On the wide road on the bank of the Yaozhishui River, a group of more than a hundred barbarian envoys held scepters and walked in the southeast direction under the escort of a team of Western Qin soldiers and horses, and there were caravans and pedestrians constantly coming and going on the road. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

The leader of the barbarian mission was extremely surprised to find that almost every caravan member and pedestrian who came and went carried a weapon on his waist and back, some were swords, some were knives, and some were bows, he turned his head to the accompanying Xiqin interpreter and asked, "Why is it that everyone I see is carrying a weapon?" Are they all warriors? ”

It is no wonder that the barbarian leader was surprised, you must know that weapons are valuable items in these years, not every piece of iron can be made into weapons, iron must be smelted into steel before it can be made into weapons, the price of a weapon is very expensive, not to mention the long-range weapons such as bows, the price is much more valuable than ordinary sword weapons, in the territory of the barbarians, even warriors do not have a weapon for everyone, and the quality of the weapons is not easy to say, some people's weapons are still forged with pig iron, and they are indeed very sharp after polishing, but they are not durable, Maybe a slash will have to be scrapped.

The interpreter smiled and explained to the barbarian leader: "King Teretz Khan, the laws of our Western Qin stipulate that everyone who has reached the age of sixteen can carry weapons for travel and legitimate defense, but it is illegal to take the initiative to attack others, and after being discovered by the government, they will be prohibited from owning weapons, and if you want to legally own bows and arrows, you must apply to the government." Just now you saw that almost everyone carries weapons, because weapons are divided into many levels in our Western Qin, high-level weapons are expensive, only the army and the government and the yamen of the government are equipped with patrols, others can't buy even if they want to, and the civilian weapons are good and bad, but there are high prices, and there are low prices, but in general, whether in sharpness and tenacity can not be compared with military weapons! ”

When King Terets Khan heard the Xiqin interpreter say this, his eyes flashed, and something came to his mind, he looked at this Xiqin interpreter, this person was hired by him to be a guide and translator, he thought that as long as there were some benefits for this person, this person should do his best for him, so he asked: "In this way, if I buy a large number of weapons from the people of Western Qin and bring them back to Sophia, the official government of Western Qin should not say anything, right?" ”

The translator was stunned for a moment, shook his head and smiled: "King Khan, you are wrong, the Western Qin government allows all the people who have reached the age to have weapons, this is only for the people of Western Qin, other foreigners who come to Western Qin cannot carry weapons unless they are allowed to do so, and even if they are only civilian weapons, they cannot be taken out of the country, let alone buy them in large quantities?" Even if you buy a large number of civilian weapons, it is impossible to pass through the border checkpoints! ”

Telertz was deflated after hearing this, thinking that the cheap was really not so easy to take advantage of.

The translator saw Terez's somewhat disappointed expression, and immediately understood the reason, and said with a smile: "Khan Wangluo wants to purchase weapons in Western Qin, so he can only negotiate this deal with the Honglu Temple in the royal court, and any other yamen has no right to call the shots, although the civil weapons workshop can be sold to you, but you can't bring it back, and it's useless to buy it!" ”

Although Telötz was a little disappointed, he still had a glimmer of hope in his heart after hearing the translator's words, and he asked, "How far is it from the capital of Western Qin?" ”

The interpreter replied: "We have been crossing the Aral Sea for three days, and we still have about half a month to reach the national capital Xinjing!" ”

Telertz said: "Fortunately, our horseshoe is nailed to the horseshoe, otherwise I am afraid that the horseshoes of these horses will be wasted in a few days after just entering the territory of Xiqin!" ”

The interpreter said: "King Khan, this wide and smooth road is not for horses, but for carriages and pedestrians, if you want to protect the horseshoe, take the dirt road next to it, then it is for horses, you can gallop on it, and if you ride a horse for a long time on such a cement road, your horseshoes will have to be replaced in less than a year, and the wear is too great, even the thickest horseshoe will not withstand such grinding!" ”

"Why didn't you say it earlier?" King Teretz Khan was very unhappy when he heard this, knowing that iron was an extremely precious thing to their Bolgars, and in addition to making weapons and horsesshoes, they could only make some knives for cutting meat. He immediately took the lead and ran to the dirt road beside him, and the rest of his entourage followed suit.

And the soldiers in the Western Qin cavalry team who had been marching on the dirt road and guarding them all laughed secretly, the barbarians were really barbarians, they didn't understand anything, they actually rode horses and ran on the cement road, and the horseshoes that pulled the carriages were specially treated, which was both elastic and wear-resistant. Even if the army war horses have been treated at a higher level, they are reluctant to keep running on the concrete road.

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Xinjing, the royal palace, the Liangyi Palace.

Zhao Ziliang quickly reviewed the recitals, there were several piles of recitals on the imperial case, and there were a few small paper scrolls from the report of the Regent's Mansion that had been transmitted from Chang'an through the flying pigeons.

Gao Shang and others reported that Liu Yan had survived the most difficult period in the reform of Caoyun and salt affairs, and now Caoyun and salt affairs have slowly returned to the right track, a large number of mediocre officials and redundant personnel of Caoyun and salt affairs yamen have been abolished, and even clearly out of the officialdom, the office efficiency of these two yamen and the yamen of the branches in various places has begun to greatly improve, and some of the remaining officials are worried that they will also be dismissed, so they have to work with a spirit of twelve points, and the most important thing in these years is the officials, and there are still a large number of idle officials in the Chang'an court who are not really lacking. These people are gearing up to go around looking for connections, seeking to find a real gap.

The first step in the reform of the tax system of the Tang Dynasty has finally been completed, which makes Zhao Ziliang breathe a sigh of relief, and the next thing to do is to consolidate the results, and further urge the officials of Caoyun and the salt yamen to improve administrative efficiency and correct attitudes, and resolutely eliminate officials who neglect their duties and use their power for personal gain.

Zhao Ziliang handled the report sent from Chang'an through the flying pigeon, and after the reply, he asked the official who was responsible for delivering the reply to send the reply back to Chang'an.

At this time, a eunuch walked in quickly and reported: "Your Majesty, Lord Liu, Deputy Minister of the Government Council, asks to see you!" ”

Zhao Ziliang didn't raise his head: "Xuan!" ”

"No!"

Liu Shan quickly walked into the main hall after being summoned. Half a month after Cen Shen died of illness, Zhao Ziliang ordered Dugu Wenshu to take over the post of Prime Minister of the Government Council, and the vacant deputy minister was replaced by Liu Dan, Liu Shan has been Hongluqing for two consecutive terms, he fully demonstrated the talent of a diplomatic officer during his time as Hongluqing, and maneuvered between the Great Food Country, the Eastern Roman Empire, the Tang Dynasty and other surrounding barbarian tribes, and maintained the dignity of Western Qin, and enhanced the national prestige of Western Qin. Liu Shan took over as vice minister of the State Council, and no courtiers expressed opposition.

"Minister Liu Shan pays a visit to the king!"

Zhao Ziliang raised his head, put down his pen and said with a smile: "Liu Qing is here?" Is there something wrong? ”

Liu Shan arched his hand and said: "Back to the king, I just received an urgent official letter sent by the Khazar Protectorate, which said that the Khan of the Bolgar Khanate, Terez, led a delegation of more than 100 people to our country, and they had already gone to the Khazar Protectorate half a month before leaving to claim the vassals, hoping to belong to my Western Qin and be canonized by the king. Of course, it was inconvenient for the Khazar Protectorate to refuse this, so on the one hand, it sent people to contact the Seventh Legion, and the Seventh Legion sent a hundred-man cavalry team to escort them along the way, so that the checkpoints along the way could be cleared, and sent 800 miles of expedited horses to Xinjing to report it."

"Oh?" Zhao Ziliang was stunned for a moment, "Take the official document to this king and take a look!" ”

The official document was sent to the imperial case by the eunuch, Zhao Ziliang took it and looked at it, and after reading it, he asked: "This king remembers that this Telertz seems to have been here once when we founded the Western Qin Dynasty. Any idea where Terretz's mission is now? ”

Liu Dan said: "It's not clear for the time being, but in the next few days, there should be soldiers sent by the post stations along the way to report, and it will be clear then!" ”

Zhao Ziliang nodded and said, "Okay, pay close attention." Wait for the news of the Telertz mission, you let Honglu Temple arrange the reception in advance, don't let others say that our Xiqin is arrogant and rude, there should still be etiquette, even if they are barbaric, since they come to Xinjing, they are guests! ”

Liu Shan arched his hand and said: "Yes, don't worry, the king will arrange it after Weichen goes back!" ”

On April 26, the Khan of the Bolgar Khanate, Teretz, personally led a delegation to Xinjing to meet Zhao Ziliang, the king of Western Qin.

On the morning of 27 April, Zhao Ziliang summoned the heads of the central government offices to the palace for deliberations, and the chief and deputy prime ministers of the Government Affairs Yuan, the commander of the Jinyi Guard, the envoy Huangfuxian, the chief supervisor of the Judicial Temple Dugujun, the commander of the internal guard Zhou Shan, and the generals of the Military Aircraft Academy, Shuai Chuge, Li Siye, Wang Can, and Zhao Hu were all summoned.

"I came to you today, mainly about the Bolgar Khanate Terretz led an envoy to come to the audience, before Terretz had written to the Khazar Protectorate, asking to be attached to my Western Qin, willing to be a minister and pay tribute, hoping to get the canonization of this king. Yesterday, Telötz led a mission to Beijing, and some of you may already know about it, what is your opinion on this matter? ”

Zhou Shan stood up and hugged his fists and said: "King, Weichen has a report, according to the report of the relevant informants and secret agents of our internal guard yamen, two days before the arrival of the Terratz mission of the Bolgar Khan King in Xinjing, the Eastern Roman Empire has received relevant news in the embassy in Xinjing, and yesterday evening they confirmed that Terez and the mission arrived in Xinjing and sent someone to spread the news, Weichen speculated that the news should have been transmitted back to Constantinople, because the appearance of the mission led by Terötz here is a great event for the Eastern Roman Empire, After all, the two of them are feuding! At the moment, the spies have been following the messenger! ”