"You said that the Tibetan spies we captured have nothing to do with you Tibetans, right?"
"Yes, yes, it doesn't matter!" Several Tubo envoys' heads were like chickens pecking at rice, and in their hearts they scolded Kurban bloody.
I usually see you as a righteous boy, but I didn't expect that you were a traitor, that you defected to the Tang Dynasty, and that you sold us out so completely.
When this news spreads back to Tubo, it is feared that there will be discord in the relationship between Zanpu and Ludongzan.
And this is exactly one of the goals that Tang Ping wants to achieve. The discord between Tubo's monarch and his ministers is what they want to see most.
"Okay, I also understand that every country will inevitably have a few scum!"
"Yes, yes, yes!" Several Tubo envoys nodded wildly. Why is Duke Ping so considerate today?
But since Tang Ping said so, of course they would not object.
"But it will cost us a lot to find the scum in your country. Shouldn't we pay for this money?"
"Shouldn't do it!"
"Although these spies really have nothing to do with us Tubo, we still have to thank the Tang Dynasty for clearing them out. Of course we have to pay for it!"
If several Tubo envoys had to describe this meeting, they were really smiling with smiles on their faces and feeling embarrassed in their hearts!
The spies of your own country have been caught, and you have to pay for the expenses of catching them!
But what can be done? The situation is stronger than the person, so you have to keep your head down and accept it!
"Okay, let's show the bill to a few people. If you have any objections, you can raise them, so as not to say that we, the Great Tang Dynasty, are cheating you of your money in these small places."
"No, no, Tang Dynasty has always been brilliant, how could it be... like... like this..."
The envoy took the bill and said what he meant at first. Datang was indeed very generous to the surrounding countries in terms of money. So when Tang Ping just asked them to pay, they also felt that Datang just came up with it. Take it easy and let them pay some money.
But after taking the bill, I found that the bill... was a little too long.
A Tibetan envoy standing next to him raised his head and said: "Capture equipment loss and damage cost: 2,000 guan... Capture manpower labor cost: 4,000 guan... Overtime pay: 1,000 guan..."
It can be said that every number is shocking.
The last total was more than 26,000 yuan!
You must know that in the past few years, Datang's annual fiscal revenue was only more than 10 million guan. In recent years, Datang has developed rapidly, and this year's fiscal revenue is probably close to 30 million guan.
More than 26,000 yuan is almost one thousandth of the annual fiscal revenue.
But this is the Tang Dynasty. Their annual financial income of Tubo is much less than that of the Tang Dynasty.
It is no exaggeration to say that these more than 26,000 yuan accounted for almost a few percent of Tubo's annual fiscal revenue.
The envoy swallowed hard, and then asked bitterly: "Mr. Ping Guo, is this... a bit too much?"
Another envoy also echoed: "Yes, we just caught a few spies. How could it cost so much?"
"You guys said that, am I tricking you?" Tang Ping narrowed his eyes and looked over their faces, which made them tremble with fear.
"Mr. Ping Guo, why do you get overtime pay for arresting people?"
"Hey, our current government in the Tang Dynasty implements an eight-hour work system. Anyone who works overtime will be paid overtime. This person was arrested late at night, and it was already past the off-duty time. Isn't it reasonable to calculate overtime pay?"
"What about the cost of the late-night snack?"
"After arresting people, everyone has worked hard. Isn't it normal to eat 1,000 yuan of midnight snacks?"
That’s normal! One of the envoys complained in his heart that if he brought 1,000 yuan to the night market, he could buy up the entire night market. "Then, then this labor fee..."
"Okay, you still think I'm cheating you, right?"
Tang Ping pretended to be angry: "You still have the nerve to ask for labor fees. I have invested so much manpower and material resources. Don't you need to spend money?"
"Oh, by the way, I myself followed the whole process, which delayed me for at least a day. Everyone knows that besides being Ping Guo Gong, I am also a businessman, right? How much was my income last month? I also forgot to calculate one day’s lost wages.”
The expressions of several people changed greatly. They said that Tang Ping was as rich as anyone else. That was really not an adjective, but a fact.
The envoys from various countries in Honglu Temple discussed it in private when they had nothing to do. Now the Tang family's industries can make more money in a year than many countries.
If you want him to include any lost work expenses, then the compensation will have to go up!
So the envoy hurriedly said: "No, Mr. Ping Guo will never defraud us of our small money, but I just had some small questions. Thank you Mr. Ping for patiently explaining to us."
"So there's no doubt now, is there?"
"No more, no more at all!" After looking at the bill, they finally understood what a clever name was.
In the past, I have seen and heard stories about corrupt officials who used clever names to amass money. Compared with today's Tang Ping toll items, it is like a little ghost meeting the Lord of Hell, and a little ghost meeting a big ghost!
"Okay, then how do you pay?"
"We..." The Tubo envoy hesitated, and then said with a wry smile: "We are just a few envoys sent to the Tang Dynasty. How can we have so much money? This matter has to be reported to Zanpu..."
"Okay, we are all familiar with each other, so I will trust you for the time being, but the interest..."
"Here, we'll give you the interest too!"
Seeing the envoy carefully putting away the long list of bills, Tang Ping sighed and said: "It seems that it is not easy for you in Tibet. There are so many rebellious officials and traitors who have come to our Tang Dynasty to cause trouble. Why don't you want to solve it?" What about these questions?”
Several envoys were speechless. How to solve the problem? Are we not going to send spies to Chang'an in the future? That is impossible!
But I couldn't say that, so an envoy asked: "What good plan does Duke Ping have?"
"Actually, I think the main reason is that you Tubo people are too poor." Tang Ping said to himself, completely ignoring the bitter-faced envoys, and even added a knife: "Look, you can't even pay more than 20,000 yuan." You have to owe it, hey..."
"To solve these problems, we still have to make money, so our Majesty has said that we would like to open several mutual markets to trade with you in Tubo."
Several envoys looked serious and opened a mutual market in Tubo. This was not as simple as losing money.
"I don't know about Datang's mutual market. What are you planning to trade with us?" the envoy asked.
"Our Tang Dynasty specialties such as silk, ironware, grain, and tea can all be traded on the mutual market."
Several envoys looked at each other, wondering if they had heard wrongly.
You must know that in the past, they proposed opening up mutual markets at the border, but Datang never agreed. Until now, their trading model with Datang is that merchants from Datang bring luxury goods to Tubo and sell them back to Tibet. Then they bring the wool back. .
But this kind of open mutual market, allowing people on both sides to trade freely, has never been done before.
This time their espionage plan was exposed, which greatly offended Datang. Why did Datang agree to open mutual markets at this time?
Moreover, the things sold by the Tang Dynasty were all scarce in Tubo, which... was unreasonable.
When something goes wrong, there must be a monster. Normally, Tubo begged Datang to open a mutual trade, but now that Datang proposed it, they did not dare to agree.
"What's wrong, everyone? Do you look down on our Tang Dynasty's specialties?"
Today, Tang Ping always spoke in a very aggressive manner, as if he was carrying a lot of resentment. However, the more he acted like this, the weaker the Tubo envoys became.
The envoy hurriedly stepped forward and said: "Ping Guogong is joking. These things are what we in Tubo want."
This is true, silk is nothing, and nobles can usually buy it when buying luxury goods, but ironware is different. The mining and smelting technology of the Tubo people is worse than that of the original Tang Dynasty. More than a little bit, compared with the current Tang Dynasty...
Forget it, there is no comparison anymore.
Therefore, the ironware of the Tang Dynasty was something that Tubo had coveted for a long time. In the past, the Tang Dynasty strictly controlled exports. Even those merchants who went to Tubo to do business would only sell to them the ironware they brought with them for use. They would not dare to smuggle it.
Nahou Junji sold weapons once, and the quantity was not large, but those items were already treasures for Tubo. Now only Zampu and the personal guards of several of the largest nobles have the right to use that batch of weapons.
And now Hou Junji has long been blocked.
Therefore, Tubo had an infinite yearning for the iron tools and weapons of the Tang Dynasty.
"I just don't know what the iron tools that Duke Ping mentioned are?"
"Of course it's pots and pans! I've also heard that there are many people in Tubo, and several families use a broken earthen pot to cook soup together. We are also a country of brothers. When brothers are in trouble, the Tang Dynasty will not sit idly by. Yes, so iron pots and the like are naturally indispensable."
Tang Ping's words were high-sounding, and then he turned around: "Hey, you don't want to buy weapons, do you? The country bordering Tubo seems to be basically our Tang Dynasty, you..."
"No, no, no! No weapons, just an iron pot!"
I also knew that the Tang Dynasty would not sell important strategic resources such as weapons to Tubo, so it would be good to have iron pots. No matter how poor Tubo's smelting technology was, with a few more iron pots, many weapons could be made.
"Okay, I've always said that we want a win-win situation!" Tang Ping shook hands with the envoy: "Wouldn't it be better for everyone to do business and make money? Don't always do those little tricks that don't show up. About the specifics of mutual trading. The Ministry of Etiquette will send someone to talk to you about the situation. I have something else to do, so I will leave first."
"Yes, yes, what Duke Ping said is, let's make money together!"
Several envoys raised their hands in unison and said, "I respectfully send you to Duke Ping."
Tang Ping turned around and left with the people. After the Minister of Etiquette, Wai Lang, went out, he asked in a low voice: "Mr. Ping, we caught their people this time, so we have suffered a loss. Why do we need such a good thing as opening up the mutual market?"
In his opinion, it is of course okay to seek compensation from the other party, but it is not necessary to open a mutual market!
Now that the Tang Dynasty was getting stronger and stronger, the officials of the Ministry of Rites treated these foreign envoys more and more straight.
"Without open trade, it will be difficult for our people to stay in Tubo!" Tang Ping glanced at the west: "Look at how many spies Tibet has in the Tang Dynasty this time? We have much fewer people there."
In fact, the main thing is the social structure of Tubo. Tubo is basically composed of nobles and their own tribes.
You can't just become a noble when you have a spy from the Tang Dynasty, right? But if you are not the Tubo nobles, it will be difficult to get access to their core information.
So this time Datang thought it would be better to just open the mutual market and open more mutual markets in Tubo, which would also be considered as adding more informants and hidden stakes.
Even if no information can be obtained, when the time comes to attack Tubo, it will be much easier to follow the example of the Tibetan spies and destroy it first.
The official of the Ministry of Rites also understood everything and said respectfully: "What Duke Ping Guo said is right. Our Tang Dynasty is a big farming country. Now many young people don't want to farm but want to go out and make a living. We sent the capital to run the mutual market." He is a young man in his twenties, and his mouth has calluses from farming, so it makes sense!"
