Tang Xiaohao didn't know anything about Ruiyuan's "Commercial Tax Law", which he had never heard his father mention, and what he heard most about before was the war with the Yan clan and the ferociousness and arrogance of the Yan clan.

Now that he learned about these things from Su Mu's mouth, he understood that the imperial court knew that these things were happening, but they turned a blind eye, and there were two main reasons.

First, the imperial courts of all dynasties just wanted to trap the Yan people in Ruiyuan, as long as they stayed in Ruiyuan, then anything that happened in Ruiyuan had nothing to do with the imperial court.

Second, the "Commercial Tax Law" promulgated by the Yan people is a reference to a similar decree promulgated by the Huayuan Imperial Court.

Take the sale of snow demons as an example, before the Dachang Dynasty, it was allowed to buy and sell people, called hostages, and even slaves.

The pledgee transaction is divided into two ways: private sale is a personal transaction, and the tax paid is heavier, and the official sale is to hand over the pledgee to the relevant government agencies first, and the government takes a certain fee, and the tax paid is only slightly less than that of the private sale.

Whether it is a private sale or an official sale, it is divided into two types: live sale and absolute sale.

Live selling means that after selling, it can be redeemed with money. The sale is a one-time buyout, and there is no possibility of redemption, and the pledged person who sells will never regain his free body unless the owner agrees.

To sum up, this is the reason why the imperial court would not target Ruiyuan's "Commercial Tax Law" in the past.

After the establishment of the Dachang Dynasty, although the hostages were no longer allowed to buy and sell, they only changed the soup and did not change the medicine, and the title of the hostages became slaves, which was still feasible at some levels, and naturally could not be attacked, which is why those merchants could take the purchased snow demons out of Ruiyuan and then sell them.

Tang Xiaohao remembered the mandala elves he met in Liangcheng: "These merchants are actually taking advantage of the loopholes of the imperial court's decrees, just like intoxication, intoxication is an elf, belonging to monsters, and the Snow Maiden is the same, it is not included in the relevant decrees issued by the imperial court, so businessmen can buy and sell these monsters unscrupulously."

Su Mu nodded and said, "That's right, moreover, many merchants have a very good personal relationship with certain sects or aliens of the alien realm, because the merchants need them to capture or take care of the monsters for themselves, and find a way to imprison the monsters' mana, otherwise, how can these monsters obey the orders of their masters."

Tang Xiaohao said, "I heard that the Five Banners of the Yan Clan regard the Qing Nu as their only god, and the Snow Demon Clan is rumored to be the descendant of the Qing Maiden, so it stands to reason that the Yan Clan and the Snow Demon Clan should belong to the same lineage."

Su Mu said: "Donkey, because the interests are so tempting to the ordinary people of the Yan clan, let alone the ruler of the five banners of the Yan clan."

Before the snow stone was discovered, the life of those masters of the Yan Five Banners was not comfortable, not to mention that compared with those princes and nobles in Huayuan, they could not reach the living standard of ordinary wealthy merchants.

After the discovery of the snow stone, the Venerable Master of the Five Banners of the Yan Clan finally understood what extravagance was. They don't have to cut back on food and clothing, they can eat whatever they want, and they can get what they want.

Therefore, the Yan clan was overjoyed by the war launched by the Snow Demon Clan, and they finally found a legitimate reason to dig up the snow stone and capture the Snow Demon.

It's just that no one thought that this war would last for hundreds of years.

Tang Xiaohao was thinking, what would little bell do if she knew all this? Will she still insist on returning to Seosan? Or will they go in search of the descendants of the Snow Demon Clan that may still exist?

Or, when she finally understands that this is over, she will follow Tang Xiaohao to leave Ruiyuan and go to a paradise to live a carefree and happy life?

Tang Xiaohao shook his head vigorously, telling himself not to think about these things anymore, as I said before, fate has its own arrangement. ap.

However, what happened next surprised Tang Xiaohao.

After Cai Qianqing bathed and changed clothes, she was not in a hurry to eat, but asked someone to invite Chierda, Tang Xiaohao and Su Mu to her room, and then took out the emperor's secret edict.

When Cai Qianqing took out the secret edict, Su Mu was obviously surprised, and it seemed that he didn't know anything about the secret edict.

Tang Xiaohao also subconsciously looked at Su Mu, it stands to reason that Ji Cheng

Even if Ying had a secret edict, it should be handed over to Su Mu, how could it be handed over to Cai Qianqing, a strategist recommended by Sang Luo?

Cai Qianqing also saw doubts from Tang Xiaohao and Su Mu's reactions, so he directly handed the secret edict to the two of them and let them see it for themselves.

After Su Mu and Tang Xiaohao looked at it, they found that it was indeed Ji Chengying's handwriting, and there was a jade seal underneath.

The secret edict stated that Cai Qianqing went to Guchengguan this time, ostensibly to assist in retreating the enemy, but in fact he was waiting here for a caravan to go to Ruiyuan to complete a secret mission in the summer capital of Ruiyuan. The edict also wrote that if Cai Qianqing met Tang Xiaohao in Ruiyuan, he would need the help of a horse to complete the task, and Su Mu would be responsible for protecting Tang Xiaohao and Cai Qianqing's personal safety.

After reading the secret edict, Tang Xiaohao immediately asked Cai Qianqing: "Mr. Cai, what secret mission did the emperor ask us to go to Ruiyuan Summer Capital to perform?"

Cai Qianqing shook her head and said, "I don't know either."

Tang Xiaohao and Su Mu naturally didn't believe it, their eyes were full of suspicion, and Gilda on the side was silent.

Childa felt very strange in her heart, and decided that the imperial court must have known about the Yan clan's invasion, otherwise, why did the Yan clan's advance army evacuate the valley on the eve of Cai Qianqing's arrival.

However, no matter how you look at it, there is nothing bad about this matter for the Tors Department.

At the same time, Childa also knew his identity, and he also knew that he was not mentioned in the secret edict, and Cai Qianqing also called himself, which was a kind of trust, so he could only be silent.

Cai Qianqing always has a shallow smile and is polite and courteous, which makes Tang Xiaohao feel very uncomfortable, and even feels that this is a sign of hypocrisy.

Cai Qianqing put away the secret edict: "According to the secret report received by the imperial court, the five banners of the Yan clan have long been in chaos, and the power structure has collapsed."

Tang Xiaohao asked, "And then? What do we need to do? Divide them?"

Cai Qianqing said, "After we arrive in the summer capital, naturally someone will contact us."

Tang Xiaohao had no choice but to say, "I see."

Cai Qianqing arched his hand in the direction of the imperial city and said, "I don't dare to speculate on anything, and I am afraid of living up to the Holy Grace."

Cai Qianqing's actions made Tang Xiaohao a little disgusted, especially in these scenes.

However, Tang Xiaohao also understands Cai Qianqing's caution, he grew up in Shendu City, he knows very well that he should not easily communicate with others, because it is easy for the other party to grasp his weaknesses.

The city of God is a place full of lies, and these strategists are sharks in the sea of lies.

Cai Qianqing said again: "Horse, General Su, the caravan will arrive at Gucheng Pass tonight, we will set off overnight, Ruiyuan is freezing cold, and it is a long way to go to the summer capital, so I will rest for a while."

After leaving Cai Qianqing's room, Tang Xiaohao, Su Mu, and Childa walked towards the ridge city wall and looked at the empty valley in the distance.

Tang Xiaohao deliberately asked Cherda: "General Cerda, what do you think of the emperor's secret edict?"

Childa shook her head: "I don't have any ideas, Mr. Cai asked me to listen to the secret edict, presumably because of that caravan."

Tang Xiaohao asked Su Mu again, "Su Mu, what do you think?"

Su Mu asked, "Are you asking me what I think of Cai Qianqing, or what do you think of the secret edict?"

Tang Xiaohao asked, "What do you think of the secret edict?"

Su Mu said: "It is indeed the emperor's own handwriting, but I am very puzzled, why didn't the emperor tell me about it?"

Childa interjected at this time: "Horse, General Su, I'm going to patrol the defense, so I will leave first."

Childa then left, Tang Xiaohao looked at the back of Childa leaving, and his heart was mixed.

In the past, Gilda would definitely stand here and keep asking questions, but now Gelda knows very well what he should know and what he shouldn't, so he will suddenly find an excuse to leave.

Although Tang Xiaohao thinks that Gelda was a reckless man in the past, that kind of Gelda is more real.

Everything in this world is so contradictory, there is never such a thing as perfection.

When Calla was gone, Su Mu followed

said: "The only person the emperor can trust is Xuanbu, but the secret edict did not give it to me, it was Cai Qianqing, which makes me puzzled."

Tang Xiaohao said: "Actually, the strangest thing is that Cai Qianqing actually let Childa also know the content of the secret edict."

When Su Mu heard this, he reacted: "Yes, there is no mention of Childa in the secret edict, he makes his own decisions, isn't it equivalent to making his own decisions, to put it mildly, this is called going against the holy will."

Tang Xiaohao pondered for a moment and said, "I guess that the emperor may have given Cai Qianqing a lot of power so that he can act cheaply, so he dares to make his own decisions, that is to say, everything we have to do when we go to Ruiyuan Xia must be subject to Cai Qianqing."

Su Mu still shook his head: "I don't understand, why the emperor would arrange it like this, he can tell me truthfully, this kind of approach is not like him."

Tang Xiaohao said: "Maybe the emperor has his reasons."

Tang Xiaohao actually thought that the emperor had learned of the existence of Yanxiazhi, the strategist alliance set up by Sang Luo? That's why he deliberately asked Sang Luo to recommend Cai Qianqing to investigate some information about the organization?

However, is Cai Qianqing a person from Yanxiazhi? Or did Sang Luo just want to take this opportunity to absorb Cai Qianqing?

Tang Xiaohao looked at Su Mu and said, "Su Mu, what Cai Qianqing has learned is the art of speculation, and he is best at obtaining the information he wants in daily conversations, maybe inadvertently, we will be tricked out by him, so we must be cautious in our words and deeds."

Su Mu was very simple: "I won't talk to him unless I have to."

Tang Xiaohao looked at the empty valley, where there was nothing left except for footprints and horseshoe prints, indicating that they had retreated in an orderly manner, not because there was some emergency situation to evacuate in a hurry.

So, is there a connection between the departure of Mo Qi and Mo Lin, the invasion and retreat of the Yan army, and the secret mission that Cai Qianqing is going to the summer capital?

Why did Ji Chengying hand over the secret edict to Cai Qianqing, instead of Su Mu, the Xuanbu thorn who should have been completely trusted?

Tang Xiaohao had a particularly bad premonition in his heart.