If someone really cannot adapt, they can only go back to guard the various camps along the way. Thousands of soldiers who went there earlier have already returned.
Songzhou is also one of the main roads connecting Shuzhong and Qinghai. Merchants from Shuzhong would transport tea, silk and other Shuzhong specialties from here to Qinghai, and then transport Qinghai's leather, tendons, horses, etc. back to Shuzhong, making almost ten times the profit in a round trip.
The strength of ethnic minorities in every dynasty of China is actually inseparable from these merchants, and these merchants are dependent on the powerful. Therefore, if the capital is in the northwest, the strong enemies are in the northwest, such as the Huns, Turks, and Tubo.
If the capital is in the southeast, Japanese pirates will appear; if the capital is in the northeast, Jurchens will appear.
Wang Zheng naturally had no reason to be polite to these unscrupulous businessmen who traded with foreign races and sought huge profits.
More than a month ago, after Chen Fengning and Cheng Bokang arrived in Songzhou, they tried their best to detain the businessmen.
This time of year was the time when merchants returned home with full loads. These people not only brought back Tibetan goods, but they were also very aware of the Tibetans' current situation, which were all what Wang Zheng urgently needed.
Divide the food into three days' worth, boil them into medicinal soup and butter tea for the soldiers to take, and start training the soldiers to climb mountains from tomorrow, and send those who can't adapt back to guard the camp."
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Wang Zheng's eyes flashed coldly, "Just deal with the ones that are making the most noise."
The second thing is that I need the latest situation of the Tibetans in Qinghai, including the situation of Lu Dongzan's army and the situation of the Tibetan tribes. Someone will question you later. Those who lie about military intelligence or fail to report it will be executed.
After all the merchants gathered in the training ground, Wang Zheng walked up to the platform with a bamboo stick and shouted, "I am Wang Zheng, and I will inform you of two things now. Remember, I am informing you, not discussing with you.
"So it will happen in the future?"
The first thing is that from now on your goods and you will be requisitioned by the army. Everything will be handled according to military law, and anyone who disobeys orders will be executed.
Given the vastness of Qinghai, if Wang Zheng did not have the cooperation of these merchants, it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack to find the nomadic Tibetan tribes.
As for the trade route, it will change no matter what. It is meaningless for you to keep the secret of the trade route. I will give you one more chance. If you still don't cooperate, then you really have no way to survive."
Wang Zheng waved his hand to stop Chen Fengning's second punch, then walked over and said to the tall and thin businessman with a smile, "I'll give you a chance. Tell me your master loudly and see if your master will kill your whole family to leave no evidence, or will he come to seek revenge on me?"
Wang Zheng hesitated for a moment, then said to Cheng Bokang, "Gather those people together, and I will explain the rules to them."
After Wang Zheng finished speaking, he stepped down from the platform and instructed Chen Fengning, "Send people to interrogate them separately, and find out the routes they took and what they saw and heard along the way. Those who are unwilling to cooperate will be executed publicly by military law."
The literacy rate among Wang Zheng’s troops can be said to be the highest in the Tang Dynasty, and it is easy for him to question a thousand people at the same time.
After Chen Fengning left, Wang Zheng instructed Li Jingye and Niu Laosan again: “There are a lot of saffron and ghee in the supplies of those merchants.
Li Jingye's face changed, and he said with some embarrassment: "To punish without teaching is cruelty, isn't it not good for the steward to do this?"
"Not yet."
Chen Fengning handed a document to Wang Zheng and continued, "So far, we have detained more than 20 caravans with over a thousand people, but we haven't made much progress in intelligence. The main reason is that they don't cooperate much and make a lot of noise."
After Wang Zheng arrived in Songzhou, the first thing he did was to deal with these merchants.
One hundred thousand soldiers are already a lot. In Wang Zheng's opinion, thirty to fifty thousand soldiers are enough to conquer Tubo. It would not be wrong to send more people back to guard the various camps, as there will be a lot of supplies that need to be transported along the way anyway.
In this era, businessmen are inherently inferior in status. If they can rely on their backers to deal with ordinary officials at ordinary times, then when they meet someone of Wang Zheng's level, they should immediately give in.
"Don't think about preserving the goods or the trade routes. You can just push the goods issue to me. I believe your master won't make things difficult for you.
"What's the situation now?"
Wang Zheng raised his eyebrows, "Are there any of your people in there?"
Altitude sickness varies from person to person. If you cannot adapt within three days with the help of saffron and butter tea, there is no need to stay.
"I understand." Chen Fengning bowed to Wang Zheng and led his men away.
Just as Li Jingye and Niu Laosan were about to leave, a gong sounded from the side of the training ground, and several merchants in brocade clothes were forced out. One of them, a tall and thin man, shouted, "Wang Zheng, I am ~."
As soon as Wang Zheng finished speaking, several merchants in brocade clothes nodded hurriedly, "We will cooperate, we will cooperate, thank you for giving us a chance, Steward."
I advise you not to break the law, and don't try to reason with me. When you leave the army, there will be many places where you can reason with me. Now you'd better cooperate."
Before he could finish his words, Chen Fengning punched him in the face. The tall and thin businessman stammered for a moment, and the other people were immediately frightened and dared not say anything more.
Li Jingye nodded.
“This is a list of supplies we have withheld.”
After hearing Wang Zheng's words, several businessmen looked at each other, and gradually a deathly gray look appeared on their faces.
After three days of adaptation, there were still 80,000 soldiers left, and this number already made Wang Zheng very satisfied.
With these 80,000 soldiers, Wang Zheng could completely split up his operations, arranging 30,000 men to search for the Tubo tribe in Qinghai, and then personally leading 50,000 men to deal with Lu Dongzan.
A month later, Zhang San and Li Si arrived in Songzhou with 10,000 students and 10,000 craftsmen respectively.
Time slowly entered deep autumn. When Xiao Yuehua was riding a big dog and Xiao Ping'an was riding a pony, the brother and sister ran towards Wang Zheng happily, and snowflakes fell from the sky at the same time.
It hasn't snowed in Yuzhou in the past few years. This is the first time for the two little ones to see snowflakes falling. For a moment, the laughter of the brother and sister became even more pleasant.