In September, a very ordinary caravan came to Lanzhou City. During the war, those smart businessmen from the Qing Dynasty always wanted to try their luck. Although the war brought danger, it also brought business opportunities.
Needless to say, the prices of salt, iron daily necessities, cloth and other livelihood necessities from the Central Plains in Xinjiang have increased several times.
At this time, if anyone could smuggle a team over, the profit would be more than ten times that!
Not only making money from takeout, but also getting some jade from southern Xinjiang would be even more valuable!
Aguba blocked the trade route, causing the Central Plains people who loved Hotan jade to suddenly lose their supply of goods. There had been no new jade ore on the market for five years, forcing jade workshops throughout the Qing Dynasty to use lower-quality Central Plains jade.
Chinese people have played with jade for a long time, but in the minds of the most knowledgeable literati, there are actually two types of jade, one is Kunlun jade, and the other is other jade.
Kunlun Mountain is the dragon vein of the Central Plains and the ancestor of all mountains! The highest quality mutton-fat white jade is produced here, and the jade from Kunlun Mountains has a magical effect on psychics thanks to thousands of years of mythology.
Regardless of whether it is true or false, literati have been doing this for thousands of years. Even if it is just a placebo, they have become addicted!
At this juncture, whoever can smuggle mutton-fat white jade from southern Xinjiang will make a hundredfold profit every time!
But this kind of business is not something that ordinary people can do. If you don’t have the skills of both black and white, then don’t even think about it!
Businessmen are like a group of flies chasing bad smells, flying wherever there is profit. The Western Region, with its trade routes cut off, is a place of death in the eyes of ordinary people, but in the eyes of businessmen, it is a land of opportunity.
Countless caravans came here in the name of delivering military supplies to Zuo Zongtang, perhaps because they wanted an opportunity, a good opportunity to gain wealth with their lives.
When the Europeans were sailing in those days, they dared to venture into the deep blue ocean for money. Didn't they just put their heads on their belts? In fact, Chinese businessmen are also very courageous, it just depends on whether the policy allows it!
As the Gansu-Shaanxi rebellion was gradually put down by Zuo Zongtang's army, and as the recovered area gradually expanded, merchants from all over the Qing Dynasty followed closely.
In addition to countless military supplies, the caravan also brought everything needed for reconstruction by the people in the recovered area.
From needles and threads to cattle and sheep, iron pots for cooking, sledges for raking grass... After the war, the people were destitute and lacked everything, and the important responsibility of local officials was to restore production.
These goods from the Central Plains were quickly flooded, and in a short period of time there was a booming business.
With the complete pacification of Gansu and Shaanxi, Bai Yanhu and other bandit leaders all fled to the west of Xingxing Gorge, and Zuo Zongtang's army officially entered Jinzhou, which was Lanzhou on the edge of the Yellow River.
Naturally, the caravan would not miss the opportunity to do business. Suddenly, this small northwest town suddenly became crowded with merchants, and the business tax collected at the city gate every day had to be pulled by horse-drawn carriages.
The caravan of more than fifty people that came in September was an ordinary one, but I never expected that the caravan had only stayed in Jinzhou for three days before the shopkeeper approached Liu Jintang. By the way, he also gave me a large sum of money and a handwritten letter from the red-top businessman Hu Xueyan.
Hu Xueyan is the number one god of wealth under Zuo Zongtang. Although Hu Xueyan works for the Hunan Army, the power of the Hunan Army is too huge, and all the great gods in it have conflicts with each other. If you follow this one, you will naturally follow the other faction. There is a gap.
Hu Xueyan and Zuo Zongtang have an alliance-level relationship, and most of the military resources for the Western Conquest Army were raised by Hu Xueyan!
With the red-top businessman's handwritten letter of introduction, Liu Jintang had to meet the visitor, but he didn't expect that when he saw the big shot in the caravan, this unruly general, this murderous Huihuan's head was rolling. The God of Death, his knees softened and he knelt down.
No one threatened him, and no one put a gun to his head. He just looked at the golden seal, and the murderous general immediately knelt down.
He had to kneel down because of the visitor's identity. This mysterious visitor held in his hand the King's Seal granted by Emperor Hongwu of the Ming Dynasty.
It turns out that the boss of the caravan is none other than the king of the ancient Ryukyu Kingdom, King Shangtai!
King Shangtai actually returned to China early and even went to Lanzhou. This is really unimaginable, but there were many old acquaintances from Europe who returned with him.
On the left side of the ghost eye who was all over France for appraising cultural relics, he also came to Lanzhou with the expedition team. Fan Jin, the earliest shopkeeper of Lotte Foreign Company in Singapore, also came with him.
There were even more than a dozen guys in the caravan dressed as Japanese Bato members. Such a super luxurious caravan immediately frightened Liu Jintang out of his wits.
After hearing the purpose of King Shang Tai's visit, Liu Jintang did not dare to neglect and went to the Marshal's camp at night. Fortunately, he was a popular person next to the Marshal at the moment and saw Zuo Zongtang without any hindrance.
"Commander... This caravan was introduced by Hu Xueyan. You have to meet it in person..." After finishing speaking, Liu Jintang secretly whispered a few words in the commander's ear.
As he said this, Zuo Zongtang stood up and his face changed greatly, "Really? Ancestor Huang Tian... This Xiao Letian is so crazy that he actually wants the king of a country to be his envoy?"
"Let's go, take me to see His Majesty... No, use the back door, change into plain clothes, and go secretly..."
King Shangtai was just the king of a small island country in the East China Sea. His power was extremely small, and he could only occupy one county in the Qing Dynasty.
A commander like Zuo Zongtang, who has a hundred thousand armor, actually doesn't need a country king like Bird at all.
But don’t forget that generals like Zuo Zongtang were led by literati. They were scholars at heart and received the education of Confucius and Mencius.
Although the Qing Dynasty has been brainwashing, how can the thousands of years of Confucian orthodoxy be so easily changed?
What is the Ming Dynasty? The last unified and powerful dynasty of the Han people, this is the orthodoxy that even the Qing Dynasty dared not deny!
Although King Shangtai is a small king in a county, his throne was given by Emperor Hongwu after all!
This kind of orthodoxy is a big killer for traditional Confucian scholars. It is a special feeling that is naturally close to them emotionally.
More importantly, Ryukyu has now integrated into the Chinese nation, and its economic scale has been integrated with the Chinese economy. The Ryukyu Kingdom's shares are already a considerable wealth.
King Shangtai no longer has real power, but his influence is still there. You can't mess with such people. If they open their mouths and help you, the entire Ryukyu Kingdom's businessmen will have to give face.
The inconspicuous Lao Ma's Inn in the west of the city suddenly closed its door that night, and countless ninja-like guards under the commander disappeared into the darkness, spying on unknown dangers.
The soldiers patrolling the city also received strange orders, and all routes were bypassed here.
In the main room of the inn, the dusty Wang Shangtai was drinking and appreciating jade with the shopkeeper Fan on the left side of Guiyan. A fist-sized piece of Hotan mutton-fat white jade was placed among the wine and dishes.
With a bang, the door was pushed open, and several Fuso Japanese swordsmen subconsciously grabbed the ribs, but as soon as Shopkeeper Fan stretched out his hand, the blades were all pushed back.
