After leaving the Chongqing government office, the messenger sent last time was already waiting for Ouyang Xuan at the door. This messenger's name is Li Kaipeng, who has been Li Shuang's nephew for many years and has followed him for many years. Ouyang Xuan sent him as a messenger not only because of his cleverness, but also to ask him to stay in Chongqing Mansion to take care of Li Shuang after delivering the message. After Li Shuang injured himself, he was expelled from the Qingfu Xiang Army by Pan Tongzhi. Although he was given a pension, it was extremely meager. When Huang Dagen and Dong Hu went to Fucheng to deliver the letter, they saw that Li Shuang's food and accommodation conditions were extremely poor. When they returned to Liuliba, they informed Ouyang Xuan immediately. After Ouyang Xuan and others discussed, they asked Li Kaipeng to bring enough money and materials to support Li Shuang's daily needs.
Although Li Shuang's new residence is small, it is also clean. It can be seen that Li Kaipeng is also very attentive. Not seen for more than a month, Li Shuang is in good mental condition, but still unable to get out of bed and walk. He was extremely excited to meet Ouyang Xuan and others, and even more sad when talking about the past. When Ouyang Xuan told Li Shuang about the development of Liuliba in recent times, Li Shuang suddenly said: "Brother Xuan, I have some old friends in Chongqing Mansion. I recently learned from them that you and others have made great contributions. , I feel very relieved. It’s just that the situation in Jiguan Mountain is so good that it has attracted the jealousy of people with ulterior motives. I heard that there are treacherous people who have repeatedly bribed Governor Pan to covet your official position, but they have not yet succeeded because the bandits have not been wiped out and the roads are not clear. , you have to be careful when you wait!"
Li Shuang's heartfelt words not only made Huang Dagen and the others angry, but also shocked Ouyang Xuan. No wonder Pan Tongzhi never mentioned the reward. It turned out that he wanted to wait for the peach from Liuliba to mature before selling it at a good price! However, although he was angry in his heart, Ouyang Xuan was not afraid that Pan Tongzhi would send someone to seize his position. He looked around and said: "You can't follow the chaos! It's not that I am greedy for official position, but if the villain's conspiracy succeeds, the Pili Army and the people in the mountains will suffer again. However, I only need a few people to know about this matter, and I can't go around. Promote”. After listening to Ouyang Xuan's words, everyone said: "That's exactly what it should be."
Ouyang Xuan then mentioned to Li Shuang that once the road is clear, he would take him to the mountains to seek development together. Li Shuang was moved by Ouyang Xuan's sincerity and choked up: "Thank you to Brother Xuan for not despising me as a disabled person. After Yu recovers, I will do my best to work with all the brothers to help Brother Xuan achieve great achievements, even if I am a mess." Don’t give up”.
After bidding farewell to Li Shuang, Ouyang Xuan took the people back to the trade team's camp. Due to the large number of people on this trip, the trade team found an open space to rest next to the dock outside Ximen City in order to save hotel expenses. Of course, the more important reason is that there are a lot of mountain goods brought this time, so it is not suitable to move into the city and camp. Firstly, because the wealth is kept secret, they are afraid of attracting jealousy and coveting; secondly, if they are all sold in Chongqing Prefecture, the price will be lowered by unscrupulous merchants because the shipment quantity is too large.
When they returned to the camp, Wang Youfu, Zhu Tiaozi and Dong Hu had returned from selling goods. The three of them reported the sales situation to Ouyang Xuan with happy faces. Although they only sold half of the mountain goods, the profits they made were extremely generous, and their income far exceeded everyone's expectations. The good price was achieved not only because Zhu Tiaozi was well versed in buying and selling methods, but also because Du Daquan, who was accompanying him for generations, had been a doctor and druggist for generations and was very familiar with the traditional Chinese medicines he brought. He resolved the price cut by unscrupulous merchants with just a few words. Of course, the good price of this batch of mountain goods also benefited from the bandits in Wanjiaping. These Wanjiaping mountain bandits use force to plunder mountain products by imposing "taxes" in the mountains, or they monopolize the sale of daily necessities such as salt, and purchase mountain products in exchange for very low prices, and then sell them to people who collect stolen goods every September and October. The evil merchant changed hands several times and by the time it arrived at the Chongqing Mansion store, the price had already doubled several times. This time, the Pili Army sold the mountain goods in advance in June, and the price was much lower. Naturally, the supply exceeded demand. You must know that furs, honey, precious Chinese medicines and other mountain products are not only popular in Chongqing Prefecture, but can also be sold downstream to Jiading Prefecture, Chongqing Prefecture and even Lin'an Prefecture, the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty. Those high-ranking officials have a huge demand for precious goods. So when he learned from Li Tiaozi that only half of the mountain goods could be exchanged for two thousand kilograms of salt, Dong Hu, who was accompanying him, was so surprised that he could not speak. This shows how ridiculously expensive the salt in Jiguan Mountain is.
The distance between Chongqing Mansion and Qiongzhou is eighty miles and can be reached in one day. In order to avoid the scorching heat in June, the trade team set out early on the second day before dawn. In order to reduce the physical load on everyone, Zhu Tiaozi hired more than 20 mules and horses and accompanying pack workers from the carriage and horse shop in the city to go all the way to Qiongzhou. In addition to being used for carrying goods and baggage, he also prepared a tall mule and horse for Ouyang Xuan to ride, but Ouyang Xuan refused, and he insisted on walking with everyone.
The official road from Chongqing Prefecture to Qiongzhou is the most important road in western Sichuan. It is not only the most important road to Jiading Prefecture, but also the most important road to Yazhou, even Diaozhou and the land of the Yi people. It is not a secondary road like Yongkang Village and other places. Want the official road. Therefore, although the Shu area is now in ruins, the government still strives to maintain the passage of this road, and regularly sends troops to clean up and arrest bandits along the way. Ouyang Xuan heard that a Mongolian Ranger appeared on this official road last month, but they never appeared again after the official army heard the news and drove them away. The trade team carried the banner of Chongqing Prefecture's Xiang Army, and the people accompanying them were all strong men with swords, guns and shields, so the journey was relatively smooth and they arrived at Qiongzhou City before sunset.
It is said that Qiongzhou has been a prosperous place in Western Shu since ancient times, and it is also an important financial and taxation place. In addition to producing grain and rice, it also benefits from salt and iron. Qiongzhou not only has Qianjian, which casts iron coins, but also has the only well salt output in western Sichuan. Since the Western Han Dynasty, there have been rich families in Qiongzhou who have taken advantage of the abundant brine in the ground, used pottery and bamboo pipes to draw natural gas to boil salt, and have become powerful and wealthy. Especially in Huojing County under the rule, brine and natural gas are extremely rich. It is the most important financial tax for the Qiongzhou government, and it is also the source of food and clothing for the villagers. Before the Mongols invaded, it had a large population and an extremely developed economy, which was no less impressive than Chongqing Mansion, known as "Shu among Shu". However, due to repeated plunder by the Mongols, its prosperity was gone forever. Due to the economic downturn in western Sichuan, the government relied more on taxes from the subway and salt industries. Therefore, although the population and food production were far lower than in the past, salt and iron production did not drop much.
After finding an open space to camp outside Qiongzhou City, although he was exhausted after walking all day, Ouyang Xuan saw that it was still early, so he summoned everyone to hold a lamp to discuss matters and make arrangements for tomorrow. During the discussion, Zhu Tiaozi suggested buying salt in Huojing County, eighty miles away from Qiongzhou City. The salt cooking industry there is more developed and there are many private salts among the people. Just use "Jiaozi". At that moment, everyone agreed that Huang Dagen would go to the Salt Industry Supervisory Office in charge of the government's salt administration early tomorrow morning to exchange official documents; Zhu Tiaozi and Du Daquan would go to various shops in the city to sell goods, while Wang Youfu and Dong Hu would take people to designated shops to exchange the documents.
