand what the voice was saying, Han Du walked in and saw three old men with white beards on their heads and black robes. Their backs were turned to him. One of them was spitting. Roar loudly.
"How long has he been in this state?" Han Du turned his head and asked Yu Qian in surprise.
Yu Qian smiled dryly and replied: "He started when I went to find the teacher. I don't know if he took a break in the middle."
When Hard saw Han Du, it was as if he were seeing a relative, and he quickly stepped forward to greet him: "Your loyal servant pays homage to the Duke."
Han Du waved his hand and signaled Hader to excuse him.
Harder straightened up and quickly continued what Yu Qian said: "He has been talking about it from the beginning to now, and I don't know where he got such abundant physical strength." "What is he talking about?" Han Du raised his chin.
Harder's face suddenly became embarrassed and he hesitated: "Anyway, it's not a good thing to say."
At this time, the old man who spoke stopped roaring, looked back at Han Du who was standing at the door, and then said a few words loudly.
Han Du ignored it and walked directly to the main seat and slowly sat down. He turned his head and looked at Hader, "What did he say just now?"
Harder said quickly: "He asked the Duke if he was the chief executive here."
"Then tell him my identity." Han Du said softly.
After receiving the order, Hader immediately stood up and introduced in a more arrogant tone than the old man opposite him: "The great Duke of the Ming Empire, the destroyer of the Timur Empire, and the founder of Khurumos. ....."
I don’t know whether Hader frightened the old man by announcing a series of titles, or whether he was afraid of the Ming Empire.
In short, the old man's attitude improved significantly after Harder's introduction.
Han Du motioned to Hader again, "Ask him, what exactly does he want to do?"
After asking about it, Hard said to Han Du: "Master, he said he wanted to buy grain and cloth, but he wanted an extremely low price. .”
Don't you want to buy silk, porcelain, tea or the like?
Han Du narrowed his eyes when he heard this. Logically speaking, the Ottomans should prefer these rare goods from the Ming Dynasty, but the people in front of them only wanted things like food and cloth.
Suddenly, Han Du smiled and said to the old man: "You are not ordinary businessmen, are you?"
"Master, he said they are just ordinary businessmen." After asking, Harder replied.
"Hmph!" Faced with the old man's face-to-face deception, Han Du became angry and shouted loudly: "Now the Timur Empire is in constant melee, and even Anatolia cannot avoid it. If you are ordinary businessmen, how do you dress? From Anatolia?"
After Hade shouted Han Du's question in front of the three people, Han Du clearly saw that the eyes of the two people behind him suddenly changed.
In this way, Han Du strengthened his suspicion. These are not businessmen at all. Even if they are businessmen, they must have official backgrounds in the Ottoman Empire.
Seeing that the old man at the head was speechless, Han Du continued: "Ottomans have no shortage of food and cloth, so why do you have to travel thousands of miles to Hurumos to buy it?"
"I think you saw the civil strife in Timur's empire and wanted to take the opportunity to retake the occupied land. In order to prepare food for the troops as soon as possible, you chose to come to Khrumos, right?"
After listening to Harder's words, the old man could no longer maintain the calmness on his face and showed a look of horror.
"You, you are a devil. Only devils have the ability to see through people's hearts..." The old man pointed at Han Du with anger and fear.
】
Harder was immediately dissatisfied and shouted loudly: "How can you! The wisdom of the great Duke is like the sun in the sky, it is everywhere, how can you slander him?"
The old man glanced at Hard, stopped arguing with him, and bowed directly to Han Du: "Musa came here to buy grain and cloth, and asked the Duke to sell them to us."
"There is no food and no cloth. You can go back." Han Du refused without hesitation.
Even Hade couldn't help but look back at Han Du in confusion when he heard this.
Seeing that Handu had no intention of taking it back, Hader relayed Handu's intention to Musa.
"No! Your Excellency the Duke, when Musa came, he saw that the grain depot in Horumos was full. Why didn't you sell it to us?" Musa was extremely unwilling and argued loudly.
Han Du smiled slightly, shook his head and said: "You are wrong. Those are grains that are to be transported back to the Ming Dynasty. They are not for sale, so they cannot be sold to you."
"I can pay you the price you asked for." Seeing Han Du's attitude, Musa suddenly felt something bad in his heart. Instead of trying to bargain and take advantage, just ask.
"It's not about the price, it's about not selling the grain!" Han Du said firmly.
Later, Musa was even willing to increase the price to buy the grain. Even Hader and Yu Qian were moved, but Han Du refused to let go no matter what.
"If Your Excellency the Duke is willing to sell grain to us, the great Sultan Muhammad I will definitely remember Your Excellency the Duke." Musa stopped pretending and wanted to buy the grain even if he quoted the name of Muhammad I.
"Muhammad I?" Handu smiled and shook his head, "Even if he came in person, it would be impossible for him to buy food."
After hearing what Hader said, Musa widened his eyes angrily and looked at Handu like a pagan.
After a moment, Musa, who was full of disappointment, could only stare at Handu angrily and cursed in a low voice: "Devil, God will punish you!"
Even Hader didn't hear this sentence clearly and saw Musa leaving with people.
After the others left, Yu Qian asked in confusion: "Why doesn't the teacher sell the grain to them? And the price is pretty good!"
Han Du smiled faintly and explained patiently: "If it is sold to the Timurid people, this price is okay. But if it is sold to the Ottoman Empire, no price is acceptable!"
"Why is this?" Yu Qian asked.
Han Du picked up the tea cup, took a sip and said: "The Timurid Empire has fallen apart and is now in the middle of a melee. Only by selling food to them can they have the strength to continue the melee. At the same time, it will also prevent the Timurid people from planting their own crops. Food makes it increasingly difficult for them to get rid of their dependence on us."
Yu Qian kept nodding his head as he listened. He had thought about this a bit, but none of the teachers explained it in such detail. When he heard it now, it was like seeing the sun through the clouds, and his eyes suddenly became enlightened.
Handu continued: "But the Ottoman Empire is different. I heard that it has now put down the rebellion in the country. Logically speaking, when the country is settled, there will be no shortage of food. But they went to Hurumos to buy food. This It shows that they have a huge demand for food now.”
Yu Qian's heart suddenly brightened and he said first: "So the teacher thinks they want to launch a war? And the target is Timur who is caught in the melee?"
"Not necessarily the whole Timur." Handu added a reminder: "When Timur defeated Osman, even the king was captured and killed by Timur, and a large area of land was occupied by Timur. So what happened to Osman? Don’t you remember this great feud?”
"Now that Timur is involved in the melee, they will definitely want to regain the land that Timur occupied."
"Teacher, what do you think?" Yu Qian immediately realized that there was a profound meaning in Han Du's move.
Handu lowered his head and muttered: "A strong and unified Timur Empire is not in our interests, and the same is true for the Ottoman Empire."
"Don't the Ottoman Empire want to attack Timur? Then we will support Timur and let them fight endlessly. This is the most beneficial thing for us!"
