Yelang and Dian Kingdom fell into the arms of the Han Dynasty one after another, which disappointed many people.
Needless to say, the warriors and military officers had no chance to earn military merit, be promoted and make a fortune.
The civil affairs side was also unhappy. Many places were eagerly waiting for Yelang and the Dian Kingdom to rebel against the Han Dynasty, and then they would be able to obtain much-needed human resources.
After all, compared to the hard workers who don't need anything but a bite to eat, the treatment that the burly people need to provide in the mines, construction sites, and plantations is too high.
Everyone likes high-quality and low-priced hard work, but it’s a pity that there are too few sources.
Apart from transportation by sea trade, it is almost difficult to obtain hard labor on a large scale on land.
Before technological productivity improves, Dahan has a huge demand for human resources.
Compared with the high cost of employing local people, the hard labor from outside has become the meat and potatoes, and an industry has even been generated from this, transporting local people from all directions.
Not to mention the indigenous tribes of small countries, even the Huns were sold by their nobles to do hard labor.
Because the Han Dynasty has the strongest productivity culture and technological level in the world, even the Huns want the goods they produce.
However, as Li Yunze stepped up his crackdown on smuggling, the Xiongnu nobles had fewer and fewer channels to obtain goods, and they could only rely on smuggling.
Smugglers took the opportunity to raise prices, not asking for cattle, sheep, horses, furs, medicinal materials, etc., but people.
Almost every household in the Han Dynasty had land. When he was too busy, he was naturally willing to pay for slaves to cultivate the land.
Moreover, the handicraft trade is developed, and various workshops are everywhere, and they all require hard work.
This also affected smugglers to the Huns, who instead changed the purchased goods to the Huns.
To the Xiongnu nobles, this didn't matter.
Anyway, there are many people in their tribe, so it is a good thing to sell a batch of them in exchange for good things from the big man.
In the future, the women in the tribe will naturally give birth to more children, and this business will be endless.
"Plough Gutu." Liu Ling placed several porcelain plates with exquisite workmanship, even printed patterns and painted with gold threads in front of Yi Zhixie. "Do you know what these are?"
Looking at the porcelain plate in front of him, Yi Zhi smiled and said, "Why don't you know? Isn't this a good thing from Han that has become popular all over the world recently, porcelain? The workmanship is really exquisite."
Porcelain has appeared as early as the Yin and Shang Dynasties and is a branch of pottery.
Of course, the quality of porcelain in that era was very poor, because the heat and ingredients were still being explored.
In the true sense, the prototype of modern porcelain only gradually became large-scale during the Eastern Han Dynasty.
For Li Yunze, technical matters are not a problem.
Since the land tax, which was his main source of income, was exempted, Li Yunze continued to build state-owned workshops through technological innovation and used business models to raise funds for the operation of the court.
There is no doubt that porcelain, one of China's key export commodities for more than a thousand years, cannot escape his grasp.
The three major products of silk, tea, and porcelain are basically fully equipped in Dahan at this time.
"Plow Gutu." Liu Ling, with a cold face, took a step forward and asked again, "Do you know how much this thing is worth here in the Huns?"
Yi Zhixie himself also bought a lot of porcelain from smugglers, of course he knew the price.
After all, he is a great Chanyu, so what’s wrong with enjoying it?
Liu Ling forced him to be a wise king and saint all day long, busy fighting with the big man to avenge her. Yi Zhixie was also very depressed and needed to relax.
"These plates, two horses, or five horses." Yi Zhixie quickly gave the answer, "No more."
As soon as these words came out, Liu Ling, who was originally angry, smiled instead, "That was last year's price. You know what the current price is?"
"have no idea."
Yi Zhixie shook his head seriously, "Just say it."
Liu Ling stepped forward, reached out and picked up a porcelain plate, and gestured to Yi Zhixie, "A plate."
Then she stretched out her hand and pointed to the warrior guard standing not far away, "A person."
"Um?"
Yi Zhixie was greatly surprised, "What? Human?"
"You don't know about Puli Gutu, right?" Liu Ling sneered again and again. "On the surface, most of the Han smuggling caravans have been wiped out in recent years, but the rest are either selling porcelain or silk, or paper, books, and musical instruments." Gems, spices, salt, silk and satin, these useless things!”
Yi Zhixie frowned slightly, "Isn't refined salt useless?"
"How many people here in the Xiongnu can afford refined salt? Of course you and I can afford it, the nobles can also afford it, and the warriors can barely afford it. But what about others? Who can afford it, those herders, and those who fight in war? rise?"
Liu Ling sighed, "Zhangli Gutu still doesn't understand. This is the emperor's trick."
"How to say?"
"Those smugglers who sold grain, cloth, iron and medicinal materials and other things that enhanced national strength have been eliminated. What is left now was deliberately left by the emperor of the Han Dynasty, with the purpose of selling to the Huns things that were of no significance to national strength. Things. What are the uses of these things? Can porcelain smash the iron frame of the Han army when going to the battlefield, or can it be invulnerable when wearing silk to face the Han army? Or, after eating a lot of spices, it will If you go to the battlefield and spit at the Han army, can you defeat the Han army?"
These words were very rude and could even be said to have trapped Yi Zhixie.
So the great chanyu interrupted in a very dissatisfied voice, "That's enough. If you have anything to say, just say it!"
Liu Ling sighed secretly, he was so beautiful and talented that he was worthy of the emperor.
What a pity, life is so bad.
She shook her head, regained her composure and said, "Plough Gutu, the Han people are using these things burned from the soil to replace the herdsmen under your rule. Those herdsmen provide you with cattle, sheep, horses, cheese, and fight for you." Important resources.”
These words have been made very clear, but Yi Zhixie's attention is on the other side, "You said such a beautiful thing is actually made of clay?!"
"Um."
Liu Ling nodded. "When I was in Han Dynasty, I saw a lot of this stuff. Of course, the porcelain I saw was far less beautiful than it is now. It must have been a technological breakthrough."
Yi Zhixie asked eagerly, "Can you do it? Or rather, are any of your disciples capable of doing it?"
Liu Ling was also furious. She shook her head vigorously at first, "No, those who can do these are craftsmen, how could they come to be a keeper."
Then Liu Ling followed up and said, "Plough Gutu, don't think about the porcelain, think more about the herdsmen under your rule! The emperor of the Han family will use this soil to replace all the herdsmen under your rule!"
Yi Zhixie waved his hand disapprovingly, "It's not that exaggerated. Herdsmen are like weeds in the wilderness, new ones will grow every year. They are better than others."
Liu Ling laughed angrily when he said this, "Plowing a plow in Gutu, the weeds in the wilderness wither and grow every year, and they can grow as tall as before in one year. But how many years will it take for the herdsmen under your command to grow up to ride horses to fight?" "
"Eighteen years, at least eighteen years!" Liu Ling stretched out his hands and gestured, "Plough Gutu. Every time you lose an adult herdsman, it will take eighteen years to replace it. But the emperor of the Han family will Give the Great Huns eighteen years?"
Because he has a retainer who has been spying on Dahan for a long time, Liu Ling knows much more about Dahan than Yi Zhixie.
At this time, the big man can be described in one word as thriving.
The products are rich, the population is booming, the people's hearts are towards the emperor, and the four barbarians are vying to surrender.
In Liu Ling's view, the Han Dynasty already had a strong advantage over the Xiongnu at this time, and could even directly go out to fight on a large scale.
I just don’t understand why the emperor of Han Dynasty has not taken action yet.
Of course she would not know that the reason why Li Yunze waited and did not take action was, on the one hand, to form a larger cavalry group and lay a solid logistics foundation for the cavalry group.
On the other hand, I am waiting for a boy to grow up, waiting for the day when he will be born and go to the end of the world with a sword!
"Plough Gutu." Liu Ling took a deep breath and said, "According to the reports of the spies, the Han family has been expanding and building a new horse breeding prison. It is said that the number of horses raised has reached hundreds of thousands, and the number of cavalry trained is also the same. One hundred thousand. Although I don’t know why they haven’t left the fortress, I dare to assert that within ten years at the latest, the Han army will definitely attack in large numbers to fight the Huns. By that time, the small herdsmen under Gu Tu’s command have not yet grown up. , maybe those who rode horses to the battlefield, but tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people were exchanged for porcelain made of clay by the Han family, why are they still fighting?"
After hearing these words, Yi Zhixie's expression finally changed.
After all, he was not an incompetent person, and he could still understand the meaning of Liu Ling's words.
The Huns are now able to fight back and forth with the Han family. The real reliance is on the cavalry that comes and goes like the wind. They can use their mobility to defeat the Han army and seize the initiative on the battlefield.
But if the Han army's large-scale cavalry training is completed and tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of cavalry are mobilized, they will face the Han cavalry that far surpasses them in terms of technology and tactics, military discipline, equipment, morale, organization, etc. As a group, the Huns not only lost the slightest advantage, but were even at a disadvantage.
After all, where is the productivity? The Huns are completely out of production in the true sense. The warriors who have the time and energy to master martial arts and conduct concentrated training can only support tens of thousands until they die.
The real bosses are the herdsmen who spend their days taking care of their livestock, stocking up on feed, making cheese and so on.
If, as Liu Ling said, the Han family could just exchange these herdsmen with soil, it would cost the life of the Huns.
In the words of the Han family, it’s like taking the fire under the cauldron!
"I see."
Yi Zhixie, with a solemn expression, nodded vigorously, "I'll take care of this now."
Yi Zhixie used his own power to strictly restrict the tribes from selling herdsmen to smugglers.
This kind of approach still has some effects, at least it's no longer a matter of fairness on the surface.
But in fact, in private, they still went their own way, and there were even Huns smugglers who used herdsmen from their tribes as commodities and then sent them to the Great Wall.
The big man is so powerful, and he is always forbidden to do this kind of thing.
How could a tribal alliance like the Huns be cut off with just one order when the various tribes, large and small, had extremely high autonomy?
Even if Yi Zhixie is really a god descending to earth, he cannot stop the nobles from various tribes from enjoying the beautiful things from the Han Dynasty and living a better life.
After all, the gap between the civilization and enjoyment of the Xiongnu and the Han was too great.
Because of this matter, Yi Zhixie had to fight openly and secretly with his vassals, causing a big trouble. It was really a piece of cake.
When the news was delivered to the distant city of Chang'an and delivered to Li Yunze, who was taking Huo Qubing and others to shoot arrows at the shooting range, he read only one sentence.
"Send it to the Prime Minister and tell him that he can continue to the next step."
