Zhi Yanchong returned to Tanggu after Cao Guangbi's funeral, which was the middle of 1685. Xiao Tienu relieved himself in the northwest and relaunched the siege of Zhongxingfu, and Liu Qi had opened the road from Lanzhou to Liangzhou, and the Ganlong Silk Road was regained under the control of the Central Plains regime.

When Liu Qi's great victory in the northwest reached Tanggu, Yang Yingqi also promulgated an annual tax reduction order, and the total amount of commercial taxes in the new round of adjustment was reduced by nearly 20 percent, while agricultural taxes continued to remain at a low level and recuperated with the people.

After the triumph of Zhiyan Chong, almost all the merchants thought that the Han Dynasty was invincible in the world, and the entire northern frontier was basically free of major troubles, and it was obviously difficult for Bi in the south to pose a big threat to the Han regime, and although Zhao and Song were strong, Zhao was used to it, so everyone did not think of the Song dynasty as a strong force in their hearts. In Xiao Tienu's words, that is: "Now we are only allowed to beat others, and others are not allowed to beat us!" ”

Therefore, as soon as Yang Yingqi cut taxes, the merchants knew that the government did not plan to launch a large-scale expansion for the time being, and in the case of "no one is allowed to attack us", the Han court did not take the initiative to challenge the political stability of the whole of northern China.

At this time, the sea route to Japan, Goryeo, and Subinfu in the east, to Mayi and Boni in the south, and the land route to the mouth of the Tongjiang River in the northeast, Longcheng in Mobei in the north, and the Uighurs in the northwest through the Ganlong Silk Road, have been fully communicated, and hundreds of thousands of Han troops and thousands of military stations are stationed on several major traffic arteries to protect the safety of these major traffic arteries. With such an accessible trade route under your feet, a once-in-a-century business incentive policy overhead, and political stability, the economic vitality of the entire Han Dynasty will flourish again.

But at this moment, a major event came from the south that worried some merchants: Bianliang was conquered by Yue Fei! Zong Bi** died, and there were no bones left. Yang Kaiyuan took the opportunity to march and uproot all of Zong Bi's strongholds along the Yellow River, but most of Henan was still occupied by the Song army. The Han and Song armies confronted each other across the Yellow River, but neither of them dared to act rashly, but they only flew to the center to ask for instructions.

After Jiankang received the news, there were two very different moods inside and outside the palace gate! Outside, there were all the cheers of scholars and students, and every family was lighting firecrackers and beating gongs and drums to celebrate the recovery of the old capital, and some people even suggested moving the capital back to Bianliang! However, Zhao Gou and his prime ministers in the palace were worried, worried that this would stimulate Zhi Yan Chong to go south in a rage. For Yue Fei's march to be too "intense", Zhao Gou was actually dissatisfied in his heart. However, the morale is so strong, the people's hearts are so hot, and the recovery of Bianliang is indeed a great achievement, so Zhao Gou also had to conform to the morale of the people and reward the meritorious soldiers.

Internal problems are easy to deal with for the time being, but external problems are difficult. With the current situation, if part of the territory of Henan restored by Yue Fei was ceded to the Han Dynasty according to the verbal promise made by Ouyang Shi before, I am afraid it would be difficult to explain to the countrymen and frontier soldiers, but if it was not ceded, Zhao Gou was afraid that it would anger Zhi Yanchong.

Qin Hui is a land-cutting faction, thinking that although Bianliang is the old capital, but Henan has been dilapidated for a long time, and Kaifeng is now on the border, it is impossible to be the capital again, and it is not a cost-effective thing to offend the tyrants of the Northern Dynasty with the ruined land of several states.

Zhao Ding is a hardliner, he thinks that although the Han army is strong, but the Han court is empty at the moment, and the capital of Western Xia has not yet been conquered, even if Zhi Yanchong wants to send troops, he is afraid that he is weak, otherwise Yang Kaiyuan will not wait for the collapse of Zong Bi's main force to go south to pick up cheap, but will take advantage of the Song army's incomplete victory and go south to fight with the Song army for Bianliang. But now that Yang Kaiyuan has chosen the former, the weakness of the Han Dynasty can be imagined, since the Northern Dynasty is a strong foreign force, why should the Great Song Dynasty rush to bow his head?

Zhao Gou felt that the words of the two important ministers were reasonable, and the current situation was not urgent, so Zhao Gou was unwilling to cede the land, but it was too risky to let him and Zheyan Chong do it against him, and after weighing the two, he finally decided to send the important ministers to the north quickly, hoping to ease the relationship between the north and the south by increasing the number of coins.

Zhao Ding hurriedly admonished when he heard this, thinking that if Zhi Yanchong was powerful to go south, it would never be possible to satisfy his appetite by increasing the number of coins, and if Zhi Yanchong was unable to go south, why should he be afraid of him? He thought that the top priority of the Great Song Dynasty was to repair the armor internally, train the soldiers, and build additional border defenses, so as to close the gap between the combat effectiveness of the Song army and the Han army. He also believed that the Han court was now trapped by finances, so it should attack its shortcomings, and if Zhi Yanchong broke off diplomatic relations in anger, the Great Song Dynasty just took the opportunity to cut off its annual coins and fields, and the sailors disrupted its East China Sea trade routes, so that the financial problems of the Han court were bound to be worse, and even if the Han regime could not be dismantled without blood, at least it could greatly weaken the economic strength of the Han court and delay the time for the northern division to go south. However, Zhao Gou did not follow his advice in the end, and still sent the minister to the north to offer flattery.

As Zhao Gou expected, Zhi Yanchong was furious when he heard the news that Bianliang had been conquered by the Song army, and he first summoned the envoy of the Great Song Dynasty in Tanggu and scolded him bitterly, and then released the news, claiming that he was about to raise troops.

When Liu Yu arrived in Tanggu, the sound of the war was already loud all over the sky, and he was afraid of being killed by the fish pond, and he was afraid that he would not be able to complete the task, and after some thought, he thought of a clever plan, and went to the Prime Minister's Mansion overnight to bribe Yang Yingqi.

Yang Yingqi looked at Liu Yu's bribery list, his face was full of embarrassment, and he excused himself: "My eldest brother is really angry this time, and I can't persuade him, you better go back quickly, don't stay in Tanggu, lest he get angry and take your sacrificial flag!" ”

Liu Yu was shocked, and repeatedly asked Yang Yingqi to find a way, and when he promised to triple the annual coin, Yang Yingqi said: "Even if you add more, it's useless!" This time it's a matter of land, not money! Again! Henan's thousands of miles of land is worth this money? ”

Liu Yu turned from worry to joy when he heard the last sentence, knowing that Yang Yingqi said this, it would be a play, so he hurriedly said: "Then please ask the prime minister to make a price." ”

Yang Yingqi said: "Price? Do you want me to sell the land of several states in Henan? No way! My big brother will kill me! ”

Liu Yu said: "That...... Please also think of a tactful solution. After all, Bianliang is the former capital of my Zhao family, and it was ceded to Shangbang just after it was obtained, and my lord could not explain it to the ancestors and ancestors. It will take some time, until my master plans are properly planned, so that everyone in the world can understand that Bianliang is no longer a good place to build a capital, and then it will be easy to speak. ”

Yang Yingqi sighed and said, "It turns out that Uncle Jiu's difficulty is here." If that's the case, then I have a solution. ”

Liu Yu was overjoyed and hurriedly asked for advice, Yang Yingqi said: "Uncle Nine and I are relatives, my eldest brother and I are brothers, speaking of which we are all a family, I can also understand the difficulties of Uncle Nine." But the land of Henan, it is not possible to cede it to you. But you can't cut it, you can rent it. ”

Liu Yu's eyes lit up: "Rent?" ”

"yes, rent." Yang Yingqi said: "Let me be a middle-aged person, and ask the eldest brother to lease the land of these states to the ninth uncle, so that the ninth uncle can also explain to the ancestors and ancestors, and the eldest brother can also calm down from power in anger, what does Lord Liu think?" ”

Liu Yu was overjoyed when he heard it, although he was also smart, but his heart was completely different from Zhao Ding's, Zhao Ding had also signed a humiliating peace treaty because of the situation, but his inner pain at that time was really indescribable, and when the specific amount was agreed, he was always afraid that the country would suffer more harm and less benefits, but Liu Yu was different, all he wanted was to successfully complete the task assigned to him by Zhao Gou, so at this time, Yang Yingqi was willing to use money to solve the problem, and he knew that most of the mission had been successful.

At that moment, the two sides agreed on the price and signed a secret agreement, Yang Yingqi openly went to persuade Zhi Yanchong, Zhi Yanchong repeatedly refused, Yang Kaiyuan, who had always been gentle, also repeatedly asked for battle, and finally Liu Yu raised the price by three percent, and Zhi Yanchong reluctantly agreed.

During this period of time, the Han army, the Song army and the Yellow River were tense, but the border field of Lunan and Weinan was not affected, and even more prosperous due to the economic recovery in the Han Dynasty. It far exceeded the total volume of north-south commerce in the heyday of the Northern Song Dynasty, and the Lunan and Weihe river basins became more prosperous, especially Chang'an, a famous city through the ages, also showed signs of revival.

Of course, the prosperity of this border trade was mutually beneficial, and the Great Song Dynasty also received considerable benefits like the Great Han, and the tax increase in the Lunan Rongchang in this year alone was enough to offset the huge total amount of annual currency, and the marginal benefits brought by it were even greater than estimated.

At the end of 1685, Yang Yingqi was greatly relieved to see the financial statements submitted by Chen Zhenghui. Due to the timely end of the Mobei War and the limitation of the scale of the Western Xia War, the Han court's military expenditure was greatly reduced. At the same time, although the tax reduction was generally implemented in the territory, due to the economic recovery, the industrial and commercial taxes collected by the Han Dynasty actually increased, especially in the second half of the year, in the first three months, merchants from all walks of life showed their magical powers, digested the Han army's newly expanded Western Regions and Mobei trade routes, and linked them with the inherent Bashu trade roads, Jiangnan trade roads, Dongyang trade roads, and Nanyang trade roads, which greatly expanded the economic scale of the Han Empire and brought prosperity to the development of the two major port cities of Tanggu and Huaizikou and the four inland transportation hubs of Chang'an, Yunzhong, Lanzhou and Longcheng. And at the end of the year, there was a small tax blowout.

Chen Zhenghui predicted that if the political situation of the Han Dynasty could remain stable in the following year and the military expenditure did not exceed the past year, then by the end of 1686, the financial situation of the Han court might return to 60% of what it was before the Northern Expedition to the desert, and if this situation could be maintained for three years, then the Han court would be able to repay all the debts and restore the finances to the pre-war level.

While the two prime ministers were complacent, they did not forget to go south and thank Zhao Gou for the big money he sent in time, if it weren't for this coin, Yang Yingqi might not be able to smoothly implement the entire tax reduction and business incentive plan, and he might not have the strength to consolidate the trade routes in Mobei and the Western Regions after the war. Yang Yingqi was very worried about Zhao Gou's toughness at that time, although he himself also thought that the military strength of the Han Dynasty was now much better than that of the Great Song Dynasty, but if he really started a war with the Great Song Dynasty, he would have to completely collapse before Zhao Gou was defeated and the finances of the Han court would collapse.

On the first day of spring in 1686, when Yang Yingqi came to Zhi Yanchong happily holding a recital on finance, Zhi Yanchong was also looking at a piece of music with a smile on his face.

"Big brother seems to be in a good mood, could it be that there is another big victory in the northwest?" Yang Yingqi thought.

But the good news came not from the northwest, but from the nearby Gyeonggi - the first phase of the inner city of Xindu has been completed.