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Free Web Novel,Novel online - All in oicq.net -> Historic -> Tang Qi Volume 4 Hu Han Cang Qiong Chapter 305 Making a Wedding Dress
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- This Liao merchant was a Bohai native named Dazhijie. It was said that he was a descendant of the Bohai royal family. . .
Bohai is a nation with a deep Chineseization in the Northeast. Some of its citizens who flowed into the Central Plains after the fall of the country have been successfully integrated into the Han people. Their upper-class nobles are almost no different from the Central Plains scholars in terms of words, deeds, and living habits.
Since the Khitan retreated into the Northeast last year and stabilized its position, it has deployed a large number of agents, some entering by land, some entering by sea, some entering openly, and some entering secretly. The Great Wisdom Festival is among those who openly enter by sea. Entrusted by Yelu Wuzhi, he obtained a large amount of gold and silver goods from the upper-class Khitan nobles, obtained two sea ships, and set out for Tianjin. After that, he went all the way south and collected a lot of information in the Central Plains. The timing of his entry into the Central Plains was just right. He encountered good prosperity in Yanjing and Ye, so his business grew bigger and bigger. By the time he arrived in Luoyang, his fortune had already doubled. Eight times.
At the beginning of the year, he planned to set off and return eastward. Unexpectedly, he encountered the Tang army attacking Shi Jin soon after entering Luoyang. Martial law was imposed in Luoyang, and he was forced to stay until today. However, this stay allowed him to increase his business by a small amount.
After meeting Yelu House at this time, Dazhijie told in detail what he had seen and heard along the way. Over the years, what he saw and heard was enough to write a big book. The two of them talked from day to night, and held candles at night. Talked all night.
At the end of the sentence, Dazhijie said: "Originally, Privy Councilor Shi Jinsang and others had letters entrusted to them, but they encountered several interrogations on the road and were forced to destroy them in times of crisis. Please forgive me, Privy Councilor."
Yelu Wuzhi waved his hand without any intention of being offended. He was sorting and digesting all the information he got from Dazhijie in his mind - Dazhijie was naturally not the only detail he sent. After combining the information obtained from various paths, he had already formed This gives a general impression of the domestic situation of Tiance Datang.
"well——"
I heard Yelu Wuzhi sigh. Dazhijie asked hurriedly: "Privy Councilor?"
Yelvwu said: "It's okay." Although Dazhijie was appointed by him, he was not yet a confidant, and he was unwilling to express his worries about the prosperous situation of Tang Dynasty to him frankly.
"You go and do your business first." Yelu Wuzhi said, "If you think of anything you need to add in the future, come and tell me."
"Yes." Dazhijie responded, and then said: "I have one more request. It's not winter yet. After I shipped the goods in Liaojin, I want to go to Tianjin again. Please allow the Privy Council."
Yelu Wuzhi said: "Okay. Now our country, Liao, is in dire straits, and we are in urgent need of goods from the Central Plains. It will be good for the country if you can transport more things."
Dazhijie said goodbye and went out after getting Yelu Wuzhi's permission.
The profit from this trip to the Central Plains was more than ten times, but not all of this caravan belonged to him. It was jointly funded by more than a dozen Liao nobles. But after distributing the goods to the major families, he himself also benefited hugely.
What’s more important is that his great success this time opened up his reputation in the business circle. When he announced that he would visit the Central Plains again before winter, more nobles from the Liao Kingdom came to see him.
The handicraft industry in the Northeast is very low. Even if it has the foundation of the Bohai Kingdom, it cannot be compared with the Central Plains. However, this situation changed after hundreds of thousands of people moved from Youzhou.
But today, the Liao Kingdom’s exports to the Central Plains are still raw materials, mainly furs, ginseng and other items. The Northeast is also a horse-producing area, and horses may be needed in the South. But today, the Tang Dynasty produces more horse land than the Liao Kingdom!
Putting it into the confrontation between the Liao and Song Dynasties in another time and space, the Khitan naturally had many restrictions on the export of horses to the Song people, but in this time and space, Yelvwuzhi wrote a letter to the southerners such as Qi and Wuyue who were short of horses and in need of them. Waiting for the supply of horses - because firstly, the Khitan's biggest enemy is Tiance, and Tiance is in danger of lacking horses; secondly, the southern countries actually have a competitive relationship with Tiance, strengthening the cavalry power of the enemy's competitors. In other words, it indirectly helps oneself; thirdly, it can also bring economic benefits.
After a trip to the Tang Dynasty, Dazhijie suddenly had a great say in the Liao Kingdom in terms of understanding the Tang Dynasty. Countless top figures in the Liao Kingdom sent people to contact him. When the Dazhijie revealed that he was going to Let’s go to Tianjin again before winter. Soon, countless people sent money and goods, hoping to ride on this east wind - this is natural. Those who invested in the Dazhi Festival last time got their money in less than a year. More than five times the income! Although this Great Wisdom Festival claims that the profits will not be as high as the last time, even if it is doubled, it will still make people flock to it!
Therefore, Dazhijie suddenly found that the resources it could mobilize were unimaginably large. Various goods from the Northeast, from the top luxury goods such as pearls and ginseng to the most common furs and horses, how much does he want?How much can he get? If he needs it now, he can even use the manpower of the military to open the way.
The Northeast is now in a state of extreme hunger and thirst. As long as goods from the other side of the Bohai Sea can be obtained, surplus items such as Dongzhu ginseng, fur and horses can be exported at any time.
It only took half a month for Dazhijie to collect the goods he wanted. In addition to these, he also thought of a stable source of wealth in the future - that is wood! Cut the wood from the mountains in the Northeast, transport it down the river to the Bohai Sea, and then build it into rafts and drag it to Tianjin. The shipyard there should be in great need of these - not only the shipyard, Dazhi Festival also knows that Yanjing The city is being built, a capital city is being built that can eat as much wood as it needs.
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When the autumn wind blew, Dazhijie set off again. This time he had five ships under his command - including another Korean ship that was temporarily purchased, forming a fleet of five ships, and sailed with great satisfaction. Depart Liaojin and drive to Tianjin.
The clerk at Tianjin Customs was full of surprise when he saw Dazhijie leaving and returning not long after. The shipping route from Tianjin to Liaojin, which in later generations could only be regarded as medium or even short distance, in this era, in just two months It is amazing to be able to walk back and forth.
This time, Dazhijie did not go further inland, but completed the transaction at the market in Tianjin. Almost all of his buyers are from the south - the extravagance trend among top-level people in Tiance has not yet taken off, and only the wealthy people from Jiangnan or Bashu can afford high prices for top-grade goods like Dongzhu; Tiance does not need horses, Although it is not encouraging, it is not restricting the export of horses to the south. Zhang Mai once jokingly told Fu Yanqing that he hoped that one day Qi could organize a cavalry to fight with him in Huaibei, so he sold the horses on Dazhi Festival. To the merchants of Qi and Wuyue - the people there have an almost hungry need for horses from the North; furs and ginseng. That's something that can be marketed all over the world.
After selling the goods, Dazhijie purchased a large amount of cotton fabrics - most of the cotton fabrics purchased here were dealt with second-hand dealers, so naturally it was much more expensive than buying the goods directly from northwest merchants in Luoyang; in addition, They are silk and tea from Jiangnan, ceramics and iron pots from Hebei, spices from Nanyang, and sugar from Lingnan. And Tianjin salt! Yes, Liaodong is also offshore, but who can produce green salt with the color and luster of Tianjin Saltworks!
The goods coming from the northeast are plentiful and coarse, while the goods transported back are small and fine. Therefore, the three Korean ships Da Zhijie, which had been creaking by the sea wind and waves, did not intend to take them back and dumped them directly at the port. After selling it, it was naturally handed over to the young man from Liu's Shipyard. By the way, he ordered two more sea-going ships and asked him if he needed beams for shipbuilding.
"Shipbuilding wood? Of course you need it!"
Hebei and Shandong are lands that have been cultivated for thousands of years. What kind of woodland is there? Shipbuilding wood either comes from the Taihang Mountains, or comes from Fujian and Lingnan. If there is wood from the Northeast and the price is cheaper, it is naturally quite cost-effective.
But what kind of wood can be cost-effective, you have to find out on the spot.
After receiving Dazhijie’s guarantee of his personal safety, a young man from the Liu family named Liu Xiaofeng volunteered and decided to go to the Northeast to visit Mumu on behalf of his family.
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New Tang’s policy prohibits citizens from going overseas. It is even encouraged, but those who go to sea must report their personal information and the reason for going to sea. Liu Xiaofeng didn't expect that after submitting his report. After many layers of uploading, it was finally transferred to Cao Yuanzhong’s desk! Cao Yuanzhong, who was reporting to Zhang Mai in Kaifeng, mentioned it in passing.
Zhang Mai pondered: "Transporting Northeastern forests to the East? Well, a good thing! I have been given the green light by all parties to do this."
What does giving the green light mean? Although Cao Yuanzhong didn't know why, he stayed with Zhang Mai for a long time. But I understand.
"Then, do you want to give this young man from the Liu family some advice?"
"No need." Zhang Mai said: "Businessmen, let them know that it is easy to expose the trap, and just send a reliable person to follow."
Liu Xiaofeng did not expect that his report would be delayed for so long, but the elders in the family said it was normal. We were going to the Liao Kingdom - it was an enemy country, so we couldn't be cautious. We even had a faint worry about being suspected of being a spy by the court. Fortunately, we only had a near miss in the end.
Dazhijie would never have imagined that Liu Xiaofeng's poster would bring him another way of making money. A northwester named Murong heard about it and wanted to do timber business with him, but he But it was not to build a ship, but to select beams for the Yanjing Palace under construction. This time, the construction of Yanjing was not entirely run by the government. Some of the projects were handed over to private operators. For example, this person's surname is Murong. It is said that his family is from the Murong family in Shazhou, and evenHe was able to establish a relationship with the Cao family, an important minister in the DPRK, so he got the order for the Yanjing Grand Correction and Pingtai Project.
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When the north wind began to become biting, Dazhijie hurriedly went to sea. When two sea ships entered Liaojin, he returned safely and was once again welcomed by the Khitan nobles.
During his two trips to sea, he not only brought luxury goods such as silk, ceramics, spices, icing sugar, green salt, but also a large number of cotton-padded clothes, many tools, and even some craft maps! Especially the last one is what Daliao urgently needs.
After seeing his cargo list, Yelu Wuzhi was ready to offer him a knighthood, but Dazhijie declined, saying: "It is an honor for a villain to be valued by the Privy Council, but if a villain is knighted, he will definitely be noticed. I'm afraid it won't be so convenient to go to Tang State in the future. It's just a matter of making money in silence, which will be detrimental to both the country and the family."
Yelvwuzhi also felt that what he said was reasonable, so he didn't insist on it anymore.
It’s just that he still wasn’t sure of Dazhijie’s true intention deep in his heart. After these two trips to the Central Plains, Dazhijie’s admiration for the cultural relics, life and system of the emerging New Tang Dynasty had turned into a longing. After the official told him that as long as he accumulated three trade receipts, he would have the opportunity to settle in the Tang Dynasty, his thoughts suddenly became very long and far away!
Didn’t I see that when he registered his name at the border, he had already changed "Dazhi Festival" to "Dai Zhi Festival"? When he entered the Tang Dynasty for the second time, he often "inadvertently" revealed that he was originally a Han from Northeast China when communicating with people because of the circumstances. This is the news of "pretending to be Bohai". He has even asked a Shandong businessman to arrange for him to marry a Han woman. It doesn't matter if she is from a small family or if she spends more. He will try to arrange for the woman to live in Tianjin in the future, if she can have another son and a half. It was exciting to think about the spread of the "Dai family" in the Tang Dynasty. Compared with it, the Khitan title seemed a bit obstructive.
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During the Dazhi Festival, some of the goods were sold in Liaojin, mainly larger commodities, such as cotton-padded clothes. Most of the luxury goods that were purchased for the second time were kept - these things still cannot be sold at a good price in Liaojin. , he dismissed the noble slaves who had attached themselves to the ship, and then took Liu Xiaofeng and Shopkeeper Murong to Tokyo.
The capitals of the Liao Dynasty were established by Yelu Deguang when he first established the Liao Kingdom. Now there is only Liaoyang Prefecture in Tokyo left. Tokyo is located on the south bank of Lianghe River, a tributary of Liaohe River, and Liaojin is located at the mouth of Liaohe River. You can take a boat all the way from Liaojin to Tokyo.
It is no problem for sea ships of this era to enter rivers, and the Liaohe River is a big river, so we directly sailed the two sea ships bought from Datang, and invited two distinguished guests to drink on the deck and enjoy the scenery along the way, accepting both sides of the river. Onlookers admired the amazement of the two large ships. My heart is full of satisfaction.
The weather is getting colder, but a briquette for heating has been placed on the deck in the morning. Coal-burning for heating has always existed in the northern part of the Central Plains, but it has not become popular. However, similar heating facilities have long been popular in Ganliang Road in the northwest. In recent years, it has gradually spread, and people above the middle level in the Central Plains have begun to have a stove in their homes. But look at this coal cake stove. The system is very different from that in the Central Plains. When I inquired about it, I found out that it was produced in Northeast China.
When Dazhijie saw them asking, he casually said: "Before winter last year, the Khitan high-level officials obtained some maps from some unknown source, which contained new technologies for coal detection and mining. There were also plans for the manufacture of coal cakes and coal furnaces. The new technology was tried out and found to be extremely practical. The Empress of the Earth followed the advice of Prime Minister Han and ordered 20,000 to 30,000 Goryeo, Bohai and Nuzhi people to dig coal, and also ordered Youzhou craftsmen to make coal cakes for the coal stove. If the coal cakes are not made with fine workmanship, two or three craftsmen can make 20 coal cakes a day, then steam and bake them, and the finished product will be finished in ten days. From last year to now, there are more than a hundred Youzhou craftsmen leading a thousand Many people worked on it, and more than 20,000 people were invested in it during the off-season, and at least hundreds of thousands of coal stoves were built. Now, almost every household has such a coal cake stove."
After walking for dozens of miles upstream, he saw that both sides of the Liao River were full of people. Liu Xiaofeng couldn't help but admired and said: "I didn't expect it. I was afraid of coming to the wilderness at the beginning. Unexpectedly, it is almost the same as Youzhou. "
"Of course it's almost the same." Dazhijie said with a smile: "These villages were originally built by the people of Youzhou."
The young man from the Liu family and shopkeeper Murong exclaimed at the same time, but then they thought of something.
Last year was a troubled time for the entire Eastern world, and it was an unspeakably painful experience for the people of Youji. Nearly a million people were kidnapped by the Khitan and moved eastward. I don’t know how many old and weak people couldn’t bear it on the way. , after arriving in Liaodong, it was again desolate.
“Beidahuang, Beidahuang, these three words are not called for nothing! Although there was reclamation by Goguryeo, the degree of development of this small border court cannot be compared with Youzhou.The land that has been cultivated must have already been owned. What hundreds of thousands of Youzhou people see is still an almost barbaric wilderness, and what they can get must be wasteland.
Fortunately, in order to appease people's hearts, the people in power in the Liao Kingdom did not treat the Yan people who had moved here too harshly. Large tracts of land were set aside for them to cultivate, either out of compensation or to appease people's hearts. Those who came to get their fields became one Han village after another.
Fortunately, the land in the Northeast is so fertile that the Yan people could not imagine it. They burned the trees and weeds on both sides of the Liao River, and the ashes became natural fertilizer. Although it was the first year of cultivation, the old farmers from Youzhou It can be predicted that next year's harvest here may be 60% of that of the mature fields in my hometown.
Fortunately, the impact of the "tax-free order" incident in Hebei and Shandong went beyond the country. Under the operation of Han Yanhui, the senior officials of the Liao Kingdom actually exempted the Han people who moved to Liao from paying taxes in the first year! Therefore, most of the people who moved to Liao and Han were able to survive the most difficult year.
After arriving in Liaodong last year, Yan people had already planted a season of winter wheat. After this summer’s harvest, many farmlands have been planted with new crops.
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The young man from the Liu family looked around on the boat. I saw fields on both sides of the river. The fields were very irregular. They were obviously newly cultivated fields and could not be cultivated intensively. Now that the autumn harvest has passed, many farmers are drying millet. Those millets include not only wheat. There’s even rice!
Last year, Yan people moved to Liaoning. Some were resettled first and some were resettled slowly. Those resettled first had time to plant winter wheat, while those resettled slowly only had time to plant spring wheat. Those Yan people who planted winter wheat opened up a lot of wasteland after the wheat was planted last year. , rice seeds were sown this spring, and the cultivated rice seedlings will be planted after the winter wheat is harvested in the summer - in the Northeast, it is impossible to achieve two crops a year on the same acre of land.
"There is actually rice here?"
The Liu family is actually from Jiangnan. I only arrived in Shandong a few years ago and in Tianjin last year, so I know the difference between rice and wheat very clearly.
"Yes, I don't know who said that rice can be grown in the Northeast, and there were businessmen who smuggled a lot of grain seeds. Those grain seeds included wheat and rice, but they were all good varieties. The Khitan gentlemen didn't He understands agriculture. He doesn’t distinguish between grains and randomly distributes grain seeds according to his household registration. Many old farmers from Youzhou couldn’t help but smile bitterly when they saw that they were allocated rice. Rice is grown in the south and wheat is grown in the north. This is common sense, but Khitan The gentlemen don’t know, who can they ask to reason? I didn’t expect that rice can be grown in the Northeast. Although it can only be planted for one season, the harvest seems to be pretty good. I have eaten some new rice and it tastes better than southern rice. In the future, if If the Khitan gentlemen don’t ban it, they might be able to sell it to Tianjin.”
"Smuggling grain seeds? The shipping last year was not as smooth as this year. There are so many cabins for silk and porcelain, which is at least a huge profit! But you smuggled grain seeds, who would do such a thing?"
Dazhijie hesitated for a while, then suddenly lowered his voice and said, "You don't know, at this time last year, many ships came to the beach and smuggled a lot of things over. Not only were there a lot of grains and tools, but there were also There are some technological maps that affect the national economy and people's livelihood. For example, new technologies for detecting and excavating coal mines, such as this coal route and the technology of coal cakes. If it were not for these things, only a small part of the hundreds of thousands of Yan people on both sides of the Liao River would have survived. But last winter!”
"Oh?" The young man from the Liu family and shopkeeper Murong were both surprised. They also leaned over and asked, "Who could be so generous? To support the Khitan in this way! It can't be Korea and Japan, right?"
"How is that possible!" Dazhijie whispered: "Where can such skills be found in Goryeo and Japan! At first, everyone thought it was done by the Qi State in the south of the Yangtze River, but recently a strange news spread that the person who did this big thing was , turned out to be"
He probably went to the Central Plains and listened to too many stories and turned them into essays. He suddenly stopped at this critical point.
The two guests hurriedly asked: "Who is it?"
"I heard that it turned out to be Grand Marshal Zhang Longxiang!"
The young man from the Liu family and shopkeeper Murong didn’t believe it after hearing this!
The Khitans were the number one enemy of Tiance. I had never heard of Yue sending cooked rice to be used as seeds in order to harm the Wu State. But I had never heard of anyone sending rice to the Liao Dynasty when it was in crisis. Planted!
Not only are they giving away grain seeds, but they are also giving away crafts and maps!
This is to support the enemy!
If Zhang Mai really does this, it will be unless he loses his mind and goes crazy!
Seeing the two guests shaking their heads, Dazhijie smiled bitterly and said: "I didn't believe this kind of rumor at first! But recently, the rumors have become more and more true. And according to the information I got, this rumor is probably true."?”
Although Dazhijie is from Bohai, as his business grew, he naturally came into contact with many high-level officials of the Liao Kingdom, especially Yelu Wuzhi, Han Deshu and others who were in charge of economic and diplomatic aspects. He has more information than ordinary Khitan nobles.
The two guests were dumbfounded and felt incredible.
Liu Xiaofeng couldn't help but said: "If the marshal really does this then then" He almost said "treason", but the word was really wrong. Although Zhang Mai did not proclaim himself emperor, the entire Central Plains regarded him as emperor. See, if the emperor rebels against the country, doesn’t he also betray himself? Therefore, he temporarily changed his words: "Isn't this because I worked hard to make a wedding dress for the Liao Kingdom?"
Dazhijie sighed: "Yes, we didn't believe this kind of thing at first, but it did happen."
"But why did the marshal do this?"
"It is said that the marshal couldn't bear the suffering of the Yan people, and couldn't bear that they had to leave their hometown and die in Liaodong, so he showed great compassion and sent grain and crafts over regardless of the interests of the country."
Hearing this, Shopkeeper Murong couldn't help but recite Amitabha Buddha: "If this is really the case, then the Marshal is really merciful and compassionate, comparable to the Buddha and Bodhisattvas."
Dazhijie also sighed: "Why not! Even Yelu Wuzhi, the Privy Councilor of the South Academy of Daliao, couldn't help but sigh in front of me, saying that he didn't expect that Marshal Zhang could not only fight, but also be such a benevolent king. But the Khitan's The major generals were laughing at each other, saying that the marshal was fake, or that the marshal was a bad guy. Some people suspected that the marshal was being benevolent, and some suspected that there was a conspiracy. Of course, they refused to let the marshal be a good person. Regardless of speculation, they refused to tell the people that these grains were sent by Marshal Zhang - but such a big news could not be hidden after all. Recently, the people of Liaoyan finally knew more about it. Anyone who heard about this, There is no one who is not grateful, thinking that this is the real emperor of the Han family! Even though his people have left the country, he is still worried about him day and night."
The three of them drank wine and talked. The boat sailed up the river, then turned to Lianghe River, and soon arrived at Liaoyang Mansion.
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The Queen of Earth only exempted the field tax for the first harvest, which was already a great gift to the Khitan regime. Therefore, the field tax for winter wheat and spring wheat was exempted. However, this year's autumn harvest of rice will be taxed. Taxes and even surplus grain were collected through various means.
This time, as many as 60,000 households planted rice. After the surplus grain was collected, it was transported to Liaoyang Prefecture by waterway. At the dock of Liaoyang Prefecture, rice piled up like mountains. According to preliminary estimates, this batch of rice harvest can support eight to one hundred thousand people for a year-this is a huge fortune! It is an important strategic material! Even the Queen of Earth, who had initially embraced the idea of ??trying it out, was obviously overjoyed.
On the Tokyo pier, a group of Liao officials were counting rice. Dazhijie pointed to the rice warehouse on the pier and said: "With such a harvest this year, Khitan will definitely allow more Han people to plant rice next year. Maybe there will be more rice in the territory." Koryo and Bohai will also be ordered to plant. The rice harvest in the Northeast will at least double next year. Eight hundred thousand Han people can support three hundred thousand Khitans, which is more than enough. If there are no strong enemies from outside, this country can stand for a hundred years!"
"Eight hundred thousand Han people?" Liu Xiaofeng was a little surprised: "There are so many Han people in Liaodong?"
Dazhijie said: "This is something that Academician Xiao Han accidentally let slip when he was talking to me. It can't be wrong."
Naturally, he didn't know that this number itself was quite mysterious. The number of people the Khitan captured from Yan was not that large, and many people fled and died of illness on the way. Moreover, Yan has been a place where Hu and Han lived together since the Sui and Tang Dynasties, with hundreds of thousands Not all Yan people are Han. But after arriving in Liaodong, for the convenience of governance, when Han Deshu assisted Nai's father to imitate the Central Plains in making household registration, he classified all the people who moved from Yan as Han people - the Khitan senior officials had no objection to this, because although the first The amnesty and tax exemption were lifted in 2011, but under the future political system, the Han people will definitely have to bear more onerous taxes. In addition, plus the original Han people in Liaodong, the Han people who moved from Linhuang Prefecture, and even some Sinicized Bohai people, the total number reaches more than 800,000 - and these are still registered.
In this era, the resident Han people are the symbol of productivity, the source of taxes, and the golden chickens that lay eggs!
With these 800,000 registered Han people, I wonder if the Khitan regime will not be miserable in the future after surviving the most difficult two years of last year and this year.
Liu Xiaofeng thought of this and couldn't help but sigh. He felt that it was a pity that Tiance failed to conquer the Khitan in one fell swoop last year. He had not been a Tang citizen of Tiance for a long time, but Zhang Mai's strong personal reputation and Tiance's political and social The system has given him a huge sense of identity. But at this time, it was hard to express what he was thinking. He just looked at the hill-like grain piles and spoke.?Still couldn't help it: "Wedding dress! Wedding dress!"
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