readx; Li Qing'an encouraged the scholars at the State Guest House, stayed for a short time and left, and his next step was to visit the officials at all levels of the Broken Leaf Political Affairs Hall, and then to see the Han people in the interior who had migrated to Broken Leaves, and finally to meet the Byzantine envoys. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

But things did not go according to his plan, as soon as he walked out of the door of the State Guest House, he saw a tall Western woman standing thirty paces away, the reason why she was called a Western woman, because she was indeed not a Sogdian orchid, her appearance was characterized by a blonde Western beauty, a slightly shorter height than him, eyes like deep pools, blonde hair like a waterfall, dazzling white skin, and a pair of proud twin peaks.

But it was such a Western woman, when the scholars who came out of the crowd around Li Qing'an saw her, they did not have fiery eyes or frivolous whistles, but were in a panic, and they squatted down with their heads in their hands, only to see her suddenly pull out the longbow, and a sharp long arrow was aimed at Li Qing'an, and the surrounding guards rushed up and protected Li Qing'an with their shields.

Li Qingan waved his hand and stopped the guards of his own soldiers, "No need! ”

He took two steps towards the arrow and looked at her with a defiant gaze, "You are the Byzantine princess!" ”

Ellen said coldly: "Aren't you afraid that I will shoot you with an arrow?" ”

Li Qingan smiled and said, "Why did you shoot me, just because I didn't visit you?" ”

"Humph!" Ellen snorted and said, "We have been waiting for you for a month, and when you came back, you actually passed by our door without coming to see us, don't you think you are rude?" ”

Li Qing'an's face was still not a little annoyed, and he said with a smile: "Do you think that the dignified imperial princess has waited for me for a month, which is very undignified." ”

Elleni's eyes burned with anger, she grew up, who didn't try to please her, which one dared to flick her mind, her fiancé was shot to death by her because he snubbed her at the ball, and she waited for Li Qingan for a month, Li Qingan didn't take her seriously, this contempt made her very angry.

"Li Qingan, I want you to apologize to me!"

Li Qing'an's eyes narrowed, the smile disappeared from his face, he stared at Elleni's eyes and said coldly: "On the land under your feet, it is me Li Qing'an who has the final say, I want to receive you when I want to, it is also up to me to decide, if you are dissatisfied, you can return to Byzantium, no one invites you to come." ”

After speaking, Li Qingan turned around and got into the carriage, and the soldiers behind him hurriedly escorted both sides of the carriage, and the carriage started and drove in the direction of the political hall.

Elleni's arrow was still on the bow, and she followed Li Qing'an until he got into the carriage, she gritted her teeth with hatred, but she didn't dare to really shoot Li Qing'an's arrow, she suddenly turned around, and the arrow shot at a group of soldiers who were looking at her in a daze, and the arrow whistled over their heads, 'Boom! The thud was nailed to the door.

Frightened, the scholars stumbled and fled into the guest house, Ellen snorted contemptuously, glared fiercely at Li Qing'an's carriage, and turned away.

When Elleni returned to your hotel with an unhappy face, her uncle Joseph was already waiting for her at the door, and when he saw her coming back with a gloomy face, he guessed a few points, and said with a smile: "Did you go to see Li Qing'an and touch a nail?" ”

"Uncle, I want to go back to Byzantium, I don't want to see him again!" Ellen said hatefully.

At this time, Joseph figured it out, and he smiled: "Actually, Li Qing'an is right not to come to see us, we are representing the Byzantine Empire, and it seems too hasty and hasty for him to come to see us like this, this is the real rudeness, wait patiently!" He will receive us with due courtesy. ”

"I get angry when I think of his contempt for me!"

Elleni bit her lip and said, "His good impression in my heart is no longer the slightest." ”

．．．．．．．．． In the afternoon, Joseph, the Byzantine envoy who had been waiting for a long time, finally waited for the result, and a wide carriage was escorted by more than 100 honor guards to the Gui Hotel, and Pei Yu, who was in charge of Anxi's foreign affairs, was ordered by Li Qing'an to inform Joseph that Anxi's envoy Li Qing'an officially received him and invited him to the political hall for talks.

If there was a hint of teasing in the deliberate absence in the morning, then the formal reception in the afternoon was very formal and serious, and in addition to Li Qing'an, the military and civilian high-level officials in Broken Leaf also met with him.

More than 20 high-ranking civil and military officials, including Shi Wang Changling, head of the Anxi Army and Anxi Prefecture, Sima Cen Shen, Shi Hanyue, governor of Xiaye Prefecture, Li Guangbi, acting governor of Xiaye Prefecture, Lei Wanchun, governor of Dawan, Li Fei Yuanli, governor of Hezhong, and Yan Zhuang, chief of staff of Li Qing'an, attended the meeting.

On the Byzantine side, in addition to the envoy Joseph and the deputy envoy Rachel and an interpreter, Princess Ellen was also present at the meeting, and she was tasked with observing the possibility of establishing military cooperation with the Anxi army, but this was her secret mission.

The territory of the Byzantine Empire is also very vast, in addition to the Asia Minor Peninsula, there are also the southern Balkan Peninsula including Greece, Crete, Sicily, Sardinia and several cities on the Italian Peninsula, such as Naples and Venice, etc., these are the territories of the Byzantine Empire, but the biggest enemy of the Byzantine Empire is the Arabs, for more than a hundred years, the Byzantine Empire and the Arabs have broken out several large-scale battles, the most famous is the naval battle for Greece, The Byzantine Empire burned thousands of Arab ships with the famous Greek fire, and hundreds of thousands of Arab warriors perished.

In the civil war between the Abbasid Empire and the Umayyad Empire, the Byzantine Empire was also unstable, thus missing a great opportunity to counterattack the Arabs, but in these two years, Constantine V gradually consolidated the throne, and his eyes turned to a cancer of the Byzantine Empire, the island of Cyprus, which was too close to the Byzantine Empire and is currently occupied by the Arabs, which is a springboard for the Arabs to attack Greece and the empire itself.

In addition, the road to the east of the Byzantine Empire was also blocked by the Arabs, and the Great Food set up the province of Armenia in the north, blocking the road to the east of the Byzantine Empire, which made the Byzantines to the East can only go to the Crimean Peninsula on the opposite side of the Black Sea by boat, and then they can go to the East by a long way, which makes Byzantium can only rely on the entrepot trade of the Arabs, and the exquisite silk and porcelain of the East are sold at sky-high prices in the Byzantine market, and the windfall profits are taken away by the Arabs. But it is not realistic to use troops against Armenia now, Constantine V gathered hundreds of warships on Rhodes, he wanted to take the island of Cyprus in one fell swoop, but he was very worried that the strong forces of the Abbasid Empire made him unconfident, he also considered military cooperation with the Orientals, but he was also worried about whether the military strength of the Orientals was as strong as the legend, so he let his daughter come to Anxi as an observer outside the mission to observe the strength of the Tang army.

The meeting took place in a small conference room in the government hall, with a large oval table and a row of chairs along the walls on all sides, which could accommodate 50 people.

But today's meeting is not about military cooperation between Byzantium and Anxi, but about trade cooperation between the two sides, such as currency, taxes, trading locations, etc., in the past few hundred years, trade between the Central Plains and the Byzantine Empire has been done through Sogdian merchants, through the Silk Road, to transport large quantities of goods from the East to the Byzantine Empire.

This time, for the first time, the Tang Dynasty will trade directly with the Byzantine Empire, and a new page will be opened in the history of trade between the two sides.

The door of the conference room opened, and several officials led Joseph and other envoys of the Byzantine Empire into the meeting, in fact, in the days when Li Qing'an did not rush back to the broken leaves, Shi Wang Changling, the highest political official of Anxi and the governor of Anxi, had already had several long talks with Joseph, and the two sides had basically reached most of the consensus, just waiting for Li Qing'an to come back to finalize.

Li Qing'an is the first time to see Joseph, it is said that he is the younger brother of the Byzantine emperor, which makes Li Qing'an can't help but think of another imperial brother, the imperial brother of the Abbasid Empire Mansour, he compared the two in his mind with great interest, Mansur is shrewd and decisive, will not be careful in small things, and can also make a statement, so that the grain exchange prisoners of war between the two sides did not have any accidents, and ended smoothly, which made Li Qingan feel that Mansur has a kind of imperial demeanor.

And the Byzantine royal brother in front of him is lean and capable, with a straight waist, no smile on his face, and an elegant posture, he can see that he is a well-educated nobleman, Li Qing'an heard Pei Yu say in the morning, Joseph lived in Broken Leaves for a month, and his daily life was almost the same set of stereotypes, the time of eating and resting never changed, and he had never been to any place where he spent money, except for going to the political hall for talks, he had never been out of your hotel, and now Li Qing'an observed a detail, Joseph walked in exactly along a straight brick line, and in just twenty steps, he did not deviate in the slightest, and even the distance of each step was amazingly accurate.

Li Qing'an immediately came to the conclusion that this was a rigid messenger, and that there would be no windfall in this Joseph's case, in other words, that this man would not talk about anything unrelated to trade.

Li Qing'an's eyes couldn't help but fall on Princess Ellen behind Joseph again, she was completely different from the fierce woman who pointed a bow and arrow at her in the morning, as if she had changed a person, her expression was serious, her eyes were quiet, her walking posture was beautiful and regular, she was wearing a golden long skirt, a white cloak, a wide and thick long skirt covered her wonderful figure tightly, and the skirt was sewn with gorgeous Shu brocade, which was the costume of the Byzantine court, Li Qing'an thought of her in Talas City, At that time, she was wearing a topless dress, and a large area of her skin was exposed, Li Qingan couldn't help laughing, and he thought of a famous saying: Women are natural actors, and it seems that this princess is also very good at switching different roles.

The slight ambiguous smile on Li Qingan's face happened to be seen by Elleni, she remembered being teased by Li Qingan in the morning, and her anger rose again, and she involuntarily clenched her fists, but Li Qingan smiled at her and also squeezed her fists.

Elleni snorted and twisted her head to the side, and at this time, Joseph stepped forward and gave Li Qing'an a very standard salute, "His Majesty the Byzantine Emperor's envoy has seen General Anxi. ”

Li Qingan returned the salute with a smile: "I made the envoy wait for a month, I just rushed back yesterday, I'm really sorry!" ”

"The general's rush back from thousands of miles away also shows the importance he attaches to my Byzantine Empire, and I hope we can reach an agreement smoothly."

Joseph introduced Ellen to Li Qing'an and said, "This is Princess Elleni, she is the eldest daughter of His Majesty our Emperor. ”

Elleni also elegantly pulled up the hem of her skirt and saluted Li Qing'an, and Li Qing'an hurriedly replied: "It turned out to be Her Royal Highness the Princess, disrespectful!" ”

Elleni smiled and nodded, but she didn't say a word, she restrained herself, for fear that she would lose the dignity of the Byzantine Empire as soon as she spoke.

At this time, Wang Changling smiled and said, "Since everyone has arrived, please sit down!" ”

The seats have already been arranged, the two sides sit separately, because there are only three people on the other side, Anxi only corresponds to three people, Li Qing'an, Wang Changling and Cen Shen, and the others are sitting in the back, at this time Li Qing'an found a strange place, that is, the seats of the other party's three people, it stands to reason that this negotiation mainly involves trade, although Princess Elleni's status is high, but she is not an official member of the mission, so her seat should be in the back, Anxi also specially arranged a VIP seat for her, or sit in the third place to listen, But at this time, Ellen was in the second, and Rachel was in the third, which was very surprising, and as a strict and rigid Joseph, he would never make such a mistake of etiquette.

Li Qingan couldn't help but look at the list of the other party's mission in front of him, there was indeed no name of Elleni, so why did she sit in the second place of the mission? At this time, Li Qingxin suddenly had a glimmer of realization, could it be that Elleni was taking on the task of another kind of envoy?

In addition to trade, it is possible that Byzantium also has another purpose, Li Qing'an can't help but think of his letter to the other emperor, in which he clearly proposed that the two sides form a military alliance to deal with the Great Eclipse, he believes that the Byzantine Emperor also considered this suggestion, if they have a little intelligence, they should know the ability of the Anxi Army to contain the Great Cannibal, it should be said that this proposal is very tempting, the two sides only have common interests, and there is no conflict, they are natural collaborators.

Of course, Byzantium may also go to Chang'an to talk about the possibility of cooperation, but in fact they did not go to Chang'an, only came to Anxi, at this time Li Qingan had already guessed a few points, although he did not know whether Elleni was tasked with military cooperation between the two sides, but one thing he could be sure of was that Princess Elleni definitely did not come to Anxi to play.

Thinking of this, Li Qing'an's attention turned to Elleni, her every move, not even a single look, could escape Li Qing'an's observation.

Although it was a negotiation, but in fact the two sides have reached a majority of the consensus, Wang Changling also went to meet Li Qing'an, on the way he reported to Li Qing'an about the talks with Joseph, both sides agreed to use the city of Talas and the city of Itil in the north as a transit trade station for both sides, the tax rate is uniformly adopted at a low rate of thirty taxes and one, and the tax is paid at the transaction price, whether it is official trade or private trade, the same tax rate is used, and the two sides also agreed that their respective armies have the responsibility to maintain the security of their own domestic trade routes, etc.

There is a consensus on most matters, but there is a little disagreement between the two sides on the use of currency, Byzantium's currency is gold sori, there are also copper coins and silver coins, but now gold coins are the mainstay, Byzantium is based on trade, its currency is extremely strong, Europe for centuries is used by its currency, and even the trade with the big food is also using gold sori.

And Anxi's currency is naturally copper coins, but also popular food Dinard silver coins, but since the second half of last year, Anxi's silver dollar has been successfully manufactured, first began to pass in Anxi, Anxi's silver dollar standard weight is one tael, ninety percent silver and one copper, exquisite workmanship, but also can blow buzzing, as soon as it comes out, it is very popular with merchants, and the Byzantine mission has also verified this silver dollar, agreeing that it can be used as a currency for trading.

But the key is the price comparison, that is, the exchange rate of later generations, of course, the exchange rate of the Tang Dynasty is not as complicated as that of later generations, it is very simple and rough, how many silver dollars is a gold soli worth? The weight of a gold soli is about one penny, so this is very simple, gold and silver are one to ten, and a gold soli should be exchanged for a silver dollar, in fact, a gold soli is less than a penny, and it is still a little short, but Anxi did not care, and it is still calculated according to one penny.

And the difference lies here, the Byzantine mission must insist on ten gold coins for twelve silver dollars in Anxi, which is also one to one to two, but Anxi is also unwilling to give in, so a stalemate is formed, and the compromise plan of the Byzantine mission is to calculate its own plan, but Anxi does not agree, which will give speculators a loophole.

Now wait for Li Qing'an to come to the final talk, Li Qing'an has already known the differences between the two sides from Wang Changling's mouth, in fact, he knows in his heart, the merchants will not suffer losses, will settle accounts by themselves, can take into account the future official trade, this price must be determined, and the amount of official trade is very large, the difference between the two silver dollars is enough to cut the profits of the Tang Dynasty.

Li Qingan smiled slightly: "The official gold and silver price comparison of the Tang Dynasty is one to ten, and as far as I know, the same is true of the big food. ”

At this time, Li Yan, the envoy of the city in charge of Anxi trade, whispered to Li Qing'an in Chinese: "I have just heard from Sogdian merchants that Byzantium is also one to ten. ”

Li Qing'an nodded, and continued: "The price of gold and silver in your country is also one to ten, then I don't understand, how did it become one to twelve when I got to your mission, what is the reason?" ”

Joseph also thought about this issue for a long time, before he came to Anxi, he did not know that Anxi already had silver dollars, he could not accept the copper coins of the Tang Dynasty, so he was ready to use their gold coins as the only trade currency, but Anxi insisted on using the same Anxi silver dollars, so he thought about it carefully, the Anxi silver dollars contained enough silver and were acceptable, and he decided to use a ten-to-twelve ratio, that is, ten gold soles for twelve Anxi silver dollars.

"General, our Byzantine gold coins have a history of hundreds of years, they are all pure gold, and their reputation is outstanding, and your silver dollar was only minted last year, as far as I know, it is not the coin of the Tang Dynasty, but the local coin of your Anxi, there is a poor reputation in it, so I think the gold is worth a little more, I will never change this, we can only find a compromise, and I will not give in."

Li Qingan couldn't help but nod at Joseph's thoughts, the value of credibility, this Joseph actually took the value of credibility into account, it was really not simple, but he couldn't give in either.

He smiled and said, "Mr. Joseph is a stubborn man who refuses to give in, and I am also a more sincere person, and I also refuse to give in, what does Mr. Joseph think?" ”

Joseph thought for a moment and said, "So be it! I propose a compromise, you Anthy also mint a gold coin of the same weight and purity as our gold soli, and we will use these two gold coins as the trade currency, and the price will be one to one. ”

On the one hand, he was afraid that someone in the Central Plains would imitate gold coins and damage the credibility of Anxi gold coins, on the other hand, Anxi's gold was also less, and it was meaningless to mint coins, but he didn't expect Byzantium to let Anxi also mint gold coins, he didn't want to, he would rather use Byzantine gold coins to trade, and exchange his goods for their gold, and Anxi's side, as long as he didn't allow gold to circulate, Then the merchant could only exchange it for silver dollars at the cabinet on a one-to-one basis, thus turning the gold soli into his 'foreign exchange reserves'.

Instead of fancy banknotes, the gold is gold, and Li Qing'an is willing to store this currency.

Li Qing'an shook his head and said: "The minting of coins must be approved by the central court, we can only mint silver dollars, I can't accept your compromise plan, but I hope that Anxi and your country can start trading as soon as possible, I think this is the most critical issue, so if we really can't negotiate, then I can give in, I give up the Anxi silver dollar, and only use your country's gold soli as the only coin for trade between the two sides,"

It was still 1,300 years ago, the materials were scarce, and Joseph did not understand the problem of the loss of hard currency caused by the trade overpass, and when he saw Li Qing'an giving in, he smiled happily: "Okay, we will negotiate!" ”

The two sides reached a final consensus, and the next step was for the officials below to begin drafting the specific terms of the agreement, which were then formally signed by Li Qingan and Joseph.

But Li Qing'an really cared about the military cooperation between the two sides, and he saw that Ellen was a little absent-minded, obviously not interested in trade, so he smiled at her: "Your Royal Highness, I will go to inspect the army early tomorrow morning, and I invite you to go with me, I wonder if you are interested?" ”

Ellen smiled and said, "I'm willing, I'll wait for your arrival." ”

(To be continued)