Destiny Only Han

Chapter 795 Liu Ying: Regarding my becoming a weapon dealer...

Maybe he saw something, or maybe Wu She had this intention.

He said with a smile: "I came here not only to take away people, but also to have another request."

Antiochus III froze for a moment, frowned and asked, "Say."

In his opinion, the Han people are really greedy.

Blindly ask for, without return.

Don't the Han people know what a powerful empire is ruling this land now?

Don't the Han people know what a great king is ruling this incomparably powerful empire?

Wu She didn't know Antiochus III's inner thoughts, or he knew, but he didn't show it, but said to himself:
"I think your Majesty has heard from businessmen in your country that His Majesty the Emperor of the Han Dynasty emphasized agriculture rather than business... Therefore, another request from my minister is to sign a formal trade agreement with the King on behalf of His Majesty the Emperor."

"From now on, as long as merchants from both sides have the documents issued by their own country, they can save a lot of trouble when they pass the customs..."

"The important thing is to communicate with each other. For the products that both you and I are looking forward to, we can treat with the most favorable conditions and reduce taxes..."

Well, the Seleucid Empire is a Hellenistic country left after the collapse of the Macedonian Empire. It is the same as Greece in terms of politics, economy, and folk customs. It especially pays attention to merchants. Therefore, it is different from the Mauryan Dynasty of agricultural civilization. Seleucid The commercial tax laws of the Empire are relatively complete. Although there is no pseudo-modern customs system like the Han Dynasty, they have a good understanding of how to collect taxes from merchants.

So, when he heard Wu She's second request, which was to sign a trade treaty, Antiochus III immediately turned his anger into joy, and said with a smile:

"That's exactly what I wanted to do, but I didn't expect to be preempted by you..."

"Well, let's talk about it, which products can be tax-reduced or exempted?"

Although the city of Antigonus, where the capital of the Seleucid Empire is located, also has a Mediterranean climate, it is backed by the entire Asia Minor peninsula. Therefore, the output of both agricultural products and handicraft products is very large, especially fine wine and various dried fruits, and Tapestries of various colors are piled up like a mountain.

In the past, most of these commodities were sold to Parthia in the south and Rome on the other side of the sea, but now Seleucus, Parthia and Rome are at war with each other, small frictions continue, and business is naturally cut off.

So it would be great if we could establish a trade relationship with Han.

Wu She shook his head with a smile and said: "The great man has a vast land and abundant resources, so it all depends on what the king needs... Before my minister went on an envoy, His Majesty the Emperor earnestly asked me to make more friends for the great man, so the king may as well Be greedy."

Well, this is actually the entrustment of Shangxiantang Overseas Jiazhang Specialty Trading Company.

After all, the Han army has begun to fully deploy muskets and artillery, so it doesn't matter what the opponent is wearing. Even the krypton gold-enhanced plate armor made by those top armorers can't stop the flintlock guns. .

Therefore, the ban on the sale of iron armor naturally no longer exists.

Of course, this mainly refers to the political forces abroad, and the private possession of iron armor is still prohibited in China.

Under Wu She's almost explicit instruction, Antiochus III suddenly laughed from ear to ear.

Although the Roman citizen soldiers are brave and good at fighting, the army under him is not bad in combat power. If they can be equipped with the kind of iron armor that the Han people have seen before...

So Antiochus III asked with a smile: "I don't know how much the iron armor worn by those warriors sells for?"

Wu She thought about the price he had negotiated with the Anxi people before, nodded and said, "A set of ten thousand yuan, and a gift of a strong crossbow and a hundred arrows... Well, it's just an arrow. After all, the arrow shaft takes up too much space to transport, and the wooden There is no difficulty in making the pole."

"Ten thousand dollars?" Antiochus III frowned, beckoned a servant and asked a few words.

After a while, a local Seleucid businessman came in and had a chat with Antiochus III. The interpreter next to Wu She frowned for a long time before looking at Wu She with a guilty conscience. He shook his head, indicating that he did not understand.

But in fact, he understood, but he didn't dare to say it.

After all, Wu She and others are envoys of the Han Kingdom, and he is just an ordinary merchant. If he offends Antiochus III, he may not be able to see the sunrise the next day...

It's just that Wu She didn't care. He had inquired before that the Seleucid Empire not only lost to Anxi, but was also humiliated by the Romans...

Therefore, Han Guo will never suffer a loss!
After a while, as expected by Wu She, Antiochus III looked at him with a smile on his face: "Dare to ask your envoy, can this king pay in gold?"

..........................................

Wind and rain send spring back, and Feixue welcomes spring.

The first New Year's Grand Meeting in the second year of the Great Sage began in the early sunshine after the snow.

According to the old practice, after the civil and military officials and the dynasties of Gonghou finished paying homage to the Son of Heaven, it was the turn of foreign envoys and Yidi monarchs to kowtow and worship.

This year is no exception.

Especially after the brutal expansion of the Protectorate of the Western Regions and the re-establishment of a new order, many small tribes with only one town and thousands of subjects have also been recognized by the empire. In addition to dispatching, they no longer need to pay tribute to their former suzerain country.

Therefore, at this moment, kneeling under Majesty Dan, the number of Yidi monarchs with their buttocks sticking out is astonishingly over 300!
Well, about [-]% of them are chiefs of Southeast Asian island countries.

Liu Ying nodded slightly, and the audience standing under Majesty Dan immediately recited the imperial edict, but those Yidi monarchs and foreign envoys who bowed down were not concerned about the praise of the Han Dynasty, but more practical rewards.

Such as silk, such as the five baht money they want most.

After all, the tribute is actually a transaction between the government and the government, there is no middleman to make the difference...

Of course, some Central Plains dynasties like to swell their faces to pretend to be fat, thick and thin, and even fatten the ambitious gravediggers. This is another matter.

However, this is not the case in the Han Dynasty at this time.

Therefore, in the attentive listening of the Yidi monarchs and Fanbang envoys, they heard the information they most wanted to hear.

But soon, they fell into doubts.

The number is wrong!

To be precise, the money that the emperor of Han rewarded them was dozens of times higher than the price of their tribute goods!
are you crazy?
These three words not only lingered in the hearts of Yidi monarchs and Fanbang envoys, but also appeared in the minds of many civil and military officials and princes of merit who sat aside and participated in the court meeting.

So the first thing they thought of was Ye Zhe's mouth, and they read it wrong...

After all, there will always be times when people make mistakes. Although at this time the caller reads the wrong edict, at least he will be dismissed from office and seize the title, and at worst he will be beheaded for public display, but it doesn't matter, as long as the country does not take advantage of it.

It is not the patent of some people to use your head first.

But soon they knew that the audience was not wrong, it was them who were wrong.

The money rewarded to Yidi monarchs and foreign envoys this time is not the previous copper coins, silver coins or gold cakes, but a well-printed piece of paper.

This kind of coin, called banknote, is a new generation of official currency, and the exchange ratio with the new five baht coin is one to one hundred, that is to say, a brand new five baht coin with no cutting and wear on the edge, One hundred of these banknotes can be exchanged!

Although everyone couldn't accept it for a while, but when you think about it, even if you sell these [-] banknotes to sell waste paper, you can exchange them for more than half a coin of five baht!
The crux of the problem is that the government cannot just issue banknotes and not collect banknotes. That is, when taxes are collected every year, people are allowed to hand in banknotes as currency, and the exchange rate cannot be changed just by saying!

However, this kind of confidence that Liu Ying will not mess with the financial market is not only shared by the civil and military officials of the Han Dynasty and the princes of meritorious service, but also by those barbarian monarchs and foreign envoys abroad.

The big deal, as soon as they get the banknotes, they can immediately go to the official shops of the Han Kingdom to buy them into commodities, wouldn't it be good?
For example, the iron armor they have been coveting for a long time!

Therefore, paper money is not unacceptable.

So amid all the joy, the Dasheng's second year New Year's party entered the final stage.

eat.

After all, everyone has been waiting outside the palace gate since two or three o'clock in the morning, waiting for the sun to rise to congratulate the emperor and the emperor's family on the new year. The important thing is that everyone did not come empty-handed. Need a full meal...

Well, a state banquet.

Due to the large number of people, it is difficult to adjust the taste. The key is to take care of the stomachs and teeth of many veterans. Naturally, the dishes for the state banquet should be neutral and peaceful, and heavy oil and spicy dishes are naturally out of consideration.

So it is nothing more than Shandong cuisine, Huaiyang cuisine modified by Liu Yingmo, Cantonese cuisine, official dishes in Sichuan cuisine, etc., and many other light dishes, and the ingredients are not based on delicacies from mountains and seas.

Considering the current weather problems, the space of the Xuanshi Hall is still limited, and it can accommodate a thousand people at most, so many officials and envoys will just rush to the hall to kowtow twice, and then sit back outside the hall, shivering in the cold wind for several times Hours……

Therefore, a stew pot fed with a low fire is naturally essential.

As a feudal dynasty, the Han Dynasty naturally ran through all aspects of the hierarchy.

For example, in the three-legged copper tripod that is placed in front of everyone at the moment, there is only one official below [-] shi. In addition to basic dishes such as meatballs, sour cabbage, and sweet potato vermicelli, the pot is also covered with chicken slices and pork belly slices. and sliced ​​pork belly.

Officials with less than [-] shi and more than [-] shi have two copper tripods. In addition to a casserole equivalent to the [-] shi officials, the extra casserole is stewed with sauced meat, smoked chicken, bad fish, kidneys, etc. A variety of different types of ingredients.

As for the two thousand stone officials, there were three casserole pots in front of them, and the extra one was full of delicacies from mountains and seas such as sea cucumbers, abalones, scallops, bear paws, and orangutan lips.

Amidst the steaming heat and fragrance, the low-ranking officials shivering in the cold wind all made up their minds that within ten years, at least two bronze tripods would be placed in front of them!

In the main hall, Liu Bang frowned slightly, approached Liu Ying quietly and asked, "Is there wine... um, malt fermented juice?"

Beside him, Lu Zhi looked as though his IQ had been insulted.

Beer is beer, what the hell is malt juice?

Do you really think that her hair is long, but her knowledge is short?

So Lu Zhi knocked on the porcelain plate with the ivory chopsticks in his hand, and said without refusal: "Don't drink!"

You see, it's your wife who won't let you drink, not me... Liu Ying spread her hands and winked.

Liu Bang was helpless, but there was nothing he could do.

After all, he ate and drank with Lu Wan and others for several days before the new year, and his blood pressure soared to more than 180. It really scared everyone. Therefore, under the crusade of Lu Zhi and Cao Shi and others, he did Make a promise, say it's a month of Prohibition...

And today, there are less than two days before Liu Bang made the promise...

"Hey..." Liu Bang looked at His Majesty Dan's cups and cups, sighed softly, and immediately stuffed a mouthful of celery, chewing vigorously, as if it was a certain woman who forbade him to drink.

"You still have the guts to sigh?" Lu Zhi lowered his voice, his brows stood upright: "You said, am I hurting you by not letting you drink? Isn't it all for your own good! I always ask you to drink less, Drink less, you just won't listen...Okay, just don't drink now!"

Your mother is so annoying... Liu Bang stared at Liu Ying and shook his head invisibly.

This is your choice, bear with it... Liu Ying blinked, then turned her face away.

Lu Zhi looked left and right suspiciously, but finally said nothing.

The one surnamed Liu really didn't have a good thing!

But soon, as if she had discovered a new continent, she let out a little surprise: "What is this?"

Liu Ying turned her head and explained: "Sweet potato vermicelli, stewed in a casserole with sauerkraut, is a perfect match...Well, after all, today's state banquet can only use a tripod, and it seems a bit immodest to serve in a casserole."

Lu Zhi was stunned, and nodded: "Sweet potatoes? Is it the kind that your sister roasted and ate a few years ago, and then you chased them from the East Palace to the Jiaofang Palace?"

"Yeah!" Liu Ying nodded angrily. Although it has been many years, she still gritted her teeth thinking about it: "Eat it, anyway, the sacrifice field is fertile enough, and the yield of sweet potatoes is very high, so it's not bad for her to eat." But she ate the sweet potatoes I kept as seeds, this is unbearable!"

"It's really not right to eat seed food..." Although Lu Zhi blamed him, the expression on his face was always smiling.

She just likes watching Liu Ying and Liu Le laughing and playing together...

Liu Bang stirred in the copper tripod in front of him, turned up the vermicelli on the bottom, took a few mouthfuls of it, nodded and said, "Bouncing, soft, slippery, top-notch enjoyment!"

Turtle... Liu Ying curled her lips.

Lu Zhi smiled silently, picked up a few vermicelli and put them in a small plate, then looked up at Liu Ying and asked, "How is this made? It looks a bit like that noodle, but it's transparent..."

Liu Ying thought for a while: "Basically, it is to grind the flour first, then separate the starch and impurities, then add water to the starch, put it on a sieve with fine holes, let the dough slide into the hot water along the small holes, and finally scoop it out. Come out and let it dry..."

Liu Bang frowned: "I didn't expect Xiaoxiao to eat so much trouble... But how did you come up with the idea of ​​processing sweet potatoes into something like... um, sweet potato vermicelli?"

"Father, do you want to hear the truth or lies?" Liu Ying silently moved a little closer to Lu Zhi.

"Let's tell a lie." Liu Bang nodded seriously: "If you tell the truth, it's easy to piss off Nai Gong..."

This old man doesn't play cards according to the routine... Liu Yingbian flattened her mouth: "The lie is that vermicelli is delicious. Not only can it be stewed in casserole, but it can also be made into hot and sour noodles... Well, I will give it to you in two days. Do it once!"

"Okay, mother will wait!" Lu Zhi nodded excitedly, couldn't help reaching out to touch the back of Liu Ying's head, with a satisfied expression on his face.

To be honest, she hadn't touched Liu Ying's head for many years, especially after Liu Ying became the crown prince, she held it up even more, and she rarely acted like a baby in front of her.

Lu Zhi sighed softly in his heart, somewhat understanding that the Cao family was eager to let Liu Fei become his own child.

After all, the child grew up in the mother's arms before the age of three, and at the age of five, he would no longer be held by his mother, and after the age of seven, he would even resist his mother's embrace.

In other words, a mother can only hold her own child for three to five years at most, and the next time she holds a child, it will have been more than ten years, and it will be a grandson, not a son...

However, as a straight man, Liu Bang was not so sentimental. He was just overwhelmed by his own curiosity, so he nodded slightly, pretending not to care, and asked, "What's the truth? Tell me..."

Liu Ying did not answer directly, but said with a smile:

"The earliest time I produced sweet potatoes, I actually planted them in Guizhou to prepare for the famine. After all, the leaves of sweet potatoes can also be used as food, and those lands that are not suitable for growing rice and wheat can also be planted with sweet potatoes..."

"But what I never expected is that the sweet potatoes they planted are true, but they basically don't eat them very much. They cook them and feed them to pigs..."

"I think it's a bit wasteful, so I came up with this kind of vermicelli."

Liu Bang frowned: "That is to say, the vermicelli, which is full of praises from the court officials, is actually competing with pigs?"

"The words are rough and the rationale is not rough..." Liu Ying nodded slightly, and leaned towards Lu Zhi silently again.

Unexpectedly, Liu Bang just cut it, shook his head and said, "Naigong thought it was something outrageous? It's normal for humans and pigs to compete for food..."

Lu Zhi also nodded frequently.

Although most of the pigs were kept next to the toilet at this time, it was obvious that the pigs were different from the old eight. They could not live on Ollie alone, and needed some grain as feed.

Therefore, raising dogs in the front yard and raising pigs in the backyard is also a criterion for judging whether a family is rich.

After all, poor people can't even afford to support themselves, let alone use some of their food to raise livestock such as pigs, dogs, chickens and ducks.

Lu Zhi put down his chopsticks and said with a smile: "I hope that the vermicelli you made will not affect the price of sweet potatoes, so that the heads of Guizhou will have no feed for raising pigs..."

Liu Ying asked curiously: "Why does mother suddenly care about people's livelihood?"

He knows very well that his old mother is a big tiger disguised as a kitten, so it is necessary to guard against the passing of time and plan for a rainy day.

Lu Zhi shook his head and said, "What mother cares about is actually the bristles... Well, it's the row of long hairs on the pig's neck."

Liu Bang was furious: "You mean pig when you say pig, why are you pointing at my neck?"

Liu Ying suppressed her smile, nodded and said, "I understand. Mom is worried that if no one feeds the pigs, there will be no bristles, which will affect the sales of toothbrushes, and eventually the sales of tooth powder!"

"Smart!" Lu Zhi smiled and nodded: "Mother is now relying on these small shops to earn some money..."

Contempt... Liu Bang rolled his eyes, with a look of hatred for the rich on his face.

He knew very well in his heart that Lu Zhi's store was not a small shop, it was obviously a chain store and wholesale store that had opened all over the country...

Not to mention those very high-end cosmetics that are specially sold to the rich and powerful family members, but the toothbrush and tooth powder that Liu Ying mentioned are cheap, but they cannot be sold in large quantities. Not only are they used by everyone in China, but more importantly A large number of them are also exported overseas...

Just pretend to be poor... Liu Bang complained in his heart, but a proud expression gradually appeared on his face.

A strong woman like Lu Zhi finally became his woman, although sometimes the world is turned upside down, and the two evils she gave birth to are more irritating than the other...

But no matter what, the husband and wife are one, and he gave Lu Zhi the most honorable title, so... right.

Silently, a bit of contempt gradually appeared on Liu Ying's face. That kind of contempt was the contempt when she saw some old hooligans preparing to turn into a little boy to eat soft food.

..............................

The New Year's court is over, but not all courtiers went back to their homes to celebrate the Spring Festival.

For example, Cao Shen was stopped by Liu Ying and stayed to work overtime...

For another example, Minister Ji Zhang Cang, Zhi Su Nei Shi Yan Zechi and other ministers related to finance are also in the ranks of being called to work overtime by unscrupulous bosses during the Chinese New Year...

In the imperial study room, Liu Ying smiled kindly and said:

"All sit, all sit..."

"Then who, soak the Pu'er that Yizhou County sent last year..."

"Well, although this new Pu'er tea doesn't have the aroma of old age, let's just make do with it. After all, the tea trees in Yizhou County have just grown."

Cao Shen exchanged glances with Zhang Cang and the others, and asked softly, "I wonder why Your Majesty asked me to come here?"

Liu Ying held the teacup and said:

"Actually, there is nothing important. Isn't this the release of new banknotes? I just want to remind you to pay more attention to the market on weekdays and listen to the feedback from the heads of merchants and merchants, lest a good policy will eventually become The evil government that entraps the people."

Yan Zechi nodded in agreement.

In fact, he is very disapproving of the issuance of banknotes worth a penny. The denomination is too small. Unless tens of billions are printed, it will not have any subversive effect on today's market.

After all, there is an official under his name called Captain Shuiheng, who is the official responsible for minting coins.

However, although Captain Shuiheng still obeyed the orders of the Shaofu directly under the emperor, the accounts of the minted currency had to be audited by Zhisunaishifu.

So Yan Zechi is very aware of the circulation of five baht coins.

So after Cao Can and the others stopped talking, he looked at Liu Ying and said, "I have something to say, I don't know if I should say it..."

Usually, when you say this, you must be saying it... Liu Ying was very tired of complaining in her heart, nodded and said: "It's okay to say it..."

(End of this chapter)