Guo Song took a sip of tea and said slowly: "I don't deny that our original intention of attacking Hanzhong was indeed because Cao Liwei intercepted our goods without authorization, which seriously violated the tacit understanding between us. If he is Zhu Si's person, I
I would not hesitate to kill him, including state officials and county officials, but it was because of the consideration of being a minister that I released them.
But my goodwill was not recognized by the court. The entire Chengdu government and the public scolded me, Mr. Guo, as if I was even more hateful than Zhu Si. However, the court did not defend me or explain, and allowed my reputation to be damaged.
It's completely exhausted. It's for this reason that I decided not to withdraw my troops. Since I've already earned a bad reputation, I might as well bear it to the end."
Zhang Yu was stunned when he heard this. He quickly said: "There are many misunderstandings here. If His Highness withdraws the troops, then I believe that the Queen Mother will quickly restore His Highness's reputation and will never let His Highness bear a bad name. This is inevitable. Your Highness does not have to worry at all."
.”
Guo Song nodded, "If this is the case, then I am willing to believe in the sincerity of the Queen Mother, but the reputation I mentioned is only one aspect. There is another reason why I am unwilling to withdraw my troops."
Zhang Yu sighed secretly in his heart. He knew that it could not be such a simple thing. He would withdraw his troops just for the sake of reputation. Guo Song must have other demands, so he had no choice but to say: "Your Highness, please make it clear that I will definitely go back and respond truthfully.
"
"Another reason is the tax problem in Hanzhong. I didn't know that the people in Hanzhong were burdened with such heavy taxes. I visited more than a dozen households in Nanzheng and found that the taxes they paid each year accounted for 10% of their annual income.
70%, every household is heavily in debt, and the unpaid taxes cost as much as 1,300 yuan. This is well salt produced in Bashu, which is ten times the salt price in Chang'an. The price of grain and cloth are five times that of Chang'an.
, which is simply unacceptable to me.”
Guo Song stared at Zhang Yu with sharp eyes, "I think Hanzhong is like this, Chengdu and other places in Bashu are similar. I'm not wrong!"
Zhang Yu's face was full of shame and he whispered: "This... the imperial court has nothing to do, the financial power is not in the hands of the imperial court."
"Here's the problem. Since the imperial court has no power, why does it have the right to ask me to withdraw my troops? At least Beiya should send someone to negotiate with me!"
Zhang Yu sighed, "I am here on behalf of the Queen Mother, not actually on behalf of Nanya or Beiya."
Guo Song nodded, "You are really good at talking."
He took a few steps with his hands behind his back and said to Zhang Yu: "Since the Queen Mother has given the order, I will naturally consider the Queen Mother's opinion. I will propose three plans. Zhang Shilang will go back and give them to the Queen Mother, and then you will discuss them in the north and south Yamen to see which plan is acceptable.
?If you are unwilling to accept it, then the only solution is to use war."
Zhang Yu was most afraid of hearing that war would be used to solve this problem. He quickly said: "Your Highness, please come up with three plans, and I will go back and report them!"
"The first plan is to let the people of Hanzhong choose and let everyone participate in the vote. Do they want to be under the jurisdiction of the Jin Palace and the imperial court, or are they willing to be under the direct jurisdiction of the imperial court again? I cannot withdraw troops from Nanzheng without authorization, otherwise we will not be able to face Nanzheng.
Zheng’s parents and fellow villagers, but if the fathers and folks of Hanzhong agree with my evacuation, then I will definitely respect their opinion.”
Guo Song and others had already discussed the countermeasures. They changed the military occupation of Hanzhong to the imperial administration of Hanzhong. They played a little trick with words. They simply said that someone was ugly and changed it to someone who was not very beautiful.
, a truth.
The first plan Guo Song mentioned was a referendum. In fact, no matter who the people of Hanzhong chose in the end, the announced result would definitely be that the Jin Palace would win.
Even if there is no fraud, even if the vote is fair, as long as the people in a state do not agree with the withdrawal of the Jin army, then Guo and Song will have reason to continue garrisoning troops in this state. This is actually a trap.
Zhang Yu did not dare to express his position, so he quickly said: "Your Highness, please continue!"
"The second plan I propose is to keep the tax system in Hanzhong unchanged, cancel the shelf tax, cloth tax, tea and wine tax, reduce commercial tax, household tax, field tax, and unify the salt price to 130 per bucket.
Wen, as long as Chengdu promises that the current tax system in Hanzhong will remain unchanged and ensures that the interests of the people will no longer be harmed, then I will hand over all of Hanzhong and only retain a few hundred troops in Yang County as a token to ensure that the Ziwu Valley is not invaded by bandits.
But if the imperial court goes back on its promise and charges heavy taxes again, then I will treat it as a breach of contract by the imperial court, and I will reoccupy Hanzhong without any room for negotiation."
It is absolutely impossible to agree to this plan. Once the other party agrees to this condition, the foundation of their rule will collapse. This is called "not worrying about the scarcity, but worrying about the inequality." For the same court's territory, why does Hanzhong have such low taxes?
Chengdu has to endure cruel exploitation? Especially the price of salt. If the price of salt can be lowered for Hanzhong, why not lower the price of salt for Chengdu?
This plan will be rejected first in Beiya.
Zhang Yu knew it well, and he asked again: "What is your highness's third plan?"
"The third plan is relatively simple. Hanzhong implements the separation of military and government. The military is managed by the Jin Palace and government affairs are returned to the court. Except for Liangzhou, officials in the other four states will continue to be stationed by the court. The officials will be responsible to the court. But I want to set up Hanzhong Taxation
The Audit Office prevents local officials from breaking the tax system currently implemented in Hanzhong without authorization. If officials break the tax system, I will directly remove them and I will appoint new officials."
In fact, this plan only sounds good, separating the military and government, and returning government power and the power of appointment and dismissal of local officials to the court. But in essence, it is an enhanced version of the second plan, and it is even worse than the second plan. In essence, it still maintains Hanzhong.
The tax system will remain unchanged, the army will not withdraw, and the most important Liangzhou is unequivocal and will not give in at all.
In fact, this just gave the court a fig leaf to explain to the people in both the government and the public.
Guo Song seized on the heavy taxation in Chengdu to make a fuss. He talked about the interests of the people and considered the interests of the people in everything, which made Southern Tang fall into a moral disadvantage and his occupation of Hanzhong became just.
Zhang Yu knew that these three plans were difficult. Even if the court and the Queen Mother agreed to one of them, Beiya would not agree.
He could only nod, "Okay! I will go back and tell the Queen Mother the truth."
"One more thing!"
Guo Song continued: "I have shown my sincerity in negotiating, and I also hope that the court will show its sincerity to eliminate the bad influence for me and restore my reputation. I will say something ugly in front of you, regardless of whether you can accept the plan I proposed.
, must restore my reputation. If I am still notorious in the court and Bashu, then there is no need to consider the feelings of the court in my future governance, and I will no longer even recognize the legitimacy of the Chengdu court."
Guo Song's words were very serious and could be said to be a threat from Chi Guoguo. Regardless of whether Hanzhong was handed back to the court or not, if the court did not rehabilitate his reputation, he would build his own court and follow the example of Zhu Si.
The imperial court established a new imperial court and restored the Northern Tang Dynasty.
Zhang Yu's face changed drastically and he was speechless for a long time.
At this time, Wei Lun, who joined the army in the reporter's office, handed the three recorded plans and the conditions for restoring his reputation, that is, the negotiation minutes, to Guo Song. Guo Song read them over, signed his name with a pen, and stamped
own seal.
...........
Zhang Yu came in a hurry and left in a hurry. He didn't even stay for one night. He felt as if he had a lead weight in his heart and left with a heavy weight.
A few days later, at noon that day, Li Wenyu received a letter from Princess Xue Tao. She quickly sent someone to find her husband.
Zhang Lei returned home and complained: "What's the rush? I'm supervising the work. I can't leave when the main beam is being hoisted today."
Zhang Lei also left himself a large plot of land along the river on Xi'anmen Street. He also planned to build a large restaurant and leave a landmark building for his family in Chang'an, like Li An's Anyi Restaurant, Guo Ping
The Mingzhu Restaurant, Zhang Minqiu's brother and sister-in-law's Hanyang Restaurant, the Lonely Family's Tian'an Restaurant, etc. How could Zhang Lei fall behind? He also wanted to build a restaurant for his descendants.
Li Wenyu glared and cursed: "You damn fat man, won't you find a professional craftsman to help you supervise the work? What do you know about lifting beams?"
"That's right! Why didn't I think of that? I'm going to find someone!"
Zhang Lei turned around to leave, but Li Wenyu grabbed his ear with a quick hand, "I came back to see you for some business, and you want to run away again. Do you want to find your concubine again? I tell you, you dare to act like this outside."
, I will cancel your good deeds."
"I don't dare, I don't dare, please give me my instructions!"
"I'm sorry you don't dare either."
Li Wenyu glared at him and said: "I just received a letter from the princess. She asked us to help persuade His Highness Prince Jin to accept Liu Caichun. You haven't had a drink with your junior brother for a long time. Please invite him to have a drink."
Zhang Lei's eyes lit up, and he seemed to see the hope of marrying Liu Caichun again.
He scratched his head and said, "You don't know his temper. If he has a prejudice, it will be difficult to persuade him to come back."
"You fart! Let me tell you, this is something that the princess values especially. If it doesn't work out, just wait and see!"