Chapter 1098: Yangkou's shadow
Fu Bao leaned lazily on the soft pillow of golden thread, and the maids went back and forth, holding various makeup boxes to dress her up like butterflies.
Huan Wen sat aside, looking at his wife's exquisite makeup, and said, "The official ship cannot transport a lot of goods. I borrowed some ships from the Xi family, which should be enough. These ships are just behind the troops transport ship, and they can be guaranteed to be safe along the way."
"The Xi family is willing to lend you a boat or even a boatman. This favor is quite good." Fu Bao said, "You are stupid! Don't you know if you owe someone favor?"
Huan Wen was silent for a moment and said, "Your Majesty is not allowed to use the official ship for personal use."
Fu Bao had nothing to say.
My father spoiled her, but some things would not be accommodated for no reason.
It is natural for you to carry some luggage with you on the official boat, and you won’t blame too much.
In order to supplement the transport of troops, the imperial court also allowed each person to carry a box of a fixed size. No matter what you put in the box, you usually hold some intimate goods. After you arrive at the destination, you will find familiar merchants to sell them to earn the difference between the two places.
These are explicit regulations that this can be done. Officials do not have this convenience, but no one blames them for carrying a few boxes with them, and they usually don’t say anything. But carrying goods in a noble way is indeed a bit too much.
The maid carefully opened the gilded incense box, and the fragrance suddenly spread.
This is ambergris, which is generally transported by Hu merchants in the Western Regions for a long distance. As for where they got it, no one knows, maybe they are also second-hand dealers.
The ambergris used in this Fubao is a scent, which is the finished product after mixing with other spices, but it is still priced at gold. If she hadn't been liked, she wouldn't have gotten such a whole box.
After opening the incense box, I took a little of the talisman and applied it to my hands. After thinking about it, I wiped a little bit behind my shoulders, neck and ears.
Huan Wen looked at him silently.
The Long Kang Huan family was not so luxurious. One is that their family was a Xing family and was greatly suppressed. In addition, they did not have any channels to buy ambergris. During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, not only women used ambergris, but men also used them, and even used them larger.
Is it easy to raise a princess after marrying her home? "Liu Miao will come with you, and there are fifty people from Xuchang." After applying the spices, Fu Bao stood up, walked to Huan Wen, and chuckled, "Does it smell like?"
Huan Wen turned his head and looked, and the maids bowed their heads one after another.
Looking at Fu Bao's staring eyes, Huan Wen smiled and said softly: "My wife's jade bones and ice skin, the faint fragrance is born, but it is better than orchid musk and ambergris."
Fu Bao chuckled, hugged Huan Wen gently, and said, "It's so good to be my father."
Huan Wen could only laugh awkwardly after hearing this.
"When you pass by Yangkou, just hand over the goods to the people of the Zhao family in Wancheng. Zhao was from Nanyang before and was favored by his uncle (Liu Mi) Jian Ba. He would find a way to contact the people of Jin." Fu Bao let go of his hand and said softly: "Husband, I am very good at daily use. You should be more diligent in business matters in the future."
Huan Wen nodded.
Marrying a princess is both good and bad. The advantage is obvious, but the disadvantage is that the cost is really big.
But Fu Bao didn't spend his money either. With the financial resources of Long Kang Huan, it is probably a bit difficult. The most realistic way is to make more money through business, and then find a way to build a manor for a long time.
Business is not a simple matter, however.
After Zhuge Hui became the governor of Jingzhou, the Jin court quickly dismissed Xiangzhou and all counties were merged into Jingzhou.
The Guangluxun Lu Ye was also appointed as the governor of Jingzhou and as the checks and balances.
However, in such a border defense area, even if he is not the governor of the bicycle who does not lead troops, Lu Ye could not control Zhuge Hui. So, border trade slowly unfolded.
This is a gray trade that both parties are openly not supporting, but are happy to see.
Not many people know about it at the moment, and it has not spread widely. Fu Bao also heard from his father and uncle, so he asked his family to think of a solution.
Liu Miao's method is to summon a group of Xuchang merchants, ask them to prepare goods, and then follow the troops transport ship to the south, which is equivalent to taking advantage of the safety protection of the troops transport. After arriving at the land, they rely on the relationship between Tian Cao and Shangshu Liu Mi to join the Jin people in business, with the condition that they will share the benefits after the matter is completed.
Of course, Fubao's manor (Jingfu Garden) also prepared some goods and sent them to Yangkou to trade with the Jin people.
This deal is very profitable now, and there will be less profitable after more people participate, so Fu Bao plans to make a few more money now and get the money from building a manor - she is originally a little wealth fan.
On the 21st, Huan Wen left Xiangyang with a thousand troops.
For a moment, all the ships anchored on the Huihu and Caizhou Rivers went south and rushed towards Yangkou.
******
Yangkou City has undergone some renovations, and a large flag with the word "liang" fluttered on the top of the city. There seemed to be some military soldiers, but I don’t know where they came from.
After stopping the boat in Hepu under the city, Huan Wen couldn't help but board the roof cabin and overlooked the four fields.
Only at first glance, he was shocked.
The map is only drawn with two rivers, Mianshui and Yangshui, but if you really follow this map to fight, you will definitely be killed because there are small rivers like spider webs besides the two big rivers.
These ditches are too small to not even have names, but they are real rivers.
At farther apart, reeds grow on the muddy land, and occasionally a few water birds flew past, causing ripples. It was still very hot in late August. It was noon. Huan Wen seemed to feel the misty water vapor between the sky and the earth, making people sweat, and even his breathing was filled with dampness and stuffy heat.
This ghost place is even hotter than Jiangnan.
Groups of people wearing short burlap clothes walk in the soft mud, waving shovels and picks, constantly digging the wet mud.
Some soil has been soaked in the water for tens of millions of years, and countless plants and even corpses of humans and animals have decayed. They are excavated and piled up on the shore and are repeatedly compacted to form black embankments.
Bubles kept gushing out from the bottom of the water, emitting an unpleasant smell. But the people who are working have become accustomed to it and turn a blind eye to all this.
With their efforts, the sandbank surrounded by reeds and water was gradually raised, and the surface was covered with black silt.
A thatched hut made of reeds appeared on the sandbank, and the naked children were playing and laughing.
Huan Wen noticed that crops had not been planted on all the sandbanks.
People seemed to have just cleaned up the grass and trees on it, and cushioned the low-lying and humid parts of the sandbank with mud, and then built a long encirclement to surround the sandbanks, forming isolated islands.
Maybe it will be possible to grow food next year.
He walked to the other side of the ship again and looked at Yangkou City.
No mistakes, one song, one content, one in 6, one book, one bar, one reading!
Some people are already growing food near the city. He had heard of these people: the people of Shangtun introduced by the Yu family of Yingchuan.
The Yu family is so glorious!
There is a good area near Yangkou City. Perhaps it was similar to the silt swamps in the distance hundreds of years ago, but since the Three Kingdoms, it has been repeatedly transformed and formed a farming area that integrates ponds, irrigation canals and farmland, which is the place where the army stationed in the Eastern Wu World War Army.
Until last fall, the land seemed to have collected a season of grain, and now it has been occupied by merchants introduced by the Yu family.
But they are not all about enjoying the fruits.
Huan Wen observed that Shangtun Minzhuang continued to expand outward at the edge of the farmland, filling two small rivers, dredging another swamp, as if he wanted to transform it into a second pond and irrigate the second farming area.
Yes, they have to make money by growing grain after all, and the more land they reclaim, the better.
It seems that it is not too much.
Huan Wen got off the boat quickly, and when he stepped onto the solid land, a ox cart appeared not far ahead.
More than ten people were crying and following the ox cart.
There is a roll of reed mat on the car, bulging. Judging from the pair of blue-black barefoots exposed on the edge of the mat, it must be a corpse.
He sighed and couldn't help but look in the direction of the ox cart: dozens of new graves had been piled up on a deserted river beach to the east.
The grave is very simple, and from a distance it looks like an inconspicuous land bundle, just like these humble people who died silently in the clearing of land.
These dozens of new graves are actually just the beginning!
Huan Wen withdrew his gaze and came to the north of Yangkou City.
A piece of land was set up here and surrounded by a low fence.
Inside the fence, people were crowded with sounds. Merchants with various accents gathered here and bargained in a swish of mouth.
Some people just look disdainful, and their words are extremely mean, belittle other people's goods to nothing. But when the owner of the goods was so annoyed that he asked him to get out, the man was like a rooted one under his feet and just refused to leave.
Some people looked like they were thieves and river bandits, picking the goods casually while observing them secretly.
It may be wronged to say that they are pure water bandits because they do business themselves, but it gives people a feeling of fierce, sinister and greed.
So, don't blame Xuchang merchants for asking for Princess Jingfu. Huan Wen, the Duzhi Captain who holds three thousand troops, is really a hot figure in Jingbei, second only to Yang Bao, the navy governor.
The surrounding terrain is so complex and the population is so deserted. After killing people and robbing people, it is really difficult to chase them. Even many thieves are local households who go out to rob and hide in the village. The locals will deliberately conceal and protect them. How do you investigate?
Backing a big tree on your back is good for the cool air, businessmen understand this principle best. "Zhuge Daoming is really open-minded..." After walking around outside the fence, Huan Wen felt extremely moved.
Liu Miao heard this and said with a smile: "Zhuge Daoming was afraid that he just wanted to defend Wuchang and Xiakou, so he didn't even think about regaining lost land. However, there were many merchants from Wuchang who came to Yangkou. I don't know how many of them belonged to the Zhuge family. I think if you had snacks, it would be no problem to make millions of goods a year. In these years, the Zhuge family has become a huge wealth."
Has Zhuge participated in these transactions? Huan Wen didn't know.
But when he was relocated, Huan Wen felt that he would never miss such an opportunity. Even if you don’t use the money you get from the harvest, you can still support your army.
You are noble and don’t like money, but your subordinates want money, and the soldiers want to have dinner.
But - Are you still interested in fighting when trading is so prosperous?
(This chapter ends)