Wang Juan and Zhang Xiaobao were still traveling in the desert. More than 9,000 soldiers were seriously injured. Those who couldn't hold on had died, while those who were lightly injured had mostly been treated. Although it was said to be treated, it was actually just the pills given by the logisticians and the salt they stole to kill the poison.
In a situation where no one was chasing after them, their physical and mental strength recovered quite well. Wang Juan began to train them. It was also a kind of run-in. Wang Juan needed to let the soldiers get used to her combat style and thinking. In special situations where they couldn't communicate with each other, they would be able to guess her direction of action.
Of course, Wang Juan didn't actually have a style. She learned a lot. If one had to talk about a style, it would be a style that could be changed at any time. Now that she had fewer people and the enemy had more people, Wang Juan tried to fix a style as much as possible.
Zhang Xiaobao wasn't idle either. On one hand, he was receiving news from Pengzhou. On the other hand, he had to send out information to command the economic war there. Under the calm surface, there were surging undercurrents. They were fighting a war that didn't see blood but could still kill people.
The arrangements were more or less done. Next, they would have to adapt to the situation. Also, they had to consider the matter of using military force that Wang Juan had mentioned.
While the two of them were leisurely leading the army, calculating how much food they could eat and how much more supplies they could get from the desert, Shui Yun brought back another piece of news.
"Xiao Bao, the imperial court has sent us a letter. They want to give us two policies. Take a look and see how we should arrange these two policies. One is free and the other is limited."
When Wang Juan received the letter from Zhang Ying, she waved at Zhang Xiaobao who was already walking towards them.
Zhang Xiaobao was a little absent-minded. He was calculating the ratio of his family's financial resources to their gains. He had to calculate the rough numbers to prevent his family from losing money after defeating Tubo. If that happened, the economic war wouldn't be fun anymore. If he lost 800 of his own men while losing 1000 of his own men, it would weaken his reputation.
When he read the letter, there were indeed some policies written on it. One of them was that the Zhang family could make their own suggestions within an appropriate range. The other one was that the Zhang family would be allowed to invest a lot of money in Jiannan Road, and they would be given three years of tax exemption.
However, 50% of that had to be invested in infrastructure, and 20% of the other 50% was not allowed to make money. For a medical center that had a balance of income and expenditure, only 30% could be purely commercial.
"Xiao Bao, isn't it too little? You should ask for 50%. Purely for commercial benefits?" Wang Juan felt that they had spent too much. Infrastructure was not like their time, where they could collect tolls and bridge tolls. They only spent money and did not earn money.
Zhang Xiaobao looked at it for a few seconds and said, "I'm afraid that the imperial court will go back on their word. If they don't want to compensate us, they don't need to give the other 30% tax exemption for commercial shops. Just the road repair alone is enough. I'm wondering if I should do that. Who said that road repair is not profitable?"
"Building roads can make money because the government is paying for it. We are just investing our own money. Li Longji won't give us money. He is so stingy that he won't even give us a goldfish bag or clothes. If we expect him to take money from the Ministry of Revenue, I would rather believe that Tubo suddenly became kind and willing to compensate for our losses."
Wang Juan really couldn't understand how they could make money by paying for their own roads.
"Let's not talk about this first. Let's think about what kind of policies we want first. This policy should be a few people from the imperial court testing us. What do you think if it wasn't us but other businessmen who wanted to consider for the sake of their family and not us, what would they choose?"
Zhang Xiaobao hadn't considered whether they should use road repair to make money. If other people found out that the Zhang family could operate in this way, what if they stopped it? Let's skip the first policy.
Wang Juan thought for a while and said, "There are two choices. The first is a very stupid choice. I reckon that the imperial court will agree for the time being. That is to let your father become a higher official in Jiannan Circuit, which will coincide with the policies given by the imperial court. The second is to deliberately show weakness. For example, when we were in Sanshui County, we directly transferred your father to the capital and asked for a better official position.
Neither of these two choices are suitable for our current situation. Tell me, what kind of policies do you want? "
"I want to change this policy into two policies." Zhang Xiaobao tapped the letter a few times with his hand and thought of a solution.
"Two? Does that mean that the two policies will become more policies? When I was young, I thought about it when I read that the monsters in fairy tales could help you fulfill three wishes. The first wish was for me to have many, many wishes. Li Longji isn't a fool. If you really do that, he'll easily come over and beat you up. "
Wang Juan covered her mouth and laughed for a while before telling Zhang Xiaobao. It was clearly the naive thoughts of a child. If Zhang Xiaobao said to write a letter and send it to the capital, how would the people in the capital react when they read the letter? It would definitely be very interesting.
When Zhang Xiaobao heard Wang Juan's words, he also laughed. "That's not what I mean. Hahaha, I just don't want the people in the imperial court to guess my family's intentions. The first policy I want is to give a large piece of land in the northeast or here. It'll be exempted from five years of taxes. Any kind of land is fine.
The second policy is still land, this desert. It'll be exempted from taxes for ten years. The imperial court can choose the first policy, but the second policy is confirmed. I believe they'll definitely be willing to give it. "
"Ah? You want the land here? This is the land of Tubo. If it were me, I would also give it. I heard that at the very beginning, when the soldiers on that island retired, they gave them a place to live. They directly chose a certain place in Beijing. In the end, they naturally couldn't come over to take it. What do you want this place for? You even made a request. "
When Wang Juan heard Zhang Xiaobao's first request, she was only a little confused. What was Zhang Xiaobao's backup plan? But when she heard the second request, she was completely confused. According to this situation, could they still ask for the land in America? The Great Tang couldn't do anything about it.
Zhang Xiaobao gave a mysterious smile. "Hmph, you don't understand? I want this land because I want the imperial court to choose from the northeast. When we send the people we've trained in the snow mountains to the northeast, the imperial court will once again go back on their word.
They definitely won't allow themselves to be schemed against. This way, when this matter is over, we'll have a lot of horses. The imperial court will definitely find an excuse to arrange for us to go to Mongolia. They'll also give us more preferential treatment. This is how benefits are exchanged. Unless they want to shed all pretense of cordiality, they'll be too much of a bully.
"After going around in a big circle, we're still going back to our original goal. Is there a need for this?" Wang Juan understood. Zhang Xiaobao had been calculating and calculating, and had brought out his original idea. It seemed like he had done an extra job, but the result was the same.
"There's a need, there's definitely a need. That place isn't the most important. The most important thing is this desert. I won't tell you now. You'll know in the future. Come, write the letter. Just do as I say."
Zhang Xiaobao didn't say anything more. He indicated for Wang Juan to write the letter. Wang Juan turned her head away. I still have to train. You do what you need to do.
*****
Shui Yun acted as the messenger and flew to Pengzhou again.
This time, she brought a three-page letter to Zhang Zhong. In the letter, she tried to use short sentences to express the meaning clearly.
After receiving the letter, Zhang Zhong asked someone to look after the cement and explosives. He hid in a corner and watched. He even carried the three old men behind his back. This made the three old men's hearts itch.
After reading the letter, Zhang Zhong wrote a memorial and had the pigeon bring it to the capital to ask for a decree. He had to implement this matter. Without a decree, it would be hard to say what would happen if the other party changed their mind.
Half a day after the pigeon flew away, Zhang Zhong found the three old men and showed them the one-page letter. It was the two policies that Zhang Xiaobao proposed.
After reading it, just as Zhang Xiaobao said, Old Man Pi was dumbfounded. He had thought of several possibilities, but he didn't expect that Xiao Bao, a child that he would slowly nurture in the future, would propose such a request at this time and split the policies into two.
He shook the letter in his hand and said to Old Man Chang and Old Man Yao, "Do you understand? The first request is for a piece of land here or in Hebei Province. I think his family wants to go to Hebei Province. Why would they want to go there? The land here is absolutely impossible. Otherwise, with the Zhang family's business here, Jiannan Province will become his family's in the future.
The second request is for a desert. The desert is not under the control of the Great Tang. If he has the ability to occupy it, no one will say anything. Why did he propose it alone? Xiao Bao, this child, also learned bad things and knows how to play with people. "
Old Man Chang didn't think much about this matter. After listening to Old Man Pi's words, he didn't respond. Old Man Yao pondered for a full quarter of an hour before he spoke.
"According to the way the Zhang family did things in the past, the Zhang family did a lot of inexplicable things and obtained benefits in the end. Since it was proposed by Xiao Bao, even if Xiao Bao didn't learn all of the master's skills, he probably learned most of them. They are now in the desert.
Do you guys think they found something good? Will they use it in the future? That's not right. Even if they found something good, who can say what will happen in the future? It's estimated that ten years later, that place will still be Tubo territory. It won't hurt to give it to him. Think about it, think about it carefully. It's not simple. "
"What's not simple? I think Xiao Bao deliberately wants that place to confuse us. If he wants it, we'll give it to him. It's not like the land of our dynasty. If he has the ability, he can go and earn money." Old Man Chang was very direct.
"If that's the case, then … fine. We'll also write a letter and send it to the capital." Old Man Pi still couldn't figure out what Zhang Xiaobao was planning to do. The second request wasn't much of a request. It was other people's land, so it was given away just like that.
The three of them wrote a letter and had a pigeon bring it to the capital. Thinking about this matter, they slowly fell asleep.
Early the next morning, Zhang Zhong started to get busy again. After arranging the road construction, he had the people in the inner court take care of it. He found the three old men to discuss the first policy given by the imperial court. He took out Zhang Xiaobao's letter and said to the three old men, "Let's make it clear first. We can't go back on the first policy. Lord Bi, the three of you can't write another letter."
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