As a confidant of Anda Khan, Tagli had frequent dealings with the Ming Dynasty over the years for the exchange of trade between border towns. He also went deep into the Central Plains many times, especially to Youzhou every few years.
This person can be said to be a veritable master of the Central Plains among the Tatars, and he speaks Chinese fluently.
However, even though he had access to the Central Plains of Tagli, he had never been to the prosperous Jiangnan. He had been to the southernmost place, Henan, before.
Jiangnan, for many prairie people, is a place that only exists orally from the ancestors!
The ancestors on the grassland occupied the Central Plains more than three hundred years ago, occupying the prosperous Jiangnan, creating a new historical height for them, and successfully created a very unique custom for the Central Plains people: throwing.
Firstborn.
The great achievements of the ancestors at that time always inspired the newcomers on the grassland. Regardless of whether they were Oara, Tatar, or other grassland tribes, basically everyone was aiming to one day enter the border towns and occupy the prosperous Central Plains.
dream!
Of course, except for the Yuan Dynasty, there is no one who can realize this dream. At most, they can only occasionally occupy parts of the north!
But without exception, they will be killed by the Central Plains Dynasty in the end and driven back to the grassland to eat grass!
And when he went south along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and saw the extremely prosperous Central Plains, he realized why our ancestors never forgot the Central Plains and Jiangnan!
This place is really a good place. If such a large plain in North China were planted with pasture for grazing, how many horses, cattle and sheep could be supported!
But this was just what he felt in Shandong, in the Jiangbei area, and when he arrived at Huai'an Prefecture, passed through Yangzhou City, all the way to the Yangtze River, and took a ship of the Tang Navy up the river, arriving at Jinling.
He could no longer find any adjectives to describe the prosperity of Jiangnan!
He was extremely shocked by the numerous inland water transport ships he saw on the other side of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. And when he saw an endless stream of ships coming and going on the Yangtze River, especially at the Jinling Wharf, he saw the docks along the river.
When he boarded the rows of tall ships, he felt desperate in his heart!
Because just by looking at these ships, he knew how busy the Yangtze River waterway was, and he knew very well what this busyness represented. It was the high prosperity of industry and commerce!
And what does this mean?
It represents the prosperity of Jiangnan and the countless taxes that the Tang Dynasty can collect from it.
No wonder he heard rumors that the Tang Dynasty's annual military expenditure could reach tens of millions of taels. He used to think that it was an exaggeration of the Tang Dynasty, just like the army fighting a war, saying that tens of thousands of troops were...
An army of hundreds of thousands, if there are really 100,000 or 200,000, then it will definitely be an army of one million.
Tagli believed that the military expenditure of the Tang Dynasty was only a few million taels of silver a year at most.
Don’t think that he thinks that the Tang Dynasty is pauper, and don’t think that he thinks that the Tang Dynasty’s royal division does not spend money. In fact, he knows very well that the Tang Dynasty is rich, and he even knows that the Tang Dynasty’s royal division equipped with guns costs a lot of money.
.
He just didn't know that the Tang Dynasty was so rich, and that the Tang Dynasty King was so powerful in spending money!
He had already expected a few million before. After all, as far as he knew, the previous Ming Dynasty's treasury income was only a few million taels of silver a year. Even the Tang Dynasty was more powerful.
We can collect more taxes, but we can't all use them as military expenses. We have to spend money on other aspects. No matter what, we will have to spend millions of taels of silver!
However, the reality is more exaggerated than he imagined!
He had never believed in tens of millions before, but when he saw the busy waterway of the Yangtze River and the rows of ships on the docks along the Jinling River, he believed it.
He didn't need to come up with any detailed data. Just by looking at everything in front of him, he already knew that they really weren't bragging!
Oh my God, tens of millions of taels of silver a year's military expenditure. If this is given to the Tatars, what cattle and sheep will they raise? They will just enjoy the blessings.
However, although Tagli was shocked by the prosperity of Jiangnan and the profound heritage of the Tang Dynasty, there was no expression on his face. He even did not show any surprises along the way. He just encountered some things that he did not know about.
Occasionally I would ask a few questions, but I would never express anything in front of officials of the Tang Dynasty.
After arriving at Jinling City, dozens of them checked into an exclusive restaurant under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs outside the city!
Tagli had already been mentally prepared for having to wait before he could meet the Emperor of Tang Dynasty after arriving at Jinling City. In fact, their trip south was not that smooth.
It would not be an easy task to go south to meet the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, negotiate a truce between the two sides, and then open up border towns to trade with each other.
You know, a few months ago, Anda Khan and Emperor Li Xuan of the Tang Dynasty fought in Anping Town. Later, Anda Khan led his army to flee north, and the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty ignored them for a short time.
Continue north to Hebei and capture Youzhou.
However, after capturing Youzhou and even most of Shanxi, the wingers of both sides faced off directly in the border town.
But now Anda Khan does not dare to rashly take the initiative to attack in the south. The Third Army of the Tang Dynasty King's Division also lacks ammunition supplies, especially cavalry, and does not have the ability to take the initiative to fight in the fortress, so although the two sides fought around the border town
There were a few small battles, but the impact was not huge. Overall, both sides were quite restrained.
But for the Tatars, they can't keep fighting like this!
In fact, the Tatars have been in contact with the Tang Dynasty a few months ago. Although there is a slight misunderstanding, it is not you who suffer, but us Tatars. Do you think we should turn our hostility into friendship?
Don't continue fighting this battle. Anyway, you can't fight it out, and I can't fight it in. Everyone is wasting the lives and food of the soldiers in the border town, and it has no meaning!
After hearing what the Tatars said, Hao Bainian, who was in charge of the northern military affairs at that time, said directly, don't come to me about this kind of thing. I only care about fighting. It has nothing to do with you whether to fight or not. I can't decide.
Then Tagli and others went to the Hebei Governor's Yamen, trying to negotiate a truce and mutual trade.
As a result, the governor of Hebei heard that Tagli came to discuss these matters with them, so he immediately drove them away. I am the governor of Hebei and am only responsible for the civil affairs of Hebei. The vassal affairs are not under my control. You have to go to the vassal affairs department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
People!
This is a big joke, they are the ones who found the Ministry of Foreign Affairs!
Today's Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Tang Dynasty is mainly responsible for two major authorities, dealing with foreign affairs and vassal affairs.
The former is mainly connected with European countries such as Portugal and Spain, while the latter is mainly connected with traditional vassals such as Korea, Ryukyu, Tatar, and Oara.
Naturally, the people from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not drive Tagli and the others out this time. If they want to talk about armistice and mutual trade, we are the right people to look for. Come, let’s have a good talk, such as those towns in the border towns.
Now it has been despicably stolen by you Tatars. Return it quickly, otherwise there is no hope of negotiating an armistice.
In order to show their sincerity in the truce and mutual trade, they directly stated that they could return a border town to the Tang Dynasty first. Of course, this was more because the Tatars also knew that they were not good at defending the city. As soon as the Tang army came
It will definitely be taken back more often.
People know very well that the Army of the Tang Dynasty has a large number of guns and artillery, and its ability to attack cities and villages is first-class. Now they can still occupy these border towns. That is because the King of the Tang Dynasty is very busy now.
There is no time to capture these small towns.
But those important cities, such as the Three Guards of Xuanfu, were beaten cleanly without saying a word!
Therefore, the Tatars said that these border towns could be negotiated, and in order to show their sincerity, they even voluntarily gave up the city of a border town.
Seeing that the Tatars were so righteous, the officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were not unreasonable. They said, since you have already allowed one to come out, why not let a few more come out? Only in this way can we become wiser and greater than the sun.
The great Eternal Saint King has seen your sincerity!
Regarding this matter, Tagli did not dare to make his own decision, but made the decision after reporting back to Anda Khan. Finally, Anda Khan gave a reply after considering it. He could allow a few more border towns, but not all of them.
It was given away for nothing, and it must be exchanged for sufficient benefits. What benefits are naturally traded on each other!
Anyway, for thousands of years, people in the northern grasslands have relied heavily on the mutual market in border towns, because without the mutual market, they would not be able to obtain ironware, tea, and most other daily necessities.
After all, these nomadic peoples lack everything except horses, cattle and sheep!
For the Tang Dynasty, this was at best some military skirmishes in border towns. Anyway, the Tang Dynasty had already occupied the north and took over almost most of the Great Wall defense line from the remaining Ming troops there. Relying on Youzhou
, Xuanfu, Datong and other important cities as well as many other border passes are very difficult to defeat, but it is relatively easy to hold them.
So it’s okay to continue fighting, just use it as training!
It’s okay if you don’t fight, you can’t get out anyway!
As for mutual trade, this is what the Tang Dynasty needs, because the Tang Dynasty is in urgent need of horses!
But here comes the problem. Even if the Tatars agree to the mutual trade, they don't dare to open up the supply of horses. At most, they will only give a small part.
Because everyone knows that if the Tang Dynasty obtained a large number of horses from the Tatars, the next thing would definitely be to go north to the grasslands to fight the Tatars.
So now the Tang Dynasty is very calm. Since you have given up several border town cities and agreed to hand over the border town cities in the future, it is not impossible to agree to mutual trade, but this horse must be
Yes, and there must be a lot, otherwise it will be meaningless.
Then the Tatars made demands. They wanted guns, especially cannons!
Just kidding, I can’t give this thing life or death!
Therefore, the negotiations between the two parties reached a stalemate. Finally, Tagli proposed that he would go to Jinling to meet the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty. He also proposed that he brought a secret letter from Anda Khan and hoped to deliver it to the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty in person, and he vowed to do so.
, the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty will definitely be interested in this!
After the report came to Li Xuan, Li Xuan was right. He wanted to see what An Dahan had planned!
In this way, Tagli went south to the south of the Yangtze River!