When Cheng Chuliang arrived in Samarkand, it had already become the world of a herd of cattle and sheep, and merchants from various countries in the Western Regions also came with Cheng Chuliang.
While Feng Chucai and Qu Tutong were busy robbing, Cheng Chuliang was not idle either. He gathered together the tribal leaders from various countries in the Western Regions who had followed him to the war and told them that they could buy cattle and sheep in Samarkand at 80% of the price.
But you have to transport it back by yourself. We don't care what method you use. If you need the escort of the Tang Dynasty army, you will have to pay 5% of the freight. Even so, you can buy back these cattle and sheep at only 85% of the price.
Although a 15% profit is not very large, cattle and sheep are extremely important to these nomadic peoples, just like the land to us Han people. Therefore, this 15% profit is not low. Moreover, except for the tribes that followed the Tang army to fight, other tribes did not have this benefit at all.
So under such circumstances, a large number of merchants still followed Cheng Chuliang. When they saw the large number of cattle and sheep in the military camp, these people's eyes almost lit up.
"Greetings, Marshal..."
Looking at the dusty subordinates on both sides, Cheng Chuliang knew that they had worked hard these days. After arriving in Samarkand, they must have been working day and night to fill the financial hole.
"Brothers, you've all worked hard these days. I've seen your efforts. After returning to the capital, you'll all share your experiences. This time, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince also wrote you a letter, which I've brought along. Please take a good look at it!"
After Cheng Chuliang finished speaking, even those who were too tired to get up were now full of strength. Your Highness is the future emperor. As long as he can see our efforts, we will not have to worry about not having a good future in the future. Isn’t the war in the Western Regions now just to make our descendants live a little more comfortable?
In the past, they all had the habit of writing letters to Li Xiang individually. Although Li Xiang's reply now only had a hundred words or so, all his answers were key points. Of course, they all understood that Li Xiang was very busy with work. They had all worked with Li Xiang, and there were countless letters from all over the country every day. It was quite difficult for him to reply to you with a hundred words or so.
"Reporting to the Marshal, those merchants outside are getting a little impatient and are ready to pick out the cattle and sheep. What do you think, Marshal?"
After reading the letter from Li Xiang, Qu Tutong thought of how miserable their lives had been during this period. There were cattle and sheep transported from all over the place everywhere, and it seemed as if the air was filled with the smell of cow dung. If these merchants could finish their selection, they could set off as soon as possible to avoid chaos in the entire military camp, which would also affect combat effectiveness.
"If they don't mind being tired, then let them go down and choose. Besides, these people didn't bring any cash, but they all have banknotes in their hands. Just let them use the banknotes to trade."
Since both sides are not afraid of hard work, Cheng Chuliang will naturally not stop them from making money. He just lets them hurry up and trade. The smell in the tent is indeed not very pleasant. If they stay here for a long time, Cheng Chuliang probably won't be able to stand it.
After hearing Cheng Chuliang's permission, Qu Tushou quickly asked his generals to go down and do the work, and sell all these things as soon as possible.
Seeing that his men had gone out to do their work, Cheng Chuliang looked at the city of Samarkand in the distance from outside the tent. He originally wanted to see the magnificence of the Governor-General Anton's Mansion, but he didn't expect that there was nothing there. The whole city was burned down. The people of the Arab Empire were really good at doing things. When they were defeated, they left us nothing. This was much more difficult to deal with than the previous enemies.
"It's all our fault. If we had been faster, maybe this city could have been preserved. Now, if we were to build a big city here, it would cost a lot of money."
Feng Chucai said somewhat embarrassedly that when he arrived here, the whole city was already on fire. If he had asked his men to go and put out the fire, maybe they could have saved the city, but it might have caused casualties to his men, and the city would be more troublesome to deal with after it was saved, so Feng Chucai asked his men to abandon the city.
"There's nothing wrong with what you did. This is a very normal thing. If I were in your position at the time, I wouldn't let my men take such a risk. If this city were within the territory of the Tang Dynasty and were filled with Tang civilians, then it would be worth it for our men to take the risk. But it's absolutely impossible to place our men in such a place on the territory of another country."
Cheng Chuliang fully approved of Feng Chucai's decision. There was no need to sacrifice our own people for the sake of another country's unstable territory. All the Tang generals knew this. Although Samarkand was now in our hands, it was still in the war zone. Who knew if the Arab Empire would make a comeback? Even if we saved the city, it might not be ours.
Feng Chucai also breathed a sigh of relief. If someone continued to hold him accountable for this matter, he would most likely be held responsible. Now that the Marshal has said so, no one will come after him in the future. Even if they want to, they have to get past Cheng Chuliang first.
"Didn't you continue your investigation into the Arab Empire's army?"
Among all the reports, there was no news about this aspect. Cheng Chuliang was a little worried. In the past, His Highness the enemy always told us not to take them too seriously, but the Arab Empire was different. Their overall strength was somewhat similar to that of the Tang Empire, so we needed to take this matter seriously.
"We've sent out our scouts, but we haven't found any of them within a 400-mile radius. Given our limited manpower, we haven't sent any more scouts out."
After hearing this result, Cheng Chuliang nodded in understanding. At this stage, 400 miles of reconnaissance is enough...
