At noon, Chen Qing invited Zhang Miao and Jiang Yan to go to the teahouse to drink tea first. Zhao Kai had something to do at home and went home.
The three of them sat down in the elegant room. Zhang Miao asked a little strangely: "Isn't this the Yi'an Teahouse before? How did it become the Qing'an Teahouse?"
Jiang Yanxian smiled and said: "The teahouse was sold last year, and Mr. Yi An is now engaged in real estate business. In just two years, she owns ten pieces of land, four of which are shops in prime locations. Isn't that amazing!"
Zhang Miao doesn't care how much land Li Qingzhao owns. He only cares about whether the teahouse can still drink Fengcha from the past. "Is Fengcha still available?"
"Of course, why don't you look at who the current proprietor is?"
Zhang Miao thought of the name of the current teahouse, suddenly realized, and said with a smile: "His Highness bought the teahouse?"
Chen Qing smiled and said, "My wife bought the teahouse and it has nothing to do with me!"
Chen Qing immediately ordered three simple meals and a pot of Feng tea.
Of course, teahouses also provide lunch, but there are not as many options as restaurants, and there is no wine. It is a bowl of rice, a main dish, two or three dishes of side dishes, and a bowl of soup. It is relatively simple, so it is called simple food.
Its characteristics are that it is fast, the food is served quickly, and the meal is fast. It takes at least half an hour to have lunch in a restaurant, but it can be solved in a quarter of an hour here, and then you can drink tea and chat. This is very suitable for officials and civil servants who work in government offices.
, business is booming.
Soon, several similar teahouses opened in the surrounding area, and gradually began to be stratified. The guests who came to Qing'an Teahouse were basically high-ranking officials. The prices here were relatively expensive, and even the lower-level civil servants could not afford it, especially the tribute Feng tea.
The pot costs hundreds of dollars, which is really not something ordinary people can afford.
The three of them drank tea, and Chen Qing said slowly: "Let me tell you some news first. The war on the grassland is over. The Mengwu tribe was defeated and accepted the canonization of the Jin Kingdom. This means that the main force of the Jin Kingdom can return to the Central Plains.
The country's military resources will also expand. In addition, the grassland nomadic tribes will also cooperate with the Jin Kingdom in fighting, going south from the direction of Datong Prefecture, and even attacking Lingxia Road. Therefore, I am also preparing to expand the army by 100,000, to at least 3 million more a year.
It’s too late to mint money for the entire military salary, so I plan to issue Huizi.”
"But Your Highness."
Jiang Yanxian worried: "Huizi will cause prices to skyrocket, and it will also be imitated by the court to plunder our wealth."
"I'm not worried about the sharp rise in prices. What I'm worried about is counterfeiting by the imperial court. So I'm considering issuing Huizi worth more than a thousand guan, with real-name Huizi, restricting regional use, and trading in counters. This way I can prevent the imperial court from counterfeiting and reduce the number of counterfeitings.
The circulation of large quantities of copper coins has made the people's hands abundant with copper coins, but to prevent rising prices, the key is to have sufficient goods and stable rice prices. Strengthening the transportation and circulation of goods is crucial."
Chen Qing went around in circles, and Jiang Yanxian and Zhang Miao finally understood that Chen Qing was urgent for several large transit warehouse groups to transport materials abundantly produced in various places to Guanzhong, and even materials from overseas were shipped in large quantities.
Zhang Miao nodded, "I understand. I will finish the matters at hand this afternoon and start setting up a temporary official office tomorrow. I will rush to Shangluo and Xiangyang in three days. In addition, I will send an inspection team to Hengyang first."
"
Chen Qing smiled slightly and said: "When Counselor Zhang returns in triumph, I will treat Counselor Zhang to eat the freshest pumpkins and drink corn and pumpkin porridge that I made myself."
In Lin'an, Hu Yun and Zhao Yan, the Minister of Rites, conducted two more rounds of negotiations. This time, Zhao Gou learned his lesson and stopped making unrealistic demands, and the two sides negotiated relatively smoothly.
In the Imperial Study Room, Emperor Zhao Gou listened to the reports from Xu Xiantu and Zhao Yan, while looking at the map on the table.
Most of the consensus between the two parties has been reached. The imperial court recognized that Jinghu South Road was merged into the jurisdiction of the Sichuan-Shaanxi Xuanfu Envoy, and also recognized that the agreement signed the year before last to exchange six states for the late emperor's declaration was valid. In return, the Western Army agreed that Bianliang would nominally belong to the imperial court. In addition,
, hand over the actual control of the palace, ancestral temple, altar and imperial mausoleum to the Lin'an court, and the court can send people to manage it.
This made Zhao Gou quite satisfied, but the other party's conditions were rather harsh. They were not allowed to garrison troops and were only allowed to hire local martial arts schools as guards. This eliminated Zhao Gou's previous idea of using soldiers to pretend to be samurai.
Xu Xiantu suggested: "Your Majesty, we can actually open a martial arts gym in Bianliang and arrange soldiers to be students. This is also a flexible method."
Zhao Gou shook his head, "This kind of little trick can't be put on the table. Since the palaces, royal mausoleums and other places are under my actual control, of course I have to send troops to protect me. Only when my troops are stationed can it be called actual control. The number of people can be smaller, but it must be
There must be an army.”
Zhao Yan sighed and said: "It is not impossible for Your Majesty to station troops, but he has made concessions in other aspects, such as Xiangzhou. The other party insists on taking actual control of Xiangzhou."
Zhao Gou thought for a moment and asked Xu Xiantu: "What does Mr. Xu think?"
"Weichen believes that Xiangyang has actually been annexed by Chen Qing, and he has good reasons. It is not that he sent troops to occupy, but that the garrison surrendered. Weichen feels that if we continue to struggle with Xiangzhou, it will be the same as Jiangling Prefecture and Ezhou.
What's going on? Not only can't we get back Xiangzhou, but we can't get Bianliang either. Your Majesty, why don't you let go of Xiangzhou and fight for the right to garrison Bianliang, and at the same time fight for some rights and interests in other areas, such as Fangzhou, Jingmen Army, and Guanghua Army.
land."
Fangzhou, Jingmen Army and Guanghua Army are currently in a gray area. What is a gray area? That is, they are actually controlled by the Western Army, but the officials have not changed. They are still officials appointed by the imperial court. So they belong to the Western Army after all.
, it’s hard to say whether it still belongs to the imperial court, so it’s called a gray area.
For example, the Guanghua Army is located between Dengzhou and Xiangyang. Needless to say, it must be actually controlled by the Western Army. There is also Fangzhou, which is cut off by Xiangzhou and is surrounded by Western Army land, so it is also controlled by the Western Army.
The Jingmen Army was located between Jiangling Mansion and Xiangzhou and was actually controlled by the Western Army. It was impossible for the imperial army to pass through these three places, but the imperial court could still intervene in the three states, such as appointing and removing officials.
"Your Majesty, if we let go of Xiangyang, at least Fangzhou, Jingmen Army and Guanghua Army can gain certain control, and there will be more opportunities in Bianliang."
Zhao Gou pondered for a long time. In fact, Xu Xiantu was right. If he continued to struggle, he would make the same mistake again.
Zhao Gou was really helpless and could only nod his head, "Yes, I can give up Xiangzhou, but you must get the maximum rights for me."
After the emperor agreed to give up Xiangzhou, the subsequent negotiations became much easier. Hu Yun immediately agreed to the other party to garrison troops in the palace, altar, ancestral temple and imperial mausoleum, but the total number of troops must not exceed one thousand people. In addition, these garrison soldiers must
Complying with the Bianliang Law, there is no immunity from crime. Once a crime is committed, it must be handed over to the government for strict investigation.
In addition, regarding Fangzhou, Guanghua Army and Jingmen Army, Hu Yun did not make too many concessions. After all, these three areas were already under actual control of the Western Army. They were completely within the territory of the Western Army. In the end, the two parties reached an agreement.
In the Sichuan Road model at that time, these three states belonged to the imperial court in name, and the imperial court could appoint and remove state officials, while county officials were appointed and dismissed by Jingzhao.
In Suizhou, Yingzhou, Fuzhou and Hanyang, the two sides also reached an agreement that these four states belong to the imperial court, and the appointment and dismissal of officials and tax revenue belong to the imperial court. However, in order to avoid conflicts between the two parties, the imperial court will not station troops in these four states. Hu
Yun also promised that the Western Army would not enter these four state capitals.
In addition, the imperial court withdrew its troops from Suzhou and Pizhou and restored the borders before the imperial expedition to the north. Emperor Zhao Gou readily agreed to this point. These two states are both yellow flood areas, with poor people's livelihood, sparse population, almost no tax revenue, and only a large number of
financial burden.
After nearly half a year of back-and-forth, the two sides finally reached an agreement. The imperial court nominally regained Bianliang, Tokyo, renamed it Beidu, and appointed Privy Councilor Li Hui to concurrently serve as Beidu's stay.
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[I am sorting out my thoughts today, there are only two updates, please forgive me!]