Ren Liang listened to the shouting behind him and secretly praised Chao Yong for his skill. An unexpected incident made Chao Yong receive a lot of goods. ※※

After today, the northwest will spread the story of the prince loving the people.

The matter that Chao Yong agreed to had almost no impact on the overall situation. Xixia launched a 400,000 army invasion, and I am afraid that all the salt-makers would go on the expedition. Even if Xixia was still making salt, the border troops must be on high alert, and salt vendors could not transport much salt.

How could such a prince be a simple warrior if he exchanged something irrelevant to the hearts of the people? Of course, it is also possible that the prince is just out of love for the people. If this is the case, it would be even more of a blessing for the people in the world.

Although the people behind didn't know what happened, they heard everyone in front of them shouting, and they all shouted.

Only when I arrived at the government office was purified.

Ren Liang had already prepared a banquet in the side hall, so he invited the prince to take his seat.

After drinking and eating, Ren Liangcai asked the prince to go to the lobby to serve tea.

Chao Yong and Ren Liang exchanged a few greetings and said, "Mr. Ren has worked as a transshipment commander in Shaanxi before. I believe he is very familiar with this matter of Qingyan. Please ask Mr. Ren to solve my doubts."

Ren Liang said: "Green salt is produced in Yanzhou and Lingzhou in Xixia. Because it is green in color, it is called green salt. The green salt is pure and beautiful in quality. In addition, the Western Xia produces green salt, so the price is extremely low. Therefore, the people in the northwest are more willing to use green salt. If the imperial court had not prohibited the sale of green salt, the salt salt in Hedong Jiechi would probably not be sold at a pound in the northwest.

Because the production of green salt in Xixia is very large, once it is allowed to trade freely, Xixia can obtain a lot of money. Therefore, during the reign of Emperor Taizong of Song, it was prohibited to sell Xixia green salt. In severe cases, those who sell green salt in private were executed. However, because there were many foreigners in Shaanxi, they were poorer and relatively salt-relieving. They prefer cheap and delicious green salt. Therefore, many things happened, and many foreigners who surrendered to the Song Dynasty rebelled against Xixia, so the ban was removed several times.

After Li Yuanhao founded the country, Sanchuankou, Haoshuichuan, Dingchuan Village defeated the Song army and forced the Song Dynasty to negotiate peace. In Li Yuanhao's letter of state, the Song Dynasty allowed the Western Xia to sell 100,000 stones of green salt to the Song Dynasty every year. However, Ouyang Xiu, Bao Zheng and others believed that this ban could not be issued, so Song Shenzong only agreed to a few cases that could quantitatively trade green salt. His attitude towards green salt was still mainly banned."

When Chao Yong heard this, he couldn't help but shake his head and said, "They were afraid that money would flow into Xixia, but they agreed to give Xixia annual monies. Isn't this self-deception?"

Ren Liang was not good at explaining to the Song Dynasty, so he could only continue: "After Emperor Shenzong of Song Dynasty, the Song Dynasty's policy toward the Western Xia Dynasty did not change much. Even though Tong Guan had continuously used troops to the Western Xia a few years ago, the court still symbolically traded Qingyan."

Chao Yongqi said: "What's wrong with that man saying that a lot of private sales of green salt?"

"In the early years, most of the illegal merchants who sold green salt privately were illegal businessmen. Because the Western Xia Qing salt is low and has good quality, so although the court repeatedly urged the orders, the phenomenon of private sales was still relatively serious. In the past two years, some generals under Tong Guan were selling, so the problem of private sales of green salt became more and more serious."

Afterwards, Ren Liang shook his head helplessly.

Chao Yong frowned and said, "Didn't Tong Guan always think about pacifying Xixia? How could he let his subordinates invest in the enemy?"

Ren Liang said: "In the first year of Xuanhe, Tong Guan asked Liu Fa to send troops to attack Lingzhou, the hinterland of Xixia, but Liu Fa was defeated. He lost 100,000 troops. Liu Fa died in a natural god Liu Fa passed away. Tong Guan knew that he could not destroy Xixia and no longer used troops to Xixia. Instead, he wanted to regain the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun and be the first eunuch prince. The worms under his command also began to sell green salt to make profits."

“No one reported it?”

Ren Liang said: "This matter was acquiesced by the Song Dynasty. The Song Dynasty's monarchs and ministers were all focused on planning the joint efforts of the Jin Dynasty to attack Liao. In recent years, the national treasury savings were consumed by the construction of palaces. In order not to delay the major incident of the joint efforts of the Jin Dynasty to attack Liao, the Song Dynasty has been plundering the people in the past two years and gathering military expenses to attack Liao. The hundreds of thousands of Western troops consumed 20 to 30 million jin a year. The Song Dynasty hoped that the Western troops could solve the problem of money and food by themselves."

Chao Yong stared and said, "The Western Army consumes 20 to 30 million jin a year?"

After the Daliang destroyed the Song Dynasty, the income from the family of treacherous ministers such as Cai Jing was far greater than Su Yuanjing's original prediction. The more than 50 million yuan of gold, silver and cash were collected, and there were countless luxury houses, land and valuables.

Chao Yong originally thought that he could last for two or three years with this money, but he didn't expect that the Northwest would be so expensive.

Ren Liang nodded and said, "There are about 300,000 imperial guards in the northwest, and the annual salary is 5 million guan. The consumption of transporting grain from the Central Plains to the northwest is large. The annual cost of purchasing military rations exceeds 10 million guan. The military armor must be repaired, which will not be less than 25 million guan. The Song Dynasty's taxes were spent on the Sixth Road in Shaanxi."

Chao Yong did not expect that he could get the northwest and accommodated the most combative Western army of the Song Dynasty, but he also found a wealthy man to eat.

But this is a headache for the prime ministers, so let's leave it to them.

Chao Yong couldn't think of any reason, so he stopped considering this issue and said instead: "Liu Fa is known as a natural god general?"

Ren Liang nodded and said, "Yeah, but this title is not what he calls himself, but what King Chage of the Western Xia and Jin Dynasty said, and it was circulated between the two countries. Liu Fa led troops to fight, with more victory than defeat, defeated King Chage of the Western Xia and Jin Dynasty twice, making Chage lament that Liu Fa was born as a god general, and when the two armies fought, they had to avoid Liu Fa's army. He became famous before the old Zong Jinglei. In those years, the people of Xixia were frightened. Unfortunately, in the first year of Xuanhe, Tong Guan underestimated the enemy and forced Liu Fa to lead his troops deep into the hinterland of Xixia, but unfortunately he was defeated. Otherwise, General Liu Fa and the old Zong Jinglei were in charge of the northwest, and Xixia might not dare to invade."

Chao Yong naturally did not believe that if two people were in charge, Xixia would not invade. However, being able to get Ren Liang's evaluation also shows Liu Fa's reputation.

"Mr. Ren has been in Shaanxi for many years and must have known a lot about the Northwest. I wonder what Mr. Ren has taught me?"

Ren Liang thought for a while and said, "Since the prince asked, I would dare to say a few words. If there is anything wrong, please forgive me."

Chao Yong smiled and said, "It's okay to say Ren Gong, so there's no need to avoid it. I'm from a turbulent family, so everyone just keeps going."

"When talking about Shaanxi, we have to talk about the foreign people. After the decline of the Tang Dynasty, Shaanxi was controlled by Tubo, and the Han people in the territory were transformed into Tubo, forming tribes. It was not until the Song Dynasty captured Shaanxi that these tribes began to be transformed into sinicization again. In fact, the six routes of Shaanxi could be completely controlled by the Song Dynasty, namely the Yongxing Army, the Fuyan Road, the Huanqing Road, the Jingyuan Road, and the Qinfeng Road. Xihe Road was originally controlled by Qingtang Qiang. Although during the Xining period, Wang Shao captured Xi, Min, and Taojizhou, but it took only more than ten years to capture Qingtang City. Therefore, many places on Xihe Road were still under many control. Therefore, many places on Xihe Road were still under many control.

The foreign tribes controlled the city, and the Song Dynasty could control the city. Xixia did not have to send troops to attack the Xihe Road. As long as it provoked the surrounding tribes, it would cause chaos in Xihe Road. In particular, there was a Tubo prince Yima Party who was alive. This person was the prince of Qingtang Qiang. Qingtang Qiang was destroyed for more than ten years and was still very prestigious among the Tubo tribes. If this person took the opportunity to revive, it would probably not be able to make any mistakes in Xixia. When Qingtang Qiang occupied the Huangshui River Basin, it was very prosperous on the Silk Road, which could once affect the strategic balance between the Song Dynasty and the Western Xia."

Chao Yong said in surprise: "In this way, I'm afraid this Yima Party will not miss the opportunity to restore the country."

Ren Liang nodded and said, "I'm afraid this is the case, but the Yima Party is better than allowing Xixia to seize the Hehuang area."

"What Ren Gong said is that he is better than Xixia than fatter. Ren Gong continues."

"Along with the other five routes, during the reign of Emperor Renzong of Song, Shaanxi was divided into four routes of Qinfeng, Jingyuan, Huanqing and Fuyan. It was said that it was to strengthen defense, but in fact it was not without the intention of guarding the generals. After all, Shaanxi stationed hundreds of thousands of troops, and the Song Dynasty was most afraid of the military power of military generals and divided them into four routes. The Song Dynasty was relieved. However, many things happened to the four routes, and this incident probably did more harm than good. The tribes of these four routes were mostly Han people who became Tubo, and they basically restored their lives in the Han people in recent years. However, a few real foreign tribes were still unruly, especially in places close to Xixia, when tribes defected from Xixia. When Xiaguan was the deputy envoy of Shaanxi Transportation, foreigner Li Eduo led more than 10,000 people to defect."

Chao Yong said: "Their defection is probably still a problem with the Song Dynasty?"

Ren Liang nodded and said, "What the prince said is that it is mostly because the court has heavy taxes and their lives are unsustainable, or border officials bullied foreign tribes, causing them to defect. Another is the problem of national defense strategy. In order to resist the invasion of Western Xia, the Song Dynasty built a large number of fortresses. Building a fortress required a lot of wood, and many foreigners felt that the mountains and trees were all spiritual, and many foreigners were dissatisfied with the large-scale cut of mountains and forests. In addition, some border officials privately hired people to cut down large quantities of trees, build trees into rows, and sell them to the mainland for profit. A few years ago, foreigners killed woodcutters rebelled. Some tribes were also rebelled because of the problem of salt wells. Many foreign tribes had salt wells, but the Song Dynasty was controlled. Those tribes were forced to give out salt wells, so they were naturally dissatisfied."

This is also considered to be different in beliefs. The Han people may even mock other people for being ignorant, so how can trees have spirits?

Chao Yong thought for a while and said, "The problem of taxes in the court is easy to solve. Now, I am exempted from all the harsh taxes, and only commercial taxes are left. The people are under great burden. Building a fort is a military matter, so I can make the decision to stop. However, the issue of Yanjing involves the finances of the court, and the court needs to discuss it."

Ren Liang nodded and said, "The court probably disagrees with handing over the salt well to the foreigners. The quality of Rong salt in the northwest is also very good, some of which are not even worse than that of green salt. Salt is also a major tax in the Song Dynasty. At most, it was as high as 40 million guan a year, and usually 20 to 30 million guan. Now the court has exempted from heavy taxes, so this salt profit is even more important."

Chao Yong said dumbfoundedly: "Is salt so profitable?"
Chapter completed!