In the snowstorm, Xiao Qubing and his party came to Talas again. Cen Shen was right, Hu Tian was snowing in August, and it was still a hot summer when he left Talas to go south, but when he came back, it was already late autumn and winter, and the cold wind was howling.

After more than two months, the Anxi Army of the Battle of Talas completely annihilated the main force of the Great Food, the Tianwei Army conquered the Broken Leaf City, and the news that the Tang Dynasty had fully opened the northern route of the Silk Road had spread throughout the entire Silk Road.

The well-informed and responsive merchants all switched to Talas. First, to avoid crossing the Green Ridge, compared with the southern route, the distance is close and easy to walk; Second, the northern route of the Silk Road has been congested in the past two years, and there is a shortage of goods along the way, which is a good opportunity to make money.

Xiao Quai's illness and what they see now is such a prosperous scene of endless business and travel along the way, Li Sheng couldn't help but sigh with emotion: "I have to say, these Hu merchants of the Zhaowu Nine Kingdoms are not good at fighting, but they are really good at business." It's only been more than two months, and the entire Silk Road has been full of business and life, and you can see how happy they laugh. ”

Ali Yi on the side nodded in agreement: "Hu of the Nine Kingdoms of Zhaowu is extremely good at business, and he really deserves his reputation. Now that the entire Silk Road is open, you Datang can collect a lot of taxes from passing merchants. ”

Xiao Quzhi was immediately unhappy, compared to these Zhaowu Nine Kingdoms Hu monopolizing the market, treacherous and cunning, clever and cunning, doing everything possible, and obtaining several times dozens of times the profits, this toll tax is simply like confiscation. The Tang Dynasty was good at everything, enterprising, magnificent, open and inclusive...... But there are a few bad points, one of them is that the Tang Dynasty, which had a hukou, was not allowed to go abroad to engage in international trade.

Although the Tang Dynasty was strong, the economy was actually not very good (at least far worse than the commercially developed Song Dynasty), and the main income of the Tang Dynasty's political axe was still the rent of the peasants and small citizens with household registration, to put it bluntly, it was to live by collecting rent. I don't know, in fact, you can get more money by developing business and collecting business taxes on international trade.

On the other hand, it may be for reasons of maintaining rule and better management. For a long time, the household is organized and the people are strictly managed, and the common people can be firmly tied to the land. fantasize that through this method to achieve long-term peace and stability, eternal peace; If the population of the capital is constantly moving, and even goes abroad to engage in trade, it is obviously not conducive to management and rule.

In this way, the result was cheaper for these Zhaowu Nine Kingdoms, who were very good at business and speculation, and all the money on both sides was earned by them. Many Hu merchants relied on the Silk Road trade to become so wealthy that even the children of Tang Dynasty eunuchs had to borrow money from them. It is conceivable how rich these Hu merchants of the Zhaowu Nine Kingdoms are, and the toll collected by the Anxi Army and the Longyou Army is not even one percent of their profits, which is a fart.

This time, I went to the river and Khorasan to rob a lot of money, but most of it had to be handed over to the state treasury and the government treasury, and there was really not much in my hands, and it would not be long before it would be spent. It seems that from now on, it is time to think of a way to make money back from these Hu merchants.

Why! Lao Tzu and the Anxi Army worked desperately to open up and maintain the smooth flow of the Silk Road, and almost lost their lives, why should they just cheapen these boneless Zhaowu Nine Kingdoms?

"Why didn't you see these merchants of the Nine Kingdoms of Zhaowu so active before?" Xiao Quzhi said coldly: "The prosperity of the Silk Road does not depend on the protection of the Anxi Army, otherwise they will not be able to go through this road; Even if he made money at the cost of all odds in the end, he was not robbed by the big cannibal in the end. You don't know, in the past ten years, because of the great food and plundering the river, many Hu merchants of the Zhaowu Nine Kingdoms refused to go back to Chang'an. ”

Ali Yi was not happy in his heart, he firmly believed that these people of the Zhaowu Nine Kingdoms who would only make money and play tricks, and who would bully the weak and fear the hard when they started a war, deserved to be robbed. He said loudly: "This group of Zhaowu Nine Kingdoms Hu is not worthy of having so much wealth, who told you Datang not to rob it?" ”

Xiao Quzhi laughed: "You're right! "The heart said that it was before, and I will see how I rob all the money of these Hu merchants in the future. I'm not as savage as you cannibals, I plunder directly by force, I use economic methods.

Five miles away from the city, the prince of Shi Wang, who was temporarily guarding here, brought someone to greet him: "Marquis Xiao, you are finally here, someone has been waiting for you here for two days." ”

"Wait for me? Who is it? ”

"This is Felix, the envoy sent to Chang'an by the Fula Kingdom." Na Che Bishi pointed to a middle-aged man with yellow hair and high nose next to him and said, "I told him that the Anxi army had knocked out Khorasan, but he didn't believe it. So I told him that the Tang Dynasty generals who defeated the Khorasan army and captured alive the governor of Khorasan and the black-clothed emperor would come here soon. And just like that, he waited here for two days. ”

"Are you a Byzantine emissary? Do you speak Datang dialect? ”

Felix nodded, a look of surprise appeared in his eyes, and he said in disbelief: "You are the general who defeated the black-clothed food?" And captured alive the governor of Khorasan and the black-clothed emperor brother? How is this possible? ”

Xiao Quzhi smiled, the Tang Dynasty is good, Datang dialect is simply the same as English in later generations, it is an international language. Maybe the soldiers at the bottom don't know how to say it, but the high-level people of various countries will more or less say the Tang dialect: "Why is it impossible?" ”

"With all due respect, you look more like a student, a literati, less like a general, and you're too young."

"Well, let me introduce you to you, this is the former Governor of Khorasan, the former black-clothed Governor of Khorasan, and Posilin." And Po Xilin is simply a genius, and for more than a month, he has also learned the Tang dialect. So a very funny scene appeared, an Eastern Roman Greek and a Persian, and began to talk in Tang dialect as they walked.

And Posilin is very eloquent, and he knows the names of the generals of the black-clothed Western Front against the Byzantine Emperor. When he arrived in Talas City, Felix no longer doubted: "Respected General Xiao, the Marquis of the Tang Dynasty, please forgive me for my rudeness just now, I really didn't expect that General Soshyang Xiao, who was rumored to be a god in the entire river, would be so young......"

"They say I'm a foot tall and have horns on my head, don't they?" Xiao Quzhi smiled and said, "Felix envoy, I want to know, before you leave, did your emperor seize the opportunity to attack Syria in black clothes?" ”

"To be honest, we weren't sure if the news was true or false at the time, so my prince sent a small team to carry out some tentative attacks." Felix said excitedly: "Now that the Great Food Loss has lost its soldiers, now even Khorasan has been lost. I will immediately send to my king to report the good news, and take advantage of this good opportunity to recover the land seized by the great cannibals, Damascus, and Egypt. ”

"I wish you all success! Then are you still going to Chang'an? ”

"Go, respected Marquis of the Tang Dynasty, can my team go with you?"

"Yes, the prince will also go with us, let's hurry up, and we can catch up with the large army in front. This time, more than 30 countries, large and small, have sent missions to Chang'an, and the grand court meeting on New Year's Day will definitely be very lively. ”

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