The aristocratic family is not easy to cheat, really.
These days, anyone who can become the head of a noble family cannot be a simple fool.
For example, Zhang Shen, a member of the Zhang family in the middle of Shu, was considered an "idiot" in the eyes of Li Yu and others. If he cheated on his teammates, it would make Li Yu quite uncomfortable.
Among the aristocratic families in Guanzhong, although the big aristocratic families followed Man Chong's emigration team into the pass, none of the remaining aristocratic families were fuel-efficient.
If Zhang Xi wants to invite guests to dinner, these people will not refuse. Zhang Xi wants to "beg for help" and seek the support of some firewood. These people will also give some symbolically to cope with the situation, but it will involve the subsequent smuggling of grain and grass. No one from these aristocratic families is willing to let go.
It's not that these people are timid and don't dare to do this. It's the conditions given by Zhang Xi that these people are not satisfied with at all.
What Zhang Xi meant was that these noble families in Guanzhong would come forward to contact the noble families in Hedong and Luoyang, and use them to smuggle grain and grass in Cao Wei, and Zhang Xi would then come forward to purchase these noble families in Guanzhong at the price of grain in Shu.
According to Zhang Xi's idea, the Han Dynasty is short of food now, and the price of food in the Han Dynasty is really not low. It can be said that the price of food in the Han Dynasty is the highest among the three countries.
It’s not that Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei are incompetent in governing the country, it’s that they spread their business too much in a short period of time and acquired too much territory at once. In addition, two consecutive Northern Expeditions within five years consumed countless amounts of money and food. There are needs everywhere. Where money and grain are used, it is surprising that the price of grain can be reduced.
The price of food in Shu is more than 20% higher than the price in the Central Plains of Cao Wei. According to Zhang Xi's idea, the profit here is already not small.
The 20% profit, even if these families have to bear the transportation costs of smuggling, is enough for these families to make a lot of money.
But obviously, the aristocratic families definitely don't want just such a small amount of benefits, they want more.
Of course, on the surface, each of these aristocratic families is using excuses that they are loyal to the Han Dynasty and have long since severed ties with the aristocratic families who moved into Guanzhong and the Heluo aristocratic families. What is actually going on? Zhang Xi can still Not sure? !
But the problem is that without the help of these aristocratic families, it would be really difficult for Zhang Xi to engage in this kind of semi-official smuggling.
Just rely on those small aristocratic families in Mei County. Do they have the energy to bypass Tongguan, cross the Yellow River, and plunder enough food smuggling channels from the Heluo area? !
Even the aristocratic families in Mei County did not dare to make this guarantee with Zhang Xi.
Another one. Why the hell did you collect five hundred kilograms of fire charcoal in total? Is it enough for the people who came to Chang'an to escape famine for a few days? !
No, we have to find a way to do this.
Zhang Xi does not have Zhuge Liang's layout experience and cannot bribe a certain aristocratic family in advance to rebel. Moreover, regarding the smuggling channels, the channels between each aristocratic family are basically the same. Even if Zhang Xi can bribe one or two It is very easy for the aristocratic family and other aristocratic families to think bad things.
At worst, it will break up in one fell swoop, and no one will have to do anything.
Therefore, Zhang Xi had to endure his temper and argue back and forth with several representative Guanzhong aristocratic families.
Here, Hu Zun helped a lot.
One is that Hu Zun is the prefect of Zuofengyi County. If he wants to carry out semi-official smuggling in this area, it must start from the Zuofengyi area. It is impossible not to inform him of this matter.
On the other hand, the Hu family in Anding has a close relationship with the Guanzhong family in the Zuofengyi area. Even the Hu family has some connections with the Hedong family. Hu Zunlai is the most suitable person to take charge of this kind of matter.
Finally, if this matter comes to pass, it will be of great benefit to the stability of the Hu family and its influence in Guanzhong and even Yongzhou. Hu Zun is eager to take over this matter.
With Hu Zun making peace, the Guanzhong aristocratic families finally came up with their own conditions.
First, since it is you, the governor of Yongzhou, who wants to engage in this kind of semi-official smuggling, then the government cannot collect taxes on the grain they smuggled from the Heluo area.
After all, they need to spend money to manage things up and down and bear the freight.
Second, the official purchase price cannot be based on the price of Shu grain, but should be based on five times the price of Shu grain.
After all, if the Heluo family agrees to smuggle, they also need to make money. Without more than three times the profit in the past, who is willing to take such a risk and smuggle food into an enemy country? !
The crime of smuggling food is more serious than the crime of smuggling arms.
Third, the Guanzhong family has been in turmoil and lacks financial resources. If they want to carry out this type of official smuggling, they need the Yongzhou Governor's Office to provide enough five baht money, Shu brocade, and paper as pledge in advance, so that they can have the capital to operate these matter.
This condition made Zhang Xi so angry that he had a toothache on the spot.
This is too loud for a lion.
Of course, Zhang Xi also knows that this is the bargaining method of the Guanzhong aristocratic families. He asks for a high price, and you can pay it back. But the problem is that Zhang Xi feels unhappy. As far as the strength of the aristocratic families staying in Guanzhong is concerned, they How dare you bargain with yourself like this? !
Does this mean that the county soldiers under his command can no longer carry the ring-shou sword? !
But Hu Zun also has something to say.
On the other hand, I tried to persuade Zhang Xi not to be too angry and to ask for any conditions.
On the other hand, Hu Zun also said that this kind of smuggling is itself extremely risky. Without enough profits, how could these aristocratic families take risks?
Another thing is that we really don’t have such a smuggling channel at hand. Only the Guanzhong family has such a channel. People have the confidence to speak like this.
Killing people can scare these aristocratic families, but the problem is, killing people can't solve the problem, right? !
Nowadays, the Han Dynasty needs enough food to support the great cause of reviving the Han Dynasty. If you tell those aristocratic families about reviving the Han Dynasty, they may not accept it.
Hu Zun's persuasion made Zhang Xi lose his temper. What Hu Zun said was true.
Just when Zhang Xi was thinking about how to continue bargaining with these Guanzhong aristocratic families, Huang Quan came to his door.
I don’t know where Huang Quan found out about Zhang Xi’s plan to engage in official smuggling. As soon as he heard about it, Huang Quan immediately dropped the matter of a foreign family entering the customs to buy and sell land, and ran directly to Zhang Xi. "Settling accounts".
Originally, Huang Quan had nothing to do with Zhang Yuanchang's intention to smuggle grain, but the problem is that Zhang Yuanchang wanted to use Shu brocade, paper, and even five baht coins from Shu as commodities in exchange. You had to go through the imperial court on this matter. Do you agree? !
Huang Quan said this quite tactfully.
To put it more directly - how can such a good thing not be part of our Yizhou family? !
Paper is produced by the royal family, and the imperial court selects agents. It is not easy for the Yizhou family to interfere.
But the biggest producers of Shu brocade are the aristocratic families in Shu.
Another thing, since the development of Nanzhong University, although the aristocratic families in central Shu do not have the right to mint coins, they have ownership of copper mines. Five baht coins in the Heluo area can only exchange for one-fifth of the daily grain in Shu, right? Does this mean that copper mines have to depreciate? !
Isn’t this going to kill my Shu family? !
This must not be done like this.
Of course, the Shu family is willing to get involved in making a fortune, but the problem is that your court purchases a large amount of grain, but makes our Shu family bear the losses. This must not be done.
Therefore, as soon as Huang Quan heard about this, he was desperate and came to Zhang Xi for an explanation.
This made Zhang Xi worried.
It was already difficult to deal with one side, and here Huang Quan came to protest on behalf of the Shu family. Both sides were unhappy.
Moreover, Huang Quan did not ask for it. He represented the Shu family and participated in the smuggling negotiations involving Guanzhong and Heluo areas. Zhang Xi felt depressed again.
How come there weren’t so many things going on when Liu Ba was in charge of this smuggling matter? !
Zhang Xi was also helpless. Now that he thought of Liu Ba, Zhang Xi had no choice but to immediately write a letter to Liu Ba, who was recuperating in Hanzhong, and ask him for advice on the matter.
But Zhang Xi also didn't expect that when Zhang Xi's letter was sent to Hanzhong, Liu Ba was already seriously ill.
After insisting on reading what Zhang Xi said in his letter, Liu Ba became anxious, held on to his strength, dictated it himself, and asked his son Liu Yan to write the letter for him, and wrote a reply to Zhang Xi.
In this letter, Liu Ba first affirmed Zhang Xi's idea, but pointed out that the Guanzhong family and the Yizhou family could not be allowed to act recklessly. The Yongzhou governor's office must take the lead in this matter, especially the pricing power of grain. It must be in your own hands. This is the bottom line. There can be no room for compromise.
Secondly, for the exchange of materials, five baht coins are legal tender and there is no room for bargaining. As Shu brocade is a luxury product, it must be taxed as long as it is traded. However, this tax can be reduced or reduced at the discretion of the Yongzhou Governor's Office, which is regarded as a concession. Families from two places.
As for paper, this thing is the royal family's property and a weapon for the Han Dynasty to organize the world. Regarding the exchange of interests, Liu Ba suggested that Zhang Xi should consult Zhuge Liang before making a decision.
After finishing the contents of this letter, Liu Ba was basically exhausted.
But Liu Ba was still worried. He used up his last strength and asked his son to write another letter to Zhuge Liang - quickly send an official who knew economics to send it to Zhang Xi, otherwise Zhang Xi's economic acumen would It is really hard to believe that he can handle such a troublesome official smuggling matter.
After saying these things, Liu Ba could no longer hold on and fell into a state of serious illness and coma.
Three days later, Liu Ba woke up again, and this time, Liu Ba's energy level was obviously much better than three days ago.
But neither Liu Ba nor Liu Yan knew that this was not a good thing. It was probably just a return to the past.
Liu Ba did not waste this time. On the one hand, he explained the funeral arrangements to his son. On the other hand, he seized the time and asked his son to write a letter to Zhang Xi, roughly describing his views on this smuggling and what he had done before. Hosted by the host, his experience in smuggling goods to Guanzhong.
Finally, Liu Ba recommended to Zhang Xi a genius who could understand these things and at the same time deploy spies in the Heluo area and establish an intelligence network - Fei Yi and Fei Wenwei.
After explaining these things, Liu Ba could no longer hold on and fell into a coma again.
That night, Liu Ba, a generation of economic wizards from Ji Han and a famous scholar in the world, died of illness in Hanzhong.
I just found out today that there was no update yesterday and I kneeled down to apologize. I quickly made it up. Due to special circumstances today, the fourth update.
(End of chapter)
