He asked again about Tubo's army, but said that both sides had a winner and a loser. Border trade should be normal, and the economy should be focused on the advancement of the army.
Li Longji drank a mouthful of wine and slowly understood Li Yi's words.
When he picked up the meat and threw it into the hotpot, he asked, "Brother Yi, do you think Tubo will still come and fight? This time, our Tang dynasty has wiped out more than 30,000 enemies, and Tubo's army of 100,000 has suffered heavy losses. "
"There are still small-scale conflicts. Tubo's Grand Minister Qi Lixu can be considered a capable person. He is in charge of governing the country, and at the critical moment, he wants to seize more land near the Yellow River while our Tang dynasty's internal affairs are not changing.
His goal is to contact the local nobles and put on a show for others. He already knows that the Tang dynasty will not agree.
Even so, he still wants to make peace and then launch a sneak attack. The timing is just right when the Tang dynasty is unable to directly invade.
After that, Tubo will not be able to take the initiative to attack, and will definitely have a truce with the Black-clothed Abbasid Caliphate and the Commando Division on the other side. "
Li Yi slowly explained the situation and choice that Tubo is facing.
"Are the Black-clothed Abbasid Caliphate and the Commando Division powerful?" Li Longji did not know much about Tubo's battle on the other side.
"If Tubo does not attack our Tang dynasty, he can chase after the two divisions and attack them. Tubo is strategically attacking that side.
Tubo wants to snatch a good piece of land from our Tang dynasty and use it as a logistics base for Tubo.
Tubo is located in the highlands, and it is not easy to live there, so they must find a flat land.
Whether it is attacking the Tang dynasty or the Black-clothed Abbasid Caliphate, their goal is the same. "
Li Yi explained why Tubo wants to fight, and why everyone wants the land of the Tang dynasty.
Li Longji listened carefully and asked again, "What's next?"
"Next, Tubo will naturally ally with other powers to attack my Tang dynasty. The ones who will attack my Tang dynasty will be the Abbasid Caliphate.
The next step is to join forces with the Commando Division and attack the four military towns of the Anxi Protectorate: Yanqi, Qiuci, Yutian, and Shule. "
Li Yi told Li Longji what to do with Tubo. The two places were actually next to each other.
Li Longji couldn't help but shiver, Brother Yi is divining the heavenly secrets again?
"Brother Yi, your lifespan …" Li Longji said anxiously. He was afraid that something would happen to Li Yi.
"Ah? Ah! Third Brother, you don't have to worry. You haven't touched upon the mysteries of the heavens. It's just a prediction. Think about it, Third Brother. Tubo has joined forces with others. Everyone has nothing to do, so naturally they'll look for trouble.
The Abbasid Caliphate and the Commando Division are next to us. The Abbasid Caliphate's military strength is currently stronger than the Commando Division.
Tubo wants to wear down the Tang dynasty and the Abbasid Caliphate's military strength. Naturally, they'll have to fool the Abbasid Caliphate into attacking them first.
Only then can they find the Commando Division. The two of them can't even defeat Tubo, so how can they defeat our Tang army? "
Li Yi tried to find a reason to explain why things were like this. It was much easier to know the results first and then deduce.
"That's good." Li Longji heaved a sigh of relief. Empress Wang also felt relieved.
Empress Wang asked, "Uncle, can we destroy them all at once?"
Li Yi shook his head lightly, "The place is too big. It's a waste of manpower and resources. Right now, the most important thing for the Tang dynasty to do is to call out the hidden people and vigorously develop the way to help the people. "
"What should we do with Tubo, the Abbasid Caliphate, and the Commando Division?" Li Longji had a question.
"Open up the border trade and fight Tubo. Many bridges and plank roads have been destroyed. However, there are small roads that can be used. We can smuggle and rope in the Tubo nobles and merchants to smuggle with us. "
Li Yi gave an idea. They couldn't stop the trade. They lacked cavalry, beef, mutton, and medicinal herbs.
Li Longji asked very naturally, "If we sell things to them, won't we be helping them?"
"The output of a country and a land is limited. There are no new methods to increase production and increase breeding. Every time we sell things to them, they will naturally reduce their output.
Food is the foundation. We sell other things to them in exchange for food. Tubo lacks food.
Take soy sauce for example. Third Brother, you and I each work for a country. Your country grows soybeans for 500 coins per bushel. I buy soy sauce and sell half a catty to you in exchange for your bushel of soybeans. The soybeans I use are less than half a liter. The difference is 20 times. "
Li Yi gave a simple example.
Li Longji immediately understood, "Good, that's how it should be."
Empress Wang said from the side, "After trading back and forth, my San Lang's soybeans will end up in your hands. The difference in military strength between both sides is not big. San Lang is in trouble."
Li Yi nodded his head. Yes, this was the relationship between trade surplus and deficit. It involved technical factors.
"Smuggling, smuggling is good." Li Longji was the Emperor of a country. He was prepared to engage in smuggling. He knew what Tubo lacked. The first was tea leaves.
He used the tea leaves to smuggle over and exchanged them for horses and sheep.
The second was silk. The rich people in Tubo wanted it.
***
On the other side, Pei Yaoqing sat on the main seat and listened to the talented scholars reciting poems and discussing essays.
Everyone had prepared their essays in advance and brought them over to Chang 'an so that they could get a good ranking in the imperial examinations next year.
Pei Yaoqing did not say anything and just listened. The more he listened, the more he did not want to listen. They were obviously good people, but compared to the local Dongzhu, why was there such a big difference?
"If His Majesty knew about today's grand occasion, he would definitely be happy." A supervisor from the Imperial College sitting beside Pei Yaoqing said in unison.
The supervisor of the Imperial College was a lower sixth rank, while Pei Yaoqing's Chang 'an was a higher fifth rank. There was a big difference in their actual power and rank.
Tong Qi came over to support and let everyone know that people from the Imperial College were here.
"That's right." Pei Yaoqing's mood suddenly became better.
He thought, 'That's right, how can I compare them to Li Yi? His Majesty Li Yi personally came over. How much do you think of them?
And are these people worthy of His Majesty's attention?
Not bad, not bad, they are all very good. Good luck! '
Everyone was eating, drinking, and flattering when the people from Zhuangzi arrived.
They carried trays with red silk. On top of the red silk, there were wooden boxes that were three inches long and one and a half inches thick and brushed with tung oil.
The farmers gave each of them one box and left after sending them off.
Someone else carried over ten boxes that were filled with copper coins.
Four hundred barley coins, which was four hundred thousand copper coins. Each barley weighed six catties and four taels, so it weighed a total of two thousand five hundred and sixty catties.
Pei Yaoqing stood up and said to everyone, "During the winter solstice, there are many people in Chang 'an who are in dire straits. I, Li Yi, Dongzhu, donate four hundred barley coins to help the people suffering from the cold. I will send a memorial to him. "
Some of the others had already opened the boxes. Inside the boxes was a glass bottle with a small wooden stopper. They were about to see what was inside when they saw a lot of money and heard Pei Yaoqing's words.
Their first thought was, 'He's rich. Li Yi, Li Dongzhu is rich.'
Their second thought was, 'Li Yi is indeed rich.'
Their third thought was, 'How can Li Yi be so rich?' 'How much money does he actually have?'
"Ladies and gentlemen, the things in your hands are precious skincare products in the glass bottle, Thousand Sunset Frost Dew. Apply it to your lips or cracks and it's several times better than other ointments."
Pei Yaoqing advertised for Li Yi. The name of the glycerin was Thousand Sunset Frost Dew. Everyone knew it was good stuff.
Everyone's eyes lit up. 'Give me something?'
Pei Yaoqing continued, "If you want to buy it today, you only need to pay 50% of the price. The glass bottle is free. When the Thousand Sunset Frost Dew is used up, you can bring the bottle to Zhuangzi and fill it up at the price of two barley coins per bottle."
Everyone's eyes dimmed. 'You want money?' 'Can we not buy it?'
'But this glass bottle is free?' 'You've made a profit. Otherwise, if you want to buy a similar bottle, you'll need at least three to five barley coins.'
"I'll buy it." Since someone supported him first, Chang 'an wanted face. He personally said that the item was good and even gave a glass bottle.
If he didn't agree to buy a glass bottle with more than three barley coins per barley, Chang 'an would definitely be angry.
At most, he would use up the Thousand Sunset Frost Dew inside and not use it to fill it. Keeping the bottle was also a profit.
Everyone signed and stamped their names. If they didn't bring money, they would pay later.
There were a total of 456 people, one barley for each person.
"You can send the money to this official's place of execution." Pei Yaoqing said. His meaning was not to send it to Zhuangzi.
This was because he had already agreed with Li Yi that the money from the sale would be the four hundred barley coins. The four hundred barley coins in the boxes would not be taken away.
The extra barley coins would be his. An extra fifty-six barley coins was not a small amount.
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