The other three looked at Xia Fan in surprise, probably because they did not expect that he would refute Her Highness the Princess's decision at this time.
Ning Wanjun suddenly stood up, winked at Xia Fan, and then walked out of the hall.
There was silence for a moment.
Xia Fan seemed to be completely unaware and followed him out of the living room.
As soon as she arrived outside the door, the princess suddenly lost her temper and said, "Do you know what tribute means? It is not a unilateral handover of tribute. You must also give an equal or higher standard of return gift! First of all, let's say it, I won't The alliance will be handed over to the six tribes, and this matter must be led by Jinxia City."
"I think so too."
"Then why do you still insist on maintaining the relationship that existed a hundred years ago?" The princess was puzzled. "With our current abilities, how can we possibly give an equivalent gift in return?"
"The Evil Horse Kingdom, which is besieged by the princes, may not be able to afford these ten million taels. The details can be discussed later, but once the tributary relationship is interrupted, it will be difficult to renew it." Xia Fan said earnestly, " If you want to have a bigger territory in the future—"
"Huh?" Ning Wanjun raised her eyebrows.
"I'm talking about what if." He emphasized his hypothesis, "The benefits and prestige brought by a tributary country are not what ordinary diplomatic relations can give? People don't care about it now because they have something to ask for from us. When civil strife comes, Pingding, do you think they will still be so impatient?"
"I didn't expect you didn't know anything about diplomacy." Ning Wanjun gave him a meaningful look.
"I only know a little bit." Xia Fan didn't pay attention to the other party's eyes. "Besides, it's not that we can't afford any gifts in return. There is at least one thing they urgently need."
"What is it?"
"Salt," he replied.
"So that's it." Ning Wanjun thought, "Since the Dongsheng Kingdom mentioned by the witch can use salt to win over other princes, then the Evil Horse Kingdom should also be able to do it. Moreover, salt is valuable, and it can be worth some money, provided that you It can really be produced, and in addition to meeting the monthly quota, there is still a small amount left over. Speaking of which, can your so-called salt production method be twice that of the Wang family with the same manpower?"
"hundred times."
"That's okay - wait, what did you say!?" The princess's eyes suddenly widened.
"A hundred times, a conservative estimate." Xia Fan repeated, "Of course, the early stage may require exploration due to process issues, and the efficiency will not be too high, but even so, as long as the scale increases, a hundred times is a conservative statement."
"Are you sure?" Even if she thought the other party was the listener, Ning Wanjun still felt a little unbelievable. A hundred times is equivalent to the fact that with the same amount of manpower invested, the salt production in Jinxia alone can meet the needs of the entire Qi Kingdom, and there is still a surplus. The reason why the imperial court wants to specialize in salt is simply that the tax profits in it are huge. If there is a way to increase it a hundred times on this basis, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is worth a fortune!
No... priceless was not accurate. She found that she couldn't think of any words to describe the value of this matter.
"Sure, but there will always be many problems when turning ideas into facts. I need to conduct experiments to estimate a more accurate number." Xia Fan thought about it again and again and felt that his statement should not be an exaggeration - after all, the output of Jinxia City Severely limited by firewood, his method relied on the sun. The gap between chemical energy and atomic energy is a hundred times, which should be an extremely conservative statement.
"This method...can I understand it?"
"Of course, it's actually just using -"
"Stop!" Ning Wanjun suddenly reached out and covered his mouth.
"Your Highness?" Xia Fan said vaguely.
"When the meeting is over, you can tell me alone. Remember, no one can reveal it except me - otherwise you may cause death."
…
Returning to the living room, Ning Wanjun seemed to have changed her demeanor, without any resistance from before. She said with a smile in her eyes, "The covenant you mentioned may not be suitable for the situation a hundred years from now. We can discuss it again after we confirm it." We can’t talk about the specific details, but in principle, we are willing to inherit this relationship.”
The other three retainers were stunned.
They had never seen the princess persuaded so easily.
The atmosphere of the ensuing talks was quite harmonious. Probably because they finally got the consent from the top of Qi State, Wuyue Yao's expression became much more relaxed.
Xia Fan took this opportunity to directly introduce the topic of "demon is life", which made everyone surprised.
He Guicai even whispered that it was impossible.
"If this is the case, how could the Privy Council not know about it? Do they need to deceive the world on this point?"
Ning Wanjun pondered for a long time, "If monsters are born from humans, will there be similar alien species among the descendants of beasts?"
Unexpectedly, Wuyue Yao gave the answer directly, "As far as I know, there are. And there are quite a few."
"So what do they look like?"
"The so-called spirits you call belong to this type of alien species. At least a hundred years ago, that's what practitioners called them."
Xia Fan suddenly remembered that Li seemed to have mentioned this classification, but there was no relevant record in the documents in the Privy Council's Records Department.
"It's difficult to summarize the appearance of a spirit. It cannot understand human speech and has the ability to sense energy. If it is born from a ferocious beast, it is usually violent and bloodthirsty and feeds on humans." Wuyue Yao said carefully, "But they are easily tamed by monsters. It’s like humans taming wild beasts.”
"So, maybe I've seen Jing." Ning Wanjun suddenly said.
"Where?" Xia Fan asked.
"When I was young, a businessman from the Western Regions arrived at Shangyuan City and presented a two-headed parrot to the Holy Lord, saying it was a rare and exotic animal."
Two heads, still alive! This is definitely a major discovery in biology.
I just don’t know if there are really six-legged crocodiles and lizards in the world, Xia Fan thought.
"and after?"
"It seems that the second prince cooked it." Ning Wanjun wrote lightly.
"..." Everyone was speechless.
In this harmonious atmosphere, the first bilateral meeting was concluded successfully.
After everyone dispersed, the princess took Xia Fan to a small room without windows.
"here it is… "
"It's a secret room in the palace. You can talk here without anyone hearing you." Ning Wanjun locked the door and sat down in front of him. "I confirm again that the method you mentioned will not cause the listener to lose consciousness or even become deformed." Are you going insane?"
"Ah?" Xia Fan doubted his ears for a moment, "Why did Your Highness say this?" It's just a salt-making process, how could it lead to insanity
"This... is just in case."
He looked at the other party for a while, and seeing that she didn't seem to be joking, he could only shrug and said, "Don't worry, as far as I know, it will only make you gain knowledge, and it won't make you crazy."
"Okay. Then you say it." Ning Wanjun took a deep breath, as if she had made up her mind.
Xia Fan simply ignored her weird behavior, "Actually, it's not complicated if you think about it. Boiling salt with seawater is to remove the water and allow the salt to condense back into a solid substance." He explained as plainly as possible, "This method is just to combine firewood, The thing of charcoal fire has been replaced by the sun.”