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After the Battle of Lanzhou, the Western Xia's plan to send troops to seize the Hehuang area was frustrated, and Li Qi used both soft and hard, so that the Western Xia accepted the plan to strengthen trade cooperation between the two countries. And the Song Dynasty often used this trick to force the Western Xia to bow down, which made the Western Xia very annoyed, and now the other party actually took the initiative to strengthen trade cooperation, how could they oppose it. Moreover, there is also a gold country eyeing the border, which makes the two countries even more afraid to act rashly, lest they be reaped by others.

Now that the economy of Western Xia is in recession, and the people in China are also resentful, so Richard will rush to Tokyo in a hurry to discuss trade cooperation. But you have surrendered to the Jin State, so the Song court will naturally receive you according to the treatment of other vassal states, besides, no matter what, the Song Dynasty is also a "big country" in the Central Plains, if you don't surrender to me, surrender to the Jurchen clan, isn't this a slap in the face, of course Song Huizong will not hold a grand banquet to pick up the dust for Richard, and he is not even willing to meet him. However, because Li Qi put forward the strategy of light and heavy, the Song court attached great importance to Richard's trip, so Zhao Huan was sent to meet Richard.

Originally, this kind of thing was handed over to Zhao Kai to deal with, but now that Zhao Kai has lost power, the crown prince of Zhao Huan has stabilized, and Zhao Kai and Li Qi are already incompatible, but Zhao Huan's relationship with Li Qi is getting progressive, and the fight is hot, so this task falls on him, which is logical.

"Prince, the prince is here, Li Qi is far away, forgive the sins, forgive the sins."

Li Qi came to the front yard slowly, and then walked quickly into the front hall, and hurriedly saluted Zhao Huan and Richard and the officials involved in the negotiation, with a hypocritical smile on his face, which made people sigh.

Richard's party has been treated well enough. took the initiative to come to Li Qi, and he didn't feel disgraced on his face, after all, now he has a request for someone, haha: "The economy is serious, it's me who is bothered." ”

"Where. Where, the prince is serious. Li Qi smiled and said, "Originally, I was going to visit the prince today, but I am pregnant, so I really can't spare time, forgive me." Excuse me. ”

Richard sighed and said, "That's really gratifying." It just so happened that I had brought some small gifts today, and the cold day was coming, so that Madame might be able to use them. He said and waved his hand at the two attendants beside him.

This is a must, if you don't bring a gift, Lao Tzu won't let you in. Li Qi was overjoyed. I saw that it was a piece of snow-white felt, about more than ten pieces, but it was by no means made of wool, it looked more beautiful and generous than wool.

Richard smiled slightly: "These fifteen pieces of felt are made of the finest white camel fur in the country, and please ask the economic envoy to accept it." ”

"White camels?"

Li Qi looked startled. Even if he came in later generations, it was the first time he saw the hair of this white camel, and his heart shouted, the best, the best, if it is made into a coat, presumably the red slaves will like it, laugh, laugh, will laugh.

Li Qi, who is secretly rejoicing. Yu Guang keenly caught the trace of disgust that flashed in Zhao Huan's eyes, and he suddenly realized that this Zhao Huan has a very obvious advantage, that is, thrifty, very thrifty. The ministers of the court and the central government all know that Zhao Huan hates others to give him gifts the most, you must know that he is a man who dares to throw Cai Jing's gifts, for a prince, this is really commendable, but at the same time his shortcomings are also very, very obvious, that is, weakness, no assertiveness, which is a fatal flaw for a prince.

Li Qi withdrew the hand that originally wanted to try the quality, smiled lightly, and said, "The prince must have ulterior motives for sending such a valuable gift to him, right?" ”

Richard was stunned for a moment, and thought, I'll give it a meeting gift, what is the intention? Busy said: "The economic envoy smiled, what kind of expensive gift is this." ”

"Really?" Li Qi was taken aback, and said with a grin: "Ouch, but I like this felt very much, otherwise, Lord Wang, how about I make a deal with you, if the price of this felt is about the same money, how much do you have, how much I have." ”

Consistent?

Richard was secretly surprised, you still dare to say this, just give you these felt, which are all used by our royal family, and money can't buy them, and this felt made of white camels is the best in the world, even if it is ordinary, it costs thirty or forty yuan, consistently, you sell it to me.

Li Qi saw Richard's embarrassed face, and said: "Don't be surprised, I'm joking, in fact, I know that the prince's gift is fake, and the real intention is to promote this white camel skin, understand, understand." ”

Richard was stunned again, but immediately remembered that there was still a prince standing here, he knew that there were many rules in the Song court, and hurriedly said: "Ouch, it seems that I can't hide anything in front of the economic envoy!" Exactly. ”

Although Zhao Huan has no opinions, he is not stupid, of course he can see that Li Qi's words are for him to see, in fact, Li Qi wants to accept this gift, it is also a courtesy, which is understandable, but it can be seen that Li Qi still respects him very much, with a hint of happiness on his face, and said: "Lord Wang, he is full of fists, Li Qi, you can accept it." ”

Li Qi knew that his goal had been achieved, and said with a smile: "Since His Highness has said so, if he doesn't accept it, it will be a bit pretentious." As he spoke, he bowed his hand to Richard and said, "Then thank you for your kindness." ”

Zhao Huan said again: "Okay, okay, let's sit down and talk." ”

The three of them were sitting down again.

Those subordinates also served refreshments in due course, which may be the most humble reception of foreign guests since the beginning of the Song Dynasty.

But no one cared about this, and the three people sitting here thought about the great interests of the country.

As soon as Richard sat down, he couldn't wait to say to Li Qi: "Economic envoy, to tell you the truth, my lord is very interested in the idea of strengthening bilateral trade exchanges that you put forward in Lanzhou last time, so he sent me here to negotiate. ”

Li Qi said: "Your Majesty is Mingjun, how can he refuse this win-win situation." ”

Richard nodded with a smile and said, "However, I think that I want to strengthen trade between the two sides, first of all, your country must lift the ban on green and white salt in my Western Xia." ”

The main source of income for the Western Xia court. One is animal husbandry, and the other is salt. Xixia is located inland, salt resources are quite abundant, including salt ponds such as Wuchi, Baichi, Jilantai Pond, Xixiang Pond, Wayao Pond, Gushuo Fang Pond, Qiuzi Pond and other loose salt, as well as the rock salt produced by the salt mountains in the area of Hexi. Qingbai two salts have become synonymous with Western Xia. But Western Xia was sparsely populated. The huge salt resources exceed the population by many times, if they only eat in their own country, then they don't know how much salt will be wasted every year, so they can only demand more export trade, it is no exaggeration to say that the export of salt is the economic lifeblood of Western Xia. Because the salt in Western Xia was very cheap and tasted quite good, it was very tempting to people from other countries.

The Song Kingdom, which has a large population, is naturally their biggest customer, but the problem is again, salt is a monopoly in the imperial court in the Great Song Dynasty. If the people buy your salt, what will happen to the salt produced in our country?

For this reason, the Song Dynasty and the Western Xia are often inextricably linked, and the ban and prohibition are also repeated repeatedly, in fact, since Taizong, the Song Dynasty has always advocated the prohibition of salt trade. But sometimes forced by the Western Xia military oppression, had to loosen up, that is, the big ban, the small ban, but as long as the relationship between the Western Xia and the Song Dynasty broke down, the Song Dynasty must ban salt, if anyone dares to smuggle, severely punished, this makes the Western Xia have a headache, Li Yuanhao can not be a lifetime, and some people even say that the power of the world is exhausted. He was invincible, but in the end he succumbed to the salt.

Zhao Huan smiled slightly: "Lord Wang, is your country only engaged in salt trading?" As the crown prince, he naturally knew the reason for this, and he thought to himself, if the ban is lifted. You Xixia have to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars from my Great Song Dynasty every year, you are a rich country and a strong army, who can guarantee that you will not send troops to my Great Song Dynasty.

Sweat! Today, the prince has changed his sex, and as soon as he speaks, he will be tongue-stabbed. Li Qi almost didn't laugh out loud, but he didn't make a sound either, this salt is a big official benefit, and the interests in it are huge and complex, so he didn't dare to speak rashly.

Richard's face was slightly embarrassed, and he said: "That's not true, but since we want to strengthen trade between you and me, we must first be fair, no matter what is forbidden, this is not appropriate, your country's salt can also be sold to our country, and we also welcome it." ”

You have a lot of salt in Western Xia and can be used as food, how can our salt get in? You have the ability to sell me all the grain, I want as much as you want. Li Qi said with a smile: "Lord Wang, there is no fairness in doing business, everything has profits and losses." ”

Zhao Huan nodded and said: "The economic envoy is right, as we all know, in the northwest generation of our country, including Tokyo and West Kyoto, is the pool salt that markets Shanxi Jiechi, and the income from salt relief is also an important source of finance in the northwest and other places. ”

This is an old topic, the predecessors who should say it have been said badly, and they have analyzed it thoroughly, and Richard also understands why the Song Dynasty did this, but if you don't open the salt road, then how can you start talking about strengthening trade. Said: "Your Highness, you can't say that, the goods we buy from your Great Song Dynasty every year are much higher than the goods you buy from my Western Xia, even if you lift the ban on salt, then we will earn less than half of you, and we only need to enter 100,000 yuan of Zhongqing salt every year, you are a big country in the Central Plains, why bother." ”

Zhao Huan said: "This has nothing to do with the big countries in the Central Plains, the national conditions of each country are different, how much your salt sells in my Great Song Dynasty, the imperial court will have to lose much, why don't you ask us directly for money." ”

That's really good, I can't see that the prince is quite business-minded. Li Qi smiled secretly in his heart, in fact, he also understood that Zhao Huan was so resolute that he was afraid that he would let go, which shows how important this salt is.

But Richard is not good at stubble, he has done enough work, and said with a smile: "But Your Highness, have you ever thought about why your people like our salt, because our salt is cheap enough, in other words, if your country is willing to lift the ban on salt, then the people of your country must be the biggest beneficiaries, and your people will benefit, isn't it the entire Great Song Dynasty that benefits, isn't this a win-win situation." ”

Zhao Huan frowned when he heard this, this is really difficult to answer, because what Richard said is right, in order to increase the revenue of the national treasury, the Song court has put a lot of effort into this salt, and it can't help but be expensive, and it has to collect taxes, all of which add up to the outrageous price, saying that it is the most profitable business, and it is understandable, the people are just in this regard, and they don't know how much they have been exploited by the court. Therefore, the people are very fond of the cheap green and white salt of Western Xia.

Looks like it's time for me to step up. Li Qi suddenly said: "The prince's words are wrong. Yes, your green and white salt is indeed cheap, but it is not a necessity for our Great Song Dynasty. We can adjust the price of salt at any time according to our policy, but once your country's salt comes in, then our regulation and control of our own salt will be greatly weakened. Is the decision-making power of your Western Xia in the hands of the people? ”

The implication is that the people have no right to call the shots, and the ministers in charge are those ministers in the court, and those ministers still have to rely on salt to collect money, how can they allow you, a powerful competitor, to come and rob them of their money.

The words were straightforward, but Richard had nothing to do. His words may be of some use to those hypocrites who want to be bitches and want to set up archways, but in front of Li Qi, it is simply vulnerable, and he also knows that Li Qi has done a good job, and he can't start from a local deal to deal with Li Qi, but also from the overall situation. He smiled and said: "In this case, why does the economic envoy propose to strengthen the trade between the two countries, if this salt cannot be sold, then I really don't know where to start talking about this trade." ”

Zhao Huan understood that this guy was here for salt.

Li Qi laughed, stood up, put his hands together, and said, "Don't worry, Lord Wang, people who are familiar with me know that I have a mantra." That is, there is only a medium in the world that cannot be done, there is no business that cannot be done, and buying and selling this thing will only produce one result, that is, profit, even if this transaction can only make a penny. Both sides can be broken apart to divide. ”

Richard nodded and said, "What you said makes a lot of sense, but I'm confused. ”

"What I'm trying to say is very simple, and that's what we can get out of this deal. If I know that this business is going to lose money, and I still run to do it with you, then this is not a deal, that is charity, His Royal Highness said it is very reasonable, you might as well ask us directly for money, and give you money can be regarded as a favor. ”

Richard frowned slightly, he knew that Li Qi was bargaining, but he didn't know what Li Qi wanted, so he simply threw the problem to the other party, and said: "Since the economic envoy said that there is no deal in the world that cannot be done, then I don't know what it takes to make this deal a win-win situation." ”

Li Qi smiled and said, "Forgive me for offending me, please first examine yourself when you make a request to others. We have a salt ban on you, why don't you impose a ban on horses on us, oh, your horses can be forbidden to sell to my Great Song Dynasty, not only that, but you even use the main route of the Silk Road to sabotage our purchase of horses from the Six Grains, Ganzhou Uighurs, the Western Regions and other places, we can't ban salt, I damn it, you are too good at trading. Moreover, the goods we sell to you in Western Xia, you can also ban it, we really don't have to worry about not being able to sell it, just say that tea, I can sell it to Goryeo, sell it to Japan, sell it to Jiaozhi, if you have the ability, you don't secretly buy grain from my Great Song Dynasty and go back, then admire you, you have enough backbone. ”

This person is really a talent, but fortunately, the third brother fell out with him at that time. Zhao Huan smiled slightly and said, "Our Confucian ancestor, Sage Confucius, once had a saying, don't do to others what you don't want to do to yourself." ”

A trace of embarrassment appeared on Richard's face, and he said: "It's not that we don't want to sell this horse, it's just that there were repeated large-scale conflicts between you and me, and we sold the horse to you, and you rode our horse to attack us. ”

Li Qi smiled and said: "Then can I also say the same, we send money and food to you rich countries and strong soldiers, and when you are strong, they will attack us again, isn't this called cocooning and self-restraint?" ”

The negotiations have undoubtedly reached an impasse.

Richard's face was gloomy and silent when he heard this, he originally thought that since Li Qi was the first to propose it this time, then no matter what, Li Qi would always find a way to get the Song court to show some sincerity, even if he knew that he would be treated coldly when he came here, when he still put down his body, but he didn't expect that Li Qi's words were strong and aggressive, and he was almost speechless.

Hum! You really think that I Li Qi is Kaizi, let you be around. Li Qi glanced at Richard slightly, an elusive smile flashed in his eyes, and said, "Don't blame the prince, I just talk about things, and I have nothing else to do." ”

Richard squeezed out a smile and said, "I know that." ”

Li Qi sighed: "Actually, let's talk about it. You and I are jealous of each other, so that's why it's like this. But I don't know why there is such a fear, you say that our two countries have been fighting back and forth for nearly a hundred years, but what do you get? It's a waste of resources. No one gets what they want, but loses a lot. ”

Richard seemed to see a hint of a turning point, and said: "Aside from that, I very much agree with the economic envoy's statement that fighting a war is not good for anyone. ”

"Isn't that it, why do we have to defend each other?" Richie shrugged. said with a smile: "If you want to break this situation that has lasted for decades, only one party can reach out first, our Da Song is willing to be the first person, you can sell salt, as long as the price is right, there is no need to set any quantity limit." Anyway, as long as you open this mouth, those restrictions are equivalent to fictitiousness, and not only that, but we in the Great Song Dynasty can even be completely open to you, but, I want to know, can you be honest with us as well? ”

Zhao Huan listened to it with a pang in his heart. But he didn't make a sound, after all, in the process of negotiation, you can't say anything against your own people, and this is not something that Li Qi can say in one fell swoop.

Richard couldn't help but be overjoyed when he heard this, if the Great Song could completely open the arms of trade to them, it would be the most exciting news of the century for them, and they themselves had to make money by selling horses, if a horse could be exchanged for so many benefits, then of course this trade could be done. "If so." Of course, we will be honest with you, and as long as you do not offend our country, we are actually willing to sell you horses. ”

"So, before that, we thought we needed to sign a peace treaty. Everyone laid down their arms and took the goods for a win-win situation. ”

Richard ha: "The words of the economic envoy really coincide with what I think!" ”

Li Qi waved his hand and said, "Don't be in a hurry to agree, my words are not finished yet." ”

Richard's heart jumped again when he heard this, and he said, "Economic envoy, please." ”

Li Qi said: "We have one more demand, that is, you must open the Silk Road to us. ”

Richard said, "I think it's something, of course." ”

Li Qi shook his head and said, "I trust the prince very much, but it doesn't mean that I can trust everyone in your country." ”

Richard frowned and said, "What do you mean by that?" ”

"What I mean is very simple, it's not the key whether you agree to this or not, the key is that we need to get a very practical guarantee."

"A very practical guarantee?"

Li Qi nodded and said: "Yes, you Xixia must pay a deposit to our Great Song Dynasty every month, the amount will not be discussed, the function of this deposit is to protect the rights and interests of our Great Song merchants and merchants who come to my Great Song Dynasty to do business in the west, but if our merchants or merchants who want to come to our Great Song Dynasty to do business have suffered any artificial damage when they pass through your Western Xia, we will directly deduct the equivalent amount from this deposit to compensate our merchants, refund more and make up for less, we will not ask you for a penny, of course, When our merchants enter your Western Xia, both you and I have to conduct a detailed inspection. ”

"This." Richard's brow furrowed when he heard this, he never expected Richie to make such a request.

In fact, if you think about it carefully, it is not difficult to understand that Li Qi's fundamental purpose is still to return to the Western Regions generation, how can it be just you a mere Western Xia, otherwise how would he give up so many profits, Li Qi is willing to try any deal, but this loss-making business, he is thousands of miles away.

Li Qi smiled again: "We are not doing this to embarrass you, but to say that we just want to get the most basic security guarantees." Moreover, this is of great benefit to you Western Xia. ”

Richard was stunned and said, "Oh? Forgive me for being stupid, and ask the economic envoy to tell me clearly. ”

Li Qi said: "Think about it, your Western Xia from east to west, but not a day or two away, those past merchants still want the most basic food and shelter, these have to pay, undoubtedly drive the economy of your country, if it goes on for a long time, there are more and more merchants in the past, this wealth is far from immeasurable, the fool will refuse, I really don't understand, what is the purpose of those immoral things you did before?" Nowadays, many merchants would rather walk several times more than go to your Western Xia, which is called being cocooned and self-bound. ”

(To be continued)