Under Zhao Zhong's organization, the Royal Merchant Guild, together with members of fifteen other merchant guilds, formed four large "purchasing teams" that left Luoyang.

They dispersed and headed towards Liangzhou, Bingzhou, Youzhou, and Liaodong in the northeast.

Such a commotion naturally attracted everyone's attention.

Soon, many aristocratic families, powerful clans, and small and medium-sized landowners who owned workshops also learned about the Royal Trading Company's alliance with fifteen major families to purchase slaves.

With the rise of industry in the Sili region, everyone now clearly understands the importance of labor.

After all, the price of a strong adult slave is only about 70,000 coins. Based on the market price of five times that, one can be bought for less than three shi of grain.

A slave only needs to work for ten days to generate enough profit for the workshop owners to break even. So, it goes without saying that a slave working for ten years would generate a very considerable profit.

As a result, many families spontaneously formed "purchasing teams" to follow behind the royal trading company's team, preparing to buy slaves.

Furthermore, the Royal Trading Company issued a slave purchase order, offering 100,000 coins per adult slave from foreign tribes, and 150,000 coins for young female slaves.

The Royal Merchant Guild's "slave purchase order" completely activated people's path to wealth.

Keep in mind that in the Han Dynasty, three shi of grain would only amount to about four thousand! A round trip would turn four thousand into one hundred thousand, or even more.

What does this mean? Are they still slaves? They're practically walking riches!

Upon learning this news, powerful figures from various regions and members of prominent families could no longer remain silent. They began to secretly organize their forces and follow behind the Royal Trading Company and a group of workshop owners.

Liu Hong also signaled to Wang Yue to organize a large number of wandering knights to go to the border. Although these people were not skilled enough to fight against the enemy's army, they could still sneak in and capture slaves without any problem.

However, the scholars who always championed justice were unusually silent in their blatant purchase of slaves.

At this time, Yang Qiu, Xun Shuang, Song Feng and others were wandering around their hometown and arresting some corrupt officials. Although the commotion was not big, it still attracted their attention.

Naturally, no one paid attention to such trivial matters as buying slaves anymore.

Meanwhile, Song Feng continuously dispatched his elite cavalry to infiltrate Bohai.

A few days later, the actions of various powerful families, merchants, local magnates, and various folk organizations were all detailed on Liu Hong's desk.

"Wow, the combined power of these people is truly terrifying..."

Seeing that nearly four hundred families and various forces were going to the border region to buy slaves, even Liu Hong couldn't help but feel a chill.

Liu Hong couldn't help but laugh. He couldn't even imagine what kind of disaster these people would bring to the barbarians if they went to the border regions.

"Besides war, economics is also one of the most direct ways to weaken a country!"

After muttering something to himself, Liu Hong stood up and looked at the hanging map of the Han Dynasty, glancing at Liangzhou and the Western Regions.

April 1st.

After a long and arduous journey of half a year, the caravans from various Western Regions crossed one desert after another and passed through one country after another, finally arriving in the heart of the Western Regions, the former capital of the Protectorate of the Western Regions, the Kingdom of Kucha.

The arrival of these large Han merchant caravans immediately attracted the attention of everyone in the entire kingdom of Kucha.

What shocked them most, besides the porcelain, liquor, silk and other goods, were the Han soldiers who accompanied them.

When they learned that these fully armed Han soldiers were only there to escort a caravan for trade, the King of Kucha and his nobles were finally relieved.

Porcelain and silk products produced by the Han Dynasty were already very popular in the Western Regions and were extremely scarce and precious.

Therefore, from the king and his officials and nobles to the merchants, everyone rushed to buy and trade with the caravan from the Han Dynasty.

Within just a few days, the remaining goods from these caravans were sold out in Kucha.

They made a fortune this time, and with a large amount of gold coins and money they had exchanged in the Western Regions, they began their return to the Han Dynasty.

Of course, there were also the goods they acquired in the Western Regions, such as beautiful women, cotton, various spices, and all sorts of seeds.

Jiuquan Prefecture.

After leaving Juyan before the New Year, Cheng Yu and a group of spies from the Liangzhou Investigation Bureau traveled to a border town in southeastern Jiuquan that borders the Lesser Yuezhi.

The main reason Cheng Yu chose to come here, besides dealing with the Yuezhi people, was because this was the only route Beigong Boyu had to take to transport supplies to Ma Yi.

Now, after several months of planning and infiltration, both Beigong Boyu and the Yuezhi people are under Cheng Yu's surveillance.

April 15th.

Upon receiving Liu Hong's message, Cheng Yu immediately sent men to summon several of his key subordinates to a secret outpost of the Investigation Division.

Once everyone had arrived, Cheng Yu explained the Emperor's message and the situation in Luoyang to them in detail.

Upon hearing about the "slave purchase order," several key members of the Investigation Division couldn't help but have their eyes light up.

"Shangguan, we're going to be rich!!"

A lean man couldn't help but speak up, and the others looked at Cheng Yu with shining eyes.

Cheng Yu chuckled softly and said:

"Yes, our Investigation Division is expanding too fast these days, and our funds are running low. Those who buy slaves will be arriving here soon, which is indeed a good opportunity for us to make money!"

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