Great Tang princess

"What does Chen'er think of this method?" Wu Zetian turned her head and asked her daughter's opinion while sipping tea.

Li Yuechen leaned against the back of the chair, shaking the glass lightly: "Not to mention, brother, this suggestion is very good."

Although what I drink now is not wine but fruit juice, but doing so seems to be more forceful.

"Why?"

"Nowadays, there are a lot of countries that have exchanges with my country. Letting them establish embassies in our country is of great benefit to mutual cooperation."

Li Yuechen smiled while talking: "Not only should they establish an embassy in our country, but our country should also establish its own embassy in their country."

As soon as these words came out, Wu Zetian, as the emperor, immediately thought of the many functions in it.

And these countries are also right. The current Great Zhou is changing too fast. There are envoys stationed in each other's country for a long time, which can also make the exchanges between each other more frequent.

While listening, he nodded slightly in agreement.

None of the others were interested in this topic, so since the emperor didn't ask, they didn't interrupt.

However, everyone can clearly feel that the atmosphere in the past few years has been more than one year.

A few years ago, every year I was worried, and it was really uncomfortable.

……

After the New Year's Eve dinner, the family drank tea and chatted, waiting for Zishi to celebrate the arrival of the New Year.

Li Yuechen was bored, so he took Wei Lian'er, Fang Furong and Li Dan's wife Liu to play mahjong together.

These female relatives are a bit confused, it's not good to play mahjong in the emperor's palace.

But seeing Wu Zetian also started playing with his sons, they stopped being entangled and started playing with Li Yuechen.

But to be honest, Li Yuechen's skills in playing mahjong are just so-so, compared with those of them who play almost every day, there is still a bit of a gap in skills.

By the time the hour approached, he had already lost almost a hundred guans.

But in any case, it is the best thing for a family to get together and have fun together.

……

Early the next morning, Li Yuechen entered the palace together in Shangguan Wan'er's carriage after finishing his kung fu practice.

Today is the first day of the Lunar New Year, and there is a grand court meeting.

As a princess, it's fine if she doesn't usually go to court, no one said anything, today's court meeting cannot be postponed no matter what.

When I arrived at the palace, it was still before dawn, and countless people had already gathered outside the gate of the Vientiane Shrine.

The officials all wore bright red court clothes, saluted and congratulated each other, and said auspicious words on their lips, wishing each other a happy new year.

The same is true for those foreign envoys, and some of them are even quite familiar with the officials of Da Zhou.

They hugged each other shoulder to shoulder and told the blessings of the new year.

Cabinet ministers like Di Renjie were basically surrounded by other officials, and all they heard were flattery and congratulations along the way.

It was the same when Li Yuechen came over, and other officials lined up on both sides, saluting and congratulating her.

And she, as usual, smiled at them and raised her hands, without any airs of a princess.

After coming to the front and greeting Di Renjie and other cabinet ministers, the sun was about to rise.

The first ray of sunshine of the New Year streaked across the sky and slowly rose, and the golden phoenix on the top of the Vientiane Shrine also began to shine brightly.

Amidst the sharp upturning sounds, the officials entered the hall with serious expressions and stepped in neat steps.

When I came in, I glanced left and right, and found that among the foreign envoys who came this year, there were no Western Regions, and I didn't even see the envoys from Tubo.

This phenomenon naturally attracted the attention of other people, and the envoys from other countries also looked left and right curiously, and even asked their counterparts with their eyes.

But he also got a look of knowing nothing.

Everyone in the cabinet felt a little helpless about this. In fact, this was a rather embarrassing thing, and it was like slapping Da Zhou in the face.

Wu Zetian, who was sitting on the dragon chair, naturally also noticed this, but she didn't show any expression.

Anyway, after this year is over, the war will start, and love will come or not now.

But many people in the cabinet still don't know about the war plan, and their expressions are not very good-looking.

The court meeting proceeded as usual, and Di Renjie was in charge of publishing parallel essays to express his gratitude to heaven and earth, and then the foreign envoys paid tribute, and the emperor returned the gifts one by one.

It stands to reason that after these procedures are completed, today's grand court meeting is considered to be over.

However, Wu Zetian waved his hand lightly and asked Zhang Chengxin to proclaim the edict.

Today's Zhang Chengxin is already full of white hair, he has become an old man, and he walks a little tremblingly.

But the mental head looks pretty good. Generally speaking, eunuchs live longer and healthier than normal people, so they are still competent for his work.

Standing beside the emperor, he recited aloud: "Tibet in the West is inhumane..."

The translation of this edict into vernacular probably means that you, Tubo, bullying the countries in the Western Regions are really not a good person.I've warned you, but if you don't listen, don't blame me now.

The following ministers and foreign envoys were puzzled for a while when they heard the edict.

The foreign envoys were puzzled because Da Zhou had ignored this matter for several years, and they didn't know why they were suddenly going to do it now.

The cabinet ministers were curious, why didn't they know anything about this?
But thinking about it, it seems normal.

Now that the army is no longer in the normal system, this matter must be the result of discussions between the princess and the emperor. Whether they know it or not, it is actually of little significance.

But in fact, Li Yuechen hid it from them at the beginning because he didn't want to leak the news, but now that he was about to do something, he could tell it.

Anyway, I informed them years ago, but they didn't give any answer, so it's clear that they want to have a fight.

That being the case, if nothing is done here, people will see it all.

Of course, Da Zhou would not allow this kind of thing to happen, so this kind of thing is already inevitable.

The cabinet ministers headed by Di Renjie are not fools, so they can naturally figure out the problem.

So no one stood up to express objection, and they all acted as if they knew about it in advance, with a calm face.

The envoys from several other countries were full of gossip, waiting to see the final result of this matter.

All of them looked at the bright red figure at the front in unison.

According to legend, Princess Taiping has supernatural powers and can summon thunder to attack the enemy. If I have the opportunity to see it with my own eyes this time, it will be worth living.

……

As usual, the newspapers on the first day of the new year praised the other countries that came to pay tribute, but at the same time condemned Tubo's invasion of the Western Regions.

Anyone with a heart can see it. This is a signal that if it is not done well, a fight may start.

However, the folks are unlikely to affect the court, and the state banquet at noon will still be held.

The ministers and foreign envoys who were invited to participate were full of praise for the sumptuous dishes and compared them with the tastes they remembered from previous years.

Nowadays, with the gradual development of cooking technology, different styles of dishes have begun to appear in various places.

For example, the cooking soldiers from the Yizhou Military Region have obviously started adding chili to their dishes.

This thing has been successfully grown in Yizhou in recent years, and it has become an indispensable dish for the people of Sichuan.

Naturally, the cooking soldiers began to add it to their meals as a condiment.

But it was the first time for many foreign envoys to eat this thing. They felt that it was very festive to see the red color, so they put it in their mouths directly.

Needless to say the consequences, I lost consciousness directly from the hot lips and sweated profusely.

Seeing their funny looks, Li Yuechen couldn't help but shook his head with a smile, silently mourning for their buttocks in his heart.

At the same time, Li Xian, who attended the state banquet, also had a gloating expression, as if he had seen what they would look like in the next few days.

But not to mention, chili is actually quite addictive. Although people are skeptical about their lives, many foreign envoys eat more and more.

At the same time, some people came to make friends with the princess, asking if they could get some seeds to plant.

But this request was rejected by Li Yuechen, just kidding, this thing was brought back by my mother's fleet after all the hard work, how could it be given away for nothing?
If you want it, you can, but it must be traded as a commodity, and any free whoring is not accepted.

Of course, what surprised them was far more than chili peppers. The various desserts and fruits after the meal opened the eyes of these foreign envoys.

You must know that it is winter now, and the court can produce so many fresh fruits. It can only show that it either has mastered the technology of long-term preservation, or has the method of planting in winter.

Many foreign envoys were wondering if it might have been transported from the south on a flying shuttle.

But even for that thing, it takes a lot of time to transport it, right?
They didn't know that greenhouse planting technology already existed, and these fruits were all grown in Dongdu.

……

The only thing that makes Li Yuechen feel pity is that the production cost of the current greenhouse is too high, and even the winter fruits are also expensive, which is still not affordable by ordinary people.

It seems that in terms of technology, we still need to speed up the development, so that ordinary people can eat fruits earlier in winter as soon as possible.

So far, people across the country no longer have to worry about not being able to eat food, at least they will not starve to death.

The next direction of efforts should be meat and fruit.

Fortunately, the experiment in the incubator was very successful, and the survival rate of chickens, ducks and poultry was much higher than before.

At least in Dongdu and Chang'an, the price of poultry has dropped a lot compared to before, and some middle-class people can afford it.

The scale of the farm is gradually expanding, and within the next two years, it should be able to become a cheap commodity in Chang'an and Dongdu.

Now the staff in the farm have been able to control the temperature well, and can ensure that the hatching rate exceeds 80.00%.

……

On the first night of the Lunar New Year, Li Yuechen did not stay too late in the palace, and returned to the Princess Mansion early.

The main reason is that my mother is getting old after all, she felt tired after a hard day today, so she lay down to rest after having dinner with the children.

After Li Yuechen came back, he chatted with his two older sisters, Shangguan Wan'er and his sister-in-law.

"As soon as the newspaper came out today, people were discussing whether they were going to attack Tubo." Princess Xuancheng said with a smile.

"It's already so obvious, it's no wonder no one sees it." Princess Yiyang replied.

"In the past, when it came to wars, I felt that the people's response was not very high, but this time, I felt that no one objected." Princess Xuancheng said, "I think it's the reason why life has been better in recent years..."

Pei Qingwan agreed with this: "Isn't it? The turnover of Le Lou is increasing every day. Especially in the past few days, foreign envoys have come over, and the price of wine has increased by nearly [-]%."

"Don't worry about eating for the time being. Now the time is almost ripe, and it's time to consider wearing it." Li Yuechen picked up the teacup and took a sip.

"what for?"

Li Yuechen's white and tender fingers tapped the teacup lightly, making a series of crisp rhythmic sounds: "Sister-in-law, before this expedition, I will ask the Engineering Institute to choose a place to build a factory. You release the news and collect the wool!"

"Wool?" Pei Qingwan raised her eyebrows, "What's the price? How much do you charge?"

"Let's decide the price, sister-in-law. Try to keep it as low as possible. You can charge as much as you can! When the factory opens, you can eat as much as you want!" Li Yuechen replied.

Now that the problem of eating has been solved, it means that the time is ripe, and we can try to start the industrial revolution.

There are already looms and spinning machines, and when the factory is built, it will continue to produce cloth.

When the price of cloth drops, not only can it be sold domestically, but it will also be an extremely popular commodity for foreign businessmen.

Maybe you can take the business to Europe because of this, it will be a steady stream of money.

Considering that it takes time to build a factory and collect wool, the time to start at the beginning of this year is about the same.

At the same time, after a period of experimentation, the banknotes have done particularly well in terms of convenience and anti-counterfeiting, and have already qualified for formal use.

So it's time to think about creating a separate imperial central bank, dedicated to issuing banknotes.

After she finished talking about her thoughts, Princess Xuancheng asked: "Didn't Ke Chen'er say last time that there are no accountants and actuaries now, so it's not suitable to release it immediately?"

"Yes, but if it's only in Chang'an and Dongdu, no problem!" Li Yuechen nodded: "The most important thing is to establish the use of the second set of banknotes first, so that we can start absorbing foreign gold and silver!"

"Then this bank...will be managed by the household department?" Princess Xuancheng asked.

"No! Managed by the royal family!" Li Yuechen picked up his teacup and took a sip, "Sister is going to train another group of people."

Princess Xuancheng nodded: "Alright, but the price of gold and silver is different. The specific anchor is gold or silver?"

"Let's think about this question, my sister. At that time, I need to come up with a detailed plan." Li Yuechen replied.

Li Yuechen didn't know exactly which precious metal was more suitable to be used as an anchor, so he could only let Princess Xuancheng, who is now in charge of the economy, consider it.

As for myself, I should obediently think about the next war.