Knowing that Lingzhou will use cattle and horses to pay the bills, the attraction of cattle and horses is really huge, and there is still a distance of about a day and a half, so the merchants were stunned to arrive in a day's time, and when night fell, they arrived in Xiping Mansion.

More than 2,000 carriages arrived in the night, and they were not allowed to enter according to the regulations, but at this time, Xiping Mansion was extremely safe, with at least 2 forbidden armies on guard nearby, and a large number of officials, all of whom were under Han Qi's orders to greet these merchants.

Under the guidance of the officials, the merchants drove the wagons to the specified places, and the 2,000 carts of materials, conservatively estimated, were more than 800 tons, which included all kinds of materials urgently needed in Lingzhou, including food, tools, and other things.

The huge materials were piled up, and Han Qi had also made preparations before, and some officials were responsible for counting the quantity and calculating the price, because the price of cattle and horses was not very high, and these merchants did not have a lion to open their mouths and release a high price.

In fact, the merchants are also helpless, things have been transported, even with the help of the carriage, the freight has been greatly reduced, but the cost of materials and freight for 2,000 carriages is also quite high, and they cannot be taken back when they are transported.

This is an attempt, if it is replaced by some selfish people, one of them is pressed down, and the materials are pressed for thirty or fifty days, these businessmen will be bloodied even if they are not bankrupt.

Han Qi didn't dwell on this, but these businessmen didn't have the courage to open their mouths, in the end, the price was on the basis of freight, and the reasonable cost was even lower than the previous price.

The price is very reasonable, the transaction is very satisfied, this is the current state, Han Qi got the report of the officials below, after knowing the price of these goods, he no longer cares, with such 2000 cars of materials, there are three or four percent, or the materials urgently needed in Lingzhou, then the project in Lingzhou can be accelerated.

However, people are still the most lacking, even if they make a lot of fanfare in the entire northwest and come up with a lot of dry goods for publicity, less than 8,000 people have been recruited so far, which is a bit far from the estimated fifty or sixty thousand.

This work can be completed within 4 months, but the arrival of a large number of materials makes this recruitment work seem to be a little lagging behind.

Han Qi thought in his heart, whether to ask for the support of the center, he knew very well that it was not that those peasants were unwilling to move their positions, it was because the government had jurisdiction over the peasants, unless there was a real official line, otherwise, it would be a very troublesome thing to leave his hometown, unless there was a large-scale famine.

That's a thing that can't quench the thirst of the near water, so I will send it to Bianliang with 800 miles to expedite, let the central minister of Yitong discuss, adjust, and finally come up with a plan, if it is fast, it will be about a month, if it is slow, it may be three or five months, and then implement the coordination, and it can be done well in half a year, which is already good.

Half a year, for other times, is not a very long time, a large-scale migration, can be implemented in half a year, is already very fast, but for Lingzhou now, the project precedes the migration, whether it is a canal, a pond, or even those scattered settlements, may be completed within 4 months, and at that time, it will be waiting for the arrival of personnel.

However, if the personnel are delayed, these places will be vacant, and the planting industry is like this, and if the agricultural time is missed, then the land may be empty for a year, which is unacceptable.

We can only think of a way to do it in the northwest as much as possible, and at the same time let the merchants, through their own channels, hire some people to come over.

Not to mention moving over, hire first, use a certain salary level that is higher than doing odd jobs, attract a group of people to come, and pass the current hurdle first.

By the way, the problem of manpower is also a problem that must be solved, at present, Lingzhou, on the basis of the original, it is difficult to dig manpower again, through the Northwest Fourth Road simple transfer some, but also a drop in the bucket, the symptom is not the root cause.

Under the current circumstances, if you want to get more people in a short period of time, I am afraid that you will have to rely on another place.

That's right, it's Western Xia, it shouldn't be said that now the Western Xia region of Liao, Western Xia has perished, Xingqing Mansion is occupied, the core of the 5 states, four lost, the control area is further reduced, Yuan Hao only has one state left, Suzhou, and a population of less than 500,000, where to jump.

It has gone from a core empire to a regional power, and this will gradually decrease over time.

The slaughter of the Western Xia by the Liao State has sharply reduced the population of the entire Western Xia, but the Liao State is not a complete murder demon king, and it is impossible to kill people endlessly.

These people are a big trouble, if you want to graze, the Liao State can't use so many people, you can only use them for mining and transportation.

In the past, Han Qi would not have thought of this even if he had Zhao Xin's reminder.

As an orthodox literati, even if Han Qi once led troops to fight, he was born as a jinshi, and his long-term literati cultivation made him naturally reject such a bloody thing as a slave.

He treated these Tanguts as slaves because of the complicated relationship between the two countries, and at the same time, he did not always want to treat them as an effort

This half a month, the situation of the entire Lingzhou project, proves this, although it is said that there are certain problems in the management of Western Xia slaves, but 150,000 Western Xia slaves, still played a great role, their appearance, so that the overall efficiency, increased by about 3 percent, this is a very big number.

At present, the density of the Xixia people in the whole Lingzhou is somewhat large, 150,000 prime-age laborers, affiliated to the Xixia people, at least about 400,000, you must know that the current Lingzhou, plus the garrison, is less than 200,000 people, but the Han people are gradually decreasing, if you come in again, in case there is any problem.

However, Han Qi is not unprepared, he is ready to buy 200,000 people from the Liao State, these 200,000 are all young and strong, at least healthy women, not one of the old and children, it turns out that these non-prime people in Lingzhou will be placed in batches and widely arranged in the entire northwest region.

They may work or something, and their strength or youth are a little lacking, but grazing is natural, seventy or eighty-year-old Xixia people can graze, and teenage children can also do, this is something in the bones.

In the future, not only will Lingzhou need to be adjusted, but it is impossible for more than 20 million livestock to be placed in Lingzhou, and Lingzhou will not be able to accommodate it, which will eat up all the grass in Lingzhou.

These must be separated, and then transported to the pastures of various places, a Lingzhou, accommodating five or six hundred thousand Xixia people is a bit terrifying, but distributed in the four roads, it is nothing, a state capital, may only need to accommodate a few thousand people at most, these are not likely to have much impact on the border.

Although the Lingzhou peace agreement is basically completed, since the remaining transaction has not been completely completed, there are still a lot of contacts, but Han Qi has no hope of reporting this request.

Slave purchase, which may be commonplace on the grassland, but for the two countries, it seems to be a little disgraceful, and even he will never dare to make a big show, but his requirements are not high, about 200,000 young and strong can be, so that the labor force of the entire Lingzhou construction is enough.

In the hands of the Liao State, there are no 200,000 slaves.

The answer is a resounding yes.

According to the estimates of the Northern Song Dynasty, the population of Western Xia was about 2 million, but these populations were simply from the five continents of Western Xia, in fact, with the addition of subsidiary areas, the population of Western Xia was more than 3 million.

In the face of the threat of the Liao State, Yuan Hao started the general mobilization and recruited a large number of young men from the surrounding subordinate tribes, which gave the Western Xia the capital to confront the Liao State.

In the battle of Helan Mountain, there were actually not many dead, retreating all the way, concentrating a large number of people in Xingqing Mansion, falling in Xingqing Mansion, and being slaughtered in total, close to 700,000, plus nearly 450,000 lost in Lingzhou, in fact, there were more than 1 million in Western Xia.

Except for a few who are not long-eyed, they were killed when the Liao State was conquered, and most of the others were captured, and there were at least seven or eight hundred thousand in this part, and 200,000 young and strong people were bought from the middle, which is not impossible.

The price can be discussed, and it can even be deducted according to the price of cattle, this is Han Qi's killer feature, using 200,000 people to replace 200,000 cattle, think about it, I should agree.

The liaison has set off, how to do it, and I have to come back to say, Lingzhou's current engineering volume, is almost close to the limit, when this batch of materials is invested, it is another shot in the arm, 4 months' time, when next spring comes, the entire Lingzhou, will be another brilliance.

The merchants were pressed for time, and they only stayed here in Xiping for two days, arriving the day before, after one day and one night, and leaving in a hurry on the morning of the third day.

At the beginning, Han Qi didn't care what they wanted, as long as he solved the current number of cattle and horses in Lingzhou, and when in the end, when the subordinate officials brought the final result of this transaction, he was also slightly surprised.

The transaction volume is not small, before, according to the quotations of merchants, the price of a car of materials generally ranges from 5 to 300 yuan, of which the higher value is the majority, on average, 2000 cars, almost 100,000 yuan.

This is not a small number, he thought that the merchants enjoyed the benefits of the carriage, they would definitely choose horses, according to the previous data, the average price of 95 guan a horse, almost 1050 heads.

As a reward for the first batch of merchants to arrive, Han Qi even authorized that if they wanted, he could give them some horses with better quality than Weizhou trade, but this thought was ultimately disappointed, and in the end, the merchants chose not horses, but cattle, and all of them wanted cattle.