The sun was setting in the west, and the officials who went out of the city to watch the martial arts left in turn, and Du Zhongxiao and Wang Kai stood in the sunset, looking at the city gate. Today's martial arts performance is quite successful, but there is still no clear statement about when the two will enter the city.

Sighing, Du Zhongxiao said to Wang Kai: "Governor, it's been a busy day, don't care about anything else, go drink!" ”

Zhang Weiji brought a reward from the palace, and the two ordered it to be sent to the accompanying sergeant, and went to a nearby restaurant together.

Early in the morning of the second day, there were attendants to the post house, ordering Du Zhongxiao and Wang Kai to enter the city, first to pay their lives in the capital, and then enter the palace.

After receiving the decree, the two let out a sigh. After so many days, I was finally able to enter the city. Sending away the messenger, Du Zhongxiao and Wang Kai looked at each other and smiled bitterly. The military exploits of two years ago were not as useful as a show for the courtiers.

Changing into official clothes, the two entered the city gate, and walked all the way along the royal street to the imperial city, and were led by the guards to the capital hall.

There is no early dynasty today, and the government hall and the Privy Council are all there, and the capital hall is a little crowded.

Du Zhongxiao and Wang Kai stepped forward to salute and sing a promise, and they saluted like a ceremony.

Xia Zhu said: "This time, you will return to the dynasty to report on your work, and you will have to do two things. First, it occupied Tanglong Town a few years ago, and how to deal with it in the future. Du Zhijun said that there can be free trade in the future, and no commercial tax will be collected, how to manage the law. Another musket artillery, there must be a charter. ”

Du Zhongxiao arched his hand: "Back to Taiwei, Tang Longzhen is because when he came to Shoushun, the three parties were called ministers, and the matter was special, if the imperial court directly sent officials to govern, the Khitan and the party were unwilling, and there were countless disputes." The free trade that Xia Guan refers to means that no matter where the merchants are, they do not need to pay taxes to trade in Tanglong Town. Of course, how merchants from various countries collect taxes before going there depends on their own rules. The Khitan and the party focused on money and grain, and Tanglong Town did not collect commercial taxes, and they could also trade there, so they recognized Tanglong Town as a member of the dynasty. ”

Jia Changchao said: "Trade taxes are not only for money and grain, but also for the control of trade goods there by virtue of more taxes and less taxes. If Tanglong Town does not collect commercial taxes, there must be unscrupulous merchants who sell forbidden goods there. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "What Xianggong said is true. It is Tanglong Town, where the dynasty will send heavy troops, and everything is in the control of the imperial court. If the private sale of forbidden items in this dynasty is rampant, it can be disposed of by the Laijia and other departments in Tanglong Town. And if you sell forbidden things in other countries, you can listen to them. ”

Without waiting for Jia Changchao to speak, Xia Zhu nodded and said, "That's feasible." When you put forward this idea, you must have to buy their forbidden goods from the Khitan and Dangxiang. What to buy? What to buy with? ”

In fact, everyone knows what to buy, and what the Song Dynasty most wanted to buy from the north was nothing more than horses, especially fine war horses, and the most important thing was what to buy. In foreign trade, money is not feasible, and gold and silver are even more not, it must be something that the Song Dynasty wants to sell.

Du Zhongxiao said: "The lower officials have some plans, and I ask you to consider them." Tea silk and the like, there are several fields on Hebei Road, and the Khitan trades a huge number of customers every year, and Tanglong Town sells these again, some from the surplus. According to the meaning of the lower officials, one is sugar. This product is produced in Sichuan and Shu, which is not only convenient to transport, but also not easy to perish, and is an excellent trade thing. Another is oil, many places on Hedong Road are planted with soybean beans, which are rare in the north, and they are also perishable. Another is wine. The northerners are greedy for cups and drink spirits, which is exactly what suits their temperament. Xiaguan's new method of making liquor in the Volcano Army was to make spirits from sorghum and other inedible grains. Wine has always been a forbidden thing, and free trade in Tanglong Town does not make the Khitan people suspicious. Sell these things, try to get some good horses from the Khitan and Dangxiang markets. To the north of the Volcano Army, the area around Yinshan was mostly Tatars, and some of them were good horses. If they can sell Madeli, it is difficult to refuse to come to Khitan. Those places are miserable and do business better than other places. ”

Jia Changchao shook his head again and again after hearing this: "Wine is made of grain, and it is sold to the north, not to send grain to them?" This is not possible! ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Xianggong, wine is indeed made of grain, but the official wine can use old grains to make wine, and use more miscellaneous grains, which is not a big problem." In addition, if the wine is greedy, it will be extremely harmful to people. Let the Tibetan people drink alcohol, and there will be no harm in this dynasty. ”

Large-scale alcoholism is very harmful to a nation, which can be verified by Du Zhongxiao's insight of later generations. The grain and grass on Hedong Road are not tight, and it is nothing to move some out to make wine. Besides, how big can the market be for a military town liquor?

Jia Changchao wanted to say more, Xia Zhu said: "What Zhijun said makes sense, how much grain can you use to sell some wine?" The Tibetan people are good at wine, and it is not a bad thing for us to be greedy for what is in the cup, not to mention that it is still brewed with miscellaneous grains. ”

Frontier affairs belong to the Privy Council, Xia Zhu said so, Jia Changchao is not good to insist, and this is not a big deal.

Pang Ji on the side said: "You want to horse from Tatar City, but this matter is not easy." The Khitans have occupied the north and south of the desert for nearly a hundred years, and have repeatedly conquered, how can those Tatars be allowed to sell horses to the Central Plains? ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "There must be a brave man under the heavy reward." In a place of free trade, as long as it is profitable, there will inevitably be people who sell horses there, and the Khitans can't stop it. They were able to stop the Tatars, the Dangxiang Qiang, the Turks, and the Tuyuhun. ”

In the final analysis, the Khitan people do not have strict control over the north and south of Yinshan, as long as they get out of the trade of goods under the control of the Khitan, there will always be people who will seize the opportunity to make a lot of money. In the past, it was not that no one sold it, but that the Song Dynasty had no way to buy it, which was the meaning of Tanglong Town.

After asking some more details, everyone knew what Du Zhongxiao thought about Tang Longzhen, and basically agreed. It was originally a place of bondage, if it weren't for the Khitan frontline, the Song Dynasty wouldn't have bothered to take care of it, so Du Zhongxiao would have done it. It doesn't matter if it becomes the best, and it doesn't matter if it doesn't work

talked about Tanglong Town, Du Zhongxiao talked about artillery muskets: "Yesterday, you all saw it, the artillery musket is huge, and the future is immeasurable. However, these firearms are different from knives and guns, and when they are really used in large quantities, marching and fighting becomes a different kind of war—"

Speaking of this, Ding Du interjected: "The artillery musket is infinitely powerful, and there is nothing suspicious about this. But how to prevent this method from being stolen by foreign enemies? In my opinion, the most important thing about these two things is nothing more than iron pipe gunpowder, and there is nothing difficult about it. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Xianggong is right, artillery and muskets are not difficult to make. As long as the foreign enemy gets one or two bodies, it is not difficult for the master craftsman to imitate them, and it is difficult to prevent this matter. What is difficult for outsiders to make is actually gunpowder. ”

Ding Du said: "What's so difficult about gunpowder? The capital is made of gunpowder, and it can produce tens of thousands of catties a year. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Xianggong, it's called gunpowder, maybe it explodes to shoot projectiles?" Which kinds of gunpowder are used in artillery and muskets, and how many percent of each is used, this is a rare knowledge. The official has been making gunpowder for many years, and only very reliable people know about it, so he is in case of this. ”

Ding Du nodded and did not speak again. He had already checked about gunpowder, and although it was produced in the capital, it was by no means as powerful as he saw yesterday. Not to mention the use of guns, even the firecrackers that can be exploded can only be produced in Yongcheng, and the recipe has not leaked out.

Du Zhongxiao said: "In fact, the most rare thing about artillery and muskets is that they are simple, and they are very easy to imitate. However, this price is very expensive, even if other countries learn to use these to train their troops, fighting a war will not be the same as before, and this is the most beneficial to this dynasty. ”