At the door of the first and second floors, Qian Huai was wearing a small hat and smiling. With the rise of the third master in Dunhuang, he is hot in front of people. These days, there are a lot of flatterers. There are three religions and nine streams. But in front of the third master, he is still the little follower of the past.

Qian Huai said obediently: "Third master, I'll go back." The merchant surnamed Lou gave me a red envelope of 50 taels of silver. ”

Jia Huan raised his eyebrows slightly, withdrew his gaze from the miserable autumn rain, turned around, walked into the elegant flower hall, and said with a smile: "Oh? The price is a bit high! What else could he say? ”

Jia Huan still knows the "price" of his long-term message. Generally speaking, the red envelope given to Qian Huai is about 2 taels of silver to 5 taels of silver. The special message is only 10 taels of silver.

You must know that in Dunhuang, seven people eat a hearty breakfast: beef noodles and mutton juice only cost less than ten silver dollars. Prices are much lower than in Beijing.

Qian Huai smiled and patted his ass, "The third master sees it." He said that he was willing to run under the third master and follow the work of dogs and horses. I think he wants to get a piece of the 'business' in Dunhuang City. ”

After the great victory, the captured population, cattle and sheep, need to be digested. This needs to rely on the merchants. Recently, many people have found the third master to ask for help.

Jia Huan listened to it funny and said, "Okay." Don't be a fool of yourself. After a slight pause, he commanded: "You are in contact with him and touch his bottom." I might use him when I go back. ”

Qian Huai was ordered to go downstairs.

Jia Huan drank tea on the table in the flower hall and pondered slightly.

He had a neutral attitude towards the captive Hu people, who, according to convention, were sold as slaves. However, slavery, from the perspective of the development of the social productive forces, is backward. In the future, we will definitely break this shackle.

It's just that, judging from the current social form of the Great Zhou, slaves are the wealth of a family. And the children and grandchildren of the slave belonged to the house of the Lord. This is the wealth of the land. It is a necessary process. Before industrialization, there was not so much demand for a large free population.

However, it should be noted that since the end of the Kangshun period, a large number of yeoman farmers in the countryside have gone bankrupt, sold themselves into slavery, and sought refuge in the powerful to evade the imperial court's excesses and miscellaneous taxes. It was similar to the situation in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. This is one of the prominent structural contradictions in the society of the Zhou Dynasty.

The reduction of the large number of yeoman farmers will reduce the state tax. It is self-evident what will happen when the state finances go bankrupt when the state taxes are reduced. This is a contradiction between the interests of the state and the local powers.

If he takes charge of the Great Zhou Center in the future, he will definitely seek to solve this problem. Otherwise, something is bound to go wrong. However, what he can do now is to implement the abolition of Han slavery in the Western Regions.

As for the slave trade, he would certainly not be involved. How to divide the spoils of war is something that the governor of Qi has to consider. Like Hu Chi, donating his family property and paying for the army, how can he not be rewarded? There are also 30 million silver dollars of bonds in the Western Regions, and the principal and interest need to be repaid.

There are also soldiers who need to be rewarded to win the hearts of the army! Most of the capture of the army went to the state treasury. But the soldiers did not need cattle, sheep, and people, but wine, silk, silver dollars, and titles. It all needs to be monetized. The reward of the imperial court cannot transport materials to the Western Regions thousands of miles.

The real money-making business of Jiafu in the Western Regions is the banking business of Xinfeng Yinhao. Of course, because of the support of Jin merchants for the exchange of bonds and silver bills, Jin merchants' ticket numbers, including Hu Chi's Tianshun Express, are doing these businesses.

The advantage of Jia Fu is that Jia Huan was born in the old Wuxun group. This actually takes over most of the military's business.

Jia Huan was thinking about it, when a beautiful orchid maid, carrying a teapot and pastries, walked up, holding a stack of posts in her hand, bent down slightly, and reported carelessly: "Master, this is the post received in the gatehouse today." ”

She was about twenty-five years old, wearing a thin blue jacket and a green horse-faced skirt, with a slender figure and a plump mouth. Round face and white skin. Feminine style. With Jia Huan's critical eye, he also thinks that this woman is eye-catching. It is reported that this is the beautiful concubine of a certain Yue noble's family in Dunhuang. The maids and servants in his house were all purchased with the help of the Han family, and they were of high quality. Han Wugong, a student of state studies, runs several silver mines in his home.

"Hmm." Jia Huan was thinking about Sister Bao and them, but he just admired the style of the orchid, but he would not have other thoughts. nodded, sent her down, sipped warm tea, flipped through the post, saw the Guo family's post again, thought about it, and decided to go to the Guo family before going to Guazhou.

Whether he can get a share of the cattle, sheep, and slave trade depends on the trip to Guazhou the day after tomorrow and the distribution of the governor of Qi. Can't promise anything. He has no authority. However, it didn't chill the Guo family's heart.

…

…

It rained lightly overnight. The north wind is cold. In Guojia Village, patches of courtyards and houses are bathed in light rain.

The Guo family is a local clan in Dunhuang. Hundreds of years of reproduction. The family population is nearly 1,000. The entire Guojia village is full of Guo clan people.

Somewhere in the middle of the house, in a beautiful maiden's boudoir, a young girl of twenty-eight years was lying on the bed of the step, sobbing quietly. Her appearance is not visible, but judging from her figure, she can be seen as a beauty.

A slender twenty-four-five-year-old beautiful young (harmonious) woman stood aside and whispered: "E-niang, be good! How can the master's decision be changed? Besides, Senator Najia has a great favor to our Guo family. A few years ago, he was only two years older than you, and he was the senator of the Chief Minister. The hottest power figures in the city. If you make him a concubine, it is not an insult to you. ”

The girl named E-Niang lay on her stomach in the bed, crying non-stop.

…

…

"It is the good scenery of the south of the Yangtze River, and the season of falling flowers is the best time!"

The sound of the orchestra being hoarse. Guo's troupe sang Tang poems. After the song, everyone in the hall applauded and applauded.

On September 14, at noon, the light rain did not stop, and Jia Huan took Pang Ze and Zhang Sishui to Guo's house for a banquet. Guo Lun, the patriarch of the Guo family, and three sons as accompaniment.

Guo Lun was in his sixties, with a joyful smile on his face, raised his glass and toasted, saying: "The sound of the mountains and fields is not as good as the sound of music in Beijing." I hope Lord Jia will forgive me. "The Guo family made a lot of money because of the procurement of the army led by Jia Huan. One year of development is worth the last 10 years.

Guo Lun said to Pang Ze and Zhang Sishui again: "The two of you forgive each other." ”

Xiucai's honorific title among the people is Xianggong.

Pang Ze laughed and commented: "Bai Lotian said that day: There is no music in Xunyang, and I don't hear the sound of silk and bamboo all year round. We are in Dunhuang, and we can hear such a level of music, which also has merit. ”

Zhang Sishui looked slightly embarrassed, he was just a child. He's got a personality like that.

"It doesn't matter. Guo Yuanwai is polite. Jia Huan smiled and raised his glass to drink. I felt indescribable emotion in my heart. Jiangnan, the place where he is haunted by his dreams. In mid-September, it was already winter. What about Gangnam? At the end of autumn, the grass in the south of the Yangtze River has not withered.

The conversation went on casually.

Jia Huan said: "Guo Yuanwai has lived in Dunhuang for a long time, and I have something to ask Guo Yuanwai." The world's famous Lingshi has an old relationship with me, she went from Dunhuang to the Western Regions that day, which route did she take? Does Guo Yuanwai have any news about her? ”

At the end of July of the seventeenth year of Yongzhi, a generation of famous singers, Wei Wei and Shi Shi's disciple: Shi Yuhua set off from the capital and came to the Western Regions to collect style. He sent four generals to protect Shi Yuhua, and Shi Yuhua also had a letter to Niu Jizong, the governor of Zuodu.

However, in the seventeenth year of Yongzhi, the Western Regions changed greatly, and Niu Jizong had died. I don't know, what happened to this woman who loves music and has a unique style?

When the military is busy, he pays flawless attention. At this time, when he was free, with the relationship between him and Shi Yuhua, he wanted to ask.

Guo Lun was slightly stunned, patted his leg and said, "Oh, it turns out that the Shi family has an old relationship with Master Jia." With a slight memory on his face, "In October last year, the Shi family arrived in Dunhuang, and the grand occasion was unprecedented. Her singing voice is comparable to heaven. It's a pity that she didn't stay in Dunhuang for a long time. Due to the heavy snow in the grassland, it is inconvenient to pass. She set out from the southern route and prepared to go to Qiuzi. ”

The southern route of Dunhuang refers to the narrow strip of land between the desert and the Altun Mountains to Putaocheng, and then along the southern edge of the Tarim Basin before arriving at Khotan Town (present-day Hotan area), one of the four towns in Anxi

From Khotan Town, go northwest to Shule, and then turn back to the east, to Gumo and Qiuci.

"Oh. That's it! Jia Huan sighed softly and groaned slightly. The mood is a little heavy, but also a little lucky.

I hope Shi Yuhua won't have an accident. If something happens to her, Vivi will definitely be sad. In terms of time, she arrived in Khotan, and the Battle of Gumo had ended, and it was unlikely that she would go to Qiuzi under such circumstances.