C34

The night was so quiet that Zhang Zhou was keenly aware of an anomaly in the dense forest by the shore. The distance between the two places was not more than a hundred zhang, which made him very sure of his judgement. His hand slowly grasped the handle of the saber as he whispered, "Come out!"

After a while, there was no sound. Zhang Zhou slowly pulled out his saber from his waist, and under the moonlight, a cold gleam slowly emerged from his scabbard.

"If you don't come out now, I'm going to call for help!"

Someone in the forest finally answered.

"Friend, I don't have any evil intentions!"

"Then come out and speak!"

Only then did his figure sway out of the dark forest, following the small path by the lake, and going around the pavilion. Only then did Zhang Zhou see the person clearly, no wonder his figure looked somewhat familiar. Zhang Zhou secretly maintained his vigilance and smiled, "You still haven't left the capital?"

The man did not answer, his face full of unspeakable sorrow. Walking to the railing, he looked at the water surface and said dejectedly, "No, I didn't think that I would have such a fortuitous encounter with you here in the capital!"

"Yes, twice a day. This is definitely considered fate!"

The man seemed to be at a loss. In the end, he said, "To be honest, it's possible that I'll never be able to leave the capital. Since we're fated, can you help me out with something else?"

Zhang Zhou pondered for a moment and said, "That depends on the risk and benefits!"

The man forced a smile and said, "If a few taels of silver is considered good, I can give it to you!"

"Then I'll keep it for myself!" "I do not lack these silver taels."

That person did not feel surprised at all. With his back leaning against a pavilion, he weakly slid onto the ground and deeply sighed, "Regardless of whether or not you can help me, I want to say it. Otherwise, I might never have another chance in the future!"

His attitude was very negative. Zhang Zhou, on the other hand, didn't comment. He held the handle of his saber and sat on the opposite railing. The man did not care whether Zhang Zhou was willing to listen or not, he just said: My name is Huyan Dongya, I'm the Young Leader of the Huyan Clan in Nanning Province! Because of the constant pressure from the Sima family, the tribe was no longer able to retreat. It was on the verge of death! I came to the capital this time to see General Si Xi Si Jingyan, but didn't expect him to not accept our conditions, and we were unable to accept their conditions as well. We originally wanted to leave the capital today, but our plans were … "

Huyan Dong Hedge sighed again.

"I never would have thought that someone would try to assassinate Sima Jingyan's youngest son. We were suspected of being the masterminds behind the plot. Several of our brothers have already been captured to cover for me. Right now, the Imperial Guards are searching the entire city. I have no way out, so I hid here! I didn't expect to meet you again! "

Zhang Zhou carefully observed his expression. There was no anger on his face, nor was there any complaints. There was only a dejected look on his face. Zhang Zhou did not say anything, nor did he know what to say.

Huyan Dong Hedge took out an object and gently tossed it to Zhang Zhou. Zhang Zhou took it over and discovered that it was a jade pendant the size of his palm. It was carved with the words' Huyan 'on top of a handsome horse.

Huyan Dongya continued: "Whether you are willing or not, I have no choice. If I am caught, this keepsake will definitely fall into the hands of the Sima family! If that's the case, I might as well give it to you.

Zhang Zhou looked at the jade pendant in his hand.

"Is this a keepsake?"

"Yes, it is our tribe's token. It can represent my identity, and can even be used to arrange the movements of our tribe. If you have the chance to hand it over to my sister, she will repay your kindness." If not, then don't let it reappear! "

He didn't even need Zhang Zhou's permission to speak.

"What are the conditions of the Sima family?"

"The condition is for us to merge with their family and become their subordinate!"

"Submitting to the Sima family is even harder for you to accept than death?"

Huyan Dong Hedge looked at Zhang Zhou, his attitude firm.

"The surname that our ancestors left us with is our pride and life, how can we lower our heads to be enslaved? The Sima family has continuously squeezed us all these years, making us no longer have any chance to survive. They wanted to take over our Huyan Cavalry, but that was wishful thinking! My grandfather and my uncle also died in the hands of the Sima family. How can we forget about such hatred and accept the slave of our enemies? "

"The Great Tang has an iron-clad rule against all the families of our Nanping Prefecture. Exiting Nanping Prefecture is treason!"

The two of them no longer spoke, each thinking about their own matters. After a while, Zhang Zhou got up and told Huyan Dong Hedong to wait. He went back to the building, picked up two jugs of wine and some food, and also made sure that there was nothing wrong with the water opera house, then went back to the pavilion and gave the food to Huyan Dong Hedong. Huyan Dong Hedong was not courteous, he took the food and started to eat it, he was clearly hungry. Not long after, he finished all the food and even drank a bottle of wine. Then, the two of them began their casual conversation.

Zhang Zhou found out some things about Nanping Province through Huyan East Hedge's narration. The Nanping Province was the Northwest Gate of the Great Tang Empire. Relying on occupying the heaven's danger point of the land, most of the borders were relatively stable. The only powerful enemy was the Rong Country, also known as the Western Tribes! The Northwest's greatest hurdle, the Great Yan Mountain Pass, was the Great Tang Dynasty's defensive center of gravity, known as the Western Tribes. However, there had been almost no friction between the two countries over the years, and things in the Northwest had finally come to a halt.

Nanping Province was extremely vast, but it was very sparsely populated. It was ten times the size of Riverside Prefecture and had less than three hundred thousand households. Most people lived on grazing.

The aquatic plant resources had become the foundation of the tribe's survival. In order for a large clan to expand its influence, it would definitely squeeze out the space of small clans. There were seventeen families with big family names in the history of Nanping Province. In these hundred years, they had gobbled up half of the weak ones. Even if they managed to escape the natural disaster, they still wouldn't be able to resist the insidious human disaster! In the end, everything vanished like smoke into thin air!

From the very beginning of the founding of the Sima family, they occupied the position of the number one family, controlling nearly two hundred thousand people. The head of the family, Sima Jingyan, also held the position of the second rank low rank General of the Western Region. He had been living in the capital all year round, and his royal grace was grand. The underlings of the family were known as a hundred thousand elite riders. Even though their actual numbers were less than sixty thousand, in the Southpeak State, regardless of status or power, they were absolute hegemons. No one could shake them! There were also Hu Li Clan, Duanmu Clan, and other second-rate clans with a population of around 20,000, and they took the Sima Clan as the leader for everything!

The Huyan Family had about ten thousand members. Although they did not have many, they were good at raising big horses and were good at riding and shooting. They were known as the 'South Pingzhou'. All these years, they had lived in the worst possible areas, and their strong survivability was also proven to be excellent. The other families' fighting prowess were declining year by year, but the Huyan Family's cavalry was being tempered to become more courageous and warlike. Because of this, the Sima family became the target that they were determined to annex.

Huyan Dongya's grandfather and uncle were killed because they tried their best to resist the Sima family, and both sides even had a large conflict over this. In the end, the Imperial Court stepped in to punish them, and those who had no say in the matter were punished, and the Huyan Family left their homes. After all, there was a huge disparity in power, and since they could not receive justice from the imperial government, they could only retreat with hatred.

Last year, it was snowing heavily. For the sake of a meadow, the other side had started a conflict. The Sima family had simply stopped the supply of snow that the imperial government had sent over, resulting in the Huyan Family being forced to kill horses to appease their hunger. The Sima family didn't even give him a chance to catch his breath as they openly proclaimed the Huyan Family's sin of slaughtering their war horses. The war horses of the Tang Dynasty were mainly supplied from Meng Province and Nanping Province. Because the war horses were not easy to raise and the empire needed a lot of war horses, there was no law on how to kill one's war horse! The emperor was infuriated. He punished them once again and confiscated their last pasture.

Negotiation? Apologize? It did not exist! Because that wasn't what the Sima family wanted, the Sima family had only one condition. After the surname Huyan was erased, they would all be subordinate to their family. Huyan Dongya came to the capital this time to see Sima Jingyan, hoping to reach a compromise! If he really couldn't do it, then he would find a way to meet the emperor and make a complaint. Unfortunately, his ability simply couldn't surpass Sima Jingyan, who would offend the emperor in the entire imperial court because of his "small grievance"? How could he possibly have the opportunity to meet the Emperor? Now that they had been charged with the crime of seeking revenge and assassinating others, the Huyan Family could no longer see any hope.

Zhang Zhou thought to himself, if there were only two or three thousand people here, then he could think of a way. Even if there were twenty to thirty thousand people here, he still wouldn't be able to do anything about it. Although he had the desire to be greedy, he didn't have the ability to wolf down his food.

After he finished narrating the past Huyan East Fence, he seemed to think of the prairie riding again, and a lonely smile appeared on his face.

Zhang Zhou suddenly said, "Is there any law in Tang Dynasty that says that you can't be recruited to engage in other industries!"

Huyan Dongya shook his head and said: "That's impossible! There had been many people who had gone to other prefectures to look for a living. This was not forbidden by the imperial government. "However, the people of Nanping Province are not good at managing. The limited businesses are also monopolized by the Sima family. They are often bullied when they go out and do things. If they don't get a fair treatment, they might as well stay in Nanping Province and live happily."

Zhang Zhou thought for a long time before saying, "Can I make a deal with you?"

Huyan Dong Hedge could no longer see the future, even if he only saw a stalk of straw he still wanted to grab it and ask: "What kind of deal?"

"If I can help you leave the capital and return home safely, I want you to provide me with two thousand warriors to serve as my caravan's squire!"

"Servant? 2000 people? "

"Right, not being a slave, this is an errand, I will pay you a reasonable price!"

"But we have over 20,000 people!"

"Sorry, this is the biggest help I can give you! Moreover, have you thought about it yet? Only by reserving the surnames of 2,000 people will you all have the chance to seek a chance to make a comeback. If not, there might not even be a chance for you all to make a comeback! "

Huyan East Hedge lowered his head in thought. Zhang Zhou continued, "If you die in the capital, your tribe will be finished. All the glory of your family will be gone!" If you go back and work with me, there might be a chance for you to make a comeback! I presume your ancestors couldn't possibly have tens of thousands of people at once, and it took them a while to grow to their current size! Also, the names of the families that have disappeared have shown that once they win, they can't give you any chance to make a comeback! Therefore, you don't have much time to think about it! "

Huyan Dong Hedong thought for a long time and said: "Can you take in some children? I don't have to pay! "

Zhang Zhou thought about it and said, "Yes, boys and girls can all do it, but not more than 500 people! I'll pay for it! But, child, I must arrange how to live! But don't worry, I won't enslave these children. I'll let them learn! What do you think? This is already my limit! "

Huyan East Hedge pondered for a long time, sighed, and nodded in agreement!

In Zhang Zhou's plan, the Nine Prefectures would usher in a period of growth. Because with the introduction of Zhaoxiang, and hezhou's strong sales momentum, there will be a large amount of silver into the account, greatly alleviating the pressure on the capital flow. Zhang Zhou believed that now was definitely not the time to accumulate silver. What he urgently needed to do was to further advance the scale and ability of the Nine Regions' business. Naturally, he needed a large amount of manpower. The last recruitment for the caravan had resolved the temporary need for manpower, but there were also a lot of problems. Today, more than three hundred people had been fired due to various reasons, but he did not plan on letting the recruitment and management system slip by. The purpose of his help to Huyan Dong Hedge was also to solve the shortage of manpower that he was about to face. Rather than recruiting from Hezhou, it was better to use simpler and more loyal Huyan Family members to control the situation. If he could develop his dreams, he wanted to eat more.

From the very beginning, Zhang Zhou had never thought of being a well-off family. Otherwise, he would not have gone all out to develop crossbows, form "yakshas", and conceal the existence of steel! It couldn't be said that he wanted to rebel against the heavens one day, because he wanted to possess a powerful ability to protect himself. Sima Jingyan undoubtedly proved to him the feasibility of this direction! On what basis did Sima Jingyan obtain everything that happened today? It was because he had sufficient strength that the imperial government did not dare to make things difficult for him!

This matter with Tang Yu'er also made Zhang Zhou realize that the strength he had in front of him was still too weak. He still had a long way to go. But after some thought, he really did not want to give up this opportunity to get involved with the "Steel Cavalry"! As long as these two thousand people were in his possession, he was confident that he would be able to obtain some of the things he wanted.

There was one more thing he wanted to do, and that was to get a foot in Nanping Province. Through his knowledge of the Great Tang, he discovered that there was an undiscovered business opportunity in Nanping State — crude salt! A crude salt that is not filtered and purified and eats toxic substances!

Zhang Zhou greeted Cao Yi, who was very happy. In the past few days, this student had never stopped writing to him, and every time, he would be treated with a sense of filial piety and sincere concern. The two of them chatted for a while, only leaving after lunch.

He also conveniently did something and got someone to take Taoist Qing Lin's illegitimate son to Hezhou. At night, he also found that good-for-nothing, Li Yin.

Li Yin was currently living comfortably, and Zhang Zhou had given him a lot of money to get him in touch with the disciples of the high sects. Initially, many people had thought that he had no background. In the capital, it was hard for a rich kid to get into the family circle. However, Li Yin was well-informed, good at communication, and good at communication.

"Brother Zhang, Master Zhang, I didn't randomly spend your money!" I've always been bent on following your orders! "

Zhang Zhou gave a fake smile and said, "Alright, stop acting good. I don't care about the money you spent, but if you don't do your job, then it won't make sense!"

"How can this be? Look at all these, all the information I have gathered is here! "

Finished speaking, he took out a stack of paper covered with small, beautiful words from a hidden cabinet and handed it over to Zhang Zhou. Zhang Zhou looked at it briefly and said, "Why didn't you give these to me?"

"I would like to give these items to you immediately, but this matter has been discovered by someone, it is definitely not a small matter. Other than you, I really do not dare to hand them over to anyone else!"

Zhang Zhou nodded his head. Li Yin knew very well what he was doing, and this caution was not wrong. Of course, he would not admit that this was a problem that he had underestimated.

"Seems like I have wronged you!" Don't worry, as long as you do your work peacefully, you will not let your hard work be in vain! I'm going to give you your own house in the capital, a housekeeper, servants, whatever. You don't need to worry, I'll arrange everything! You just need to write these down and hand it over to the butler! "

How could Li Yin not know about this? It could be said that he was under Zhang Zhou's supervision, and his face was as ugly as a bitter gourd. Zhang Zhou smiled, "Don't be so wronged, alright? I've already made my plans. We will sell He Zhou Lie in the capital, and I will hand over the management of the capital's winery to you." "Also, I will give you back your freedom in a few years, but before that, I hope you can demonstrate your worth!"

Li Yin immediately regained his smiling flattery. He knew the value of He Zhou Lie; all the noble disciples in the capital had bought them from the outside world through high prices. They were responsible for He Zhou Lie's business in the capital.

Apart from his hedonistic attitude, his good luck, and his gambling habits, Li Yin did not bully the weak. He was a man who knew both the ways of the world, and Zhang Zhou really couldn't hate him. The two chatted for a while longer, until Zhang Zhou gave him some names and told him to grasp them. Li Yin answered and thought to himself, "You are just a head of Hezhou, how can you care about those important figures? If you eat well and drink well, what does it matter to you?" Live in the present, enjoy is real!

With the help of Fu Xiang, the empress had personally created the words "zhe xiang" for the business of the Nine Regions. As a signboard, the shop had already been successfully taken over and was waiting for the auspicious occasion. There were also a few wineries and furniture shops. Some had Cao Yi's care, and some had Fu Xiang's support. They had also begun their intense preparations!

What made Zhang Zhou happy was that the "Zhe Xiang" store had not even officially opened, and the 30 taels of fragrant soap had already been reserved for more than 10,000 pieces! And it was only retail, not wholesale! It was Fu Xiang who raised the price of the soap by another ten taels. Zhang Zhou thought about it and felt that it was indeed true. At the moment, people who could afford to use the soap really did not lack money. Besides, the rarer the goods, the more valuable they would be. Since there were fewer of them now, he should make a good profit! It could also be considered as a foundation for the introduction of higher grade soap in the future! Because of the production capacity problems, faced with the ordinary class of low-end soap products, temporarily no plans!