A large-scale banquet is now being held in the Liangyi Hall of Tai Chi Palace, where the parties are General Niu who returned from victory and a group of meritorious soldiers, as well as some civil and military officials and various princes to accompany them.

General Niu brought his men to Chang'an this morning. Li Shimin personally went out of the city ten miles and held a very grand welcoming ceremony to show his condolences to the soldiers of Jiannan. After the ceremony was completed, under the leadership of Li Shimin, the soldiers of Jiannan entered Chang'an through Mingde Gate, and then passed Zhuque Street and entered the imperial city amid the cheers of countless Chang'an people. After entering the imperial city, the first thing was to offer prisoners to Taimiao. As long as the battle was won, this procedure would definitely be indispensable. Among the more than 10,000 Tubo people captured this time, many of them were Tubo nobles, and these people were the main targets of the prisoners of prisoners this time. However, Li Shimin only executed a few more important nobles, and the others were also escorted to the prisoner-of-war camp.

The protagonist of the banquet in the hall was of course General Niu Jinda. General Niu is also a veteran general. He was both in Wagang Village with Cheng Yaojin, Qin Qiong and others, and later he even surrendered to the Tang Dynasty from Wang Shichong. However, compared with Cheng Yaojin and Qin Qiong, General Niu has always been unfamous, and even his title is just a county duke. This time he finally made a big splash and defeated the 200,000 Tubo army alone. He was very hardworking and made great contributions. Li Shimin had issued an order to grant Niu Jinda the Duke of Wu, and finally got involved in the ranks of the first-rank rank of the Tang Dynasty.

As the five kings got drunk after drinking a few drinks, the atmosphere of the banquet entered the top, and it was no longer as rigid and orderly as before. As the protagonist, General Niu was pulled aside by Cheng Yaojin's old comrades-in-arms. In addition, the returned meritorious soldiers were surrounded by a group of good people, asking them about the details of the battle with Tubo.

As the prince, Li Yan also had to attend the banquet, but except for giving the glass of wine to General Niu with Li Ke just now, Li Yan never moved the place again and sat in his seat and joked with Li Ke next to him. However, his eyes were always paying attention to the soldiers returning from Jiannan. He had something to do when he came here today.

After he sent Yizi to the palace last time, he didn't expect that he was summoned into the palace by the emperor's father that night. When he rushed to Liangyi Palace, he found that Li Zhi was kneeling there and being scolded. Li Yan felt something was wrong at the time. He wanted to escape but did not dare to escape, so he could only go in with his teeth. As expected, he was also scolded.

Li Yan was a little confused when he was scolded for no reason. He couldn't figure out what he had done wrong. He only heard Li Shimin scolding them for being ignorant of the severity of what he had encountered, and he didn't know what good things he encountered to him, the father, almost causing the misfortune of the country and the people. Li Yan was confused when he heard it. However, after the scolding, Li Shimin gave Li Yan a lot of rewards, including one in another courtyard, a lot of land, a hundred taels of gold, etc. Anyway, the reward was very generous, but Li Zhi didn't even have a single hair, and then they were driven out.

Later, Li Yan finally understood what was going on. It turned out that it was the cause of making ice by saltpeter. After learning that saltpeter could make ice, Li Shimin was ecstatic. Most of the Guanzhong soldiers in Jiannan got sick because of the scorching heat. If the ice made of saltpeter cooled down, the situation would definitely improve greatly. So people immediately sent this method to Songzhou.

After completing these things, Li Shimin was a little angry again. Such an important thing was accidentally told by the young Wei Zi, but his two sons put such important information behind their minds. No one realized the importance of making ice in saltpeter. So Li Shimin called Li Yan to the palace in the middle of the night and scolded Li Zhi.

However, even though he scolded, Li Shimin still had a clear reward and punishment. After scolding, he rewarded Li Yan, who found out that the saltpeter ice made, was a big reward. As for Li Zhi, he did not make any contributions because he had no credit. However, Yizi received a lot of rewards, even richer than Li Yan. However, because Yizi was too young, he could only hand them over to the palace servants for their care.

Seeing that the banquet was almost done, the people around the soldiers slowly dispersed. Li Yan said goodbye to Li Ke and held up his cup to a meritorious soldier. This man was burly and solid, with his muscles bulging high, and even his wide clothes could not be covered. He should be a rare general on the battlefield.

"How dare you ask what this brother is called?" Li Yan stepped forward and asked.

When the fierce general saw the royal clothes on Li Yan, he was immediately startled and stood up and bowed: "I will buy Xi Jun, I dare not be such a great gift to Your Highness!"

"Haha, Brother Xi, you are polite. The soldiers fought bloody battles in Jiannan, which made me prosperous and prosperous Tang Dynasty. As a prince, I thank my brothers. Is there anything else I can't afford to be it?" Li Yan tried his best to get close to the other party, but when he heard the man's name was Xi Junmai, his heart also moved. He seemed to have heard of this name?

"Uh~" Xi Junmai is not a good person with verbalism. Of course, it is impossible for Li Yan to talk about it. Although he still felt that it was inappropriate, he still couldn't speak after opening his mouth.

"I wonder where Brother Xi is from, what position is now?" Li Yan saw that this man was honest and a friend, so he sat next to him with a smile, patted the other person on the shoulder and asked.

"Your Highness, the last general is from Liangzhou. He was previously a lieutenant under General Niu. Because of his battle with Tubo, I made some contributions, so Your Majesty transferred me to Qianniu Guard and promoted me to Yingyanglang General." Xi Junmai was an honest man and answered Li Yan's questions very respectfully.

"Oh? I can become a general of Lang from the lieutenant. It seems that Brother Xi has made a great contribution this time." Li Yan said with his eyes lit up. You should know that there is a position of a chief lieutenant between the lieutenant and Lang. If you can be promoted twice in a row, it seems that it is not easy for Xi Jun to buy it.

"Haha, I have no credit for it. I just captured a few Tubo nobles, not as good as other brothers. Some of them beheaded hundreds of them." Xi Junmai smiled honestly. Although she knew that the other party was a prince, Xi Junmai was straightforward. Seeing that Li Yan was very kind and had no prince's airs at all, she relaxed.

"Haha, Brother Xi is polite!" Li Yan smiled, but he quickly revealed his true face and asked again, "Brother Xi, I heard that you have captured more than 10,000 Tubo soldiers this time?"

"Well, yes, in addition to these people in the hall, we came back this time, there were more than a thousand soldiers, just to escort these Tubo people." Xi Junmai nodded and said.

"Hehe, I also heard that these prisoners of war are going to reward you soldiers who have made military achievements?" Li Yan smiled a little disgusted. It has been more than a day or two for his idea of ​​these Tubo prisoners of war. His coal mine has not opened yet. The only thing that is missing is these coal miners.

"That's right, General Niu has told us that in addition to His Majesty's reward, those prisoners of war must be distributed to us according to their merits." Xi Junmai replied, but he suddenly frowned and said, "But those prisoners of war are also a problem for us. Generally, they can only be sold at a low price, and they can't buy a few more money together."

"Oh? Why is this? Those prisoners of war are all strong and powerful, and they are all strong laborers everywhere they are?" Li Yan asked in surprise, which is obviously a bit different from what he imagined.

"I have heard from my brothers in the army that said this." Xi Jun bought a wine bowl and drank the Wuwang Zui, who was about two taels in the bowl, and said with a depressed look on his face. "Those prisoners of war are indeed strong laborers, but the key is that they dare not use it. These prisoners of war have been on the battlefield and have seen blood. They are fierce in nature and are afraid that there will be any danger when they buy it back, so it is generally difficult to sell it. After all, the Tang Dynasty bought and sold so many people every day, so there is no need to buy an unsafe prisoner of war back."

"So that's how it is?" Li Yan thought to himself. He didn't expect this, but this was not a problem for him. He just wanted these prisoners of war to dig coal for him, and he didn't keep it at home. Even if he rebelled, he would not hurt himself. Moreover, he was not a waste of time. He had personal troops from the Marriage Mansion and the Insider's Office. Together, there were more than 1,000 people. These people were doing nothing in the royal mansion every day and just sent them to serve as supervisors.

"Brother Xi, how many prisoners of war can you get there?" Li Yan thought in his mind. The combined coal mines that Wang Zihao and Gao Chong bought together require about two or three thousand labor. After all, in this era without machinery, all labor depends on human hands, and it is normal to need more labor.

"Your Highness, do you want to buy those prisoners of war?" Although Xi Jun bought it honestly, it did not mean that he was stupid. He quickly guessed Li Yan's intention and asked with surprise.

"Hehe, that's right, my mansion has been short of staff recently, so I plan to buy some prisoners of war and go back." Li Yan said with a smile.

"Oh...yes...but Your Highness is a body of gold. If those Tubo people with no eyes hurt Your Highness, then..." Xi Junmai was very concerned about Li Yan. After all, after this conversation, he had a good impression of the approachable Li Yan.

"Thank you, Brother Xi, for your concern, those Tubo people are not placed in the mansion, but are in a place outside the city. In addition, our mansion will also send personal troops to supervise, so there is no need to worry about safety issues." Li Yan explained with a smile.

"You will feel relieved if you buy this way." After hearing Li Yan's explanation, Xi Junmai felt relieved. After thinking about it, she said, "I can get about one or two hundred prisoners of war here. Since your highness is short of people, I'll give it all to your highness. It's not worth a lot of money anyway." Xi Junmai was not trying to please Li Yan, but he was honest and thought that Li Yan was worthy of money, so just like friends giving each other things, he planned to give the prisoners of war to Li Yan.

"Haha, I appreciate Brother Xi's kindness, but I want more people here, and I guess it will cost at least two or three thousand people, so I want to ask Brother Xi for help and contact those soldiers who want to sell prisoners of war. I can buy it at a high price." Li Yan said with a smile. He was already thinking about how much profit these free labor could bring to him.

"This is easy to deal with. Thanks to the view of His Highness, I will help you find someone." Xi Junmai is worthy of being a soldier and is very enthusiastic about doing things. When he heard Li Yan asks him to help, he immediately stood up and clasped his fists, turned around and went to find someone.

After a while, Xi Junmai came back with a dozen Jiannan soldiers. They were all worried about the prisoners of war they had obtained. When they heard that His Highness King Liang wanted to buy it, and there were quite a lot of them, they immediately came. These people were straightforward. After giving Li Yan a gift, they immediately surrounded him and began to ask about the relevant matters of the prisoners of war.

Don’t be surprised to see this. In the Tang Dynasty, slaves were not prohibited from buying and selling. Almost every larger city has a special city, which is generally adjacent to the cattle and horse market. The status of slaves is similar to that of cattle and horses. There is no personal freedom. It belongs to the owner’s private property and can be bought and sold and given away at will. The law also stipulates that slaves’ legal status is inferior to others in every way. Therefore, Li Yan said that it is a very normal thing for everyone to buy prisoners of war as slaves.

Finally, Li Yan counted the people brought by Xi Junmai, plus the prisoners of war he owned, together with the total of more than 3,000 people, which was more than what he needed. However, Li Yan is not short of this amount of money now. He bought them all very generously, and the price was 20% higher than the ones on the market, which greatly increased the favorability of these soldiers towards Li Yan, and they all came forward to toast.

Looking at the big wine bowls dedicated to the soldiers, Li Yan complained secretly. He was obviously sorry for his enthusiasm if he didn't drink them. In the end, he simply made up his mind and played with these military men. Unfortunately, the alcohol tolerance was not increased by human will. After a few bowls, Li Yan could no longer hold it. He hurriedly pulled his third brother Li Ke over and took him to find a place where no one was going to vomit.

PS: Today is still two chapters, the rules and yesterday. In addition, I recommend a book "The World of Martial Arts" written by my friend "Gentleman Loves Money 02": an outcast child's erotic, sad and perverted growth history. It is not easy for newcomers, and those who are interested can go and take a look.
Chapter completed!