"It's rare to get together. Come and welcome the captain Zhao." Yu Zangyun held the wine glass, "Captain Zhao is 30 years old and is already a general. He is really a hero. I have to accept it." More than a dozen captains on both tables stood up with smiles, and some people praised "Captain Yu said," "It's true."

"Where is there, Yu Zhengwei praised him." Zhao Xingde smiled and thanked him. According to Chen Qianli's instructions, he visited the old lieutenant one by one. When he arrived at Yu Zangyun, Yu Zangyun was extremely enthusiastic and invited more than a dozen lieutenants to accompany him to welcome him. Zhao Xingde was disrespectful and had to come to Huayue Tower with Yu Zangyun.

The captains were all drunk, and everyone came to this reception banquet to see Yu Zangyun's face. After the toast, they talked to each other in a lingering manner. The captain of the Huguo Mansion, and the Zhuguo Mansion on the Zhuguo Mansion, was already the end of their official positions for many Xia people. Because the captain was elected by soldiers, if it were not for illegal or illegal, the military government could not be dismissed. There were very few prime ministers in the Xia Kingdom who had been more than ten years, but many of them had more than fifteen years of qualifications. Even the generals who led the army respected the old captain. Otherwise, it would be a big trouble to the Huguo Mansion.

While speaking, the servant of Huayue Tower brought up various delicious foods. After the roasted hump cooked with various spicy ingredients, the chef cut the hump into thin slices on the spot, which was extremely attractive. The diners need to pick it up with their hands and wrap it in a thousand-layer butter cake to eat, which is suitable for the appetite of these tough and rude corpses. Others such as nectar soup, fumigation of deer legs, goose and duck roast, gourd chicken, wine-making fish jelly, crystal cake, cherry cake, yellow osmanthus persimmon, and white sheep blood

, wonton soup and other delicacies on the market in Chang'an were all available. Zhao Xingde had tasted several kinds, and the taste was not bad at all. He nodded secretly, no wonder people in Guanzhong like to gather in Huayue Tower in Dunhuang. However, for Zhao Xingde, such occasions were not full, because he had just arrived. Since he had this opportunity to meet more colleagues in the Guardian Mansion, he could not miss it, nor could he seem arrogant. Many lieutenants were also observing him and secretly judged whether this person was worthy of close friendship.

"I heard that Captain Zhao was born in Guandong?" Yang Renji of the Aconite Army asked, Huang Ti of the Iron Bones Army nodded, and Yang Renji asked, "How many wives and concubines do he have?" Huang Ti shook his head and whispered, "I only have one wife and no concubines." Yang Renji nodded, looked at Zhao Xingde, and sighed in a low voice: "I have a great ambition."

"Although Captain Zhao is from the Longya Army, he is stationed in Chang'an and is considered a person from Guanzhong." A captain named Huyang Army named Xie Ximin patted Zhao Xingde's shoulder and leaned closer and whispered, "I heard that Captain Zhao is the contractor of Chunyu Iron Factory, he is really not a good person."

"Shame, ashamed." Zhao Xingde said humbly. Although the lieutenants can join the business, they must report to the Huguo Mansion to file a record so as not to discuss the time when the state is time to abolish the public. The Huguo Mansion only needs to carefully investigate the relationship between Zhao Xingde and Chunyu Iron Factory, and the Huguo Mansion only needs to find out carefully. Because Guanzhong prohibits deforestation of trees, and Song State prohibits iron tools from leaving the customs, although the weapons of Xia State are excellent, the price of steel is much higher than that of Song State, and nearly 80% of the cost is used to buy charcoal and bamboo charcoal. Chunyu Iron Factory relies on the secret of making iron with coke, and the cost is a large part of the lower than that of the next iron factory. In recent years, the stalls have been getting bigger and bigger. In terms of production alone, Chunyu Iron Factory is already the largest iron smelting company in Xia State, and it also casts cannons and guns for the Ordnance Department, which naturally attracted the attention of the Prime Minister's Mansion and the Huguo Mansion.

When he was in Chang'an, although he was busy with official business, Zhao Xingde often went to Chunyu Iron Factory. Chunyu Yue found that coke was stronger than charcoal and did not collapse easily. So Zhao Xingde and he improved the structure of the iron furnace and increased the height of the furnace. The heat effect of the blower was significantly improved compared to before. The newly built blast furnace not only produced a large amount of iron, but also saved a lot of money in fuel. Because the price of iron was reduced, those who used wood tools changed to iron tools, and even some coal mining mines replaced wooden tracks with rails. Chunyu Yue was also pushing the Huguo Mansion to allow the iron factory to sell more refined iron to Kanto. The Song State also faced the problem of expensive charcoal. The price of refined iron was high, and iron tools were allowed to enter and not be allowed to be exported. However, as long as the price of refined iron at Chunyu Iron Factory was appropriate, the demand for Guandong was almost endless.

"Secretary Zhao doesn't have to be humble. Last year, my family sold the iron mine in Guanzhong to Chunyu Iron Factory. Master Chunyu highly praised Zhao." Xie Ximin smiled. At this time, Shangguan Bojin of the Tiger Wing Army picked up the wine glass and walked over. Shangguan Bojin served as the lieutenant of the Huguo Mansion for nearly fifteen years. He was higher than Zhao Xingde and Xie Ximin in terms of seniority, and he also had a wide range of friendship in the Huguo Mansion. Seeing him coming, Xie Ximin stopped talking and just smiled and accompanied him. Shangguan Bojin saw Zhao Xingde hanging a jade pendant on his waist, and smiled and said, "The ancient jade of Zhao Xingde is good." When Zhao Xingde was in Chang'an, he heard Shangguan Cheng mention this second uncle and smiled and said, "This is a gift from the family."

"The ancestors' legacy is good, not bad." Shangguan Bojin's eyes turned from the jade pendant to Zhao Xingde, nodded, and sighed: "This is the inheritance of jade deeds. Those unscrupulous merchants used the Southern Barbarian thief stone to confuse Yu De. In order to make small profits, they wanted to change Xia with the barbarians, and their hearts could be punished." He spoke with a righteous attitude, and Xie Ximin nodded and praised: "What is the Shangguan Chief Commander?" Zhao Xingde also smiled and nodded. The business that bought and sold the Southern Barbarian Stone had nothing to do with them, so he did not have to make enemies with Shangguan Bojin for this matter. The several lieutenants sitting next to him also stood up and listened to Shangguan Bojin's words.

"What is Xia, what is Yi?" Shangguan Bojin clenched his fist with his left hand, held his right hand on the edge of the table, and said passionately, "We don't talk about those empty things. China has great etiquette, so it is called Xia. It has the beauty of clothing, which is called Hua. Beautiful jade is the same as clothing, and is unique to me in China. How can the barbarians be mixed with fish eyes? If they are not prohibited, the barbarians use the silver money to sell my jade to hoard food and grass, recruit soldiers and horses, and kill our soldiers and people. How can we use our own money to give to the barbarians to kill our own people?" Several lieutenants said yes, and Shangguan Bojin's face slowed down slightly, complained to Zhao Xingde and went to talk to Yu Zangyun.

"The Shangguan Cunzi wanted to push the Shu Kingdom and Dali to send troops to destroy the mines where the Southern Barbarian tribes mined jade. However, the Shu army had just fought Annan and was worried that if they would fight again, it would be angerful to the public and not end. The Guardian Mansion was not good at competing with each other." Xie Ximin explained to him when he saw that Zhao Xingde was a little confused.

"Oh, so that's it." Zhao Xingde nodded. Unexpectedly, these thirty-six jade shops not only did not allow the Southern Barbarian jade to be sold in the Central Plains and the Xia Kingdom, but also took it seriously assassinated the country and killed people and destroyed the mines. He couldn't help but sighed in a low voice, "Why destroy the mine? I have occupied it, isn't it good to mine it?" He thought to himself that the truth that Shangguan Boyu just said was somewhat plausible. From the perspective of etiquette and clothing, there was no change from the Xia Dynasty to the Song Dynasty. But from the perspective of jade, even the Western Regions, the origin of the Xia Kingdom's jade was not owned by the Xia Kingdom before the Han Dynasty. Shangguan Bojin just forced the thirty-six jade shops to monopolize the market of jade materials.

"This, Brother Zhao doesn't understand," Xie Ximin smiled slightly, "not only does it mean that there are too many jades in the world, but it is not too many. If Thirty-six Jade Stores had not controlled the production of all jade ores and controlled the market, jade would not be so expensive. The mines in Thirty-six Jade Stores were enough to mine for more than a hundred years. Therefore, any new mine would be a burden to Thirty-six Jade Stores. They did not need new jade ores at all, just not to squeeze in." He looked at Shangguan Bojin, who was discussing with Yu Zangyun not far away, with envious look on his face, raised his wine glass and drank it all, "Brother Zhao can tell that the Shangguan family is already rich enough to rival the country when doing jade transactions."

"If you control the market, it seems to be incompatible with defending the market, so the court has no idea?" Zhao Xingde was a little confused.

"How to deal with it? They didn't force their purchases and sell them. I really admire the Shangguan family for being able to run the thirty-six industries in an iron bucket." Xie Ximin smiled and whispered, "Jade is a luxury. The more expensive it is, the more wealthy people buy. The price of jade is reduced, and the court extracted less money from mining and jade trading. The court's expenses have not decreased. Is it impossible to increase the land tax? It is equivalent to letting ordinary people pay more taxes and letting rich people pay less taxes. This is not a way to plan for the country. Besides, the rich people also hope that the market is stable and do not want the people in Xialiba to wear something as dazzling as them. To put it bluntly, this is identity. If everyone has it, it is not worth it. Tolerating the people cannot afford to buy the best jade is better than letting the people not eat enough and wear or warm because of the heavy taxes."

"So that's it," Zhao Xingde bowed, "I've been taught." He didn't expect that there were these careful considerations during this period, and his views on Xie Ximin and other captains of the National Guarding Mansion were a little different. He picked up the wine glass and smiled and said, "Captain Xie, I'll pay tribute."

"After staying in the Guguo Mansion for a long time, these things will naturally be known," Xie Ximin smiled and waved his hand, picked up the wine glass and touched Zhao Xingde, but took only half a sip and whispered, "Brother Zhao is a discerning person. He has a good business, so we will discuss it. Now our dynasty and Kanto are vigorously trained firearms. The amount of sulfur saltpeter has increased by more than ten times more than before. It's better to say that sulfur is a little bit better, but this saltpeter is hard to find. According to the current saltpeter inventory, let alone the battle to destroy the country, it will be consumed in a few major battles."

Seeing that Zhao Xingde was fascinated by his hearing, he leaned closer and said mysteriously: "Not long ago, my relatives of the Xie family discovered a huge saltpeter mine in Gaochang, Xizhou. The mine is in the Gobi Desert, so it is not difficult to mine. However, the price of saltpeter is fluctuating too much now. If we invest all our property in it, the risk will be great. According to Chunyu Yue, the iron plant has benefited a lot in the past two years. Brother Zhao is willing to work with us to do this transaction together?"
Chapter completed!