The next day, Zhang Qianyi's flying pigeon letter was delivered to Guo Song's desk. After reading the pigeon letter, Guo Song asked Wen Miao to invite Pan Liao.
"Old Pan, look at this!" Guo Song smiled and handed the copy of the pigeon letter to Pan Liao.
Pan Liao did not forget the order of hierarchy just because Guo Song called him Lao Pan. In his opinion, there is no difference between 'Lao Pan' and 'Pan Aiqing', they are just a more affectionate title.
He respectfully took the copy of the pigeon letter, read it carefully, thought about it and asked, "Can your highness accept Zhu Si's idea?"
Guo Song smiled slightly and said: "Actually, my threshold for negotiation is not high. The conditions for Woguan Pass were just a pretense to make Zhu Si feel that I was reluctant to withdraw from Mengjinguan Pass. I also believe that Zhu Si also has experts around him.
Like Liu Sigu, he can see that I am not interested in Meng Jinguan."
Pan Liao laughed and said: "The pass that others hope to capture seems to have no value in the eyes of His Highness!"
Guo Song said lightly: "It's not a question of whether Mengjing Pass is valuable or not, but it's not as dangerous as Yanmen Pass, Shibao City, and Tongguan. It's easy to defend and difficult to attack. Mengjing Pass just relies on the danger of the Yellow River, but in winter
, if the Yellow River freezes, the value of Mengjinguan will be greatly reduced. I can take it back at any time, so I don’t value it too much."
"I see, I have a suggestion."
"Chang Shi, please tell me!"
Pan Liao pondered slightly and said, "Your Highness, do you still remember the new batch of money in the warehouse?"
Guo Song was reminded at once, and Guo Song quickly asked: "How much new money is there?"
"Originally, there were 500,000 guan. In the past few months, more than 100,000 guan have been spent on buying cloth and shops, and there are still about 350,000 guan left. Zhu Si got a million guan in tax money from Yangzhou, and almost all of them are
Old money, we just need a lot of old money, so we can exchange new money and old money on a one-to-one basis. Zhu Si will not suffer any loss, so I think he should be willing."
Guo Song thought for a while and said: "Zhu Si himself has to use the redemption method to give us money. Isn't it too cheap for them to use Chang Shi's method?"
Pan Liao smiled slightly and said: "Being humble does not mean giving up the redemption. Of course, there must be redemption. For example, Zhu Si offered 300,000 guan for redemption. We gave in a little and asked for 250,000 guan. Then it was one to one.
Exchange new money and take this opportunity to exchange the new money."
Guo Song took a few steps with his hands behind his back and asked, "What is the exchange ratio between new money and old money in Luoyang?"
"The official rate is one to one, but on the black market it is one hundred cents for one hundred twenty cents. It is said that many officials have made a fortune from this."
Guo Song finally decided, "That's it! Ransom plus exchange plus a promise not to attack the two Zhejiang roads for three years."
...........
The second round of negotiations officially began three days later. The two sides reached the first consensus in the morning, and Zhu Si's army promised not to attack the two Zhejiang roads within three years.
Immediately afterwards, the two sides reached a negotiation principle and settled the Mengjing Pass through redemption, which no longer involved territorial claims. However, when talking about the specific redemption amount, the two sides had conflicts. Zhang Qianyi asked for 300,000 yuan, while Yao Lingyan was only willing to pay 100,000 yuan at most.
Wan Guan, the gap is huge.
In the next two days of negotiations, Yao Lingyan only agreed in principle to the other party's additional conditions and accepted the other party's offer of exchanging copper coins for 350,000 guan in new money on a one-to-one basis. Then Zhang Qianyi reduced the asking price by 50,000 guan and redeemed it.
The price dropped to 250,000 guan, and Yao Lingyan also increased it by 50,000 guan, willing to pay 150,000 guan to redeem it.
It stands to reason that both sides can reach a compromise if each side makes concessions. The problem lies here. Neither side is willing to compromise anymore.
Zhu Si had realized that it was not difficult to seize Mengjing Pass in winter and that the value of Mengjing Pass was not high, so he was unwilling to compromise. The bottom line Guo Song gave Zhang Qianyi was 250,000 yuan, which could not be lower.
Two days later, at Liu Sigu's suggestion, Zhu Si also put forward additional conditions, that is, the Jin army was not allowed to attack Mengjinguan and Xiaopingjinguan from the north bank of the Yellow River within five years. If Guo Song agreed, then the deal would be 200,000 guan.
.
Guo Song also proposed to exchange the redemption currency into gold and silver. If Zhu Sifang agreed, he could also accept the price of 200,000.
After a back-and-forth bargaining between the two parties, the two parties finally reached an agreement.
First, Da Qin promised not to attack the two Zhejiang provinces within five years.
Second, the two parties exchanged currency at a one-to-one ratio, with 350,000 guan of new money exchanged for 350,000 guan of old money.
Third, Zhu Si used 150,000 taels of silver and twenty 3,000-stone cargo ships as bargaining chips to redeem Mengjinguan.
Fourth, the Jin army promised not to attack Mengjinguan and Xiaopingjinguan from the north bank of the Yellow River within five years.
Fifth, the withdrawal time is calculated from the time when the Qin State stamps the emperor's seal on the agreement, and the Jin army will complete its withdrawal within ten days.
Sixth, a "Transit Memorandum" was attached, which mainly allowed scholars to go to Chang'an to participate in the imperial examination.
On the day after Zhu Si stamped his seal on the agreement, the Jin army began to sail northward in batches. At the same time, the household departments of both parties began to have close contact and began to fulfill the money delivery agreed between the two parties.
At this point, both parties abided by their commitments, and the delivery between the two parties lasted until September. On the fifth day of September, twenty three-thousand-stone cargo ships loaded with cloth purchased by the Jin Palace sailed into Tianbao Canal.
...........
Time flies to October. With the comprehensive renovation of the old city of Chang'an, more and more people come to visit. Guo Song also specially ordered the palace walls around Weiyang Palace to be demolished, turning it into a park similar to Qujiang Pool.
Guo Song was highly praised by the people of Chang'an for allowing ordinary families to go on outings with their wives and children without spending a penny.
Gradually, everyone called Chang'an City the Old City, and the original Han Chang'an Old City became the New City, and the names were reversed.
But what really attracts the people of Chang'an is Guanghuamenwai Street. However, Guanghuamen has been demolished, but Xi'an Gate to the north is still there. This eight-mile-long commercial street connecting the old city to the new city is officially named Xi'anmen Street.
From the first day of its official opening, Xi'anmen Street has been crowded with people. In fact, Xi'anmen Street is subdivided into six streets, Zhengdong Street and Zhengxi Street, which are the two main streets facing the river.
There are two streets, called East 1st Street, East 2nd Street and West 1st Street, West 2nd Street, a total of six streets with thousands of shops.
The business model here is completely different from that of Dongshi and West Market. It is a central square where eating, drinking, entertainment, shopping, and accommodation are all integrated, as well as various folk artists gather. There is also a large building outside Shingwanghwamun in the middle of the street.
The polo ground where high-level polo teams play every day attracts a large number of cheering fans.
There is also a theater on the east and west sides of the central part that can accommodate thousands of people. Artists continuously perform the most popular military dramas and puppet shows in Chang'an, which are very popular among the people.
In addition, there is a flower boat parade every day at noon and evening. Dozens of colorful flower boats parade on the Cao River. On the flower boats, nearly a thousand dancers and musicians in colorful costumes sing and dance, attracting a large number of people to watch on the river bank.
The occasion was unprecedented.
The business model of Xi'an Street is actually similar to Wazi in the Song Dynasty, which brings together various commerce, entertainment and service industries, such as weddings, weddings, moving and tree removal, repair and decoration, house design, pet feeding, beauty salons and other service industries.
All.
As for the various traditional shops, restaurants, inns, gambling houses, tea shops, Lefang Jiaofang, there are also more than thirty brothels and prostitutes concentrated in the innermost part of North Second Street, almost everything you need, as long as you have money, you can enjoy it here
everything.
Therefore, Xi'an Commercial Street has been deeply loved by the people of Chang'an since its opening. The crowds are surging every day and never stop. It never closes for twelve hours, and even countless guests from Guanzhong, Guannai, Longyou, Hedong and other places come.
People came here in admiration.
Chang'an City also officially abolished the curfew that had lasted for more than a hundred years starting from the first day of July this year. All the gates were demolished, and the eight auxiliary gates were no longer closed at night. People can come and go freely, which directly led to two major benign consequences.
The effect is that, firstly, business is booming and the market is prosperous; secondly, the price of residential land outside the city has risen sharply, and many wealthy people have begun to buy land and build houses outside the city.
The prosperity of Chang'an has also attracted many places to follow suit. The capitals of vassal towns such as Luoyang, Yuancheng, Xindu, Jixian, and Licheng, as well as economically developed places such as Taiyuan, Yangzhou, Suzhou, and Hangzhou, have all abolished curfews, opened up walls, and built
Commercial Street.
However, Chengdu still maintains the century-old curfew tradition and does not allow any changes. This gradually leads to the loss of businessmen. It is obvious that Chang'an values commerce more. The government exempts business taxes and businessmen have more equal status. Of course, it attracts businessmen from Chengdu.
.
Chengdu is just the opposite. Businessmen have no status, cannot ride horses or carriages, are not allowed to wear long clothes, can only wear short clothes, and can only wear black and green clothes. They cannot mix with ordinary civilians.
The area was not allowed to exceed two acres, they were not allowed to take part in the imperial examinations, they were not allowed to study in Imperial College, and they were not allowed to have concubines.
Secondly, there are various taxes that cannot be paid in full. There are three kinds of commercial tax alone, which add up to 10% of taxes. There are also rack tax, salt tax, tea and wine tax, mule and horse tax, deed tax, lodging tax, household tax, etc.
Wait, the lodging tax was levied last year. It is actually a rental tax. You have to pay the tax when renting a house. Foreigners also have to pay the tax when staying in an inn, so it is called the lodging tax.
The sharp contrast with Chang'an caused Chengdu's wealthy businessmen to begin to lose rapidly. Many officials also clamored to reduce taxes. However, taxation is related to the vital interests of Beiya and Nanya. Any tax reform will only increase the tax burden on the people.