Does Da Qin have what the prairie people lack most?
Could it be food?
The land in the grassland is barren and not suitable for farming. The grassland people mainly rob the Central Plains of food.
But the food in the Central Plains is not abundant!
So what's the use of opening a trade route with them?
Ying Zheng and Wei Liao became increasingly confused.
Zhao Hao smiled and said: "Father, teacher, you should know that the Xiongnu will come to plunder our Central Plains every autumn harvest season;
In addition to their despicable nature, the most important reason is that they lack supplies, such as tea, cloth, salt, etc.;
On the grassland, these things are what the nobles compete for. "
"Ah!"
Ying Zheng snorted and couldn't help but sneer: "You mean to take the initiative to trade with the Xiongnu and satisfy their needs, so that they will not invade our Central Plains land?"
His empire is not some later dynasty. This way of selling out national interests in exchange for peace is a great shame to him.
Seemingly seeing through Ying Zheng's thoughts, Zhao Hao smiled and shook his head: "Father, you misunderstood."
"What I mean is that the situation in the north is changing. We might as well take this opportunity to set up a few smuggling teams in full disguise, enter the northern grasslands, and smuggle with the Hun nobles to spy on intelligence;
On the one hand, he had private contact with Donghu and Dayue clan, in exchange for their slaves and horses, and brought them back to the Central Plains.
As for slaves, preferably Huns. "
"hiss"
When Ying Zheng and Wei Liao heard Zhao Hao's words, they couldn't help but take a breath.
But I heard Zhao Hao continue: "While making money, I will take this opportunity to instigate conflicts between the three parties and form a alliance;
For example, isn't that Touman Chanyu going to die? Our Great Qin smuggling caravan secretly supported King Zuo Xian to prevent Mao Dun from successfully seizing the Chanyu position, or using the Donghu and Dayue clan to interfere in the internal affairs of the Xiongnu and expand their hatred! "
As he said that, he looked around at Ying Zheng and the two of them, and vowed: "If things go on like this, their internal friction will turn them into a piece of loose sand, and we don't need to expend too much energy at all!"
"this"
When Ying Zheng and the two heard this, their expressions changed again.
After a while, Wei Liao came back to his senses and asked Zhao Hao: "I know your purpose of exchanging the Huns, but what are you going to do with the Huns you exchanged?"
"This is not simple. Aren't we, Da Qin, building the Great Wall and straight roads? Anyway, if they are not of my race, their minds will be different. If they die, they will be in a trap!"
"Hahaha! Okay! Such a person who is not of my race must have a different heart!"
When Ying Zheng heard Zhao Hao's words, he laughed for a while, and then asked: "Then how do you support King Zuo Xian you said?"
"This is also simple, such as the armor and weapons that I, Da Qin, don't use."
"No! How can this be possible!"
Before Zhao Hao could finish his words, Ying Zheng interrupted him with a wave of his hand. He immediately stopped smiling and said, "The armaments of our Great Qin are important materials for fighting the world and resisting foreign enemies. How can we use these things to fund the enemy? Even if it is a transaction, no!"
"Yes, sir, if the Huns wear the same armor as we do, is that okay? I'm afraid it will be even more difficult for the north to have peace!"
Wei Liao shook his head and said: "Young master, this idea is too far-sighted."
"No, Master, you actually said that I have no vision?"
Zhao Hao said somewhat dumbfounded.
"how?"
Wei Liao raised his eyebrows and did not deny what he said, but instead focused his gaze on Zhao Hao.
Ying Zheng rarely interrupted, but quietly waited for the next step.
But Zhao Hao found a table at random, sat down carelessly, picked up the teapot, took a sip of tea and said: "The armor I'm talking about here is definitely not a brand-new armor. I mean, we are about to be eliminated. Armor, conduct private transactions!”
"Even if the armor we eliminated is placed with the Xiongnu, it is still excellent equipment!" Wei Liao said seriously.
"Definitely!"
Zhao Hao nodded in approval and suddenly changed the topic: "But as long as we update quickly, they will never be able to catch up with us!"
As he spoke, he turned his gaze on Ying Zheng: "Father, you should know how much military equipment we obtained from the six countries by attacking the six countries. However, these armaments are useless to us, and it is a pity to discard them. We can only throw them away. rust in the warehouse;
Even if it is remade, it is very troublesome and costly to deal with! "
Hearing this, Ying Zheng frowned slightly and had no answer.
Zhao Hao smiled and continued: "If we privately trade these Six Nations armaments to the northern nobles, it will not only help us clear our inventory, but also earn huge profits and update the next generation of armaments!"
"In this way, even if the northern barbarians wear Central Plains armor, so what?
They have never been able to catch up with our Great Qin, and even formed a blood-sucking relationship invisibly, and the gap between them and our Great Qin has widened step by step;
The longer this relationship lasts, the easier it will be for us to destroy them! "
"this"
After listening to Zhao Hao's words, Ying Zheng and Wei Liao couldn't help but feel a little dazed in their eyes.
Looking at Zhao Hao's expression, he was both doubtful and full of expectation.
Seeing them like this, Zhao Hao naturally smiled.
In fact, many people's inherent concept is that in the era of hot weapons, big countries can operate small countries in this way, but in the era of cold weapons, such operations are meaningless.
why?
Because the iteration difference of cold weapons is very small, armor and swords are just a matter of hardness.
But thinking about it differently, my main road is to develop hot weapons. For me, cold weapons will be eliminated sooner or later. Since they are going to be eliminated, why not use them as waste?
Of course, even if they develop thermal weapons, it will take a long time, but Qin's equipment itself is better than the Six Nations' equipment. By the time they use the Six Nations' equipment, Qin's equipment has been updated.
For example, the Hundred Steel Knife, Chain Armor, Plate Armor, Bright Armor, etc.
Even if the iteration difference is very small, I still maintain an absolute advantage, so what am I afraid of?
When Ying Zheng and the others came to their senses, they looked at Zhao Hao with a somewhat complicated look.
Although Zhao Hao's method is not perfect and even a bit naive, it is clear from the first listen that he does not know much about the environment in the north.
But overall, it provided Da Qin with a new idea.
At the beginning, Wei Liao advised the First Emperor not to be reluctant to spend money to win over the nobles of the six countries and privately make profits for the Qin Dynasty. Ying Zheng listened to his advice and spent a lot of money to bribe the dignitaries of the six countries.
Among them was Guo Kai, a close minister of King Zhao who framed Lian Po and unjustly killed Li Mu.
Now that he heard Zhao Hao's remarks, he naturally had other thoughts.
After pondering for a while, he couldn't help but asked curiously: "The tea, cloth, and salt you mentioned can be obtained through robbery, so why do they still trade with us privately?"
"Most of the things they looted were the dregs of the Guizhou leader's family, which is not worthy of the noble status. For example, this salt, what did they eat? Coarse salt, even poisonous salt, what did we eat? Fine salt, refined salt, Can this compare?”
Zhao Hao said with a smile: "I'm not afraid that they won't want it, but I'm afraid that we won't give it. As long as we give it a little sweetness, they will definitely take the bait!"
"What fine salt, fine salt?"
Ying Zheng and Wei Liao were stunned at the same time.
Zhao Hao raised his finger and pointed at their dining table, tilted his head and said, "Isn't it just hot pot cooked with refined salt that you eat?"
"?"
A black question mark slowly appeared on Ying Zheng and Wei Liao's foreheads, and they couldn't help but look at each other.
Zhao Hao frowned and asked curiously: "You didn't taste it, did you?"
"Well"
The corners of Ying Zheng and Wei Liao's mouths twitched slightly.
Awkward!
It’s so embarrassing!
They had eaten Zhao Haonong's delicacies more than once, but they never thought that the salt would be different. They just thought it tasted good and wanted to eat it again.
"cough"
Ying Zheng coughed lightly, quickly adjusted his condition, and then said with a straight face: "Take out the refined salt you mentioned!"
"oh."
Zhao Hao responded and turned to look at Laifu. Laifu immediately ran out of the hall and quickly came back with a bag of refined salt and placed it on the desk of Ying Zheng and the others.
Without thinking, Ying Zheng opened the bag and saw that it was filled with grains of snow-white substance, which was very different from the salt he knew.
"Sir, is this really salt?"
Wei Liao looked at it intently and said with disbelief.
Zhao Hao chuckled, raised his hand and said, "Teacher, if you don't believe it, you can try it yourself."
"this"
Wei Liao hesitated a little, and without caring about etiquette, he pinched a handful with his hand and put it into his mouth in front of Ying Zheng.
It's okay if you don't taste it, but your eyes will get round when you taste it.
Looking at Ying Zheng across from him, he was frightened and thought to himself that he must have been poisoned, right?
However, before he could react, Wei Liao slapped the table and laughed: "Good salt! Good salt!"
"oh?"
Ying Zheng's eyes lit up, and he followed Wei Liao's example, pinched a handful and put it in his mouth. The same scene happened again.
Ying Zheng looked shocked, then laughed loudly and said, "It's really good salt!"
Zhao Hao: "."
Blessing:"."
Chang Wei: "."
The three of them looked at each other without saying a word.
Before Qin unified the six kingdoms, it relied on salt wells to collect salt. After unifying the six kingdoms, it slowly relied on the sea to dry salt.
As for mineral salts, most of them are poisonous and are generally not mined.
But neither well salt nor sea salt can reach the level of snow-white it is now.
Even the taste was unsatisfactory.
Moreover, because the technology is not mature enough, the salt produced by the seaside is bitter, astringent, and mixed with a fishy smell.
Even the salt consumed by the First Emperor was only green salt, far from the purity of refined salt.
But even so, Da Qin was very short of salt. Even ordinary people could not even eat salt and could only eat vinegar cloth to maintain their daily salt requirements.
After recovering from the shock, Ying Zheng looked at Zhao Hao with a solemn expression: "Where did you get this salt?"
"Isn't it from Shang Shifang?" Zhao Hao scratched his head.
"Hmph! Don't try to fool me!"
Ying Zheng snorted coldly: "Is this the kind of salt Shang Shi Fang makes!?"
"Oh, this kind of salt is not made by Shangshifang. This salt is made by myself. The salt made by Shangshifang is so unpleasant that I can't get used to it!"
"???"
Upon hearing Zhao Hao's words, Ying Zheng and Wei Liao were stunned.
Is this really my son?
Is this really my apprentice?
It’s okay to be eloquent and resourceful, but he can actually make salt? !
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[There is one more chapter, later]
(End of chapter)
