The border trail from Zhao to Wu, which was originally full of caravans, is now full of pedestrians, and the snow on the trail is still thick because no one has stepped on it, so it is very hard for a group of people to walk on it, because the worn-out horses are already having a hard time, and those who are riding them dismounted and led the horses to walk on it, so as to save the worn-out horses' physical strength.
"Work hard to get back to the capital before the wax festival."
A middle-aged short fat man in the cavalcade yells, he is a big merchant of Zhao, originally the family caravan to buy Wu does not need him personally, but in the last two months, profitable several commodities can not be purchased to buy goods, no profit, no profit, no wealth, as the main family had to personally walk up to a trip to solve this problem.
Seeing that his men still couldn't muster the energy, the middle-aged short fat man couldn't help but stimulate with substances. "Everyone move faster, go to the throat mouth marketplace and pick up the goods, each person will be rewarded with ten pounds of Wu salt!"
Hearing that there was a reward of ten pounds of Wu Salt, the household servants and fellows leading the horses were like living, the whole team of horses walked faster, recently there was a shortage of salt in the market of Zhao, and the price of salt skyrocketed like a rocket.
The caravan arrived at the Zhao border crossing before dark, and the Huben leader of the border crossing rushed over as soon as he saw the middle-aged short and fat man in the caravan.
"Why is Dongjia Wu personally coming out to make purchases?" The reason why the head of the Huben was attentive to the middle-aged fat man was because the middle-aged short fat man was the clan brother of Prince Zhao Xuan's favored warden, Wu Milling.
"Is the bazaar still open over there?" The martial merchant replied.
"It's not open, since it was closed last month, the gates of the marketplace have not been opened." The head of the Huben at the pass turned his head to look at the army camp not far to the west, his eyes filled with unhappiness. Since Zhao Xuan had sent that army to station at the barrier to check on the incoming and outgoing caravans, the revenue of the barrier office had been reduced, and accordingly, the source of favor fees for them, the barrier guards, had been cut off cleanly. Now that the market within the border of Wu is closed, foreign merchants cannot enter Zhao, and Zhao's own domestic merchants cannot buy goods in Wu. In the eyes of the Huben leaders at the checkpoints, Zhao Xuan's blockade policy was a lose-lose situation.
"It hasn't been open?" The martial arts merchant was somber.
"I heard the Wu people say that it won't be opened, the throat mouth city won't sell anything to us from now on, and many merchants take other paths to sell goods in Tien Zi Du."
The martial merchant frowned even more. "Not selling anything to us? So no salt or anything? The Wu don't need to exchange salt for gold?
"Merchant Wu." The leader of the Huben approached the Wu merchant and revealed in a low voice. "Wu's sea salt is so good and cheap that other vassal states are rushing to get it, and those salt merchants taking the waterway to the capital of the Heavenly Sons will require about the same amount of money, it just takes a little longer. Wu's salt is not at all a worry to sell."
When the Huben Leader of the Pass said this, the Wu merchant felt even worse, just when the Wu merchant still wanted to probe more information with the Huben Leader, the Huben Leader saluted from afar with a brocade-clothed man from the border of the Kingdom of Wu, who rode a good horse and was surrounded by five attendants, who also rode a horse. "My humble servant greets Lord Viscount!"
"Hmm." The kitsune grunted through his nose, looking listless.
"My lord, Mister Wu here is polite!" Merchant Wu knew this brocade man, the brocade man was a member of the royal clan of Zhao, his fiefdom was close to Wei, after the king of Zhao abolished the fiefdom of his ministers, the brocade man's fiefdom was taken back by the royal court, only the private land outside of the title was retained, the brocade man's private land was a few thousand acres.
"So it's Dongjia Wu." The brocade-clothed man raised his eyes and realized that the middle-aged fat man in front of him was the richest merchant in Zhao.
"What is the matter of your lordship's visit to the city at the mouth of Wu's throat?" The Wu merchant was surprised that a prominent member of the royal clan would run to the border during the winter season, I hadn't heard that this clan was in business.
"Alas, a word." The brocade man shook his head and sighed.
"My lord, why don't we go to the inn to talk." Seeing that it was going to be dark, and that the Throat Mouth Citadel must have already closed its gates, Merchant Wu could only first stay at the inn at the border of Zhao, which was specially built for the merchants traveling to and from the city, and was originally fully occupied, but now it was cold and quiet. The brocade man had just returned from the throat entrance city, Wu Mou wanted to hear the news of Wu from the brocade man.
"It's freezing cold, so we can drink and catch up." The brocade-clothed man had something for the martial merchant as well, and readily answered the invitation.
The innkeeper was overjoyed to see a large group of people coming, his business had been getting worse lately, and the innkeeper sighed at the empty lobby every day.
A fireplace was raised in the inn room, and the martial merchant ordered wine and food to drink with the brocade man.
"Is Dongbei Wu here to pick up goods?" The brocade-clothed man downed a cup of hot wine and felt a large portion of the chill drive away.
"What, is it not alright?" The martial merchant heard an implication in the brocade-clothed man's words.
"Not bad, very bad, Dongji Wu is a trip to the White Robe, since last month, Wu is not selling anything to Zhao, and the barriers on Wu's side are just like ours, no goods are allowed to pass through."
"How can this be? The royal capital is going to run out of salt!" Wu merchants that regret, his caravan from the Wu salt merchants to buy a large number of salt, because the salt merchants in the hands of sufficient supply, Wu merchants will be salt trafficking in the king's capital of salt all out of the way, if I had known that the border will be blocked at the mouth of the throat, trafficking to the king's capital of the salt will be hoarded to wait for the price, and now the king's capital of the price of salt has been tripled, look at the situation, the price will have to go up again.
"Hmph, I'm sure our wise and valiant Crown Prince will be able to solve this problem easily." The brocade-clothed man downed a few cups of hot wine and began to speak without scruples.
"What's your honor's business here?" The brocade man was a clan member, his seniority was greater than Zhao Xuan, it was nothing to whine to Zhao Xuan, but the Wu merchant didn't dare to do so, his family relied on Wu Milling to get Zhao Xuan's trust to have a place in the upper class society of Zhao, and Zhao Xuan was the backer of Wu's family.
"Alas, I've come to find the Northwest Sheriff of Wu, Sheriff Huo, to ask Sheriff Huo to be accommodating and not to stop the merchants from acquiring the cotton and flax on my farm, but the Northwest Sheriff excuses himself that my Prince won't let the merchants of Wu go into business, and that he can't can help." The more than three thousand acres of good land of the Jinyi people were planted with cotton and flax, and the profit gained from planting cotton and flax and selling them to the merchants of Wu was twice as much as that from planting wheat and corn.
Wu merchants heard a shock, he knew that the eastern part of Zhao near the mouth of the throat of the city of the aristocratic manor are planted these two crops, if Wu does not buy, these crops alone Zhao hand spinning is spinning off. The surrounding vassal states textile technology are similarly backward, also do not need textile raw materials, these feudal lords harvested cotton and hemp no one procurement will have to rot.
"The Crown Prince is young after all, and does things impulsively." The brocade-robed man sipped his wine while gauging Wu Merchant's demeanor, he wanted Wu Merchant to go back and talk to Wu Mou, and for Wu Mou to advise Zhao Xuan, with the idea of persuading Zhao Xuan to change his border policy towards Wu.
The Wu merchants had suffered huge economic losses because Zhao Xuan had sent a large army to blockade the border at the mouth of the throat, and had long been dissatisfied with Zhao Xuan's blockade policy, and heard the brocade-clothed man's comments about Zhao Xuan, and deeply shared his feelings. "Not bad, the Crown Prince was reckless with this, trading with Wu is only good for Zhao."
"Alas, I will meet the king this waxing festival and will speak to the king and ask him not to blockade the border." The brocade man was going to go back and contact other nobles who grew textile raw materials, and together they would go before the king of Zhao to give Zhao Xuan an eyeful.
The martial merchant nodded, he was also prepared to go back and talk to his clan brother, so that his clan brother would think of reversing Zhao Xuan's thoughts.
The grandest festival in Great Qin is the Lunar New Year's Lunar New Year Festival. Zhao Xuan is the de facto ruler of the State of Zhao, and the palace stewards who are preparing to organize the Lunar New Year Festival items keep coming to the Crown Prince's residence to ask for instructions.
"Crown Prince, the brocade for the offering is lacking." The steward bowed down in front of Zhao Xuan.
"How is it that there is a shortage? Is there no money Pal to buy?" Zhao Xuan's face was cold, lately he was in a bad mood, he was under more and more pressure, and his treatment of his subordinates became irritable.
The steward's head bowed even lower. "The best brocade is made in Wu." Zhao Xuan blocked the border of the throat opening, and for some reason, the Wu merchants who did business in Chen and Chu did not sell anything to the Zhao people either.
"So the ones used are not from Chu? Could it be that Chu brocade is no match for Wu?" Zhao Xuan's head hurt now when he heard about Wu.
"So it is the most exquisite silk of Chu, now Chu silk can not compare to Wu made in Nanbu." The steward also pain in his heart, he knew that he could not buy the goods of Wu is to worship the person in front of him, the wax offering to the God of heaven's sacrificial supplies must be the best, so can not buy the brocade of Wu, the steward did not dare to buy the second grade of the Chu country to deal with the use of things, that is disrespectful to the God of heaven.
Zhao Xuan grimaced. "I know, you go to the Crown Princess, the Crown Princess will solve this problem."
There were many Wu brocades and silks in the Prince's mansion treasury, all of which were purchased by your daughter in the past. Since Zhao Xuan was angry at your daughter's hobbies, and your daughter was punished by the Crown Princess, your daughter was forced to surrender all the Wu items in her room to the Crown Princess, and the Crown Princess sealed them in the mansion treasury, where there were many fine and gorgeous brocades and silks.
"Why is today's rice so rough?" Zhao Xuan waited for the steward to leave and asked the kitchen to serve the midday meal, not wanting his favorite rice to be served but finding it different from the original.
"Prince, there is no more Wu rice." The attendant carefully replied.
Zhao Xuan looked choked before remembering that for the past two years, the rice food he ate was purchased from the southern port of Wu, which does not sell stalked rice abroad, but only rice that has been dehulled.
Zhao Xuan barely made it through lunch when there was an announcement outside the door that Wu Milling and Wen Zai were seeking an audience.
"Your Highness! There is a severe shortage of salt in all parts of the royal capital." Wu Mou was the first to speak.
"A shortage of salt can be purchased at Tang." Zhao Xuan had a surge of anger in his stomach.
"Tang's salt is too expensive, twice as much as Wu's, and in small quantities." Tang because of the adoption of boiling salt method, spend a lot of manpower, around the matches are used clean, cooking salt dry firewood need to be transported from afar, increase the cost, and because of the cheap sea salt in Wu impact on the market of Tang, the cost of cooking salt in Tang is surprisingly higher than the price of salt in Wu, the high-priced salt is simply nowhere to be sold, which forced the King of Tang had to let the salt farms to reduce the production, the Zhao Kingdom is the high-priced purchase, and there is no amount of salt in Tang can be sold.
"Your Highness the Crown Prince! Don't ban Wu's goods from entering Zhao, now it's our country that's suffering badly." Wen Zai bitterly advised, the threshold of Wen Zai's house's gate had recently been stepped on flat by many nobles.
"How is it that my country is damaged?" Zhao Xuan's heart is getting more and more annoyed, blocking the border can not make Zhao's money flow out of the country, how come it has now become not letting Wu make money, all of Zhao's people are dissatisfied?
"A great deal of our country's cotton and flax cannot be sold, and if this rots and cannot be exchanged for grain in Wu, there can be no peace in the country." Those nobles who planted cotton and flax were sold to Wu and then bought back grain and other departmental goods from Wu, now not only the cotton and flax could not be sold, but the grain could not be acquired either. The nobles liked Wu's rice so much that they had gotten used to eating fragrant rice.
"I told you that you should grow more grain!" Zhao Xuan deeply hated the fact that these nobles were caught in a passive situation with their greed for profit.
Seeing Zhao Xuan's angry face, Wu Mou cautiously advised, "Actually, planting cotton and hemp is beneficial to our country."
"Still favorable?" Zhao Xuan felt that the group of nobles had all been led by the nose by Wu.
"Many farms also tried to grow rice, but the harvest was so small that it was less than one-third of the harvest of Wu, and the rice that was exchanged for planting cotton and hemp to Wu was twice as much as if they had grown it themselves."
Zhao Xuan's eyebrows went up and his nose grunted heavily and coldly, "So what if it's twice as much, as long as Wu blocks the borders like they do today, Zhao will fall into a food shortage."
Wu mill heart slander, Wu blockade of the border is also thanks to you, but Wu mill only dare to mutter in his heart, do not dare to say anything else, and Wen Zai, although not fully agree with Zhao Xuan insights, but feel that Zhao Xuan said a bit of truth, a country can not let another country lead by the nose to walk.
Just as the room fell into silence, the attendant outside the door came in to report that King Zhao had summoned Zhao Xuan to the palace to catch up.