At this time, Ye Mingsheng received a tip from Yuan Song!
In the secret report, Yuan Song reported to Ye Mingsheng that Dong Jianchuan's caravan transported tens of thousands of kilograms of iron to the Khitan people at one time, in addition to daily necessities such as ceramics, tea, cloth, salt, and herbs. Each delivery involved more than fifty horse-drawn carriages.
Such a large-scale caravan would transport goods to the Khitans almost every three to five days. However, with the population size of the Khitans, they simply could not digest so much.
Therefore, Yuan Song suspected that Dalongchang's caravan was trading with other people besides the Khitans...
Yuan Song's report received great attention from Ye Mingsheng. He immediately asked Huo San to conduct a secret investigation, and soon Ye Mingsheng received Huo San's report with conclusive evidence.
An Zhirong's caravan did indeed transport the goods to the Khitans, but 70% of the goods were given by the Khitans to the Luobei people, the biggest enemies on the northeastern border of the Zhou Dynasty!
An Zhirong sold the goods to the Khitan people, and the Khitan people sold the goods to the Luo Bei people. On the surface, this was a commercial transaction between the Khitan people and the Luo Bei people, and had nothing to do with An Zirong.
But if you say that An Zhirong doesn't know what's going on behind this, Ye Mingsheng will be the first to not believe it!
In Ye Mingsheng's view, An Zhirong used the Khitans as a cover to break through the Zhou Dynasty's strict trade blockade against the Luobi people.
If the Luobei people are like ferocious tigers, then the Khitan people are at most like hunting dogs. The two are not at the same level at all. There is a huge difference in the degree of vigilance of the Great Zhou court towards the two!
In the eyes of most officials, the Khitan people were nothing more than scabies and could not make a big impact. At most, they would only cause harm to Liaoyang. Therefore, the Khitan blockade of iron, salt and other strategic materials from flowing into them was not particularly strict.
The Luobei people are the second largest external threat to the security of the imperial court after the Kipchak Khanate. They can threaten the existence of large northern areas such as Liaoyang, Youyan, and Dongdu, so the imperial court will never allow it. A large amount of iron, salt and other materials flowed into the hands of the Luobi people!
It is precisely because of such a strict trade blockade that the price of the salt and iron sold to Luobei was several times higher than the price sold to Khitan!
And obviously this is where An Zhirong's caravan makes huge profits...
From a business point of view, the Khitan people are equivalent to the intermediaries between An Zhirong and the Luobi people!
Ye Mingsheng's guess is not without evidence.
Under Ye Mingsheng's instruction, Huo San secretly captured Niu Dawei, one of Dong Jianchuan's cronies. Under Huo San's methods, Niu Dawei betrayed him and became a secret for Ye Mingsheng to bury in Dalongchang Company.
According to Niu Dawei's story, only a small part of the good horses that Dong Jianchuan exchanged were from the Khitan people, and most of them were from the Luo Bei people!
This is undoubtedly confirmed by Ye Mingsheng's guess!
An Zhirong's real trading partners are not the Khitans, but the Luobei people!
When he first realized this, Ye Mingsheng was really shocked. He never expected that An Zhirong would be so courageous and dare to sell so much salt and iron to Luobei... ·······
If this happens, An Zhirong will definitely be doomed even if he has great hands, eyes, wealth, and deep connections!
Not only was An Zhirong himself going to die, but even his family, Hou An of Kunshan, was going to be executed, implicating the three clans!
After Ye Mingsheng regained his composure after the shock, he realized that something was wrong. He had been in contact with An Zhirong many times. In his eyes, An Zhirong was scheming and shrewd. He was not particularly greedy and would not care about anything for money. people!
Why would such a person do such a risky thing?
Is he really just doing this for the money?
Where did he get the good horses from the Luobei people, and to whom did he sell them?
Thinking about these three questions, Ye Mingsheng gradually had a clear idea in his mind...
First of all, Ye Mingsheng can be sure that this matter cannot be handled by An Zhirong and Shen Jianzhong!
Although Ye Mingsheng didn't know when this trade started, he knew that before he stationed in Fengzhou, the Dalongchang caravan had already started trading with the Luobei and Khitan people. This time was not short. !
Ye Mingsheng estimated that the trade between them had lasted for at least a year!
In one year, with the size and frequency of the caravan, it is definitely not an easy task to block the news, get through all the joints, and prevent even a little bit of news from getting out!
At least An Zhirong and Shen Jianzhong definitely cannot do such a thing!
Ye Mingsheng felt that An Zhirong and Shen Jianzhong must have accomplices, and there might even be an interest group behind them!
This interest group is definitely very powerful. It is able to cover up such a large-scale trade with Luobei without even a trace. Thinking about it makes people shudder and change their color... ··
Although he still doesn’t know what the truth is, Ye Mingsheng knows one thing very well. Destroying people’s wealth is like killing their parents!
If he, Ye Mingsheng, closes this hugely profitable trade route, then he will definitely suffer the craziest revenge from this interest group!
At the same time, the Luo Bei people and the Khitan people, who have also been cut off from their financial path, will use all their strength to send troops to kill themselves, reopen the trade route in Fengzhou, and resume trade with this interest group.
After half a year of development, although Ye Mingsheng's strength has developed rapidly. Not only has Fengzhou been firmly controlled, but the total number of troops under his command has exceeded the 10,000 mark, but if faced with a potential interest within the Zhou Dynasty, The double blow between the group and the Khitans made Ye Mingsheng feel a little scared...
Because of this, Ye Mingsheng decisively gave up the plan to close the trade route. When he, Ye, takes control of Liaoyang, it will not be too late to consider this issue!
Although the trade route could not be closed, Ye Mingsheng was a little unwilling to let Dalongchang's caravan join the enemy, allowing the Khitans to threaten Fengzhou and his own safety.
Therefore, after Ye Mingsheng thought about it carefully, he had the answer in his mind. Since he, An Zhirong, could trade salt and iron with the Luobi and Khitan people in exchange for good horses, then he, Ye Mingsheng, could also station in Fengzhou!
Since the enemy cannot be weakened, for the sake of safety, Ye Mingsheng can only desperately strengthen himself to get rid of the threat of the Khitans!
Although Fengzhou has no advantages in salt, cloth, tea, ceramics, etc., the steel produced must be given priority to the development of Fengzhou!
But he, Ye Mingsheng, had one thing that An Zhirong didn't have, and that was ordnance and weapons!
The poor refining technology of the Khitans also gave them a great demand for weapons from the Great Zhou...
