The rise of the prince

Chapter 600 Disposal + Mongolian Intelligence
After Li Xingzhou entered, the dancing and music didn't stop, the emperor was old after all, half lying on the tiger leather seat, Concubine Tian dressed up carefully, but she couldn't hide the traces of time.
It's rare to see him so relaxed, smiling and waving: "Xingzhou, come and have a look, this is a Korean dancer, a Korean dancer, it's very fresh."

Li Xingzhou walked over and took a look. They were all very beautiful, but foreigners were not surprised. Because of the business relationship, foreigners are very common in Jingguo.

Most of them are Khitan people, Qiang people, people from various ethnic groups in Dali, Korean people, Japanese people, and a few people who can see the Arab Central Asian generation.

Although Kaiyuan is the capital, the coastal areas of Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Mingzhou and other places are the main trading areas, so most of the foreigners are concentrated in these places, and the Shibo Department is also established in these places.

The Shibo Department is equivalent to the customs of later generations. It can be said to be a very advanced system. It ensures that the imperial court can profit from maritime trade, and then promotes the imperial court to support maritime trade, making maritime trade manageable and orderly, and promoting the continuous development of marine trade. .

The most concrete manifestation is the continuous reduction of taxes. Ships entering the sea trade are required to collect taxes. At the beginning, the Municipal Shipping Department collected [-] taxes and [-] taxes, gradually reduced to [-] taxes, and then to [-] taxes, and there is still a downward trend. , The reduction of tariffs will greatly promote trade, and sea trade has also become an important source of wealth for the entire country, and more attention will be paid to it, forming a virtuous circle.It's a pity that this system was abolished in the early Ming Dynasty, and then it was banned by the sea.

When maritime trade reached its peak, most countries in East Asia used copper coins made by Jingguo, especially Japan, Dali, Liao and other surrounding areas.

The reason is simple, Jingguo has many merchants and commodities, and the credibility of the currency must be supported by resources.

In the past, Liao, Japan, Xia and others liked to use Jingguo’s copper coins. The reason is very simple. They can use Jingguo’s copper coins to buy goods with Jingguo merchants. So many items.

Over time, many people have found that instead of using their own country's money, it is better to use Jingguo's money to buy and sell with Jingguo merchants. For this reason, there are even people who smuggle the country's coins. In this way, Jingguo copper coins are the common settlement currency in neighboring countries , because there are merchants in Jingguo everywhere, Jingguo's money can buy things, but not other money.

Over time, Jingguo's Guangzhou, Mingzhou and other places have become financial centers. Foreigners who want to get rich and have dreams try to come to Jingguo to make money, and there are more foreigners.

It's just that this kind of commercial prosperity is fragile in the face of powerful military power. Without the support of industrialization, business and military cannot be linked together, and industry and commerce cannot flourish.

"Why, did you fall in love with someone?" The emperor suddenly asked, interrupting his thoughts, "If you fell in love with me and told me that these were sent by the king of Koryo. Hearing the rumors of our victories against the Liao soldiers, we sent gifts to me again."

The emperor said and acted, shaking his head: "A small country has no faith and is capricious. I am old and can't bear it. If you like it, take it back."

Li Xingzhou froze for a moment, where did this go?
"No." It is always difficult for him to accept the practice of treating people as objects.

"Aren't you under the control of Wang Yue's granddaughter?" The emperor frowned, "I can tell you, a man, don't be soft-hearted, and don't listen to your pillow." When the words came to his lips, remembering that Concubine Tian was present, he quickly closed Stop, "Anyway, it's good that you understand. By the way, what are you doing here? Could there be good news ahead."

Li Xingzhou took a deep breath, and what should come will always come: "There is indeed a battle report, but."

The emperor nodded, waved the dancer to leave, and then asked him to hand over the battle report.

There were three battle reports, he jumped out, the emperor held it in his hand and looked at it for a while, the smile on his face gradually disappeared, his face became more and more serious, until it was extremely gloomy, the hall was terribly quiet, and he could clearly hear the noise outside the house sound of rain.
He didn't get angry in the end, but asked in a cold voice: "Which of these people do you think deserves to die? Yang Hu! Or Tong Guan!"

Li Xingzhou didn't speak. He knew that talking would kill someone. This is not a joke, but many things are not as simple as who is right and who is wrong. If it is just personal considerations, both Yang Hu and Tong Guan deserve to die, but the conflict of interests is very complicated. Because human nature is inherently complex and disorderly.

"Yang Hu is the son of Yang Wenguang. He lost the battle, but Taiyuan, as well as Ninghua, Daizhou, and Baode in the north of Taiyuan need people to guard them. Without the Liao Kingdom, there is still the Jin Kingdom. Yang Hu is the eldest son of Yang Wenguang."

Li Xingzhou's meaning is actually very clear. Yang Hu can't be killed for the time being, but he can be punished. No one can guarantee whether the distant Yang Wenguang is loyal or not.

Therefore, we hope that there will be a sage monarch who can understand people's hearts and make good use of them. He can manage all major and minor affairs of the world clearly by himself.

If not, then hope that there will be a master of the blue sky who can distinguish between good and evil. He can tell good people and bad people at a glance. He rewards good and punishes evil and never makes mistakes. For example, Guan Gong has a knife in his hand. bad guy.What is a good guy and what is a bad guy?That's too complicated, we don't care.

If there is no more, then I hope that there will be a hero who is so skilled that hundreds of people can't get close to him, don't have to think about money, don't eat the fireworks of the world, eliminate harm for the people, rob the rich and help the poor, and take the head of the corrupt official, so he With Chinese unique martial arts novels.

Are there any perfect people in the world?impossible.

So these hopes are destined to fail, and after thousands of years, there are still people looking forward to it.

The Yang family has been loyal for several generations, but he must consider the worst. It is almost inevitable that the Jin army will covet the Central Plains. When the time comes, Yang Wenguang in Taiyuan on the west front and Wei Chaoren on the east front will be the most important people.

"Then kill Tong Guan!" The emperor's voice was cold and without any emotion, "Immediately pass an order to escort Tong Guan back to Beijing! Yang Hu was demoted to a commoner! Yang Hongzhao, as the commander, was at a disadvantage in the battle, so he also returned to Beijing to wait for his punishment! The army Temporarily controlled by Wei Chaoren."

"Yes." Li Xingzhou wrote down one by one. The emperor's government orders are issued through the Political Affairs Hall, while military orders need to be issued by the Privy Council. They are not issued casually. Government orders may be rejected by the Imperial Academy, Zhongshu Ministry and Menxia Province, while military orders do not have these Worried, because the military attache's status is low.

The emperor thought about it again, "Forget it, Tong Guan will also return to Beijing and wait for his punishment. There is no need to escort, and let the Shenwu Army and Wulie Army withdraw."

"Yes!" Li Xingzhou wrote down one by one.

After finishing speaking, the old emperor couldn't bear it anymore, covered his forehead and waved his hands in pain, "Go back and do your work first."

Li Xingzhou saluted and said goodbye. When he turned around, he saw Concubine Tian hurriedly massaging his temples.

When I left Kunning Palace, the rain was much lighter. The emperor was really old, and he didn't have the vigor of a few years ago.

The emperor probably also noticed Yang Hongzhao's report of the failure caused by the low morale and lax military discipline of the forbidden army, and his face was cloudy, because Zhong Daoyu tried his best to persuade the morale of the forbidden army at the beginning, but he directly relegated the common people. Just slapping the emperor in the face, such a big defeat has already hurt the country.

Although the losses were heavy, the three-way army was close to 20. Now there are still about 10 people in the middle-way army and the right-way army outside Qigou Pass. Yang Hongzhao was ordered to return to Beijing, but the army could not be left alone, so Wei Chaoren took over, but withdrew After leaving the Shenwu Army, there are only Wei Chaoren's Guanbei Army and Lingjie Army in the area around Qigou Pass. There should be about 5 people in total.

The emperor's decision was quite decisive, the so-called one grain of mouse feces spoiled a pot of soup, not to mention tens of thousands of grains.

There are not many people in Yelu Dashi. If the West Route Army only let the Yang family army fight in Anding and take away the imperial army, even if the number is small, the probability of winning is very high. Yang Wenguang fought against the Liao people in the Sanjiao area A ten-year veteran, the Yang family army under his command also has commanded combat experience against the Liao people.

But in a formation of tens of thousands of people, a large number of people suddenly flee, so how can we fight?
At present, the supply of grain and grass is also huge, and every delay will put great pressure on the court.

Although Jing Guo is rich, it can't stand long-term tossing. Now it is late May, and it has been nearly three months since the troops were dispatched. Li Xingzhou asked Xue Fang, the overspending envoy, that Jing Guo can last until November at the end of the year.

There are still about six months, which seems like a lot of time, but in fact, six months is not much. At this time, if Yelu Dashi sticks to Nanjing, as long as the Jin people don't attack and attack back and forth, Li Xingzhou will not be surprised if he guards for six years.

Is it possible that we can only spend a lot of money to ask the gold people to help fight like the Northern Song Dynasty?

"There's been no news from the north for a long time. Brother He, did you hear about one or two on the way?" In the best restaurant in Jiangzhou, a young man in green shirt watched the rain outside the window. Opposite him sat a young man in brown and a purple Mr. Pao.

This young man in Tsing Yi is the young Patriarch of the San family, Shen Yinfeng.

Because in the last court struggle, Shen Yinfeng and his uncle Shen Lin Dayi killed their relatives and stood decisively on the side of King Pingnan. Everyone knows what happened next. On the way to exile, his son-in-law Shen Sheng, who is also the elder brother of Shen Yinfeng, was also exiled.

Later, Shen Yinfeng got an official position, and his uncle Shen Lin was transferred to serve in the Forbidden Army. With the support of the Pingnan Palace, the Shen family became the largest stable merchant in Jiangzhou in one fell swoop.

The brown-clothed man laughed loudly: "What nonsense are you talking about? Do you think I'm so stupid that I would run to a place where there is a war? My life is my own. I am terrified, but this year is really chaotic. The Kingdom of Jin is at war with the Kingdom of Liao , Our country is also at war with the Liao Kingdom, and the Xia Kingdom itself is fighting, as well as the Mongolian tribes I went to, the world is in chaos, and there are soldiers and horses everywhere." He drank a glass with emotion.

This person is He Zhao's second son, He Xu, who is also He Qian's elder brother. He is a businessman and has traveled around the world.

"Mongolian tribes?" Zipao asked curiously. He was Xie Linjiang. Because he stood on the side of King Pingnan last time, he jumped from a small official in Ningjiang Mansion to a judge. In Ningjiang Mansion, he was second only to the prefect and colleagues Know.

And judge Wang Ke was also promoted from judge to Tongzhi of Ningjiang Mansion.

He Xu nodded: "I was thinking of going there to sell some things. Mongolian generation iron and salt are very valuable. As long as they are transported there, they can be sold in the Central Plains several times."

"You are so courageous, you even dare to sell private salt."

"Shh, I don't want to die, and besides, my father doesn't give me much money, so I can't do anything about it, I have to earn some money for running around, otherwise I would have starved to death on the road.

And I also took money from King Pingnan, and was asked by him to inquire about the situation of some Mongolian tribes for him.

As a result, I didn’t dare to go north when I arrived in Ulan Bator. The Mongolian ministries had already started fighting, and the entire grassland was in chaos. I heard that there was a powerful tribe on the grassland, and the joint attack of the various ministries was defeated.Now they are being liquidated one by one, and many people are frightened and flee westward. "

"Why go west?"

"It is said that there is an equally powerful tribe called the Naiman tribe in the west. I don't know what it is. I have never been to the west of the grassland. It is even more chaotic there. There are many tribes. No one obeys the other, and blood will bleed every now and then.

Originally, King Pingnan had promised to inquire about the intelligence of various ministries for him, but when he arrived in Ulan Bator, the army was in chaos, and he did not dare to go north, so he had to turn back again. I am really ashamed.

By the way, there is also Xixia!
When I went, I took Xingqing Mansion to go north to the grassland. It was fine, but within a few months, when I came back, I was in a mess. The emperor of Xixia was beaten and took refuge in Xiliang Mansion. As a last resort, I had to take a detour to Taiyuan , That's why I came to Jiangzhou, and I don't know what happened in the past two years, fighting everywhere. "He Xu shook his head.

"It's a pity, it would be great if you came back from Shanhaiguan, and you can tell us about the situation in the north. The rain has been like this, and you haven't rested for more than 20 days. It's really frustrating." Xie Linjiang said: "I wish I could join the army and go north. Serve the country."

"Forget it. I've seen wars. There are 1 more scholars who have joined the army. Whether you can win or not." He Xu shook his head.

"What are you talking about?" Xie Linjiang was dissatisfied.

"Hey" He Xu frowned suddenly, "I remembered something. When I passed by Taiyuan seven or eight days ago, the officials warned me that there were a large number of routs outside, and told me to be careful. I was afraid that I would hire bodyguards and talk to people in the city. I also heard that there are many broken soldiers wandering around Taiyuan, and some of them turned into bandits. I spent a lot of money to hire an escort agency. Fortunately, I hired it. After I left Taiyuan, I could encounter three or four broken troops a day, more or less. "

"What does this have to do with the war?" Shen Yinfeng poured wine for both of them, and said.

"Think about it carefully, where did these defeated troops come from? To the north of Taiyuan are the important towns of Sanjiao, Daizhou, Baode, and Ninghua. Here?" He Xu seemed to have discovered something suddenly.

"you mean"

"It could only be our own army, it couldn't be the defeat of the West Road Army?" He Xu said in disbelief.

"Impossible! The three-way army has been victorious in successive battles, and the vanguard raid has already controlled Nanjing. The emperor has ordered the name to be changed to Yanshan Mansion. The battle report will never be wrong!" Xie Linjiang was excited.

"Where did so many defeated troops come from?"

The three of them fell silent, the rain was still falling outside the building, but a terrible thought rose in their hearts, and they didn't even dare to think about it deeply.

"No. Really defeated."

(End of this chapter)