Chapter 307: Prices are available all over the world

"Sir, please tell me!" Li Qingan picked up the teapot and poured him another cup of tea.

Yan Zhuang took a sip of tea and then slowly said: "My plan will fall on King Qing Li Cong."

Li Qingan woke up a little and smiled and said, "Mr. I mean, let King Qing go to Dunhuang!"

"That's what I mean. If Shazhou can become the chief garrison of King Qing, then the general can be naturally stationed in Shazhou. Of course, if King Qing focuses on Hexi, then Shazhou still belongs to Hexi. But if King Qing focuses on Anxi, then Shazhou actually belongs to Anxi."

Li Qing'an paced back and forth with his hands behind his back. Yan Zhuang's method was indeed good. He pulled the tiger skin as a banner. King Qing was the tiger skin. His official position was the pacification envoy of the Longyou Dao vassals. The Hu Fans in Hexi and Longyou belonged to his pacification range. It would be difficult for him to interfere with Hexi Longyou for a long time. If he was stationed in Dunhuang, he could take into account both sides in name, which was indeed a good idea. As for King Qing's willingness to go to Dunhuang, Li Qing'an was not worried. With Yan Kai there, King Qing was his own tool.

"This matter is not urgent for the time being. When the Tubo battle begins, you'd better create some opportunities to make Li Cong famous in Dunhuang."

"I understand that my subordinates will arrange this matter, and I also want to discuss the food issue with the general."

Yan Zhuang was mainly in charge of various military supplies, among which grain was the top priority of his power. Now Li Qing'an is also particularly sensitive to food, and Li Qing'an was also worried about Yan Zhuang's statement.

"What's wrong with the food?"

Yan Zhuang sighed slightly and said, "Zaiye has garrisoned 200,000 shi of grain. I thought the immigrants from the Central Plains would not come after a few months. I didn't expect that they had arrived in large quantities and there was insufficient food!"

"How many have been reached?"

Li Qingan frowned and said, "He did forget about immigration. Most of the immigrants went to Beiting to Shuye, and were received by hundreds of officials along the way.

"Before I came, I had already reached 9,300 households, and it was still coming. If it increased to 30,000 households within two months, we would have to leave at least 50,000 stones of grain for resettlement of immigrants."

"What if it is a hundred thousand households?"

Li Qing'an knew very well that the Hedong disaster had caused great disasters and the imperial court had already used immigration to Anxi as a solution to the disaster. All 300,000 victims who entered Guanzhong had to be transferred to Anxi, which was far more than 30,000 households.

"If it comes one after another, it can still bear it. If it comes in concentrated areas within two months, the 200,000 stones of grain from the Broken Leaf can only be used to resettle immigrants."

Li Qingan got up and put on his coat and said, "Prepare a car for me!"

At this time, a personal guard outside the door reported: "General, the envoy of the Great Food asked for a visit!"

He was about to find him, but he came to the door on his own initiative. This was the best. Li Qingan was not anxious. He sat down and picked up the tea bowl and said, "Take him to the guest room and wait. I'll handle the government affairs."

In the precious guest room, Mansour was drinking tea with some anxiety. Although he signed a peace agreement with the Emperor of Tang in Chang'an, he slowly regained the taste after entering Anxi. I am afraid that signing a contract with the Emperor of Tang is just a form. Whether he can release people depends on Li Qing'an's attitude. He did not have a good relationship with Li Qing'an in Chang'an, which made him a little regretful.

After drinking a cup of tea, he did not see Li Qing'an's shadow. The guards diligently gave him another cup of tea. Mansour patiently finished drinking another cup of tea, but still could not see Li Qing'an's shadow. He finally couldn't help it, so he stood up and walked out the door. An old man was slowly sweeping the floor in the yard.

"May I ask, your general..."

Mansour had no confidence to ask any more. The old man didn't raise his head and couldn't speak. Helplessly, Mansour had to come back and sit down, pick up a piece of fine spot to eat. Suddenly he thought of something, put the fine spot on his nose and smelled it. There was a faint smell of lard, which scared him to put it down quickly. At this time, footsteps sounded outside the yard.

Mansour was surprised and stood up quickly. Unexpectedly, the personal soldiers who had just poured the tea came in. The personal soldiers smiled apologetically and poured him another cup of tea. Mansour sighed and sat down in disappointment. The personal soldiers were also speechless.

The personal soldiers poured the water and went out again. Mansour was depressed and picked up the tea and took a few sips slowly. He suddenly felt something. When he looked up, he saw Li Qingan appearing at the door at some point and was looking at him with a smile.

"Ah!" Mansour quickly stood up, pressed his hand on his chest and saluted him.

Li Qing'an bowed and smiled, "I'm sorry, someone happened to come to report on military affairs. It took a while to delay his highness for a long time."

Perhaps because Li Qing'an was familiar with Dashi, Mansour felt an inexplicable sense of intimacy towards him and quickly smiled: "God General, you are polite. I am here to disturb the general's official business."

"Haha!" Li Qing'an smiled and waved his hand, "Please sit down with your highness!"

"Please sit down, General."

The two sat down, and the personal soldiers served tea for them again. Li Qing'an picked up the teacup and sighed: "It's been less than two months since Chang'an left, but I think it's been a long time. It seems that several years have passed. The wonder of time is so touching."

"It turns out that the general is also sentimental, I didn't expect it!"

The two of them exchanged a few greetings, Mansour pondered for a moment and said, "I have signed a contract with His Majesty the Emperor of Guichao. The Emperor of Guichao personally agreed to release the prisoners of war in the Great Food. This time I came to Anxi to implement this matter."

As he said that, he took out the contract and handed it to Li Qing'an and smiled and said, "Please take a look, General!"

The smile on Li Qing'an's face disappeared. He took the contract and looked carefully, then put it on the table and said, "Your Highness, this contract is correct, but I can't rely on this contract to do things. Sorry for your highness!"

Mansour's heart suddenly sank, and it was indeed difficult to deal with. When Li Qing'an signed the contract, he was right next to him and participated in the negotiations, but he now refused to admit it.

"Then I wonder how the general should do to calculate?"

"Your Highness does not know the regulations of my Tang Dynasty. If I want to implement this contract, I must come with the court's approval, otherwise I have no choice."

"Then when will your court's approval be made?"

Li Qing'an took a sip of tea and said lightly: "I don't know this, alas! Now the court is getting less and less effective, one year later, and half a year later. If Your Highness is in a hurry, then you might as well send someone to Chang'an to urge him. Maybe they will hurry up."

Who is Mansour? He is the crown prince of the Great Food Empire. How smart he is. Of course he heard that Li Qing'an was ruling. Even if the court's approval was sent, he would say that there was no such way to delay ruling. In the end, when he got the approval, Li Qing'an would be in vain and could not see it at all, or he would not be willing to let others go for three or five years. The key here is the exchange of interests. The Emperor of the Tang Dynasty might have to save face and did not consider this, but the person was in the hands of Li Qing'an and was his prisoner of war. How could he let others go so easily? He put his heart in front of him, and Mansour would not let others go.

Mansour knew it well, but he was a little full of words just now, and he had to approve the court. Now he changed his words, it seemed that the two of them could not stand the face. He wanted to say that the 1,000 prisoners of war in the Tang Dynasty had already been released, but the weight of these words was too light and he couldn't take it out. His lips moved and he couldn't say a word.

At this time, Li Qingan picked up the contract again, looked carefully and smiled, "Besides, our emperor only agreed to release the person, and did not say that he had to release the person free of charge, so this contract must be discussed again."

Mansour was excited and Li Qing'an finally spoke. He really guessed well. It was either a court approval or a question of how much compensation was. Mansour then realized that he didn't need to go to Chang'an at all. He just talked with Li Qing'an. Now he was afraid that he would not speak. As long as he spoke, he would be willing to pay for any amount of money.

Mansour quickly smiled and said, "Of course, we did not say that we would leave the person for nothing. As long as the general is willing to release him, we can discuss the ransom. I don't know how much the general wants?"

"Haha! Your Highness and I hit it off, and it was a bit vulgar when we talked about money. But I remember Your Highness said that although you Arabs are brothers everywhere, they do not owe strangers casually. I also understand the customs of the Arabs and will not make things difficult for Your Highness. Just make some compensation."

"I don't know how much this appropriateness is?" Mansour knew that Li Qingan's appropriateness would never be a small number, but he had to redeem 20,000 prisoners of war, so he could only make the worst plan.

"Your Highness, I am actually a reasonable person and don't want any war compensation. I just need to get compensation. I will settle the calculations for your Highness!"

The better Li Qingan said, the more worried Mansour was. He nodded and said, "Please tell me, General."

Li Qing'an slowly drank a sip of tea, and then he calmly calculated for him: "First, there is 20,000 prisoners of war. From October last year to now, half a year has passed. The prisoners of war have eaten a lot. Everything they eat, wear, live, and use costs money. This money needs to be compensated for the large food. This is one; the second is the compensation for the mining of silver mines. I plan to use them to mine silver mines for five years before releasing them. For the sake of your highness's sincerity, it will be shortened to three years! It's already half a year, and there are still two and a half years. In the past two and a half years, how many silver mines the prisoners of war need to mine, and this large food must be compensated for me."

Mansour had to listen to the beads of his eyes. The food consumed was fine. He would have to pay for mining in the next two and a half years. How much would that be? It would be an incredible number. Mansour already understood that Li Qing'an wanted the lion to speak out, but 20,000 Syria and Khorasan prisoners of war were related to the 20,000 Syrian prisoners of war, especially the families of prisoners of war in Syria began to cause trouble. If these precious soldiers were not redeemed, it would affect the throne of the Caliph. This was also what His Majesty the Caliph repeatedly reminded him when he left that he must redeem the prisoners of war.

Mansour had no way out, so he had to grit his teeth, "General, please tell me clearly! How much does it cost?"

Li Qingan smiled slightly and said, "I don't want money. Dashi just needs to give Tocharo to the Tang Dynasty."

"No! Impossible!"

Mansour stood up in shock and shook his head firmly, "No matter what, we cannot repay it with land. If so, we will have no need to talk about it."

"Since that's the case, please! Our negotiations end here. In five years, I will release them. I don't know how many people will be left at that time."

"Then I'll say goodbye!"

Mansour said angrily, turned around and left. Li Qingan didn't call him, but just looked at his back and smiled without saying a word. When Mansour walked to the gate, he finally slowed down. He sighed, how could he explain when he went back!

Mansour walked back slowly and bowed deeply to Li Qing'an, "General, this is the first time I begged people. I beg the General to release our prisoners of war. We can agree to any conditions except the land."

Li Qing'an showed a look of embarrassment on his face, and after a while he sighed, "Okay! I admire Your Highness as a hero, please sit down and talk!"

Mansour was overjoyed. As long as he didn't talk about the land, everything was easy to say. He sat down again and said sincerely: "The general doesn't have to bargain with me anymore. I will buy it at the highest price of slaves in the Malaysian market. A prisoner of war 1,500 dinal silver coins, a total of 30 million dinals. Does the general think it is OK?"

Li Qing'an quickly calculated in his mind that if it was replaced with food, it would be equivalent to two million stones of grain. He didn't need the money, and he could cast silver dollars himself, but what he urgently needed was food, so he asked: "I wonder how much food is there in the warehouses of Sindhi and Punjab in your country?"

Mansour looked up and thought. Sindh and Punjab were both famous grain-producing areas, with abundant food. The food there was within his jurisdiction. Although it had been transported to Damascus in large quantities, there were still a lot of them. He still clearly remembered the food surplus there.

"If it were replaced by the weight of your country, it would be about 2.5 million stones of grain."

Having said this, Li Qingan stopped hiding his request, and he slowly said, "Then I will formally propose my conditions!"

"Please say, General."

"First, release all Tang army prisoners of war immediately. Even if they are already dead, they must return the ashes."

"No problem, we have done it. All the Tang army prisoners of war in Dashi have been returned to Samarkand, and there are no dead prisoners of war."

"Okay!" Li Qing'an nodded and said, "The second condition is to hand over all the food in Sindhi and Punjab, that is, 2.5 million stones, to us as ransom, and hand over the grain and release them. Whenever the food is finished, I will release them all."

Although this condition exceeds the 30 million dinal ransom that Mansour has paid, it is much better than ceding Tochar. Besides, he has already said that he would agree to everything except the land.

Mansour agreed without hesitation, "Okay! We have made up our minds, and I will exchange my 2.5 million stones for our 20,000 prisoners of war, and I hope to sign a written agreement."

"No! There is no written agreement, you promise with Allah, and I promise with my credibility that we will deliver the food to us, and the prisoners of war will be given back to you."

Mansour is not an ordinary person. Li Qing'an cannot sign a written contract. He did not force himself. He solemnly pressed his chest: "I, Mansour, swear to Allah, that we will faithfully fulfill the conditions we have reached. Within two months, all the food will be handed over to the Tang army."

Li Qingan also said solemnly: "I, Li Qingan, also solemnly promised that as long as the conditions for the big food are fulfilled, all the big food prisoners in the Battle of Talas will be released one by one within two months, and we will never regret our promise!"
Chapter completed!