When it comes to strong soldiers and brave generals, the soldiers of the Great Zhou Dynasty have always been absolutely confident. After all, the north has experienced decades of turmoil, and many generals have been on the battlefield for many years, fighting countless fierce battles. Not to mention the direct lineage brought by Guo Ning from Hebei, even the old Red Coat Army and the remnants of the Jin Army in various places. To be fair, those who can gain a foothold in the new dynasty have all gone through mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
The army composed of these warriors is like a giant with strong muscles and bones, with infinite strength. It is only due to nutritional deficiencies that the body becomes thin. But after the establishment of the Great Zhou Dynasty, huge amounts of resources were poured into it, and it naturally became full of muscles and became as strong as a mountain.
Yin Chang often reviewed the armies of Kaifeng Prefecture on weekdays and had a good understanding of the soldiers and horses in various places. He said that among the 40,000 troops on Nanjing Road, there were 2,000 archery masters who could compare with Meng Gong. It was a bit of a boast, but it was not much different.
After all, the Great Zhou Dynasty was a prosperous country. The officers and soldiers of the Zhou army looked at the Southern Dynasties, just like the Song Dynasty, which dominated the Central Plains, looked at the Southern Tang Dynasty. The famous sentence "How can we allow others to snore on the side of the couch" was also what many Zhou soldiers thought.
Since the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty, many rich men have been created in the army due to the blessing of trade income. But those who can obtain such wealth are, after all, higher-ranking generals. Ordinary soldiers also have benefits, but they all want to make meritorious deeds in order to win greater wealth.
Their target was naturally only the Southern Song Dynasty. Therefore, Yin Chang had the courage not to act alone. To a certain extent, a considerable number of the officers and soldiers of the Zhou Army in the south shared this intention.
At this point, Yin Chang relaxed his mind and continued: "Li Langzhong, I have been in Kaifeng for three years, not just for free. In these three years, there is nothing we don't know about the situation of various armies in the Southern Dynasties. ? Just like you invited Ambassador Zhao Fangzhao, he is considered a very talented person among the border commanders of the Southern Dynasties. We dare not be less vigilant against him. But you know that he has participated in How many businesses did he have with us? Do you know how much money he made? "
"Appreciate further details."
"Tea, wine, salt, porcelain, and medicinal materials, this person has a hand in at least five major items. To this end, he also misappropriated a large amount of military pay allocated by the Song Dynasty in the Southern Dynasties in exchange for trade. In the past year alone, he has been here The money earned from above is no less than 400,000 yuan!"
Speaking of this, Yin Chang looked at Li Yun's expression. Seeing that Li Yun was not surprised, he turned his eyes and understood.
"That's right. Mr. Li, of course I can't hide this from you. After all, those firms that do business with the Southern Dynasty, most likely you are behind them. Even Zhao Fang came here probably to discuss business with you!"
"Ahem, Jinghu and other places are naturally a land of fish and rice, with rich production. I, the Great Zhou Dynasty, can also make profits by dealing with them."
"That's natural. We've all admired your business skills, Mr. Li, for a long time. But right now, I'm just talking about Zhao Fang... This Zhao Fang is called Shuai Chen. After all, he is a scholar. He is not the same as those of us who live by swords. . Guess, with the benefit of 400,000 yuan a year, how much more can this guy think about fighting? Guess he loses gold and silver every year, what can the people below him get? Ordinary soldiers and generals below can compete with him. Do you have a single heart?"
At this point, Yin Chang raised his finger and pointed at the serious-looking young man on the reed shed: "Aren't the people of Song Dynasty weak? Isn't Zhao Fang weak? Or is this boy named Meng Gong not weak? Why should they?"
"I don't know yet, but I'll find out soon."
Li Yun responded and raised his hand. He waved to the reed shed and quickly attracted Meng Gong's attention. Meng Gong bent down and said a few words to Zhao Fang. Zhao Fang immediately showed a happy face, stood up, and nodded slightly to Li Yun.
Li Yun quickened his pace and walked towards the reed shed, and Yin Chang followed up.
At this time, everyone in the troupe saw that no new tricks were born in the reed shed, so they plucked up the courage to continue the performance. The melodious music sounded again, quickly attracting the audience's attention.
Li Yun and others quickly got out of the crowd and boarded the reed shed. The reed shed is very large, and there are two unlit glass lamps hanging at the stairwell of the second floor. When Li Yun walked up the stairs, Zhao Fang was already waiting here.
Among the ministers of the Zhou Dynasty, he was also active in Lin'an of the Song Dynasty, and he could speak well in front of the prime ministers of the Song Dynasty. Such a figure involved too many powerful people in the Zhou and Song Dynasties, and also represented There are so many benefits hidden under the water. This benefit is huge,
It has already overridden the political relations between the two countries. Even Zhao Fang, who is the ambassador of Beijing and Huzhou, is involved in it and has benefited deeply from it, so he has to be extra polite to Li Yun.
Zhao Fang was very polite, but Li Yun's attitude seemed a little more serious. There was no smile on his face, and there was even a bit of doubt in his expression.
Without sitting down to exchange greetings or exchanging names, Li Yun said directly: "Last year and two years ago, I invited Ambassador Zhao to come to Kaifeng as a guest. Both times, Ambassador Zhao declined. I thought that this time in Kaifeng, You will still see Mr. Mianzhi or General Hu."
Mr. Mianzhi refers to You Jiugong, the Hubei transshipment judge, and General Hu refers to Hu Zaixing, the commander of the Ezhou military and horse capital. These two people are Zhao Fang's right-hand assistants, and they are obviously deeply involved in the business dealings between Zhao Fang and Li Yun.
Yin Chang couldn't help but snorted coldly, thinking: "The people in the left and right department can really stretch their hands long enough."
Zhao Fang just ignored it and said with a smile: "What needs to be reported this time is the important results brought to us by the trade exchanges between the two companies in the past three years. After thinking about it, I have to come here to show my respect for your country. , your contribution.”
Li Yun sighed: "To be honest with Ambassador Zhao, I just arrived in Kaifeng this morning. I had other things on hand, so I didn't think much about this meeting. I always felt that the two families have cooperated many times and have become friends. Now we can have a drink Good wine, let’s talk about friendship.”
"This is what I wish for," Zhao Fangwen said solemnly.
Li Yun shook his head: "No, no. Ambassador Zhao came here personally not for friendship. I guess that what you reported may not be a good thing for me, Da Zhou."
Zhao Fang chuckled a few times: "Mr. Li, you are completely wrong. This matter is definitely a good thing for the cooperation between our two families. Please see..."
As he spoke, he took out a scroll from his puff sleeve and spread it out on the table.
Li Yun and Yin Chang took a half step forward at the same time and saw that what was depicted on the scroll was actually the geography of Jinghu Three Roads in the Song Dynasty in the Southern Dynasties. Especially in the Zaoyang area, which is close to the border between the two countries, there is a lot of writing.
"This is?"
"In the past three years, we have built Pinglu Weir in Zaoyang. Pinglu Weir runs from Zaoyang City to Shibali Junxi, and runs from the Badie River to the side of the river. Zhang, irrigated nine thousand hectares of fields, established ten villages and three jurisdictions, divided the army and civilians into villages, and harvested 800,000 dan last year, and more this year. Naturally, this was accomplished by the prosperity of our two businesses, and we came one after another. All the hundreds of thousands of dollars in my hands have been settled in this area."
Perhaps it was brought back memories of hard work. When he said this, Zhao Fang sighed and said with emotion: "It is really difficult to run such a large business quietly under your eyes. Fortunately, you gave me The money is abundant, and I have enough confidence to drive my subordinates to do things. I have been going back and forth for a long time, and now I have finally decided..."
I don't know how much civilian power was used to build a farm of this scale, not to mention how far is Zaoyang from the border of Dazhou? Although it is separated by the remaining branches of Tongbai Mountain, it only takes more than half a day by a fast horse to travel from Xinye to Zaoyang. Zhou Junshao did not feel any hindrance at all in his daily dealings with the spies.
However, before Zhao Fang took the initiative to talk about it, neither the detectives from the Left and Right Division nor the reconnaissance cavalry under the Nanjing Tongjun Division mentioned the matter. Such a big project was completely concealed by Zhao Fang!
Both Li Yun and Yin Chang's expressions darkened.
Zhao Fang continued: "Based on this farmland and the thirteen attached military fortresses, the Zhongshun Army in Zaoyang has expanded to three times its original size; the number of weapons and armor is five times its original size. By the way. , purchased thousands of war horses from the northeastern hinterland of your country, and they are all of excellent quality. I am here to ask Lieutenant General Li to convey this news to your country's Nanjing Military Command Department and Caizhou Zhennan Army Jiedu Envoy Department. Lest your country misjudge the situation and waste the lives of your soldiers in the depths of Tongbai Mountain."
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