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On February 14 of the second year of Ming Dao, Gengxu Day, the spring equinox solar term, Xu Ping had just sent Shi Quanbin away a few days later, and the urgent document on the battle of Langzhou in the capital also arrived. Coincidentally, the Chinese book and the documents of the Privy Council arrived on the same day and arrived in Xu Ping's hands together.

At this time, the official name of Zhongshu is Zhongshu Menxia, and the office is the political hall, not the Zhongshu Province of the three-province system, which began in the Kaiyuan period of the former Tang Dynasty, and was set up to unify the power of the prime minister. The Five Dynasties and the Song Dynasty became accustomed to it, so the real official title of the prime minister is actually the Pingzhangshi under the Tongzhongshu Menxia, referred to as the Tongping Zhangshi, and the others are not the real prime ministers.

The Privy Council began in the five dynasties, at first it was the inner dynasty led by eunuchs, and slowly evolved into the department in charge of the military and political affairs of the outer dynasty, in charge of the military and political affairs of a country, until the Song Dynasty system was complete.

At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, out of consideration for limiting the power of the prime minister, the Zhongshu and the Privy Council did not govern each other, and they were also in charge of their own affairs and did not interfere with each other. Because of the overlap of affairs, there are often ironic fallacies, such as a person being appointed to different positions by the Zhongshu and the Privy Council at the same time. In the Zhenzong Dynasty, there was a system of mutual reporting, and if there was a government affairs related to another department, the Zhongshu and the Privy Council would inform each other in advance. In order to deal with the war with all his might during the battle of Lanzhou, Xiang Minzhong sent the Privy Council to the governor and the governor, and as a starting point, the "gathering hall" system of the two governments was formed during the Jingde period, that is, the Zhongshu and the Privy Council regularly worked together. "Mutual reporting" and "gathering halls" were the coordination mechanisms between the two governments during the Zhenzong period, so that government affairs could be unimpeded.

After the Zhenzong Dynasty, Empress Dowager Liu was in power. In the early days, the system of the Shinshu period was still maintained. Later, with the rise of Zhang Qi, who was in charge of the Privy Council, his power grew. In the past two years, the "gathering hall" was first abolished, and since last year, even the usual "mutual reporting" has ceased to exist in name only, and in fact, the two governments have returned to their own affairs.

The Chinese book and the official documents of the Privy Council that Xu Ping held in his hand were strange things that contradicted each other and acted separately in this context.

The Privy Council still adhered to its previous opinion, severely criticizing Xu Ping for using swords and soldiers on the border, but the war in Guangyuan and Langzhou was over. Xu Ping won a big victory, so he is not to blame in the past. However, he solemnly warned that he should be quiet in the future, and should not provoke again, and at the same time asked to find the descendants of Nong Cunfu, give good mercy, and if necessary, send the capital to face the saint, and stabilize his clansmen to serve the Great Song Dynasty.

Zhongshu did the opposite, praising Xu Ping's achievements and asking him to accept the previous special decree to canonize him and make him a knight. Xu Ping was also asked to address the current situation in Yongzhou. Put forward your own opinions on future planning and governance, especially on the development of cane sugar. and the opinion of cane sugar and local relations.

The cane sugar business belongs to the three divisions, but now there are many local powers, which is in conflict with the Yongzhou local government, and must be resolved in the long run. At this time, there are also field affairs with independent governance power, such as some money supervisors, some large iron supervisors, salt supervisors, etc., but the area is very small, like the sugar industry covering several counties, the population and financial resources are not less than that of Shangzhou, there is no field affairs, and the future development must be standardized.

Xu Ping couldn't cry or laugh when he held these two official documents, and he felt a little at a loss.

The Privy Council was obviously angry, and his plan was slapped hard by Xu Ping, and this breath couldn't be swallowed no matter what. But organizationally, Xu Ping was under the control of Zhongshu, and it was not the turn of the Privy Council to come forward to dictate, so he had to restrict Xu Ping in terms of power. The border affairs belong to the Privy Council, and they say that if they want the border to be quiet, they must be quiet, and they say that if they want to fight, they will fight, and Xu Ping must comply with this.

As for Zhongshu, it is relatively simple, winning the battle is one thing, expanding the place, and expanding the place where sugar cane can be grown is another. With the popularization of white sugar in the country, the increase in supply, and the increasing pressure to reduce prices, the three divisions urgently need to increase the production and sales of white sugar to balance this contradiction.

Generally speaking, monopoly goods have two natures, one is a disguised poll tax, such as the monopoly of salt, and the other is a luxury tax, such as the monopoly of wine. Tea and sugar are in between, which is different from the tax rate of wine, the total amount of tax is generally fixed, and the sales volume of salt is roughly fixed. The total tax revenue of tea and sugar is elastic, and the unit price and sales volume have an impact on the total tax revenue, and the larger the sales volume, the lower the unit price is lower than the country and the people.

After being a magistrate in Yongzhou for so many years and in charge of sugar cane affairs, Xu Ping also has some understanding of the essence of monopoly. For example, in his previous life, the sales of tobacco monopoly accounted for roughly one-sixth of the central government's revenue, and in this era, the total sales of various monopoly sales could only account for more than one-third of the income of the three divisions. Among these monopoly products, the greater the proportion of elastic items such as white sugar, the less pressure on the three divisions.

White sugar is indeed wealth, but it is definitely not as valuable as the numbers on paper now, Xu Ping's merit is not to provide so much money to the third division, but to provide white sugar as a high-quality means of tax collection. As a magistrate who has had a close relationship with the three divisions for many years, Xu Ping has long had this kind of consciousness, knowing that his weight in the entire empire's financial system is a few catties and a few taels, and he has already passed the stage of self-aggrandizement.

The three divisions are in charge of the national finance, and they are the most important among the departments under the Zhongshu Gate, and the opinions of the Zhongshu will naturally be tilted towards the three divisions. Really speaking, Xu Ping's victory is secondary, and the expansion of cane sugar is the most important.

Sorting out these relationships, Xu Ping breathed a sigh of relief. In the remaining months, it seems that his energy should be focused on the sugar cane business, and the sugar cane fields will be expanded to Menzhou and Langzhou as soon as possible. As long as Jiaozhi recognizes the reality and no longer comes to Langzhou to entangle, Xu Ping is too lazy to compete with them anymore.

Thang Long Mansion, the side hall of the Jiaozhi Palace.

Li Foma sat on the throne with a gloomy face, looking at Li Fengxiao and Li Renyi standing in front of him, as well as Li Mingxin behind Li Renyi, and said coldly: "How is the battle in Langzhou, General Li is here, you listen to him carefully, don't hide!" ”

Li Mingxin only felt that his legs and stomach were trembling, and he replied trembling slightly: "The little one obeys the order." ”

Li Foma was born in the third year of Xianping of Song Zhenzong, at the age of thirty-four. It is the age of the heyday of Spring and Autumn. It's not as easy to fool as an old and mediocre emperor. Since early twenties. As the main general, Li Foma crusaded against Fengzhou, Yanzhou and Qiyuan Prefecture, and won many battles large and small, including the war with his brother for the throne, and never lost.

Until they sent troops to attack Langzhou, they thought that they were nine out of ten, and their estimation of the Great Song Dynasty was not wrong, they still wanted stability and did not want to expand the war. I never expected that. was bitten hard by Xu Ping, a small frontier official, 10,000 elite soldiers and nearly 10,000 native soldiers were wiped out, and he fled back to the most useless Li Mingxin.

As an emperor, and a wise emperor, Li Foma is not so rash that he has to compete with a border official of the Great Song Dynasty. But Langzhou really can't be lost, he, the king of Jiaozhi, still wants to be the king, and he still wants to be the little overlord in the south of the Great Song Dynasty, so Langzhou must be in his own hands.

Li Mingxin stumbled. It can be regarded as a general explanation of the affairs of Langzhou. He was far behind at the time, and he couldn't say why. It's just a vigorous rendering of the Song Army's stone cannons, all kinds of rocks and fires on the hillside, and as for the most fatal layout in the valley, I don't know anything.

Li Foma had already heard it a few times, and after listening to him, he turned his head to look at Li Fengxiao and said, "General, what do you think?" If you attack Langzhou, what are the chances of winning? ”

Li Fengxiao frowned and said, "If it's just a stone cannon, it's not difficult to deal with." The most important part is that the Song army did not attack at all, and we did not know anything about the layout in the valley, which was difficult to do. ”

Li Foma said: "I have already heard that the Song army built two earthen walls in the valley, which are similar to the city walls, and their soldiers use the earthen walls to hurt people with strong bows and crossbows. ”

Li Fengxiao shook his head and said, "That's all? Chen Changji has been with me for many years, and after many vicious battles, just two earthen walls can wipe out more than 10,000 people, and this kind of statement is not believed by the ministers anyway! ”

Li Mingxin was most afraid of arguing about the cause of Chen Changji's death, so he involved himself, and hurriedly said: "General, don't underestimate the two earthen walls, the Song army has thousands of strong crossbows, and more than 10,000 soldiers are gone!" ”

Li Fengxiao looked at Li Mingxin and faced the ridicule: "You said it so easily! Thousands of strong crossbows, do you think crossbowmen can do it alone? I still have the crossbow of the Song army in our army, why don't you pull it open and show me? Don't talk about the black lacquer crossbow, it's the jumping crossbow, which doesn't require strong arm tension, you can pull it away, how can I, the commander of the army, do for you? If you lose in Langzhou, you can't get rid of it, and you dare to talk nonsense in front of the saint! ”

Li Renyi coughed: "General, today is talking about the garrison of the Song army in Langzhou, why are you talking too far?" There are more than 10,000 strong soldiers in half a day, there must be a reason, and Mingxin is just a reasonable speculation. ”

Li Fengxiao snorted coldly: "The crossbow is used in the army, not to mention that the person who opens the crossbow must be born with divine power, and there must be crossbow people, crossbow men and Zhang crossbow people on the battle array, do you think it is to shoot hares with soft bows?" Keep saying that there are only 6,000 Song troops in Langzhou, but according to your statement, I am afraid that there will be more than 60,000 people! ”

Li Foma's calm face did not stop Li Fengxiao. He is also a person who has led troops many times, of course he knows that Li Fengxiao is telling the truth, but the current intelligence is indeed that there are only 6,000 troops there, and he is confused.

Li Fengxiao raised his voice and said: "The art of war has words, know yourself and know your opponent, and you can not be defeated in a hundred battles." Now I can't even figure out how many Song troops there are in Langzhou, so how can I win the battle! ”

Li Foma sighed: "The general is right, but time waits for no one." It's February now, and the rainy season will be in two or three months, and marching in the rainy season is even more taboo. We can't take it back in two or three months, we have to wait until next year. ”

"How can you wait?" Li Foma's face was full of sadness. "The last time Chen Gongyong took his clansmen to the Song Dynasty, but he didn't stop it, and now people are in turmoil everywhere in the north. That's not all, we can send troops to suppress it, but we are restless, recruiting local officials, encroaching on land, and they don't have the same concerns as the Great Song Dynasty. If we really have to wait until next year, I'm afraid that the north of the Fuliang River will not be owned by us. ”

(Note 1: Ailao is now a local government in Laos, and there are many attacks on Cochin.)

Note 2: Zhongshu and the Privy Council gathered in the middle and late stages of Zhenzong to discuss matters, but there was a gap between the period when Empress Dowager Liu was in power and the prime minister and the privy council when she fought against the Western Xia during the Qingli period, and there must have been a period of separation, but the process is not clear.

There is one more chapter in the evening. ）

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