Zhu Ping reported to Lao Zhu, saying only that Xifan had been selling part of the tea to the old Yuan Dynasty, allowing Wang Baobao and others to hide in the depths of the grasslands and deserts.
Now Xifan refuses to hand over his horse and humiliates the imperial officials, which is tantamount to rebellion. He begs the emperor to send troops to quell the rebellion.
Although Qianhu was only a minor official of the fifth rank, he was also an envoy of the Ming Dynasty.
Beating the messenger is equivalent to hitting Lao Zhu in the face.
Lao Zhu was furious and stopped the tea-horse trade and strictly prohibited private tea from being transported out of the pass. Violation would violate the Yi tribe.
He also ordered Mu Ying to be the general of the expedition to the west, and Lan Yu and Wang Bi to be his deputies, to conquer the Western Fan, and set out in the spring of next year.
After giving the order, Lao Zhu remained silent.
Zhu Biao and Zhu Bai only communicated with their eyes and did not dare to speak.
"Father is very angry this time."
"you do not say……"
"What is he thinking about right now?"
"I don't know. Why don't you ask me?"
Lao Zhu suddenly snorted: "What are you two brothers doing, winking at each other?"
Zhu Bosan laughed sarcastically: "My son and my eldest brother are thinking about how to help my father share his worries."
Lao Zhu said: "Tell me, how can we share our worries?"
Zhu Bai asked: "Then the father must first tell his son what he is worried about."
Lao Zhu touched his chin and said: "We are thinking about how to completely put an end to the private sale of tea. Otherwise, we will not be able to completely choke the Xifan gang. They are unwilling to give in. Now they have many methods, such as counterfeiting Luyin, colluding with corrupt officials to build roads privately, bought private tea, and showed off at the entrance and exit. After the corrupt officials killed one, another one popped up, and they couldn't kill them all. Tea is not like salt, gold, silver, copper, and iron, which are controlled from the source. It’s impossible. There are countless private tea-making workshops, and we have to let people make their own tea and drink it.”
Zhu Bai said: "Father is a wise man. In fact, it is easy to control this matter. Although the source of production and sellers cannot be controlled, the issue of entry and exit can be controlled. The difficulty now is road guides. Then there is no need for road guides. Use some. They can't forge it, and officials can't use the things they issue for personal gain as vouchers."
Lao Zhu said: "That's right."
Zhu Bai said: "I wonder how my father mobilizes the guards on weekdays? There should be tokens. Otherwise, anyone can mobilize the army. Wouldn't it be dangerous?"
Lao Zhu asked: "You kid, why did you suddenly ask this while you were talking?"
Zhu Biao said: "The Ming Dynasty, like all previous dynasties, used tiger charms. The name of the guard and the words 'Emperor's Imperial Order' were written on them. The commander and the court each held half. For example, when the court needed to mobilize the Xi'an vanguard, it asked people to hold Xi'an. With the avant-garde tiger talisman and the imperial edict, he quickly went to Xi'an avant-garde. The tiger talisman matched the half of the avant-garde commander's hand, and the commander led the Xi'an avant-garde to the designated place with the imperial edict. The style, size, and concave and convex patterns of the 'tiger talisman' are known only to the imperial court and cannot be forged."
Zhu Bai clapped his hands and said: "Isn't this solved? Let's treat each Xifan tribe as a guardhouse for the Ming Dynasty, make a token, and divide it into two halves to be held by each tribe and the court. Perfect."
Lao Zhu and Zhu Biao stared at each other, thinking about this matter in their minds.
After a while, Lao Zhu said: "It seems feasible. We can stipulate the number of horses and tea that each tribe in Xifan must hand over to the Ming Dynasty according to their size, and then write it on the token."
Zhu Biao: "The token cannot be made too small, otherwise it cannot be written on, and the style must be different from the tiger charm."
Lao Zhu: "Then make 'gold medals' and 'letter talismans' out of copper. The imperial court will hold the 'gold medal', and the leader of the Xifan tribe will hold the 'letter talisman.' When there is an expedition or a fixed transaction date, the court will Then send people with cards and talismans and imperial edicts to the specified place. When each tribe is recruited to hand over horses, they must show the gold medal and the letter talisman in their hand to confirm, so that they can trade tea and horses."
Zhu Biao: "Each Xifan tribe relies on gold medals and transaction vouchers issued by officials to transport tea out of the customs. Each transaction can only be entered and exited once, otherwise it will be regarded as smuggling. When leaving the customs, the guards will take back the transaction vouchers and hand them over to the person in charge of the transaction. Officials must be destroyed. This official must be appointed by the court to be an honest and upright person, so that he will not engage in corruption for personal gain."
Lao Zhu nodded frequently: "We'll do this once Mu Ying and the others defeat Xi Fan."
When they were discussing, Zhu Bai didn't know what he was doing with his head down.
Lao Zhu: "Guizi, there's going to be a war."
After Zhu Bai heard this, he raised his head and blinked: "Ang?!"
Lao Zhu: "Your official department is about to move into action to transport food and grass."
Zhu Bai looked reluctant: "Isn't this a matter of the Ministry of Finance?"
Lao Zhu said: "Then you must also cooperate with the Ministry of Revenue."
Zhu Bai sighed: "My hair is going to be bald."
Lao Zhu laughed angrily: "Haha, we know what you are going to do again. At worst, I will leave it to you after the tea-horse trade. Anyway, except for you, we don't trust anyone else, and no one has this ability. The official grain you transported this time, I'll exchange it with you for salt of equal value."
Zhu Bai then said: "That's okay. Since I have to take care of the tea and horse trade in the future, I have to go to Xi'an and Beijing. My father, don't be reluctant to let me go out."
The flesh on Lao Zhu's face twitched, and he gritted his teeth and said, "Okay. We'll see when the time comes."
Na na na, I haven't even arrived yet, but you are reluctant to let me go. Then you will definitely not let me out.
Zhu Bai pursed his lips.
Zhu Biao smiled: "Don't worry, twelfth brother, I will go with you at worst. Anyway, we only visited the south this time, not the north."
Lao Zhu thought for a while: "That's okay. Let's talk about it then."
When Zhu Bai came out of the imperial study, he immediately ordered all the official and canal bureaus and water transportation to start transporting military supplies to the first-level official and tooth bureau of the Chief Secretary of Shaanxi Province in preparation for the spring expedition to the Western Fan.
He put all the salt yin given by Lao Zhu in the Shaanxi first-level official and tooth bureau, and paid the salt and yin according to the military rations shipped by other official and tooth bureaus. Each official dental bureau can dispose of the salt earned by itself without the permission of the general official dental bureau.
This is what the first-level official bureau told the second- and third-level official bureaus below.
Then the various government secretaries witnessed the seamless cooperation between the official and dental bureaus.
As soon as the order was given, the second- and third-level official bureaus immediately moved into action, collecting the grain and transporting it to the first-level official bureau, which transported it to Shaanxi through the canal and the official transport fleet of the first-level official bureau.
Before the end of the year, the military rations were collected.
The grain packages in the Xi'an government office are piled beyond the walls and can be seen from a distance.
Shaanxi Dusi sent heavy troops to guard it, fearing that something would go wrong.
After all, it is extremely cold this year, and the Mongolians are not having a good time either.
This large pile of grain is placed here, just like a mountain of gold waiting for these people to grab it.
-----
Lao Zhu was not in good spirits today and yawned several times when he went to court.
He was always known for his high energy, so all the officials were secretly surprised.
After the court ended, Zhu Bai approached Lao Zhu and asked, "What's wrong with my father?"
Lao Zhu took him into his arms, rubbed his temples and said: "In the past few nights, we have dreamed that Deng Yu came to us every night. He said that he had fought for us all his life, but he died without any blessings. From now on. If his descendants make mistakes, we must spare their lives."
