Just as Zhangsun Xin was pondering which advisor to ask for help, boats were docking at the docks of the middle river next to Rong Province and Yi County.
"Military supplies, military supplies, other boats make way. Add lanterns and torches to the docks and move our goods first."
A group of people on the leading boat shouted in unison.
The boats that were about to lower their sails to dock immediately adjusted their sails and began to drift away from the docks. The people on the same boat signaled to the other boats.
Now that they were following the current, the boats needed to be adjusted as they returned to the middle of the river. Otherwise, they would be washed away.
The porters on the docks, who were resting, also stood up. More torches were lit.
Several boats docked, and the boats behind the fleet continued to Lu Province, where another batch of boats would stop to unload their goods.
From Lu Province, they would pass through Wenshui to Rong Province and unload their goods.
The other four places were Ba Province in the east, Kui Province in the southwest, and Feng Province and Liang Province even further east.
Feng Province and Liang Province were not suitable for transporting goods from Shu, so it was better to send them from Chang 'an. Chang' an was closer.
For the last two places, people with exchange coupons could just deliver the coupons, and the locals would recognize the money.
The other five places could only rely on the salt merchants of Shu.
It took a total of twelve days to reach the Shu Lands, and nine days for a fast horse.
When Yang Huanjin and Huang Xianrong received the letter, they spent a day gathering supplies and distributed them that night.
In two days, they sailed with the current and arrived at Rong Province first.
They wanted to send silk and copper coins. The silk made up most of the supplies, but the copper coins did not make up for more than two taels.
The merchants of Yi Province were at a loss. Had the salt merchants gone crazy?
They rushed the goods and money to the docks and drove everyone else to the side. The salt merchants shouted for military supplies to take up space first.
They loaded their boats and left one after another. They were originally going with the current, and now they pulled up their sails. Were they not afraid of crashing into other boats?
After the goods at Heyi Docks were unloaded, the person in charge called for others to help deliver them to Zhe Chong's residence in Rong Province.
At this time, the General of the Right Vanguard Guard, Li Xuandao, was still on his way, leading the armies of Feng Province and Liang Province.
When the goods were unloaded, the urgent report from the Imperial Court had just arrived at Rong Province. It took about half a day to travel from the docks to the capital of Rong Province.
The Shu salt merchants ran at the same speed as the messenger. When the messenger reached Shu, he also took a boat. There was no way to run by land.
The messenger used a small boat, which was slow. The salt merchants used a large boat with oars and sails.
Four hours later, a portion of the fleet that had just passed through stopped at the docks of Luzhou while the rest turned toward Wenshui.
The Wenshui was going against the flow, and the river curved back and forth, so there were places where a tracker was needed.
The people in the fleet paddled and adjusted the sails. They would first go against the current and wait for a place where they encountered a boatman before they used the boatmen.
It was very dangerous for trackers to pull the fibres and light torches at night.
However, at this time, there was no need to ask for speed. More money was needed as long as the ship was moving forward.
The Shu salt merchants paid for the manpower and ship costs themselves. They did not touch the money on the exchange coupons given by Li Yi.
One was to deliver things to the army. They were going to fight. As a salt merchant, he should provide support.
The other was that they had planned to use the money in the redemption coupons to transport the goods.
In the future, when he asked Li Yi for help in Chang 'an, Li Yi would help. However, Li Yi would not pay for things that also required money.
Now that he and the others had paid extra money, when they went to Chang 'an and had no money on hand, Li Yi would naturally pay for it.
This was especially true for the officials of Chang 'an. Li Yi was very popular with them.
In the encampment of the Zhichong Residence in Rongzhou, Commandant Zhichong Yu Zilong was writing a memorial under an oil lamp. He wanted to send it to Chang 'an to express that there was no problem on his side.
He had received the official letter last night, and this morning he had sent it to the military households of the Zhichong Residence.
The military households all went home to prepare, mainly food. They went to the storehouse to retrieve weapons and armor.
Once the Zhichong Residence set out, there would be no more Baggage. The Baggage would only be sent to the front later. During this period of time, they had to bring their own food.
Some wives steamed rice and stir-fried it while wiping their tears. They did not know if their husbands would be able to return alive this time.
The children at home also stopped making noise, and the elderly helped out.
As the husbands slept, they did not know when the order to assemble would be given.
For them, this was life. The Zhichong Residence did not need to pay rent. They had to prepare their own light weapons and armor, as well as provisions for the marching army.
At the end of the afternoon, there was a noise outside the Zhichong Residence in Rongzhou.
The scout ran out and came back after a while to wake up Yu Zilong, who had not slept well.
"What's the matter?" Yu Zilong thought it was going to start.
"Our salt merchants sent a large amount of silk and copper coins from Yizhou. They rushed all the way and just arrived," the guard replied.
"Who sent it to?" Yu Zilong still did not understand.
"Prefectural soldiers. We also have two coins for each person." The guard looked very happy to get two coins for free.
"Who sent it?" Yu Zilong felt that he was dreaming. Someone came to send two coins to the people of the Zhichong Residence?
"It was said that Her Majesty asked Li Yi to send it. Li Yi has a thousand mu of land in Zhuangzi by the Ba River in the east of Chang 'an."
The guard said something that even he did not believe, but there was no other way. It was what the other party said.
"Get some water. I'll wipe my face." Yu Zilong wanted to wake up.
After a simple tidying up, he went out and saw the person in charge sent by the salt merchants, Steward Pan. His surname was Pan, and his name was Steward Pan.
"Greetings, Commandant Yu." Steward Pan handed over a document.
Someone next to him brought a lantern. Yu Zilong opened it to read.
It read: "Reporting to Yu Zilong who has subdued the military officer, our Shu salt merchant has received an urgent report. We have obtained several tens of thousands of taels of silver in exchange for silk and copper coins. In return for His Majesty's grace, we have become the Golden Purple Light Lu Daifu Li Yi.
There was a series of seals, handprints, and signatures.
Yu Zilong could imagine the other party's situation when he saw one. The famous salt merchants of Shu were all on it.
When they were alone, they were the salt merchants of Shu. When they were together, they were the Shu Salt Gang.
Yu Zilong read it again. There were not many words, so he could roughly understand.
There was something called an exchange certificate. It had a lot of money and could be exchanged for other money.
Her Majesty knew about this matter, so she probably asked them to send it.
There was a person called Li Yi who was Jin Zi Guang Lu Da. How could he be a civil official? A third-rank civil official with no real position?
If he didn't send money but asked for money, he was definitely a swindler.
"Li Yi has tens of thousands of coins? Her Majesty asked him to pay, so he paid? "Yu Zilong asked Steward Pan.
Steward Pan had followed him to Chang 'an, so he knew some of the situation.
"Yes, tens of thousands of coins. There are two prefectures that are far away from us and have been separated. We will take care of the rest." Steward Pan answered.
"He has a thousand mu of land?" Yu Zilong asked again.
"Yes, it's by the Ba River." Steward Pan answered again.
"Then his land is planted with gold?" Yu Zilong was a little angry.
"More or less. In the winter of Chang 'an, cucumbers could not be eaten anywhere except in the imperial family. Now you can eat cold melon. The Li Family Zhuangzi has guts."
Steward Pan understood Yu Zilong's thoughts, so he told him the truth.
Yu Zilong was stunned this time and seemed to be thinking about something. After a while, he said softly, "Floral water, Li Dongzhu?"
"Commandant Yu is knowledgeable. That's him." Steward Pan smiled. It was good that he knew. It was convenient to communicate.
"Since it's him, he probably has money. Leave the money. When dawn comes, I will give it to my brothers." Yu Zilong agreed.
Steward Pan shook his head. "No, we have to have our people personally deliver it to everyone according to the list."
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