There was a locust plague in the northern part of Daheng, and the Holy Master wanted to cancel the Longevity Festival, but everything that should have been prepared before had already been prepared, and the envoys from the foreign dynasty had already arrived in the capital. Whether it was for the sake of face or for the sake of the lizi, the ministers took turns to persuade that the Longevity Festival was needed. Gotta do it as usual.
The news that Gu Yuanbai sent troops and horses to the northern Xinjiang to send food and grass could not be concealed from the envoys from outside the customs who had already arrived in the capital. He was straightforward and straightforward, and invited envoys from various countries to the scene to personally watch Daheng's troops and horses go into battle.
This group of messengers was invited to the top of the city wall, watching the thousands of horses and thousands of troops under the city wall, and unknowingly, traces of chills ran down their backs.
When looking down from a height, the number of military horses seems to be invisible. So many soldiers and horses and food are in an orderly line, and the flags are dark and majestic.
Daheng has not launched a war for many years. It is still big and strong, but the surrounding countries have seen that this powerful country is gradually declining. The rulers of Daheng had a timid heart, and they allowed the nomads to wreak havoc at the border, so the surrounding countries also began to have the heart to bully the big brother.
but now.
These messengers looked at the densely packed Daheng soldiers under their feet, and looked at each soldier's well-equipped and strong posture. They thought unbelievably: How could Daheng's soldiers be so full of energy.
Their horses are powerful, and their soldiers are full of vigor. Look at the endless carload of grain, so much grain, did the emperor of Daheng take out all the grain in the granary? !
He is not afraid that he will take out all the food now. If there are some natural and man-made disasters later, will the entire Daheng be destroyed
The messengers were puzzled.
But no matter how much they thought about it and how much they didn't want to believe it, they still remembered this shocking scene in their hearts. The scalp even felt numb from the magnificent long army, and the legs were tense, unable to move.
It wasn't until the army walked out of sight and the eunuch who accompanied him watching the soldiers on the expedition sounded a reminder, these messengers came back to their senses.
The embargoed military officer on the side laughed twice and said modestly: "These soldiers are just a small part of the embargoed army, which makes you laugh."
The translation officer of Honglu Temple was also by his side, and with a smile and humility, he translated the officer's words to the messengers of various countries.
The waiters from various countries have strange expressions on their faces. Is this modesty? This is a demonstration!
Among the messengers of these countries, there is only no shadow of the messengers of Xixia. They are still locked in the Mingsheng Post to learn the rules of Daheng.
These messengers didn't even bother to ask the whereabouts of the Western Xia messengers.
If they didn't see today's scene, the messengers from other countries were still a little careful after knowing the locust plague in Daheng, but after watching today's scene, they withered.
Even if it is a big locust plague, these grains are enough for the soldiers to boil the locusts that can only live for three months. The locust plague in the north did not cause any harm to Daheng at all. Moreover, seeing how the officials and people in the capital are full of confidence and are still holding the emperor's birthday in a lively manner, no matter how they look, they feel that they have not reached the level of running out of food.
These messengers racked their brains to see the traces of the Daheng people's swollen faces and fat people, but no matter how they looked at them, they only saw the people who were extremely happy because of the advent of the Longevity Festival.
The emperor of Daheng was by no means a robber, and he did not use this as a reason to ask the messengers of various countries to also contribute to the locust plague in the north. But after showing the strength of his fists, he put them back in a gentlemanly manner, and even thoughtfully sent officials who could speak and talk to accompany them on a tour of the capital.
When wandering in the capital, from time to time a messenger pointed at a wooden tool guarded by an official on the side of the road and said, "What is this?"
The Daheng official glanced at it and said casually, "Oh, this is a pedal fan car."
Foot fan car
The messengers asked, "How is this different from the previous fan car?"
"It's no different from the previous fan cart," the official said, "it's just that the hand-cranked one becomes a foot-pedal one, which is easier and more powerful, and can clean up the chaff and dust in the grain more cleanly. ."
The messengers took a few more glances and saw that the people lined up in front of the fan car. After each cleaning and shelling, they handed over a small portion of the food as a user fee according to the kilogram, or handed over the husks that came out.
These numbers are really small, even the people with the least harvest have the spare energy to come to shell out, not only those on the roadside, but also people in groups of three or five, pushing larger fan trucks sweaty and pushing them far away. go.
"This is a large fan car," the official explained actively. "It is usually placed in the government office. If the people need it, they will go to the government office to rent a fan car based on Wu's membership."
A messenger was certain, "That must be very expensive."
The official said calmly, "No. One household only needs to pay one hundred cents. For a household with such a large fan car, it can take at most two or three days to clear the chaff. If you are diligent and reluctant to pay, Then you don’t have to eat or drink, and it only takes a day’s work.”
One group is five households. A large fan car is five hundred pennies a day, and two days is one tael of silver. After it is divided equally among the common people, the common people can afford the money, and one household is one day. One hundred yuan is really not that expensive.
The messengers had all kinds of thoughts in their hearts, and the officials changed the subject in time, leading their thoughts to the colorful paintings and bright cloths on the street.
*
After Gu Yuanbai returned to the palace, he asked someone to write a letter of decree for the re-canonization of the two ladies of the Xue residence.
Both Mrs. Xue and Mrs. Xue's official rank have been raised up. The men who could be in charge of the Xue mansion have all left, and there is only one underclass who has a bad reputation. Gu Yuanbai has to let others Knowing that the Xue family cannot be bullied.
After finishing these trivial matters, Gu Yuanbai breathed a sigh of relief. He raised his foot and kicked the two wolves lying on the side of the desk, letting them lie down in the corner beside him, and instructed the palace attendant: "Every day let me They're full, don't stare at me hungry."
Tian Fusheng persuaded: "Your Majesty, wolves are ferocious in nature. How can you keep them by your side?"
Gu Yuanbai raised his lips, "I like it."
He has done a lot of dangerous and exciting things, let alone raising two adult wolves by his side, Gu Yuanbai has really never done it.
His nature started to move, and even if he knew it was dangerous, he couldn't bear it.
Gu Yuanbai thought for a while, "Find a few people who are proficient in animal taming, and let them see how far these two wolves have been tamed now."
Tian Fusheng should have retreated to look for someone.
"Wolf." Gu Yuanbai said several times, and suddenly heard a few breaths. He turned around and saw that it was the two gray wolves lying in the corner who heard his voice and stood up and walked over to his body. beside.
Although they look scary, but this time they are screaming, and they look like they are inviting pets.
Xue Yuan really taught them a good lesson.
Gu Yuanbai stretched out his hand, one of the wolves paced up to his hands, the wolf head rubbed, the scarlet tongue licked the sharp teeth and nose, and also touched Gu Yuanbai's hand.
Gu Yuanbai slapped the wolf while pulling out the ideas that Kong Yilin had handed in a few days ago, and slowly began to look at it.
Kong Yilin wrote more than 5,000 words on this policy theory. If translated into vernacular, there should be 20,000 words. Gu Yuanbai looked at it very slowly. Only by looking at it slowly can he fully understand these meanings and then convert them into his own.
After he had finished reading more than half of a policy commentary, it was already dark outside. After dinner was put on the table, Gu Yuanbai sat down at the table with the strategy. After taking a few sips, he found that there were some vulgar words in the article.
Traditional Chinese characters are the names of simplified Chinese characters in ancient times. Since ancient times, Chinese characters have been divided into simplified and traditional Chinese characters. In his article, if Kong Yilin encountered characters with many strokes and large heads, he did not stick to one pattern. For convenience, he adopted it directly. vulgar words.
Gu Yuanbai felt familiar when he saw these words, and sometimes he smiled when he saw them, and felt more cordial.
The lights flickered, and the night was getting darker. Before returning to the bedroom, someone from the Supervision Office came to report.
"Your Highness, the newly appointed magistrate of Huangpu City found a strange-looking fruit locally," said the Humane of the Supervision Office. "This fruit is bright red and petite. The locals call it the red light fruit."
Gu Yuanbai raised his head abruptly, his eyes lit up.
"Huangpucheng county magistrate felt the saint's birthday and remembered the anti-corruption incident, and thought it was a divine fruit from heaven, so he reported it and hurriedly transported it to Beijing. It's just that the red light fruit is bright in color, bright red like fire, It's probably poisonous."
This should be a tomato.
The origin of tomatoes is in South America, but in modern times, some experts found tomato seeds when excavating ancient tombs of the Han Dynasty in 1983, but no one can determine whether the tomato seeds have been handed down from the Han Dynasty to the present, or whether it was a tomb robber or a transporter. He accidentally fell into it during the process, so Gu Yuanbai didn't have any hope of eating tomatoes in this life. 1
Suddenly learning that he might have actually found a tomato, Gu Yuanbai suppressed his joy and excitement, and immediately ordered, "Bring it to me to see."
The people from the Supervision Department presented four or five red light fruits, and Gu Yuanbai knew at a glance that it must be a tomato. The palace attendant put on leather gloves for him, and Gu Yuanbai picked up a tomato and touched it. The fruits presented had been selected layer by layer, with round skins, bright red and vivid. He asked someone to bring a bowl, and with force in his hand, the tomato burst out with tender meat and sweet and sour juice, with a strong aroma, and the slightly sour taste made people unconsciously speak.
These tomatoes all look smaller than modern tomatoes, but the taste seems to have not changed.
Gu Yuanbai put down the tomatoes and asked people to take off the gloves on their hands, "Half of these red light fruits are reserved for seed planting, and the other half are sent to the Taiyuan Hospital to test the poison. When it is confirmed that it is harmless to eat, come and report to me immediately."
The people from the Supervision Office nodded yes.
Gu Yuanbai washed his hands, looked at the tomato and tomato juice in the bowl that he had crushed, and sighed softly, "Take it and throw it away."
This is really the biggest surprise these days.
For the sake of safety now, although he can't eat it, Gu Yuanbai knows in his heart that it is harmless to eat nine times out of ten, and once it is harmless, this sweet, sour and delicious thing can be used for soup or vegetables, as long as the output can be If you can keep up, you will soon be able to put it on the table of the common people.
Tomato is the biggest gift he has ever received on his birthday this year.
*
The sage received the red and bright auspicious fruit, and the Prince He received a special apology gift from the Xixia messenger in the early afternoon two days later.
A Xixia beauty.
The women of Xixia are so beautiful that they have been written into many articles and poems. The one who was sent to the Prince He's Mansion was particularly beautiful, with a hairpin and a beautiful face.
This woman was brought by Mr. Wang, a guest in the Prince's Mansion. Mr. Wang said: "The envoy of Xixia said that this is an apology for the prince."
With a calm expression on the prince's face, he sat on a high seat.
The woman in Xixia raised her eyes and wrote down his appearance, stood up in a salute, and her waist was soft.
"Apologize to this king?" He said to the prince, "Why does he want to apologize to me?"
Mr. Wang said softly: "I heard that the envoy of Xixia once collided with the prince, so I was worried and came here to apologize."
Hearing this, Prince He couldn't help frowning.
How did he not know that the Western Xia messenger had bumped into him
"Send it back, this king is not interested," and the prince stood up with a grumpy tone, "Tell those Xixia messengers, don't mess with the mind that shouldn't be moved, and use a woman to bribe this king, he wants to beg this king to do it. what?"
"If there is a real collision, then take Li personally to the door to explain the reason to this king," He Prince sneered, "What a hero to hide behind a woman, step back. Mr. Wang, you'd better wake up and don't do anything. I promise to do all kinds of things, bring all kinds of people to this king, if you can't refuse the beauty, then you can accept the grace of this beauty yourself!"
After speaking, he waved his sleeve robe with the prince and strode out of the hall.
Mr. Wang's expression did not change, he smiled slightly, turned to the Xixia woman and said, "Please come back."
*
This morning, the Western Xia messengers finally learned the etiquette of Daheng, and can enter and leave Mingsheng Station at will. But on that night, the Xixia beauty who had just been sent out was sent back in a sullen manner. For the Xixia people who have always been proud of the famous Xixia beauty both at home and abroad, they couldn't breathe, they just felt that it was more important than learning the rules of Daheng. Come to humiliation.
Li Angshun sat at the table with a gloomy expression on his face, "This and the prince kept me here for more than ten days, but now, he has completely forgotten about me?"
The beauty of Xixia lowered her head and did not dare to make a sound.
The more Li Angshun thought about it, the more ugly his face became. He clenched his hands and sneered, "Then do you remember the appearance of the Prince and Prince?"
Xixia Meiren said: "He Prince has a handsome face, very handsome."
Li Angshun's expression changed slightly, "very handsome?"
He remembered the half of his chin he had seen in the carriage that day, and the fingers that lifted the curtain of the carriage. Just like this, can it be called "handsome" and "very handsome"
He would believe it if it was Junmei, but looking at the woman's words, he could only hear the heroic spirit, but nothing else.
During the few days when Li Angshun was locked up in the Mingsheng Station and worked hard to learn the rules, when he was very irritable, he would always think of the condescending appearance of the man on the carriage. As long as you think about it, you can endure impatience and humiliation, and continue to learn the rules.
Whenever he couldn't bear it any longer, he thought about how to humiliate the prince in person after he went out, and who ever wanted to be with the prince but didn't remember him at all!
Prince Xixia grimaced under the candlelight, "He asked me to come to the door to apologize in person, so I'll go there tomorrow."