Go to ancient times and engage in construction

The border trail at the throat of Zhao State to Wu State used to be full of caravans, but now there are few pedestrians. The snow on the trail is still thick because no one steps on it. All the riders got off their horses and led the horses to walk, so as to save the energy of the poor horses.

"Work harder and try to return to the capital before the wax festival."

A middle-aged short fat man in the horse team yelled, he is a big businessman of Zhao country, originally the family caravan did not need him to go to Wu country to purchase, but in the past two months, several major commodities with huge profits were not available for purchase. If you can’t buy goods, there will be no profit, and if there is no profit, there will be no wealth. As the owner, you have to go out and solve this problem yourself.

Seeing that his subordinates were still not motivated, the middle-aged Humpty Man couldn't help using material stimulation. "Hurry up, everyone, go to the throat market to buy goods, and each person will be rewarded with ten catties of Wu salt!"

Hearing that there was a reward of ten catties of Wu salt, the servants and men who led the horses seemed to come to life, and the entire horse team walked faster. Recently, the market in Zhao State is short of salt, and the price of salt has soared like a rocket.

The caravan arrived at the border checkpoint of Zhao State before dark. The leader of Huben at the border checkpoint saw the middle-aged dumpy man in the caravan and ran over quickly.

"Why did Dong Wu's family come out to do the shopping in person?" The reason why the leader of Huben was so courteous to the middle-aged fat man was because the middle-aged fat man was the elder brother of Wu Xian, the favorite family member of Prince Zhao Zhao Xuan.

"Is the market still open over there?" Merchant Wu answered irrelevantly.

"It's not open. Since it was closed last month, the gate of the bazaar has not been opened." The head of Guanguan Huben turned his head to look at the military camp not far to the west, his eyes were full of displeasure.Since Zhao Xuan sent that army to station at the checkpoint to inspect the caravans coming and going, the income at the checkpoint has been reduced. Correspondingly, the source of benefits for these checkpoint guards has also been completely cut off.Now the bazaars on the border of the state of Wu are closed, merchants from abroad cannot enter the state of Zhao, and merchants from the state of Zhao themselves cannot buy goods in the state of Wu.In the eyes of the leader of the checkpoint Huben, Zhao Xuan's blockade policy is a lose-lose.

"Has it been closed?" Wu Shang was very sad.

"I heard from the people of Wu that it won't be open, and the Yanhoukou City will not sell us anything in the future, and many merchants will go to the emperor to sell goods by other routes."

Merchant Wu frowned even more. "Don't sell us anything? So you don't sell salt or anything? Wu people don't need to exchange salt for gold?

"Wu Dong's family." The leader of Huben approached Wu Merchant and whispered. "Wu's sea salt is good and cheap, and other vassal states are rushing to get it. Those salt merchants go to Tianzidu by water, and the cost is about the same, but it takes a long time. Wu's salt is not worried about not being sold at all. "

When the leader of Guanguan Huben said this, the Wu merchant felt even worse. Just when the Wu merchant wanted to find out more information from the leader of Huben, the leader of Huben saluted a man in brocade from the border of Wu State from afar. He had a good horse, and he had five attendants by his side, and the attendants also rode horses. "I've seen Lord Viscount!"

"En." The man in brocade snorted, looking listless.

"My lord, Mr. Wu is being polite here!" Merchant Wu knew this man in Jinyi. The man in Jinyi was a clan member of King Zhao's family, and his fief was close to the state of Wei. The private land other than the nobility is preserved, and the private land of the Jinyi people has thousands of acres.

"So it's Dong Wu's family." The Jinyi man raised his eyes and found that the fat middle-aged man in front of him was the wealthiest businessman in the Zhao Kingdom.

"My lord, what's the matter with going to the city at the throat of Wu State?" The Wu merchant was very surprised that the nobles of the royal clan would go to the border in the cold winter, and he had never heard of this clan's business.

"Oh, it's hard to say." The man in brocade clothes shook his head and sighed.

"My lord, why don't we go to the inn to talk." Seeing that it was getting dark, the Wu merchants must have closed the gates of the city at the throat, so they could only stay at the inn at the border of Zhao State. The inn at the border of Zhao State is specially for businessmen. The building used to be full of people, but now it is deserted.The man in Jin Yi had just returned from the throat city, and Wu Xian wanted to hear news about the state of Wu from the man in Jin Yi.

"It's cold, so you can drink and talk." Jin Yiren also had a request for the Wu merchant, and he gladly accepted the invitation.

The owner of the inn was overjoyed to see a large group of people coming. His business has been getting worse recently, and the owner of the inn sighed at the empty lobby every day.

The stove was lit in the inn room, and the Wu merchant ordered wine and dishes to drink with the man in brocade.

"Did Wu's family come here to buy goods?" The man in brocade clothes drank a cup of hot wine, feeling that most of the cold had been driven away.

"What, isn't it right?" Merchant Wu heard a certain meaning in Jin Yiren's words.

"That's right, it's very inappropriate. Dong Wu's family is in Baipao. Since last month, the country of Wu doesn't sell anything to the country of Zhao. The checkpoints of the country of Wu are the same as ours, and no goods are allowed to pass through."

"What should I do? The king will have no salt to use!" Merchant Wu regretted that his caravan bought a large amount of salt from salt merchants in the state of Wu. If you had known that the throats and borders would be blocked, you would hoard the salt that was transported to the capital and wait for the price. Now the price of salt in the capital has doubled. Depending on the situation, the price will have to rise again.

"Hmph, I think our wise and mighty prince can easily solve this problem." The man in brocade clothes drank a few cups of hot wine, and began to speak without hesitation.

"Why are you here, my lord?" Jin Yiren is a family member, his seniority is older than Zhao Xuan, and it is fine to complain to Zhao Xuan, but Wu Shang dare not do so. There is a place in the country's high society, and Zhao Xuan is the backer of the Wu family.

"Hey, I'm here to find Governor Huo, the governor of the Northwest County of Wu. I want the governor to be lenient and not stop the merchants from buying the cotton and linen from my farm. , He can’t help.” Jinyi people’s more than 3000 mu of fertile land is planted with cotton and flax, and the income from growing cotton and flax and selling it to Wu’s merchants is twice that of growing wheat and corn.

Merchant Wu was surprised when he heard this. He knew that these two kinds of crops were grown in the aristocratic manors in the eastern part of Zhao State near the city of the throat.The textile technology of the surrounding princes is almost backward, and there is no need for textile raw materials. The cotton and linen harvested by these feudal lords will rot if no one buys them.

"The prince is young after all, and he does things impulsively." The man in brocade clothes scrutinized Wu Merchant's expression while drinking. He wanted Wu Merchant to go back and talk to Wu Xie, and Wu Xie would advise Zhao Xuan, trying to persuade Zhao Xuan to change the border policy towards Wu.

Wu merchants suffered huge financial losses because Zhao Xuan sent troops to block the throat and border. They had long been dissatisfied with Zhao Xuan's blockade policy. Hearing Jinyi's evaluation of Zhao Xuan, he felt the same. "That's right, the prince is reckless in this matter, and it's only good for Zhao to trade with Wu."

"Hey, I will meet the King this time at the La Sacrifice, and I will speak to the King and ask the King not to block the border." The man in Jin Yi was going to contact other nobles who planted textile raw materials after returning home, and together they went to King Zhao to give Zhao Xuan eye drops.

Merchant Wu nodded, and he was going to talk to his brother after he went back, so that he could try to change Zhao Xuan's mind.

The most solemn festival in the Great Qin Dynasty is the December Festival. Zhao Xuan is the actual person in charge of the Zhao Kingdom, and the palace stewards who are going to buy items for the December Festival are constantly going to the Prince's Mansion to ask for instructions.

"Reporting to the prince, there is not enough brocade and silk for sacrifice." The steward bowed down in front of Zhao Xuan.

"Why is there a shortage? Don't you have money to buy?" Zhao Xuan's face was very cold. Recently, he was in a bad mood, and he was under more and more pressure, and he became irritable towards his servants.

The steward lowered his head even lower. "The best brocade silks are made by the state of Wu." Zhao Xuan blocked the throat and border. For some reason, the merchants of the state of Wu who were doing business in the states of Chen and Chu did not sell anything to the Zhao people.

"So the ones used are not from Chu State? Could it be that Chu State's brocade is not as good as Wu State's?" Zhao Xuan now feels a headache when he hears Wu State.

"It turns out that the silk of Chu State is the most exquisite, but now the silk of Chu State is not as good as that made by Nanbu of Wu State." The steward was also in pain. He knew that if he couldn't buy goods from Wu State, it was because of the people in front of him. Supplies must be the best, so if you can’t buy brocades from Wu State, and the managers dare not buy inferior things from Chu State to deal with them, that would be disrespectful to the gods.

Zhao Xuan's face was gloomy. "Gu knows, you go to the Crown Princess, and the Crown Princess will solve this problem."

There are many brocades and silks from the state of Wu in the treasury of the prince's mansion, which were bought by Aiji in the past. Since Zhao Xuan became angry with Aiji's hobby, after Aiji was punished by the princess, Aiji was forced to hand over all the articles of the state of Wu in her room to the prince. Concubine, the Crown Princess sealed these things in the treasury, among which there are many exquisite and gorgeous brocades.

"Why is the rice so rough today?" After Zhao Xuan waited for the steward to leave, he asked the kitchen to serve lunch. He didn't want his favorite rice to be served, but found that it was different from the original one.

"Prince, there is no more rice in the country of Wu." The waiter replied cautiously.

Zhao Xuan's expression was suffocated, and he remembered that in the past two years, all the rice and food he ate was purchased from the southern port of Wu State. Wu State does not sell stem rice to foreign countries, but only sells hulled rice.

Zhao Xuan reluctantly used his lunch, there was a notification outside the door, Wu Xian and Wen Zai asked to see him.

"Your Highness! There is a severe shortage of salt everywhere in the capital." Wu Xian spoke first.

"If you lack salt, you can go to the Tang Kingdom to buy it." Zhao Xuan felt angry.

"The salt in Tang State is too expensive, twice that of Wu, and the quantity is small." Because Tang State adopted the method of boiling salt, it cost a lot of manpower, and all the matches around were used up. The dry firewood for boiling salt had to be transported from far away, adding The cost was increased, and because of the impact of Wu's cheap sea salt on the market of Tang, the cost of cooking salt in Tang was higher than the price of salt in Wu, and there was nowhere to sell high-priced salt. This forced the king of Tang to reduce the production of salt farms. In the acquisition, Tang Guo did not have much salt to sell.

"His Royal Highness! Don't ban Wu's goods from entering Zhao. Now our country has suffered serious losses." Wen Zai remonstrated with a bitter face. Recently, the threshold of Wen Zai's house was trampled down by many nobles.

"Why is our country damaged?" Zhao Xuan became more and more depressed. The border blockade could prevent Zhao's money from flowing out. Why is it that Wu is not allowed to make money now? The whole Zhao is not satisfied?

"A large amount of cotton and hemp in our country cannot be sold. If it rots, it cannot be exchanged for grain in Wu, and there will be no peace in the country." The nobles who grow cotton and hemp are all sold to Wu, and then buy grain and other department stores from Wu Today, not only cotton and linen cannot be sold, but also grain cannot be purchased.The nobles liked Wu Guo rice very much, and they were used to eating delicious rice.

"I said earlier that there should be more food!" Zhao Xuan deeply hated these nobles who were greedy for profit and fell into a passive situation.

Seeing Zhao Xuan's angry face, Wu Xian said cautiously: "In fact, planting cotton and hemp is beneficial to our country."

"It's still beneficial?" Zhao Xuan felt that those nobles had already been led by the nose by Wu Guo.

"Many farms also tried to grow rice, but the harvest was very little. The harvest was less than one-third of that of Wu State. The rice obtained by planting cotton and hemp in Wu State was twice as much as that grown by ourselves."

Zhao Xuan raised his brows upside down, snorted coldly with a heavy nose: "It doesn't matter if it's twice as much, as long as Wu Guo seals off the border like it is now, Zhao Guo will be in a food shortage."

Wu Xian slandered from the bottom of his heart that Wu's blockade of the border was also thanks to you, but Wu Xian only dared to murmur in his heart and didn't dare to say anything. Although Wen Zai didn't fully agree with Zhao Xuan's opinion, he felt that what Zhao Xuan said made sense. Another country cannot be led by the nose.

Just when the room fell silent, the waiter outside the door came in to report, Zhao Wang summoned Zhao Xuan to the palace to narrate.