After Wokuotai was defeated in Hebei, he felt depressed. Although the Mongolian Western Expeditionary Army arrived in the Central Plains, Mongolia was unable to reorganize and launched a full-scale attack on Qi.

At present, the Qi and Mongolian armies are facing each other across the river. The Qi army relies on the Yellow River to temporarily stabilize its defense line, while the Mongolian army is waiting for the arrival of winter before looking for an opportunity to cross the river on the ice and attack Qi.

This is where the camps of the Mongolian and Qi armies stretch along the north and south banks of the Yellow River.

On the south bank, Batu and Meng Ge rode horses on the plains of eastern Henan.

The land in eastern Henan, with thousands of miles of fertile fields, was originally an important grain-producing area in the Central Plains, but now it has become a pasture for the Mongols.

After the Western Expeditionary Army arrived, hundreds of thousands of troops and horses, as well as countless cattle and sheep, were spread across the plains of eastern Henan.

At this time, Batu and Meng Ge were stationed on the river embankment on horseback. Looking across the river, they found that the Qi army was building a city along the river.

Batu said in a deep voice: "It seems that the Qi army is preparing for winter."

Brother Meng snorted coldly, "A stretch of river spanning hundreds of miles, does Zhao Tai think this can prevent us?"

Batu nodded: "Brother Meng, do you know about the confrontation between Liang, Jin and Jiahe?"

Meng Ge pondered for a while, "You are talking about the war between Li Cunxu and Hou Liang to compete for key points along the Yellow River."

Batu nodded, "I also heard it from the Han people recently. It is said that this war lasted for six years, and finally ended in a disastrous defeat for Later Liang. Now that the climate in Zhaotai has become good, it seems that we have to do a good job and have a long-term confrontation with the Qi army across the river.

It’s ready.”

Brother Meng narrowed his eyes, raised his whip and pointed at the north bank, and sneered: "On the north bank of the Yellow River, behind the Qi army, there are cities and villages of the Qi people. When the Yellow River freezes in winter, our Mongolian cavalry will cross the river and rush into Hebei.

, in Shandong,

But the Qi army broke through the Yellow River, and there was a vast grassland. Fighting like this is profitable for Mongolia, but for Qi, it will continue to be consumed by the war. If things go on like this, this confrontation will definitely be our Mongolia

A great victory.”

Batu heard the words and laughed and said: "Haha... I think so too! When Li Cunxu defeated Liang in a hundred battles, we, Mongolia, will definitely be able to destroy Qi!"

Since the rise of Mongolia, the once powerful Jin Kingdom has been destroyed by them.

Nowadays, Mongolia still surpasses Qi in terms of strength, and there is no reason why it cannot be destroyed.

Although Mongolia suffered successive defeats, it was obvious that Batu and others still had high fighting spirit.

…

There was a confrontation between Meng and Qi in Jiahe, and there was no fighting for a short time, so Zhao Tai returned to Yecheng to rest.

At this time, in King Qi's palace in Yecheng, Zhao Tai got up from the princess's bed, tidied up, and then came to the political meeting hall.

This year, Qi State has maintained its autumn harvest, and Qi State has temporarily solved the problem of food shortage. However, for the country to operate, it is not enough to have food alone, but also to have money.

If Qi State wants to increase its strength, economy is an important part of it. Without money, nothing can be accomplished.

In the political hall, Wang Wentong, Wang Bin, Yuan Haowen, Zhang Tiangang and others arrived early and sat together talking quietly.

At this time, the guards outside the hall shouted and Zhao Tai walked in. Several people quickly stood up to greet him.

Zhao Tai walked straight to the middle hall and sat down, then waved his hand and said, "No courtesy!"

After everyone sat down, Zhao Tai asked: "What are you discussing today?"

Wang Wentong spoke: "Your Majesty, today we are mainly discussing the issue of open source."

Zhao Tai nodded slightly and said in a deep voice: "In the battle of Langshan, the lonely king lost more than 30,000 soldiers. It is really difficult for the national treasury to provide compensation."

Zhang Tiangang said: "Your Majesty, not only the fallen soldiers need pensions, but also the treatment of the injured soldiers, the placement of the disabled soldiers, and the cost of recruiting new soldiers. The national treasury will spend all the money for next year."

Zhao Tai asked in a deep voice: "What the cabinet means is, how to open source?"

Zhao Tai did not mention reducing expenditures because there was no way to reduce expenditures. Every war required money. The army was still confronting the Mongolian army, so no money could be spent on the front line.

Wang Wentong said: "Your Majesty, our great Qi has newly acquired the land of Huainan and Hebei. In these two places, most of the land in Huainan is in the hands of the gentry in Jiangbei, while the land in Hebei is in the hands of the princes who have taken refuge. The treasury cannot collect much land tax."

.At present, the two places have just surrendered, and there are threats from Mongolia and the Southern Song Dynasty. I think that their interests cannot be affected for the time being."

The current situation is indeed not suitable for land reform.

Those princes surrendered just to protect their own interests.

If Qi State attacks them at this time, it will destabilize Hebei and at the same time make the princes of Hedong, Henan and Guanzhong determined to fight against itself.

The same goes for the gentry in Huainan. If their interests are harmed, they will definitely collude with Lin'an.

Zhao Tai frowned, "Tian Fu is the bulk of the national treasury's revenue. If we can't make a fuss about it, where will the cabinet start from?"

Wang Wentong said: "Your Majesty, Shandong is rich in fishing and salt, and Huainan is a very prosperous business. We want to get more revenue from these two places."

Zhao Tai asked: "Sir, please tell me in detail."

Wang Wentong said: "Since Guan Zhong came to power and salt and iron were officially established, the benefits of salt and iron have been an important source of tax revenue for all dynasties."

Zhao Taidao: "Sir, you want to crack down on illegal salt sales in China and increase salt tax revenue."

Wang Wentong nodded, "Your Majesty is wise, we really want to crack down on illegal salt, but in addition, we also have to sell Qi salt and Huai salt to the Southern Song Dynasty. If everything goes well, the treasury can get a lot of money every year."

Zhao Taidao: "The salt industry is a hugely profitable industry, and this method can indeed open up the industry."

The salt eaten in the Southern Song Dynasty was mainly Huai salt. Now that the Qi State controls the two Huai rivers, it can expand the scale of the salt field, and then use the advantages of water transportation and treaties to occupy the Southern Song market and force the Southern Song's own well salt back to Sichuan.

Wang Wentong continued, "Nowadays, wars are frequent and money has to be spent everywhere. It is difficult for the national treasury to reduce expenditures, so it can only make a fuss about increasing revenue. In the land of Huaihe and Huaihe, commerce is developed. There are many workshops in Huaibei, centered on Haizhou, and in Huainan.

With Chuzhou and Yangzhou as the center

Many industries in the heart of the Southern Song Dynasty. A large part of the income of the Southern Song Dynasty came from overseas trade, and as far as I know, overseas trade is indeed a huge profit business. Therefore, I hope that the king can set up a shipping department like the Southern Song Dynasty to expand overseas.

trading."

Zhao Tai immediately said: "There is no problem in establishing a municipal shipping department. The key is how much goods we have that can be used for maritime trade, and how much materials can we exchange from overseas?"

Wang Wentong said quite proudly: "Your Majesty, after signing the peace treaty with the Southern Song Dynasty, I encouraged Huainan merchants to expand production and increased the tariffs on goods from the Southern Song Dynasty entering our country. Now, taking cloth as an example, cloth merchants in the Southern Song Dynasty did not set up shop in Huainan

Workshops simply cannot compete with our merchants in Qi. Now, in the past few months, more than 30 Southern Song Dynasty companies have set up workshops in Yangzhou, Chuzhou and other places. These workshops sell overseas products.

There must be no problem with the goods!”
Chapter completed!