The film and television world begins with the battle for the throne in Kowloon

Chapter 911 Born in Comfort, Died in Worry

Li Yan felt happy in his heart, what an evil feudal society!

If this happened in modern times, if old Taishan knew that I was going to cause trouble, he would have broken his legs. He would not have knelt here and expressed gratitude to me like he is doing now.

The father-in-law and son-in-law politely declined for a while and sat down again.

Li Yan continued to put forward conditions: "Second, let the Tang Dynasty provide the Turks with a million dan of grain and grass, a million pieces of silk, and a million taels of gold."

"Third, the Tang Dynasty must open its market to the Turks and set up mutual markets in the northern border towns as the entry and exit for trade between the two sides. Both sides are allowed to trade freely, and the government must not block them. As for the opening location and management method, as well as the transaction content and market rules, we can discuss them in detail."

Li Yan had told Li Shimin before that the Tang Dynasty was vast and rich in resources, while the commodities on the grassland were limited, basically raw materials and animal husbandry. As long as the two sides conducted free trade, they could use commercial means to influence all aspects of the grassland.

From an economic perspective, the two countries formed an integrated whole, with the Tang Dynasty occupying the upper echelon of the business chain with high technology and capital content, while the nomadic peoples were firmly trapped in the lower echelon of the economic structure, thus ruling the grassland from another level.

However, after five or six years, the Tang Dynasty has not made much progress in this regard.

Large-scale transactions still rely on smuggling by caravans of aristocratic families, and Li Yan explained the disadvantages of this very clearly to Li Shimin.

But it has not been implemented till now.
Li Yan guessed that it was the noble families who enjoyed the benefits of private trade who were causing trouble. Smuggling trade was a huge source of income for them. Once the trade was open, a large number of ordinary civilian merchants could bypass the noble families.

Go to trade alone to reduce dependence on the family.

Moreover, a large part of the proceeds will be used as taxation for the court, directly enhancing Li Shimin's control over the court.

It would be better to use the court laws as obstacles as it is now to block a large number of competitors, while the aristocratic families use their own relationships and connections to enjoy the benefits of smuggling alone.

This time, Li Yan will use alternative "strong ships and powerful guns" to open up the markets on both sides.

Once the economy flows freely, in the short term, the Turks can enjoy the benefits of obtaining resources without robbing. However, due to the imbalance of the economic forms of both sides, in the long run, the Turks' food, clothing, housing and transportation will all depend on the Central Plains and be firmly controlled by the Tang Dynasty.

When the benefits gained from trade far outweigh the plunder from war, anyone who wants to launch a war against the Tang Dynasty will face great resistance.

The Turks did not understand the importance of this matter, but some far-sighted people in the Tang Dynasty's aristocratic families could see the pros and cons here, and they would probably call the Turks extremely stupid.

Isn't this like inviting thieves into the house?
As soon as Li Yan said these three conditions, Hou Junji's head was buzzing. He said with an unpleasant face, "Your Highness, the marriage and trade are not a big problem, but the three million conditions are too harsh."

"The Tang Dynasty has not been well off in recent years. Because of the reforms, many aristocratic families in various places have resisted, and tax revenue has dropped sharply."

"Plus, the national treasury has to allocate 30% every year to appease the three major governorates."

"You also need to win over the Western Regions. They have come from afar to pay tribute, and Your Majesty cannot let them suffer. In order to publicize the majesty of a great country, although there is no brocade-wrapped pillars and fireworks like Emperor Yang, it has also paid a lot of price."

"Last year, the Tang Dynasty added Liaodong Road, and many people migrated there from the interior. They needed to rebuild their homes, and they needed aid for oxen and seeds. Not only could the court not collect any taxes within three years, but it also had to allocate funds to support them every year."

"The national treasury is in deficit now, so how can we give you money, grain and cloth, not to mention a million taels of gold? Do you want the emperor to sell the Taiji Palace?"

Listening to Hou Junji counting on his fingers the wealth of the Tang Dynasty, Li Yan's face turned serious: "Humph, if there is no big enough pot, don't cook so much rice. Are those ministers in the Taiji Palace just eating for free? In the situation of the Tang Dynasty, they don't even know how to give up some things."

“So greedy.”

"I can be merciful, but the Right Wise King will not care. Tell the Tang emperor and his ministers that none of these things can be missing. I don't care where they get them from. If they don't give them to me, I will lead a million-strong army with Yi Nan to attack the interior of the country and take them myself."

"However, when my army arrived at Chang'an, I didn't just want three million men. I wanted ten or a hundred times that. I wanted Chang'an City and the country of the Tang Dynasty."

Li Yan just showed the domineering and gracefulness of the Right Wise King at this time, and his words were powerful and murderous. Hou Junji felt that if the Tang Dynasty could not produce these things, the Turks might really launch a war to destroy the country.

"As for the importance of the country and some money, let the emperor and his ministers of the Tang Dynasty decide for themselves!" After Li Yan finished speaking, he sat down behind the desk and drank the mare's milk wine in one gulp.

These conditions may seem harsh, but in fact, only the one million taels of gold is relatively difficult. The others are not considered difficult for the current Tang Dynasty.

Hou Junji subconsciously regarded Li Yan's request as the internal budget and expenditure of the Tang Dynasty.

Marriage is a generous gesture, while trade is a policy condition. In the past few years, there has been no war in the Tang Dynasty, and the grain harvest in the Central Plains, Jiangnan and Shu has been good every year. According to Li Yan's understanding of the Tang Dynasty, there are no less than 10 million dan of grain stored in several warehouses in the interior.

The Turks lived on the grasslands, and the silk they needed was not the kind of silk brocade worn by rich people, but coarse cotton and linen used for herding horses and sheep. These were wear-resistant and scratch-resistant, and could be mixed with leather robes. They were not expensive, and the price of one piece was about the same as one stone of grain.

Seeing the difficulty on Hou Junji's face, Li Yan said, "Father-in-law, I have calculated that the Tang Dynasty has enjoyed good weather and good harvests in recent years. A dou of rice in Chang'an is only five cents."

"Moreover, the trend of extravagance is on the rise, and the nobles are competing with each other to spend money lavishly."

"My father is also building a large-scale Daming Palace in the north of the city. This year, he will select embroiderers from all over the country to enrich the harem. At the beginning of the year, he appointed three concubines and recruited many Taoist alchemists to make the elixir of immortality."

Li Yan said with disdain, "I don't think Father is as troubled as you say. How can he still have the time to do so many things?"

"As the ancients said, one is born in comfort but dies in sorrow. He should be thankful that it is me, not Yi Nan or Shi Luodie, who has risen again on the grassland. Otherwise, the Tang Dynasty might have really fallen in his hands."

"This"

Hou Junji was speechless for a moment. He did not expect that the Crown Prince, who lived in the desert, knew everything about Chang'an City. Hou Junji was ashamed of this. What Li Yan said was true. Li Shimin cried about being poor while making great achievements.

When the situation gets a little better, I start to enjoy life.

While watching the leaders of the various countries in the Western Regions shouting "Tian Khan" in the Taiji Hall, he also renovated the palace.

Since the eighth year of Zhenguan, the Daming Palace was expanded in the northeast corner of Chang'an City. It was initially called Yong'an Palace and was built in the name of a place for the retired emperor to spend his remaining years. After the death of the retired emperor, the construction did not stop but expanded again.

Hou Junji and the court officials all knew that Li Shimin felt that the Taiji Palace was old and in disrepair, the foundation had sunk, and the palace was damp. In addition, the Taiji Palace was originally named Daxing Palace, a palace inherited from the Sui Dynasty, and was not enough to reflect the prosperity of the Zhenguan era and the majesty of the Heavenly Khan.

In the name of filial piety, Li Shimin actually built a new palace for himself from the beginning.

After the Battle of Dingxiang, Li Shimin expanded the territory of the Tang Dynasty by more than double, conquered half of the grasslands, and the countries in the Western Regions surrendered one after another. Li Shimin's prestige reached an unprecedented high, and he was immersed in his achievements of dominating the world.

On the one hand, the military and financial resources of the Tang Dynasty were exported to maintain the dignity of the "Glorious Tang Dynasty".

On the other hand, he did not forget his own enjoyment. He recruited many embroiderers and concubines, and secretly made elixirs. The ministers tried to persuade him several times but it was useless. Empress Changsun also had several quarrels with Li Shimin over this, but to no avail, and it also caused a rift in the relationship between the emperor and the empress.

What Hou Junji didn't know was that in history, Empress Changsun died in the tenth year of Zhenguan. Before Li Yan left, he couldn't bear to see Empress Changsun die at such a young age, so he took care of Changsun Wugou's body and left a trace of imperial aura as a reward from the system.

As a result, Empress Changsun, who should have passed away, is still alive today.

When he thought of this, Hou Junji was also somewhat pleased, and secretly said in his heart: "Well, the emperor always complains and won't listen to others' advice, then let His Royal Highness the Crown Prince bring the northern army to "persuade" him, and see if he will listen or not?"

"These northern barbarian cavalry don't care about your majesty as an emperor. No matter how unhappy Li Shimin is, he has to bow his head obediently."

After a careful calculation, Hou Junji said, "Your Highness, there is no problem with the grain and silk. According to my understanding, the national treasury can still provide them, but as for gold, you know that it is scarce in the market."

"You want a million taels all at once. Is it true that the national treasury doesn't have enough?"

"Moreover, one million taels of gold would be worth ten million taels of silver in official exchange, which would be doubled in the market. Converted into copper coins, it would eventually be worth thirty or forty million copper coins. The annual revenue of the Tang Dynasty is only this much, and it still needs to maintain the expenditure of a country."

"Before you left, the emperor saved some money to fight the Turks."

"But these past few years, under the prosperous times, are actually worse than those years."

"The expenses are huge. There is no surplus every year. The Ministry of Revenue is poor every year. Where can we get so much gold for you?"

Li Yan was stunned: "Didn't I leave you 200,000 taels last year in Liaodong?"

Hou Junji's face darkened and he felt guilty. How dare you say that? Wasn't that money you used to bribe me?

However, Hou Junji also knew that he could not swallow this money. Jie Li had already told Zhangsun Wuji, and later it was used by the Right Wise King to deceive the world. No matter how you calculate it, everyone knows that such a huge sum of money will definitely fall into Li Shimin's hands in the end.

(End of this chapter)