Tibet

The shopkeeper was stunned for a moment, then asked with a smile: "Sogdian silver coins?"

"No, the silver coins just issued by the imperial court!"

"I know, of course I will charge you silver coins, but it will cost you a thousand silver coins!"

Li Ye winked at the guard, who stepped forward and placed a string of silver coins on the table.

The shopkeeper was a little surprised and looked at the money carefully. After a while, he nodded, "Okay, I'll take it!"

At this time, Wei Jiansu asked with a smile: "I'm a little confused, why doesn't the shopkeeper suspect this is fake?"

The shopkeeper smiled and said: "First of all, it is silver. I can tell whether it is genuine or not at a glance. Secondly, there are internal guards in the Tang Dynasty. Who dares to be so desperate and make counterfeit money? If found out, the whole family will be executed."

Li Ye and Wei Jiansu looked at each other. It turned out to be because of the internal guards.

Li Ye picked a jade pendant and asked with a smile: "I am an official of the Ministry of Revenue, and I also have a task. I would like to ask the shopkeeper, what should I do if I am an ordinary person who is not familiar with silver?"

The shopkeeper thought for a while and said: "This is really a problem. It probably takes time to adapt slowly, about a year or two! Over time, everyone will naturally become familiar with it. I suggest that the counter shop can exchange it at any time. Some people are not familiar with it and don't worry. , you can go to the counter to exchange it for copper coins, and you can find out immediately if there is any problem. "

Li Ye nodded, this suggestion is very good.

He smiled and asked: "Does the shopkeeper think it will be collected by rich people?"

The shopkeeper shook his head, "I personally think that unless a war breaks out, most wealthy people will not collect anymore. My boss used every possible means to exchange for one thousand taels of gold at a price of one to fifty, which cost him 50,000 yuan. , now it is still one thousand taels of gold, which is only worth 30,000 guan. If you do nothing, you will lose 20,000 guan. The same is true for silver. When it was most expensive, it was 1:7, but now it is only 1:3. Maybe it will It’s restored to the one-to-one ratio of the Tianbao period. Who’s brain is sick? Why are you collecting it now?”

"I understand, thank you shopkeeper!"

Li Ye accepted the beautiful jade, and the shopkeeper sent them out of the door, "Welcome guests to come again!"

Li Ye waved his hand and crossed another street to another colored satin shop. He spent sixty silver coins and bought two pieces of colored satin.

He walked into five or six shops in a row and spent a lot of money to buy things. Everything went smoothly. However, Li Ye saw a hawker selling candied haws on the road. He took out a silver coin and wanted to buy candied haws on a stick, but the hawker refused to accept it. .

Firstly, he didn’t know what the money was, and secondly, he wanted to give the other party two hundred and ninety cents in change, so he wouldn’t do it!

On the carriage returning to the palace, Wei Jiansu sighed: "I didn't expect that the internal guards, who have always been criticized, have become the patron saint in the hearts of the people!"

Li Ye smiled lightly and said: "These are two sides of the same thing. Everything has pros and cons. One size does not fit all. The most important thing is that the system must keep up.

They spent a lot of money today and used it very smoothly. He then realized that gold and silver money would be used by the middle and upper classes, and the lower class people would need time to adapt.

Moreover, the phenomenon of bad money driving out good money that Li Ye is worried about will not happen for the time being. The fundamental reason is that gold and silver are expected to depreciate. It can be used as currency, but it is unwise to use it as a store of wealth.

This was what Xiao Hua expected before, and he guessed it right.

At the same time, after issuing silver coins, the Ministry of Household Affairs also sent a large number of officials to conduct market surveys. The response was generally good, and the Ministry of Household Affairs decided to start large-scale minting of gold and silver coins, and at the same time gradually recover the bad money in the market.

At the same time, the Ministry of Revenue listened to the emperor's opinions and set up exchange counters in various counters, so that gold and silver coins could be exchanged for copper coins at any time.

In a blink of an eye, the day came when Bai Xiaode reported on his duties. Currently, there are two types of governors in various places where the imperial court is located. One is the military governor, which is the mainstream. Li Ye and the imperial court learned from the lessons of the Anshi Rebellion and the separatism of vassal towns, and completely separated the military and government.

The biggest advantage of this is that the governor has no financial resources, cannot expand his troops, and does not have the financial resources to launch a war.

The military is only responsible for garrisoning troops, and military expenses are borne by the court. The military is not allowed to interfere in local government affairs. Any conflicts should be reported to the Privy Council, which will be responsible for coordinating and resolving them.

This is the normal way of managing the army, and the Jiedushi system implemented during the Tianbao period gave the Jiedushi too much power and had major hidden dangers.

Bai Xiaode's report on his duties is important because it and Hezhong Dudufu are the only two economical type Dudufus. The economical type Dudufu is somewhat equivalent to the former Jiedugufu, which manages both military and political affairs and has great power.

However, this is just a transition. After the Western Region War, both the Anxi Dudufu and the Hezhong Dudufu will be changed to Military Dudufu. The imperial court will establish six administrative prefectures and 13 counties in Anxi and Hezhong, and appoint state officials and county officials.

Once the restructuring of Anxi and Hezhong is completed, the Tang Dynasty will include Jiuzhou, Xiongjin, Liaodong, Liaoxi, Yunzhong, Shuofang, Longyou, Hetao, Ganliang, Shasu, Anxi, Beiting, Hezhong, Jiannan, and Jiaozhou There are more than 300,000 troops stationed in 16 governor's offices such as Nanyang and Nanyang.

All governors were appointed and removed by the emperor, the lower middle-level civil and military generals were appointed and dismissed by the Privy Council, and the middle-level and lower levels were appointed and dismissed by the governors. At the same time, the imperial court sent censors to supervise the army. In this way, the system was very strict.

The debriefing was held in the Privy Council, presided over by Guo Ziyi, and attended by Emperor Li Ye and nine prime ministers and assistant ministers from the Political Affairs Hall.

There are two contents for today's work report. Bai Xiaode was informed many days in advance, and he and his subordinates made preparations.

One content is the difficulty of implementing the county system in Anxi, and the second is the big and small bolu, which is an aspect that Li Ye is particularly concerned about.

Li Ye has decided to send troops to stop Tibet's westward expansion, but he needs to understand the situation.

But the first report did not go well. The implementation of the county system in Anxi was not that simple.

Bai Xiaode said slowly: "It is also feasible to establish counties in Anxi, but the biggest difficulty here is the issue of balance. The small countries in Anxi are also willing to become subjects of the Tang Dynasty, but they hope that the court will give them some autonomy. The key is these two How to balance between them?”

Liu Yan, the Minister of Civil Affairs, asked frankly: "May I ask Governor Bai, if Beiting's plan is implemented, what will happen if it is implemented?"

Beiting mainly involves Gaochang Kingdom and Yiwu Kingdom. The imperial court established Xizhou in Gaochang Kingdom and Yizhou in Yiwu Kingdom. The key here is the issue of property and people management. The king of Gaochang has a palace and his own land, and at the same time The spiritual leader of the local people, and the people also have their own land.

In addition to private land, other lands were owned by the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, including snow mountains, Gobi and official fields.

In addition, Gaochang State and Yiwu State no longer have their own armies, nor do they have subordinate officials.

If a conflict occurs on their own private property, the people generally do not complain and the officials do not investigate. However, if a conflict occurs in public, the government will intervene, regardless of the nationality of the people.

Now that the imperial court has taken control of Hezhong, it is imperative to solve the remaining problems in Anxi.

The court's attitude has been very clear, which is to govern Anxi according to the Beiting model. There are four issues here, one is the authority of the king, the other is the ownership of the land, the third is the local army, and the fourth is the jurisdiction of the people.

To abolish the local army, to abolish the officials, to abolish the governing power of the king, who is just a symbol, this simply touches the soul of all countries.

Bai Xiaode thought for a long time and said: "There must be difficulties. This involves the vital interests of the nobles. I am most worried that there will be riots. Some kings will encourage local people to expel the Tang army. It would be best if we can solve it through negotiation. If the negotiation fails, I will I hope the court is mentally prepared to quell the chaos.”

Li Ye said slowly: "Even Bukhanna was annexed by the Tang Dynasty and renamed Wanzhou. Governor Bai should understand the will of the imperial court and can negotiate. In terms of personal interests, the Tang Dynasty can make moderate concessions, but not in terms of principles. The county system must be implemented, and the imperial court has decided to implement it according to Beiting's plan. If Governor Bai feels that his status is inconvenient, Governor Bai can be transferred, for example, to the imperial court as Minister of War. This position is still vacant. "

Bai Xiaode is currently the uncle of the King of Kucha, and his brother is the King of Kucha, and the Kingdom of Kucha is currently the largest country in Anxi.

Li Ye hoped that if he took the lead in reforming the country of Qiuci, other small countries would follow suit, but he also knew Bai Xiaode's difficulties, so he gave Bai Xiaode a choice.

Bai Xiaode nodded, "Thank you for your majesty's kindness and let me think about it again."

Li Ye smiled and said, "Let's put the first report aside for now and talk about it in two days. Let's talk about the issue of Big and Little Bolu again. Does Governor Bai know the situation there?"