Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 193 People are the mouth horse
"Moo..."

Outside Lingwu City, there are farmland and grasslands everywhere, and herds of cattle and sheep.

When Chen Ying and his six brothers arrived at the west of the city, they saw cattle and sheep everywhere, as well as many people in ragged clothes.

In order to survive, common people are willing to sell themselves at a low price, but many merchants do not have a strong identity like dental dealers, and they cannot bear the responsibility of selling registered common people.

"Captain, these people are too cheap. Why don't we buy some and take them back. They can also help drive the herds on the road."

"Yes, Captain. They will suffer if they stay here. After returning to Longxi with us, they can continue to be civilians and live a good life."

"Colonel Captain..."

Seeing those people selling their own people for a few thousand coins, several brothers couldn't help but speak out, and Chen Ying thought about it before nodding:

"Buy cattle and horses first, and then look after you've bought them."

After hearing what he said, the brothers stopped talking.

Soon, they followed Chen Ying and found a few businessmen sitting under a straw hut.

"May I ask you gentlemen, what is this..."

For these merchants who travel far and wide, being able to recognize a few soldiers is basically an entry-level skill.

Seeing Chen Ying and the others dismounting from their horses, several businessmen hurried over to greet them.

Chen Ying got straight to the point: "I am here to buy and sell herds on the orders of my commander-in-chief."

"The oxen are pulling the horses, you can bid your own price."

When doing business, dental dealers naturally have to reveal their background first, so that they can ensure their safety in other territories.

Sure enough, when several businessmen heard that Chen Ying's background was that of a military governor, they immediately said enthusiastically, "General, please take a seat."

After they arranged for Chen Ying and the others to sit down, they spoke: "The three of us have a lot of livestock, among which the price of a yellow cattle is seven strings of cash, and the price of a draft horse is three strings of cash."

"In addition, there are mules, camels, donkeys and other livestock, as well as riding horses and fine horses..."

They wanted to continue talking, but Chen Ying interrupted them and said, "I only came here to draft horses and oxen."

"Don't think I'm from a foreign country and you'll be deceived."

"You guys sell your ironware to Hexi and exchange it for tens of thousands of herds of cattle to come to Shuofang. The price of eight strings of cash for a yellow cattle is already the same as the price at the end of last year."

"Six strings of cash for an ox and two and a half strings of cash for a draft horse. If you don't want to, I'll find someone else!"

The price of cattle and horses is cheap at the northern border. If you drive cattle and horses to Gyeonggi Province or Henan Province, a yellow cow is worth at least 20 strings of cash, and a draft horse is worth at least 5 strings of cash.

However, not everyone can do business like selling to the mainland.

If a merchant without a background went to Henan Province to sell cattle and horses, he would be exploited at least a dozen times on the way, and it would be considered lucky if he did not go bankrupt.

Even dental dealers like Chen Ying were not immune to being exploited and extorted by the local vassal states, and they had to pay at least 30% of the profits to bribe the local vassal states along the way.

Because of this, these merchants can only wait for buyers at the border, but dare not sell to the mainland.

"This……"

Several merchants looked at each other, and then one of them bowed and asked, "How many cattle and horses does the general need?"

"One thousand oxen and two thousand draft horses." Chen Ying said the quantity he needed, and the cattle and horse dealers' eyes lit up.

"Okay, then let's do as the general says."

"Wait." Chen Ying interrupted them and then gestured, "Where did these people come from? Why are there no people to resettle them?"

"People?" The merchant looked at the hungry people who were selling him, and explained after realizing what was happening:
"These are the people whose hometowns were affected by the war between the imperial court and the Tanguts. In addition, there are also starving people from Beiwuzhou, Yuanzhou, Yanzhou and other places. They gathered in Lingwu at the beginning of the year."

"But those who are strong and pretty have already been bought by the horse dealers and sold in the city."

"The good-looking ones are sold to the East Market, the middle and lower-looking ones are sold to the West Market, and those who are left behind are mostly hungry people who have no skills and are in poor health."

"If you want to buy a shepherd slave, you might as well go to the West Market. Shepherd slaves there are cheap, and you can buy one for three or five strings of cash."

"But if you want to buy a large quantity, it would be best to go to the Shuofang Army to make some arrangements."

After the merchant finished speaking, Chen Ying nodded, then took out a small box, put it on the table and opened it.

A dozen gold bars were placed in front of them, and the eyes of several businessmen lit up.

"This is the deposit. For the rest, please come to me at the post station after you have counted the quantity."

"Remember, Chen Ying, the Longxi Army's yamen commander."

Chen Ying announced his name, and several businessmen bowed immediately after hearing it: "Remember, remember..."

Seeing this, Chen Ying left two brothers to supervise them, then mounted his horse and returned to Lingwu City.

After learning that there were many slaves and starving people in Lingwu and that they could be taken to Longxi, Chen Ying became interested.

After returning to the city, he went to Lingwu Yamen and found the tooth dealer of the Shuofang Army.

The broker of the Shuofang Army was called Liu Jin, a member of the family of the governor Liu Tong who was brought to the Shuofang Army.

Although the Shuofang Army was a hero in suppressing the Anshi Rebellion, after Guo Ziyi's death, the Shuofang Town was split into eight towns in the northwest of Beijing.

The current Shuofang Army, although just bearing the name of the Shuofang Army, can actually only control Lingzhou and Yanzhou.

If the imperial court was short of money and food, it would not be uncommon to occasionally delay the payment of military pay for one or two months. However, as a military governor, delaying the payment of military pay was naturally something that could not happen.

When the imperial court was short of money and grain, or when the money and grain had not yet been delivered to the local area, the Jiedushi had to find a way to make up the difference.

Because of this, the eight towns in the northwest of Beijing each have their own merchants, but their power is not as strong as that of the three towns in Heshuo.

Chen Ying deliberately invited Liu Jin to have dinner at a restaurant in Xishi, and opposite the restaurant was Koumahang.

"Congratulations, Mr. Chen. I heard that you bought three thousand horses and cattle. This kind of investment really opened my eyes!"

As soon as Liu Jin entered the private room, he told Chen Ying the information he had. Chen Ying smiled and said,
"It's all thanks to General Liu and Yaya Liu for taking care of us. Yaya, please take a seat."

Chen Ying motioned Liu Jin to sit down, and stood up to pour him a glass of wine, saying, "Since the yamen officer knows that I bought the herd, I will not hide it any more."

"To drive these herds south, we need a lot of slaves, so I want to buy some slaves and some servants to return to Longxi."

Chen Ying had inquired about the experience of Jiedushi Liu Tong. At least for the imperial court, Liu Tong was a bold and resolute man, very suitable to be stationed at the border.

Because of this, Chen Ying was worried that Liu Tong would not be willing to purchase people to move south on his own.

It’s a pity that Chen Ying still underestimated the burden on Liu Tong’s shoulders.

Facing Chen Ying's probing, Liu Jin, a dental dealer under Liu Tong, smiled and bowed:
"A few slaves are not a big problem. As long as the deed tax is paid, my envoy will certainly agree to let the yamen take them away."

"But..." Liu Jin paused for a moment, then continued:

"The products of Lingzhou and Yanzhou are not as abundant as those of Longyou. If Chen Yaya can sell more goods to Lingzhou in the future, I think my envoy will support it."

After Liu Jin finished speaking, Chen Ying understood what he meant.

There are only a few trade routes in Shuofang. Although the states near Shuofang have large populations, their value is not as great as that of Longxi.

The three states under the jurisdiction of Longyou were known as the granary of Longxi during the Tianbao period, and the states in Longnan were also rich in products. Whether it was grain, gold, silver, red copper, or dragon beard mats, parrots and other commodities, they were all commodities needed by Lingzhou.

A new trade route was opened, which enabled Shuofang to collect more taxes to support the army.

After figuring it out, Chen Ying bowed and said, "Don't worry, Yaya, my commander also wants to open up a trade route."

"I will be in charge of arranging the trade routes in the north in the future, so you don't have to worry about anyone blocking your way."

"Well, well, well..." Liu Jin raised his glass upon hearing this: "In that case, I wish Chen Yaya to return to Longxi as soon as possible and open up trade routes for our Linglong areas."

"Of course!" Chen Ying raised the cup and drank it all. Liu Jin did not stay for too long, but passed the news to the government office and asked Chen Ying to buy slaves at will.

Seeing that the deal was done, Chen Ying sent a few brothers to find brothers stationed outside the city, and then go to the west city to select slaves who were strong or had special skills.

In addition, he walked out of the tavern and went to the horse-drawn shop across the street.

Compared with the prosperity of the horse trading center at the east market entrance, the horse trading center at the west market entrance is more for ordinary people, and its decoration is no different from that of ordinary courtyards.

When Chen Ying walked into the entrance horse shop, the manager took him to the courtyard, then went to the back room and called out the slaves one by one.

There were no less than ten people crammed into the small back room, which made Chen Ying frown repeatedly.

Soon, all the slaves in the horse-riding business were brought out.

Most of them were ragged, skinny and starving. Among them were Uighurs, Tibetans, Umurs, Khitans, Dangxiangs and Han people.

"Only keep the Han people." Chen Ying frowned and stated the condition, and the person in charge took many people in the courtyard back to the back room.

When the dust settled, there were still more than a hundred people left in the yard, most of them were young men and teenage girls.

"How much do these people cost?" Chen Ying asked the manager, who smiled and said:

"These horses are priced at 5,000 coins for the young and strong men and 4,000 coins for the women."

He called these people Kouma. Although Chen Ying didn't like it, he still said, "Four thousand coins for men and three thousand coins for women. I want them all."

"This is really too low." The manager looked embarrassed and suggested, "How about reducing the price by 500 coins for each man and woman?" Chen Ying glanced at him, and the manager said, "I spent 3,000 coins to buy them, and they have eaten a lot of food these days..."

"As you said, let's each reduce the price by 500 coins!" Seeing him like this, Chen Ying agreed to reduce the price by 500 coins each.

Upon seeing this, the person in charge quickly brought out the indentures, on which were written the names of these people: Umutu.

"Why did you write "Ummerman"? Are you trying to trick me?"

Chen Ying glanced at the head of the department, who quickly explained, "After all, the law prohibits treating Tang people as imported horses for sale, so they can only be filled in as Uygurs or Uighurs."

"If you are worried, you can go up and ask them about their hometowns."

Hearing this, Chen Ying stepped forward and asked about their hometowns one by one.

Seeing that they were indeed Han people, Chen Ying sent someone to get the money, and the transaction was completed in a short time.

The total cost of the seventy-two young men and fifty-eight women was three hundred and eighty-five strings of cash and more than five hundred coins.

This amount of money was not much for Chen Ying, so he went to several horse racing shops in Xishi.

By the time he walked out of the West Market, he had already bought things from more than 800 people, and the prices were roughly the same.

It’s a pity that he came a little late, otherwise he could have bought a few hundred people.

After doing this, he ordered people to buy food and go to the Longxi military camp outside the east of the city with these slaves.

Not long after, he rode back to the west of the city, and the soldiers of the Longxi Army had already built a shed there and started trading with the people of Lingzhou.

As soon as Chen Ying got off his horse, he saw a brigade commander walking towards him. He muttered in a low voice: "This Lingzhou government is really a cannibal."

"What's wrong?" Chen Ying frowned, and the brigade commander explained:

"We told these people that as long as they followed us south, we would provide them with food and drink along the way. When we arrived in Longxi, we would give them oxen, draft horses and farm tools, and provide them with food until the autumn harvest next year, and let them become Longxi's residents."

"Just after we agreed, someone from the Lingzhou government office came and said that you and Liu Yaya had agreed to pay the deed tax after signing the deed."

"We have no choice but to set the price at two guan per person, and the Lingzhou government wants to charge us five hundred coins per person as a deed tax..."

Chen Ying frowned after hearing this, then patted the brigade commander on the shoulder and said, "Just consider it as a favor."

The brigade commander had no choice but to sit in the pergola with Chen Ying and watch the officials from the Lingzhou government office write out one indenture after another.

Busy from afternoon to dusk, Chen Ying had signed indentures for most of the slaves outside Lingwu City, and the recorder of Lingzhou also walked up to Chen Ying, bowed and handed him a box of indentures, saying:

"Two thousand six hundred and forty-five slaves, for one million three hundred and twenty-two thousand five hundred."

Chen Ying frowned and calculated, and the converted amount was 1,322,500 coins.

He took out eleven gold bars from the box and said calmly, "One hundred and seventy-six taels of gold, no more, no less."

"Okay... okay..." The recorder quickly took the gold away and bowed.

"In that case, I won't bother Chen Yaya anymore."

As soon as they finished speaking, they left immediately, and the brothers of the Longxi Army couldn't help but spit when they saw this.

"Damn it, more than 1,300 strings of cash were exchanged for this white paper!"

"They don't care about a bunch of hungry people, but we take care of them for them, and they still charge us for it. They really know how to do business!"

"All right……"

Chen Ying interrupted everyone and then looked at the more than 2,600 slaves outside the shed.

Including them, he had purchased more than 3,500 people in Lingzhou.

The Shuofang Army did not capture them and sell them to themselves at slave prices, but only collected a deed tax of 500 coins, which was already a way of making friends with them.

If there were no trade, the Shuofang Army would probably capture these hungry people, force them into slavery, and then sell them to themselves at market prices.

By then, the amount of money I will need to pay will be more than just a thousand strings of cash.

"Tomorrow we will go to the city to buy a horse-drawn carriage and two months' worth of food for each person. Once the carriage is ready, we will go home."

"Yes!"

Chen Ying gave a few simple instructions and then set up a tent outside the city to rest.

The next day, while Chen Ying was still registering the people, Yang Xin, who had disappeared for the whole day, came to the west of the city with three carriages.

"Captain Chen, you bought so many slaves?"

Yang Xin was stunned when he saw the huge crowd. Chen Ying did not explain, but just nodded and said, "Are all the concubines in these three carriages?"

"Yes!" Yang Xin grinned. Chen Ying saw that he was unreliable, so she walked to the carriage and opened the window.

The woman in the car was about sixteen or seventeen years old, with delicate skin, a medium build, cheeks as red as fresh litchis, a nose as smooth as goose fat, and she was gentle and silent, very amiable.

"This is a woman from Huainan and Sizhou who is in trouble. She is literate and can play the zither and sing. What do you think?"

Yang Xin winked at Chen Ying, and Chen Ying looked at the woman and was distracted for a moment, then nodded and said, "Not bad."

He closed the window and walked towards the second carriage. After opening the window, he saw the woman inside. She had an oval face and a plump figure, but she was a charming and delicate woman.

With such a beautiful girl before him, Chen Ying felt that this girl wasn't so eye-catching.

He turned around and looked at Yang Xin, as if asking what characteristics this woman had. Yang Xin quickly said, "The dancer from Caizhou has a great figure."

Chen Ying nodded with satisfaction, then walked to the next carriage and opened its window.

Inside the car sat a Hu girl with a slender waist and plump breasts, a long face, a high nose, and foxy eyes. Although there were a few freckles on both sides of her cheeks, she was still pretty.

"Not bad……"

Chen Ying closed the window and after praising them, he asked suspiciously, "Can three bars of gold buy all three of them?"

"Uh..." Yang Xin rubbed his hands awkwardly after hearing this: "Three bars of gold is half the price, and I still owe Koumahang three bars of gold."

"What did you say?!"

Chen Ying's eyes widened. After all, he had gotten more than 3,000 people from the Shuofang Army, and it had only cost him 1,500 strings of cash. Now, three women would cost him more than 700 strings of cash.

"Just tell me if it's worth it! Could it be that Marshal Jie doesn't deserve such a good concubine?!"

Yang Xin put his hands on his hips, like a dead pig that is not afraid of boiling water.

Hearing this, Chen Ying didn't know what to say. After all, these three concubines were indeed beautiful.

Thinking of this, he gritted his teeth and called on his brothers to fetch three gold bars.

"Girl, I'll stay here. I'm going to settle the accounts first. Maybe I'll do business with him again in the future!"

Yang Xin was about to leave with a grin, but Chen Ying pulled him aside and said shyly:

"About thirty kan, are there any pretty women?"

"Hmm?" Yang Xin looked at him in surprise and said with a wretched smile, "Don't worry, of course there is."

"Wait for me!" Upon hearing this, Chen Ying hurried to the shed, and soon took out thirty strings of money and handed them to Yang Xin.

Yang Xin took it and said in amazement: "If I didn't have to go home and discuss it with my wife, I would have bought one too."

"Don't worry, we will come to Lingzhou to do business many times in the future."

Chen Ying tried to comfort him, but Yang Xin rolled his eyes at him and then asked, "Why don't you go with me to take a look?"

"I won't go. I trust your choice." Chen Ying said generously. Yang Xin spat and got on his horse and left.

An hour later, he drove his carriage back to the west of the city.

Without waiting for him to get out of the car, Chen Ying opened the window.

The woman had a long face and a slender figure. Although she was not as pretty as the first three, she was very pretty and clean.

"Hey!" Yang Xin poked Chen Ying with his hand and said with a wicked smile, "Go ahead, I'll be guarding you outside the car."

"Puh!" Chen Ying spat at him and quickly explained:
"I bought this woman for Governor Chen, not for myself."

"Oh..." Yang Xin was very disappointed, as if he had missed something good.

Seeing his wretched appearance, Chen Ying quickly shook her head and urged, "Go buy some food quickly."

"Once the carriage is ready, we can go home."

Facing Chen Ying's urging, Yang Xin, who was previously very anxious to go home, said slowly: "Why are you in such a hurry..."

As soon as he finished speaking, he hugged Chen Ying and said, "There are fun things to do in the East Market. I'll take you there."

"I'm not that kind of person!" Chen Ying tried to break free, but Yang Xin held him tightly: "I'll treat you!"

"Let's go then!"

(End of this chapter)