Seeing that the ministers were confused, even Bishu and Bailixian seemed to understand it, Xiang Zhuang knew that this should be discussed with Widow Qin and Tang Tong and others. He said, "Forget it, I won't talk about this beforehand, and let's talk about the dirty things between the Han Dynasty and the Yuezhi. What do you think?"

Xiang said: "I think this is a good opportunity to win over the Yuezhi people and restrain the Han country."

Wu Shedao: "But the question is, if the Yuezhi people get the support of our Great Chu, will they occupy the desert and become another Hun? If this situation really happens, it will be a loss."

Bailixian and Bi Shu were also a little confused about this issue. From the perspective of dealing with the Han Dynasty, it was necessary to win over the Yuezhi people. However, from the perspective of the entire Huaxia people, they should cooperate with the Han Dynasty to suppress the Yuezhi people. Otherwise, if the Yuezhi people took advantage of the opportunity of the weakening of the Huns, it would be a disaster sooner or later.

Xiang Zhuang pondered for a while, but finally decided to let Pang Yu send someone to contact the Yuezhi people first.

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On the way from Handan to Jixian, a four-horse carriage was speeding.

There were more than twenty cavalry riders around the carriage. Obviously, the owner of this carriage was not an ordinary person.

In fact, the owner of the carriage was either someone else, or Xiangzhuang's mistress, the head of the Qin family in Badong, the widow of Qin, just left Luoyang ten days ago. After staying in Handan for a while, she headed straight for Ji County. She would go through Ji County to Liaodong and discuss in detail with Liaodong guru Meng Fu's garrison to sell food exchange in Zhao State.

As soon as the car drove past the dune platform, a fast horse suddenly flew from Handan. It was still far away. The knight on the horse's back waved and shouted, "Madam Qin, please stay, stay..."

Mrs. Qin is a famous red-topped merchant in the State of Chu, but she will use other identities when walking in various countries. However, the visitor suddenly called out Mrs. Qin's identity. Obviously, she was not an ordinary person. The more than 20 cavalry guarding the carriage became alert and all of them reached their bags on the horse's back. There was a small crossbow.

The rider approached quickly, and the carriage slowly stopped on the left side of the road.

More than ten cavalrymen quickly surrounded the knights and surrounded the knights. However, the knight looked calm and bowed to the carriage, saying aloud: "Madam Qin, in Xiashiji, he is the Zuo Sima of the Xuanyi Guard, and is ordered by the commander to come to deliver a letter to his wife." After that, he took out a letter from his arms.

It turned out to be a member of the Xuanyiwei, and more than ten brave cavalry looked slightly relaxed, but they were still a little skeptical.

A corner of the carriage curtain was lifted. Then a beautiful maid poked out her head from it, and a Jianqi took the letter from the knight and handed it to the maid. The maid took the letter and retracted it back into the carriage. The curtain fell again. The knight bowed to the carriage, then pulled his horse and turned around, galloping towards Handan.

In the carriage, Widow Qin leaned lazily on the brocade mat and asked, "Mi'er, what's the matter?"

The maid held the secret letter in both hands and handed it to Widow Qin, saying, "It was a letter sent by the Handan branch of the Xuanyiwei."

Widow Qin opened the secret letter and read it in a hurry. A strange bright color suddenly appeared in her beautiful eyes. This letter was indeed sent by someone from the Handan branch of the Xuanyiwei. However, what was said in the letter surprised Widow Qin, so she immediately ordered the maid and said, "Mi'er, let He Bo turn around and we will go back to Handan."

"Return to Handan?" Mei'er said in surprise, "Madam, we won't go to Liaodong anymore?"

"I won't go." Widow Qin shone with her beautiful eyes and shook her head, "In Guanzhong, Handan and Anyi, there are several big deals waiting for us to do, but there is no need to go to this bitter and cold place in Liaodong."

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Bai Mo's salt and iron official camp has been forcibly opened in Guanzhong.

Of course, Bai Mo did not kill the salt merchants and iron merchants in Guanzhong with one stick, but left them a buffer time. In the first stage, Bai Mo only nationalized the source industries such as salt farms and iron smelting workshops, and set up official specializations. Traffic, deep processing and retail in the midstream of the industry are temporarily allowed to operate privately.

But Bai Mo has given a two-year deadline.

In two years, the production, transportation and sales of salt and iron will be completely specialized.

The merchants engaged in the salt and iron business in Guanzhong are naturally full of complaints. Since ancient times, the two major industries of salt and iron have been the most profitable industries. Yidun, one of the two legendary giant merchants in the Warring States Period, relied on the salt industry to accumulate huge wealth, and his wealth was not even inferior to the overlord of the Central Plains at that time, the King of the Great Wei!

More than 500 years ago, Guan Zhong had calculated a calculation for Duke Huan of Qi, and finally concluded that the principal amount paid by a large country with a population of tens of millions was less than half the profit obtained by the official business of salt and iron. This shows how rich the profits of the salt and iron industry are. Now these two major industries are monopolized by the government. How can Guanzhong merchants have no complaints?

Among them, the biggest opinions are the Sima family and the Lu family.

The Sima family emerged hundreds of years ago. In the generation of Sima Cuo, it even joined the ranks of the top families in Guanzhong. Later, it gradually entered the salt industry and accumulated huge wealth. Sima Zhong, the contemporary head of the Sima family, was the fifth-generation grandson of Sima Cuo. Sima Zhong also had a younger brother Sima Ji, who was a business genius.

However, due to the Han Dynasty's national policy of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce, Sima Ji's business practice was difficult to maximize. It is precisely for this reason that Sima Ji often criticized Prime Minister Bai Mo's conservatism and stupidity when his friends gathered, believing that if the Han Dynasty wanted to become stronger, it must follow the Chu State to implement the national policy of encouraging industry and commerce.

At this moment, Sima Ji criticized Bai Mo in front of Sima Zhong: "Bai Mo will be in chaos sooner or later in Guanzhong, and the Han Dynasty will sooner or later be destroyed by this person."

Sima Zhong's face changed slightly and he said, "Third brother, please say less."

"What are you afraid of?" Sima Ji said disapprovingly, "What I said is the fact. Now there are many people who have opinions about Bai Mo, but not only our family. If you don't say anything else, just talking about the Lu family, I'm afraid I'll hate Bai Mo to the core! I dare to assert that Bai Mo will die at the hands of the Lu family in the future, hum!"

Sima Zhongran, who doesn’t know the grudge between the Lu family and Bai Mo?

Sima Ji said again: "Second brother, I think we must not be able to wait for death, but should join hands with the major merchants in Guanzhong to put pressure on the court, and let the king take back the edict no matter what."

"Put pressure on the court?" Sima Zhong said in a lost voice, "I don't want to die? You need to know that your arms can't force your thighs!"

"That may not be!" Sima Ji Lengran said, "Thousands of merchants unite, can Bai Mo dare to do whatever he wants?"

"Thousands of merchants?" Sima Zhong's face changed drastically, and he asked in a low voice, "Third brother, tell me honestly, is the person who found Ji last night a spy? Ji must not believe their greedy words easily. The Prime Minister is cruel and ruthless. If you want to fight him, you are seeking death. You can't win."

Sima Ji's face became colder and said, "Second brother, it's too late to say this now. Thousands of merchants in Guanzhong have already started to act in secret. At most, within three days, the consequences of Bai Mo forcibly set up an official to specialize in salt and iron will appear. At that time, not only the salt price, but the iron price will soar, but the grain price will also soar."

"What?" Sima Zhong said sternly, "has it already begun?"

"Yes, it has begun." Sima Ji said, "Second brother, if we don't follow up, we will lose a lot!"

Seeing that Sima Zhong was still hesitating, Sima Ji said again: "What are the second brothers worried about? Once the matter breaks out, Bai Mo will be drowned by the saliva of the people of Guanzhong. If he wants to calm the salt and grain crisis in Guanzhong, he can only admit defeat to us and cancel the official salt and iron camp. Could it be that he dares to use force?"

Sima Zhongdao: "But he is the prime minister of the Han Dynasty after all?"

Sima Ji said: "Second brother, having the law does not punish the masses. This is the spontaneous action of thousands of merchants!"

Sima Zhong finally made up his mind and said in a deep voice: "Okay, then let dozens of businesses in Xianyang, Hanzhong, Beidi, Longxi and Shangjun follow up with all their strength. Whether it is salt, iron or grain, buy as much as you have."

"Here!" Sima Ji answered with a loud bang and turned around happily.

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Chen Ping came to visit the mansion, but Bai Mo did not dare to neglect and personally welcomed him out of the door.

After recounting the ceremony, Bai Mo sent Chen Ping into the living room again, and then asked: "The Grand Master Yin Ye is here to visit. I guess there must be something extraordinary, but I don't know what it is?"

Chen Ping nodded slightly and said with concern: "Prime Minister, according to the Hei Bingtai report, hundreds of grain and salt merchants in Xianyang City are walking around frequently. I suspect that they may have something unspeakable. Maybe it will be related to the salt and iron official camp that the Prime Minister just promoted, so we must take precautions early."

Bai Mo laughed at him and said disapprovingly: "Has the Grand Master been over-concerned?"

Bai Mo has always looked down on the vendors. In his opinion, it was a group of sheep who were slaughtered and could not become a big deal. For example, the Sima family and the Lu family had accumulated countless wealth, what could it be? Just a king's edict could confiscate all their wealth.

Chen Ping said: "If it is just one or two merchants, it is naturally not worth worrying. But if hundreds of merchants unite, their influence will be extraordinary. If all the merchants in Guanzhong unite, then the court should be in big trouble. The official business of salt and iron has just been implemented, and industries such as grain and cloth are completely in the hands of merchants. It is really not possible without them."

"All businesses united?" Bai Mo waved his hand and said disapprovingly, "The Grand Master is too worried, and these businesses are profit-oriented, and they can blush for a little profit. How can they act together? These businesses really want to act together unless the sun comes out of the west."

Seeing that Bai Mo was dissatisfied, Chen Ping had to say helplessly: "Anyway, the Prime Minister needs to be careful."

"Okay." Bai Mo couldn't give Chen Ping too much, and said immediately, "Then it's time for the Grand Master to ask the Black Bingtai to strengthen the surveillance of merchants. If they really have any bad intentions, it's better to stop them in advance."
Chapter completed!