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

When Atana saw Li Chengqian coming towards them, he immediately dismounted and stepped forward to greet him:

"Your Highness the Crown Prince is here!"

Atanan glanced at Su Yan beside Li Chengqian. He had never seen her before, so he didn't know how to greet her.

Utuo followed closely and dismounted, and the envoys behind him dismounted one after another.

"Wutuo, the Western Regions envoy, greets His Highness the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty!"

All the people behind him bowed and saluted like the wind blowing through a wheat field.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty is here, please stand up!" Li Chengqian stepped forward and helped Wutuo up, and saluted the team behind him loudly.

The 300 Western Regions envoys, plus the Tang Dynasty soldiers driving cattle and sheep, made a team of more than 600 people.

"Wow~Wow~You are the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty, you are really a handsome man!"

Li Chengqian looked over and saw a young man about the same age as Li You coming out from between Wutuo and Atana.

"Who are you?"

Li Chengqian didn't know who Zhao Yun was. When the guards of the Eastern Palace asked Ganzhou for help to report to Chang'an a month ago, they only knew that the Western Regions delegation would bring a thousand cattle and sheep to Chang'an, and the guards of the Eastern Palace who reported the news didn't know how many people were in the delegation.

"Ah! I am Zhao Yun, a name I chose myself.

How is it? Very impressive!

I like the famous general Zhao Zilong of the Three Kingdoms, who went in and out of Changbanpo seven times, and..."

Wutuo hurriedly stepped forward to block the chatterbox Zhao Yun behind him. Due to Zhao Yun's noble status, Wutuo could not scold him to shut up and could only block him behind him.

"Hey~ Hey~ I haven't finished yet!" Zhao Yun tried to push Wutuo away from behind.

"Please don't be offended, Your Highness, Zhao Yun is the third prince of the Western Regions. He has admired Han culture since he was a child. This time, with the permission of my Western Regions King, he came to the Tang Dynasty with the delegation to observe and learn."

Wutuo bowed and apologized to Li Chengqian.

"No wonder, no wonder! The envoy does not need to be polite. I have a younger brother who is about the same age as Zhao Yun, and their temperaments are also very similar."

"They will definitely become close friends, hahaha!"

Li Chengqian did not care about Zhao Yun's impulsive behavior at all, and then asked in a serious voice: "Envoy, this place is about 80 miles away from Chang'an City, why don't you stop here temporarily and continue tomorrow?"

Li Chengqian set out from the palace at 7:00 in the morning, and now it is 5:00, and it has only traveled 80 miles in five hours.

Moreover, Wutuo and his men have a group of cattle and sheep, and their progress is even slower.

Wutuo looked at Atana, "Your Highness, the guide suggested that we rush to Xingping County, ten miles ahead of Maweiyi, to rest for the night before dark, and we can reach the imperial city before noon tomorrow."

Li Chengqian nodded when he heard it. They had just passed Xingping County and were preparing to stay overnight at Maweiyi.

After checking his watch, Atana and his party were less than ten miles away from Xingping County, and they should be able to arrive before dark.

Wutuo was puzzled when he saw Li Chengqian checking his watch.

"Envoy, in that case, you should continue on your way. I will see you in Chang'an in two days!" Then he looked at Zhao Dakai beside him and ordered:

"General Zhao, order the troops to move aside and let the Western Regions delegation go first!"

Zhao Dakai responded, "I obey!"

"All troops, listen to the order, move aside! Let the other side go first!" Zhao Dakai jumped on his horse and shouted all the way!

The guards accompanying the prince dispersed to both sides of the road, making way.

Li Chengqian bowed and made way to the side of the road, "Envoy, please!"

"Thank you, Your Highness!" Wutuo bowed and folded his right hand across his chest in return.

"Keep on your way!"

With Atana's shout, the Western Regions delegation slowly moved forward.

"Wait a minute!" Li Chengqian saw fifteen carriages in front of the cattle and sheep, covered with a layer of straw.

"What are the carriages carrying?"

The carriage driver was a Westerner, and no one could understand what Li Chengqian said.

"Your Highness, the fifteen carriages are full of yellow stones." The people driving the cattle and sheep behind were Tang soldiers.

"Well, I know, let's move on!" Li Chengqian had guessed it long ago, but just wanted to confirm it.

The yellow stones are sulfur collected from the crater.

"Su Yan, did you see it? That's a yak, all meat! Strangely enough, the yak's hair is like a dress."

Five minutes later, the last people of the Western Regions delegation passed by Li Chengqian.

Each yak carried two large packages, which were woven with bark and vines, and padded with a layer of weeds.

"Your Highness, this visit is really unfortunate!" Su Yan looked at Li Chengqian and smiled slightly.

"Haha, don't worry. My brother-in-law can't eat all the cattle and sheep in a short time. We are not in a hurry!" Li Chengqian smiled.

Before setting off, he and Su Yan had already agreed to stay in Wugong County for one night tomorrow and return to Chang'an the next day.

Not long after, Zhao Dakai led the team to Li Chengqian's side."Su Yan, let's continue on our way. Mawei Posthouse is not far ahead!"

"Yes!" Su Yan nodded.

After Li Chengqian helped Su Yan onto the carriage, he smiled and said, "That Zhao Yun is really interesting!"

"There is also a rather grand carriage in their team. It should be Zhao Yun's carriage! But the carriage looks a bit delicate."

Suddenly, Li Chengqian thought of something and leaned out of the carriage and shouted:

"General Zhao, turn around and get two black goats!"

"I obey your order!"

Zhao Dakai turned his horse around without asking the reason and chased after the delegation that had just passed by them.

"Your Highness, you..." Su Yan was very puzzled as to why Li Chengqian suddenly wanted to catch goats.

"Su Yan, have you forgotten? We have brought hot pot and imperial chefs, so how can we not have the black goats from the Western Regions?"

"My brother-in-law has said more than once that black goats are much tastier than sheep!"

"Hehe!"

Li Chengqian also knew that yaks were not easy to get, so it was still feasible to get a sheep for hot pot.

They had never seen how to make hot pot with beef.

Not long after, two black goats with their limbs tied were carried over by four soldiers with long spears.

"Your Highness, the two black goats have been brought!"

"General Zhao, please take good care of them and keep them alive." Li Chengqian lifted the curtain of the car and reminded.

"Yes, sir!"

…………

At about three quarters of the evening, the sky had gradually darkened.

"Your Majesty, the guards of the Eastern Palace who were heading to the Western Regions reported that Atana and the Western Regions delegation had already reached Wugong County and would arrive in Chang'an at noon tomorrow."

Li Shimin and Empress Changsun had just finished their hot pot when Lao Wang came forward to report.

The guards of the Eastern Palace who came back from Wugong County to report the news had arrived at the palace two quarters of an hour ago. It took a lot of time to go to the Eastern Palace to find Li Chengqian.

Finally, they learned that the prince was not in the palace, so they could only convey the news to the emperor's eunuchs.

When he returned to Chang'an from Wugong County, he took a shortcut and did not meet Li Chengqian.

"Oh? Is there any news about sulfur and cotton?"

Li Shimin would not just eat, sometimes he would also care about national affairs.

The letter from the Western Regions that had been sent before only mentioned a thousand cattle and sheep and the price of exchanging fine salt and tea with the Tang Dynasty, but did not mention sulfur and cotton.

"Your Majesty, according to the guards, there are fifteen carriages of yellow stones and countless cotton, and each yak carries two large bags of white folds."

"The three princes and princesses of the Western Regions are also accompanying them."

The old king reported the truth.

"Hahaha, good! Send someone to send a letter to Su Chen quickly, tell him about this, and ask him to come to the palace tomorrow!"

Su Chen mentioned some time ago that the efficiency of refining sulfur from pyrite is extremely low, and one hundred kilograms of pyrite can barely extract one kilogram of sulfur.

The amount of pyrite in Hua County is small, and it can only be mined a few times. There are also pyrites in other places in the Tang Dynasty.

But it is too far away and inconvenient to transport.

"Yes!" The old king bowed, took two steps back and left quickly.

"Old Wang, come back!"

When Wang Defa walked to the door of the hall, Li Shimin stopped him.

"It's getting late. The delegation will arrive at noon tomorrow. We should notify Su Chen to come to the palace tomorrow morning. Also, bring them back to the palace."

After thinking for a while, Li Shimin added:

"No need to go too early, just go at 8 o'clock."

"That kid got up late!"

The old king felt that what the emperor said made sense, and bowed and responded:

"Yes!"

……

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