The twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month is near the New Year's Day.

The first year of Xianding in the Song Dynasty and the first year of Zhongtong in Monan Mongolia are about to pass.

Hanzhong City is also much busier than usual.

Although there were many people on Tianhan Street, it was still not crowded.

A group of carriages and horses slowly entered the city from Wangjiang Gate in the west, headed towards East Street, and stopped in front of the gate of Shuai Mansion.

Yan Yunyun just returned from Zhenba County, which is located deep in Daba Mountain and is a tea-producing place.

Carrying a few bags of tea, she got off the carriage, frowned slightly, walked through the tree-shaded path and entered the Guiyin Hall of the Shuai Mansion.

I saw a group of staff sitting on both sides, more than 20 of them, most of whom were scholars Yang Guo had recruited in recent years.

Today's discussion in the Commander's Mansion is nothing more than summarizing this year, arranging everything for next year, giving some rewards, and then taking a vacation for the New Year.

It's still early and Li Xia hasn't arrived yet.

Yan Yunyun glanced at the hall, nodded to Yuan Yan, who was sitting at the bottom, and then turned to the small public room at the back.

There were only the Han family and his son in the small public house, so there were few people, so they could discuss some official matters.

They are Li Xia's closest confidants.

"Father, brother."

"came back?"

"Yes." Yan Yunyun put the tea in his hand on the table and said, "I'll bring the Xianhao tea produced in Zhenba County for you to try."

Han Chengxu said: "It looks like good tea. It is tall and even, with a bright green color."

"Yes, the taste is good, the aroma is sharp and long-lasting, the soup is bright in color and has a pleasant aftertaste."

"How's the teahouse?"

"Abandoned." Yan Yunyun said: "Only a few tea farmers are still growing tea and selling it in bulk."

"What a pity." Han Chengxu sighed.

Han Qi'an said: "I remember that during the Chengping period of the Song Dynasty, Hanzhong bought tea and traded horses on the Xihe River. Hanzhong could sell three million kilograms of tea in the northwest a year and trade 30,000 horses."

Han Chengxu nodded and said: "This is what is meant by the saying 'Tea from Sichuan is always brought to the cities of Zhubo, and Hu horses often come from thousands of miles away'."

Yan Yunyun said: "Before the Mongolian army entered the country, the largest trade in Hanzhong and even Sichuan and Shu was tea. In the first year of Yuanfeng, the annual output of Shu tea was 30 million kilograms. Wang Anshi said, 'Fu tea is for civilian use.

You can’t live without rice and salt. In Alang’s words, this is ‘a major pillar of the Sichuan-Sichuan economy’.”

She went to Zhenba County this time and was deeply touched...

During the Taiping period, most of the tea in Zhenba County was purchased by officials of the Tea Horse Division and transported to the Tea Horse Farm in Lintao and Tianshui;

After crossing south, some of the remaining tea leaves were shipped to Jiangnan;

The Mongols occupied Hanzhong and it was abandoned for several years. Only nine years ago, the tea farmers regained their livelihood. The tea merchants purchased it and transferred it to Semu merchants to transport it to Liangzhou and sell it to the Western Regions.

On the contrary, now that Hanzhong has been recaptured, the original tea-horse trade has been discontinued.

Coupled with the ban on Huizi, it is even more difficult for large-scale tea trade to start.

Tea farmers are not doing well.

But I'm not too dissatisfied. After all, the taxes are light and I can still survive by digging in the fields.

This is true for Zhenba County, and it is true for the whole of Sichuan and Sichuan.

The trade in tea, salt, cloth, wine, medicinal materials, etc. also did not flourish.

The current situation in Sichuan and Shu is that there are few people, a lot of land, light taxes, and people's livelihood is stable, but they are still poor.

You know, tens of millions of people were massacred, and Sichuan and Shu were almost destroyed.

Since Li Xia took office, he has built water conservancy projects to allow farmers to have their fields.

This year the people of Shu can have food to eat, but it is only food, and it is far from being revitalized.

…

Yan Yunyun had said these things, and frowned deeper, saying: "What I have often said recently is that to make Sichuan and Shu prosperous, food alone is far from enough, and trade is also needed."

"Those merchants are unwilling to buy with copper coins, gold and silver?"

"We have determined that we must set up a 'Guanzipu' in Sichuan and Sichuan, otherwise every transaction in the future will have to transport copper coins, gold and silver, and the cost will be too high. They said that the one million kilograms of tea this time is just a way to attract others. As long as we set up

In Guanzipu, they can eat even ten million catties."

"That's three million dollars?" Han Chengxu was shocked and said: "This year's Sichuan-Sichuan tax revenue is far less than this amount..."

Han Qian said instead: "It seems that it must be to induce us to allow the circulation of gold and silver."

"If you dare to come, we will swallow their gold and silver."

Han Qi'an said calmly: "They say good luck comes with their gold and silver, and they can go back on it at any time, but tea leaves have to be planted for a year. If we arrange for the people to plant tea, and there will be no one to harvest the tea leaves, what will you do?"

"I'll sell it to Tianzhu." Yan Yunyun muttered softly.

"I'm afraid it's not just that. According to the laws of the Song Dynasty, there are two types of tea sold in Sichuan and Shu. One is tea tea. In the seventh year of Xining, Shenzong of the Song Dynasty, the tea horse method was implemented. The tea horse department was in charge, and tea was exchanged for horses; the other was tea introduction.

, merchants go to Sichuan to buy tea, and the government issues tea tickets, one of ten taxes."

As Han Chengxu spoke, he pointed at Yan Yunyun and said: "The business you are talking about this time is smuggling tea."

Yan Yunyun said: "Just ask Alang to hand out tea cups."

"Then it involves the Transfer Department. The tea tax should be transferred to the imperial court."

"What if it's not transferred?"

"If the tea merchant is a member of Jia Sidao, or you are smuggling, or Alang embezzled the tea tax, the evidence is conclusive."

"With Alang's current power, he shouldn't be afraid of this little trick."

"Not afraid, but no matter how we deal with it, as long as Alang is still a Song minister in name, he has no right to raise money and is subject to the Tea Horse Law and the Tea Yin Law. Jia Sidao is using these names to suppress Alang and try to drag Sichuan and Shu into

The Song Dynasty is a quagmire." Han Chengxu said: "This matter is easy to deal with, but this is just a test, and there will be endless tricks behind it."

Yan Yunyun thought to the end and asked: "The only way Alang can deal with it is to issue his own banknotes in Sichuan and Shu, amend the Tea Horse Law, Tea Introduction Law, and even the Salt and Iron Law? And also seize the power of the envoy?"

"That's it. Raising money and practicing law are all the rights of the princes." Han Chengxu murmured: "Jia Sidao was more decisive and ruthless than Cheng Yuanfeng. If Alang hadn't been able to find a tooth to open a mansion when he regained control of the center,

I am afraid that I will have to leave the Song Dynasty..."

"So serious?"

Han Qian said: "Jia Sidao's attitude is that 'the separation of Sichuan and Shu from the coins of the Song Dynasty is equivalent to the separation of the Song Dynasty'. After all, the problem is only in one name..."

"How dare he force Alang like this?"

"I don't necessarily dare. At the moment, I'm just testing it with merchants, but I have this intention." Han Chengxu said: "It's not clear yet. If he returns to control the center... we will know when the time comes."

"What did Alang think about it?"

"I can't guess what Alang is thinking. He said that when he comes back from Chengdu..."

Yan Yunyun lowered his head and thought for a while, but couldn't figure it out for a moment.

After the meeting on the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, Li Xia never mentioned this.

…

The three of them discussed for a while, and after seeing that the time was almost up, they left the small public room and went to the lobby to wait.

Han Chengxu took care of Yuan Yan the most. He first exchanged greetings and greetings, then slowly went to sit at the top of the staff.

Soon, at the last minute, Li Xia came over on time.

"Handsome."

"Gentlemen, there is no need to be polite, let's get started. In the past year, in terms of external strife, we have recovered a lot of lost ground and made great strides; in terms of internal cultivation, we have allowed the people under our rule to have land and food.

Put food on the table and survive... Then today we will set a goal for next year, stand firm and be strong. That's all I will say, I will ask you gentlemen to mention the rest. I will distribute this year's reward later. Also, I have recently had a baby in my family.

, I also prepared some gifts for you gentlemen..."

Jiang Di, who was sitting at the bottom, was very happy when he heard this. He turned to Yuan Yan and whispered: "I asked Qiao'er, but she didn't tell me what gift she would get."

"Everyone is different. What I gave Mr. Han was a few century-old Polygonum multiflorum plants."

"How do real people know?"

"Stop talking..."

~~

On that day, Yuan Yan returned to the courtyard where he lived. Behind him were several strong women carrying many books and placing them in the hall.

"Thank you guys."

"Mr. Yuan, you're welcome..."

Yuan Yan thanked him and looked around. He went to Zhang Wenjing's room and saw her dressing up in the mirror.

"Huh? You won't have dinner with me again tonight?"
To be continued...