Chapter 301: Go to Dali to grab stones

Sun Cong's statement made Zhao Xing laugh. Zhao Xing stared at Sun Cong with his eyes slanted and asked disdainfully: "What can you give me a sixth-rank secretary?"

Sun Cong shook his head and replied proudly: "Although I am not successful, I am more than defeated. Don't underestimate me... By the way, you have always said that the Dali Kingdom was controlled by the Gao family. Is there a Gao family among these prisoners? If there are them, there are many reasons in the court to explain the reason for our troops, such as: In order to eliminate the rebellion, we sent troops to attack Dali and captured the Gao family's traitor..."

Zhao Xing sneered: "The Gao family prisoner is still there, but in my opinion, the best reason for sending troops is what Taizu said: How can you let others snore on the side of the bed?"

Sun Cong didn't care about Zhao Xing's fanning the flames. He smiled and said, "Where is Gao? With him here, my mission is perfect?"

Zhao Xing replied: "Duan's revival (also known as Houli Kingdom), the government orders were all from the Gao family, known as the "Gao Kingdom Lord". The Duan family only had a vacant position. Bagan (Myanmar), the Persian provinces of the Abbas Dynasty, Kunlun, Zhenla and other countries went to pay tribute. They had to meet the Gao family first and then pay tribute to King Duan. Gao family had a long-term plan, and they had a great title to entrust their children to Yongchang, Kunming, Jianchang, Heqing, Chuxiong and other important places, so that their power would be concentrated in the Gao family. Now, I am detaining Gao Taiming, the Marquis of Shanchan alone because he is useful. Several other Gao family disciples were detained in the fiefdoms. Don't you want to go to Dali to see it? You just happened to bring all the Marquis of Gao back to the capital."

Zhao Xing said this and patted his thighs and added: "Speaking of this, we seized a good opportunity. Duan Zhengchun was restored last year, and the king's position has not yet been firmly settled. Several marquises of Gao's family have been newly enthroned, and some have not taken office yet. We have all arrested them. This has allowed us to manage Dali and relieve many obstacles. Now Dali has done a great job in restoring the county seat of the county. You can tell the court that Dali will be changed directly to my Song Dynasty. There is no need to cause trouble."

The Song Dynasty's "Persia" and "Dashi" are homophones. When Zhao Xing explained just now, Sun Cong's eyes flashed and he wanted to interrupt. When Zhao Xing stopped for a while, Sun Cong hurriedly took advantage of the situation: "Wait, you just said that Dashi was a province of the Abbas Dynasty. Is that true?"

Zhao Xing nodded. Sun Cong said thoughtfully: "So, since the Song Dynasty, anyone who comes to pay tribute in the name of black food and food is a liar!"

Zhao Xing laughed and pointed out the window and said, "You know why the merchants who paid tribute have disappeared since I was in charge of Guangzhou Maritime and Concubine. I tell you that Guangzhou Maritime and Concubine had a group of sluts (translation) who specialize in helping foreigners forge letters of the country and impersonate tribute. These people have been doing this since the Tang Dynasty because the Great Food Kingdom has been a province in Arabia since the Tang Dynasty. Since the Tang Dynasty, all the Great Food Tribute envoys were forged by the Talents of Guangzhou Maritime and Concubine."

Zhao Xing only talked about the fact that Persia had become a province of the Arab dynasty three hundred years ago before the Song Dynasty. He did not know that Persia had been a transfer of the major Arab dynasties for the next seven hundred years.

"The Great Food has been destroyed three hundred years ago. Now the Seyrjuk Empire has risen, and he has occupied the northwest of the Great Food. At the same time, the Northeast of the Great Food is occupied by the Khwarezm Kingdom (now northeastern Uzbek and Iran), and there is the newly emerging Kingdom of the Guerhara in the south - do you know my Gurkha slaves? They are from this kingdom.

The black food and food no longer existed since the Tang Dynasty. They were just other people's provinces and had no independent diplomatic rights. Judging from the current situation, as long as the Kingdom of Cerjuk continues to invade the south, they will cut off the connection between the Persian provinces and Arabia. In the end, this Persia will be divided by Cerjuk and the Kingdom of Guer."

Sun Cong was shocked by Zhao Xing's words, and he murmured to himself: "It turns out that since the Tang Dynasty, all the Dashi merchants have been fake. How could this happen?"

Zhao Xing smiled and asked back: "You know the truth, will you tell it?"

Sun Cong couldn't say it, he shook his head slowly.

Since the Tang Dynasty, there have been more than a hundred cases of so-called tribute incidents by Persian merchants. If this incident is denied, then in more than three hundred years, many officials have become fools who have been deceived. According to the unspoken rules of the officialdom, Sun Cong should not announce the truth and make other officials fools.

He didn't know that there was still seven hundred years of history, and people continued to pretend to be Persian merchants to pay tribute. In fact, after Persia was divided by the Seerjuk and the Guer Kingdom, they then encountered the Mongolian army heading south and became slaves to the Mongols. After the Mongolian army of southern expeditions was wiped out by the Egyptian Mamuliuk soldiers, they became appendages of the Ottoman Empire.

It was not until the mid-Qing Dynasty that the Persians re-established their own country after the decline of the Ottoman Empire.

In other words, in ancient Chinese history, most of the so-called Persian merchants' pilgrimage were basically a scam, because the Dashi (Persians) at that time had no independent diplomatic rights at all.

"How could this happen? Why did those sluts in Guangzhou pretend to be a big food merchant?" Sun Cong asked in disbelief.

Zhao Xing replied lightly: "Because tribute is a trade method - sea trade generally has a profit of fifty to seventy times, but our tribute trade rewards are equivalent to ten times the value of goods. It is said that doing so reflects the prosperity and tolerance and generosity of the Supreme Kingdom of the Celestial Empire.

Please remember that this "reward ten times and value of goods" is measured according to the price standards of the capital. This means that if a ship of goods is sold in Guangzhou, it can only obtain a profit of fifty to seventy times. If the goods are entrusted by the envoy of the Hajj and presented the goods to the court, he can obtain a profit of five to seven hundred times, or even a thousand times.

This also means that if the envoy of Dashi tribute presented a piece of shit to the court, the land given to him would be a piece of shit the size of a shit, or even five pieces of gold of this size. With a strong profit, how can it not make people crazy? You know, ten times the profit is enough to risk destroying the family, and who will not do it if you have a profit of 500 times.

Even local officials try their best to deceive such things, because in the court, it is auspicious to guide a pilgrimage envoy to go there, and local officials will get "excellent" in their performance evaluation and will be promoted smoothly. Participants in such honor will write this matter into the epitaph and be boasted to their descendants. Therefore, local officials are willing to recommend it to the court even though they know it is fake.

With the cooperation of the superiors and subordinates, as long as a strange businessman comes to Guangzhou, he does not bring the ship and trade permit issued by me in the Song Dynasty. In order to sell the ship's cargo and then collect commissions, he will guide him to pretend to be a pilgrimage envoy, and local officials will also actively cooperate - so my China has been blinded for three hundred years..."

What Zhao Xing has not said yet is that China will continue to be blinded for seven hundred years. Because even if Sun Cong knew the truth, he could not say it due to the unspoken rules of the officialdom, and Zhao Xing did not dare to reveal the truth at will...

This happened to be his original intention to run a Maritime Newspaper.

"It turns out that our tribute trade has been regarded as fool trade and idiot trade by other countries for three hundred years," Sun Cong sighed softly: "This matter is too wide, and the Lifan Academy is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Rites. Many of the past ministers of the Ministry of Rites have been prime ministers, and this matter has been opened. For three hundred years, anyone who has been ministers of the Ministry of Rites is not feeling well, because they have become laughing stocks in the world...

Leaving people. Don’t talk about this issue anymore. Haven’t you already delivered the soup to the guests just now? I will say goodbye first. Two or three days later. When I have met several inspectors, we will set off for Dali together.”

Zhao Xing sighed and said, "The charm of advantageous civilization lies in creation. Only creation can maintain excellence. We created tribute trade in the Stone Age. Originally, this method of trade was to promote the circulation of goods with state power in the inefficient Stone Age, but now it has evolved into the Iron Age, with the social division of labor becoming more and more detailed, and the level of productivity is getting higher and higher. We should also adapt to this era and create new modes of trade.

I thought that the trade affairs belonged to the Maritime Bureau - I did this in Guangzhou; and the diplomatic affairs belonged to the court's Ministry of Rites, and the court should no longer maintain the trade methods of the Stone Age... Forget it, I tell you that these are useless, and you and I can't shake the rock head of the Lord of Rites... Please have a soup."

Sun Cong raised the Erchen Soup and drank it all, for fear that Zhao Xing would say something inappropriate. He stood up in a panic and said goodbye.

After Sun Cong left, Zhao Xing flipped his hands and took out a letter paper from the table. The letter paper has been pressed on the table since Sun Cong came in. Now it was held in his hand by Zhao Xing and he was chanting in a low voice.

This letter paper contains anecdotes in the capital. First of all, the physical condition of the little emperor. The information Zhao Xing and Sun Cong said just now was written on this piece of paper. There was a boring sentence at the end of the letter paper - at the end of the month, the palace lost thieves, Kaifeng Prefecture punished copper, and the thieves were suspected to be disciples of the Beggars' Sect.

Zhao Xing laughed: "After Zhang Tian returns, he will definitely serve as the envoy of the Envoy (guard of the palace). Now, he is rolled into the vortex."

After reading this letter, Zhao Xing drew a candle with his hand and said that the letter was burned. He didn't know that this seemingly leisurely sentence at the end of the letter was one of the ten major mystery cases in the Song Dynasty. Under the strict guards of the palace, many people mysteriously sneaked into the palace, stole a large amount of property, and then mysteriously disappeared. This mystery was never solved, and then led to the dismissal of the young emperor's confidant, the eunuch Feng Shining, who was dismissed from the position of Grand Marshal. The harem was then empty, and then the "cause of death" of the young emperor was unknown.

Two or three days later, Sun Cong and Guangdong were sent to Wenxun and Wang Ying, the inspector, set off for Guangxi, preparing to exchange information with the two Guangxi people, and also sent Zhang Tian to Jing as the deputy envoy of the Privy Councilor. Zhao Xing set off with him as a accompanying him.

The "Bronze Bell Avenue" built in imitation of the "Trojan Horse Plan" is very spacious. It is a six-lane avenue. Zhao Xing imitated modern traffic rules and stipulated the principle of right-hand travel. The three avenues on the right are fast travel lines and slow travel lines, and the most side line is a mixed use of accident lines and pedestrian lines. Sun Cong was walking on this road in a medium-sized travel carriage, and through the glazed windows of the carriage, he was enthusiastically observing the scenery along the road.

In the Song Dynasty, glazed glass was already called glass. Under the bright window, Sun Cong sat at the rear of the car, facing the direction of travel; opposite Zhao Xing was sitting with his back towards the direction of travel, and there was a Kunlun slave squatting beside Zhao Xing. He used a small fan to block the smoke and dust from the alcohol tea stove, and the fragrant tea was gushing on the tea stove, making the smell of cardamom floating in the carriage.

When Sun Cong saw Zhao Xing staring out the window with his eyes open, he asked in surprise: "Have you ever walked this road even though he was apart?"

Zhao Xing nodded: "This 'send bell' road is to 'send the end' for Dali Kingdom. Before that, I asked officials to try not to embark on this road, so as not to arouse the vigilance of Dali Kingdom. You don't know that the road is now all carriages on this road, while the road is all believers in the past. You don't understand the perseverance of believers. In order to send the bronze bell into Dali, they built this road day and night, day and night. During the construction of this road, because of insufficient control of the amount of gunpowder, 13,000 believers devoted themselves to it.

The fanaticism of believers shocked me. I often think that we sent this bronze bell to Dali. It is not only the piety of the Nestorians, but also the creativity of the people of the Song Dynasty. This is derived from the civilization of the Song Dynasty. When did our people also have the kind of believer-like persistence towards our civilization, and in this way, you and I are worthy of being a Song Dynasty person."

Zhao Xing was too high and Sun Cong listened to a few words. He couldn't understand the meaning of Zhao Xing's words, nor did he understand the sadness revealed in Zhao Xing's words. His eyes were attracted by the oncoming convoy. The carriage was pulled on the carriage, and the heavy stones pressed the shaft very low. A car axle had been crushed and was resting on the roadside to repair it. Sun Cong stared at the carriage and asked Zhao Xing curiously: "Stone. How to pull the stone? I, the Song Dynasty, lacked stones, and I need to pull the stones from Dali?"

Zhao Xing glanced at it. At this time, the convoy had already passed by the car window and landed far behind. Zhao Xing had already seen it clearly after glance. He replied lazily: "This is my carriage. I plan to build a mansion in Guangzhou. If I have the ability, I will build another one in Hong Kong. These stones are used to lay the foundation for my home."

Sun Cong curled his lips and said mockingly: "Transport stones from Dali to Guangzhou, and the stones are also worth gold. People are so rich that they can't spend them anymore. They actually have to transport stones from Dali to build a house. It's so funny."

Zhao Xing smiled silly and admitted honestly: "Yes. I was wrong. This is probably my quirk, but this matter should not be told to others. Don't talk nonsense after Zishu returns."

In fact, Zhao Xing was already despised Sun Cong in his stomach. He said to himself: "You stupid boy, what do you know? These are all jade stones. The jade stones the size of a palm weigh about seven kilograms and are worth 10 million yuan. At this price, I can't buy good quality stones. My car of jade was buried in the foundation of my family. Later generations were poor, so I dug out the foundation and sold a stone to spend my whole life. I don't know this stupid boy, please laugh at me as much as possible."

Sun Cong thought it a little bit again. Seeing Zhao Xing's face smiling honestly, he couldn't help but tremble and asked in surprise: "Li Ren, you are buying people's hearts. Spend money to buy some worthless stones so that the people of Dali have work to do and earn money, so that they don't want to make trouble... I know, you have always liked this, but you can't spend your own money. Spending your own money is to win people's hearts. I suggest that the money be taken by the government and shipped to Guangzhou before selling these stones separately."

Zhao Xing slapped his thighs excitedly and murmured: "Why didn't I expect it? The court is willing to buy these stones for me?! That's great, thank you!"

Sun Cong's thoughts drifted away. What he said below scared Zhao Xing in a cold sweat. He said thoughtfully: "I remember you also built a stone house in Mizhou, all of which are built with good Mizhou stone. Nowadays, the more you sell the Mizhou stone, the more expensive it is, your garden has not taken action?"

Zhao Xing's cold sweat fell, and he replied carefully: "No, that stone house was originally lent to Wang Gong to live in. Now, Zhang Yong, a mizhou tutor, is taking care of me. Occasionally, I, the Japanese Puyuan Yeping, also stayed there for two days - what's wrong? Do you think of that house? I don't mean to sell it."

Sun Cong yawned and said lazily: "It's so strange, why do you have the habit of building stone houses? I remember that you built a stone house in Hangzhou and Yangzhou, but Huanqing has no construction industry. This time, you plan to build a wide and large stone house like Mizhou, and build a castle-like back wall... Hey, why do you sweat so much? It's winter now, it's so cold, why are you sweating so much?"

Zhao Xing wiped his cold sweat and replied honestly: "Yes, I plan to throw some money in Dali and ask them to help me mine some useless stones. With this money, they have food in their hands, so they will not think of rebellion - right? You said that besides asking them to dig stones, how can Dali people feel the care of my Song Dynasty? You can't let them look up at the stars at night, and then I will give them money as a reward for watching the stars."

Sun Cong nodded in contemplation: "It should be so obvious that they know that I, Dasong, care about them very much and even pay for digging stones. In this way, they will be full of expectations for returning to my Dasong - wonderful, wonderful!

You just said that I should not tell you about this. Such a wonderful and thoughtful policy of calming down should be given to the ministers in the court…”

Zhao Xing's cold sweat was almost flowing into a waterfall. He sweated profusely, and tried his best to wave his hand to persuade him, "Don't, a small matter, the court ministers know about it, maybe they say I'm buying people's hearts, I don't want to cause trouble."

Sun Cong looked at Zhao Xing with contempt: "You, Zhao Laohu, are also afraid of the comments from the ministers in the court. If you are so timid, you shouldn't have intimidated Dong Bi at the beginning."

Zhao Xing's cold sweat stopped immediately. He took the teacup handed over by Kunlun slaves and said calmly: "Did Dong Bi report to the Hainan Island trip to the court afterwards? I knew that the court would not deal with me. What a big deal, but he just scared a timid official."

Sun Cong smiled and nodded: "What? Are you not afraid anymore? This is the real big thing. When Mr. Zhang received the Dong Bi's memorial, he also hated you for being arrogant, but I persuaded him to stop."

Zhao Xing smiled coldly and replied: "Of course, when I intimidate Dong Bi, I left Guangzhou with a fiscal deficit of 30 million. But Guangzhou still bears the heavy responsibility of paying 20 million taxes every year. I thought, if the court relieves me of this 5,000-ton hole - whoever I love will be repaired. From then on, I don't care about my business.

Now that the new law is implemented, the people are wailing thousands of miles away. I am the only one in Guangzhou. I don’t believe in this Southeast financial and wealth place. Mr. Zhang is willing to replace people easily. I just want Dong Bi to know that I really throw him into the sea, as long as the court can live with his face, he will die in vain if he dies."

Sun Cong sighed and replied, "I also persuaded Mr. Zhang in this way. Mr. Zhang later said that hatred with Mr. Po is not worth two dollars. As long as you let Mr. Po continue to stay in Hainan, he will endure this tone. Now it seems that you did it appropriately, so Mr. Zhang can't think of a reason to start... Let's just forget about this. My job department will explore Hainan. The funds spent this year are too much. I will rely on you to help in the future."

Sun Cong admitted that Zhao Xing had no intention of rebellion, and that Guangzhou had no power to rebellion at all. In this remote Lingnan area, the imperial court had to strengthen surveillance, which consumed time and money it was really impossible for the Privy Council to afford, so in the future, it would depend on the consciousness of officials at all levels.

Zhao Xing sipped the cardamom tea in the glass in a small mouthful and replied easily: "You said that, I completely let go of my hands and feet - no problem, Guangdong's taxes are paid as scheduled, and the cooperative salary is no less than the amount you said. Next year, I am going to take action against Zhen La, occupy the land on the west bank of the Mekong River, and I guess I can make another sum. Next year, I promise to pay 25 million taxes. The court should be satisfied now."

Sun Cong was clever and said in surprise: "Li Ren, this is 25 million coins. Why do you not sweat when talking about this data?"

Zhao Xing rolled his eyes and said to himself: "What's the point? My car of stones must be put into Hyundai, and it's also worth tens of billions. The car of stones you just talked about is worth more than tens of billions of dollars - assets of hundreds of billions of dollars, and Bill Gates will sweat even when he comes."

Can such a huge amount of wealth be said in front of others? Sun Cong's topic just now has involved the secrets of jade several times, and he did not touch the truth for luck.

When his topic went far away, Zhao Xing was still worried. Of course, he stopped sweating suddenly and tried hard to make Sun Cong's words go further and further.

After walking for more than ten days, there were endless carriages that transported stones to Zhao Xing to build a house. Sun Cong was still in the mood to observe at first, but later he became accustomed to it, so he no longer cared about it.

On this day, the carriage entered Yongzhou, which is the modern Nanning City. A navy was stationed at the Yongzhou Wharf. When Dali was destroyed, the Guangxi army marched from the Yongzhou waterway. Zhao Xing planned to transfer to a boat here to speed up the trip.

There were people coming and going on the dock, and the Zhaoxingdi convoy was at the most grand guest house. As soon as the host of the guest house saw Zhao Xing, he immediately trotted up to him, saying Song Yu, who was speaking in a loud voice, and greeted him in a stack of words: "Zhao Anfu, why are you here in Yongzhou? You don't say hello in advance. Look, the little old man is not prepared here... Mom, come, come and greet Lord Zhao."
Chapter completed!