On the morning of the 28th day of the first lunar month, when Su Jin was directing the people to arrange and decorate the shops on Bianshuihe Street in full swing, Yan Shu ordered someone to send news that the imperial court's court on recovering part of the state capital's purchasing rights had been passed.

The two state capitals that were finally identified as pilot projects were Yingtianfu and Weizhou Mansion on Qinfeng Road in the northwest.

Ying Tianfu as a pilot, Su Jin was not surprised, but secretly praised Zhao Zhen for being good at calculating; Ying Tian is now Bao Zheng's prefect, and there will never be any dark deeds in the procurement under Bao Zheng's auspices, so for Bao Zheng, it is just to reduce the burden, not to lose the benefits, and he will definitely have no opinion.

And Bao Zheng basically does not belong to any faction, and no one will speak for him if he touches Bao Zheng's cake, which is probably the real reason why the court meeting was successfully passed.

But Weizhou is also one of the pilots, which is much beyond Su Jin's expectations; First of all, Weizhou is the front line of the war in the northwest, and the Western Xia soldiers under the command of Yuan Hao harassed very much, and the local agricultural production has basically been in a state of stagnation, and there are probably few commercial workshops.

If you think about it with your knees, you can imagine the current situation of Weizhou, it must be the whole city with strong soldiers, most of the people build the city and build forts as people, and the shops in the market must be pitiful, and the tax revenue here must be in a state of stagnation, there is no money and silver circulation, and there is no material to buy; What was Zhao Zhen's intention to establish a silver village in Weizhou, which made Su Jin a little confused.

After thinking about it for a long time, Su Jin didn't have an answer, and in the end, Su Jin decided to visit Yan Shu in person at Yan Mansion in the evening and ask what was going on.

In the evening, before Su Jin left, Yan Fu sent someone to invite Su Jin over, Su Jin hurriedly rode to Tianshuijing Hutong, since Yan Shu sent someone to invite, he must have said something about this matter.

When I arrived in the Yan Mansion, I saw Fu Bi and Yang Cha as usual and the two fast sons-in-law of the Yan Mansion were present, these two were a bit like those hairy sons-in-law in later generations, who were crooked in their mother-in-law's house every day, and took this place as their own home.

Yan Shu beckoned Su Jin to take a seat, put on a banquet and called Yan Biyun to accompany him, a few people politely toasted a few rounds of wine, Yan Shu asked Su Jin about his recent situation, and then cut to the chase.

"Su Jin, the old man sent someone to inform you of the results of the court meeting before noon, you know." Yan Shu put down his chopsticks, took a towel to wipe the wine on his beard, and smiled.

Su Jin hurriedly said: "I know everything, but there is something unclear below." ”

Yan Shu smiled: "Don't ask, you must have some questions about the place where it was opened." ”

Su Jin nodded and said: "Exactly, I can still understand Ying Tianfu, there are rich in products, commerce is developed, many materials are very convenient to purchase, money and silver circulation is large and fast, and Yinzhuang is suitable for building there; Master Bao is in charge of Yingtian, and the tax officials below who are specifically purchasing do not dare to have any objections to this, which is the ideal place. However, Weizhou is the northwest border of Qinfeng Road, and it is at the very edge of the battle between the two armies, and the workers, peasants, and merchants there have all stagnated, and there is no tax at all, let alone the use of intercepting and purchasing, what is the use of setting up a silver village there? ”

Yan Shu nodded at Su Jin and smiled: "The old man knows that you don't understand the truth here, to be honest, the old man suggested it to the emperor in Weizhou." ”

Su Jin was stunned and said, "Why did Lord Sansi suggest Weizhou? The southern state capitals are all suitable places, and it is really a waste of resources to build a silver village in Weizhou. ”

Yan Shu said: "You are still a little tender, you don't understand the importance of Weizhou at all, yes, now the money and tax revenue of Weizhou and even the entire northwest has come to a standstill, but you don't want to think about it, where is most of the supplies purchased by the imperial court?" In addition to what the capital needs, the northwest is a bottomless pit, and no matter how much material is put into it, it will not be too much. ”

Su Jin frowned and said, "What does this have to do with me?" The silver village I established was to facilitate the local purchase of the imperial court's money and silver, so as to prevent the local state capital from embezzling the imperial court's funds; It's purely money and silver, and it has nothing to do with materials and goods. ”

Yan Shu glared at him and said, "What do you know?" Do you know how many soldiers and horses are stationed in Weizhou? ”

Su Jin shook his head and said, "I don't know." ”

Yan Shu said: "Let me tell you, there are 30,000 soldiers and horses stationed in Weizhou alone, and tens of thousands of soldiers and horses are stationed in Qinzhou, Jingzhou, and Yuanzhou near the left and rear of Weizhou, and the total number of soldiers and horses on the entire Qinfeng Road line exceeds 60,000, do you understand?" ”

Su Jin frowned and thought for a while, and suddenly his eyes lit up and said, "Are you talking about military salaries?" ”

Yan Shu laughed and said: "It can be regarded as enlightened, 60,000 soldiers and horses, plus the income of officials and officials, a small Qin Fenglu spent nearly 600,000 yuan in ten years, this money was originally escorted by officers and soldiers, and the military salary was paid monthly, but because the western thieves often broke into small groups and harassed internally, it became extremely uneasy. In October last year, 80,000 soldiers were robbed by a small group of thieves in the west when they passed through the Fengxiang area, resulting in no military pay in the northwest for several months, which almost caused a mutiny; If you set up the silver village there, wouldn't it be once and for all to relieve the worries of the imperial court? ”

Su Jin suddenly realized, but in an instant, he fell into a gloomy cloud again, and frowned: "Qian and Yin escorts are not safe, how did the materials arrive?" ”

Yan Shu sighed and said: "It is also common for materials to be robbed, not only the western thieves intercepted halfway, but also the local barbarian thieves and thieves, there are also man-made disasters, natural disasters are more terrible, last year good Shuichuan defeated, everyone said that it was the light enemy rash advance, but I know that it was because the mudflow washed away the mountain road, delayed for several months to open the road, the soldiers' salaries, grain and grass are unsustainable, resulting in a big drop in morale, there was that tragic defeat." ”

Su Jin understood, it was not that the imperial court could not send troops to escort them, but that there were too many unreliable factors, some robbed, some stolen, and some roads that could not be crossed; One out of ten times when something goes wrong can lead to a disaster; And it can't be all transported to storage, once the army is defeated or there is a disaster of fire and water, all the enemy will be wasted, with the current strength of the Great Song Dynasty, it really can't withstand such a toss.

"I understand, but isn't that pushing me into the fire pit? As soon as I set up a silver village in Weizhou, I will have to transport a large amount of money and silver to be stored, and if the situation deteriorates, will I lose all my money? ”

Although Su Jin doesn't want to be too petty, this is not a small amount, at least two or three million yuan will be transported as the principal; The money of the imperial court is deposited in the capital, and it will be taken out and distributed there, 600,000 yuan every ten years, and it will be spent cleanly in less than eight or nine months, and then it will be necessary to risk escorting a batch of money to replenish it.

For the sake of safety, the number of escorts can only be minimized, so that a large amount of money is required; But the more money, the more unsafe it is, once the western thieves enter Weizhou City, the money will be lost, and the court will never compensate a penny, which is what Su Jin is worried about.

"First, if you want to do this, you have to take the risk, the emperor said, the Northwest Yinzhuang will increase the exchange interest of Su Ji to Su Ji by one percent, originally you and the emperor said that the imperial court exchange, five out of a thousand, and the emperor will raise it to six out of a thousand; Second, Weizhou is Wang Yan's town, he is my best friend, with Jingyuan Road strategy, appeasement, and solicitation of three envoys in one, and also know Weizhou; The old man will write to him to explain the situation, and if things are not harmonious, he will help you transfer your belongings centrally, can you rest assured? ”

Su Jin turned his worries into joy and said: "That's easy to do, I'm not afraid of losing that money, I just heard from you that this Weizhou Yinzhuang has both the purpose of distributing military salaries to the surrounding state capitals, once something goes wrong, it will affect the morale of the entire Qinfeng Road soldiers, and I am afraid that it will be difficult to clean up at that time." ”

Yan Shu waved his hand and said: "You don't have to explain, since the old man suggested that it be set up in Weizhou, it will naturally solve your worries, you can rest assured." ”

Su Jin happily toasted Yan Shu with a glass of wine and said, "Lord Sansi has helped me a lot. ”

Yan Shu smiled: "I'm helping the imperial court, but I'm not helping you." ”

Su Jinxin said: You are also helping yourself, you must know that your Yan family also invests half of the capital, if something goes wrong, everyone will be unlucky together.

"This matter is not very urgent, it is only the first month, and the ice and snow are blocking the road, so it is not easy to go west; The emperor said that he would let you go to Weizhou to complete this matter in May and June, and now you can start Yingtian first. ”

Su Jin nodded and agreed, it was impossible to be so fast, and the manpower and capital regulations were not in place, so he couldn't be in a hurry about this matter.

Everyone chatted a few words, and drank a few rounds of wine with each other, Yan Shu coughed and glanced at Fu Bi, Fu Bi understood, stood up and took a glass of wine to Su Jin and said, "Brother Xian, brother toasts you." ”

Su Jin drank a lot, and excused himself: "Brother Fu has given me five cups today, how can he respect me again, and he will also clink glasses with Brother Yang." ”

Fu Bi said with a smile: "Sixty or six Shun, make up enough for six cups, and the foolish brother has something to ask." ”

Su Jin was stunned and said: "That's it, why do you have to drink." ”

Fu Bi tilted his neck, drank the wine in the cup dry, and lit the bottom of the cup towards Su Jin, smiling silently; Su Jin had no choice but to make a drink, put a chicken leg in his mouth and just chewed it, when he heard Fu Bi say: "Brother Xian, your errand is here again, this time it is a tricky matter." ”

"Poof" Su Jin spit the chicken leg on the table and said, "What errand?" ”

Fu Bi sighed and said, "The envoy of the Liao State arrived in the capital yesterday......"