Tang Dynasty: The beginning of the game is to touch the Princess Changle

The letter from the noble family mainly mentioned the caravan formed four months ago, which had returned to Chang'an yesterday.

The caravan formed by more than a dozen families has a large number of people, more than 800 people, and more than 700 carriages.

In the past, when the Tang Dynasty caravan went to the Western Regions for business, silk fabrics would definitely be missing. But last time, there were only three kinds of goods: glass, fine salt, and tea.

Only more than 600 people returned to Chang'an this time. In Persia, which is far away from the Tang Dynasty, some of the noble family caravans failed to return in time.

The destination of the caravan is mainly Tianzhu (now Pakistan. During the Tang Dynasty, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh were collectively referred to as Tianzhu.)

Tocharistan (now Afghanistan), Shiguo (now Uzbekistan), Talas (now Kazakhstan), Kangguo (now Turkmenistan)

These countries are all located on the Central Asian Silk Road.

In addition to talking about the division of money, the letter also specifically mentioned that Su Chen must do the honor of the noble family to host a banquet for Su Chen and Li Chengqian at the Leshan Restaurant.

It is said that the restaurant has recently launched several new dishes, which are very popular.

"Li Zhi, do you want to go?" Su Chen looked at Princess Changle and Li Tai and asked.

Su Chen was not very interested in the money sharing and the family's treat. They just came back from Chang'an City yesterday.

Besides, how much gold could they get?

Su Chen guessed that it would not exceed one thousand taels at most. He remembered that the family seemed to be preparing to form a caravan of two hundred people.

As for the new dishes of Leshan Restaurant, he taught them all.

Princess Changle took the letter from Su Chen, read it and returned it to Su Chen, saying: "I won't go, you and the fourth brother go!" Then, Princess Changle turned and left.

"I'm not interested, you go!"

Su Chen looked at Li Tai and before he could speak, Li Tai refused.

"Alas! It's better to go one day earlier, so that I have to go to Chang'an again!" Su Chen sighed, very depressed!

After thinking for a while, he looked at the servant who delivered the letter and asked, "Is the messenger still here?"

"My Lord, the messenger is still waiting outside the manor." The servant bowed and replied.

Su Chen nodded, "Well, let him tell the heads of the families that I will definitely arrive at noon."

The letter from the head of the family has been delivered. If Su Chen does not go, it would be too rude.

"Okay, Lord!"

Then, Su Chen looked at Li Tai with a smile on his face, "You really don't want to go? I'll give you some money, but it's all gold, don't you want it?"

"Tsk!"

Li Tai raised his hand, looked at Su Chen with disdain, and walked towards the study.

"Ah~ Hey! You fat man, let Li Zhi ask you to pay back the money someday. I think you had to borrow a few cents from others in the past, but now you are tough!"

Su Chen followed Li Tai and verbally attacked him.

"How much do you want to give me?"

Li Tai suddenly stopped, raised his hand and asked lightly while flicking his fingers.

"Uh~ I'll give you 20% of my share!" Su Chen was caught off guard by Li Tai's sudden change.

"Okay, deal! When do we leave?"

Li Tai agreed very readily.

"Let's leave now. Let's go to the palace to call my brother-in-law first."

Su Chen looked at his watch. It was 9:15.

Li Ke and Xue Rengui had disappeared early in the morning. They were probably training with the 500 Xuanjia soldiers.

Su Chen called Wang Chao and Ma Han and set off. Li Tai brought a few guards with him. What made Su Chen even more depressed was that Li Tai refused to ride in a carriage.

In desperation, Su Chen had to ride on horseback.

Halfway through, Su Chen and others met someone sent by Li Chengqian to deliver a message. Li Chengqian was worried that Su Chen would not want to leave the manor for the banquet, so he sent someone to invite him.

At 10:20, Su Chen and Li Tai entered the Suzaku Gate and were stunned by the scene in front of them.

There were at least 300 carriages in the Taiji Palace Square, and several layers of sacks of "goods" were stacked on each carriage.

Only the carriage frame and the goods on it were left, and the horses had been untied.

That is, in the palace, the square in front of the Taiji Palace was large enough, and the square of Su Chen Manor was big enough to park a hundred carriages!

Just as Su Chen and Li Tai were stunned, there was a chaotic sound of horse hooves behind them.

A long team of carriages drove towards the Suzaku Gate.

This was the third batch of carriages entering the palace, a total of 537 carriages.

Li Shimin and Li Chengqian stood on the steps of the Taiji Palace, saw Su Chen and Li Tai, raised their hands and waved to them.

"Su Chen, father has seen us, come over!" Li Tai bowed to Li Shimin in the distance.

"Oh, oh! Damn, this isn't all gold, is it?"

When Su Chen entered the Suzaku Gate, he was still riding a horse. Li Tai reminded Su Chen that riding a horse was not allowed in the palace.

Su Chen heard this, dismounted and threw the reins to Li Tai. He thought to himself, with so much gold being transported back to Chang'an from such a remote place in the Western Regions, wouldn't there be anyone who would rob them on the road?

Soon, Su Chen and Li Tai passed through many obstacles and came to Li Tai'sIn front of Shimin and Li Chengqian.

"Your Majesty, aren't these all gold?"

Su Chen pointed at the neatly arranged carriages on the square and asked in shock.

Although Su Chen was not too obsessed with the money of the Tang Dynasty, the sudden appearance of so much gold in front of him was still a big visual impact.

"Haha! As you think, all gold."

"According to the Li clan leader, there are a total of 537 carriages returning to Chang'an this time, and the rest of the caravans and carriages may still be on the way back."

Li Shimin smiled and nodded, introducing the situation reported by Li Shanhuai to Su Chen.

Su Chen silently calculated that 537 carriages, each with five layers of sacks, had at least 1,000 kilograms of gold.

The carriages were tied well with hemp ropes, but Su Chen didn't know that most of the sacks were filled with weeds, and the gold was estimated to be only about 100 kilograms per carriage.

"Tsk~tsk~tsk! How much gold must there be here!"

Li Shimin smiled and nodded, and after a brief estimate, he said, "More than 80,000 jin."

"Oh my god! More than 80,000 jin?"

"How is that possible? The carriages are so full, at least one carriage has 1,000 jin on it." Su Chen couldn't believe that so many sacks could only hold more than 100 jin of gold.

"You also make mistakes? Atana knew how to hide gold in cotton, and the noble family has been doing business for many years but is not as good as Atana?"

Li Shimin said with disdain.

"Well, your majesty makes sense. A carriage is loaded with more than 100 jin of gold, so why can't you share the carriage?" Su Chen muttered as he looked at the hundreds of carriages in the square.

Su Chen calculated again. According to the Tang Dynasty rate, one tael of gold is ten strings of copper coins, and one jin of gold is 160 strings of copper coins...

"Fuck, more than 10 million strings of copper coins!" You don't know until you calculate it. Su Chen was shocked after calculating it.

Then, Su Chen asked Li Shimin curiously:

"Your Majesty, I have a question. You said that with so much gold being transported from the Western Regions back to the Tang Dynasty, no one dared to rob on the road?"

Most people don't dare to do illegal things because the profit is not big enough.

Su Chen believes that the ancients were the same. With big enough profit, who cares about the law!

Li Shimin looked at Li Chengqian beside him and said, "Great, you answer!"

Li Chengqian bowed and said, "Okay, father!"

"Brother-in-law, this is the case. All countries have criminal laws to protect foreign merchants, because foreign merchants can bring species that are lacking or rare in their own country."

"For example, the cucumbers and peppers you mentioned, as well as Kunlun melons, were all brought to the Tang Dynasty by the Western Regions."

"But the porcelain and silk products unique to the Tang Dynasty are not available in the Western Regions. Therefore, foreign merchants are very important to every country. If someone is found to have robbed and killed a merchant, any country will definitely impose severe punishment."

"And foreign merchants usually travel in groups, with hundreds or thousands of people. Ordinary bandits dare not rob rashly."

Su Chen nodded silently when he heard this, as if it made sense.

Not long after, the carriage team entering the palace from behind had been counted.

Li Shanhuai, Lu Changfeng, Cui Yuanzong (Qinghe Cui family), Wang Kaishan, Zheng Guang and other five representatives of the aristocratic families came to the bottom of Taiji Hall.

"Your Majesty, 537 carriages have been counted. Please send someone to weigh them."

Li Shanhuai bowed and saluted.

Li Shimin glanced at Su Chen, signaling Su Chen to handle the matter.

"What?"

Li Shimin frowned and glared, and nodded to the heads of the aristocratic families below.

"Oh~oh, what...why don't we go to the side hall to talk?"

Su Chen understood the emperor's meaning and walked down the steps and bowed.

"Just at the command of Lord Su!"

The heads of the families smiled and bowed.

"Please, heads of the families!"

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