Fortunately, Zhang Fei ran fast, otherwise, someone would have caught him and made irresponsible remarks.

Because as soon as he left Xizhou, a fight broke out on the border between Xizhou and Xixia.

In fact, in February of this year, the Empress Dowager Liang of Xixia had nominally returned power to their country's ruler, but in fact the Empress Dowager Liang still held the highest authority.

But no matter what, she is already morally untenable, so she can only rely on means to consolidate her power.

The Song Dynasty was a key factor for her to consolidate her authority, because Li Bingchang, the leader of the Xixia Kingdom, was relatively close to the Song Dynasty, and especially liked Han culture and Confucian etiquette, so everyone on his side respected Han etiquette, but there were many in Xixia

The nobles were firmly opposed to Han rituals and wanted to promote their own culture.

Since the Empress Dowager Liang was a Han, she had to be more anti-Song than others if she wanted to take power in Xixia.

So for the Empress Dowager Liang, by quarreling with the Song Dynasty, not only could she gain the support of many nobles in the country, but she could also use this to attack Li Bingchang's power.

It kills two birds with one stone.

Before returning to power, the Empress Dowager Liang had already provoked a conflict with the Song Dynasty, that is, blocking the trade channel with Xizhou, but she ignored two points.

First, businessmen are willing to risk their lives for profit. Many businessmen still take risks and smuggle salt, medicinal materials and other hugely profitable commodities into Xizhou.

Second, on the border with the Xihe region, the influence of merchants is not small. At the same time, they also receive support from domestic pro-Song factions and the Xihe region.

The pro-Song faction in Xixia were not fools. How could they not see the intention of Empress Dowager Liang? If they did not resist, they would just sit back and wait for death. However, they did not dare to openly resist Empress Dowager Liang, so they could only use businessmen to follow her.

Empress Dowager Liang’s struggle.

With the support of the pro-Song faction in the country and the Xihe area, Xixia merchants on the border directly gathered troops and broke through the checkpoints set up by the Empress Dowager Liang. At the same time, they killed the officials sent by the Empress Dowager Liang.

This immediately caused turmoil in Xixia.

Empress Dowager Liang directly ordered her younger brother Liang Yimi to lead his troops to suppress the attack.

Liang Yi came over and saw that Xizhou actually accommodated these smugglers. Could he not understand what was going on?

So he directly led his troops to invade the territory, intending to intimidate Xizhou.

But unfortunately, his own ability was not enough for him to show off, and he was repulsed by Wang Shao's troops. Although the attack was very reluctant with Xihe's troops, defense was not a problem. Of course, Liang Yimi did not lead

Elite troops came to Xizhou.

If elite troops are transferred here, what will happen to the northern line?

The main force of the Song Army is all over there!

The two sides actually fought a battle with each other.

The Empress Dowager Liang also knew in her heart what the Song Dynasty was planning, but a slap in the face could not make a difference. After all, the Song army did not violate the country. It was mainly the pro-Song faction in the country that was causing trouble. To fight against the outside world, the country must be settled first, so she

Simply close the trade with the Song Dynasty.

Anyway, the Song Dynasty did not trade with my people, they only traded with those pro-Song factions. If this was not closed, their power would become stronger and stronger.

Then he arranged for his cronies to lead troops to station at the border.

In fact, this game is a bright card for all three parties. The pro-Song faction in Xixia also knows very well that if the quarrel does not continue and Empress Dowager Liang frees her hands, they will be doomed.

Therefore, the pro-Song Dynasty dignitaries also began to increase their efforts to support the border. The key is that they will not lose money by doing so, because they are fighting for trade channels. The more closed you are, the higher the smuggling price will be.

However, Xizhou is also cooperating. Even if the price of salt is raised, there is no need to raise it, because even if the price of Xixia salt increases, it will still be cheaper than Jieyan and Shu salt.

Since it is profitable, the businessmen in Xizhou are also starting to make moves.

The key is that they found that Xixia couldn't get in, so for them, this became a matter of making money.

Coupled with Wang Shao's propaganda and Ma Tianhao's operations, the demand for Xixia commodities continued to increase, causing Xizhou merchants to start forming caravans, sneaking into Xixia for smuggling, and following those Xixia merchants to deal with the local defenders.

Anyway, it’s already like this, with your head already pinned to the belt of your pants, and Xizhou is also opening its arms and not rejecting anyone who comes, so we might as well just open up and do it, or at worst, we’ll go to Xizhou.

Yunzhen Temple.

"Envoy Wang Xuanfu, please rest assured that the salt we are purchasing now is not enough to affect the profit of salt solution. Moreover, we are keeping some of the inferior salt in Xihe for local people to use, and the good salt is

, they are taken away by merchants from various places and sold to their local rich men."

"I can rest assured that."

Wang Shao nodded and said: "There is no small matter in this salt administration. We should be careful. If it affects the interests of the court, we will be impeached again."

Ma Tianhao nodded and said, "We will be very careful about this."

Wang Shao asked again: "How is the situation at Yunzhen Temple recently?"

Ma Tianhao said: "It has fully recovered, even better than in previous years. This is mainly because Xixia took the initiative to close the market and the chaos at the border caused many Western merchants who originally traded through Xixia to choose to go through our Xihe River.

Compared with last year, one hundred thousand more banknotes were issued."

Yunzhen Temple's banknotes are very reflective of Xizhou's economy. These banknotes are not regular currency, but are just for convenience of transactions. You can know the economic status of Xizhou just by looking at the banknotes on the market.

Lu Bin on the side suddenly said: "Mr. Wang Xuan, is the Queen Mother of Xixia so confused? Can she not see our plan?"

Wang Shao said: "This is a power struggle. If you look at this from the perspective of a struggle for interests, you will naturally not understand. In fact, the current advantage is still in the hands of the Empress Dowager Liang, because the nobles who support her will become more supportive of her."

.”

Lu Bin nodded and said: "That's it."

At this time, a police sergeant came in and whispered in Wang Shao's ear.

"Yeah?"

Wang Shao burst into laughter upon hearing this.

Ma Tianhao asked: "Wang Xuanfu, what's going on?"

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Wang Shao said: "Didn't the Empress Dowager Liang send troops to station here?"

Ma Tianhao nodded.

Wang Shao said: "As a result, those soldiers also started the smuggling business themselves."

"???"

Ma Tianhao and Lu Bin looked at each other.

But Ma Tianhao soon came to his senses, "Yes! You're all working for your life anyway. How can you make money from smuggling as a soldier?"

"That's exactly the reason." Wang Shao laughed.

Lu Bin suddenly said: "Why don't we send someone to report the news and let them kill each other."

Wang Shao waved his hand and said: "There is no rush for now, because our purpose is to stop the Empress Dowager of Xixia's policy. As long as she cannot close the trade with Xihe, she has failed, and she will definitely intensify her efforts."

...

Yanzhou.

"hehe."

Zhong E, who had just arrived in Yanzhou, smiled and said: "The Queen Mother of Xixia is really going to lose her wife and her troops this time!"

Zhe Jishi said: "How do you say this?"

Zhong E said: "The Empress Dowager of Xixia closed down the market, clearly intending to attack the powerful people who supported their ruler. This caused the powerful people near Hengshan to feel panic, but with their own power, they were no match for the Empress Dowager Liang, so

They all came to me, hoping to get support from our Song Dynasty.

Before I even mentioned it, they took the initiative and asked us to follow the example of Xizhou and use smuggling to counter Empress Dowager Liang's ban."

Yao Si said: "But almost all Xixia elites are here, and the risk of smuggling here is not small."

Zhong E said: "They have already designated four areas. Those places are all within their sphere of influence. There should be no problems for the time being. Now let's see how the negotiations go with you."

Zhe Jishi said: "Everything is going well here too. Then Fan Da from Jiekupu is here..."

"Fan Da, this name sounds very familiar." Zhong E frowned.

Zhe Jishi smiled and said: "The young master of Baifan Tower in the capital, and the shopkeeper of Xiekupu in Hezhong Prefecture."

Zhong E immediately said: "I remembered, now fifty-six out of ten of our soldiers' military pay is at their Jiekupu."

"Brother Zhong is right."

Zhe Jishi nodded and said, "After he arrived, he quickly gathered all the smugglers nearby."

Zhong E was surprised and asked: "Is this person really powerful?"

Zhe Jishi said: "Those smugglers have always been using their Jiekupu to transfer the profits to Hezhong Prefecture and even the capital. But this is only one of the reasons. There is also the fact that Xizhou was doing business before.

The businessmen on our side were very dissatisfied. Didn't they often complain to us at that time? Everything was banned over there in Xihe, but everything was banned here. This was unfair.

And now, because of Xizhou, the Queen Mother of Xixia has closed down the few remaining business areas here, which has aroused the anger in their hearts. Now that we have let go, they are thinking of making a big deal.

If they join forces with our people again, this force cannot be underestimated. As for the profits, they can afford the military expenses for the soldiers we send to Xixia."

Zhong E hummed: "They profiteers are really good at settling accounts. In this situation, their smuggling risks are even greater, and they need protection."

Zhe Jishi said: "We have also calculated the accounts. If the cost of this man and the weapons are borne by them, then we will gain a lot."

After all, this military expenditure is allocated to them, but the actual expenditure is borne by the smugglers. Does this mean that all the money has been given to them?

They, the generals of the Western Army, are actually engaged in smuggling business, because they also need money to support their troops. If the military pay from the imperial court is given to them, it will definitely not be enough. If the military pay is not provided, the soldiers will have no combat effectiveness.

That's why, no matter how hard they fight, they still have very good relations with some of the nobles of Xixia.
To be continued...