Wars are fought for money. Looking at the entire Tubo, although the Maiqi chieftain has been passed down for many years, what he has the most is not money but food.
Although food can be exchanged for money in many cases, the exchange process takes time. Now that they have raised the banner of rebellion, it will not be so easy to exchange food for money. Although Li Xiang's box of gold is not much, it is enough for Chief Maiqi to use for a while.
"Just this box of gold?"
Although the money on the plateau is different from that in the Tang Dynasty, one tael of gold is exchanged for sixteen taels of silver, which is equivalent to sixteen strings of money. These two thousand taels of gold are equivalent to thirty-two thousand strings of money. It sounds like a lot, but if it is used in a war, it will not last long.
“One box per month.”
When Li Xiang said this, Chief Maiqi couldn't believe his ears. This was 30,000 strings of cash. In the past, his income in his old age was just these two boxes of gold. They had been able to gain the upper hand recently, but after Lu Dongzan returned, the war might take a sharp turn for the worse. Once that stage came, they would need money to recruit soldiers, but their own reserves...
Maiqi Tusi felt that his breathing was a little rapid. He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and had seen money, but he had never seen such a generous person.
"Don't you want something in return?"
Chief Maiqi said with some doubt that there is no one who does not want something in return these days, let alone a box of gold every month.
"Of course I want something in return. I know you have a rule that if you win a battle, all the people in the other village will be enslaved. I need slaves, lots of them. This money is my advance payment to you. Think of it as my down payment."
Li Xiang explained the three words "advance payment" again. If it were in Chang'an City, perhaps the merchants there would understand what an advance payment meant. Now in Tubo, Chief Maiqi should be the first person to understand.
Li Xiang did not take advantage of Chief Maiqi. He would pay one point one times the actual price for each slave, which means that Li Xiang had to pay 10% more. This made Chief Maiqi very satisfied. Even if it was just a business deal, he would earn 10% more.
"It's a good idea and can ease my military spending problem, but it's not enough."
Chief Maiqi shook his head. Although they had rebelled, they did not have much determination. Many people still wanted to negotiate peace with the central government. As long as the other party did not need their rights, they were willing to maintain their previous life.
But then again, that was when they had no chance of winning. If Li Xiang had continued to support them, more chieftains would have joined in. At that time, the balance of power would have been fundamentally reversed. They would be opposed to the centralized power of Tubo, and at that time they might have to fight to the end.
"Salt and iron."
When Li Xiang said this, a smile appeared on the face of Chief Maiqi. All the salt and iron were transported from the Han people. Li Xiang knew that there were even salt lakes on the plateau, but the salt there was not edible. If it was not purified, people would even get sick after eating the salt there. So even if they were guarding a large treasure, they still needed to buy salt from the Han people.
"You can exchange slaves and land for salt and iron. Of course, I can't give you too much. You know the prohibitions between the two countries. As for weapons, you can draw a design for me, and I can find someone to forge them in Chang'an."
The weapons of the Han people were very sharp, which was what they had always wanted to pursue. Take the chieftain Maiqi for example, Tibetan craftsmen also made weapons for him, but unfortunately the technology was too backward, and the sharpness was far less than that of the Han people's swords.
"I need two thousand sets of armor."
Chief Maiqi knew the importance of armor. If you wore armor, it would mean you had an extra life on the battlefield.
"If we were to trade normally, I estimate that two thousand sets of armor could be exchanged for at least eight thousand slaves. We also need to trade with each other. Of course, as a partner, if you can bring in a chieftain, I can give you three hundred sets for free."
Although Li Xiang wanted to support these people to continue their rebellion, it did not mean that he would support them unconditionally. If he did, the cost would be too high. Take the current standard armor of the Tang army as an example. Each cavalryman would cost nearly two hundred strings of cash. If this guy asked for two thousand sets, that would be four hundred thousand strings of cash. Li Xiang would definitely not be a sucker.
In fact, Chief Maiqi was just speaking tentatively. He also knew that the Han people were very smart, but now the situation is much better than before. You know, there was no purchasing channel before, and the borders were already blocked. It is quite difficult to have such a purchasing channel now, not to mention that Lu Dongzan's army did not have armor.
Chief Maiqi looked at the box of gold with some reluctance. It seemed that it would belong to someone else sooner or later, and we would have to take the money out of the treasury.
However, Chief Maiqi also knew that as long as he could obtain weapons from the Tang Dynasty, the combat effectiveness of his subordinates would be doubled. After occupying more territories and capturing more slaves, the money would be returned.
"Then it's settled. You may need to prepare 600 sets of armor for me."
Chief Maiqi smiled and said that they had not been idle in recent times. The four rebellious chieftains divided their troops into several groups and almost dragged the surrounding chieftains into the water.
This is also a very normal thing. After all, Songtsen Gampo and Lu Dongzan wanted to take away the power of the chieftains, which was tantamount to taking their lives. As long as these four chieftains appealed to their emotions and reason, theoretically, they could bring all thirty chieftains into the water.
Of course, the Tubo central government would not allow them to do these things. After Lu Dongzan returned, he would definitely try to win over the remaining chieftains and ask them to try not to rebel, so that he could free up his hands to get rid of these four chieftains, and then slowly boil the frog in warm water.
It is too late today, and Li Xiang does not have the time to analyze it for him. He has to analyze everything tomorrow. In addition to material resources, Li Xiang also has to give them some bad ideas to let them follow their own path and oppose Lu Dongzan.
Half an hour later, Long Er sent a signal outside, and dozens of people filed into the Maiqi Tusi's official residence. The cooperation was reached...