At the beginning of October, some scholars and merchants from nearby areas had already arrived in Luoyang.

In a house in the east of Luoyang City, a large group of people gathered.

As soon as Huan Wen entered, he felt a huge sound coming from the room.

"I just came back from Jiangxia and Xiangyang. Tao Kan banned gambling and was really depressed." A businessman stared at the dice closely and complained: "The gambling equipment of the shogunate in Xiangyang was confiscated and thrown into the river.

Here, I am angry."

"How can this be banned?" A businessman laughed and said, "You can even gamble on Go, so you can't ban it."

While he was talking, five dice (dice) had been thrown into the wooden bowl.

"Lu! Lu! Lu!" the throwing merchant shouted, and the onlookers laughed.

Soon, three of the five dice had stopped, two of them showed a black side, one showed a white side, and the other two turned undecided.

But the merchant was too lazy to look.

The onlookers laughed loudly and gloated: "Zai Cai!"

When Huan Wen saw it, he could no longer move his feet. This was "(chu) Pu".

At this time, the gambling game had just begun. After a brief search, he saw Yuan Dan.

Yuan Dan smiled at Huan Wen but said nothing.

At this moment, it was Yuan Dan's turn to throw. He held five dice in his hand, rubbed them for a long time, and muttered something in his mouth.

Maybe this kind of behavior adds psychological pressure to people, so some people say: "What are you doing, just throw it quickly."

Yuan Dan laughed and threw the five dice together.

In an instant, three dice turned black.

Then came the fourth one, which showed the calf pattern, and stayed there, while the fifth one seemed to whet one's appetite, always jumping around.

When everyone saw it, the atmosphere suddenly became lively.

The shouts of "Lou! Lu! Lu!" rang out again, almost shattering the roof.

As if responding to everyone's call, the fifth chess piece was decided, and it turned out to be a calf.

"Lu! It's really Lu!" the onlookers shouted in unison, looking crazy.

Yuan Dan laughed loudly, glanced at the other three players, and said, "I won't be polite."

After saying that, the chief (wood stick) allocated a horse (chess piece) and moved sixteen squares on the scale (chessboard).

Next, it was the turn of others to throw, but they were all unlucky. They didn't get the lucky shot and couldn't make a move.

When Yuan Dan arrived, he took five more pieces and rubbed them for a long time.

The other three looked hesitant.

Yuan Dan sneered, and all five chess pieces came out. After a moment of tossing, what was revealed was: black black pheasant, with fourteen arrows.

"It's Guicai again!" Everyone exclaimed, looking at Yuan Dan in amazement.

"I just said such arrogant words, do you know me Yuan Yandao now?" Yuan Dan took charge and made another move, moving fourteen squares.

On the current chessboard, Yuan Dan has already played two horses, one in front and one behind. The other three have not yet thrown Guicai, and all five horses are sitting at home, furious.

Huan Wen looked at Yuan Dan with reverence, God of Gamblers!

Next, he continued to throw. Yuan Dan's luck was not bad. He threw several rounds and got a "white white pheasant" from Yaya Takaicai, and then made another horse.

Two of the remaining three people also made a lucky bet and got a horse, but the last person never got a good bet. After a moment, someone outside called "Yuanzi", and Huan Wen reluctantly left the room.

The visitor was Shi Shanshihui, the commander of the Zuo Xiaoqi Guards. When he saw Huan Wen, he said, "Yuanzi, I have a rest today. You are not at home studying and practicing martial arts, but you come here to play games."

"I'm not————I don't————" Huan Wen argued a few words. Seeing that others didn't believe him, he could only say: "These businessmen are playing big games. It costs 200,000 yuan to hit a horse. I don't have that much.

"

"You still want to gamble." Shan Shihui looked at him with incredulous eyes and said, "I don't like gambling nowadays.

I hate taking medicine, but anyone who is determined to pursue any career will not be involved in these two things. Just play a few games in private if your hands are itchy. How can you play in this place with so many people?"

Huan Wen suddenly realized this and bowed ashamedly, saying, "I have been taught."

"Let's go and sit over there." Shan Shi pulled Huan Wen back and said.

Huan Wen followed silently.

The two of them came to the hall one behind the other.

There were already several people in the room drinking tea and chatting.

"There is news coming back from Huainan that wild silkworms are all over the valley, spinning silk into cocoons as big as eggs, but we don't know whether it is true or not." A middle-aged man wearing Sichuan brocade said.

"I heard that there was also one in Jianye. Someone recorded it during the Huanglong period of the Eastern Wu Dynasty." The speaker was older, perhaps afraid of the cold, and was wearing a pure white fox fur. He should have come from the Tuoba Dynasty.

"Huainan captured Wu soldiers. It is mentioned that Xuancheng also has this object."

"But it may not be a tussah silkworm."

"It's just a wild silkworm, I can't figure it out."

More people participated, and everyone was obviously moved by their words.

Silk from wild silkworm cocoons can be made into cotton wool and stuffed into linen or silk clothing to make a fine cotton coat to keep out the cold.

Many officials can receive dozens of kilograms of cotton a year, which they use to make winter clothes.

Not to mention the winter coats of the army sergeants, which was a large quantity. After all, Han soldiers did not necessarily have sheepskin furs to wear.

After the few people finished speaking, they looked at Shan Shihui with an inquiring look, as if they had just noticed Huan Wen.

Shan Shihui then introduced Huan Wen and everyone to each other.

After a while of greetings, Huan Wen realized that among the people, the man from Shu brocade and the old man from Huqiu had the highest status.

The former is Liu Bi, the Minister of Tian Cao, and the latter is Mi Huang, the eunuch of the Military Academy.

"Yuanzi, I heard that you were traveling in Duoye, Jiangdong. Do you know about the wild silkworms?" Mi Huang asked Huan Wen to sit down.

"Going back to Mi Gong, I once went to Xuancheng County and heard the locals mention wild silkworms. Their cocoons are as big as chicken eggs and fill the forest valleys for more than three hundred miles." Huan Wen said.

When several people looked at each other, they could see the joy in each other's eyes.

"Is there anything else?" Liu Bi asked.

"There are a lot of medicinal materials, a lot of fish salt, and maybe copper, iron, gold and silver." Huan Wen said.

There was a sudden silence in the venue, everyone was obviously digesting the news silently.

None of them have been to the South, and their idea of ​​the wealth in the South is only based on rumors, but they are willing to believe it.

It's not that they are naive, it's that people always subconsciously believe what they want to believe.

The fields in the north are like fire and tea. It is expected that the inventory of nineteen counties will be completed by the end of the year. During this period, there are many people who have lost their wealth.

Can they be satisfied? Definitely not.

But since there is no way to resist, we can only believe in another plan proposed by the emperor: lose the north and make up for the south.

There is nothing you can do if you don't believe it. There are more than one or two people who openly confront Du Tian, ​​but the endings are tragic.

Even this year, officials from Donglai and Leling counties who attacked and killed Dutian fled with their families after being found out.

Taking the clan's tribe with him, he traveled southward across the sea to the east of the Yangtze River.

Some people in Jinan County were also dissatisfied, but they did not attack and kill the officials. Instead, more than a thousand families gathered together, rushed to Changguang, and crossed the sea to the south.

As for those who bribed officials overtly or secretly, there were too many. After being reported, the whole family was demoted as criminals and sent to Hezhou.

In the eyes of the wealthy families, Dutian is their "stained history of blood and tears".

Those who do not stand up to resist are forced to surrender and suffer losses by default.

Their willingness to surrender has something to do with the emperor's promise: to go to the south to open up wasteland and build manors.

And as the overall situation has been decided and the field is being carried out more and more deeply, they have become more and more urgent about this matter.

The southern expedition to Jiangdong was no longer just a matter for Emperor Shao Xun alone, but also related to the vital interests of the vast northern wealthy families.

As the saying goes, everyone above and below has the same desire.

However, these people here did not go to the south to open manors, or they did not just open traditional Zhongchangtong-style manors.

They are close ministers of the Emperor and better understand the Emperor's inner thoughts and ambitions.

The emperor hoped that they would engage in business rather than just open up wasteland to grow food. That would be too disappointing.

And this is actually the main reason why the emperor summoned a group of merchants here.

"There are many rare goods in the south of the Yangtze River, which can make your family rich and support your family. It's wonderful." Mi Huang smiled and looked at everyone,

He said: "The ability of the Donghai Mi clan to survive cannot be wasted."

"Mr. Mi, your majesty's preface, is it still necessary?" The wealthy businessman who came from afar couldn't help but ask.

"Your Majesty, you keep your word." Mi Huang said, "If your family can take root in Jiangdong and have a bright and charming family, it may not be impossible for you to be ranked high."
To be continued...