Seeing that the two prime ministers actually humbled each other, Emperor Gaozong was full of surprise at this rare scene in the court, "What is going on today, there are very few cases where there is no contradiction between the left and right phases since ancient times, and since he ascended the throne, he has never encountered the days when the two prime ministers get along in harmony, although they will not scold each other in the court, but the situation of scolding Huai, holding a gun and a stick, and not giving in to each other occurs from time to time, it seems that today General Gai Lao has taken a good start, and the two prime ministers have also been harmonious." ”

"The two prime ministers should not be humble to each other, so be it, after all, Li Xiang is from the army to avoid suspicion, or Yang Xiang is the inspection ambassador, the specific verification is mainly based on the household department, the Ministry of Officials, Dali Temple, and the Ministry of War cooperate, in addition, Shu'er and Xiao'er are the deputy envoys on the left and right, to assist Yang Xiang to jointly enter the military camp to verify corruption, and learn some practice by the way."

Now that the emperor opened his mouth, the two prime ministers also stopped, and Yang Xiang, the second prince, the third prince, and the chief officials of various departments immediately stood up and bowed together, "Weichen takes the order!" ”

Most of the people in the early dynasty today originally thought that there would be no major matters in the last Chang Dynasty at the end of the year, but they didn't expect a small proposal from the squire of the military department, and the saint and the two prime ministers made such a big decision in a few words, and they had never heard of using a knife in the army for a while! It seems that the rectification of military discipline in the first half of the sixth year is a main line of state political affairs, and this is nothing less than an earthquake in the army.

Many Wenchen generals who were involved in the army immediately thought that after they went back, they should quickly say hello to the eighth aunt and her eldest brother-in-law, and immediately wipe their buttocks clean, so as not to be directly arrested by the minister.

The ministers were secretly estimating in their hearts whether this major event would bring any benefits or adverse effects to their careers, but unexpectedly, someone stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, Weichen has a plan to play. ”

"Hey, fuck, there's been a lot going on at the end of the year!"

This time, it was Zheng Qi, the head of the household, who came out of the class.

Zheng Shilang is a Jinshi background, as soon as he exits is a literary rhetoric, "Your Majesty, there is an ancient saying," based on agriculture, the end of the world, business according to agriculture, agriculture according to commercial circulation, agriculture and business complement each other, then the people are rich and healthy, the country is prosperous, suppress agriculture and prosper business, is to abandon the original and chase the end, heavy agriculture and suppress business, then things are not circulating, Guan Yi I should be heavy on agriculture and business, the country is strong and the people are rich, and assist Huan Gong to dominate the princes, a Kuang world. The previous dynasty paid more attention to the development of commerce, and in the Tang Dynasty, more than 40% of the income of industry and commerce in the Tang Dynasty, while the Great Qi Zhihe and the four years were less than 20%, and Weichen learned through consulting historical materials that the commercial income of various places in the Western Regions in the previous dynasty was enough to supply the military and administrative expenses of the four towns of Anxi, so the minister implored the state to emphasize commerce, open border trade, and take advantage of the great victory to discuss in detail with the Khitan mission about the full opening of border trade. ”

"Zheng Aiqing, the emphasis on agriculture and the suppression of commerce is the decree formulated by Emperor Taizu himself, since the implementation, it has lasted more than 50 years, during which agricultural production has been unprecedentedly developed, and the grain output of the widow and four years is more than twice that of the beginning of the founding of the country, if you give up the policy of heavy agriculture and suppress business, and instead attach importance to commercial affairs, will it hurt agriculture and shake the foundation of the country?"

"Your Majesty's view that we attach importance to commercial affairs is not to give up the importance of agricultural production, and agriculture is still the foundation of the country, but in addition to attaching importance to agricultural affairs, we are slowly promoting the development of commerce and opening up new channels for the country to increase taxes."

After listening to Zheng Qi's explanation, Emperor Gaozong didn't say anything more, but just cast a glance of inquiry to Liu Limin, the head of the household who was standing in the first row on the left, Liu Shangshu immediately took a step forward from the queue and said, "Your Majesty, Weichen seconded the proposal, the early Han Dynasty attached great importance to agricultural production, so there was the rule of Wenjing, and Emperor Wu paid equal attention to agriculture and commerce to create a prosperous era of Han Wu. ”

"What do you have to say about the two prime ministers?"

Hearing Gaozong's question, the two immediately stood up, and Yang Yan, the left minister, bowed down and replied, "Your Majesty, as long as you control salt and iron and other strictly forbidden things, ordinary trade in commercial goods can indeed bring certain benefits to the country, but why do you have to open trade with hostile countries, and how to prohibit the enemy's fine work once it is opened?" ”

After Yang Xiang finished speaking, Liu Shangshu spoke again, "The Holy Majesty and the two prime ministers only propose to open border trade with the Khitan State, because among the many countries bordering Daqi, except for the Khitan and the southeast coastal areas where bandits are rampant and have no foreign trade, Daqi has more or less trade with other surrounding countries, and the Khitan is the most powerful country in the surrounding area, and the border with Daqi is thousands of miles long. ”

"Does Liu Aiqing have a way to guard against the enemy?"

"This ...... This, Your Majesty, Weichen is not very good at military affairs, and this still needs to be consulted by a group of old generals. ”

Without waiting for the old generals to speak, Huang Shu, the second prince standing in the middle, took a step forward and bowed down and said, "Father, in fact, the earliest idea of opening border trade with the Khitans came from the mouth of Liu Fan, the Sima Duwei of the Shence Army......

"Oh, what is the problem that makes Shu'er feel thought-provoking, let's hear it."

"The sons obey the order, and the sons will tell their fathers."

"The first question is why the Khitans have been attacking and we defending for the past twenty years, why can't we switch our offensive and defensive roles, we attack, let the Khitans defend, and completely lead the war to the Khitan grassland?"

After the second prince finished speaking, not only the old generals, but even all the Wenchen felt incredible, but after a little thought, it felt reasonable, who stipulated that we can only defend, not attack, in fact, this truth is simple Even a five-year-old child can figure it out, but in the past twenty years, all the Wenchen generals did not expect it at all, but everyone faintly understood in their hearts, not that they did not expect it, but they did not dare to think about it.

"The second question was the question of how to obtain Khitan domestic intelligence, perhaps Li Xiang and the old generals had already thought that in our previous wars with the Khitans, the Khitan army knew very much about the situation in the states and counties of our Daqi, and even the armies and brigades, while our Daqi did not know anything about the situation in the Khitan, and did not even have a more detailed military map."

"I also thought about this issue a lot afterwards, the Khitan people know a lot about the situation in Daqi, because the Khitans have attacked the hinterland of our Daqi many times, and they must have secretly laid out a lot of detailed works when they retreated, and it is these detailed works that steadily transmit our information to the Khitan through some channels."

"And I don't know anything about the Khitan country, because we have never burned the war into the territory of the Khitans, let alone deployed it in their country. Moreover, since the founding of the country, based on the hostile relationship between the Khitan State and China, the Great Qi has formulated a targeted policy of closing the country to the country, putting an end to all official and non-governmental exchanges with the country, thus indirectly eliminating all possibilities for China to obtain information about the country. ”

"In response to this situation, Liu Duwei of the Shence Army at that time proposed to open the border trade with the Khitans, not to prevent the Khitans' fine work, but to find ways to send the Khitan to the Khitan by opening the border trade, so as to find out the other party's national and military secrets, as for our secrets, that is, if the border trade is not opened, the Khitan people have already left enough fine work to transmit to their country."

"Of course, from the point of view of interests, opening border trade with the Khitans can bring huge returns to Daqi, because from the perspective of trade materials between the two countries, what our country needs most is the war horses of the Khitans, and other things like beef and mutton, leather goods, etc. are not necessities, but the Khitans will not trade with us with war horses, and in addition to salt, iron and military materials, other things like tea, silk, paper, etc. are necessary for the Khitans, so the trade between Er and the Khitans will definitely bring rich benefits to Daqi."