Tibet

Two days later, the imperial tax fleet arrived in Xiangyang. Li Ye ordered it to be released and sent troops to escort it. The fleet, loaded with two million yuan in tax money, continued to sail towards Shangzhou.

Along with the tax fleet came a fleet led by Zhang Ping, loaded with copper coins and grain brought back from the south of the Yangtze River.

As soon as Zhang Ping got off the boat, he heard that the army was moving west to Longyou. He was immediately shocked and ran to see Li Ye.

Li Ye invited him to sit down in the room and said with a smile: "Is it so scary to go to Longyou and Hexi? You are so surprised."

Zhang Ping shook his head quickly, "Beizhi always thought that His Highness was going to Jiangnan East Road, and even bought a house in Suzhou to move his parents, wife and children there. Unexpectedly, he suddenly heard that he was going to Longyou, so Beizhi was confused. "

Li Ye knew Zhang Ping very well, but he didn't tell the truth.

Li Ye walked a few steps with his hands behind his back: "Do you think it's unwise for me to give up on Jingxiang?"

"I"

"Little Fatty, I've known you since I was a child. If it was just for a house, you wouldn't be so anxious. You are so anxious because you are worried about me. Tell me the truth!"

Zhang Ping bit his lip and said, "Brother, to be honest, it's not easy for Jingxiang to get to where we are today. We could obviously unify the southern part of the Tang Dynasty, but we gave up such good conditions and went to Longyou and Hexi, which was occupied by the Tubo people. Brother, I’m really going crazy!”

Li Ye nodded, "This is what you are thinking. I guess most people think this way. They are laughing at me behind my back. Li Ye is stupid, giving up Jingxiang and Jiangnan to go to the bitter cold land of the northwest, and still have to fight with the Tubo people." .

Jingxiang is indeed good, and Jiangnan is a prosperous land of plenty, but is this my territory? No, this is the territory of the emperor and the court. I am just holding this prosperous land for the emperor and the court. I am doing something a bit out of the ordinary now and I am not being held accountable by the court. It is just because the court cannot take care of us for the time being.

Now that An Lushan is dead and An Qingxu is a turtle in the urn, the imperial court has begun to stare at us. Not only the emperor is staring at us, but also the political affairs hall and the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty. Once I do not accept the transfer of the imperial court, you know what will happen What are the consequences? "

"I don't know what a humble job is!"

Li Ye sneered and said: "The imperial court will immediately declare me, Li Ye, as a traitor, and I will be punished by everyone. This will endanger my family first. My father will definitely be forced to commit suicide by public opinion, and my mother will not survive. The Dugu family will If I announce that I am severing relations, my wife will leave with the child in her arms.

At that time, you, Zhang Ping, may be the only one willing to follow me. Li Mi, Liu Yan, and Wang Changling will definitely leave me, and most of the generals and troops will also disperse.

This is why An Lushan had to replace all his generals with Hu people before the rebellion. No Han generals were willing to rebel with him. Why did Cao Cao have to hold the Han Dynasty in his hands? Why did he not dare to be emperor until his death? It is the innate ethical blood of the Han people, and everyone only recognizes the imperial court.

Why didn't I collude with An Lushan to directly destroy the Lingwu court? Do you think I don't want to? But I can't do that. It's just a wedding dress for others. The Emperor is still in Bashu! It is not my turn to be emperor, Li Ye.

This is the reason why I gave up Jingxiang, because this is not my place, not my house. I want to carve out a piece of land for myself. I want to go to Longyou and Hexi to fight for my world. The land I seized from the Tubo people. By that time, I had grown into a towering tree, and the prestige I had accumulated was no longer feared by the court, not to mention that the court had no reason to take it away regardless of legal principles or principles.

Even if the court declares me a traitor by then, it will be too late, and my army and men will not leave me. "

"Why didn't you just declare that your eldest brother was a traitor?"

"Because of Chang'an!"

Li Ye sneered: "I took back Chang'an, and he declared me a traitor. How will the world see him? How will history evaluate him? He is very afraid of this!"

Li Ye continued: "It's actually a delicate balance now. The emperor cares about his reputation. He will not attack me directly unless he has to. And I am also worried that he will be forced to declare me a traitor and leave me with nothing, so both parties Negotiations happen.”

"I kind of get it!"

Zhang Ping whispered: "Actually, in the final analysis, our strength is not enough!"

"It's not just military strength, but also the strong appeal accumulated by successive emperors of the Tang Dynasty. They formulated the rules of the Tang Dynasty and established an imperial power system. It can also be called soft power."

Li Ye smiled bitterly, "In front of the powerful imperial power, I am still a small tree that has not yet grown up, and I am shackled in this system.

Now I just want to leave Jingxiang with dignity, go through the blood and fire, break through this system, and grow into a towering tree as soon as possible. "

Zhang Ping's face was full of shame, "My vision is too short-sighted!"

Li Ye patted him on the shoulder and said earnestly: "You will do nothing wrong in buying a house. In the future, you will become our official merchant in Jiangnan. Otherwise, how will we deal with thousands of official cargo ships?"

"Brother wants me to buy food in Jiangnan?"

"It's not just as simple as buying food. I have been thinking about how to deal with our various properties in Jingxiang. In the past two days, I realized that going to Longyou does not mean that I will completely separate from the past. I They can be maintained in another way.

An official trading house can be established to sell furs, medicinal materials, alcohol, gems, minerals, gold and silver from Longyou and Hexi to Jiangnan, and then buy grain, oil and cloth from Jiangnan, and ship them to Hanzhong for transshipment.

After much deliberation, you are the most suitable candidate to become the representative of the Longyou Hexi Army stationed in Jiangnan. "

Zhang Ping nodded silently. He used to be a government official, but now he is a government official and businessman. He can completely understand.

Li Ye smiled again and said: "Li Mi also suggested that you stay in Chang'an. I said Zhang Ping can't do it. The bureaucrats in the court only recognize officials who came from the imperial examination. They will never accept Zhang Ping, an official who came from a rogue local."

Zhang Ping smiled bitterly and said, "Brother is right!"

Li Ye added: "You want to build a huge business network, like a spider web, spreading all over the south. But at the beginning, you can't be on the table. Instead, let your adoptive father and others come forward, and you hide behind it, or pretend If you work for the Wang family, your business empire will become an important support for the Longyou Hexi Army in the future."

Zhang Ping nodded, "I will build a large Jiangnan Commercial Bank in Suzhou, let my adoptive father be the proprietor, and I will be the chief shopkeeper, and then build a branch and transit warehouse group in Dantu, Runzhou and Hanyang. There will be a steady flow of money." Transport food and other supplies to Hanzhong."

Li Ye said happily: "I will give you three thousand cargo ships and one million gold coins later. You can use them as capital to establish a trading company. I will also give you three hundred elite soldiers. The rest will be up to you." .”

A few days later, Zhang Ping left Xiangyang for Jiangnan with his parents, wives and children, 3,000 cargo ships, 300 soldiers, and one million gold coins. Zhang Ping asked his brother Zhang Qu to buy it at a low price. He took over more than 100 official warehouses in Hanyang and established the Hanyang branch of Jiangnan Commercial Bank. Zhang Ping also laid the first stone of his business empire.

In Chang'an, under the cover of night, the Dugu family sent eight large boxes of silver to Li Fuguo in two large carriages. Each large box was 10,000 taels, a total of 80,000 taels. Of course, this was a gift from Li Ye, and the Dugu family was only giving it on behalf of Li Ye. .

Li Fuguo's mansion is the original mansion of Mrs. Guo Guo, and it is also in Pingkangfang. He spends most of his time in the palace, but today the Dugu family will send money, so of course he has to wait in the mansion.

"Did Eunuch Yu and Eunuch Cheng send them over?" Li Fuguo asked.

The steward of Dugu Mansion said quickly: "To report back to the general, Eunuch Yu and Eunuch Cheng each sent three large boxes."

That's 30,000 taels each. Li Fuguo nodded, "Go back and tell your master that I accepted the money, so that he can rest assured that things will be easy to handle."

Of course Li Fuguo knew why Li Ye gave him 80,000 taels of silver. The court was negotiating with him, and he wanted to obtain the maximum benefit from the negotiations, so he gave a total of 140,000 taels of silver. This was not a bad sincerity.

Li Fuguo knew very well that according to the market price, his 80,000 taels of silver were worth 320,000 guan, which was the largest gift he had ever received.

"Open a box!"

His warriors pried open a big box, and with a "crash!", two hundred ingots of silver were scattered all over the floor. Each ingot was fifty taels. Under the light, it turned white and brightened Li Fuguo's eyes. it took.

At this moment, the interests of the imperial court are no longer important, and the interests of the emperor are no longer important. Li Fuguo only thinks that he has made a big deal. As long as he maintains this relationship, Li Ye will be in his hands, and there will be a deal every year in the future. A lot of money.