Tibet.

Chapter 1413 Recovering the Aral Sea
Li Chenghua brought three thousand camels, all loaded with dry food, drinking water and bags.

A thousand soldiers were all on horseback, and Li Chenghua transferred all the dry food and drinking water to the horses.

Three thousand camels were used to transport the gold coins, and one camel could carry just five bags of gold coins.

After two days of busy work, this huge gold prospecting team finally set off and headed directly for Suiye City.

The gold coins in the mine disappeared completely. Several hundred years later, a strong earthquake occurred, causing the mine to collapse, and this gold cave completely disappeared in the long river of history.

At the same time when Li Chenghua found the gold cave where the Holy Maiden Society hid its gold, a cavalry team of 3,000 people arrived at Xianhai County in the Yaosha River Delta.

The total population of Aral Sea County is 48,000, with a relatively complex ethnic composition. Half of the population are Sogdians, and the other half come from various Western countries, including Arabs, Persians, Khazars, Qin people, Jews, and even merchants from the Mediterranean. There are also some ethnic groups from the Caucasus Mountains. In terms of race, they are basically all white people.

But no matter where the county residents came from, they all became citizens of the Tang Dynasty more than ten years ago.

This county, which was once the westernmost county in the Tang Dynasty, was now controlled by the Ambor family.

Amber had been the prime minister of Kang for twenty years and had always controlled the economic and financial power of Kang. King Constantine of Kang had long wanted to deal with him, but Amber had deep connections in the military, which made Constantine hesitant.

When the Tang army arrived this time, Constantine used the power of the Tang army to control Samarkand and decisively purged the thirteen trusted generals that Ambrose had placed in the army.

As thirteen generals were dismissed, Ambor realized that something was wrong and left Samarkand overnight and fled to his fiefdom, Aral City, also known as the Aral Sea County.

His family is all in Aral City, including his many sons, nephews, several brothers, and his dozen wives.

The Ambor family maintained an army of a thousand soldiers, tightly controlled the tens of thousands of people in the city of Aral, and also exploited them cruelly.

The 3,000-strong Tang army consisted of 1,000 Hexi troops and 2,000 Anxi troops. The main general was Liu Taihe, a native of Zhangye. He was a captain in Xianhai County and had participated in the battle to capture Xianhai County. Now he had been promoted to General of the Huben Army.

He once again led his army to retake Xianhai County.

Looking at this familiar triangular county town, Liu Taihe was filled with mixed feelings. More than ten years had passed, and he once again came to this most distant county town in the Tang Dynasty.

He will serve as the first governor of Aral Sea and lead 3,000 troops to be stationed in Aral Sea County for five years.

Three thousand cavalrymen arrived at the city. The defenders on the city walls were in chaos and tried desperately to ring the alarm bells.

"Dang! Dang! Dang!"

Liu Taihe's heart was filled with contempt. This big bell was left behind by them, and the city gate had not been replaced for more than ten years.

Liu Taihe looked at the dilapidated city gate. It was very old back then. Now it was not only old but also dilapidated, with cracks all over the gate.

"Pass on my order, two hundred cavalrymen, move forward and blow open the city gate with explosive arrows!"

Two hundred cavalrymen immediately rushed forward, drawing their bows and arrows. A captain shouted, "Shoot!"

Two hundred explosive arrows were fired at the same time, densely hitting the city gate. "Bang! Bang! Bang!" Explosions were heard, and the air was filled with smoke.

The soldiers on the city wall were so scared that they squatted down, holding their heads. The dense explosions made them extremely terrified.

When the smoke cleared, the dilapidated gate that had appeared when they ran in was almost gone, with broken wood all over the ground and only a small remnant of the two gates left on the side.

Liu Taihe swung his sword and said, "Charge into the city!"

Three thousand cavalrymen shouted in unison and charged into the city, waving their spears and swords.

Just as it was easy to capture a city, it was also easy for the Tang army to occupy the Aral Sea City. A thousand soldiers knelt down and surrendered. This time the Tang army did not massacre them but accepted the soldiers' surrender.

Then a thousand soldiers surrounded the An Mansion, and soon, Amber led the entire family out to surrender.

The Tang army showed no mercy and killed all the men in their family, leaving no one alive, and confiscated all the family's wealth.

At first, the people in the city were terrified and hid in their homes. As the red dragon flag of the Tang Dynasty rose above the city walls, the people in the city finally recognized this army. The Tang Dynasty army, which had ruled the city for two years, was the only army that exempted them from taxes, and left a deep impression on all the people. Now, this army has returned, and the whole city is jubilant. People are so excited that they come out of their homes, singing and dancing, beating gongs and drums to welcome the return of the Tang Dynasty army.

A governor's office and a county government were immediately established in the city. The governor's office was responsible for defense and not government affairs, while the county government was responsible for government affairs. Zheng Wenqing, a military officer of the Trade Bureau of the Anxi governor's office, was appointed as the county magistrate.

Zheng Wenqing was from Xianyang, Jingzhao. He studied Sogdian for four years at the Imperial Academy. After graduating from the Imperial Academy, he was assigned by the court to serve as a military officer in the Trade Bureau of the Anxi Military Governor's Office, responsible for trade between the Anxi Military Governor's Office and Western countries.

Zheng Wenqing was promoted to the next level and became the magistrate of the westernmost county in the Tang Dynasty.

On the first day of Zheng Wenqing's appointment as county magistrate, he ordered a dozen Sogdian runners to post "A letter from the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty to the people of the city" all over the county.

The letter was written in Chinese and Sogdian, and did not contain much content. The people of the county only remembered the last sentence.

"All citizens and merchants in the city will be exempt from taxes for five years!"

The people of the city rejoiced again.

This is a unique trick. From ancient times to the present, from home to abroad, whenever this trick is used, people's hearts will be won over, without exception.

Ordinary people are simple and realistic. It is useless to talk about big principles. The truth is to provide real benefits.

Changan.

The entire court has been very lively these days. When the news of the Tang army's great victory in the Western Expedition reached Chang'an, the people in the city rejoiced, beating gongs and drums to celebrate the Tang army's regaining control of Hezhong. After all, this is a symbol of the Tang Dynasty's prosperity. Which Tang citizen does not want their dynasty to become strong again?

As the saying goes, the layman sees the excitement, while the expert sees the details. The court officials were excited because the Tang Dynasty annexed Bukhara and controlled the Shi Kingdom.

One of these two countries produces gold and the other produces silver. Controlling these two countries means that the gold and silver production of the Tang Dynasty will greatly increase.

In the Pinxue Courtyard of Danfeng Restaurant, Right Prime Minister Wei Jiansu, Left Prime Minister Zhang Li, and Minister of Revenue Xiao Hua were having lunch together. They discussed finance and currency this morning and continued until noon, then came together to eat.

Of course, they go on a AA basis, everyone eats their own food, and keeps their own bill at the end. However, they are the prime minister, and they have a lunch allowance of 30 guan per day. The amount is 30 guan, and as long as it does not exceed 30 guan, they can record the official expenses.

They usually have a set meal of more than ten strings of coins, and then drink tea of ​​ten strings of coins. The tea they drink is not expensive, but the water, which is mountain spring water fetched from Mount Zhongnan every morning.

It sounds luxurious, but for an empire, this little luxury is really nothing, right?
"Prime Minister Wei, what is the emperor's attitude?" Xiao Hua asked tentatively.

"Of course the emperor supports it. As long as there are enough stocks and mineral resources, I think it can be implemented. It's better than using paper money!"

Speaking of paper money, all three of them showed a bitter smile on their faces. Last winter, the emperor wanted to issue paper money. He used one million taels of gold as collateral and issued four types of paper money: 100 wen, 500 wen, one string of coins, and ten strings of coins.

As a result, all the civil and military officials in the city strongly opposed it, and they all thought that this was even worse than the big coins back then. The big coins were worth ten coins, so at least they were made of copper. It was ridiculous that paper was used this time.

Of course, what finally made the emperor give up the idea was not the opposition of his ministers, but the fact that paper money was not anti-counterfeit enough. Paper money was very easy to counterfeit. This was not a case of one or two counterfeit bills that could be investigated. Fake paper money would appear everywhere in the world and flood the market, making it impossible to investigate. In the end, it caused chaos and no one would accept paper money.

Zhang Li thought for a moment and said, "Let's talk to the emperor again this afternoon! I suggest that we put up the big framework first, and then fill in the details within the framework. After half a year of preparation, it can basically be implemented."

Wei Jiansu nodded, "Zhang Xiangguo is right, let's put the big frame up first!"

At this time, Xiao Hua whispered: "I just heard a piece of news, I don't know whether it is true or not, Shangshu Dugu is going to resign."

Wei Jiansu raised his eyebrows, "Really?"

Xiao Hua smiled bitterly, "I just can't be sure!"

Recently it has been reported that Pei Zunqing is going to resign, and now Dugu Lie is also going to resign. Is the emperor going to make some big move?

Zhang Li was silent for a moment and said, "I guess the emperor will talk to us about this this afternoon!"

(End of this chapter)