Returning to Suiye City, Li Ye immediately summoned senior officials to discuss matters and reported to them the results of his trip to Bukhanna.
Only then did everyone realize that there were still a large number of war dividends that had not been realized. No wonder the governor was not worried at all.
Especially when everyone heard that a large amount of gold and silver was about to arrive, they were all overjoyed. The Governor's Mansion had begun to operate normally, but the biggest problem now was that there was no money and no fiscal and tax revenue.
A large amount of military salary has to be paid every month, and the entire Governor's Mansion only has a few thousand dollars left, which is basically just a drop in salary. It is difficult for a clever woman to make a living without rice, and everyone is eagerly counting on Governor Li Ye!
"The gold and silver brought by Bukhan can only last for a few months. We must establish long-term financial resources, and maintaining this financial resource is the most important thing for our governor's office. The barbarians in the river do not need our management. Broken Ye Ji
For a thousand Han households, it is enough to build a county government office, so everyone must have a unified understanding and not put the cart before the horse."
Li Ye's words mean the same thing, everyone should focus on making money and forget about other things for the time being.
Xie Jin, the chief historian, said: "When the governor was away, we also discussed that we have tens of thousands of camels. We can go to the Central Plains every year to buy silk, porcelain and tea from the court, and transport the broken leaves to sell to the Hu people.
We can make a profit of at least 200,000 gold, but we first need capital, and this gold and silver came at just the right time to solve the capital problem."
Li Ye nodded, "Trade is one of my three strategies. It's mid-June now. It's time to go back. Five thousand camels are enough. There's no need to buy any goods to bring back. Gold and silver are the best goods."
, In addition, the gems of broken leaves are very cheap, you can buy some more gems, but you need an official to follow the camel team back."
I had just been here a few months and had to go back again. Thinking about the hardships of the long journey, everyone's eyes showed fear.
At this time, Yang Shaohua, the military and financial envoy of Cang Cao, raised his hand and said: "This is a matter within your humble duty. Please go back to your humble duty!"
Li Ye said happily: "Thank you for your hard work, Yang joined the army. I will remember your first contribution this time!"
The first achievement is an exceptional promotion, which means promotion for officials and full-time promotion for staff officers like Yang Shaohua.
Going for three months on one trip and another three months on the way back, half a year spent on the road, is not something ordinary people can bear. No one has any objections to Yang Shaohua's first achievement.
Chief Shi Xie Jin asked with a smile: "I wonder what the governor's other two strategies are for managing finances?"
"The other two strategies, one is to mine and smelt silver, and the other is to collect tribute from the small countries in the river, plus the previous trade, if the three strategies are implemented at the same time, our finances will be worry-free."
Sima Zhonghui said with some worry: "I'm afraid the court won't accept the tribute from small countries?"
Small countries had to pay tribute to the Tang Dynasty every year, usually to the imperial court. Li Ye was going to intercept it directly, so it was normal for the officials to be worried.
Li Ye sneered and said: "Then the imperial court will persuade Anbeiting to give us the tax!"
Sogdian merchants had to pay taxes when going to Chang'an. There were both entry taxes and exit taxes. They were usually paid to Anxi and Beiting. This was regarded as the court's support for Anxi and Beiting. However, when the Hezhong Governor's Office was established, this tax should be paid.
To whom, the court did not coordinate.
Of course, Li Ye could completely intercept the entry tax, but this would definitely offend Anxi and Beiting. Li Ye did not want to do such an offending thing for the time being.
If he can't intercept taxes, he will intercept tributes. As long as countries pay him protection fees, there is no need to go to the court to pay tribute.
The nine Sogdian countries plus the Tocharian countries, as well as Bakhna, Gelulu, etc., are dozens of small countries. They can collect an annual protection fee of 200,000 to 300,000 guan. With mining and trade, they are not only self-sufficient.
, there will be a financial surplus, and everyone’s life will be better.
Li Ye explained the various incomes to the officials in detail. Although it was a bit risky, thinking that it would be beneficial to him and the risk would be borne by the governor, everyone no longer objected.
At this time, Li Ye smiled lightly and said: "Actually, we will still have a large war dividend, which is enough for our military expenditure for a year."
Li Ye immediately arranged for Qiu Xuan to be in charge of mining matters, while Qiu Xuan was in charge of intelligence. However, there was no need for intelligence at the moment. Making money was the first priority.
Early the next morning, Qiu Xuan went to the mine with a hundred soldiers and a dozen prospecting craftsmen, and hundreds of camels also went with a large amount of supplies.
Previously, Gao Xianzhi was a private miner. He was afraid that his actions would be too big and would be discovered by the supervisors, so he only dared to secretly open a small mine on a small scale.
But Li Ye had no such worries. He planned to recruit thousands of miners from the Tuqishi tribe and start mining with great fanfare.
Which Jiedu in the Tang Dynasty did not mine? The imperial court could not afford so much military expenditure, so it could only give various economic powers to each Jiedu, and mining rights were only one of them.
Time gradually came to July. On this morning, a team of several hundred people came to Suiye City. The person guarding this army was none other than Khorasan Governor Ziad.
Caliph Abbas was going all out to fight against the army of Rahman in the West and had no time to pay attention to the area in the river. When he received a message from the man of Bukhan, he suddenly remembered that there were tens of thousands of prisoners of war in the area in the river.
Abbas, who was facing a very tight supply of troops, was overjoyed and immediately ordered Ziyad to go to Suiye to negotiate and redeem 30,000 prisoners of war.
The big bonus of the war that Li Ye mentioned was the ransom for prisoners of war. Dashi was eager to redeem the prisoners of war, so how could he let go of this opportunity?
Sima Zhonghui and Fa Cao's military officer Li Deng went to Rehai to greet the Dashi envoy. This was the first time for Ziad to come to Suiye. He also knew that this was the home base of the Tang army in the river. He was full of interest and curiosity about everything.
“This river valley is really nice!”
Ziad sincerely praised the Chu River Valley, which is more than 100 miles long. "It has a vast territory, fertile land, and sufficient water resources. It is indeed a good place for the development of agriculture, and there are endless forests as far as the eye can see."
Fa Cao participated in the military affairs. Li Deng was a local Han in Suiye and could speak fluent Sogdian. Suiye was a city of mixed ethnic groups. The biggest advantage was that everyone could speak several languages, including the Hu people here.
speak Chinese.
Li Deng translated Ziad's praise to Zhong Hui. Zhong Hui nodded and said with a smile: "We are too far away from the Central Plains, and the food from the Central Plains cannot come through, so we have to rely on ourselves!"
Li Deng translated, and Ziad smiled and said: "But I heard that you also buy wheat from the river, and even the wheat from Dashi is sold to you. How many troops do you need to support?"
Zhong Hui pretended to sigh and said: "We have to support an army of 30,000 people, and the farmland with broken leaves is not enough. We can only buy food from the river to supplement it."
Ziad asked casually, and Zhong Hui answered casually, which seemed natural. In fact, one was testing the number of Tang troops, and the other was deliberately exaggerating the number of troops. Both sides were playing tricks.
Ziad heard that the opponent had an army of 30,000, and was secretly surprised. His army in Mulu was less than 10,000, and the rest of the army had been transferred to Egypt. If the Tang army suddenly launched an offensive against Khorasan, how could he resist it?
Since Li Ye was able to send a message to the Caliph through the Chamber of Commerce, he would also be able to obtain information about Mulu through the Chamber of Commerce. What did Li Ye mean when he asked for negotiation now? Was it to be polite before fighting?
Ziad suddenly felt that he was very passive. The other party had their information. In contrast, he knew nothing about Suiye.
Ziad secretly made up his mind, 'If a peace agreement is really reached this time, Dashi must build a chamber of commerce in Suiye!'
In fact, Ziad was overthinking, and Li Ye also didn't know the situation in Khorasan. He was now facing the westward expansion of the Tubo people, and he couldn't take care of the black food for the time being.
Ziad moved into the post house and his army was stationed outside the city.
Li Ye immediately asked Zhong Hui to learn some information in advance.
"He was testing me all the way!"
Zhong Hui smiled and said: "He is very concerned about Sui Ye's Tang army strength. It can be seen that he is quite nervous."
"What did Zhong Sima say?" Li Ye asked.
"I told him that there were 30,000 Tang troops in the river, so food was in short supply. It seemed that he believed it."
Dugu Ying next to him smiled and guessed: "Is he afraid that we will use negotiations as an excuse to launch an offensive against Dashi?"
Li Ye nodded, "There is a possibility that Ziad came to Suiye to negotiate in person. This is actually a sign of his lack of confidence. Otherwise, the two parties could agree on an intermediate place for negotiation, such as Tuozhi City in Shiguo. This would be more equitable.
Yes, fair negotiation, and the fact that he has deigned to come to negotiate on our territory now can only mean one thing: he lacks confidence, and at the same time, he wants something from us."
Chief Shi Xie Jin hesitated and said: "Is it because they are in urgent need of prisoners of war?"
Li Ye sneered and said: "That must be the case. I heard King Murdo say that the black-clad Dashi would be unfavorable in the war west of Egypt. Khorasan has always been the source of Dashi's troops. Mulu should have no army, so they just
There is an urgent need to bring back the prisoners of war."
"How will the Governor prepare to negotiate tomorrow?"
Li Ye smiled lightly and said: "I will give him a very fair price!"