"Long live the Jizhou army, long live the Jizhou army!"
Immediately, the slogans sounded again. At this time, everyone seemed to have forgotten that Tang Ao was just a prince and could not use long live slogans. But at this time, who cares so much? It was King Ji who gave them everything and gave them everything. Due respect and status. At this moment, they are just the soldiers of King Ji. If anyone dares to question this, they will take up the weapons in their hands to fight against him until death.
The awards ceremony was finally over. In exchange, all the soldiers' voices were hoarse, but in the following training, they worked harder and made more progress, and outstanding performers emerged one after another. It seemed that the hard training before was not enough. So tired, because at this moment, everyone's heart is full of beautiful longings and hopes for the future.
After the meeting, Tang Ao told the generals that he declined the invitation to inspect each battalion. He still has a lot of things to do. It took a long time to leave Jizhou this time, and there were a lot of things piled up, just like in In Zhizhou Mansion, there was someone Tang Ao had to meet.
Zhou Xuan, the Minister of the Department of Household Affairs, came to Jizhou to collect grain as the representative of Emperor Qianwen. He has been here for more than half a month.
Tang Ao did not return to Jicheng before, and both Zeng Tong and Han Ce had reasons to continue to delay it. Now that Tang Ao is back, he must be given an explanation.
Tang Ao showed enough respect for this former colleague, and even a colleague he had actively recommended. Not only did he show up to meet him after the awards ceremony, but he also brought Zeng Tong, the prefect of the state, to meet him.
It is said that Zhou Xuan is just the Minister of the Ministry of Finance, and Zeng Tong has given enough face by talking to him. Perhaps Tang Ao will be asked to come forward only when the Minister of the Ministry of Finance comes in person. It is just considering that the other party is the eldest princess, and he has been in the past. He was also very cooperative with his work. More importantly, Tang Ao also wanted to know about the current situation of Daqian from his mouth, so he took this trip in person.
"I have met His Highness Prince Ji." When he saw Tang Ao, who was wearing a golden dragon robe, Zhou Xuan quickly stood up to greet him. It could be seen that his posture was very low.
"You're welcome, Minister Zhou, please take a seat." Tang Ao still had a warm smile on his face and sat down on the main seat.
Zeng Tong then sat down and slowly began to have a serious face, preparing to bargain with Zhou Xuanlai, as if he wanted to do business in a business-like manner.
The reason why we say we are ready to bargain is that this is also a common practice. Under the autonomy of each vassal king, there is a lack of due respect for the Daqian. Many times when the Daqian collects taxes from them, they will bargain. It's nothing more than complaining and trying to get more benefits by paying less.
Just when Zeng Tong had already set up his stance and was about to have a good talk with Zhou Xuan and strive for more benefits, Tang Ao spoke directly, "Okay, we are all old acquaintances, there is no need to do that. .Tell me, how much can we pay to get Minister Zhou to do the job this time."
Tang Ao spoke first, which made all Zeng Tong's preparations useless, and also meant that Jizhou would probably have to pay more in the future. But Zeng Tong didn't say much, firstly to prove his trust in Tang Ao. He was proud of his respect, and secondly, he was really happy in his heart. This was enough to prove that his master was a nostalgic person, and there would be no disadvantage in following such a master.
Zhou Xuan did not expect that Tang Ao would do something like this, which made it impossible for him to say the words he had prepared. He was a little moved in his heart, knowing that Tang Ao was giving him face, so he immediately reported his bottom line, "
King Ji, the fact that Jizhou has harvested one million shi of grain has been informed by the Emperor's Guards and has been reported to Daliang City. This time, we have to bring 200,000 shi back. This is the bottom line. As for the silver, we don't need it."
Zhou Xuan quoted the base price very knowingly, and after listening to Tang Ao's ears, he nodded. Previously, Zhou Xuan's request was a minimum of 300,000 shi of food, and at the same time, he had to bring back 5 million taels of silver. Now he just asked
The price dropped to 200,000 dan, and he took the initiative to take the silver. This must be the other party's bottom line.
"In this way, I can give you money. Five million taels will not be less than a copper, and the food will be one hundred thousand shi." Tang Ao thought for a while and made the final decision.
Normally, five million taels of silver would be more than enough to buy 100,000 shi of grain, but Tang Ao still made this choice because he wanted to give Zhou Xuan face. He was afraid that it would not be good for him to go back with only 200,000 shi of grain.
Crossover. Of course, there is another consideration. With iodized salt, soap, perfume, glass, cement, rubber and other items, it is not difficult for Tang Ao to get more money. On the contrary, it is much easier. However, because of the geographical environment, food
For this reason, it has become a big problem to purchase from outside.
Then again, in troubled times, food is much more valuable than silver. Tang Ao made such a choice, which was to tell Emperor Qianwen, and even everyone, that he was short of food. Such a
The feudal king who is short of food must also make other people less vigilant. This is the most important reason.
Zhou Ding did not expect that Tang Ao would make such a choice. In this way, it would be easier for him to do business, and it would even be a great achievement. After all, compared to other vassal kings, they usually paid tribute to Da Gan, either in money or in grain.
, rarely given at the same time. This means that Tang Ao helped him solve a big problem, so what is there to be dissatisfied about? He immediately stood up, bowed deeply to Tang Ao and said, "Zhou Xuan thanked His Highness Prince Ji.
.”
"Haha, it's easy to talk. Now that we've finished talking about the business, I wonder if Zhou Shilang can tell me what's going on with Da Gan now?"
"As you wish." Zhou Xuan agreed without any hesitation. For him, this was an opportunity to make a good sale. Besides, he really thought that if he didn't say it, Tang Ao wouldn't know it with his methods.
? I’m afraid he will also know the things in Daliang City, and he will know more.
Zhou Xuan agreed and immediately gave a detailed explanation of what he knew. According to him, the political situation in Daliang City now is indeed somewhat different from when Tang Ao left.
After the King of Nan Wu semi-openly supported Yuan Yi, the second prince of Qi, the emperor was angry and implicated the fifth prince Tang Jun. As a result, his right servant She Bailigui and his family were in trouble. First, many courtiers
He was arrested. Although the Baili clan members later spent a lot of money to rescue Baili Gui and others from prison, they are now just under house arrest. There are soldiers watching outside the house. They live a free life.
was constrained.
After the fall of the Baili family, many important positions became vacant, and various forces began to snatch them. Especially the forces of Prince Qing were the most aggressive.
The third prince, King Xiang, ran away, the fourth prince, Tang Ao, was enfeoffed to Jizhou, and the fifth prince also fell, leaving King Qing without any decent opponent. Although he was not a prince, he looked like a prince, and he quickly gathered a group of courtiers. , causing trouble in the DPRK.
Emperor Qianwen's main goal was to attack Suzhou. Everything was going smoothly at first. Who would have thought that somehow Yuan Zhong, the crown prince of Prince Qi of Suzhou, would possess Tianlei, and when he was defending the city, he threw it into the attacking Qian army, causing It caused great damage and severely dealt a blow to the cadres who attacked the city. It was later found out that some ministers of the Ministry of Industry could not stand Yuan Zhong's strong bribery, so they secretly sold some sky mines, and then they were cracked by craftsmen.
After hearing about this, Emperor Qianwen was furious. He immediately executed a group of ministers and dismissed some officials. Even Mingshan, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, was devastated and stayed at home.
Although the attack on Suzhou did not go well, Emperor Qianwen obviously did not give up the idea and began to recruit troops continuously. After investing a lot of money, the strength of Qian's army was greatly increased. The number of recruits in Daliang City alone exceeded 100,000. .Even though this number is still increasing.
A large amount of gold and silver was invested, so that the silver reserves in the national treasury began to visibly decrease. Emperor Qianwen gave an order to increase the commercial tax by another 20% on the original basis. At the same time, he also severely cracked down on non-commercial members. This would force many merchants in Daliang City to leave and look for other places.
Emperor Qianwen changed his approach of conquering people with virtue and teaching people with culture. The large-scale conscription has aroused the dissatisfaction of the vassal kings and made them feel threatened, making it more difficult to collect taxes from the vassal kings' areas this year. , no one knows how the situation will change if this continues.
Zhou Xuan told everything he knew in a nutshell. This was to thank Tang Ao for his support in his work. It is said that Tang Ao only lives in Jizhou, and even if he pays taxes, he will not need 500 yuan at all. Wanliang is like other vassal kings. Each of them occupies several states, but at most it is only given this number.
Tang Ao supported his work in this way, so of course he would reciprocate the favor and say whatever he wanted.
"Okay, Sir Zhou, thank you for your hard work. Let's go back to the inn to rest. Someone will bring food and money soon. For your safety, I will send people to protect the road all the way to the outside of Daliang City." Tang Aohe laughed. After getting out of his body, Zhou Xuan was sent away.
When this person disappeared from the hall, Han Ce also walked out from behind the screen. Apparently, he had also heard clearly the conversation just now. It was precisely because he heard it all that he couldn't help but sigh. He said "It's been a troubled year."
"Yes, I didn't expect that in just over a year, Daliang City would become what it is now." Zeng Tong also said with emotion.
Seeing the two think tanks sighing and sighing, Tang Ao laughed and said: "Okay, gentlemen, we can't control the affairs of Daliang City, and we can't control them. Let's talk about the things in front of us. These days I'm not in the city, is there anything important that needs to be done?"