"General Guo, you know us Xixia well. We have always aspired to be on good terms with the Great Qi, hoping to become a model neighbor to the Great Qi."
"This is the cultural exchange plan we have formulated this year. Please review it and submit it to His Majesty of Da Qi. I hope he can understand the sincere wishes of our Xixia people."
That night, Li Yingxiao dressed in his best clothes and hosted a grand banquet in the Xixia Palace to entertain Guo Bei and a group of Da Qi envoys stationed in Xixia.
At the banquet, Li Yingxiao fully affirmed the achievements made by the two countries since the establishment of good-neighborly friendship, and expressed his outlook and expectations for the future.
Li Yingxiao pointed out that Western Xia and Da Qi were neighboring countries separated by a narrow strip of water, neighbors that could not be moved away, and partners that could last for thousands of years.
There was industrial complementarity in many aspects between Western Xia and Da Qi, and their cultures also had many similarities.
Since the establishment of the economic and trade zone between the two sides, the trade volume has steadily increased, people-to-people exchanges have become increasingly in-depth, high-level visits have become frequent, and mutual trust has gradually increased.
Li Yingxiao expressed his hope that Xixia and Da Qi could become all-weather partners, mutually beneficial friends, and neighbors who trusted each other in the future.
Guo Bei also said that he would convey Li Yingxiao's ideas to the emperor of Da Qi, hoping that the cooperative relationship between the two sides would become more solid.
The banquet ended successfully and the guests enjoyed themselves very much.
On the way back, Li Yingxiao's great-uncle Li Hengchong quietly followed them and took Guo Bei aside, saying, "General Guo, I heard that the Great Qi is planning to invade Japan? And they're planning to hire soldiers from Liao and Jin?"
"My Great Qi does want to conquer the Japanese. They have always harbored rebellious intentions, and they have been harassing the southeastern coast for years."
"But it's not accurate to say that we want to hire soldiers from Liao and Jin. We not only want to hire soldiers from Liao and Jin, but if your country is willing, we also want to hire soldiers from Western Xia!" Guo Bei explained patiently.
Upon hearing this, Li Hengchong beamed and said, "I'm interested. Of course I'm interested. I'm extremely interested."
"Our king actually wanted to ask about this matter at the banquet, but after considering various factors, he decided not to bring it up."
"Since you have this intention, then there is nothing to say. I have two thousand people in my family who are willing to be hired."
"I believe other nobles are also very interested. I will calculate a number and send it to you. You can accept them at your discretion."
Li Hengchong then added cautiously, "I heard that once someone accepts employment, they have to report to Da Qi. How is the salary calculated?"
Guo Bei looked at Li Hengchong with some disdain. This old guy's family has gained vested interests from the trade between the two sides, but he is still so calculating in these matters. He is really petty.
Although he was thinking this in his heart, Guo Bei said with a smile: "Don't worry about this. We have already made clear regulations here."
"As soon as we decide to hire soldiers, they will be dispatched immediately to receive our training. Their salaries will begin to be calculated from the moment they arrive at their designated location. At the same time, we will also be responsible for their food, clothing, housing, and transportation."
After hearing this, Li Hengchong was so happy!
With the popularity of luxury goods such as perfume and the maturity of wool products, the industrial structure of Western Xia has changed.
In the past, animal husbandry was the pillar industry of Western Xia. Although Li Yingxiao had always wanted to switch to agriculture and animal husbandry, the effect was minimal.
But now it is different. Now in the whole Western Xia, many places where grain was grown have been changed to growing flowers.
A series of processes including planting, picking, and processing require a large number of workers and can produce extremely high economic value.
Wool is also a major part of Xixia's foreign trade. It is said that as long as a family raises sheep, the money earned from plucking the wool is enough to buy food for the whole family.
Such an industrial structure directly leads to women in the family earning more and more money and their status gradually improving.
If this continues, the social structure of Western Xia will also change.
Let’s not talk about this for now. Let’s just say that the proportion of animal husbandry has been greatly reduced nowadays, so what should be done with the extra labor force?
Once there are too many idle people, social stability will be in jeopardy.
Besides, it’s a waste of food if so many people are idle.
Now, Da Qi actually plans to attack Japan, and is even thinking of hiring soldiers from neighboring countries. Li Yingxiao and others think that this is simply a fantastic idea.
In the past thousands of years in this land, the only one who could have this idea was the Da Qi family. Could it be that the people of Da Qi are a group of geniuses?
In fact, there must be a reason why Da Qi was the first to try something new.
First of all, Da Qi did establish good foreign trade relations with Western Xia and other countries, and the neighboring countries did gain tangible benefits from this foreign trade.
Secondly, Da Qi itself can now be regarded as full of martial virtues. It must be said that Lu Chen’s previous decision to defend the capital was very correct, and it can be regarded as the founding battle of the new Da Qi.
This battle not only allowed the surrounding countries to witness the strength of Da Qi, but also made everyone afraid to start a war lightly.
More importantly, this war crippled Liao and Jin, making it impossible for them to recover in a short period of time. They faced numerous domestic problems and had to accept the conditions of Da Qi's hiring soldiers.
Yelu Song should be very clear that accepting the mercenary and sending out some soldiers from the nobles at this time will not only alleviate the pressure of food shortage in the country, but also weaken the strength of the surrounding nobles.
More importantly, this would show their attitude to Da Qi and let Da Qi know that Liao and Jin were now willing to live in peace.
Once Liao and Jin expressed their stance in this way, Xixia would naturally follow suit.
Since you Liao and Jin are willing to live in peace, I, Xixia, will certainly be even happier.
Otherwise, when the Liao and Jin soldiers returned with money and provided a large wave of reinforcements to Liao and Jin, and their relationship with the Great Qi was restored, then the advantage of the Western Xia would no longer be obvious.
In this way, the soldiers of Western Xia, Liao and Jin began to gather and marched towards the border of Da Qi in a mighty manner.
However, this time they did not carry any weapons, only rations for the journey.
According to the agreement between the two parties, these soldiers will now set up camp outside the border city of Da Qi and receive unified training.
Only after the training is almost complete will we continue south to Quanzhou.
Both sides will send 5,000 people in the first batch. After these 10,000 people go to Quanzhou and begin to adapt to the ships, the next batch of 10,000 people will be added to the training camp outside the border, and the cycle will repeat.
As for the soldiers who went to Quanzhou, they would undergo two months of training and then start their journey to Japan.
At this moment, the ruler of Japan has not yet realized that the three most powerful countries on the western continent have begun to plot against him!
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