Daqian Night Emperor

Chapter 285: Let me see how the soldiers that Marquis Weiwu has raised for me are doing

The salt and iron records are difficult to check in a short period of time.

On the one hand, salt and iron are important national treasures, private merchants are not allowed to operate them, and it is difficult to check transaction records.

On the other hand, the border area between Yongzhou and Liangzhou is rich in iron and salt mines. The Zhou family has been operating in Yongzhou for so many years, and they must have already privately opened mines, smelted iron and made salt.

However, Yongzhou does not produce grain, and the transportation of large quantities of grain would cause a lot of noise, which could not be hidden from the Zhao Company's intelligence network.

Therefore, Zhao Qi'an could see the clues just by looking at the grain transaction records presented to him.

About half a year ago, several forces emerged in Yongzhou, collecting grain continuously, and the price was ridiculously high.

Although these forces seem to have no connection on the surface, Zhao Qi'an knows that as long as he investigates and traces their source, he will definitely be able to find the Zhou family.

"half year ago……"

The grain collection in Yongzhou took place half a year ago, which was before the Zhou family’s affairs were exposed. This means that the Zhou family did not rebel just because the trafficking case was exposed.

At this point in time, something must have happened that caused the old fox of the Zhou family to change his mentality.

Zhao Qi'an closed his eyes and thought about the major events that happened half a year ago.

The next moment, he opened his eyes and thought of something.

Half a year ago, Ji Wuchang led the expeditionary army back to the Daqian territory from the land of foreign races, and they took the road through the Western Desert.

I'm afraid something happened during that time when he "borrowed the road".

Zhao Qi'an was not very sure about this guess.

He temporarily put the matter in his heart and said to Zhao Nishang, "There is a way."

Zhao Nishang asked hurriedly: "Godfather, what can I do?"

Zhao Qi'an expressed his idea: "Pretend to be a grain merchant, go north to trade, and use this as a breakthrough point to explore the intelligence of the Western Desert."

Zhao Nishang was stunned for a moment when she heard this: "But...father, Yongzhou has been collecting grain half a year ago."

Zhao Qi'an shook his head: "They won't be able to collect much, I'm afraid it's just a drop in the bucket."

“Can’t get food even if the price is sky-high?”

"How can you receive something that doesn't exist? Have you forgotten that even the grain supply of Kyoto City this year was regulated by Zhao's Trading Company?"

After Zhao Qi'an's reminder, Zhao Nishang suddenly remembered something - the natural disaster in Jingzhou!
Jingzhou is an important grain-producing area, but this year it first experienced a natural disaster, a severe drought for several months, and almost no crops were harvested. Then followed by a man-made disaster, the Salvation Cult ran rampant in Jingzhou, causing a shocking bloodbath.

The impact of this incident has not been eliminated until now. Even though the imperial envoy sent by the court has been gone for several months, Jingzhou is still in dire straits.

Because of this, Jingzhou ran out of food and the prices of food in the surrounding areas all rose.

There were even unscrupulous businessmen who were ready to raise the price. If Zhao Qian'an had not transferred grain from Yangzhou, the price of rice in Kyoto would have skyrocketed long ago.

Fortunately, the weather had been good in the past few years, the old grain reserves were sufficient, and the imperial court also released grain for disaster relief, so no major unrest occurred.

But even so, it is already difficult to stabilize the food prices south of Kyoto City, and as for the north... I really can't take care of it.

At this critical juncture, even if the Zhou family offered a higher price, they would not be able to get the grain.

With the way the Zhou family collected grain, Yongzhou must have been filled with starving people long ago. But now there is no news from Kyoto City. It is likely that Yongzhou is the same as Jingzhou, with officials protecting each other and deceiving each other, and forcibly suppressing the news.

Yongzhou is not like Jingzhou. Although Jingzhou is not large in area, it is close to the capital and is an important grain-producing area. If there is a problem, the court can respond immediately. If a war breaks out in the remote area of ​​Yongzhou, even the surrounding troops cannot be mobilized, and there will probably be a big problem.

Zhao Qi'an was thinking, if the Zhou family rebelled, would it be good or bad for him? He shook his head. It was useless to think about it now. No matter whether it was good or bad, he had to keep the information firmly in his hands. Otherwise, he would only know it when the time came and he would be beaten passively!
At this moment, Zhao Nishang frowned and asked, "We can pretend to be grain merchants... where do we get the grain?"

"I got a batch of grain from some big grain shops before and shipped some to Jizhou. There is still some left. You can take it to Yongzhou."

Zhao Qi'an had cheated several major grain stores in Kyoto City and took all the grain from them at low prices. Now he still has some grain left, and he wanted to transport it back to Haiqing City. Now it comes in handy.

He said: "I will find a way to ship another batch to you from Yangzhou, you don't have to worry about that."

"Ship from Yangzhou..."

Zhao Nishang couldn't help but be shocked.

Transporting grain from Yangzhou to Yongzhou is equivalent to transporting it from the southeasternmost to the northwesternmost part of Daqian, almost spanning the entire Kyushu. The amount of manpower, material resources and financial resources spent on this is unimaginable, but the value of the transported grain is probably not even a fraction of it.

In the entire Daqian Dynasty, only Zhao Qi'an could do such a big thing.

Zhao Qi'an didn't care and said, "This time, I will let Wei Qi and Tian Ting Di Wen follow you."

Zhao Nishang asked cautiously: "What about the Xiaowei..."

Zhao Qi'an shook his head and said, "I have other uses for Xiaowei, and the people of Song Biaotou's Tianwei Escort Agency will also have to stay in Jingdu City for the time being."

Zhao Nishang was surprised and asked, "Are you going to transfer people from the East China Sea?"

Zhao Qi'an shook his head and said, "The people in the East Sea cannot be moved. I don't know what my father is doing in Haiqing City. If we rashly mobilize them, there will probably be chaos."

"That……"

"I sent someone to deliver a secret letter to Jizhou, asking Marquis Weiwu to return my Tianlang Army to me for a period of time."

He paused for a moment, looked at Zhao Nishang and smiled: "Don't you want to see Wu? You can see him in a few days."

Zhao Nishang immediately showed a look of delight: "My foster father wants Ah Wu to lead the Tianlang Army and work with me on this matter?"

Zhao Qi'an nodded, his smile still on his face, but his eyes became more meaningful: "By the way, this can also be used to test for me what kind of army the Marquis of Weiwu has raised for me over the years."

"Yes!"

……

"I'm afraid it will be quite dangerous to go to the Western Desert this time. You must remember that no matter what happens, in my eyes, your safety is not as important. If there is danger, run away if you should, and surrender if you can't. As long as you are alive, everything will be fine."

Towards the end, Zhao Qian couldn't help but nag a bit.

Zhao Nishang heard deep concern in his words, and couldn't help but reveal a sweet smile on her face. She said in a tender voice, "I know, godfather."

Zhao Qi'an looked her up and down and nodded, "I'm not worried about you. I'm mainly worried about Wu. As you know, he's a bit green and inexperienced."

Zhao Nishang said with a smile: "I will keep an eye on him for you, don't worry."

"Then leave it to you."

Zhao Qi'an sent Zhao Nishang out of the Treasure Pavilion. She still needed to make some preparations for this journey to the west.

When Zhao Nishang was about to return to her own Fuxiang Tower, she suddenly remembered something: "Oh, by the way, foster father, you asked me to go to the Western Desert on a whim, so what did you come to see me about before?"

Zhao Qi'an slapped his head and remembered the main reason why he came to see Zhao Nishang today: "I almost forgot... How is your human skin being refined? Give me two."

(End of this chapter)