Gao Jianu looked at the ruined village not far away, and his face was gloomy. It was the former Yongbyon Prefecture, which was looted by the nearby Tibetan tribe and burned down and abandoned. There is nothing in this small village, and if it is in other places, the Gao family slaves are too lazy to take a look. But here it has a different meaning, without this, the Khitan will lose control within a radius of hundreds of miles. In addition, the Song army rebuilt the partial head village, and the connection between the southwest Zhaoji Division and Shuozhou was cut off, and the Khitan territory was driven into a wedge by the Song army.

Zhang Qi looked at Gao Jianu and smiled silently. Tanglong Town and Yitou Village are one left and one right, choking this section of the Yellow River, and the strategic situation has changed a lot compared with before. Although it is peacetime and it is not known what it is for, for a military man, it is always something to rejoice.

There are not many people brought by Gao Jianu, and the corpses of the Khitans along the road can only be burned and buried, even Shijianu. If it weren't for Song Jun watching from the side, they wouldn't even be able to do these things. When it arrived in the abandoned state of Yongbyon, it was finally completed, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Coming out of the village, Gao Jianu said to Zhang Qi: "This matter is over, it is important to talk about business." From here, we headed south and went straight to Biaotou Village to meet Judge Du. The governor can send someone to inform him, so that the judge can prepare early. ”

Du Zhongxiao got the news from Zhang Qi's fast horse, and returned to the partial head village with Yelu Buhua. Although he didn't say it explicitly, Yelu Buhua roughly knew what the Song Dynasty was thinking, and his mood was extremely relaxed. After occupying Tanglong Town, the Song army did not occupy a wide territory on the west bank of the Yellow River, but proposed to make it a place of free trade, and everyone could explain it.

When he arrived at the partial head village, Du Zhongxiao waited for a few days, and Zhang Qi and Gao Jianu arrived, which was close to the end of the year.

In the winter months, some nomadic tribes with poor savings lack food and clothing, and at this time, the surrounding conflicts are continuous, and the attacks are endless. Du Zhongxiao was busy dealing with surrounding affairs, and it took a few more days before he officially negotiated with Gao Jianu and Yelu Buhua.

After learning from Yelu Buhua that the Song Dynasty intended to make Tanglong Town a place of free trade, Gao Jianu couldn't make up his mind. Doing this is not a big harm to the Khitan, this is a marginal area, and the most important thing now is to stabilize relations with the Song Dynasty and go all out to deal with the party. But whether this place is free for trade, whether it belongs to the Song Dynasty or the Khitan, or is it semi-independent as before, the ministry must have an explanation.

In the walled hall, a few pots of charcoal were lit, and it was not cold. Du Zhongxiao sat opposite Wang Kai and Gao Jianu and Yelu Buhua.

After serving tea, Du Zhongxiao said: "It has been nearly a month since the envoy entered the country, and I see that the New Year is approaching, and I am really afraid that I will not talk about business until now." ”

Gao Jianu said: "Along the way, I will collect and bury the bones of the soldiers, thank you for sending troops to help." ”

The two exchanged a few words and got to the point.

Gao Jianu said: "The family from Tanglong Town has been canonized by this dynasty for several generations, and they are courtiers of this dynasty. Now that Nanguo occupies Tanglong Town, I don't know what will happen in the future? The two countries have good relations, and don't hurt the peace for this kind of barbaric place. ”

Du Zhongxiao said with a smile: "Since the founding of this dynasty, when you come to the house, you are the subjects under the rule, and everyone knows about this. Come to guard both ends of the head of the mouse, although he is a vassal under the rule of this dynasty, and he is a vassal to your country, he also calls himself a vassal to the party. Such a villain, everything can't be done, and he won't mention it. ”

Gao Jianu hurriedly said: "How can you not mention it!" To guard the ancestors of the previous generations, they have all been canonized by this dynasty, how can it not be counted! ”

Du Zhongxiao shook his head: "Now that we come to Shoushun in the party, don't we still have to pull the party people to talk?" Envoys, the party is the common enemy of our two countries, they have broken through the town of Tanglong, the population has been plundered, and it is the dynasty that sent troops to reoccupy it, and this is the case. Entangled in the past, we have clear documents here, orderly inheritance, it is useless to talk more, let's talk about the future. ”

Gao Jianu was silent for a while, and nodded reluctantly. It is true that the family was canonized by the two countries, and several parties were called vassals, but the official documents were still more dominant in the Song Dynasty. Gao Jianu knew this, and there was really no need to entangle.

Du Zhongxiao said: "Tanglong Town is sandwiched between the Three Kingdoms, and now that I am stationed in the army, I have no intention of monopolizing it. I have reported to the court, and I still set up the people who came to the house as the mainstay, and my court sent some soldiers and horses to keep them safe. It was a place that was well connected and easily accessible, making it the most convenient place for trade. What we mean is that all parties can go there and trade freely, so that it is convenient for the people of the three countries. ”

Gao Jianu had been waiting for this sentence for a long time, and hurriedly asked: "There is free trade there, how to collect taxes?" ”

Du Zhongxiao smiled slightly, and sure enough, what Gao Jianu cared about most was collecting taxes. The purpose of setting up the field of each country is to collect taxes, whether it is the Song Dynasty or the Khitan, which is the most important benefit. Du Zhongxiao's purpose is not like this, the purpose of trade is to invigorate the economy and promote the development of various industries. The additional income brought by a large trading center is much more important than the collection of taxes.

In the past, the farms were all closed, and some were even set up in barren mountains and mountains, which did not have an obvious effect on the local economy. In this place of Tanglong Town, Du Zhongxiao wants to be the inside and outside of each other with the Volcano Army, focusing on the development of industries, and collecting taxes is secondary.

Seeing that Gao Jianu was looking at him nervously, it was obvious that the right to collect taxes was of the utmost importance to him, Du Zhongxiao said: "In my opinion, there will be no taxes on trade merchants in Tanglong Town, and a tax-free place will be made for the convenience of merchants." ”

"Tax-free? Tax exemption-" Gao Jianu repeated these two words several times, confused. If there is no tax, what does the government encourage trade? They have to garrison soldiers and horses, they want officials to manage, they have to build cities, and they spend money everywhere, where does this money come from?

Du Zhongxiao nodded: "Yes, there is tax exemption for merchants." Merchants from anywhere can enter Tanglong Town to trade, as long as they abide by the rules and trade fairly, they are all tax-free. Of course, before merchants enter the country, how each country collects taxes is its own business. ”

Gao Jianu thought for a while before he understood what Du Zhongxiao meant. That is, Tanglong Town is a completely neutral area, and each country collects its own taxes on its own merchants, but once it enters the territory of Tanglong Town, it no longer collects taxes. The closest field to Tanglong Town in Khitan is the Zhenwu Army, which is not convenient, so it is necessary to choose a suitable place to collect taxes. This is indeed conducive to the prosperity of commerce, but why did the Song Dynasty spend a lot of effort for?

After pondering for a while, Gao Jianu asked Du Zhongxiao: "What is the benefit of doing this?" ”

"Benefits?" Du Zhongxiao was a little stunned for a while, and then thought about it to understand what Gao Jianu meant. "Merchants have business to do, and the people have money to earn, which is the benefit of this dynasty. The people of the Han Dynasty in this area live in poverty, and it is not a great benefit that they can live a good life on it! ”

Gao Jianu didn't believe in this. It is not uncommon for officials to love the people, but it is not a normal thing for normal people to make such a big disturbance and spend a lot of effort just to make the people live a better life. Gao Jianu knew in his heart that the Song people would have something to ask for. What benefits could such a trading place bring to the Song Dynasty? In this place, there are only horses. However, this reason cannot be directly put forward, whether to sell horses or not is the business of each country itself, and it is good not to let the sale of its own domestic control be stricter. Gao Jianu also doubted that as long as the Khitan was strictly controlled, where could the Song Dynasty buy horses.

In this era, countries do not pay much attention to territory, and they are most concerned about how much food they receive. The Song Dynasty offered to exempt merchants from taxation in Tanglong Town, and many controversies disappeared.

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