The changes in the current situation made Ouyang Xuan worried. At this time, it was November 1258. Meng Ge Khan had led 40,000 troops into Lizhou, and Niulin also followed the Yangtze River to Chongqing after the Battle of Mahujiang. Although the current historical trend is the same as in his memory, he does not know how his arrival and the emergence of the Thunderbolt Army will change the original historical trend. Out of concern for the future anti-Mongolian cause, he decided to take a risk and go to Diaoyu City. At present, various undertakings under the rule of the Perak Army are being promoted in a busy and unhurried manner. With the natural dangers of rivers such as Jinma River and Nanhe River, the Chengdu Mongolian army with a weak naval force simply does not dare to invade on a large scale. But before setting off, he still had several matters related to business and the future development of the Pili Army that needed to be arranged. Although grain and agriculture are the foundation and industry is the basis for the rise of the Perak Army, trade can bring much-needed materials and people to the Perak Army, as well as intelligence information.
As one of the veterans of the Perak Army, Zhu Tiaozi saw that the army had achieved outstanding results and the businesses of various ministries were also prospering. However, the business and trade he was in charge of was tepid, and he was really worried. In fact, Ouyang Xuan was more anxious than him, because the current Perak Army's territory was small and its resources were limited, which severely restricted the development of industry. At present, the Perak Army relies on artillery fortresses and naval forces, which are more than adequate in defense but insufficient in attack, and are simply unable to expand territory on a large scale. The Mongolian army, which had suffered the loss of strong cities and forts, also began to build forts on the east bank of the Jinma River. Of course, the artillery of the Pili Army could deal with these forts, but how to deal with cavalry charges during the march was a headache. There is also the issue of war costs. After all, the cost of ammunition is not low. Since there are no urgently needed supplies in our own territory, we can only obtain them from the outside world through trade. Regarding future business development, Ouyang Xuan, Zhu Tiaozi and Qian Boss, who is now the deputy minister of commerce and trade, after several discussions, drafted three mature trade routes and three trade routes to be developed.
The first mature trade route is towards Jiading Prefecture and Xuzhou. Although Yu Xing was dissatisfied with the Pili Army, his father and son were extremely greedy for money and would never do anything like blocking business routes. According to the provisions of the civil and military divisions of the Southern Song Dynasty, leading generals were not allowed to intervene in finance and taxation, but should be handled by specialized finance and taxation officials. However, wars continued frequently, and the court's governance system and institutions in Sichuan had long been broken, especially in Jiading Prefecture and Chongqing Prefecture. In western Sichuan, there are no more fiscal and taxation agencies such as the Salt and Railway Supervision and Transportation Envoys. On the one hand, there are very few officials from other places who are willing to take up their posts. After all, such fertile positions are definitely not as important as their lives; on the other hand, the leading generals in various places in central Sichuan have been in a state of semi-separation. For example, Yu Xing has been the prefect for many years, and Jiading has long been regarded by him as Private property, foreign officials who did not collude with it either died violently or disappeared inexplicably. All the business taxes collected will go into his own pocket, how could Yu Xing not support it.
The second mature route is the southern route of the Tea Horse Road, which is in the direction of Dajianlu. Although this route has to go through Ya, Li, Diao, Yan and other prefectures, with high mountains and dangerous roads and long roads, the Qian family has been operating here for many years and has Zelang as an agent, so it is most valued by the Ministry of Commerce and Trade. Qian Bao is in charge of this route. He will focus on operating the caravan's fire salt mine in Lizhou, followed by the acquisition of war horses. The sale of other commodities is not the most important. In order to ensure the safety of the fire salt mine, Ouyang Xuan even authorized Qian Bao to recruit three companies of soldiers locally. As for the security of Diao and Yanzhou and the grasslands, Zelang's men and horses are responsible for the security. Recently, Zelang annexed another grassland tribe and formed alliances with more than a dozen nearby villages through economic and trade relations. In case of war, thousands of native soldiers can be mobilized.
The third mature line is the northern line of the Tea Horse Road, which is the direction of Wei and Maozhou. After the Perak Army captured Guankou Village, the Mongolian Army conducted several small-scale harassments, but they were all severely bombarded by naval artillery. In order to strengthen Guankou Village, Yu Zhu and his men worked day and night, even during the autumn harvest. After the completion of Guankou Village, it was equipped with artillery, and five companies of the garrison brigade were stationed. There was also fire support from naval warships in the river. It was a fortress with defensive capabilities that was not inferior to Hengyuan Fort. After the autumn harvest, people from Wei-Mao and Weizhou came one after another to buy salt, tea, farm tools, cloth and other daily necessities. Although there are trails in the northwest mountainous areas of Pengzhou and Hanzhou that connect these two states, they are extremely difficult and dangerous. Going to Guankou Village is the most convenient and economical option.
For the two states, surrendering to the Mongols is a need for survival, while doing business with the Perak Army is a need for life. There is no conflict between the two. As for the Perak Army, they do not reject those from Wei and Mao states who come to do business. After all, there are many alpine meadows in the two states where the horses and mules that the Perak Army desperately needs are raised. Moreover, because of the numerous mountains and valleys in these two states, they were not massacred by the Mongolian army. On the contrary, there was an influx of people, with great demand for goods and considerable profits. Of course, if they were just doing business, Zhu Tiaozi and others could just sit and wait in Guankou Village. However, Ouyang Xuan instructed the caravan to enter the two states to do business. One was because of the need to collect intelligence to prevent a sneak attack by the Mongolian army; On the one hand, although these two states are places where Tibetan and Han people live together, they are deeply influenced by Han culture. Although they surrendered to Mongolia, they still yearn for the Han. For example, Uncle Xie Fang, the prime minister who just stepped down, is from Taoping, Weizhou. When the time is right, he can win over the two states.
The three trade routes to be developed are along the Yangtze River, the Yi tribe and the direction of the Dali Kingdom. Although the Southern Song Dynasty was militarily weak and had a corrupt political power, its economy and culture were extremely developed and unparalleled since ancient times. Especially on the golden waterway of the Yangtze River, the important cities in Sichuan include Xuzhou, Luzhou, Chongqing Prefecture, and Fuzhou. Beyond the Three Gorges lies the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River plains. There are many famous cities along the coast, and you can even visit the most beautiful cities of this era. A rich place - Lin'an.
The Yi tribe is located southeast of Yazhou and Jiading Prefecture, which is the Liangshan area in later generations. This is a wild area with high mountains and dangerous roads, and is still in the civilization stage of slash-and-burn farming. From the perspective of agricultural civilization, there is no development value here. Therefore, although it is located between Dali and the Southern Song Dynasty, the two countries have no interest in it, so it became a buffer zone between the two countries. There are many large and small tribes here - the Baosai tribe, the Xuhen tribe, the Mahu tribe, the Yiniang tribe, the Lianglin tribe... The Yi tribes attack each other, and the clans within the tribe also hate each other. Although the demand for Han products here has reached a level of hunger and thirst, most people are too poor to even have enough to eat and cannot afford them. There is only one outcome for caravans entering here - people are killed and goods are robbed. Ouyang Xuan insisted on exploring such a barbaric place because he knew that the mountains here contained too many good things.
The direction of Dali is more important. On the one hand, it is security needs. After the Mongols destroyed the Dali Kingdom, they sent the manager Wu Lianghatai, known as the God of War. He frequently invaded Sichuan from Shimen Pass south of Xuzhou. The Perak Army needed intelligence from the direction of Dali. On the other hand, It's because of mineral resources. Ouyang Xuan knew that the famous Dongchuan copper mine and Panzhihua iron mine were both located in Dali.
By opening up these three routes, not only can we continuously obtain horses, copper mines and other strategic materials, but we can also recruit a large number of laborers and soldiers. With the expansion of the Perak Army, grain cultivation, industry and mining all required a large number of laborers, and the population of Western Sichuan, which had gone through war, was very low. Of course we need to encourage childbirth, but this far-off approach cannot solve the immediate problem of the current labor shortage. Of course, what Ouyang Xuan hopes is to attract not only ordinary labor, but also talents from all walks of life, including soldiers. You should know that a large part of Zhuge Liang's elite mountain combat troops during the Three Kingdoms period, the "Wudang Feijun", came from the above-mentioned areas.
