PFC Chapter 332 The Silk Road.
Chapter 332 The Silk Road.
Ye Kun was angrily said, "I'm asking you to go back and rest. What do you mean by taking away your military power? As long as you obey me in the future, I can hand over all the 200,000 troops to you!"
Qin Erwu was relieved and said with a wry smile: "Okay, I'll go back with you."
In the next few days, Ye Kun inspected the four camps and tried to appease the soldiers who were whipped by Qin Erwu by giving them financial compensation or transferring them back to Chengdu.
Ma Botao took over Qin Erwu's position and took charge of the defense of the three counties of Shangyong. He continued to build the Fenghuang Mountain defense line and blocked Xiahou Chang's way to the west.
On the way back, Ye Kun summoned local officials, planned the route, and mobilized laborers from the three counties of Shangyong to build a highway connecting the Hanzhong Plain.
Qin Erwu smiled and said, "Brother, we have cement, so why don't we build a cement road? It should be flat and wide, so that carriages can run fast on it, and it is very stable."
Ye Kun smiled bitterly: "Don't talk nonsense. The cement we have is not enough to build a bunker or a bridge."
There are now eight cement factories scattered throughout the territory.
But productivity was limited, only enough to build bunkers and some small bridges.
If all productivity is concentrated, a cement road of 100 kilometers can be built, but it is not practical.
Because today's horse-drawn carriages all have wooden wheels covered with a layer of iron sheet.
Such wheels running on cement roads will cause great damage to the road surface. Within three to five years, the cement road will be ruined.
There are also horseshoes, the damage to cement roads cannot be ignored.
The stone slabs on the ancient road are harder than cement, and there are still ruts on them.
So Ye Kun had never considered building cement roads on a large scale.
However, inside some factories and mines, Ye Kun built cement roads and small railway tracks to facilitate internal transportation.
Judging from the current situation, the best way to build a road is to build a stone road.
Lay the foundation and pave the road with stones.
And you have to use big stones to prevent people from stealing!
Along the way, Qin Erwu chattered non-stop, reporting on his difficult experience fighting the enemy in Xiangyang this year, and then said:
"Brother, I think we can destroy Xiahou Chang now. Give me three hundred cannons, and I will fight Xiangyang for five days and five nights to make sure they surrender. Then we will fight all the way to Luoyang and occupy the Central Plains."
Ye Kun nodded: "In another two years, I will have more cannons and gunpowder, enough for you to squander like this."
The current situation in Yizhou is that the soldiers are well-trained and the food is sufficient, but the production of gunpowder and steel is insufficient.
Now that everything is going well with Xiahou Chang, Ye Kun doesn't want to fight.
The right thing to do is to take this opportunity to continue to increase your strength.
After returning to Chengdu, Qin Erwu was completely unemployed.
Ye Kun gave him fifty jars of fine wine and let him drink as much as he wanted!
He Zhongshu, the governor of Liangzhou, received a message via carrier pigeon saying that merchant caravans from the Western Regions and Daqin had arrived in Liangzhou, bringing with them some rare goods as well as some vegetable and grain seeds.
Ye Kun wrote back, asking He Zhongshu to send troops to escort the Western Region caravan and the Qin caravan to Hanzhong, where he would personally receive them.
The next day, Ye Kun also set off for Hanzhong.
Ten days later, Ye Kun received a caravan of merchants from the Western Regions and Qin in Hanzhong, totaling more than 300 people.
There are thirty-six countries in the Western Regions, most of which are small countries. Some countries are only equivalent to a small town.
The largest one should be the Kingdom of Kucha, with a population of over 100,000.
But the Qin Dynasty was very powerful. It was the Roman Empire in history. Its economy, culture, and art were not inferior to those of the Ding Kingdom.
The Qin merchant 'Kero', who is in his forties, has been traveling along the Silk Road since he was a child, chasing wealth. He is proficient in the languages of the Dading Kingdom and various countries in the Western Regions, and understands every local custom and culture along the Silk Road.
Ye Kun treated Kro as a distinguished guest and gave him a thousand taels of gold, three thousand taels of silver, three hundred pieces of Shu brocade, and five carts of porcelain.
Kero didn't expect Ye Kun to be so generous, and he knelt on the ground: "Thank you, King Hanzhong, for your reward. Kero is willing to be your eternal slave and be loyal to you forever."
Ye Kun helped Kro up and said with a smile: "I hope to establish a permanent business relationship with the Great Qin Kingdom. Therefore, I need your help, sir."
Kro was a little confused and asked, "The King of Hanzhong has a lot of wealth. It seems that we in Great Qin don't have anything that you would like, right?"
"Sir, you are wrong. Your Great Qin Kingdom also has many good things."
Ye Kun chuckled, "I need all the grains, vegetables, and fruit tree seeds from your Great Qin State. I also need the most knowledgeable people there, such as those in agronomy, painting, music, mathematics, and architecture. I also need tallow water, which is the black oil underground. I want as much as you can get!"
Kro understood what Ye Kun meant and said with a smile:
"Limestone water is available in the Western Regions. There is no need to go to the Great Qin State. However, this thing is worthless. It is a huge loss to transport it from thousands of miles away."
"Haha, I'm not afraid of losing money."
Ye Kun laughed, raised a porcelain bowl, and said to the Western Region merchant:
"Gentlemen, please listen to me. I need the black oil from the Western Regions. I want as much as you can get. If you deliver the black oil to me, I promise that you will give me one pound of porcelain in exchange for three pounds of black oil. Or one pound of Sichuan brocade in exchange for three pounds of black oil!"
The merchants in the hall were all extremely shocked. They stared with wide eyes and asked, "King Hanzhong, did we hear correctly?"
Yizhou's porcelain and Shu brocade are the most valuable commodities.
The trade between Shu brocade and the Western Regions is often benchmarked against gold, one pound for one pound!
Now that porcelain has been promoted to the Western Regions, the price is about the same and can be exchanged with gold according to weight!
This thing called lithotripsy is worthless in oil-producing areas. It is useless except for burning firewood for cooking, just like river water.
Three pounds of lithosphere water can be exchanged for one pound of porcelain or Shu brocade. The profit is not only huge, it is like picking up money.
Ye Kun smiled and said, "You heard me right. I want to exchange porcelain, iron pots and Shu brocade for your lithotripsy. I'll take as much as you have!"
In ancient times, roads were not smooth and traveling was difficult.
It is not easy to transport the lithotripsy water to Liangzhou.
The merchant from Kucha, Anitai, stood up, clasped his fists and said with a smile:
"King of Hanzhong, we have the oil you mentioned in Qiuci, and it is also the closest to Xiliang. How about this, I will use five kilograms of oil in exchange for one kilogram of Shu brocade or porcelain from you, and we can continue to cooperate!"
"It's a deal, no one is allowed to regret it." Ye Kun laughed.
Ye Kun knew that Qiuci State had oil. This country was once included in the territory of Dading State, but later separated from it.
There is also oil in the Yumen Pass area.
However, He Zhongshu had sent people to look for it for half a year, but to no avail.
The Western Regions Merchant Group was all envious when they saw that the Kingdom of Kucha and Ye Kun had finalized a big deal.
Ye Kun smiled and said, "It's not just oil. We want all the specialties from your Western Region countries. So don't worry, there's business to be done."
The Great Qin merchant Kro sighed:
"Lord King Hanzhong wants to do business, and so do we. But the Silk Road is often harassed by the Xiongnu. We are often robbed of our goods and money, and even killed. If the King of Hanzhong can guarantee the safety of the Silk Road, tens of thousands of merchants from our Great Qin will come to do business with you every year."