Fu Tang

Shi Xueting sounded a wake-up call to Li Congjia, he could not patronize economic development, and after experiencing an industrial revolution, the royal family became a mascot.

Of course, this matter may not be so easy to avoid. In the end, the whole world may have the power to speak, but at least during his and Li Zhongyu's reign, this kind of thing is not expected to happen.

If you want to fundamentally solve this problem, then what Li Congjia needs to do is to become one of the largest capitalists... so that at least he can control part of the right to speak. Now Li Congjia can be tough and do whatever he wants. Do you have money?

Apart from not wanting people to say that he was extravagant and wasteful, he did what he wanted to do. He supported research funding and gave money whenever he thought of it. No one could stop him.

Seeing that Li Congjia seemed to be really thinking about this issue, Shi Xueting couldn't help feeling a little regretful. He just had such a sense of crisis, so he said it out, but it didn't mean he wanted to see Li Congjia anxious about it.

But here lies the problem. Unless this problem can be solved, it is impossible for Li Congjia to let go of this matter.

Shi Xueting simply said to Li Congjia: "In the future, there is no need to hide it, just let the business run as a subordinate of the royal family." Shi Xueting could only think of this way to deal with the future.

Li Congjia smiled slightly after hearing this: "Hey, it coincides with what I think."

Although everyone knows that the emperor backs the firm, such matters are generally not brought up on the table. After all, business is still an unrecognizable profession in this era.

However, Li Congjia doesn't think so now. He needs to turn the entire royal family into the rulers of the country and the big plutocrats, so that even in the face of the impact of capitalism, at least the royal family will not be reduced to a mascot.

Thinking of this, Li Congjia was also quite emotional. He thought it was a necessary process when he read history before. After all, society is developing, science and technology are also developing, and capital is gradually gaining the right to speak, and feudal rulers are unwilling to be robbed of the right to speak. These are all conflicts, what he has to do now is to try to minimize the losses caused by this conflict.

But only he knew that it was not enough to guard against this matter, so he directly told Li Zhongyu about all the possibilities.

And Li Zhongyu obviously has no way to fully understand this matter now, but Li Congjia didn't expect him to understand it when he came up, as long as Li Zhongyu knew this matter in his heart.

After all, Li Congjia's focus will also be removed from the train, because the Saman Empire finally sent envoys.

It has to be said that compared to Khitan and Kara Khanate, the Saman Empire is undoubtedly very polite, and the envoys sent brought gifts and credentials.

Li Congjia didn't really want to meet the envoy at first, but in the end he chose to meet him, of course only with an interpreter.

After the Saman envoy came over, he saluted Li Congjia and said very politely: "See His Majesty the Great Emperor of the Tang Empire."

Li Congjia said with a smile: "The envoy has worked so hard from afar. I don't know if he can still adapt to the life in Chang'an? If there is anything that doesn't suit you, you can directly put forward your request to the Minister of Honglu Temple, and we will try our best to meet it."

Of course, what Li Congjia said was to satisfy as much as possible. If he asked that the entire post house can only eat beef and mutton, then he would turn his face.

Fortunately, the envoy was not a fool. He said very humbly: "Chang'an is the most majestic city I have ever seen, and life here is also very beautiful. Thank you, His Majesty, for your hospitality."

Li Congjia asked again: "The Saman Empire is thousands of miles away from the Tang Dynasty, and I don't know the difference. Can the envoy clear up my confusion?"

The envoy was caught off guard. Although he knew that some officials would definitely ask some news about the Saman Empire when he got here, but he didn't expect the emperor to ask such a naked question.

Seeing that he was silent, Li Congjia said, "Don't worry about it. I'm very curious, and I like to hear stories about different customs and customs."

The envoy calmed down and said with a smile, "This is indeed to introduce to His Majesty the Emperor."

Li Congjia was slightly surprised. He didn't want to know the customs of the Saman Empire. He just wanted to ramble and control the rhythm of the conversation. By the way, he also made the messenger anxious, so that when we talk later, Maybe he could reveal more information as soon as he was in a hurry.

However, the envoy actually talked about local conditions and customs. After listening for a while, Li Congjia knew why he said it so happily, because the envoy revealed that the Saman Empire was a peace-loving country. It is different from the Kara Khanate, so Datang should not join forces with the Kara Khanate, as that will only make loved ones hurt and enemies happy, and so on.

Of course, the emissary certainly couldn't say so many idioms, this is just Li Congjia's understanding through translation.

After the envoy had finished speaking, Li Congjia decided to be more direct, so he asked, "So your envoy came this time to condemn Datang for selling weapons to the Kara Khanate?"

messenger:……

How exhausting to meet an emperor who doesn't follow the rules!

The smile on the messenger's face almost disappeared!However, he soon tensed up again, and said very gently: "Your Majesty, you misunderstood, we don't want to criticize anything, we just think that those weapons should be used to accompany the devils in hell, not to hurt humans .”

Li Congjia sneered in his heart, hey, the Saman Empire has a big appetite. They not only want to stop him from selling weapons to the Kara Khanate, but also want to brainwash him into thinking that those weapons should not appear?

It is as if you don’t fight wars without hot weapons. Do you really think that others don’t know how the Saman Empire became strong?

The prosperity of any empire cannot be accompanied by bloody expansion. Who is disgusting to pretend to be a saint now?

Li Congjia didn't bother to deal with him and said directly: "You are wrong. The emergence of higher-level weapons will inevitably make some unruly people honest. Datang's development of weapons is not for killing, but for shocking. We don't bully Others, others don’t want to bully us, this is the true meaning of the existence of weapons, what do you think?”

Saman Messenger: I think you are quite shameless.

No need to make weapons?Who believes it?Just as Li Congjia complained that the expansion of the Saman Empire was not the result of peaceful evolution, the Saman emissary also knew that the expansion of the Tang Dynasty was accompanied by the bloodshed of other countries' armies. Now it is said that it is for deterrence?It's really to scare you off.

To be honest, before the Saman envoy came, he had already prepared that the country was not easy to communicate with. After all, he had already learned that the empire’s land area is very large. , must be very powerful.

However, he didn't expect it to be so difficult to communicate. He wanted to use Li Congjia's routine, but Li Congjia didn't follow the routine at all, and directly violently destroyed all the routines, and took the initiative in his own hands.

The Saman messenger regretted it for a while, why did he take up this task in the first place?

Probably because of loyalty to Allah.

After the Saman messenger comforted himself, he said again: "In this case, how can His Majesty sell weapons to the Kara Khanate to deter him?"

Li Congjia said as a matter of course: "I can sell it or not. Weapons are consumables, aren't they? If he has any wrong intentions, I will cut off the supply of weapons to the Kara Khanate. What can he do?"

The Saman envoy did not ask what to do if the Kara Khanate also developed a very powerful weapon.

After all, anyone with a discerning eye can see that the weapons sold by Datang are definitely not the latest and most advanced. Their weapon research and development has always been at the forefront. Even if the Kara Khanate can imitate these weapons, Datang will have better weapons to deal with them.

Generally speaking, the meeting this time was not very pleasant. It only made Li Congjia more determined to make the Saman Empire and the Kara Khanate both lose. If these two countries can bring other Islamic countries to sink together, then better.

The Saman envoy was a little silent after returning to the post, and he didn't want to answer even the other people who came with him asked him questions.

Naturally, he did not come alone this time, but during the audience, he was only allowed to go there alone.

At that time, the Saman envoy thought that Datang was for safety, but thinking about it now, the other party probably wanted him to pass alone, and then be surrounded by the emperor and a group of ministers. No matter what he said or did, he would fall into the trap of the other party.

His companion asked him anxiously: "What did you say? You are talking."

The messenger said slowly, "I didn't say anything, Datang will not stop selling weapons to Kara Khanate."

The companion asked: "Then... what about us? Will you sell it to us?"

The envoy shook his head: "I didn't say it, but I think the emperor of Tang Dynasty seems to have a kind of hostility towards us. He may not sell us weapons."

The companion's face darkened: "Hmph, if he doesn't sell it, then we..."

"Please be careful with your words and deeds!" The envoy shouted sharply.

The companion closed his mouth unwillingly, and the emissary said earnestly: "We are in Datang now, try not to provoke them, we have learned about it on the way here, haven't we? This country is not easy to provoke, and the country that opposes him We have been sanctioned by them, we have no direct conflict of interest with this country, don't find more powerful enemies for the servants of Allah."

The companion had no choice but to say unwillingly: "Then we can only buy weapons from them? What if they don't buy them?"

The envoy took a deep breath: "Isn't the purpose of our coming here to persuade them? Otherwise, what else do we need? We don't ask for anything else, as long as the weapons that can be sold to the Kara Khanate are also sold to us. Under the same conditions, the Saman Empire will not lose to those hypocrites!"

The companion nodded vigorously, feeling that the image of the messenger is really very tall.

While they were discussing, Li Congjia was also discussing with the cabinet and the Privy Council. Of course, the center of the discussion was how to sell weapons to the Saman Empire.

Fan Zhi said: "What's so difficult about this? As long as it can be sold, they can sell whatever they want."

The old man who didn't agree with Li Congjia's arms sales at the beginning, now he looks away. Of course, the main reason is that the Saman Empire is far enough away and can contain the Kara Khanate. After all, the wisdom left by the ancestors has always been the long-distance and short-term attack. .

Li Congjia said with some malicious intentions: "The situation now is not the same as that of the Kara Khanate. The Kara Khanate bought weapons designed by us to fight against the Saman Dynasty. At that time, they could buy them or not, so they asked for the price at that time. I can’t get on it, but now the Saman Empire is in a situation where we can’t buy it, should we… raise the price?”

The Kara Khan State has weapons, but the Saman Empire has no weapons, so it is really easy to see who will suffer at a glance when the number of the two countries is similar to the original combat effectiveness, so now the Saman Empire must be in urgent need of this wave of weapons.

Li Congjia thought of raising the price as a matter of course. After all, no one has trouble with money. He is very short of money now. Not only him, but the whole Tang Dynasty is in a state of lack of money.

Three of the four ministers in the cabinet were contemplating whether it would be unkind to do so. There was only one left, Zhao Pu, whose integrity was as broken as Li Congjia's, and said happily: "It's so good, I think it's good to sell twice the original price." .”

Li Congjia said happily: "Really? I think it's similar."

Wang Pu glanced at Zhao Pu helplessly. In essence, the other three ministers did not want the price of weapons to be too high. into the military account.

Although it is strictly Datang's money, the money can only be used for the development and construction of the army.

Since ancient times, civil and military forces have restricted each other. No one wants the other party to be too powerful. In the past, the army had no way to get money. Many times it needed to rely on the Ministry of Households to allocate funds. At least it could restrain them.

Now Datang started to sell weapons, and they were no longer restricted by the Ministry of Households when they had money. No one can say what will happen in the future.

However, Wang Pu and the others also know that it is true that Zhao Pu is a cabinet minister, but he is also a diehard supporter of Zhao Kuangyin, and Zhao Kuangyin is Li Congjia's number one diehard, so Zhao Pu can basically be regarded as Li Congjia's confidant, what Li Congjia wants to do, It is inconvenient to say, Zhao Pu will speak out for him naturally.

It is impossible for the cabinet ministers to tear each other down at this time, so Wei Renpu had no choice but to stand up and say: "If the price increases too much, the Saman Empire will feel dissatisfied, and it may do something wrong to me, Datang."

Li Congjia said bluntly: "They didn't dare. They really dared to do this. Among other things, if we slightly relax the restrictions on the sale of weapons to the Kara Khanate, they may all suffer greater losses."

The cabinet ministers were collectively silent, how could they not know this truth?It's just that Li Congjia didn't want to offend another country. After all, the strength of the Saman Empire and the Kara Khanate is similar. After the two of them fight, it's hard to say who will win.

Kara Khanate and Datang have only superficial friendship. No one can say if Kara Khanate wins in the end, will they turn their heads and point their guns at Datang.

But this country will definitely pose a threat to Datang, so they hope that the Saman Empire can win, so that at least they will lose one of their confidantes.

However, in Li Congjia's eyes, no matter which of these two countries is an enemy, he just wants to see these two countries dog-eat-dog and weaken each other's strength. won at the price.

Try not to offend anything, what doesn't exist doesn't exist.

However, later on Li Congjia’s asking price was not so harsh. He also worried that if the Saman Empire couldn’t afford it, wouldn’t the Kara Khanate have the upper hand?How can this work?

So Li Congjia only raised a little price, which was within the range that the Saman Empire felt painful but could bear.

The envoy of the Saman Empire has been tossed a little by Li Congjia these days. When he first came, he was a little high-spirited. After these few days, he was only haggard, but haggard is haggard. He still asked a more serious question : "How will these weapons be transported?"

A glance at the map shows that if you want to reach the Saman Empire, you must pass through the Kara Khanate. The problem is that if you pass through the Kara Khanate, the Kara Khanate has ten thousand ways to intercept these weapons.

In fact, even when the Saman envoy raised this question, he did not expect Li Congjia to give him an answer. After all, Datang as a whole gave the envoy an impression of treachery and cunning.

As long as this kind of person can sell things, who cares about how to transport them?

However, he didn't expect Li Congjia to really think about this question, and said directly: "Take the way to Tibet, and then you can go to Qiangtang to get it."

The Saman envoy looked at Li Congjia in surprise and asked, "Are you talking about the Qiangtang tribe in Tubo? Are they reliable?"

Li Congjia smiled slightly: "At least it is more reliable than the Kara Khanate. If there is a problem east of Qiangtang, Datang will take full responsibility, but if there is a problem west of Qiangtang, that is to say, after the weapons are handed over by you, then It is your responsibility."

The Saman envoy finally took a long breath and said: "That's good, that's good, you are a kind person."

Li Congjia: No, I just want to see you unlucky people.

After the Saman envoy finished his praise, he couldn't help asking: "Is the Tubo plateau also controlled by your country?"

Li Congjia looked at him very surprised: "Where did you hear this news? How come, Tubo is still Tubo, and the tribes on the plateau are still fighting endlessly."

"Then... Qiang Tang." The emissary hesitated, he didn't dare to ask too many questions, for fear of offending Li Congjia and leaving him alone, but he was really worried.

Seeing that he was really suffering, Li Congjia finally showed mercy and told him the reason: "The Kara Khanate is close to Qiangtang, and it helped the opponents of Qiangtang before."

This time the Saman envoy fully understood that since the Kara Khanate helped the enemies of Qiangtang, it was naturally considered as the enemy of Qiangtang, and it seems that they have not yet reconciled with Qiangtang. their reconciliation.

The Saman envoy wisely didn't ask any more questions, but after expressing his great gratitude, he was going to return home to tell their king the good news.

After finally sending these people away, Wei Renpu couldn't help asking: "Your Majesty, how is Tubo now?"

Before they fought with Dali, fought with Khitan, and then suddenly became tense with the Kara Khanate, these big brothers basically didn’t go to see Tubo, but today Li Congjia said that they can go through Qiangtang, and they knew that Li Congjia was sure. The monitoring of Tubo has never been relaxed.

Li Congjia sighed and said, "What else? Isn't it like that? The small tribes were conquered one by one, but the big tribes were peaceful. There was no intention of conflict at all, and I don't know when it will be."

In fact, Li Congjia still knows the reason why the big tribes in Tubo dare not act rashly. After all, they have the Kara Khanate in the north, and the Tang Dynasty in the east. that's it.

But with such two big countries looking at it, they dare not fight too hard, for fear that they will be taken advantage of by these two countries in the end.

Zhao Pu asked, "Is there any hope of letting them do it? Didn't the two Buddha statues let them do it?"

Li Congjia nodded: "It's not that I didn't do anything, it's just that I was very restrained and there was no large-scale conflict, but this completely deviated from my original intention, so I need to find a reason that they can't refuse."

Fan Zhi said expressionlessly: "The Tubo Plateau is so barren, why should His Majesty focus on them?"

Of course, what Fan Zhi wanted to say the most was, boss, can we stop fighting?

Li Congjia understood Fan Zhi's subtext, but he couldn't say why he was so persistent, because this land was part of his country's territory in later generations?No one would believe him even if he dared to say it!

In the end, he just said: "The fighting power of the Tubo people is still very strong. At that time, Qiantang maintained friendship with them. What happened? It's not a retaliation. I think we should bring them into the jurisdiction to avoid this kind of thing as much as possible. .”

Fan Zhi opened his mouth and was about to say something when he heard footsteps. Shi Xueting walked gently from behind the Xuanzheng Hall, and after apologizing to everyone present, he handed a piece of paper to Li Congjia.

Li Congjia took a look at the note, sat up straight immediately, patted Yu An angrily and said, "Do these bastards want to die?"