Tibet

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 anxious 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 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. Everyone is eagerly counting on the Governor Li Ye!

"The gold and silver brought by Ba Khan 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 leaves 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.

Chief Shi Xie Jin 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 imperial 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 need capital first, 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 from 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 hardship of the long journey, everyone's eyes showed fear.

At this time, Yang Shaohua, the military and financial envoy of Cangcao, 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, 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 convince An Beiting to give us the tax!"

Sogdian merchants had to pay taxes when going to Chang'an, both entry and exit taxes, which 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 can completely intercept the entry tax, but this will definitely offend Anxi and Beiting. Li Ye doesn't want to do such an offending thing for the time being.

If he is not good at intercepting taxes, he will intercept tribute. 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 protection fees of 200,000 to 300,000 guan per year. 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 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, and Qiu Xuan was in charge of intelligence. However, there was no need for intelligence for the time being. 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 discovered by the supervisors if he made too big a move, so he only dared to secretly open a small mine on a small scale.

But Li Ye had no such worries. He was planning to recruit thousands of miners from the Tuqishi tribe to mine with great fanfare.

Which Jiedushi of the Tang Dynasty did not mine? The imperial court could not afford so much military spending, so it could only give various economic powers to various festivals, and mining rights were just one of them.

Time gradually came to July. 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 named 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 Ziad to go to Suiye to negotiate and redeem 30,000 prisoners of war.

The big war dividend Li Ye mentioned was the ransom for prisoners of war. Dashi was eager to redeem the prisoners of war, so how could he let this opportunity pass?

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 admired the Chu River Valley, which is more than 100 miles long. "It has a vast area, fertile land, and sufficient water. It is indeed a good place for agricultural development, 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 multi-ethnic city. 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. We cannot get food from the Central Plains, 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. Even the wheat from Dashi is sold to you. How many troops do you need to raise?"

Zhong Hui pretended to sigh and said: "We have to support an army of thirty thousand, and the farmland of 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 can send a message to the Caliph through the Chamber of Commerce, he will definitely be able to get information about Mulu through the Chamber of Commerce. What does Li Ye mean when he asks for negotiations now? Is it necessary to be polite before fighting?

Ziad suddenly felt that he was very passive. The other party had their information, but in comparison, 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.

Ziyad took up residence in 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 Suiye'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 tight. 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 have agreed on an intermediate place for negotiation, such as Tuozhi City in Shiguo. This would be more equitable. "We need to negotiate fairly, and the fact that he has condescended 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!"