Chapter 35 Chapter 35

In the past, Wei Xuan would hardly bring any guards with him when he went out. After all, Anyuan Mansion was very safe for him. But now, he was the only one left supporting the Wei family. If something happened to him, everything before would be in vain. Wei Xuan did not dare to take the risk. Who knew if the emperor would take action against him?

However, Anyuan Prefecture is his own territory after all, and Jiang Huai lives not far from Anyuan Prefecture, so it is enough for Wei Xuan to bring a guard team.

Looking at the desolation along the way, Wei Xuan fell silent. In the past, although Anyuan Prefecture was located in a remote area, its business was quite good because it was close to the grassland. But now, after the war, it has become much more desolate. I hope it will be better next year.

When it comes to business, Wei Xuan thinks of the tax revenue in Anyuan Prefecture in recent times. Even if it is because of the war, it shouldn't be so low.

Wei Xuan felt that Su Ding must have done something, otherwise it would not be like this. However, when he returned to Anyuan Prefecture before, he did not have time to take a closer look before he led the army to Kyoto. Now he has returned without taking a look. He will have to take a look later, otherwise, with the current tax revenue, he may not be able to support the military expenses in the future.

Although the court should have paid the military salaries, it dragged its feet on the payment. The armor and weapons sent were either short in weight or of poor quality. Some were even lost. If the late emperor had not previously stipulated that the tax silver from Anyuan Prefecture could be used as military salaries, the court probably would not have been able to sustain the payment.

But now, Wei Xuan felt that the delayed military pay might not be available, and the Anyuan Prefecture would have to rely on itself. It was conceivable how difficult it would be to rely on Anyuan Prefecture to support the army.

Moreover, if we speculate based on what he and Xiao Jingzhao had mentioned, the number of this army must either increase or become more elite, and the money required will not be a small amount.

The more he thought about it, the more headache he got. Wei Xuan frowned. It could be said that since returning to Anyuan Mansion, Wei Xuan's brows had rarely been completely relaxed.

Just thinking that he was going to meet Jiang Huai and Xiao Jingzhao this time, Wei Xuan rubbed his brows and relaxed them a little, not wanting the two to see his anxiety.

As Wei Xuan regained his composure, he suddenly realized that there were too many people on the road. In fact, compared with other places, there were not many people, but in Anyuan Prefecture, they were quite eye-catching.

At the fork in the road ahead, a strong man was carrying a large basket filled with some grayish-white things. Wei Xuan recognized it as wool at a glance.

Speaking of wool, Wei Xuan subconsciously thought of Jiang Huai, because he remembered that Jiang Huai seemed to have gone to that tribe to collect wool before.

Is this wool selling well recently?

Wei Xuan didn't think much and rushed towards where Jiang Huai was. Along the way, he saw many people walking on the road carrying wool on their backs. The baskets and bags of those returning were empty, and they all had smiles on their faces, as if they had sold the wool at a good price.

This aroused Wei Xuan's curiosity. Among the people he saw, many were selling wool. Anyuan Prefecture was close to the grassland, and sheep farming was a considerable industry. In the past, they only sold mutton and sheepskin, but it was rare to see anyone buying wool in such large quantities. If someone could do the business of purchasing wool, Anyuan Prefecture would be able to profit from it no matter what this person wanted to do with the wool.

Although he knew that Jiang Huai had purchased wool and that everyone on the way was heading towards Jiang Huai, Wei Xuan had never connected this matter with Jiang Huai until he walked to the wool workshop and realized that something was wrong.

Although he had only taken a quick look before, Wei Xuan knew that Jiang Huai's side was rather desolate. But now, from time to time, people would go in with wool on their backs and come out smiling, and there were even convoys parked nearby on the roadside.

All of this was completely different from anything he had seen before.

When Jiang Huai learned that Wei Xuan had arrived, he quickly took the opportunity to interrupt the conversation, saying that he had guests to receive and they could only talk next time. The other party left unwillingly.

"Brother Wei, you're here." Jiang Huai came up with a smile on his face.

"Where are you..." After Wei Xuan came in, he found that the place seemed to have become bigger. There were more houses at the back, and there seemed to be some houses near the river. The sound of people working could be heard inside.

"Business has grown a bit recently," Jiang Huai explained.

In fact, it was not that big at the beginning, and Jiang Huai did not dare to make it too big, because in ancient times, if you did not have a backer, then if you expanded your business without a backer, it would be like a fattened pig that could be slaughtered at any time.

Especially with his current status, it would be fine if he doesn't become too big, but if he does, he will be in trouble.

However, the appearance of Wei Xuan actually made Jiang Huai less worried, especially when he knew that Anyuan Prefecture would be out of the control of the court and would almost be the territory of the Wei family. Then he didn't have to be so cowardly.

At first, Jiang Huai wanted to collect more wool, make it into yarn, knit sweaters, and then sell them. Because some merchants from other places came and saw the sweaters, they were very enthusiastic to buy them, and some even found him from the shopkeeper Fang.

With Wei Xuan as his backer, Jiang Huai was not afraid that these foreign merchants would cheat him. What's more, when these merchants arrived and saw the guards left by Wei Xuan, they all became honest and just competed to buy the sweaters, offering a price that even exceeded twenty taels. The reason was very simple. Scarcity makes things valuable. When goods appear for the first time, there will always be some wealthy people willing to buy them.

Moreover, the weather is still cold now. If we wait a few months and the weather gets warmer, even if the sweaters can still be sold, the price will drop a bit. Therefore, in order to get the goods earlier, they are willing to pay more money.

These foreign merchants can take up a high share of the sweaters. After all, they can sell to most of the territory of Da Zhou. Even though the climate in Anyuan Prefecture is colder, the demand for sweaters is still not as high as these people. Even if Jiang Huai has quickly added some manpower, there is still a shortage of supply.

Jiang Huai has been thinking about whether to split the sweater business. At the beginning, Jiang Huai wanted to run a unique business, collecting wool, making yarn, and knitting sweaters, all by himself. But now, the wool and yarn are fine, although the work is more complicated, but Xiao Jingzhao has made some improvements, which has increased the efficiency a bit.

However, even though the production efficiency of wool has increased, there are still not many people who can knit sweaters. It can even be said that the efficiency of knitting sweaters is frighteningly low. Even if a person knits from morning to night, an experienced person may not be able to finish knitting a sweater.

Of course, if he wanted to monopolize this business, that was certainly possible. However, Jiang Huai looked at the women who came to work and the ordinary people who brought wool, and became a little hesitant.

He initially thought about making money by making sweaters because he was really short of money. If it was a small business, the sweater knitting technology would have to be kept secret. But now, the sweater knitting technology remains secret, sweaters are in demand, but it is also difficult to maintain the current high price.

"What's wrong? Is there something difficult?" Noticing the conflicted look on Jiang Huai's face, Wei Xuan misunderstood and thought that Jiang Huai had encountered some trouble in his business, but was just embarrassed to talk to him, so he started asking.

Jiang Huai shook his head and suppressed what was in his mind. He hadn't thought it through yet, so he simply asked Wei Xuan about his trip to Beijing.

Wei Xuan glanced at Xiao Jingzhao who had come over at some point, and briefly told him what had happened along the way.

"Your Majesty is quite adaptable." There was no one else around, and Jiang Huai couldn't help but complain. No wonder the emperor was able to disguise himself for so long in the original text. To be honest, if he didn't know the original plot, he was just an ordinary person and might have really believed the emperor's nonsense.

Jiang Huai suspected that there were still many people in the court who believed the emperor's lies. Even if they thought there might be a conspiracy, it was definitely the fault of treacherous ministers. The emperor was merely deceived by villains and the evil concubine. Once the situation was made clear to him, he immediately came to his senses.

What a pity...

Thinking about what was said in the original text, Jiang Huai shook his head. These people will be disappointed.

It can be said that the existence of the Wei family and the prince has added a shackle to the emperor, making him dare not and unable to live the life of a tyrant so unscrupulously. But now, this shackle has been half broken by him, especially after the Wei family knew the emperor's character, they no longer cared. The emperor was unscrupulous and did whatever he wanted, and the ministers in the court had to suffer.

But the people will also suffer.

Hearing Jiang Huai's complaints about the emperor, Wei Xuan coughed softly and said, "Let's just talk about this between us. Don't say it outside."

Jiang Huai nodded. He was complaining because he felt closer to Wei Xuan and there were no strangers around him. If they really went out, he wouldn't say a word.

However, Jiang Huai felt that Wei Xuan did not refute him when he said this, so he must think that what he said is quite right.

Wei Xuan went on to talk about some matters in the court. Actually, he was mainly talking to Xiao Jingzhao. After all, he would have a chat with Xiao Jingzhao later. If he talked about all these things in their private meeting, it would be too trivial and time-consuming. So he took the opportunity to talk about it while chatting with Jiang Huai, and Xiao Jingzhao happened to hear it.

However, Jiang Huai just thought that Wei Xuan thought he was interested in these things, although he was not very interested. But seeing Wei Xuan said it so seriously, and thinking that Wei Xuan might not be able to tell these to other people, after all, even if he didn't understand much, he knew that these might not be suitable for people who were not very close to him to hear, so he still listened patiently.

However, these matters in the court and the affairs between the aristocratic families were still far away from Jiang Huai. He just listened to Wei Xuan's words as stories, which were still a bit obscure and not very understood. This made Jiang Huai suddenly distracted and think of the prince. To be honest, the deposed prince should have contacted Wei Xuan during this period, otherwise he would have been missing for too long.

Jiang Huai was a little curious and wanted to ask a question, but after thinking about it, Jiang Huai restrained himself. Even though he and Wei Xuan seemed to have a good relationship, in fact, the relationship between the two was only good between the Wei family and the Jiang family. In addition, something happened to the Wei family, so Wei Xuan didn't have anyone close to him.

It’s okay to chat for a while, but when it comes to asking about the prince, Jiang Huai thinks it’s better not to say too much.