Datang Nongsheng

Chapter 757
The effect of sugar-coated cannonballs has been verified by Sun Xiangfu when he was in the Tubo Plateau a few years ago. It is applicable to people of almost any race. People with normal thinking will hope that they can eat well and wear well, so , Tang people who can bring these enjoyments to people are still very popular among Byzantine folk.

If Heraclius conducts a round of polls in Byzantium, he will find that at least [-] to [-] percent of the country's total population strongly desires to be incorporated into the Tang Dynasty, accounting for almost all poor classes.

In addition, there are still [-]-[-]% of the people who do not object to being merged into the Tang Dynasty. They belong to the middle class who have faith but are not firm in their belief. They will not be threatened by the invasion of big cannibals, but the religion they believe in is not recognized by the government. It is impossible to rely on their current status in the church to seek any benefits, and each has its own advantages.

In the end, the remaining two or three adults, except for the fact that their own interests are tied to the powerful and powerful of the Byzantine Empire, are some fanatical religious believers.

The emperor of the Byzantine Empire, also known as the Pope, was regarded by the local people as a messenger sent by God to carry out God's will. Until the end of the Byzantine Empire in history, they were always in the The state of a religious regime system, such a religious system, naturally has a set of methods for controlling believers, and it is difficult to completely destroy it.

However, the current Tang Dynasty does not allow religious politics to appear. After being merged into the Tang Dynasty, their religion may continue to exist, but their status will be the same as that of the monks and Taoists in the current Tang Dynasty. , is no different from ordinary people, and is also subject to all kinds of supervision by the imperial court, which is inconsistent with their interests.

However, even in the later generations after civilization and progress, it is impossible for a country to make its citizens [-]% return, let alone now.

Therefore, what Sun Xiangfu has to do is to let the majority of the people turn their hearts to Datang, and to reduce the number of people who are against Datang as much as possible, as long as those people who are vacillating in the middle are pulled over to form more than half of the hearts of the people. The trend towards Datang, coupled with some external stimuli, will greatly increase the chance of success.

In Constantinople, in the palace of Heraclius, a song and dance that stimulates the secretion of hormones is being staged.

In recent years, envoys from the Tang Dynasty and Byzantium have communicated very frequently, but they are usually officials of the Ministry of Rites below the fifth rank, and top officials like Sun Xiangfu who are from the second rank and have a high reputation in the country have never I have never been here before. When Tang Jian came here for the first time, he was just the left servant of the Ministry of Rites from the third rank.

Those who can accompany a top official like him to a banquet are of course also top officials of the Byzantine Empire. Ivan, the deacon, took the lead in communicating with Sun Xiangfu alone in fluent Chinese.

"Ambassador Sun, we have prepared a place for you to give lectures according to the request requested by the Ministry of Rites of the Tang Dynasty earlier. I wonder when you will be able to teach agricultural knowledge in our country?"

The position of the chief deacon in Byzantium is equivalent to that of a prime minister, who is in charge of national politics. However, its power status is even greater than that of the Shangshu Zuo Pushe of the Tang Dynasty.

Because there is no Zhongshu, sect, or other ordinary affairs of the Zhengshitang to limit or share his power, and sometimes, he can even be in charge of the army, almost the plenipotentiary spokesperson of Heraclius in the political arena.

The reason why Heraclius trusted him so much was not only because he was loyal to Heraclius, but also because of his talent.Almost no one in this country can match it.

Sun Xiangfu never thought foreigners were fools, so he didn't intend to play tricks with Ivan, and said straightforwardly, "As long as someone from your side comes to listen, I can start at any time."

It was the first time for Ivan to meet such an eloquent diplomatic ambassador as Datang. He had already prepared a bunch of personal benefits for Sun Xiangfu in his heart, but he just couldn't say anything.

During his contacts with Datang over the years, he also figured out some routines.

For example, the Tang court did not strictly prohibit things from being exported. They could actually get them at a certain price. As for the channels for getting them, they might be purchased in the market at high prices, or they might be obtained by bribing officials.

The tens of thousands of "Sun's Agricultural Code" before were obtained by bribing the management of the printing factory.

However, they thought they had taken advantage of this matter, but in fact, they took the initiative to step into Datang's trap.

As early as the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period, the spy profession had been systematically divided and trained in the Central Plains Dynasty. "Sun Tzu's Art of War" divided spies into "country", "neijian", "anti-jian", "dead" and "life". Among the five major categories, now, the spy chief of the Tang Dynasty, Qu Tuquan, is in the territory of the Byzantine Empire!He almost used all these types of spies.

In Datang itself, there will be more secret guard spies serving Li Shimin's strategic intentions. Their task is to make the target country unknowingly follow the direction Li Shimin wants.

Therefore, what Ivan was thinking, Sun Xiangfu had roughly understood before the mission had landed, no matter how big his brains were, no matter how careful his thoughts were, he would not be able to solve some problems for the Byzantine Empire in a country that really wanted to solve the problem. Find any loopholes in the person with the problem.

"Don't you have any conditions? Could it be that you want to sell us the seeds produced in Datang at a high price after we learn your agronomy knowledge?" Ivan tentatively asked again.

Sun Xiangfu shook his head and said, "I brought more than 100 boats of seeds of various crops, which is enough to plant millions of acres of fertile land on your side, and these seeds are all given away by His Majesty the Emperor. A gift for you.

Afterwards, if you still want more seeds, you can order them from merchants in Datang. I believe that as long as they add a little profit of [-] to [-]% to the cost price, they will sell these things to you.

Moreover, not only food seeds, but we will remove restrictions on you in all other aspects except for the most high-end military equipment. If you want, I can now represent the imperial court and You sign the agreement. "

"Even the Tang Army's standard equipment will lift the restrictions on us?" Ivan felt that the happiness came a bit too suddenly, and said in an unbelievable tone.

Sun Xiangfu nodded and said, "Yes! Every industry in our country wants to make money from you. Armors, bows and arrows, bed crossbows, and chariots are all made by workers in major arsenals. They These workers also need to make money to feed a family, so why should we restrict your purchases?"

Sun Xiangfu said so bluntly that we need to make money, but it made Ivan's face twitch.

Their Byzantines are really afraid to do business with Datang now. According to his personal opinion, they should completely block trade with Datang now to prevent the country's cash from flowing out. In this way, although it will be poor in the short term, it is still We can support it with all our strength, as long as we spend more than 20 to [-] years expanding domestic output, we may not be able to return to the period when the country was at its peak a decade ago.

However, Heraclius and some powerful forces in Byzantium would not agree. They felt that the Cold War was the Cold War, and defense was defense, and business still had to be done.

If they completely cut off the business relationship with Datang, even the banquet tonight will become boring, because many of the things used for the banquet are produced in Datang.

Of course, the more practical situation is that they all got some benefits from these good things.

Arms procurement, this is a bait that the Byzantine Empire cannot resist.

Because they have a strong enemy called Dashi.Therefore, although Ivan was still full of doubts in his heart, he chose to keep silent about the matter first, and later, he would discuss with Heraclius to make a decision.

After thinking about changing the topic, Ivan said again, "But I still don't think that in order to reach an arms sales agreement for us, you will pass on the foundation of your country's strength, agricultural knowledge, to us, because even if you don't spread it to us This knowledge, as long as you open your mouth to sell those controlled items, we will also pay for it.”

Sun Xiangfu seemed to have heard a big joke, he snorted and said, "Pay money to buy it? Do you have the money to buy it? It seems that you still owe us tens of millions of money. His Majesty Cleo, the dividends of the shares of some overseas exploration and investment companies purchased in our country are repaying the interest!"

Speaking of this, Ivan's face turned embarrassing. As a deacon, he knows how clean the treasury of the Byzantine Empire is. Money keeps flowing out. Taxes, the taxes they can collect, are getting less and less.

Moreover, the people's resistance to the tax collector is growing, and even some core believers of the church have begun to leave the church because of the difficult life, looking for a new way out.

However, after those vassal states that served as buffers were all swallowed up by the Great Food, or were annexed by the Tang Dynasty, they needed to spend more and more on military expenditures, and they were able to survive until now because of the foundation of the Byzantine Empire. It is very thick, supported by a population base of more than 4000 million people.

But this situation can't last long, because it is the status quo of the Byzantine Empire to make ends meet, and the envoy of the Tang Dynasty in front of him seems to know the internal affairs of the Byzantine Empire like the back of his hand.

Seeing that Ivan was silent, Sun Xiangfu smiled again and said, "So, we must make you rich, so that our things can be sold."

"Let us become rich?"

Ivan has not figured out this logic for a while. Since Datang wants to get benefits, it is fine if he can't do it himself. Why bother?

But he didn't know that the purpose of Datang was to deliberately raise a fat pig in front of the wolf, Dashi, and that he was already switching from squeezing the money reserves of the Byzantine Empire to squeezing the labor force of the Byzantine Empire.

(End of this chapter)