Walking around the bazaar today, Liu Xin saw that the Western Regions had an urgent demand for goods from the Han Dynasty, and he must seize this opportunity to let the countries of the Western Regions see that the resumption of trade routes can bring them great benefits. Therefore, Liu Xin asked Jia Xu to write a letter to Fu Zhu, informing him that he did not have to wait for the rebuilding of the Western Regions Protectorate to organize a caravan, and at the same time canceled the order that silk and white porcelain could only be monopolized by the government.

Because silk was exported to the West through the people in the past, Liu Xin has decided to give up the wrong practice of competing with the people for profit. Not only that, but he also intends to further benefit the people. In the letter, he ordered the institute to selectively teach some of the techniques of firing porcelain to interested ordinary people, so that these people could make some low-end porcelain products. In this way, the porcelain produced by the institute is equivalent to the official kilns of the Ming and Qing dynasties, while the ordinary people fired them are private kilns.

Today, in the shops of Tubro, Liu Xin discovers that there is still a market for all kinds of low-cost pottery in the city of mud, and in many ways porcelain is certainly more practical than pottery. Although the white porcelain produced by the research institute is exquisite, the cost is relatively high, and it is impossible to produce it in large quantities, so it can only take the high-end route. If the technology of firing porcelain is extended to the people, it is equivalent to opening up many new kilns in various places, and the output can naturally increase exponentially. Of course, the folk kiln products cannot be as perfect as the official kiln products, but they are cheap and practical, and can fully meet the needs of ordinary people's daily life, which will become another fist product of the caravan.

Although the restrictions on the private trade in silk and porcelain were relaxed, Liu Xin listed some core technologies in the letter, and asked the local government to bring them back for control, and no one could leak these technologies. These core technologies are not only related to porcelain, papermaking, and printing, but also closely related to the production of silk and tea.

Liu Xin clearly remembers that in later generations, the leakage of rice paper was often mentioned as a classic case, but in his memory, there was another incident that also impressed him, and that incident was related to silk.

Legend has it that a long time ago, silkworm raising and silk reeling were only known to Han people. Therefore, in the trade between the East and the West, silk has always been the fist product of the Han people. However, some countries in the West do not only buy silk fabrics, sometimes they also buy a large amount of raw silk and then make their own weaving, and one of them even regards this as a pillar industry of their own country. Later, due to the intermittent Silk Road, they could not obtain enough raw silk, and a large number of weavers had nothing to do, and gradually fell into poverty. In the end, the king of this country had no choice but to send people to the East to learn the methods of raising silkworms and reeling silk, and brought back silkworm seeds. From then on, although silk remained the main trade commodity in the East, prices could no longer be as strong as they once were. Liu Xin can't remember exactly which country this story took place, but he can't forget the profound lesson.

The same happened later, when the British used missionaries to steal tea cultivation and processing technology from China, breaking China's monopoly on tea production and creating their own tea brand.

Liu Xin is not an internationalist warrior, as long as he can learn foreign technology, he wants to learn. Like the farm tools, weapons, and armor that one saw in Tubro's shop, he had to get them all back and study them all. And for the technology mastered by the Chinese, even if it is just a very inconsequential thing, he will cover it tightly like a treasure, and must not let foreigners steal it.

The techniques of firing porcelain, making paper, and printing are relatively easy to keep secret, as long as the workshops and skilled craftsmen are controlled, and the more difficult thing is how to keep the secrets of growing mulberry and silkworms and cultivating tea trees. However, Liu Xin did not need to consider these problems personally, and in his letter he assigned this task to Fu Zhi, and asked Fu Zhu to formulate strict laws and regulations to try to solve them.

When Jia Xu wrote the letter, Liu Xin was not idle, and he also wrote a letter to Ma Yun in person. In the letter to Ma Yun, Liu Xin of course wanted to pour out her longing. Such a letter is naturally inconvenient to ask Jia Xu to do it for him, Liu Xin had to do it himself, fortunately, he followed Cai Yong to practice calligraphy for many hours, but the calligraphy with one hand is also reasonable. Although Liu Xin could easily read the literary language, he couldn't write it himself, and the letter had to be written in the modern vernacular. However, Liu Xin is not worried that this letter will be seen by others, because he is written in simplified characters, and even if others see it, they will not know what these words mean.

Liu Xin wrote this letter to Ma Yun, of course, not just to tell her that he missed her. Liu Xin has more important things to ask Ma Yun, and that is about the situation in ancient Rome. Although Liu Xin didn't know the situation in Rome in this era, he believed that Ma Yun must know.

Although the Han and Rome were thousands of miles apart, with the level of transportation in this era, the two countries did not look like there would be any intersection between them, except for the occasional caravan and mission to each other, and so far, the so-called Great Qin Empire seems to have been very friendly to the Han in the East. But Liu Xin is a very cautious person, and it is not a bad thing to know more about the situation in Rome, not to mention that knowing more clearly is also beneficial to the upcoming mission.

In addition to inquiring about the situation in ancient Rome, Liu Xin also asked Ma Yun if it was possible to open the Dahan Money Village in the Western Regions. Of course, Liu Xin also gave a brief introduction to the situation in the Western Regions, including rampant horse bandits, broken city walls, and weak and incompetent local troops.

After writing these two letters, Liu Xin breathed a long sigh of relief and said, "Wenhe, it's still early, how about you and I go to the human market together?" ”

Of course, Jia Xu didn't have any opinions, and replied in a loud voice: "The subordinates obey the order." ”

In fact, some time ago, Jia Xu had traveled all over the countries of the Western Regions, but he visited the princes and ministers of various countries, and did not pay attention to the lives of these ordinary people, let alone go deep into the market. And Liu Xin's understanding of the situation today was an eye-opener for him, and Liu Xin immediately made targeted adjustments to his original strategies, and his ability to deal with problems was evident, which made Jia Xu very impressed, and he also learned a lot from it, so Jia Xu is now very willing to follow Liu Xin on another trip.

The city of people is to the west of the shop of Tubro, and the military camp is to the east of the city of mud. Liu Xin and Jia Xu went to the human market, and inevitably passed by Tubro's shop again, only to see that the shop that had just returned to the door was now full of traffic and bustling.

Liu Xin couldn't help but stop and watch, only to see that the pair of exquisite plum vases he used for advertising were placed in the center of the store, surrounded by a circle of stools, and everyone who entered and exited the store was amazed to see this pair of vases. Few of the people who came out of the shop were empty-handed, either holding large chunks of silk or carefully holding a few pieces of porcelain. Those lazy guys just now are now as excited as if they were beaten with chicken blood.

Tubro was so happy that business continued like this, and in less than a day, he would be able to pay off all the money he owed to Liu Xin. People who do business are always very sharp-eyed, and when Tubro was thinking that he could pay off the arrears, he saw Liu Xin standing across the street at a glance, and hurriedly ran out, and said, "Lord Liu, don't worry, those weapons and armor have been packed, and they can be pulled away when your people come." Are you going to sit in the store again? ”

Just after Liu Xin and the others left, Tubro hurriedly sent a man to the palace to inquire about the situation of the Han army that entered the city yesterday. In this mud city, as long as you have money, there is nothing you can't do. A string of copper coins was handed to the palace guards, and several of the guards poured out all the information they knew. Now, knowing Liu Xin's true identity, Tubro is extremely enthusiastic.

Liu Xin waved his hand and said, "Don't sit down, Liu wants to go to Xiaren City, pass by here, and take a look by the way." But, Toobro, you're doing a good business. ”

Tubro smiled and said, "That's not because of your blessing, Lord Liu." Lord Liu is going to the human market, so it's better for Xiaomin to accompany the adults. ”

Naturally, a shrewd businessman would not let go of any opportunity to get close to a big man like Liu Xin, and it was very natural for Tubro to make a request to accompany Liu Xin to the human market.

There is a local as a guide, and of course Liu Xin can't ask for it. However, looking at the busy scene in the Tubro shop, Liu Xin hesitated again: "You left, then who doesn't take care of the business in your store?" ”

Tubro said nonchalantly: "Don't worry, my lord, those guys are very skilled, and these guys were also bought by me from the human market, there will be nothing wrong with them watching." ”

It turned out that the men in Tubro's shop were not his hired hands, but his slaves. In fact, whether it is the countries of the Western Regions, Dawan and Wusun, who claim to want to break away from the Western Regions, as well as the countries around the Western Regions, such as Shenzhi and Kushan, are still in a slave society. Slaves not only have no status at all, but also have strict registration in the government, if they betray their masters, there is no second ending except death, and no one even wants to be a horse bandit. Since these fellows were slaves, everything they had belonged to Tubro, so there was no need for them to enrich themselves, and Tublo naturally felt at ease to hand over the shop to them.

Although Liu Xin still didn't quite understand the Tao here, he was very satisfied with Tubro's enthusiasm, so he nodded and said, "Since you have this heart, then Liu will no longer shirk it, so please lead the way." ”