Chastity Layman

Juyongguan, the gateway to the northwest of Youzhou, is also known as Junduguan and Jimen.

In the evening, the sun has set, the door is closed and upstairs, the evening breeze blows away the heat of the day, bringing a little bit of coolness.

Ah Huang carried the charcoal box, Liu Jiuti brought the roasting pan, Lin San carried the whole lamb chops of the fat sheep that had just been slaughtered, and Qin Yong was even more fierce, directly carrying a leg of dozens of catties of beef up.

Wei Zheng is holding a wine gourd in his left hand and a handful of willow branches in his right.

"Sanlang, everything is ready, let's bake!"

Since these guys had a barbecue on the city gate last night, they couldn't forget it. As soon as the sun went down today, they split up and got ready.

"What time is it, you all only want to eat." Qin Lang laughed.

"Sanlang, haven't you already thought of a good plan, so we don't need to worry about it anymore." Liu Jiu was straightforward.

The upper floor of the closed door is really a good place for barbecue. It is tall, ventilated and cool, and there are no mosquitoes.

Lin San drew his knife, and quickly cut the whole fan of fresh lamb chops into pieces, and then cut them into pieces. Qin Yong began to cut the lamb, Wei Zheng took a sip of wine, and then picked up the willow branch to start skewering the meat... ···

A group of people has a clear division of labor.

Qin Lang is in charge of preparing the barbecue ingredients, including cumin, pepper, tea, fine salt, cornel powder and other seasonings.

Some meat should be marinated with cooking wine in advance.

Of course, it’s not enough to just eat barbecue, you have to order some vegetarian skewers.

Li Jinxing, Inspector of Yanzhou, Inspector of Shunzhou, Inspector of Shenzhou, and several other barbarian chiefs who were attached to them came up to smell the aroma. Seeing the hot scene here, they couldn't help swallowing their throats. Ever since they ate Qin Lang's Guanmenlou yesterday After grilling the skewers, they all felt that the barbecue they had eaten for decades was called.

Especially Li Sishun, the Khitan governor of Shenzhou, was in tears.

Li Xuandao came up with a stack of official documents, seeing this scene, his face turned ashen.

"Captain, are you still in the mood to drink and barbecue here?"

"Li Changshi, things have to be done, but we also have to eat. Besides, I'm also trying to find a way about money, food and equipment."

Li Xuandao wished he could kick Qin Lang's oven over. He stood in front of Qin Lang and stared at the young governor skillfully flipping the skewers over the charcoal fire.

"Captain, my subordinates have been thinking about it recently and tried everything, but the shortage of money and food is still too large. The only way I can think of so far is to temporarily take over the righteous warehouses in the Hebei states and withhold the food from the righteous warehouses. The six states of Youzhou The righteous warehouse grain was directly requisitioned by civilians and transported to the Seventh Army, Four Shouzhuo and other towns, and the righteous warehouse grain in other states was sold on the spot and replaced with light goods, and then purchased iron and other materials and transported back to Youzhou to make ordnance. For military use..."

As a result, Qin Lang just waved his hands after hearing this.

"Li Changshi, this grain warehouse is the food that the common people put together little by little after the harvest every year. It is used for self-help in times of famine. When the righteous warehouse was first established, the court made an agreement with the people that the grain of the righteous warehouse would be provided by the people. The people in the counties pay their own grain, and the grain is stored in the warehouse, which is managed by the people in the county. In addition, in times of disaster, the grain in the warehouse is only used to help the victims of the disaster in the county, or to help the orphans and widows in the county. Now you have to forcibly take over the righteous warehouse Have you ever thought about the common people’s willingness to transport grain from the warehouse to the border for military use, and even to sell it for gold, silver, and silk to buy iron materials?”

"Captain, at this moment, there is nothing the people can do if they don't want to, they have to..."

"Don't use big talk to pressure the common people. This righteous storehouse of grain cannot be moved. It is the last life-saving food for the common people. You usually save a bucket of grain and two liters of grain, but now you forcefully expropriate it. The behavior of the imperial government is not the same as that of robbers. What's the difference? I, Qin Lang, made the head start, and after that, my spine will be broken?"

Li Xuandao said unconvinced, "The governor doesn't need to conquer the Yicang grain, does he expect to make war donations and ask big merchants for money?"

"I, Qin Lang, will neither rob the common people of food for charity, nor will I donate to those landlords and wealthy households for war. Don't worry."

Li Xuandao didn't believe it, he had already heard that Qin Lang sent people to send a message to the gentry tyrants in Hebei provinces, asking them to come to Youzhou to discuss important matters.

This so-called co-discussion of major issues is not a forced war donation apportionment, what else can it be?

At such a young age, Qin Lang can really conjure money and food?

Tens of thousands of people are stationed on the border, and now there are more than 10,000 new united soldiers. Youzhou has a total of 50,000 auxiliary soldiers and horses.

Qin Lang handed Li Xuandao a freshly grilled mutton skewer, "Li Changshi has a taste of my roast meat, sprinkled with secret seasoning, it tastes good."

Li Xuandao didn't want to eat Qin Lang's grilled skewers, but the taste was so tempting that it went straight into his nose, so he took it involuntarily in the end.

I put it to my mouth and took a bite, and found that it was very fresh and tender. The outside was golden and slightly burnt, but the inside was tender and juicy, without any fishy smell. It was obviously mutton, but it didn't taste like mutton.

He took another bite and savored it carefully. He tasted pepper, fennel and other flavors. Pepper is a very precious spice from the Western Regions, and its price is more than gold. Qin Lang would enjoy it.

"How about it, does it taste good?"

Li Xuandao nodded.

"Eat a few skewers if it tastes good. Li Changshi, you don't have to worry about it. I have already figured out a good way to raise money and food, and I promise that it will not be forcibly apportioned. It will not make the common people resentful and angry. They must be willing."

"How?" Li Xuandao didn't believe it at all.

"This matter is actually a matter of a layer of window paper. If you don't poke it, you won't get it through. Once you poke it, it will get through."

A few days later, representatives of many wealthy families and merchants from all over Hebei rushed to Youzhou. When they heard that Qin Lang was visiting Junduguan, they rushed to Junduguan to pay a visit.

Among them, many families from Hedong also received invitations, but because they were not under Qin Lang's rule, only some of them sent people over to save face.

The representatives of the various families who came from all over the place felt that Qin Lang was going to make a contribution to them, so when they came, they all took the initiative to bring a small sum of money.

Surprisingly, Huang Viscount, who was in charge of registering the names, refused to accept and return them all, but only registered their names and the family or business they represented.

Don't give money, many people are a little flustered now.

"Could it be that Duke Yi has such a big appetite?"

"Too little?"

"Don't dare to mess around, we are not so easy to pinch as soft persimmons, who has nothing to do with the court?"

Everyone discussed.

At this time, Qin Lang was still inspecting Beiyan Prefecture outside the Military Capital Pass, and returned to Huairong County, where the North Yan Prefecture was stationed, where the Qingyi Army, one of the Seven Armies of Youzhou, was stationed. place.

"Northern Yanzhou is a good place. Guarding is important. It is not only outside the Great Wall, but also inside the outer Great Wall. It is between the inner and outer Great Walls. Yanshan is on one side and Taihang on the other. It is a place that military strategists must contend for."

There are two Great Walls in the east of the river. The line of Piantouzhai, Loufanguan and Yanmenguan is the inner Great Wall. In the north, across Shuozhou and north of Yunzhou, there is an outer Great Wall. Winding in the northeast, it enters the north of Yanzhou, Hebei, passes through the later Zhangjiakou and continues to the northeast until the watershed of the Dama Mountains at the source of the Lu River.

Zhangjiakou in later generations prospered because of the connection between the Great Wall, Hebei, and Shanxi during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and border market trade. The previous smuggling trade mainly passed through here.

After carefully inspecting North Yanzhou, Qin Lang couldn't help admiring that this place is not only an important route for military strategists, but also a golden commercial port for border trade.

This is not only an important passage from Hebei to the outside of the Great Wall, but also an important passage from the Hedong region to the outside of the Great Wall. , generation basin, can reach Taiyuan directly. If you go westward along the Outer Great Wall, you can enter the Datong Basin, reach Yunzhou and Shuozhou, and even go westward into the Hetao Plain.

Although this road leads to Taiyuan, it is not convenient to go directly eastward from Taiyuan, cross Jingxing and enter Dingzhou, but the road of exporting trade is the real golden channel.

Qin Lang took a fancy to the huge profits of smuggling, but he did not intend to smuggle like Wang Junkuo.

He now has more than 37,000 troops deployed on the front line of the Great Wall, and more than 10,000 mobile troops inside, so as long as Qin Lang is willing, he can completely block the smuggling channels.

But what Qin Lang needs now is money and food to fight the war, not for personal gain.

Therefore, after much deliberation, he decided to open up the border and re-open the border market. The location of the border market is located at the foot of the Great Wall of North Yanzhou, which extends in all directions.

He invited those powerful families from East Hebei to the meeting, because he knew that the caravans controlled by these people were the ones who smuggled in the past.

Qin Lang does not engage in smuggling, he wants to engage in border markets.

But his border market is different from the previous border market. First of all, Qin Lang's border market has to collect taxes, market entry tax, transaction tax, and even plans to control the monopoly tax on salt, tea and iron.

Anyway, the ultimate goal is to make money, a lot of money.

Small money is not valued, and it is useless, it must be big money.

Snatching grain from the common people, you won’t get much grain, and you will be scolded, and you will be scolded if you donate directly to the rich, so open a border market to collect taxes.

Since trading with Hu people is so profitable, then Qin Lang will provide you with a place to trade in my place, and then I will collect taxes, so you don't need to sneak in smuggling.

In this way, it will be more convenient for you to continue to make money, and Qin Lang will also share some of the money. This kind of cooperation to make money, Qin Lang thinks, is easier to accept than directly grabbing money from other people's pockets, and it can also earn more.

"But are they willing to share our money?"

"No? If you don't, then don't try to smuggle it from me, and then they don't want to make any more money. They should understand better than me."

"Besides, we are not robbing money. We provide them with side market land and even security protection. In my place, there is no need to worry about being forced to buy and sell, or even being robbed and stolen. Of course the service should also be valuable."