It was impossible for Li Yuan to immediately agree to the Turkic envoy, so the envoy temporarily withdrew. Only Prince Jiancheng and five prime ministers were left in the side hall. They needed to discuss the trade terms proposed by the Turks. (.)
Li Yuan also knew that the conditions of the Turks were very harsh. What they wanted were pig iron, grain and other strategic materials. Once these strategies were exported to the Turks, they would inevitably make the Turks stronger quickly.
"I need to say something first. The alliance with the Turks is extremely important to me. This will restore the unfavorable situation faced by the Tang Dynasty against the Turks. More importantly, the Turks can cooperate with the Tang Dynasty to deal with the Sui Dynasty, so I need to discuss trade with everyone.
The question is, how can we maximize the benefits and minimize the disadvantages?"
"Father, please let me speak first."
Li Jiancheng stood up and bowed and saluted, "Father, the Turks are a land of tigers and wolves, and they have been the enemy of the Central Plains since ancient times. I am just worried that once the Turks become strong, their greed will not only be the Sui Dynasty, but also the barbarians."
The iron cavalry sweeping through the Central Plains will bring serious disasters to the Central Plains and reopen the era of Wuhu chaos in China. That is beyond our ability in the Tang Dynasty to save, and we will become sinners for the ages. I do not agree with the liberalization of trade with the Turks."
Li Yuan's face darkened, and he said with great displeasure: "Then you agree that the Tang Dynasty was destroyed by the Sui Dynasty? Do you agree that the Tang Dynasty will forever surrender to the Turks?"
Li Jiancheng felt the anger in his father's tone, and he fell silent. At this time, Pei Ji stood up and said, "Your Majesty, can you please allow me to speak further?"
"Pei Aiqing, please tell me!"
Pei Ji glanced at Li Jiancheng with the corner of his eye and said calmly: "Actually, some of the ideas of His Highness the Crown Prince are still not appropriate. The Turks have invaded the Central Plains more than once or twice. They did not occupy the same territory as they did during the Five Husties.
In the Central Plains, every time they plundered some supplies and the population returned to the grasslands. After all, their roots were in the grasslands and they would not invade the land of the Central Plains. The enemy of the Turks was the Sui Dynasty. The Battle of Fengzhou caused heavy casualties to the Turks. Both the Sui and Turks
We have forged an indissoluble feud. If the Turks attack the Sui Dynasty, we will benefit. If they defeat both sides, we will benefit even more. The Sui Dynasty will be weakened and the Turks will lose their claws. We can take advantage of the situation and annex the Sui Dynasty.
Conquering the Turks would have made great achievements for the Tang Dynasty, so the so-called trade was just a means to make the Sui and Turks fight."
Speaking of this, Pei Ji turned back to Li Jiancheng and smiled: "His Royal Highness, do you think the great enemy of the Tang Dynasty is the Sui Dynasty or the Turks?"
Li Jiancheng snorted heavily, "Fighting against the Sui Dynasty is just a domestic enemy. Funding the Turks is a national shame. Which is more important, doesn't Prime Minister Pei understand?"
Li Jiancheng's repeated objections made Li Yuan more and more angry, and Pei Ji's suggestion touched his heart. However, Li Jiancheng's righteous refutation dampened his mood.
Just as he was about to have an attack, Xiao Yu stood up and smoothed things over with a smile, "Your Majesty, I have a better plan that can get the best of both worlds."
The words 'best of both worlds' made Li Yuan Longyan delighted, and immediately nodded, "Xiao Aiqing, please tell me!"
Xiao Yu stepped forward and said with a smile: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is right. Contact with the Turks involves national interests and must not be taken carelessly. What Xiangguo Pei said also makes sense. We can use the Turks to weaken the Sui Dynasty and eliminate our strong enemy. So what should we do?
What’s the best of both worlds? I think the key lies in trade, so we might as well agree.”
Li Jiancheng's expression changed, and when he was about to speak, Xiao Yu waved his hand to stop him, "Your Highness, don't be impatient, I'll finish what I'm saying."
Li Jiancheng swallowed back what he was about to say and held it back. Xiao Yu said calmly: "Whether it is an alliance, a marriage or trade, these are normal exchanges between the two countries. There is nothing to criticize, and it is okay.
Removing some of the negative moral effects of the Tang Dynasty can be said to be a hundred benefits without any harm. The key lies in trade. We can sign a trade agreement with the Turks, but do not write any supplies in the agreement. We can verbally agree to supplies such as pig iron.
"
At this time, Li Jiancheng couldn't bear it anymore, but he also knew that he couldn't say anything anymore, so he winked at Chen Shuda.
Chen Shuda was a staunch supporter of Li Jiancheng. He understood the prince's look and said, "According to Xiao Xiangguo's words, I still agree to export pig iron to the Turks, but only secretly and not let the country know about it. Is this what you mean?"
Xiao Yu shook his head and sighed: "Why is Chen Xiangguo so impatient? Can you let me finish what I said?"
Li Yuan finally got angry. He glared at Li Jiancheng with great dissatisfaction and snorted heavily, "When Xiao Xiangguo is making his statement, no one is allowed to interrupt. Anyone who disobeys the order will be kicked out of the palace."
There was silence in the side hall, and Xiao Yu continued: "Our trade route with the Turks has basically been cut off. We can only take the Zhangye County road, go north from Zhangye to Yanze, and then enter the Turkic territory. I will calculate it this way.
One trip takes two to three months at the fastest, and only two or three trips a year. We can transport a small amount of pig iron at a time and more cloth and tea leaves. In this way, the pig iron transported in a year is not a concern, but this
Within a year, the situation may have changed drastically.”
At this time, everyone finally understood what Xiao Yu meant. He took advantage of the long distance and time delay to make the pig iron trade a mere name. However, the Tang Dynasty got what it wanted. Everyone did not dare to interrupt, and they all secretly praised it. Sure enough, it was
Good strategy.
Li Yuan also greatly agreed. He thought for a while and asked: "The Turks are not fools. If they can't get pig iron, how can they cooperate with us in attacking the Sui Dynasty? What should we do?"
Xiao Yu smiled slightly, "Your Majesty, in addition to official trade, there is also private trade. Official trade is tightened, but private trade is liberalized. The Turks can benefit from private trade, but our reputation is not affected, and Zhangye's side
There are a lot of Hu merchants, so let them trade with the Turks without us interfering, so we get the best of both worlds."
There were whispers in the hall, and Pei Ji came out again and said: "Your Majesty, Xiao Xiangguo is absolutely right. The Turks need pig iron, and they will find ways to get it. If they can't get it from the outside world, then they will find ways to smelt it and plunder it.
Craftsmen in the Central Plains are looking for grassland mineral resources, which will make them stronger. It is better to open a hole so that they can obtain pig iron, which will kill their desire to be self-reliant."
The ministers talked to each other and gradually reached an agreement. Li Yuan finally nodded. "I have adopted Xiao Aiqing's plan, and Xiao Aiqing will be fully responsible for this matter... Returning to the palace, Li Yuan immediately blamed the prince Li Jiancheng and said: "
Those in power must first consider solving the problem. If you deny everything with just one sentence that is not in line with national justice, what about the vital interests of the Tang Dynasty? I can accept your national justice. But you must come up with measures to solve the problem, otherwise
, you are just unrealistic and empty talk!"
Li Jiancheng was silent. In fact, he wanted to say that even if the Tang Dynasty had nothing to do with the Turks, the Turks would still attack the Sui Dynasty. It was just a matter of time. The Tang Dynasty should not have anything to do with the Turks, but it was meaningless to say this now. He
Had to remain silent.
Seeing that he didn't talk back, Li Yuan's expression became a little better, "I won't talk to you about this matter anymore, you should focus your energy on disaster relief!"
"Yes! I obey your order."
At this time, a eunuch reported at the door: "Your Majesty, the King of Qin has urgently requested to see you, saying that he has important information about the Sui Dynasty."
Li Yuan was startled and immediately ordered: "Announce his appearance!"
The eunuch flew away, and Li Jiancheng bowed and said: "Father, I will retire over there."
Li Yuan shook his head, "No! You stay and listen together."
Li Jiancheng saw that although his father had just scolded him, he still trusted him in his heart and did not have any prejudice against him because of one thing. He was moved and stood aside silently.
At this time, Li Shimin hurriedly walked in, knelt down on his knees, and kowtowed to his father respectfully, "My son, I see my father, and I wish him longevity as long as Nanshan, and may he live forever!"
Li Yuan liked Li Shimin's respect very much. He waved his hand and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, you are exempt from courtesy. What do you want to do with your father?"
"Thank you, Father!"
Li Shimin stood up, bowed and said: "Today, I received news from Tang Feng in Taiyuan that the Sui Dynasty began to manufacture large amounts of money and push it into the market. I think this matter is very serious, so I came here to report it to my father."
After saying that, he turned around and winked. A eunuch presented the letter and money on a gold plate. Li Yuan's face was solemn. He picked up the letter and read it again, then gave the letter to Li Jiancheng, and picked up two coins from the gold plate.
I held a piece of silver money in my hand and looked at it for a long time, with a look of fear slowly showing in my eyes.
He looked back at Li Jiancheng. Li Jiancheng's face was also extremely serious. They were all rulers of the country. How could they not understand the seriousness of the problem? If the money flowed into the Tang Dynasty, then the wealth of the Tang Dynasty would be plundered by the Sui Dynasty.
At this time, they finally realized the serious consequences of the Sui army taking Huining County.
"Father, at the beginning of the year, the Sui Dynasty used the former five baht coins to buy a large amount of supplies from Chang'an, which caused prices to skyrocket and people's resentment to boil. This is because the Sui Dynasty had a large amount of copper coins. Now the Sui Dynasty has a large amount of silver and even gold. This will
We face a huge crisis."
Li Jiancheng said this because the Tang Dynasty had learned a profound lesson. At the beginning of the year, the Sui Dynasty used the spent five baht coins to buy a large amount of materials, which caused a shortage of goods in Chang'an and a sharp rise in prices. The imperial court transported almost all the materials from Bashu to Chang'an.
, which stabilized commodity prices.
Later, the Tang Dynasty also found copper mines in Bashu and obtained a large amount of copper ingots, and then began to issue the Kaiyuan Tongbao of the Tang Dynasty, which restored the currency disadvantage. Now the Sui Dynasty used gold and silver as currency, which would put the Tang Dynasty in crisis.
It was ten times more serious than at the beginning of the year. How could Li Jiancheng not be anxious?
Li Yuan saw that Li Shimin seemed to have something to say, so he asked, "Does the emperor have any good ideas?"
"To inform my father, I have three plans. First, we make fake silver coins and invest them in large amounts in the Sui Dynasty to disrupt their introduction of silver coins. This will buy us time. Second, we must also look for gold and silver mines immediately and launch the same coins.
money to resist the plunder of the Sui Dynasty."
Next to him, Li Jiancheng interjected: "It is feasible to make counterfeit silver coins. We can use white copper to make counterfeit coins, but it is not practical to find gold and silver mines. I have checked the documents of the previous dynasties and found that there are only silver mines in Lingnan, which is too far away. In the Tang Dynasty,
We have been searching for more than half a year, but we only found copper mines, not large gold or silver mines."
Li Yuan pondered for a moment and then asked Li Shimin, "What is the emperor's third plan?"
Li Shimin bowed and said: "If the first two strategies fail, then we have only one way to deal with the crisis."
His face was solemn, and he said word by word: "We must take back the silver mine in Huining County... Lao Gao is asking for five monthly votes from everyone. I hope you can support me!!!" rq