Liu Yuan is still wearing a mink fur belt and narrow-sleeved boots, with a temporarily supported felt dome behind him, the tent door is ajar, and Liu Yuan and Yang Ke are sitting in the middle. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 After the signing of the contract, Liu Yuan did not arrange the banquet to be held in Lishi City, but in the village where he and Yang Ke met for the first time. Ma Long and Tang Bin were on Yang Ke's side, and the leaders of the Xiongnu were under Liu Yuan, and the two sides were lined up, the bonfires were blazing, and the guests and hosts talked very happily, and it was completely impossible to see that it was a meeting between the enemy and us who had just finished a battle of life and death from the battlefield.

Liu Yuan said to Yang Ke: "Xiu Lie, you and I say goodbye today, I don't know when and where we can see each other again?" ”

Yang Ke said with a smile: "As long as we don't meet on the battlefield, you can meet anytime and anywhere, if the eldest brother misses me, you might as well come to Kyoto for a visit, if I miss the eldest brother, I will definitely come to disturb me at any time." ”

Liu Yuan nodded: "Brother Cheng, your auspicious words, if you and my brother can stop the sword soldiers forever, countless living beings will be spared from being destroyed." ”

Yang Ke took out a folded gift slip from his sleeve and handed it to Liu Yuan, Liu Yuan hesitated and didn't answer: "Xiu Lie, what do you mean by this?" ”

Yang Ke said lightly: "What I gave my eldest brother that day was a sword, and my eldest brother asked Yu'er to return it to me, I guessed that you must have been forced to raise the army. ”

Liu Yuan took the gift list handed over by Yang Ke, opened it and saw that it read: "5,000 catties of salt, 3,000 quintals of tea bricks, and 10,000 quintals of grain。。。。。 Liu Yuan snapped and closed the gift list, and said loudly: "Come on, change the big bowl。。。。。。。 ”

The attendant came over and replaced the two of them with two large sea bowls, and the muddy liquor was poured slowly, and the aroma of wine overflowed. Liu Yuan held the sea bowl high and said to Yang Ke: "Brother, you are sending me charcoal in the snow, this year the grassland has suffered a catastrophe, many tribesmen's livestock have died seventy or eighty percent, seeing that it is impossible to survive this winter, brother, I have no choice, I can only take them to raise troops, not to seize the world, or to find a way to live for the clansmen, with your generous gift brother, my clansmen will be saved, brother, I sincerely respect you, thank you for your great kindness, we did this bowl of wine." ”

Yang Ke raised the bowl, and the two of them raised their heads and drank the wine.

Yang Ke paused slightly, glanced at Zhang Bin, who was sitting under Liu Yuan, and said to Liu Yuan: "There is still a gift for the eldest brother, but the eldest brother needs to send someone to Kyoto to handle this important matter." ”

Liu Yuanxing waved his hand above his head: "I listen to your brother, say it, what do you want your eldest brother to do, who to send?" ”

"Big brother, there is a very important clause in our contract, which is to trade, and the little material that the younger brother gave you is only a drop in the bucket after all, and it is urgent, but it can't be broken. Only the trade road on both sides is wide open, and the Xiongnu will have an endless supply of materials in the future, you can exchange livestock and furs, and the merchant will be willing to be your porter as long as it is profitable, and then why worry about not benefiting all your people? There is no need to loot anymore, no need to exchange human lives for that little bit of food. From then on, the imperial court and the Xiongnu would truly live in peace and not afford war. ”

"Ah, brother, I think so too, but the imperial court has always refused to trade with Lishi, and there is only a private mutual market among the people, but the number of goods traded is small, and it has to avoid the inspection of officials and soldiers. Then the imperial court set up cards for the goods from the Central Plains to and from Lishi, and levied high taxes, many merchants either dare not or are unwilling to come, or the price of goods is extremely high, brother, do you have any good solutions? After listening to Yang Ke's words, Liu Yuan's eyes lit up. If the materials sent by Yang Ke are for emergency relief, trade is the real way to help the poor. He had been a hostage in the Central Plains for many years, and had been an official of the imperial court, proficient in Sinology, and traveled to many important towns in the Central Plains. There are many varieties and scales of materials, which can drive the prosperity of various industries. In short, in his eyes, trade is the way to enrich the country, especially nomads like the Xiongnu, who have no rich products and lack many resources, and they really need the prosperity of commerce. Although he and Yang Ke signed the terms of trade in the contract, to really do a solid job of trade, not only need the support of the imperial court, but also need to mobilize a lot of businessmen to join, which is definitely not as simple as one or two sentences written in the contract. Judging from Yang Ke's conversation today, he really wants to trade with the Xiongnu, not perfunctory or for the expediency of peace. Therefore, of course, Liu Yuan would be overjoyed, but he also understood that the stakes were important at this time, and he refused to act too carelessly, so he kicked the ball back to Yang Ke, wanting to see what Yang Ke thought when he came down.

Yang Ke didn't care about Liu Yuan's cross-legged bow at all, he pondered for a moment, and said to Liu Yuan: "First, if the imperial court wants to issue a trade decree to encourage merchants from all over the world to prosper each other, take Lishicheng as the first pilot. Second, the imperial court and the Xiongnu promised to set up kiosks and post offices in various places along the route to facilitate the accommodation of merchants and traveling merchants, and at the same time ensure the safety of the trade routes. Thirdly, all merchants who trade with Shishi will be exempted from paying taxes in the first year, and their tax cards will be revoked along the way. Fourth, a year later, the Xiongnu collected taxes from Shihu City, and the imperial court did not take a penny. Fifth, and most crucially, you have to send a competent person to Luoyang, Kyoto to set up a China Merchants Bureau, and I will arrange manpower to cooperate with him, so that an endless stream of businessmen can attract you to Lishi City. The younger brother dares to assert that within a year, Lishi will become the first important town in the world's border trade, just this amount of income is enough for you to build a few Lishi cities, not to mention that there will be income in border trade every year in the future, that is, you are inexhaustible, an inexhaustible money bag. ”

Liu Yuan tried his best to control himself, not to let himself be too out of shape, he seemed to have seen the grand occasion of leaving Shicheng to become a trade city, the crowds were surging, and the wealth was rolling, with this money, these materials, he could build a city, build a palace, expand the army, buy weapons, and so on, in short, many things that he has more than enough heart to do now, will be just a piece of cake at that time: "Xiu Lie, do you think that person on my brother's side is suitable for this errand?" ”

Yang Ke glanced at Zhang Bin: "This matter belongs to Mr. Zhang, he knows the people of the Xiongnu and the Central Plains well, and he is talented, with Mr. Zhang sitting in Luoyang, my brother will have peace of mind." ”