Chapter 52: Remaining Mountains and Rivers
However, although Xi Zhicai thought so, it was just a joke that came to his mind and he had no intention of putting it into practice.
Leping is only a county, and it is enough for the country to have good internal governance and harmony among the people. Perhaps for Qiao Yan, having someone who knows something about the vegetation resources of the Taihang Mountains would be more useful to her than having a great talent from Yingchuan.
No matter how a county is regarded as a country, it is not a real country.
He should just bear the consequences himself.
only……
According to the rules of the Han officials, they had a day off every five days. On the day of rest, Qiao Yan did not stop him from drinking. At most, he would reduce the amount a little. On the middle day of the five days, he could have a drink to relax, but on the remaining four days, the drink in his cup was really replaced with other things!
On the first day, the patient is served with a viscous drink made from yam powder to strengthen the body and replenish qi. On the second day, the patient is served with water soaked with pine needles from Taihang Mountain to dispel wind and drive away evil spirits. One day later, the patient is served with Poria cocos tea to strengthen the spleen and stomach. On the last day, the patient is served with wolfberry and ginger soup to relieve exterior symptoms and dispel cold.
The name was exactly as Qiao Yan had said that day. In this big man's definition of ordinary merchants, those who earn 2,000 coins a month are not just craftsmen, but also young and strong craftsmen. Since he said it should be determined by the law, it must naturally meet the standards.
This operation of replenishing Qi, dispelling wind, strengthening the spleen and dispersing cold is really aimed at keeping him in good health.
What the hell is going on!
Outside the house, there was the sound of falling snow, and inside the house, there was only the flickering of the lights. Xi Zhicai glanced at the ginger soup at hand, picked up the pen and wanted to write something to his friends who were far away in Yingchuan, but he couldn't put pen to paper for a long time.
He said that he was being given food supplements by the lord chosen by him in Leping. Considering that his letters were usually full of harsh words, he would probably be laughed at by his friends within a few days. This was really inappropriate.
It is also said that the various actions taken by Qiao Yan in Leping were also somewhat inappropriate.
A smart enough strategist will naturally know what can be known to the outside world and what needs to be kept within his own territory.
If not for this, he would not have to give Counsel Qiao Yan the memorial to Liu Hong.
Although most of his close friends were of good character and knew what it meant to keep secrets, it was winter now and the ground was covered with heavy snow, so it would not be surprising if the letter was lost along the way.
And if any consequences were caused by the loss of the letter, it would be really troublesome.
It would be better to wait for two years and invite people to come and see it in person.
He only talked about the newly acquired pea wine in the letter.
That day, I had a sudden idea and stuffed the peas into a clay jar. Later, because I changed my identity and participated in Qiao Yan's construction of Leping, I inevitably forgot about it, and it lasted for more than a month.
When the clay jar was opened, the smell of the wine inside was really special, soaked in snow water on the pine branches in the courtyard, with a unique and clear flavor of strong liquor.
Along with the letter, he also asked someone to take a small jar of pea wine along with it, to show that his trip to the north was not in vain.
This can be considered as another form of reporting safety.
After instructing where to send the letter and the wine on the second day, Xi Zhicai finally put his mind at ease. And because today was his day off after five days of work, he simply walked slowly on the streets of Leping County.
The houses in the county town were no different from when he arrived, except that there was a layer of white on the roofs and under the houses. However, what he saw was somewhat different from his impression of the winter scenes in the countryside.
In the cold winters of the past, many people huddled in their houses, hoping that the cold season would pass quickly so that they would have a chance to go out.
But just as Qiao Yan had told him before, the improved mulberry leather clothes were sold by Qiao Yan to the county at the price of twenty five-zhu coins per piece, which was a price that any household could afford and was willing to pay at that time.
The mulberry leather jacket has also proved to be worth the money with its effectiveness.
The scarcer the supplies, the more such practical things can make the changes made more visible.
This is the situation that is presented before Xi Zhicai's eyes at this moment.
Putting a layer of mulberry bark under the linen clothes can greatly alleviate the pain of the cold wind. For the lower-class people who are used to living a hard life, this is enough.
At least under this shelter, they can now go out into the streets, clear the snow in front of the house, and then climb onto the roof to continue clearing the snow on the roof.
Even while clearing the snow, they could chat with their neighbors instead of hastily moving back into the house as they did before.
Just a mulberry leather jacket is not enough to bring about a radical change in a person's quality of life. If anything, it should be said that it is an improvement in mental outlook.
This is of vital importance to the territory which is facing ruthless natural disasters and the incompetence of the Han Dynasty.
Xi Zhi had just thought of this when he suddenly saw Lu Yuan walking quickly towards the county government office, and he couldn't help but divert some of his attention over there.
Normally, today is a day off, and Lu Yuan, as an usher, should also rest, but from her performance, it is obvious that Qiao Yan has assigned her something.
It was obvious that something was going on, so Qiao Yan decided to arrange something today.
If there is anything special about today, it is that late yesterday evening, after the Black Mountain Labor Camp received their wages, the last batch of mulberry leather jackets needed by the county residents were produced at a faster speed.
For the county residents, a mulberry leather coat is enough for them to wear throughout the winter. Even if it is accidentally torn, it can be repaired in the same way as mending clothes.
This also means that the market in Leping County has been completely saturated.
Xi Zhicai looked up at the sky.
Today is the day when the snow has stopped and the sky has cleared. It is indeed a rare sunny day. It is naturally a good choice to go out at this time.
It seems that Qiao Hou is going to try to expand the market.
When Lu Yuan stepped into Qiao Yan's study, he saw her looking at the mulberry leather jacket hanging on the wall.
Hearing the sound of Lu Yuan pushing the door open after getting permission, Qiao Yan did not turn around, but just asked, "I intend to find some buyers for this item outside the county, what do you think?"
Lu Yuan thought for a moment and replied, "Marquis Qiao has only been here for four months. It is reasonable to sell winter goods, but it is inevitable to extend your hand to someone else's territory. So what Marquis Qiao wants to do is probably to find a big buyer among the locals outside of Leping, but it is slightly different from the previous one-time wine business?"
Qiao Yan turned around and gave her an approving look. "So in your opinion, which buyer should I look for this time?"
Lu Yuan replied, "The way of balance is the same for the central government and the local governments. Last time, Marquis Qiao chose the Jinyang Wang family because he had other intentions. Now he might as well choose the Tang family."
Because the method of adding materials to fermentation affects the process but not the outside, and Jinyang Wang family holds this improved method firmly in their hands, Tang family cannot get the key points from it, so they are bound to be at a disadvantage in the wine business in the past few months.
Therefore, visiting them at this moment would be more like providing timely assistance.
"That's right," Qiao Yan said, "Since we are all in Bingzhou, we can't favor one over the other. Since we gave Wang such a generous gift, we naturally have to give Tang a bonus as well. But..."
"It is taboo to try to gain benefits and please both sides, and the same is true in business."
"Does Lord Qiao mean that I should change my identity when dealing with the Tang Group?" Lu Yuan asked.
"No." Qiao Yan answered decisively.
"There is no impenetrable wall in this world. Taiyuan and Leping are only separated by a few mountains. If we happen to meet here, we can't hide anything. Moreover, it is inevitable that we will see each other frequently after the transaction is completed. We are not the only smart people in this world."
“So this matter needs to be laid out.”
She walked to the table, and Lu Yuan came closer at her signal, and saw three chess pieces on the table. In the center is the word "steady" that she wrote in calligraphy practice today.
Qiao Yan pointed at the two closest ones and said, "The Tang family has declined over the years due to the migration of its members. With the ability of the Wang family, can't they swallow them all?"
Lu Yuan looked at Qiao Yan's actions thoughtfully, "Of course I can swallow her, but although there is competition between the noble families, there are also in-laws, so we should leave some room for everything."
Having said that, she seemed to vaguely understand what Qiao Yan meant.
"Since you are the envoy of Leping, you also represent my position, so I would like to ask you to handle this matter." Qiao Yan said, "You go see Wang Yang first."
"After meeting the head of the Wang family, you mentioned to him that I wanted to ask him to be an intermediary and do a deal with the Tang family."
Most people who can afford wine do not need to rely on mulberry bark clothes to keep out the wind in winter. Even if there is overlap between the two markets, it is not much.
Since it is not a relationship of mutual invasion, it can also be a win-win situation.
Lu Yuan understood the meaning of Qiao Yan's words and replied, "If it is really as Lord Qiao did, then for Wang's family, it would be that Lord Qiao gave them an excuse to make friends with Tang's family. They can tell the outside world that someone developed this mulberry leather jacket, and because Wang's family is powerful, they came to seek cooperation in order to spread this life-saving item everywhere as soon as possible. However, Wang's family is kind and does not want to continue to pursue Tang's family, so they took the person to Tang's family."
This is how Leping can hide himself.
Giving up profits for the sake of righteousness is something that should be promoted in the value system of today's era.
Then the person who first developed the device may not necessarily be known to the public.
Of course, this does not prevent Leping from becoming a qualified processing site because its people are more experienced in making mulberry leather clothes.
This is the best situation under the steady development pattern with no external dumping and the need to reduce further development.
Besides, did Wang really give up the profits?
Tang must be grateful to him and offer other conditions in exchange.
The profits for Leping will certainly be greater than what they would gain by directly finding Tang, because Wang will certainly help adjust the profit sharing so that Tang can appropriately reduce the profit.
Lu Yuan came from a noble family, how could he not understand the mystery?
It would be most appropriate for her to start from the implicit relationship between the two companies and determine the scale of the transaction.
After making sure that she had fully understood Qiao Yan's intentions, she decisively accepted the task.
The task given by Qiao Yan can truly be called a heavy responsibility.
"Use the proceeds from the Tang family to purchase some salt and meat from Jinyang City." Qiao Yan calculated the transaction volume and, considering that Dian Wei's appearance was inevitably too distinctive, he said, "Let Zhao Yun and Xu Fu go with you and be responsible for transporting the goods back."
The Han Dynasty implemented a salt and iron monopoly, and the sale of private salt was particularly severely punished. Naturally, the Tang family had no channels to purchase at low prices.
Just give enough money and formulate the subsequent cooperation regulations.
It also allowed her to take this opportunity to stockpile some salt in the warehouse in case of emergency.
You have to know that meat nowadays has to be preserved by pickling, and every household needs a lot of salt for daily cooking. Salt is naturally more expensive than rice. Even in relatively peaceful years, the price of one stone of rice can only buy four or five kilograms of salt at best, not to mention the period of frequent wars that followed.
If we don't store more salt, we will be in trouble when the subsequent inflation period comes.
Although Lu Yuan was not as familiar with history as Qiao Yan, it was not difficult for him to see some clues from the current situation.
Since Qiao Yan had given someone to escort the salt, she didn't have to worry about the large amount of salt being robbed on the road, so she naturally felt at ease to do this.
The transaction of the mulberry leather jacket should be done sooner rather than later, so she did not care whether it was still a day off today and immediately went to find the two of them to set off together.
Not to mention that this was something Qiao Yan had instructed, even if it was just because this deal meant that Leping would have an additional stable income in the near term, and perhaps many people in Bingzhou would be saved from freezing to death, it was enough to make the people that the two men subsequently dispatched all perk up, in order to make the effect of the mulberry leather jacket look even better.
Qiao Yan watched the convoy leave the city, leaning against the door of the county government office, with a hint of joy in his eyes.
It is indeed much less stressful to have someone to help you than to go it alone.
It was at this moment that she suddenly heard the system say: [Contacted! I contacted the neighbors! 】
Qiao Yan's expression froze.
In order to prevent her from showing any abnormality in her expression while communicating with the system, although she didn't need to speak, she immediately returned to the house.
When closing the door again, I heard the system repeat with some excitement, "I contacted the nearest martial arts system 060, and it said that this exchange can be done, which is just right for me to add it to my sign-in rewards. 】
"So, your sign-in reward is only a temporary attribute card, is it because you don't have much in stock?"
Qiao Yan captured the key information from the counselor system's words and asked directly.
[……] The system got stuck for a moment. [This... this is not important.] 】
How dare it tell Qiao Yan that it had gone to ask without holding out hope, but it turned out that there was only a difference of 8 numbers, which meant that the production times were not too far apart, but the other party clearly acted like an older brother.
The other party also told it that the rule of equivalent exchange was originally allowed by the system, especially when some systems and the host's environment are not completely compatible. For the sake of survival, it is natural to find a way to save life first.
In comparison, it seems that the only functions it performs well are as an alarm clock and a map.
That's not right. It is still a qualified recorder. Before the system next door tries to determine whether its host has anything to exchange, it, as a counselor system, first tells the other party everything the host has said and done since being bound to the system.
"Let's not talk about this. What did the other party say?"
Qiao Yan’s need for secret books is largely due to the fact that there is no corresponding content in the counselor system.
Although it does judge strength and physique, this is more of a rough definition of the four-dimensional values and does not change its essence.
The reason why skills like horse riding can be highlighted is that since ancient times, the standard for the six arts of a gentleman has been rites, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy and mathematics. Although charioteering means driving a chariot, it can also be further extended to the scope of horse riding.
However, spear, sword, and other skills are not good enough.
At least after Qiao Yan watched Zhao Yun perform a set of basic boxing techniques out of curiosity and then tried it himself, no relevant skill judgment was given on the system panel.
Therefore, after hearing the system's statement that the transaction was feasible, she couldn't help but feel excited.
She was indeed looking forward to it.
The system replied: [It said it was a way of survival in ancient times. It has a lot of them. If it is a transaction with money, there is no need for this...]
Firstly, Qiao Yan is far from being able to conquer and plunder wealth and goods; secondly, a knight breaks the law with force, so it is not difficult for him to make his host rich.
[But it is very interested in one of your skills! 】
Perhaps it was because it was proud to receive recognition from other systems for its host, and the system raised its voice a little with a bit of pride and spoke.
Although I don’t know why the system on the other side spoke to it in a strange tone after listening to what Qiao Yan did, but according to the protection regulations that systems cannot lie to each other, the praise from the other side is still real.
Fortunately, the other party really needs something, and now that the deal can be reached, it can give an explanation to Qiao Yan.
[It said that it wanted its host to learn your ability to speak differently to different people...] As if realizing that the wording was a bit inappropriate, the system quickly added: [It doesn't mean to insult you, it just feels that the system library of eloquence alone cannot reach your level, so it wants you to write some practical skills on how to talk to people. 】
Qiao Yan felt a bit amused and helpless.
She then heard the system say: [The other party also said that practicing martial arts requires hard work after all. In order not to delay the effect of the transaction, we can also give you the gunmanship secret book first, and then make up for our trading chips later. There is no rush, but——]
[It doesn't have many shooting skills, and according to its assessment, there is only one that is most suitable for you. 】
As the system spoke, it displayed the secret book of marksmanship in front of Qiao Yan.
There are seven big characters on the cover - "The Deadly Gun in the Remaining Mountains and Waters".
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