No shortage of walls

The border guard has already received the emperor's secret order. It is certainly true that the soldiers were allowed to eat sheep and pigs when doing business with a foreign country for the first time. But the army of the Song Dynasty owed horses, and the people owed cattle; but people would never sell more cattle and horses, especially war horses. Both the Hu people and the Xixia people had plenty of cattle and horses for food. You could ask the soldiers to quietly tell the people who came to sell sheep that if they were willing to put cattle and horses among the sheep, the thinner and smaller sheep would have one eye open. Just close your eyes. If you don't want to, just accept it according to the signed credentials. If there are more horses and cows, it doesn't matter if the number of sheep is doubled or twice, but you must exchange the cows and horses for sheep. How much is each cow and horse worth? Sheep, just settle the sheep account when the time comes. People's taxes must be given to others, don't deceive them.

Pingzhou border guard general Lu Li was overjoyed and admired him very much. The emperor was only thirteen years old, but he had such a clever plan. He used the sheep purchase to buy cattle and horses. Why didn't he think of advancing the cattle and horses first? Previously, we only bought cattle and horses, which were expensive and people were unwilling to sell them. It was very troublesome and took several years to negotiate.

After Lu Li received this imperial edict, he had several copies of the credentials signed by the Ministry of Rites and the Hu people copied and posted on the other side's wall. Moreover, in order to see whether the sheep were fat, they also sent an older soldier into the Hu territory to look at the sheep and talk to the herdsmen. The implication was that if everyone was willing to put cattle and horses among the sheep, , even if the sheep is not as fat as the certificate of credence, we, the Song Dynasty, don't care. Everyone is doing business, so naturally we can send someone there. It was also because the Ministry of Rites signed the certificate of credence that Donghu stopped the offensive. According to the letter of credence, the troops of the Hu people were not allowed to reach the border. It turned out that the number was the limit.

Lu Li felt that this single move would drive back the Hu people's army. If he wanted to attack the Hu people in the future, if it was urgent, he would seize the enemy's inner pass before their reinforcements arrived.

Of course, the first snow to come was Lu Li's Pingzhou Pass. The snow came on the first day of October this year, so they handed over the official customs document to the enemy's Neiguan soldiers, so that on the second day of the lunar month, the people selling sheep could be allowed in.

This place in Song Dynasty has long been crowded with soldiers, and everyone craned their necks to wait for the mutton; those who had traveled far away sat on their carriages and shouted:"We have a long way to go! We want it first!"

The soldiers who were building the road shouted:"We have worked hard to build the road. , you have to eat the mutton first!"

Lu Li knew that it was true that they were waiting for the mutton, but it was also true to prevent the barbarians from rushing in. It would not take long after the barbarians' strong attack retreated, and if they came in while they were buying and selling sheep. You're welcome to say that he is a road construction soldier, but his weapons never leave his body.

Although the Donghu people in the north had herded cattle for hundreds of thousands of years, they only sold animal skins with the Song Dynasty. They sold sheep skins to keep out the cold, but this was the first time they bought live sheep. Moreover, the Hu people themselves knew that sheep were not the fattest and most delicious, but the Song Dynasty actually Although I felt strange about buying fat sheep, I didn't say anything. Anyway, the royal court's credentials had been signed. People in the Song Dynasty liked fat sheep, so they sold the fattest ones.

Doing business is good only in the long run. Selling sheep for the first time, the barbarians don't want to disgrace themselves.

After all, this was the first time that Song Hu used the name of the imperial court to negotiate a business, and it was under such strange conditions. Everyone was surprised, but when they started to buy cattle and horses, the Song people never cheated on taxes, and the Hu people were relieved and only sent one person over to watch as a token.

Lu Li invited him to the Guan Tower, where he was served with good wine and food, and asked his men to count the sheep. At that time, there were five sheep lanes for counting sheep. The Hu people were nomadic and had many cattle and horses. He heard from the Song Army that it was okay to tie horses and cattle, so there were people there from the beginning. The horses and sheep were trapped; Song Jun decisively turned a blind eye and ignored the thinner sheep. On the same day, he brought in 97 horses and 63 cattle; the number of sheep used as sheep was 7,300.. Because the sheep will be killed on the third day of the lunar month, and the next sheep collection will be on the fourth day of the lunar month, I will show the sheep collection account to the Hu envoy that night to calculate the national tax and customs duties for the amount given by the Hu people's royal court. Together with the tax for selling the fine salt, toothpaste and toothbrushes of the Song Dynasty, he handed over the silver and copies to the Hu officials, promising that if the Song Dynasty defrauded the Hu people of taxes, he would be compensated a hundred times the silver if one tael was found out.

As for pencils and paper, the Hu people bought very little.

Early in the morning on the third day of the Lunar New Year, Lu Li ordered people to shave wool and put it in sacks. They killed sheep and peeled off the oil. He saw Hu people and herdsmen piling up horses and cattle. In my heart, I agreed with the emperor's good plan. The soldiers who traveled far away were given to them first, and they were distributed according to the amount of fifteen kilograms per person. Regarding this, the people who came to transport the mutton also received the imperial edict. There were enough carriages, and then It doesn’t matter if you give twice as much.

Lu Li already knew that the emperor wanted to peel out the suet and what to do with the wool, but he knew that after the incident, it would be transported to the workshop. While he was filled with anger towards the barbarians, he also knew in his heart that destroying people's wealth was like killing parents' hatred..

His own Song Dynasty was still weak and could not launch a full-scale war. Otherwise, let's make money with sweaters; if the barbarians dare to come, just kill them.

At this moment, he only hopes that when the Song Dynasty becomes strong in the future, he will sell it at a high price. dissatisfied? If you are not satisfied, do it! I'm not afraid of you!

Lu Li collected sheep for eight days in a row, collected 2,031 horses, and 1,803 cattle. The number of sheep had reached more than 67,000. We couldn't take any more. The certificate of credence only said 30,000. We only took that much because the barbarians had many cattle and horses.

Credentials are posted outside the customs. The Hu people had known about it for a long time, and the Song people had harvested too much. Since they stopped harvesting, it was hard to say anything; it was just that the Hu people had been herding for generations, and although they had raised them for a living, they did not intend to sell them, but if they really sold the sheep, they still There are a lot of them, those who came late, or those who didn’t believe it at first; instead of selling a sheep, I saw others buying fine salt and going back. Everyone came to ask Lu Li if he would accept it next year? Come early next year if you want to collect.

Lu Li could only tell them that they did not dare to speak nonsense without receiving the imperial decree, and just pay attention to the news from your royal court. Officials from the Ministry of Rites of the Song Dynasty will come to your royal court next year to discuss it. In order not to say it hundreds of times a day, I had to write a notice and post it on the wall of Hu Renguan.

It was said to be five kilograms per person, but Lu Li gave away fifteen kilograms. The soldiers were so happy that everyone who took it ran away. It's just that the post station the emperor mentioned has not been built yet, so the soldiers transporting the mutton have to work harder.

This winter, the public officials of the Song Dynasty were full of joy.

When the orthodox emperor comes to the throne, he first benefits the people with tax exemptions. The salaries of Zaiyi military and political personnel increased by 50%, and now they eat mutton.

Lu Li sent the cattle back to the city to be sold by political officials, and the horses were returned to the Ministry of War for arrangement.

The second snowiest place is Long Quan's Yuzhou Pass. He signed a contract with Qi State for a thousand big fat pigs. When the snow came, I rushed over and shaved my hair, washed it with boiling water and sent it to the workshop to make toothbrushes; and the oil-stripping hair workshop. Lean meat and bones belong to public officials. But there were fifteen thousand people there, and Lu Li's messenger had arrived a long time ago; he said it weighed fifteen kilograms per person. If he didn't have enough to eat, he wouldn't give it away. He would only send people to send pig hair and lard to Cui Zheng. The imperial edict had already said that when the walls of the workshop were built or Cui Zheng's people were full, Cui Zheng would give it to Cui Zheng himself. Someone comes and takes it away.