This trip from Bianjing to the northwest is different from the previous trip.
On his last trip, Zhang Yue was just a general magistrate of Qinzhou, but now Zhang Yue has been entrusted with the emperor's orders and is heading to Shaanxi as the Xihe Road Economic and Technological Envoy.
When the opportunity arises, officials can be arbitrarily rewarded and dismissed, and generals below the level can be killed first and then punished. This kind of power is only a holiday.
In addition to Xihe Road's strategic envoy and commander of the military and horse capital, Zhang Yue also added the deputy commander of Qinfeng Road's military and horse capital, holding the post of commander of the four compartments of Ritianwu.
Qin Feng Road Deputy Capital Governor, second only to Qin Feng Road Economic Strategy and Comfort Envoy Zhang Shen and Qin Feng Road Military and Horse Capital General Manager Zhang Shen.
In other words, Zhang Yue can not only dispatch the troops and horses on Xihe Road, but also the troops and horses on Qinfeng Road next door.
The commander of the four compartments of Pengri Tianwu was nominally the highest officer of the Pengri Tianwu Army among the four armies, but he was feared by the imperial court and now his position has long been in vain.
The person who holds the real power of the Japanese armed guards is the commander of the left or right wing.
However, no matter how useless he was, he was still one of the Eighth Army of the Forbidden Army. At the same time, following Zhang Yue to the northwest, there were also three Japanese cavalry commanders.
These three commanders are extraordinary as the imperial guards. It is not about how capable they are in fighting or how elite their soldiers and horses are, but because they represent the emperor's own army.
Although the Peng Japanese Army was a forbidden army, it only guarded the capital in the past and was generally not sent to station in other places. This time, they made an exception and went out with Zhang Yue.
As the commander of the four compartments, Zhang Yue nominally had the power of life and death over the accompanying third commander of the Japanese army. But on the other hand, they were also the emperor's eyes and ears monitoring Zhang Yue.
However, this military position in name also has a deterrent effect on the generals of the Forbidden Army stationed on Xihe Road and Qinfeng Road.
On the day of his departure from Beijing, Zhang Yue, his shogunate and the three commanders of the imperial army left the city gate and said goodbye to Cai Ting, Li Xian and Zhang Zhi who came to see him off.
Following Zhang Yue's suggestion the day before yesterday, the officials planned to send Cai Ting out to patrol Hebei and Hedong to prevent the Khitan from suddenly invading the territory when the Song army attacked the northwest.
Cai Ting said goodbye to him today and will leave for Khitan in a few days.
Zhang Yue was originally indifferent to Cai Ting because he did not have a good relationship with his son, but he heard that the imperial meeting that day recommended candidates to go to Xihe, one of whom was himself, and the other was Cai Ting.
Cai Ting was recommended by Wang Anshi at the time, but Cai Ting insisted that Chen Feizhang could not do it better, so the seven prime ministers unanimously voted for him.
At that time, others thought that Cai Ting was content with his position as deputy privy envoy and refused to patrol the border, or that he was afraid that his fame would be ruined in the Xihe River. But a few days later, the emperor asked him if he would like to go to Hedong, Hebei, and Cai Ting said Agree immediately.
This made Zhang Yue change his view of Cai Ting.
Immediately, one of them will go to the northwest and the other to the northeast, each shouldering the heavy responsibility of national border defense.
Zhang Yue and Cai Ting bowed to each other. They both wanted to say something to each other, but they couldn't hold it back for a long time.
Finally, Zhang Yuecai said: "Zhang is going to the northwest, and I asked the Prime Minister to maintain it in the east."
Cai Ting said: "If Zhang Longtu can win, there is nothing to worry about. If not, ten Cai Tings will be useless."
"Prime Minister, take care!"
"Take care of yourself!"
The two bowed to each other.
This time, the journey to the northwest was very tight, and it could be described as traveling on a starry night. Zhang Yue rushed to Bianjing to the northwest, first passing through Luoyang, and then rushing from Luoyang through Tongguan to Yongxing Mansion.
Zhang Yue sat on the carriage and watched the passing scenery. The cavalrymen guarding the road on the left and right were all focused on the battle in the northwest.
After a day's journey, I took a short rest when I arrived at the inn.
Cai Jing and Cai Bian from the shogunate came to greet them. Zhang Yue washed his feet and said to them: "Yuan Chang, Yuan Du is sitting down!"
After Cai Jing and Cai Bian sat down, Zhang Yue drank a cup of tea in his spare time and asked Cai Jing: "Have you been helping Xue Xiang handle the transportation affairs in the northwest over the years?"
Cai Jing replied: "Exactly, the output of Shaanxi Jieyan Yanchi has dropped slightly in recent years, and now it is only one million seats, but the salt banknotes issued by the Yunsi every year have reached nearly two million seats!"
"Originally, one seat was worth six guan, but during the Zhiping period, one seat was worth seven or eight guan. After Prime Minister Han served as the Xuanfu envoy in the northwest, he printed a batch of salt banknotes. Now the salt banknotes are only worth less than five guan."
Zhang Yue nodded and said: "I understand. The low depreciation of salt banknotes has something to do with the Exchange. The Exchange has collected a lot of salt banknotes in the market over the years, otherwise the depreciation would be even greater."
Cai Jing asked: "So when the commander-in-chief goes to the northwest this time, is he going to collect salt banknotes or sell salt banknotes?"
Zhang Yue said: "You won't accept it or sell it. When I arrive in Yongxing tomorrow, you can go to the market and let the news out. Tell me that from now on any salt wells on Xihe Road will be settled with salt banknotes, just like Shaanxi salt."
Cai Bian was shocked when he heard this and said: "I heard that the commander-in-chief opened many salt wells in the northwest before."
Zhang Yue nodded and said, "Of course."
Cai Jing said: "But the proceeds from this salt solution belong to the Yongxing Army Transport Envoy, and we are now the Qinfeng Transport Envoy. If it was easy to coordinate in the past, now it will be difficult to separate the two parties."
Zhang Yue said: "I have coordinated this matter. In the future, the salt banknote printing policy will take back the three divisions instead of allocating places."
Cai Jing's eyes flashed when he heard this, and he obviously grasped something from it.
In the past, when there was only one salt bank, the court issued two million salt banknotes a year instead of one million salt banknotes, which led to inflation.
Now that the Salt Administration of Xihe Road has been incorporated, the value of salt banknotes can rise in a short period of time. More importantly, the imperial court has returned the printing power of salt banknotes to the Third Division, so that it can better formulate monetary policies in the future.
Cai Jing thought for a while and said, "Could it be that the commander-in-chief wants to use salt money to subdue the Western Yi?"
Zhang Yue nodded slightly.
At this point, Zhang Yue asked Cai Jing and Cai Bian: "What do you think salt banknotes are?"
"It's money!"
Zhang Yue said: "Not bad"
There are nothing more than three ways for people to dominate each other, one is power, one is faith, and the other is money.
For example, if you are an official and I am a citizen, officials can use their power to control the people to do things.
Beliefs, such as religion and shared ideals, can also dictate what people do.
The other thing is money. For a hundred pence, I can let a stranger do a day's work for me. This is also a control.
The scariest thing about money is its alienation from people.
The so-called alienation is that money is originally a tool for people, but in the end people become their slaves.
Take farming for example. Originally, people were wandering around hunting, but one day they discovered that farming could give them a stable harvest. So people gave up their precarious hunting life and stayed in one-third of an acre of land for the rest of their lives without going anywhere.
Although he gained a stable income, he lost the freedom of being at home all over the world.
Money is risk-averse, so there is a saying that a family with a lot of wealth, not counting the hair, is talking about the risks of nomadism.
For example, Zhang Yue collected grain in Hezhou, Xizhou for three to four hundred yuan per dou, and strongly encouraged the Tibetan people to abandon their nomadic pastures and engage in farming and land reclamation. This was a conspiracy to alienate the Tibetan people.
In the final analysis, the difference in culture is the difference in economic methods.
Is it easy for Tibetan people with a farming culture to assimilate? Or is it easy for the Tibetan people with nomadic culture to assimilate? The answer is obvious.
However, Zhang Yue monetized salt banknotes, but he had deeper considerations in pacifying the northwest.
