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

Imperial Palace.

Taiji Hall.

"Pass my oral order: Order the Honglu Temple to send people to Jinguang Gate to meet the Western Regions delegation." The Honglu Temple is equivalent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Envoys from various countries must first go to the Honglu Temple to register before going to the Tang Dynasty, and can only meet the emperor if they are summoned.

"In addition, half of the cattle and sheep brought to Chang'an by the Western Regions delegation will be handed over to the Imperial Household Department. The rest will be sent to Lijin Manor without any mistakes!"

"Yes!"

The eunuch who replaced the old king bowed and respectfully accepted the order, then turned around and went to the Honglu Temple to find Li Daozong.

In the second year of Zhenguan, Li Daozong served as the Minister of the Honglu Temple and the Governor of Lingzhou.

Li Shimin seemed anxious at this moment. It was past 9:30 but Su Chen did not come.

He was still thinking about discussing with Su Chen about trade with the Western Regions. Although the barter terms offered by the King of the Western Regions were very generous, the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty instinctively did not want to let it go.

He subconsciously took out the letter from the Western Regions that he had received a month ago and studied it carefully.

"The letter only mentioned cattle, sheep and gold, but not sulfur!"

Li Shimin smiled knowingly and instantly thought of the additional conditions.

Sulfur is very important to the Tang Dynasty, and it is one of the main raw materials for making explosives. There must be something about yellow stones in the letter from the Western Regions, and Atana mentioned the yellow stones to Utuo later.

"Report!"

"Report to Your Majesty, Marquis Su and his party have entered the Suzaku Gate." The guards on the left and right of His Majesty entered the palace to report.

"You are just in time! Bring Marquis Su, King Wei, King Shu, King Chu, and Xue Rengui to the Imperial Study!" Li Shimin applauded loudly.

"Yes!"

Then, Li Shimin announced the adjournment of the court, leaving only Zhangsun Wuji and others.

The guards in front of the palace left the Taiji Palace, walked down the steps and went forward to greet Su Chen and his party.

Princess Changle's carriage happened to stop in the square in front of the Taiji Palace.

"I pay my respects to Lord Su, Your Highnesses!"

"His Majesty has ordered: Lord Su, King Wei, King Shu, King Chu, and Xue Rengui to go to the Imperial Study to discuss matters!" The guards conveyed the emperor's order word for word.

The guards did not notice that Xue Rengui was not there.

Su Chen nodded, looked at Princess Changle and said, "Li Zhi, you go to your mother first, I will find you later!"

"Yes!" Princess Changle nodded and walked towards Lizheng Palace with a few children.

Immediately, Su Chen and others walked up the steps of the Taiji Palace, looked at the guards and asked, "Brother, has the Western Regions delegation arrived?"

"Lord Su, please forgive me, I don't know about this!"

The guards were only responsible for guarding outside the Taiji Palace. Usually, they could not hear the ministers and the emperor talking during the Taiji Palace morning court.

"Old Wang, isn't today Saturday?"

Wang Defa knew what Su Chen meant by asking, and bowed and replied: "Replying to Lord Su, His Majesty instructed the ministers yesterday, and today's morning court will be held as usual."

"Oh, it seems that being an emperor also requires overtime!"

While speaking, Su Chen and his party came to the gate of Taiji Hall, and a group of ministers who were just hanging out walked out of the hall.

Just happened to meet Su Chen and others.

"Lord Su!"

"Good morning, Lord Su!"

"Lord Su, please!"

Various greetings came from the mouths of those officials above the fifth rank, and Su Chen bowed and smiled in return:

"Good morning, everyone, please go first!"

Su Chen took the initiative to step aside and make way.

After several refusals, Su Chen no longer hesitated and walked straight into the hall.

Not long after, Old Wang brought Su Chen and the other four into the imperial study.

Li Shimin smiled as he watched Su Chen walk away, "Come and sit down!" He pointed to the seat closest to him and waved, as if that seat was reserved for Su Chen.

"Okay! Good morning, everyone!"

Su Chen smiled and bowed to everyone, then slowly sat down.

"Hehe!"

Fang Xuanling and Changsun Wuji smiled, but didn't say what was in their mind.

It's almost ten o'clock, and you dare to let the emperor wait for you, you are really early!

"Your sons and ministers pay their respects to the emperor!" The three Li Tai brothers respectfully saluted Li Shimin.

"Well, sit down!" Li Shimin nodded and glanced at Li You.

He thought: Why did you call the pig farmer to the imperial study?

Without further ado, Li Shimin threw a look at Changsun Wuji. It seemed a bit unreasonable for the emperor to personally ask for advice on such a matter.

"Hmm~hum!"

"Su kid, the Western Regions delegation is about to enter the imperial city. His Majesty will summon the envoys soon... to discuss the trade mentioned in the letter, according to convention..." Changsun Wuji beat around the bush and couldn't get to the point for a while.

Su Chen was confused and asked in confusion: "Uncle Changsun, do you mean..."

Changsun Wuji saw that Su Chen was not getting the point, and said angrily: "I'm asking you, do you have a different opinion on the conditions mentioned in the Western Regions letter?"

"Letter? I have forgotten what is written in the letter, what can I think!"

"Hmph!" Li Shimin snorted coldly and threw the sheepskin letter to Su Chen.

Su Chen was quick-eyed and quick-handed, and he didn't catch the Western Regions letter thrown by Li Shimin.

CatchNothing!

Not feeling embarrassed at all, he picked up the parchment book and studied it for a while.

Su Chen touched his smooth and hairless chin and slowly said: "Well, the conditions offered by the Western Regions are nothing, and the price can even be shockingly high."

"But the freight is not clear, it's not easy to deal with!"

Including Li Shimin, everyone was confused.

Freight? Where did the new word come from!

Su Chen thought differently from them. It takes three months to go from Chang'an to the Western Regions.

The manpower and material resources required on this journey are too expensive.

Not cost-effective!

Without waiting for everyone to ask, Su Chen said to himself: "Why not, set aside an area on the border between the Western Regions and the Tang Dynasty for trading."

"In this way, both parties only need to be responsible for transportation within their own territory."

Li Shimin and the others understood that this was what Su Chen was talking about.

"Okay!" Li Shimin suddenly shouted.

"Your Majesty, excuse me, is Jiuquan the closest place to the Western Regions in the Tang Dynasty?" Su Chen was too lazy to secretly check the map. He seemed to think that Jiuquan in Gansu was the closest to Xinjiang.

Li Shimin looked at Fang Xuanling and others with blurred eyes.

Everyone shook their heads.

"Jiuquan, I have never heard of it!" Li Shimin shook his head.

He thought to himself: 'It seems that I am not a good emperor and I don't know much about the territory of the Tang Dynasty. '

"Sorry, I said Jiuquan is a village by mistake. It's normal that you haven't heard of it. It's Suzhou." Su Chen immediately realized that the place name was wrong.

"Yes! Suzhou is the closest to the Western Regions." Li Shimin nodded and replied.

Su Chen nodded. He originally said that setting up a trade zone in Suzhou would boost the local economy.

However, Gansu during the Tang Dynasty was quite wealthy.

The geological environment is completely different from that of modern times.

"Your Majesty, is the proposal just mentioned so finalized?" Su Chen looked at Li Shimin and confirmed.

Li Shimin did not ask for the opinions of the ministers present, and directly made the decision. "Well, I think this move is very appropriate, so let's do it!"

"Okay, then I will continue."

"Add one more clause to the agreement: the Western Regions cannot resell fine salt and tea, as well as other materials obtained from the Tang Dynasty exchange, to people in other countries, and can only circulate in the Western Regions."

"This clause is not negotiable!"

"Let's be mean first, and then be gentlemen. Let's say the ugly words in advance. If the Western Regions agree, it's fine. If they don't agree, then we'll break up."

"We already have some cotton seeds now. At most, we can plant them for a few years and think of other ways later."

Su Chen rarely had a serious look. When he said this, Li Shimin felt that there was no doubt about it.

"Okay, well said! Xuanling, write down everything Su Chen just said!"

Li Shimin liked to see Su Chen seriously planning things for him.

Fang Xuanling was already writing furiously when Su Chen started talking.

"Su Chen, please continue!" Li Shimin sat down slowly and motioned Su Chen to continue with a gentle face.

"Let me see what else I can find. By the way! The exchange items... should be mainly cotton and yellow stone blocks. It is best to send a person who is good at speaking to guide the development of cotton planting in the Western Regions and form a large-scale industry. Don't use gold instead of cotton when the season is wrong."

Li Shimin and others nodded silently when they heard this, and at the same time they were thinking about the person who was good at speaking in the court.

For a moment, they couldn't think of a suitable candidate.

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