Before Jiang Pengji ran to Huimeng, she gave Wei Ci a secret mission.
Now that the alliance is coming to an end, the caravans sent by Wei Ci have also arrived in the northern Xinjiang one after another from different routes.
The three tribes in the northern Xinjiang were dazed by the sudden horse plague, not only the military's combat power was damaged, but the economy was even more stagnant.
The big horse farm was seriously damaged, and the imperial court gave some subsidies and support to some extent, but the small horse farm and ordinary herdsmen suffered from blood mold.
Several caravans entered the border of the northern border, and they were all surprised to see that the scene of depression was no longer the bustling and prosperous before.
"How long has it been since then, how did Northern Xinjiang become like this?"
This question, not only they want to know, countless northern Xinjiang herdsmen also want to know - why it has become like this!
Before the occurrence of horse plague, northern Xinjiang was a serious problem for Dongqing's confidants.
In the eyes of Northern Xinjiang, Dongqing is just a piece of fat stained with blood, and sooner or later, they will be bitten into pieces and swallowed into the stomach.
After the horse plague, everything changed.
First, the war horse died suddenly from the disease, and less than 10% or 20% survived, and then the horse plague spread further, affecting ordinary horses.
The quality of ordinary horses is not as good as that of carefully bred war horses. After the horse plague is raging, the mortality rate is even more appalling!
"... You also know that since the king came to power, he integrated the various tribes of the three tribes in the northern Xinjiang, which greatly increased the battle strength of the northern Xinjiang. The king of the imperial court is not satisfied with this, and he is still very ambitious... He has cultivated war horses over the years, not just for the sake of it. Attacking Dongqing? In order to cultivate a large number of war horses in a short period of time, the imperial court even issued an edict to encourage ordinary herders to raise horses in large numbers. Ordinary herdsmen can buy foals from horse farms, and then sell them to horse farms after the foals are grown. Profit, attracting more and more herdsmen to raise…”
"Many herdsmen saw the profits and sold their cattle and sheep to raise horses. Many people borrowed money to raise them..."
Having said this, the old man of the caravan snorted, and his hoarse voice was a little more gloating.
"Now there is a horse plague, and all the horses that ordinary herders have raised for a year or two have died."
Everyone took a deep breath.
They understand that for many northern Xinjiang herdsmen, horses are money.
A horse plague made their efforts and money go to waste.
After working for several years, I didn't earn any money, but I lost all my pants.
Except for those with rich families, many ordinary herdsmen are too poor to eat, and there are countless people who have lost their families.
At this time, a businessman sighed, "It's pitiful..."
Some people disagreed, sneering and sneering, "Where are they pitiful, it is clearly the fault of the Northern Xinjiang imperial court. If they were not ambitious, where would the herdsmen be swayed not to raise cattle and sheep, and change to war horses? Now it has caused horse plague, it can be seen that God opened his eyes."
At the beginning, most of the common herdsmen tended sheep and cattle, but not many horses.
The herdsmen reduced the number of sheep and cattle and instead raised a large number of horses because of several calls from the Northern Xinjiang Imperial Court.
If not, these herdsmen would not have been reduced to the point where their families were destroyed.
It was clearly the fault of the Northern Xinjiang Imperial Court, but in the end, ordinary people had to pay the bill.
"Shut up." Everyone was shocked when they heard it, and quickly warned, "This is the northern boundary. If the barbarians hear it, you want to die, right?"
The caravan went on for a while, and received very little sheepskin, rabbit skin, mutton jerky and rabbit jerky.
"The herdsmen don't raise sheep very much. How much dry goods can we receive?"
Looking at the dry goods received, many people frowned.
It took so many days for them to receive such a little thing, so how will they pay in the future
"I didn't say, how much do you get? Anyway, we don't have to worry about sales, we just collect, and we can make more money and less."
Rao is so, several caravans strolled around the three tribes in the northern border, and received less than 20,000 sheepskin rabbit skins.
If you put it in the past, you can get 30,000 to 40,000 sheepskin rabbit skins, and more mutton jerky and rabbit jerky.
The scale of these caravans varies from large to small. They seem to be normal caravans, but they have not attracted official attention. In addition to sheepskin and rabbit skins, they have also acquired a lot of special products unique to northern Xinjiang, and privately communicate with those ordinary herdsmen. Agreed to come back in two or three months.
That said, the caravan is not optimistic about the prospects for its next acquisition.
"For the sake of these goods, I have gone to many people... Next time I come here, I guess I won't even receive a mosquito meat... "
They bought all the goods that could be purchased, and almost cleaned up the reserves in the homes of ordinary herdsmen.
After two or three months, they will buy again. They are willing to pay a high price, but the herdsmen can't come up with the goods.
A businessman chimed in, "After a while, the pastures in the northern Xinjiang will be luxuriant, and the herdsmen can raise more rabbits and sheep... Anyway, the horses they raise are dead, and the pastures are left alone, so it's better to raise them. A little beast to feed a family."
If they can't find a way to support their families, these unlucky herdsmen will be starving to eat grass.
The businessman continued, "I see, rabbits are not bad, they have strong cubs and are raised quickly."
Sheep and rabbits have different growth cycles. You can't raise a lot in two or three months, but you can raise rabbits.
If you want to find food and clothing in a short time, raising rabbits is a good choice.
The pasture in Beijiang is so big, and there are grass everywhere. It is very convenient to raise rabbits without having to bother to feed them.
At this time, some people put forward different opinions.
"According to what you said, they only keep rabbits, so we can only accept rabbits. We don't know how much money we will lose after a trip."
The head of the caravan snorted and said indifferently, "People in Maruzhou are rich and like these things... We go to the business and make twice as much as we go back and forth, so we won't suffer any losses. No matter how small a mosquito is, it's meat. Meat makes less money, but it adds up to a lot."
"...But..." Someone hesitated, "No matter how rich Maruzhou is, he can't keep doing business at a loss..."
The voice of the caravan's discussion gradually faded away.
Not only these businessmen do not know the purpose of Wanzhou, but even the people of Wanzhou do not know what medicine is sold in the gourd.
"What is the lord asking you to do? Now that it is spring ploughing, and then collecting sheepskin and rabbit skins, I'm afraid it will rot in your hands."
Feng Jin looked at it coldly for a while, still unable to guess Wei Ci's true intentions.
Wei Ci naturally could not reveal the specific content, the fewer people who knew the plan, the better.
If Feng Jin and the others figured it out by themselves, that's another story.
Wei Ci shook his head and said, "This matter is a secret. If there is no master's consent, Ci can't reveal the slightest. If Huaiyu is curious, when the master and the others return triumphantly, you can ask her about the sheepskin and rabbitskin... Although it will be spring ploughing, but The sheepskin and rabbit skins purchased are not useless. Now, the entire Maruzhou has been brought under the lord's command, and the number of people is much larger than that in Xiangyang County. Don't be in a hurry? You just think we plan ahead and make plans for the coming year."