The entire Qiyun County was not peaceful in mid-to-late September!
Ever since mid-September, when the Shatu caravan on the Gulang grassland began to lower its head and sell wool according to the prices set by the Qiyun County Monopoly Bureau, the entire northwest has been in an uproar.
Now in the entire Han Empire, whoever has wool can make a fortune. After the monopoly bureau under the Qiyun Guardian Office did this, everyone was shocked to realize that in this way, the Qiyun Guardian Office can almost completely monopolize the wool trade in the Gulang Grassland. The benefits from this are simply a mountain of gold and silver. It is impossible not to be jealous...
Before, many people could not imagine that there was such a thing as a monopoly in the world. It can be said that the Qiyun Guardian Office taught everyone a lesson.
Those who were not optimistic about the Qiyun Protectorate and thought that Yan Liqiang had no way to make the Shatu Seven Tribes bow their heads in the short term, and that the Shatu Seven Tribes might make the Protectorate look bad or even lose face, were also shocked. They could not believe that the Shatu Seven Tribes, who were so powerful in the northwest before, would be willing to be fleeced by the Qiyun Protectorate within less than half a month after the wool monopoly policy was issued. The Shatu people had always been unruly, but why did they become obedient when they met Yan Liqiang? Could it be that the destruction of the Tuli tribe scared the Shatu people? But that shouldn’t be the case. According to the previous behavior of the Shatu Seven Tribes, they should retaliate twice as much...
The doubts in these people's hearts were not resolved until they heard that the Black Jie people had fought a fierce battle with the seven Shatu tribes at Baicao Lake and defeated them miserably. It was not that the people of the seven Shatu tribes had become obedient, but that the Black Jie people's knife had already stabbed the seven Shatu tribes in the belly. At this time, the seven Shatu tribes no longer cared about the interests of wool, and had to make a choice between being attacked from both sides and fighting against the Qiyun Protectorate, which represented the authority of the Han Empire over the Gulang grassland.
As various news from the Gulang grassland continued to arrive, everyone realized that the most important reason why the seven Shatu tribes, which had always claimed to speak with one voice, were defeated by the Black Jie since the Black Jie began to invade the Gulang grassland, was that until now, except for the Wumu tribe, which had rebelled and actively led the Black Jie to the Gulang grassland, the other six tribes of Shatu had their own ulterior motives in fighting against the Black Jie, and have not formed a unified command and response strategy until now.
The Uli and Tumo tribes, who were under the attack of the Black Jie, hoped that all the six Shatu tribes would unite to fight against the Black Jie. However, the other tribes that had not yet felt the direct threat from the Black Jie were worried that the Uli tribe wanted to kill with a borrowed knife and consume the strength of their own tribes. Under the premise that the Uli and Tumo tribes did not fight desperately, they did not want to take the initiative to rush to the front. The Uli and Tumo tribes were worried that if the two tribes were seriously injured in the fight with the Black Jie now, then even if they could drive the Black Jie out of the Gulang grassland in the end, it was really an unknown whether the two tribes with greatly weakened strength could continue to exist on the Gulang grassland. You must know that in the tradition of the Shatu people, there were too many cases of large tribes annexing small tribes. The Shatu people have never had the word "faith" and the law of the jungle is the law of survival they follow.
The so-called coalition of the seven Shatu tribes formed under such circumstances was completely in disarray under the fierce offensive of the Black Jie people. Each party wanted to preserve its own strength and let others die. The coordination among the tribes on the battlefield was also very poor. As long as the situation was slightly wrong, the commanders of each tribe would order their troops to evacuate at the first opportunity. The great defeat at Baicao Lake was caused by this.
In late September, a special wool trading market was established in the border market of Yingwei County. The wool sold in this market was basically monopolized by the Monopoly Bureau of the Qiyun Protectorate. Many merchants who bought wool before were worried that the Monopoly Bureau of the Qiyun Protectorate would significantly increase the selling price of wool after monopolizing the supply of wool. However, after the opening of the wool trading market, those who bought wool found that the wool sold by the Monopoly Bureau was not only not more expensive than the wool bought from the Shatu people before, but the quality was also guaranteed. The practice of the Shatu people mixing sand and manure into the wool and watering it has been greatly reduced in the wool sold by the Monopoly Bureau.
After inquiring, these merchants found out that when the Monopoly Bureau purchased the wool of the Shatu people, it had to be graded and inspected. The Monopoly Bureau divided the collected wool into four grades: first-class, second-class, third-class and defective. Only the clean wool that had not been tampered with could be considered first-class, and sold for ten copper coins per pound. The wool that was mixed with sand, manure and watered was graded lower, and naturally the price would not exceed ten copper coins per kilogram. Instead, it would be purchased at a lower price, and it was up to the merchant to sell it or not, and could only be sold for five to nine copper coins per kilogram. As a result, the cunning Shatu caravans naturally dared not tamper with the wool.
Upon hearing that those unscrupulous Shatu merchants were disciplined in this way by the Monopoly Bureau, many merchants who had been bullied by the Shatu people before were very excited and gave full support to the Monopoly Bureau.
The wool traded by the Monopoly Bureau is priced according to quality in the wool market. There is no need to bargain for each quality. All wool prices are written on the market notice board every day. The wool is packaged and sold uniformly after inspection. All operations are becoming more and more standardized. In this way, compared with the previous scattered transactions, those merchants who buy wool can save a lot of unnecessary time and expenses in trading wool in the wool trading market. There are no more headaches in wool, which greatly saves transaction costs. From the opening of the wool trading market, in just half a month, the wool transaction volume and transaction price of the entire market began to blow out. It was more prosperous day by day, attracting merchants from all directions. Yingwei County, which was previously deserted, has also become prosperous because of the popularity of Bianji...
Only places with money can attract people's attention. Just as the wool from the Monopoly Bureau attracted the attention of the entire northwest, in late September, some other changes were quietly taking place in Qiyun County...
Heroes' halls began to be built one by one in the counties of Qiyun County. The tablets of the soldiers who had died in the previous battles were placed in the hero halls during a grand welcoming ceremony held by the local county magistrate and other officials and gentry, and they were worshipped and worshipped by the people.
In Pingxi City, the National Temple was under construction at about the same time as the "Embassy" of the Seven Shatu Tribes, which caused many people in the city to talk about it and regarded it as a strange thing...
In addition to the Hall of Heroes, public Han schools also appeared one after another in the counties, towns and villages under Qiyun County, with funding from the Governor's Office. As long as the children of the common people in the county reached the age, they could go to the Han school to receive enlightenment education and learn civil and martial arts. The Manufacturing Bureau, which had always attracted much attention, actually opened a refreshing technical school in Huanglong County...
Coupled with the already established Kyudo Club, the whole Qiyun County was full of martial arts learning...
The wanted poster posted in Pingxi City, with a reward of 100,000 taels of silver, once again attracted knights from all over the world to gather in Pingxi City...
(End of this chapter)