After Zhang Yan's order was issued, Mi Zhu quickly completed the preparations, and a thousand pairs of battle armor made of stainless steel, a thousand sharp swords forged from stainless steel, and 10,000 stones of refined salt were all loaded onto the cargo ship within three days.

To this end, Zhang Yan also personally ran to Qu County, for Li Cai, Tai Shici and others to see off, thirty sea ships, officially out to sea on the 14th of the lunar month, is expected to arrive in western Liaoning five days later, half a month later to return to Qu County port, at that time, just in time for the New Year, it is also a double happiness.

Since Li Cai, Tai Shici and others left, Zhang Yan has been worrying about this every day, but the sea is not as good as the land, and scouts can be set up on the land to find out the news, and the sea can only wait.

Mi Zhu knew Zhang Yan's worries, so he said comfortingly: "Don't worry, my lord, Li Cai is very business-minded, and he has been selling horses for many years, and those Wuhuan people have long been familiar with him, and he will definitely bring back a large number of horses on this trip." ”

Zhang Yan listened to Mi Zhu's consolation, and was a little relieved, so he temporarily returned to Pengcheng, waited for the news, and instructed Mi Zhu that once there was news, he would notify him as soon as possible.

After returning to Pengcheng, Zhang Yan's hanging heart never fell, after all, it was the Wuhuan people who traded with Li Cai, and the Wuhuan people were Hu people, the most untrustworthy, and capricious, he was really worried that the Wuhuan people would turn against Li Cai and Tai Shi Ci, once that time came, Tai Shi Ci and they would definitely suffer.

After Xuzhou launched a series of resistance to the suppression of Zhang Yan's decrees, the rest of Zhang Yan's jurisdiction was as quiet as death.

Qingzhou and Yanzhou, like Xuzhou, were also the places of the four wars, and the Yellow Turban Uprising. Until now. There has been a lot of fighting in the territory. Years of conquest have caused great harm to Qingzhou and Yanzhou, and most of the clans who can migrate elsewhere have migrated to other places, and most of the young and strong men have been conscripted into the army, and the dead and wounded can be said to be dead. In Yanzhou and Qingzhou, they have been exhausted by the war, and everyone is tired of the war and hopes to get a peaceful world.

Because of this, Qingzhou and Yanzhou did not resist, anyway, it doesn't matter who the ruler is, it can let them live a good life in peace and tranquility, which is the most important thing. What's more, the various decrees promulgated by Zhang Yan were all aimed at the vast number of poor people. It has the effect of inhibiting the family gate valve more or less.

Although Zhang Yan is still the same Zhang Yan, Zhang Yan's thinking has long surpassed this era. He is familiar with history, knows the development of history into the city, the Eastern Han Dynasty was divided into three kingdoms at the end of the year, after the unification of the Western Jin Dynasty, it was the Five Hu Chaohua, then the Northern and Southern Dynasties, until the Sui Dynasty, it was unified again.

In this centuries-long process of division, during the period of the Three Kingdoms and the Two Jin Dynasties and the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Shizu Gate Lords continued to develop and grow, and they were able to influence the entire country, and this development was terrifying. With the birth of the Jiupin Zhongzheng system, the situation of "no poor family in the upper grade, no family in the lower grade" is becoming more and more serious. Over time, the right to select officials was monopolized by the clans, and in the Sui Dynasty, with the decline of the gate valve system, this system was finally abolished.

And the person who created the Jiupin Zhongzheng system is one of Zhang Yan's current right-hand men, Chen Qun.

In view of the far-reaching influence of this system, Zhang Yan came up with many ways to restrain the development of the family and adopt laws and regulations to restrain the behavior of the family and regulate their behavior, so as to answer the reasons for inhibiting their development. Fundamentally, the abolition of this system has occurred.

Since Cao Cao was driven north of the Yellow River by Zhang Yan, King Pei, King Liang, and King Chen all came to attach themselves, the land of the Central Plains has returned to a rare calm.

However, Zhang Yan knew deeply that this was not the time to relax his vigilance, because Yuan Shu in Huainan and Yuan Shao in Hebei were all spying on themselves with a pair of vicious eyes.

Regarding the movements of Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao's armies, Zhang Yan has also been silently paying attention, because Er Yuan is his strongest enemy now.

After Cao Cao was defeated, he turned to Yuan Shao's army, and Yuan Shao treated this old friend well enough, not only letting Cao Cao continue to lead his old department, but also entrusting him with important tasks, no matter how big or small the military and political affairs, he had to ask Cao Cao's advice. Just when resisting the invasion of Gongsun Zhan, Yuan Shao openly took Cao Cao as his military advisor, and defeated Gongsun Zhan completely in accordance with Cao Cao's strategic policy.

Although Yuan Shao reuses Cao Cao very much, in Cao Cao's heart, this kind of life under the fence is very awkward, he feels that he is firmly controlled, and the idea of recovering Yanzhou and taking revenge is even more deep-rooted.

But Yuan Shao seemed to understand Cao Cao's thoughts very well, and often said to Cao Cao that it was not too late for a gentleman to take revenge for ten years, and compared it with Gou Jian, who was lying on his salary and hiding his guts. and promised Cao Cao that as long as Cao Cao helped him unify the north, he would lead his people south, defeat Zhang Yan, and avenge Cao Cao.

At first, Cao Cao was also very attentive to help Yuan Shao, and he really hoped to use Yuan Shao's liliang to eliminate Zhang Yan.

However, with Cao Cao, who was so reused by Yuan Shao, the original team under Yuan Shao was very jealous. Judge, Xu You, Guo Tu, Xiao Ji, and Xin Ping all came to Yuan Shaojin to slander him, saying that Cao Cao was not a person who had lived under the people for a long time, and should be guarded against, and could not give him military power.

Yuan Shao trusted Cao Cao and didn't listen to the advice at all, and in desperation, Yuan Shao's advisers could only sigh for a while.

On the other hand, since Yuan Shu got the jade seal pledged by Sun Ce, he has been thinking about how to be the emperor all day long, and he has no idea about the conquest. After Sun Ce returned from Jiangdong, Yuan Shu not only punished Sun Ce for losing his troops, but also specially sent people to appease him, saying that victory or defeat was a common thing for soldiers, and persuaded Sun Ce to attack Lujiang again. threatened that Sun Ce could capture the Lujiang River, so he asked Sun Ce to be the Taishou of the Lujiang River.

Sun Ce, who was in frustration, agreed to Yuan Shu's proposal and took Lei Bo and 10,000 soldiers and horses, as well as his old troops, to capture Lujiang.

Before leaving, Zhou Yu persuaded Sun Ce bitterly, telling Sun Ce not to attack Lujiang, saying that Yuan Shu was capricious and might not be able to speak. Sun Ce didn't listen, and as a result, when attacking Lujiang, Lu Kang's reputation was too great, and many strong men spontaneously organized themselves to defend Lujiang City with Lu Kang.

As a result, the attack lasted for several months. None of them can be captured. But he was not reconciled. can only be consumed in Lujiang and Lu Kang.

The news of Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao kept coming, and Zhang Yan felt relieved when he saw that both sides had no intention of fighting him.

However, a secret letter from Guanzhong once again caused a ripple in Zhang Yan's calm heart.

The letter was not signed, and it is not known who sent it. This secret letter was found by the scout on the dead Xuzhou scout. This secret letter recorded the details of the events in Chang'an City, and the letter said that Li Wei often held wine banquets at his home to entertain Guo Yan. Sometimes Guo Yan stays in his own home.

Guo Yan's wife was afraid that Li Wei would send a concubine to Guo Yan and take away her love, so she wanted to provoke their relationship.

Once Li Wei sent wine and food to Guo Yan, Guo Yan's wife said that the tempeh in the dish was poison, and before Guo Yan ate it, Guo's wife picked out the black bean sauce to show Guo Yan, and said a lot of bad things about Li Wei, which made Guo Yan suspicious. A few days later, Li Wei invited Guo Yan to a banquet again, and drunk Guo Yan, Guo Yan suspected that Li Wei wanted to poison him, so he quickly drank feces to induce vomiting and relieve hangover.

The letter also said that Li Dao and Guo Yan went on like this. Eventually, there will definitely be a rupture, until then. It's time for the soldiers to meet.

At that time, it will be the time for the Son of Heaven to return to the east by taking advantage of the chaos, and I hope that Zhang Yan can prepare as soon as possible and respond at any time.

After reading this secret letter, although it was not signed, and the handwriting was deliberately sloppy, it was probably because I was worried that I would be discovered and recognized. Moreover, the things mentioned in the letter are very familiar with the affairs of Li Dao and Guo Yan, and they must be people close to Li Dao and Guo Yan, but as for who they are, Zhang Yan can't think of it.

But Zhang Yan can guess that the person who wrote this letter must not be the current Son of Heaven, let alone Dong Cheng, but this person not only knows everything about Li Dao and Guo Yan, but also knows a lot about the edict given to him by the Son of Heaven. Otherwise, Weishenme's letter would have appeared on the scouts he sent out, not on someone else's?

The scout is dead, but the secret letter is still kept, according to the mention of the scout who found the letter, it was still found at the location of the joint, which proves that this person not only knows the way the Xuzhou scout transmits information, but also wants to warn Zhang Yan through this dead scout.

According to Zhang Yan's inference, this scout was probably killed by the person who sent the secret letter.

According to the scout's recollections, there were no traces of a fight at the joint location at that time, but only a wound was found on the back of the deceased, so to speak, the murderer stabbed it in from behind. Moreover, there are also two people's footprints at the scene, which means that the person who sent the secret letter at least knows the scout, otherwise, he would not have stabbed him in the back. Then, in order to silence the messenger, the messenger killed the scout, that is, he did not want to reveal his identity.

As for whether the messenger of the murderer and the person who wrote the letter are the same person, it is impossible to guess.

However, Zhang Yan never dreamed of fighting, who would secretly help him in Chang'an City? And this person seems to be hidden deep enough.

can not only get the trust of Li Dao and Guo Yan, but also get the trust of today's son, who is this person?

Zhang Yan couldn't guess it, and he didn't want to guess it, because the boat would naturally go straight to the bridge, and since someone sent him such important news, he believed that in the near future, he would be able to meet this person.

In the following days, the same secret letter came in the same way, and what was written in the letter was a subtle change in Chang'an City, which was enough to help Zhang Yan figure out every move in Chang'an City.

In Zhang Yan's opinion, this person is like the eye of the sky, and any wind and grass in Chang'an City cannot escape from the palm of his hand!

So, who is this person? Weishenme wants to do this, Zhang Yan does not know.

The days passed day by day, and soon, it was the end of the year, Zhang Yan rushed to Qu County early in the morning, and waited quietly on the harbor, looking forward to the ships full of horses sailing towards him.

In the morning, it was foggy and the sea was not clear enough, and it was only at noon that the fog slowly cleared. But Zhang Yan looked at it, but he didn't see a sail on the sea level.

By the time of the twilight, Zhang Yan had no hope, and suddenly the sea ships with open sails were heading towards the shore at an extremely brisk speed.

Zhang Yanxi smiled and witnessed the sea ship landing and horses being led out of the cabin.

Tai Shi Ci happily walked in front of Zhang Yan and said loudly: "Lord Qi, the last general is fortunate not to be dishonored, five thousand high-quality war horses have all been brought back, please check the lord!" ”

Seeing the war horses being led ashore one by one, Zhang Yan's heart was so happy, the heart that had been hanging for a long time finally landed at this time. However, he looked around and didn't see Li Cai's figure, so he asked Tai Shici, "What about Li Cai?" ”

Tai Shi Ci said: "Qi lord, Li Cai said that he would stay in Wuhuan for a while, find thousands of war horses for the lord, and then transport them back to Xuzhou next time." ”

Zhang Yan asked in disbelief: "Ziyi, tell me the truth, these five thousand war horses were really exchanged for those things, and they didn't spend a single money?" ”

Tai Shi Ci nodded heavily, and said happily: "Our weapons are as sharp as clay, and the battle armor is indestructible. But at first, he was only willing to exchange a steel sword and a pair of armor for a war horse, and then Li Cai bargained with the Wuhuan people, and finally they were willing to exchange it for 5,000 war horses. Basically, a weapon or a piece of armor can be exchanged for a war horse, and as for the extra 3,000 war horses, they are all exchanged for refined salt, and this time, we have made a lot of money. ”

Zhang Yan never expected that this horse dealer would have such great ability. It seems that this matter of opening up a trade route can only be done by Li Cai.

"You have worked hard all the way, now we have horses in Xuzhou, and we can form a decent cavalry team again." Zhang Yan said happily.

Tai Shi Ci couldn't suppress his joyful expression, and said loudly: "Lord, that Li Cai is really too eloquent, I have never seen such a person." Now, he is a brother and sister to King Wuhuan. ”

After Zhang Yan heard this, he was also happy, such a talent, it would be good if he found it early.

Although there are war horses, but the trip to Liaoxi also made Zhang Yan see unlimited business opportunities, if he can bring back 5,000 war horses in one trip, he can have 100,000 war horses in 20 trips.

It's just a pity for his swords and armor made of stainless steel. He desperately let the craftsmen build it, and his army is not fully equipped, and they have already begun to be exported.

For Zhang Yan, cavalry is good, but the cost of cavalry is very high, at most, he bought 5,000 war horses to form a 10,000 cavalry team, with 90,000 infantry, which is enough for him to sweep the entire Central Plains.

With joy, Zhang Yan and Tai Shici transported the war horse to Pengcheng, and the day they arrived in Pengcheng was the Chinese New Year's Eve, tomorrow, it will be a new year, and in the new year, there will inevitably be a new atmosphere, and Zhang Yan is also ready to do a big job in the new year to achieve the goal of winning the Central Plains! (To be continued......)