The four hundred and ninetieth chapter congratulations to the imperial concubine
As time passed day by day, Zhao Zheng also began to build a long Taoist temple. This was not only to satisfy Taoist Zhao's wish, but also to perfectly hide his black powder manufacturing den.
Of course, the size of the Taoist temple hall is not comparable to that of the grand temples in the Central Plains. The hall platform is made of rammed white mud, and the steps are paved with stones. In order to save wood as much as possible, several pillars in the hall are made of gypsum soil, and the walls are also rammed with clay.
It is built with only the beams and brackets on the roof made of wood.
There is a bronze incense burner in the center of the hall, from which sandalwood incense slowly floats.
Chief Zhao Zheng was extremely happy, with a smile on his face. He repeatedly expressed to Li Siye that he would live up to his kindness and that he would continue to develop gunpowder technology.
The business of Dai Wang's paper mill was booming. Merchants from Dashi, Fulu, India and other places could buy high-quality paper without having to travel long distances. They came here one after another, resulting in a shortage of paper. Dai Wang asked Li Siye to get another piece of land and add another.
workshops to increase paper production.
Li Siye believed that there was no need to do this because he had monopoly technology and geographical advantages and could maintain paper prices at a higher price. What he wanted was hunger marketing. After attracting the majority of businessmen, he could expand appropriately.
Yield.
The sun rose and the moon set, the grass and trees withered, and the three years of Tianbao passed quickly. On the surface, the Tang Dynasty this year was calm, but in fact, there was an undercurrent. After the attack on Chang'an in the first month, the princelings and Li Linfu's party temporarily reached an agreement.
On the surface of reconciliation, the prince seemed to have the upper hand in this incident. In this matter, he established an image of himself doing nothing and humiliating himself to fulfill his father, which made Li Longji temporarily feel relieved about him.
At the same time, Wei Jian, the elder brother-in-law of the prince, opened the Weishui Guangyun Lake, which allowed grain from the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers to be transported to Chang'an by water. He gained Xuanzong's favor and appointed Yinqing Guanglu, the official, Zuo Sanqi's constant attendant, the Shaanxi prefect, and the water and land transport envoy.
He was also appointed as Yushi Zhongcheng and Minister of the Ministry of Justice. If he had not been related to the prince, he would most likely have served as prime minister. Li Shizhi, the left prime minister, was also the prince's secret supporter. There was also Huangfu Weiming, who went to Beijing several times as the military governor of Longyou.
He was highly praised by the emperor, not to mention his sworn brother Wang Zhongsi. The pinnacle of his glory was the military governor of the four towns who controlled thousands of miles of territory.
With a prince with such connections and power, ordinary prime ministers would not dare to fight against him. But the problem is that Prime Minister Li Linfu is extraordinary. He organized cronies and firmly grasped the pulse of the emperor. During his lifetime, he suppressed the prince to the point of being shaken.
Carefully conduct yourself with your tail between your legs.
In the fourth year of Tianbao, Li Longji officially made Yang Yuhuan a noble concubine, and told the world that he would reward the Yang family's family members and relatives. He made Yang Guifei's three sisters wives respectively, making the whole family noble and prosperous.
This is the time when all the governors are chasing power and wealth. At the same time, countless local officials are getting ready to think about giving gifts to the new imperial concubine, such as auspicious gifts, jade, gold ornaments, rare and exotic animals, and products from all over the world.
, comparable to the tribute paid during the Yuan Zheng Dynasty meeting.
When Gao Xianzhi sent him the imperial report, he said in the letter that since he was stationed in Qixi for her husband Meng Zhongcheng and could not enter the palace to offer gifts to the imperial concubine, he had specially sent people to collect some dipterocarps from the market in Anxi area for use.
Giving gifts. So he asked Li Siye to go to Chang'an on his behalf and give him gifts to express his gratitude.
Li Siye then thought about it, he couldn't borrow flowers to offer to the Buddha. He had to research some gifts himself, and he had to come up with something unique to make Yang Yuhuan like it, so that his promotion path would be smooth.
At this time, you can't blame yourself for being too secular and obsessed with climbing up. In Tianbao's period, being charming was the only way to get promoted, and people who thought they were noble could only stay in a small place and never be promoted.
You have to give gifts according to your preferences. What are Yang Yuhuan's hobbies? One is bathing, the second is spices, and the third is eating lychees. She has Huaqing Hot Spring for bathing, and eating lychees is probably arranged by Qiu Zhang Jianqiong, the Jiedushi envoy of Jiannan.
Well, the spice Gao Xianzhi has decided to send dipterocarp. I believe there are other officials who want to send pepper and other categories. If he wants to send it, he will send something higher-end.
It is now more than half a month before departure, and he still has time to purchase. Shule is located at the most critical node of the Silk Road, and he has a unique advantage. He often talks about the most precious products in his country from businessmen from India and China.
As for spices, the most fragrant wood in India is sandalwood, while the most fragrant spice in food is frankincense. Combining the aromas of these two incense will definitely make Yang Guifei like it.
He has a thread in his hand that leads businessmen from the two countries, and that is Dai Wang's paper mill. As long as he uses the merchants who come to buy paper to go back and raise large sums of sandalwood and frankincense, he does not need to send people all the way there.
When Li Siye decided to do this, he immediately went to Dai Wang and asked him to find two reliable businessmen to return to buy things.
After hearing this, Dai Wang shook his head and said: "I don't fully understand them. Even communication has to rely on Sogdian translators. I don't know who of them is reliable and who is not. If you really want to buy, there will be two tomorrow."
Famous businessmen came from Tianzhu and Dashi respectively. Generally speaking, these business travelers who are capable of traveling long distances have good hands and eyes. Most of the goods and papers they bought from me were sold to dignitaries in the two countries, and they got these two things.
It should be effortless.”
The next morning, Li Siye entertained two businessmen from Tianzhu and Dashi in his residence. They were flattered and came to the banquet happily. Li Siye entertained them with fine wine and delicious mutton.
During the dinner, Li Siye expressed his intention to the two of them through the Sogdian interpreter at home: "The birthday of our princess is coming soon, and officials from all over the country are going to send gifts to celebrate. Naturally, Li Siye cannot avoid the custom, so he is willing to buy Tianzhu with paper or heavy money."
The red sandalwood produced and the frankincense produced in Dashi are combined together to make furniture or decorations.”
The two businessmen smiled and praised: "Li Shijun is indeed knowledgeable. Sandalwood and frankincense are indeed our most precious treasures. These two things are only owned by the royal family and a few nobles in your Tang Dynasty."
"That's right, so when you go back to China to purchase this time, you have to bring the best quality sandalwood and the best frankincense, which makes it particularly valuable."
Both of them bowed and hugged their chests. "That's natural."
As expected, these two people did not disappoint Li Siye. Just before he left, they finally brought the items. The Indian businessman brought a whole bundle of cut red sandalwood trees, weighing a hundred kilograms. The big food businessman
What he brought was ten kilograms of frankincense, and Li Siye had to give the other party a few more knives of paper because of it.
Li Siye is quite proud of the aspect of commodity exchange. What the other party sells is resources. Although they are renewable resources, they are scarce due to their high quality. What he sells is cheap raw materials of thorn willow that have been transformed through technology and manpower.
To put it bluntly, high value-added products sell manpower and technology. Although the benefits of high value-added products can only be realized in modern society, he did feel a little proud here.
How to deal with this hundred kilograms of sandalwood? He wanted to make it look particularly valuable. Since the Eastern Han Dynasty, sandalwood has been introduced to the Central Plains along with Buddhism. At that time, wealthy pilgrims used sandalwood to make thin strips to burn incense and pray. Some
Wealthy and famous families used sandalwood to make various small utensils to worship Buddha. The palaces of the Northern Dynasties welcomed Buddha statues made of sandalwood into the palace.
This hundred kilograms of sandalwood can be made into a seat or a bed. He specially called together the craftsmen who built the Jili drum cart last time and asked them to build a beautifully crafted couch for the imperial concubine according to his ideas.
During the construction process, Li Siye personally participated in the design, striving to make it beautiful and comfortable, and easy to disassemble and assemble. After disassembly, the imperial concubine couch is divided into six parts, separated and bundled with wool felt, and can be carried on a camel. That
Li Siye only used three kilograms of ten kilograms of granular frankincense. He specially ordered people to make the couch planks into a hollow structure, and then poured the frankincense into it.
The two scents of the finished aromatherapy royal couch are superimposed and glowing. Not to mention a beauty of national beauty, even a pig that has just been put out of the slaughter will be marinated into a fragrant pig after sleeping on it for ten days and a half.