Because Lanwei City has no city walls, its layout is significantly different from other state capitals. Except for the central area where buildings are relatively concentrated, the buildings in other areas are more scattered, so to outsiders, Lanwei City appears to be very large.
If war breaks out, Lanwei will be difficult to defend, unlike other cities that have high walls.
Xiao Yi arrived at the most crowded place in the city, where there was a market and Lan Wei's government office was also located, but it was currently closed.
There were many shops on both sides of the street. When Xiao Yi first arrived, the place was very popular, the shops were doing brisk business, and merchants came and went in an endless stream. Sometimes you could even see merchants from the Western Regions, leading long camel caravans through the city.
But now this place is deserted and there are few pedestrians.
Xiao Yi didn't care about any of that. He wanted to find someone who knew Yuan Xi very well as soon as possible, to figure out the situation on Yuan Xi's side, and to implement his next plan.
Huang Liang could have handled this task, but he was a little worried that if the wrong person was chosen, it would be difficult to ascertain the true situation of Yuan Xi.
There is a large jade shop on the street called Huang's Jade. Needless to say, it is Huang Siyuan's jade shop. He is Huang Liang's cousin. It is estimated that in the entire Lanwei City, only their shop is still open.
Xiao Yi knew all this, of course. He had heard that Huang Siyuan was eccentric, opportunistic, and difficult to deal with.
He didn't want to see this person and hurried past the shop.
Xiao Yi continued walking forward, and another jade shop appeared ahead. Several doors were wide open, and the large characters on the door made his eyes light up.
"Original West Fine Jade"
Without a second thought, Xiao Yi walked straight into the shop.
Inside the shop counter, a man in his forties was rapidly calculating on an abacus, while two shop assistants were dusting the shelves with feather dusters.
Xiao Yi walked to the shelf and carefully examined the jade and various jade artifacts on it.
Upon seeing someone enter the shop, a waiter stepped forward, sized up Xiao Yi, and said:
"Which jade piece has caught your eye, sir? Let me introduce it to you."
"No rush, let me take a look first," Xiao Yi said.
Seeing that Xiao Yi was carefully examining the jade, the shop assistant stopped disturbing her and turned to do other things.
Xiao Yi examined the jade items on the shelf very carefully, and occasionally asked the shop assistant questions about jade.
Xiao Yi spent more than half an hour looking around the shop without making any purchases. There were hardly any pedestrians on the street, and even fewer people entered the shop.
Just then, a middle-aged man walked into the shop and went straight to the counter. The shopkeeper had finished his work, stood up, and stretched.
The middle-aged man looked at the shopkeeper in the jade shop and couldn't help but laugh.
"If I'm not mistaken, you are Manager Zhou."
The shopkeeper nodded and said:
"My name is Zhou Chenglin. Do you think I look like someone?"
The man nodded and said, "Manager Zhou looks a lot like one of my good friends. If I'm not mistaken, you must be his brother."
"You mean Zhou Tong? He's my younger brother."
"I knew it, you two look so alike."
"Yes, because my younger brother travels all over the country and has many friends, they can tell my relationship with Zhou Tong as soon as they see me."
My brother and I have been in the jade business for many years. I have always been in charge of the internal affairs, while he has been in charge of the external affairs. Not many people in the business world know me.
Some time ago, Zhou Tong closed the door of Lanwei Jade Shop. How could that be? Doing business is all about welcoming customers. How could you close the shop just because of some small thing?
But the owner of the jade shop refused to come back no matter what. He said that Lanwei was going to war, and no matter how much money we paid him, he wouldn't come back. So I had no choice but to come here.
This shop has been open for over a year and business has been very good, with most of its customers being merchants from the Western Regions.
However, business has been noticeably slow lately, with sometimes not a single customer coming in all day. Perhaps Zhou Tong was right to close Lanwei Jade Shop.
If business here remains like this in a few days, I'm prepared to go back and wait until the situation in Lanwei stabilizes.
The man nodded upon hearing this and said:
"That's right, I'm also in the jade business, and business has been very good, especially since I started working with you last year."
Unexpectedly, the situation in Lanwei became unstable, and the jade business could no longer continue. My shop had already closed down long ago.
"Yuanxi is much better. Unlike Lanwei and Louye, most merchants have left due to fears of war, making business impossible here."
Wei Chenglin shook his head and said:
"You've never been to Yuanxi, so of course you don't know the situation there. Business is not easy to do in Yuanxi these days."
Since ancient times, Yuanxi, Louye, and Lanwei have been important passages to the Western Regions.
However, the situation in Louye and Lanwei has been unstable during this period, especially in Lanwei, where war has even taken place. As a result, this important trade route has been blocked.
The Western Regions were home to many small kingdoms and merchants from all over the world. Almost all transactions were completed through this trade route. Fearing war between the two regions, merchants from various countries dared not risk coming here to do business.
In fact, these three regions are all in the same boat. As a result, Yuanxi is not much better off. It cannot do business with merchants from the Western Regions, and the jade it mines is difficult to sell.
Currently, jade shipped from Yuanxi to the mainland still has a certain sales volume; otherwise, Yuanxi would be doomed.
If the issues with Louye and Lanwei cannot be resolved and continue to drag on, there will be no way to do business here.
The man nodded and said:
"Manager Zhou is right. Many business people have left Lanwei now, and we don't know what Lanwei will be like in the future."
Both of them sighed and remained silent.
After a while, Wei Chenglin spoke:
"When I came to Lanwei this time, I heard some news that the situation in Yuanxi was not optimistic either. Yuanxi had 20,000 troops, and Prefect Jin was appointed as the general. At the same time, a young general named Wei Jin was sent from the capital to serve as his military advisor."
The general and the military advisor had a disagreement, and the two had a very unpleasant argument.
"Is that so? It's a cardinal sin in military strategy for a commander and his deputy to disagree. If they don't manage their relationship well, they could be exploited by the enemy, which would be a bad thing," the man said.
"Yes, Wei Jin is young and impetuous, eager to win, and wants to send troops to Nanwei to quell the rebellion, saying he wants to avenge the arrow wound."
Prefect Jin wanted to use the advantages of the Yuanxi region to blockade Louye and Lanwei. He reasoned that over time, the forces in both areas would be defeated without a fight, thus achieving the goal of suppressing the rebellion.
“I’m afraid that won’t work. You’re just a small place in Yuanxi, far away from Louye and Lanwei. Do you think you can trap those two places?” the man said.
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