Xiaoyao Xiaojunhou

Chapter 803 Face
Bang!

The inkstone, tea cups, etc. on the dragon table vibrated and jumped, making various sounds.

Caught off guard, Zhu Xiuyuan was startled.

He hurriedly looked up and saw that it was Huang Chen who did it. Concubine You Guifei next to him also looked frightened, obviously very frightened.

"Humph!"

Chen Huang didn't realize it at all, he stood up with a stern face, it seemed that there was an active volcano in his body, which was about to erupt.

"I miss you, Da Chen, how much tribute I send to Liang Guo every year. But when Liang Guo is needed, Liang Guo can't spare any money every time!"

"The tributes we sent over have not had any effect at all!"

"The last time the five kings rebelled and the Yan army invaded, the Liang State did not send out a single soldier! The last time, the King of Shaozhou rebelled and the Yan army invaded in a large scale, the Liang State also did not send out a single soldier..."

"Liang Guo is good, haha. He accepted the tribute and didn't help at all. Now that he has heard about the benefits of refined salt, he directly asked for the formula of refined salt...haha..."

Chen Huang stood in front of the dragon chair, his voice getting louder and louder, his hands clenched, and his whole body was about to explode.

Zhu Xiuyuan was dumbfounded below. For a moment, he refused to persuade him or retreat. He just stared at Chen Huang blankly, feeling extremely embarrassed.

"His Majesty!"

Finally, Concubine You stood up, held Emperor Chen's hand, and spoke warmly to persuade him.

Chen Huang took a deep breath, calmed down slowly, and sat back on the throne.

All he could do was complain.

After a while, Concubine You looked at Zhu Xiuyuan below and said, "Zhu Aiqing, I, Chen, can't compete with the Liang Kingdom yet. Now the Liang Kingdom's envoy is coming, and they are here for the refined salt formula."

"Your Majesty has asked Zhu Aiqing to receive the envoy from the Liang Kingdom. In addition to your familiarity with King Qian of the Liang Kingdom, His Majesty also hopes that you can think of a way to save some of my, Da Chen's... face..."

There were only three of them in this hall, so Concubine You spoke more straightforwardly.

Zhu Xiuyuan was stunned for a moment, then immediately raised his hands and said: "Your Majesty and the imperial concubine, please rest assured that I will definitely think of a way to deal with this oppression from the Liang Kingdom!"

"Okay, with these words of wishing your beloved, I and Your Majesty will feel at ease!" Concubine You said with a smile.

Then, Emperor Chen gave some more instructions. The general meaning was that he should complete the training of the Divine Thunder Army as soon as possible. When the Chen Kingdom becomes stronger, he will no longer be afraid of the Liang Kingdom...

Chen Guo's plan to strengthen the army focused first on the Divine Thunder Army and the Changning Imperial Army, and then on the garrisons stationed in various places.

Starting from military pay, equipment, clothing, military discipline, etc., a complete plan has been developed.

The prerequisite for the implementation of this plan is that the internal treasury supervisor's warehouse is sufficient and there is enough money to support the implementation of this plan.

Where does money and food come from?

Naturally, it comes from the refined salt strategy that is in full swing.

The salt fields along the coast of Yangzhou have produced coarse salt in large quantities, and the number of salt fields continues to expand.

The three refined salt workshops near the Shenlei Army camp were all put into use, but it was not enough, so the fourth, fifth, sixth... and up to the tenth refined salt workshops were also being built.

With the distribution of salt, salt merchants across the country have also begun to move refined salt to their prefectures and counties like ants moving...

Ten miles outside the city, near the camp of the Shenlei Army, there is a huge warehouse, which is full of produced refined salt, and the refined salt that is shipped to all parts of the country is "shipped" from here.

For a time, the area near the Shen Lei Army camp was overcrowded and boiling. In just a few days, a town was formed there, and its scale continued to expand...

Although the internal warehouse supervisor is responsible for the actual operation of the entire refined salt strategy, the real person at the helm is Zhu Xiuyuan.Therefore, Zhu Xiuyuan wandered around the Shenlei Army camp every day, found problems, and immediately rectified them. The operation of the refined salt workshop must not be delayed.

This went on for three full days.

It wasn't until the morning of the fourth day that Zhu Xiuyuan did not go near the Shen Lei Army camp, but went to the dock in the north of the city.

Because the Liang State envoy arrived in the capital today.

After waiting at the dock for half an hour, the Liang envoy's ship arrived.

After the ship stopped, Li Jiye and others immediately disembarked.

Zhu Xiuyuan went up to meet him, and he saw at a glance that not only Li Jiye was here this time, but it turned out that Princess Anle Li Qingnu was also here, following her royal brother, looking around curiously.

"Xiaguan Shen Leihou, I respectfully welcome King Qian of the Liang Kingdom!" Zhu Xiuyuan paid his respects.

"Brother, I wish you are well, please get up quickly!" Li Jiye helped Zhu Xiuyuan up personally, then held Zhu Xiuyuan's shoulders, looked up and down, and laughed and said: "Brother, wish, brother, farewell to Jiangzhou." , I haven’t seen you for several months, Brother Zhu is now a God of Thunder! Congratulations!"

Zhu Xiuyuan smiled and chatted with him for a while.

Then Li Qingnu stepped forward and saluted, "Senior brother, why don't you see sister Zhen'er and Shuyu?"

Li Qingnu's face was full of smiles and her words were friendly, giving people a feeling of spring breeze.

"Your Highness, we all thought Brother Li was the only one who came, so they didn't come..." Zhu Xiuyuan bowed.

"Oh, I brought many gifts this time..." Li Qingnu smiled.

They chatted for a few more words, mostly related to their common master, the old beggar.

"Brother Li, His Majesty has arranged a reception banquet in the palace. Let's go directly to the palace." Zhu Xiuyuan finally said.

"Yes, that's fine!" Li Jiye nodded, and then asked Li Qingnu: "Sister, are you going?"

"I'm not going, I'm not going, I'd better go find Shuyu and sister Zhen'er," Li Qingnu said.

At the moment, Zhu Xiuyuan took Li Jiye straight to the palace, while Li Qingnu went to the Shenlei Hou Mansion.

Royal Palace.

Fengtian Temple.

All civil and military officials, including Emperor Chen, were all present, and a grand banquet was also in progress.

The food is good, the wine is good, and the singing and dancing are also extremely wonderful.

But this time, everyone was not in high spirits at the reception banquet. Everyone had their own little thoughts.

Emperor Chen was annoyed by Liang Guo's style of "collecting tributes has no effect, but immediately joins in when something good comes up". However, Emperor Chen is Emperor Chen after all. Although he is not happy in his heart, he has done a good job on the surface. .

If Zhu Xiuyuan hadn't known in advance that Chen Huang was dissatisfied, he would really have been fooled by Chen Huang just by looking at the surface.

Li Zhong and other civil officials, as well as the military attachés headed by Zhu Xiuyuan and Han Qingshan, also had their own concerns because of the policy of refining salt...

As for the protagonist of this banquet, Li Jiye, his thoughts were no longer on the banquet and singing and dancing. He was thinking about how to obtain the refined salt formula.

In short, after this welcome banquet, almost everyone was not happy.

Finally, after the banquet was over, Emperor Chen stood up and said, "I already know the purpose of Ambassador Liang Guogui's visit. However, Envoy Liang Guogui has just arrived today. He must be tired. How about we rest for a day and discuss it tomorrow?"

(End of this chapter)