Guo Song took a sip of tea, and said slowly: "I don't deny that our original intention of attacking Hanzhong was indeed because Cao Liwei intercepted our goods without authorization, which seriously violated the tacit understanding between us, if he was Zhu Jun's person, I would not hesitate to kill him, including state officials and county officials, but it was precisely because I considered the same palace as ministers that I released them."

But my kindness was not recognized by the imperial court, and the entire Chengdu government and opposition scolded me Guo to the blood, as if I was more hateful than Zhu Zhu, but the imperial court did not distinguish for me, nor explained, and let my reputation be damaged, it is precisely for this reason that I decided not to withdraw the army. ”

Zhang Yu was dumbfounded when he heard this, and he hurriedly said: "There are a lot of misunderstandings here, if Your Highness withdraws the army, then I believe that the Queen Mother will quickly restore Her Highness's reputation, and will never let Her Highness bear the notoriety, this is inevitable, Your Highness doesn't have to worry at all." ”

Guo Song nodded, "If that's the case, then I'm willing to believe in the Queen Mother's sincerity, but the reputation I said is only one aspect, and there is another reason that prompts me to be reluctant to withdraw the army." ”

Zhang Yu sighed secretly in his heart, he knew that there was such a simple thing, he would withdraw the army for the sake of fame, Guo Song must have other requirements, he had to say helplessly: "Please Your Highness make it clear, I will definitely go back and react truthfully." ”

"There is also a reason for the problem of taxes in Hanzhong, I didn't know that the people of Hanzhong were burdened with such heavy taxes, I visited more than a dozen households in Nanzheng, and found that they pay seventy percent of the annual income in taxes every year, and every household is in debt, and the taxes that cannot be paid are as high as 1,300 Wen, which is still the salt produced in Bashu, which is ten times the price of salt in Chang'an, and the price of grain and cloth is five times that of Chang'an, which makes me unacceptable."

Guo Song's sharp eyes looked at Zhang Yu, "I think Hanzhong is like this, Chengdu and other places in Bashu are similar, I'm not wrong!" ”

Zhang Yu's face was full of shame, and he said in a low voice: "This..... The imperial court has no choice, and the financial power is not in the hands of the imperial court. ”

"The question is here, since the imperial court has no power, why does it have the right to demand that I withdraw my troops? At the very least, the Bei Ya should have sent someone to negotiate with me! ”

Zhang Yu sighed, "I'm here on behalf of the Queen Mother, not on behalf of the Southern or Northern Ya." ”

Guo Song nodded, "You are very good at talking." ”

He took a few steps and said to Zhang Yu: "Since the Queen Mother has issued an order, I will naturally consider the Queen Mother's opinions, I will propose three plans, Zhang Shilang will go back and hand them over to the Queen Mother, and then you will discuss with the North and South Ya to see which plan you can accept?" If they refuse to accept it, then the only way to solve it is to use war. ”

Zhang Yu was most afraid of hearing that war would be used to solve this plan, so he hurriedly said: "Please tell Your Highness three plans, and I will go back and report it!" ”

"The first plan is to let the people of Hanzhong choose, let everyone participate in the vote, whether they are willing to belong to the Jin Wangfu under the jurisdiction of the imperial court, or willing to re-govern under the direct jurisdiction of the imperial court, I can't withdraw the army from Nanzheng without authorization, otherwise we can't face the fathers and villagers of Nanzheng, but if the fathers and villagers in Hanzhong agree to my withdrawal, then I must respect their opinions."

Guo Song and the others had already discussed the countermeasures, changing the military occupation of Hanzhong to the jurisdiction of Hanzhong on behalf of the imperial court, and played a small trick on words, so they said that someone was very ugly, and changed it to someone who was not very beautiful, a reason.

The first plan Guo Song said was a referendum, in fact, in the end, no matter who the people of Hanzhong voted, the announced result would definitely be the victory of the Jin Palace.

Even if there is no fraud, even if it is a fair vote, as long as the people of a state do not agree to the withdrawal of the Jin army, then Guo Song has a reason to continue to garrison troops in this state, which is actually a trap.

Zhang Yu didn't dare to express his position, and hurriedly said: "Your Highness, please continue!" ”

"I put forward the second plan, that is, the tax system in Hanzhong will continue to remain unchanged, cancel the tax between the shelves, the cloth tax, the tea and wine tax, reduce the commercial tax, household tax, and field tax, and unify the price of salt to 130 wen per bucket, as long as Chengdu promises that the current tax system in Hanzhong will remain unchanged and ensure that the interests of the people will no longer be harmed, then I will return all Hanzhong, and only symbolically keep hundreds of troops in Yangxian to ensure that the Meridian Valley will not be harmed by bandits.

But if the court goes back on its word and collects heavy taxes again, then I will regard it as a breach of the treaty by the court, and I will reoccupy Hanzhong, and there will be no room for negotiation. ”

It is absolutely impossible to agree to this plan, once the other party agrees to this condition, their ruling foundation will collapse, this is called 'not suffering from widowhood, suffering from inequality', the same imperial court's territory, why Hanzhong ultra-low taxes, but Chengdu has to suffer cruel exploitation? Especially the price of salt, you can give Hanzhong a low salt price, why not give Chengdu a low salt price.

This plan will be rejected in the north first.

Zhang Yu knew this, and he said, "May I ask Your Highness's third plan?" ”

"The third plan is relatively simple, Hanzhong implements the separation of military and government, the military is managed by the Jin Palace, and the government affairs are returned to the imperial court, except for Liangzhou, the officials of the other four states continue to be stationed by the imperial court, and the officials are responsible to the imperial court, but I want to set up the Hanzhong Tax Inspection Office to prevent local officials from destroying the current tax system implemented in Hanzhong without authorization, if the officials destroy the tax system, I will directly recall, and the new officials will be appointed by me."

In fact, this plan is just a good thing to say, the military and the government are separated, and the administrative power and the appointment and dismissal power of the local government are returned to the imperial court, but in essence, it is still a strengthened version of the second plan, and it is even inferior to the second plan, in essence, it is still necessary to keep the tax system in Hanzhong unchanged, the army will not be withdrawn, and the most important Liangzhou will not be ambiguous and will not give in at all.

In fact, this is just a fig leaf for the imperial court, so that they can give an account to the people of the government and the opposition.

Guo Song seized the handle of Chengdu's heavy taxes to make a fuss, talked about the interests of the people in everything, and considered the interests of the people, so that the Southern Tang Dynasty fell behind morally, and his occupation of Hanzhong became just.

Zhang Yu knew that these three plans were difficult, even if the imperial court and the empress dowager agreed to one of them, Beiya would not agree.

He had to nod, "Okay! I will go back and tell the Queen Mother the truth. ”

"One more point!"

Guo Song continued: "I have shown the sincerity of the negotiations, and I also hope that the imperial court will show sincerity to eliminate the bad influence for me and restore my reputation. ”

Guo Song's words are very serious, it can be said that it is a threat to Chiguoguo, no matter whether Hanzhong is returned to the court in the end, or not, if the court does not rehabilitate his reputation, he will build his own court, follow Zhu Zhu's example, support a new court in the court, and restore the Northern Tang Dynasty.

Zhang Yu's face changed greatly, and he was speechless for a long time.

At this time, Wei Lun, who joined the army in the record office, handed over the three plans recorded and the conditions for restoring his reputation, that is, the minutes of negotiations, to Guo Song, who read it, signed his name with a pen, and stamped his own seal.

..........

Zhang Yu came in a hurry, hurried away again, didn't stay even overnight, and his heart seemed to be like a lead block, and he left heavily.

A few days later, at noon that day, Li Wenyu received a letter from Princess Xue Tao, and she hurriedly sent someone to find her husband back.

When Zhang Lei returned home, he complained: "What's the urgency? I'm overseeing the work, and I can't leave the main beam today. ”

Zhang Lei also left a large plot of land along the river on Xi'anmen Street for himself, and he is also ready to build a large restaurant to leave a landmark building for his family in Chang'an, like Li An's Anyi Restaurant, Guo Ping's Pearl Restaurant, Zhang Minqiu's brother and sister-in-law's Hanyang Restaurant, the lonely family's Tian'an Restaurant, etc., how can Zhang Lei fall behind, he also wants to build a restaurant for his children and grandchildren.

Li Wenyu glared and scolded: "You dead fat man, won't you go to a special master to help you supervise the work?" Do you know what hoisting girders? ”

"That's right! How did I not think that I would go to find someone! ”

Zhang Lei turned around to leave, Li Wenyu's hand was quick, and he grabbed his ear, "I have something to do with you coming back, and you want to slip away, do you want to go to the concubine again, let me tell you, if you dare to come outside, I will cancel your good deeds." ”

"Don't dare, don't dare, please ask the lady to command!"

"I don't dare."

Li Wenyu glared at him and said, "I just received a letter from the princess, she asked us to help persuade His Royal Highness the King of Jin to accept Liu Caichun, you haven't drunk with your junior brother for a long time, you invite him to have a glass of wine." ”

Zhang Lei's eyes lit up, and he seemed to see his hope of marrying Liu Caichun again.

He scratched his head and said, "You don't know his temper, if he has prejudices, it will be difficult to persuade him to come back." ”

"You fart! I'm telling you, this matter is very important to the princess, if it can't be done, you just wait and see! ”