Different from the previous conversation, this time Pei Xuanji came alone and did not bring any money.
Li Tai was sitting at the edge of the village, with a stove beside him. The pot on the stove was boiling tea eggs, and he was peeling one in his hand.
Pei Xuanji looked at Li Tai's expression and nodded: "Your Highness, King Wei, I have been standing in front of you for a long time."
Li Tai took a bite of tea eggs and nodded, "I saw it."
The two looked at each other in silence for a moment, and then Pei Xuanji said again: "His Royal Highness the King of Wei seems not to welcome me."
"You didn't bring any money with you today."
Hearing this, Pei Xuanji hesitated to speak, as if something was stuck in his throat, thinking that when he brought money the first two times, His Highness the King of Wei was still polite.
This attitude has become serious so quickly that it is astonishing.
Simply, Pei Xuanji sat aside and said nothing. As long as His Highness the King of Wei ignored him, he would stop talking.
The King of Wei had just grown up, but he was already middle-aged, so there was no need to worry about a child.
Thinking about this, he became more and more determined in his thoughts. Since His Highness the King of Wei is like this, I don't need to cater to him like this.
The world is declining, and people's hearts are not as old as they used to be.
Not long after, the guard brought a pickled duck. Li Tai ate the tea egg in his hand and began to roast the duck.
After the duck was killed, it was marinated for half a day.
After roasting, the oil and water will flow out, and when the oil and water drip on the burning wood, you can hear a sizzling sound.
The aroma came, making Pei Xuanji swallow his saliva, and then he remembered that it was already noon.
Looking sideways, he saw King Wei crush the pepper, mix it with salt and sprinkle it on the surface of the roast duck.
It is a wonderful thing that pepper and salt are available in Datang. Although pepper is very expensive, pepper and salt can add another kind of seasoning to the ingredients. Eating well and eating healthily has always been a good thing.
Pei Xuanji felt that his stomach was empty, and then he saw that Li Tai had begun to share the duck with his guards.
Seeing the other party's embarrassed look, Li Tai tore off a duck wing and asked the guard to hand it to Pei Xuanji.
"Haha! Thank you, Your Highness, King Wei." He took the duck wings and started to nibble on them.
This bite is even more incredible. This roast duck tastes really delicious. I have never tasted such delicious duck meat in my life.
For literati, grilled food is not considered a good thing. Pei Xuanji preferred stewed meat that was soft and tender.
I'm used to eating stewed meat. The kind of meat that's stewed so badly is sprinkled with some salt and tastes just like that.
But this duck wing is the most delicious food Pei Xuanji has eaten in his nearly 40 years of life.
He chewed the duck bone vigorously, then stepped forward to see His Highness the King of Wei holding the roast duck with his mouth full of fat.
Li Tai gave another duck leg to his bodyguard, "What are you looking at me doing?"
Pei Xuanji nodded and said, "I hate people who waste food the most in my life. If His Highness the King of Wei cannot finish eating, I can share the burden."
Several of the guards around Li Tai were munching on duck meat. Their lives had been so hard recently, and it was rare for them to eat meat.
Here they were devouring their food, and one duck was completely eaten, even the meat on the duck rack was eaten clean.
Pei Xuanji felt sad when he saw it, and now he was even hungrier.
Not long after, several guards brought a bowl of vegetable leaves. Li Tai took the bowl and started eating the vegetable leaves again.
This vegetable leaf is what Li Tai eats every day.
Today, after the vegetable leaves were boiled and mixed with some minced meat, the vegetable leaves were shiny with oil.
Eating vegetable leaves, Li Tai asked again: "Don't you take dry food with you when you go out?"
Pei Xuanji looked sad, "I thought that Lishan would know how to treat guests and at least give him a mouthful of food. Unexpectedly, Lishan ignored him. I have been studying for half my life and have read all the classics of sages, but I was ignored by this
The countryside is so bullying.”
In his eyes, he already regarded himself as Lishan's guest.
Li Tai chewed the vegetable leaves in his mouth, "Brother Pei, why don't you bring any money today?"
Pei Xuanji said with emotion: "I came here to see how the mountain breeze is in Lishan Mountain. I also heard that the Marquis of Lishan County wanted to build his own mountain gate, and I came here because of it. Unexpectedly, Lishan County was so slow to wait for me to go back.
It is necessary to write an article to denounce Lishan’s behavior.”
Li Tai stood up and turned around to return to the village.
Pei Xuanji took another step forward and said, "Could you ask His Highness the King of Wei to take me into the village and have a good talk with the Marquis of Lishan County about how to treat guests?"
Li Tai wiped the grease from his mouth and said, "You can bring some money with you next time. The deposit before was not enough. Why haven't you brought more?"
"It will take some time to prepare the money. I am also waiting for their news."
"Yes, with so much money, just transporting it will consume a lot of manpower, material and financial resources." Li Tai looked troubled, "Yesterday during the Mid-Autumn Festival, my father came to Lishan for a Mid-Autumn Festival banquet, and also talked about papermaking. Now it is not
If your family wants to buy it, I hope Brother Pei will inform those people."
Pei Xuanji stood there, looking more and more confused. He wanted to take another step forward, but was stopped by the guards again.
This Lishan Mountain is a forbidden area, and it is difficult for ordinary people to enter.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty the King of Wei, may I ask how much your Majesty wants?"
Li Tai stopped and looked back at him, "Of course he is taller than you."
Pei Xuanji, on the other hand, seemed very calm and nonchalant, "Can the government really afford so much money?"
Li Tai nodded and said: "Brother Pei, you don't just need money to buy papermaking. How much can your father give you? Land? A title? Even a position in the court. What's wrong with it?"
"But now my brother-in-law has not agreed to this matter. Everyone knows that the Marquis of Lishan County is a man who values profit in life, but does not care about reputation. After my father returned to the palace, he became furious. My father and my brother-in-law did not have a pleasant conversation."
"If you can come up with more money, my brother-in-law may be shaken. Please go back and send news to those people."
Li Tai smiled and bowed his hands.
Pei Xuanji asked again, "What kind of benefits can His Highness the King of Wei get from helping the Marquis of Lishan County?"
Li Tai turned around and stopped answering him.
Do local nobles dare to compete with the emperor for profit?
The answer is yes, they dared, and they even did not hesitate to fall out with the emperor for the sake of papermaking.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! An emperor who has mastered papermaking is too much of a threat to them.
Since the incident in Luoyang, Li Shimin has taken his firmest stance and even started to hijack those imprisoned children of aristocratic families and rob them by force.
Li Shimin has already committed this act. If he obtains the papermaking technology, he will only become more arrogant.
Pei Xuanji did not stay any longer and left in a hurry.
On the second night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Xu Xiaode came to Lishan just today. He originally thought he would come on the Mid-Autumn Festival, but he was delayed due to matters at court.
Zhang Yang knew that this was a reasonable thing, especially for a courtier like Xu Xiaode who was very ambitious.
Xu Hui was very happy when she knew her parents had come to Lishan and helped her parents clean up their place.
The court gave them a break during the Mid-Autumn Festival, and their family could reunite for a few days.
Xu Hui has changed a lot in the past two years. She often works around Princess Runan, and her conversation and temperament are better. She is generous and polite. However, after these two years of training, Xu Hui's math skills and ability to understand things have deteriorated.
, has long been beyond the reach of ordinary people.
That's why she has a cold and inaccessible temperament.
Xu Hui's mother arranged her hair into a bun, "It will be done in two years. What are your plans, Princess?"
"The teacher hasn't made any plans yet. It's just that both men and women in Lishan must be twenty years old before they can get married. Mother doesn't have to worry."
If you come from a rural family, many girls will get married at the age of fifteen or sixteen.
Xu Xiaode's family was originally a prominent family in the East China Sea. Even though the family has fallen into decline, they still retain the living habits that a noble family should have.
Xu Hui's mother added: "It's okay to get married at the age of twenty."
Seeing that Xu Xiaode was still writing the memorial, she said angrily: "You are an old person who doesn't practice, why don't you think more about your daughter?"
Xu Xiaode stopped writing and stroked his beard and said: "Hui'er is a disciple of Her Highness the Princess, so it doesn't matter that Her Highness the Princess makes the decision."
Seeing her mother angry, Xu Hui was very worried about her father's indifferent attitude. Since she was about to have hair extensions as an adult, her parents often quarreled.
"Mom, my daughter is not in a hurry."
Looking at her daughter with pity, the mother felt very distressed.
Xu Xiaode's expression was full of worry, but now Xu Hui was too outstanding. Among women, her talents and abilities were comparable to those of many ordinary women.
This is what worries him.
However, Hui'er is still young, so it is too early to consider this. It will not be too late to consider it in three to five years.
Xu Hui stood next to her mother and looked at her father, "Teacher and Master said they would come to visit tomorrow morning."
"Yeah." Xu Xiaode nodded.
Coming to Lishan as a guest was more of a helpless choice. Xu Xiaode wanted to keep a distance from his relatives and didn't want to be disturbed too much by them.
The family reunion was very warm. Although the Xu family often choked and yelled at each other, it did not hinder the warmth of the scene.
The moon is fifteen and the moon is sixteen. This rule rarely changes and has been like this since ancient times.
The moonlight shines on Lishan Mountain tonight, and the village shrouded in the tranquil moonlight is very beautiful.
Zhang Yang sat on the mountain and looked at the village below, feeling much calmer.
But at the other end of Lishan Mountain, there was another scene by the Weishui River. A group of people were about to swim along the Weishui River to the other side. When they swam to the middle of the river, they found that there were already torches in front of them and a group of people were waiting for them.
.
Those people did not go into the water to catch them, and the scene was awkward for a while. When these people were about to swim back, a large net made of hemp rope was thrown in. They were like fish in the river being tossed around by this big net.
Embarrassed.
After arresting these people and bringing them ashore, Li Tai nodded and said: "I knew that these people would not come to buy papermaking skills in such a polite way. I didn't expect that they would use such despicable methods. Fortunately, Lishan was prepared for it."
“What are we going to do with these people?”
"Send it to the official and let the official handle it."
"Here!"
It's really annoying that they want to buy papermaking technology at the same time and want to steal it at the same time.
Niu Chuang came with his people, and Li Tai yawned and said, "I'll leave the next thing to Brother Niu."
"Here!"
Niu Chuang led the villagers to change their defenses. All the important crossings leading to Lishan Village were guarded, and traps used for hunting were even set up.
It takes time for those people to prepare the money, and it also takes time for Chu Mo and Xu Jingzong to inquire about the information. Li Tai believes in the gang's ability.
As long as you understand the origin of the money, you will know who is behind the scenes.
Half a month after the Mid-Autumn Festival, the holiday in the court was also over, and Zhang Yang bid farewell to Xu Xiaode's family.
Xu Hui followed her to say goodbye to her parents, and then went to Lishan Mountain laughing with Xiao Wu.
The papermaking business is temporarily suspended because the other party needs to prepare money, a lot of money.
Li Tai walked over and scolded those thieves who wanted to sneak into the village, "No matter how hard we catch them, we can't catch them all!"
Zhang Yang patted him on the shoulder, "Have you eaten?"
Li Tai shook his head, "Just getting ready to eat."
"The Foreign Affairs Commission sent a letter saying that Songtsen Gampo is coming to see me today and wants to tell me something. We are going to receive guests, so King Wei and I will go to the outside of the village to welcome the guests."
"That's fine."
"Ask your guards to prepare wine and meat."
"Aren't we going to have dinner together by the way?"
"I was not prepared in advance." Zhang Yang remained calm.
The idea of eating by the way meant that it happened to be a good time to sit down and have a meal, but his brother-in-law didn't prepare anything in advance. For the sake of the pressure cooker, Li Tai temporarily agreed and asked his guards to prepare the wine and meat.
The two of them walked to the entrance of the village together, where Songtsen Gampo was standing, holding a scroll in one hand and reading the Book of Changes.
Zhang Yang glanced at it and said, "The Book of Changes is difficult to understand, can Zanpu understand it?"
Songtsen Gampo put away the scroll, "I still can't understand it right now."
Li Tai asked people to clear up the table in the hut, then sat down and waited for his guards to bring wine and meat.
After Songtsen Gampo sat down, he handed over a volume of letters, "This is a letter sent by Zhuoga from Tubo. It is about monk Xuanzang."
Hearing this, Li Tai also became interested. He was very curious about this monk who had left Tianzhu.
Zhang Yang opened the parchment and looked at the contents on the scroll. He was surprised that the writing was in Guanzhong characters.
Speaking of Zhuo Ga, Zhang Yang still had the impression that it was the first time he fought against the Tubo people as a Tang Dynasty. It was at Qujiang Pool, and the second time was at Taiji Hall, and he went back after that.
Now it is not surprising to see a Tibetan writing letters in Guanzhong characters.
The content of the letter is the conversation between Zhuo Ga and Tang Xuanzang:
The snow-capped mountains never melt all year round. This is a valley in the snow-capped mountains. Under the holy mountain, there is a man sitting by the lake.
This man was dressed in rags, and the clothes on his body were made of various shabby fabrics. The big lake in front of the old man was the Tianhu of Tubo, and some people regarded it as a holy lake.
In autumn and winter, it’s freezing and snowy here.
Every time a gust of wind blew by, the tent would sway.
The old man dug out some tsampa from the bowl, put it into his mouth and drank a sip of tea. What he drank was the tea brought from Dongfang Guanzhong. There were not many tea leaves prepared, and he only had such a small bag.
He would only take it out if distinguished guests came to visit.
There was a man in a monk's robe in the distance, walking towards here. The old man stood up and used Tubo etiquette, put his hand on his chest and bowed: "Friend, you are back."
Xuanzang walked closer, put his palms together, bowed and recited the Buddha's name, "Long time no see, friend."
This old Tibetan man was the one who originally proposed the question to outwit His Highness the King of Jin in the Taiji Hall. Zhuoga's lineage has reached his generation, leaving only one descendant.