Tibet

Li Fuguo came to the living room, and the middle-aged man stood up and saluted: "I am Zhao Feng, a staff member of Lulong Jiedushi Li Huaixian's tent. Following the Jiedushi's order, I came here to give the prince a small gift!"

Li Fuguo had just been canonized as the Prince of Huaiyang County, but no one called him Prince. This envoy of Li Huaixian was the first person to call him Prince. This made Li Fuguo feel very comfortable. He nodded and said, "Please sit down!"

The middle-aged man Zhao Feng sat down, and a maid came in to serve tea. Li Fuguo asked slowly: "I heard that a civil war broke out in Youzhou?"

"Reporting to the prince, the war is over. My Jiedushi killed Shi Chaoqing and has taken control of the entire Youzhou!"

"Really? Then Shi Chaoyi will value your Jiedushi even more!"

Zhao Feng did not explain, but pointed to the thing in his hand to a guard next to him. The guard stepped forward, placed a brocade box on the table, and opened it himself.

This was of course to prevent the middle-aged man from being an assassin. The middle-aged man had already been searched, but this box was sealed and difficult to open for inspection, so the guards held it in their hands and they were responsible for opening it.

This kind of detail is very important, otherwise a random assassin pretending to be the gift giver would kill Li Fuguo.

Of course Li Fuguo would not make such a low-level and stupid mistake. He also had a personal bodyguard behind him to protect him at all times.

The guard opened the lid, and there were ten bright pearls inside, shining with luster. Li Fuguo was immediately attracted. These are extremely rare walking beads!

The ancients regarded pearls as the moon and attached great importance to pearls. Pearls generally refer to seawater pearls. Since ancient times, pearls have been divided into eight grades. The highest grade is the large grade, with a diameter of at least half an inch, ranging from the size of a pigeon egg to an egg. It must be Round, gold-plated or luminous. Gold-plated is a golden pearl, and luminous is a luminous pearl.

High-quality pearls are rare in the world, and there may only be a few in the imperial palace.

The second level is pearls, which are usually golden pearls, luminous pearls, or colorful pearls and moon pearls. They are smaller in size than large ones, but they are also extremely precious and difficult to own even for high-ranking officials.

The third level is the rolling beads. The rolling beads are round, extremely round. When placed on the table, they will keep spinning without stopping. Generally, only high-ranking officials will own one or two. Most of them are given by the emperor. .

These three levels of pearls have always been high-end and cannot be seen on the market at all.

As for the next five grades, slippery beads, leiluo beads, official rain beads, tax beads, and green onion beads, they are basically all available in the market. For example, Mrs. Dugu has a top-quality pearl bracelet on her hand, which is visible in the market. The highest grade sliding beads.

High-quality pearls will not deteriorate even if they have been left for thousands of years. Just like the necklace unearthed from the tomb of Li Jingxun in the Sui Dynasty, it was studded with pearls. Fourteen hundred years have passed, but the pearls are still shining without calcification.

Therefore, whether a treasure has inheritance value, the ancients only had one criterion to test it, time.

For example, among all kinds of jade, only Hetian jade is the most precious. The reason is that it remains immortal after being buried in the soil for thousands of years. The density and hardness of other jade are too low to withstand the test of time.

As for the artificially cultivated freshwater pearls that began in the Song Dynasty, they are of an even lower grade. They cannot be called pearls, but real pearls. Real pearls will calcify after decades.

Later, beads ground from various corals, agates, jade, etc. were called material beads. The rise of material beads was because the technology of artificially cultured pearls was lost in the Qing Dynasty. There were not so many natural beads, so they had to be ground manually. system.

As for the various round pearls now available, they are basically made by beating low-end freshwater pearls into powder and then gluing them together again. They are counterfeit. Of course, this is better than using plastic beads coated with a layer of pearl powder.

I digressed, and come back again.

The ten beads given by Li Huaixian were walking beads. Although there were only ten beads, they still made Li Fuguo a little bit unable to sit still.

You must know that the various treasures accumulated by the imperial court were either packed and taken to Bashu by the Supreme Emperor, or snatched away by An Lushan. Therefore, it is difficult for a rising star like Li Fuguo to own inheritance-level treasures, which are almost gold, silver, and copper coins.

Li Fuguo looked at it for a long time before moving his eyes away from the pearl, and said slowly to Zhao Feng: "You and I both know who Li Huaixian is. Logically speaking, I cannot accept this gift. Just tell me what Li Huaixian's intentions are!" Let me decide whether I can accept this gift or not?"

Zhao Feng took out a letter and presented it to Li Fuguo, "This is an autographed letter from the Jiedu Envoy. Please read it!"

Li Fuguo opened the letter and read it again. His eyelids jumped suddenly. Li Huaixian wanted to surrender to the court?

This is a good thing! He was a little confused and asked: "It is a good thing to surrender to the court. Just surrender. Why do you still give me gifts?"

Zhao Feng whispered: "The main thing is conditional surrender."

So that’s it, Li Fuguo said coldly: “Tell me the conditions!”

Zhao Feng took out another letter and presented it to Li Fuguo, "My Jiedushi's conditions are all listed above!"

Li Fuguo opened the letter and read it, his brows suddenly furrowed, "This asking price is too high, and the court cannot agree to it!"

"That's why we need to negotiate! I believe we can reach a satisfactory result."

While talking, Zhao Feng took out another brocade box from his arms, opened the lid and placed it on the table. Li Fuguo narrowed his eyes. This was a pair of out-and-out golden beads. Just these two beads. It's worth at least one hundred thousand dollars.

"After this is done, my Jiedushi will still thank you very much!"

Li Fuguo nodded, "Okay! I'll try my best to persuade the emperor to start negotiations."

Zhao Feng said goodbye and left. Li Fuguo thought for a moment and immediately ordered: "Prepare the carriage, I want to enter the palace!"

Li Heng has a relatively gloomy character and does not trust all officials. This is a character that he gradually formed during his long-term suppression as a prince. It has been deeply rooted in his bones and is difficult to change.

It was this character that made Li Heng very dependent on the eunuch. In his heart, the only person he could trust was the eunuch, and he did not even trust his son, which led to the tragedy of the prince's tragic death.

Although Li Heng did not admit that he trusted the eunuchs in front of the prime ministers, he also kept saying that eunuchs could not be allowed to interfere in politics, but saying it was one thing and doing it was another matter.

After reading the letter given to him by Li Fuguo, Li Heng was suddenly surprised and happy. Li Huaixian actually wanted to surrender to the court. This was a good thing!

But Li Heng was a little worried. What if Li Huaixian became Shi Siming's second again?

Li Fuguo smiled slightly and said: "Your Majesty, don't worry. Li Huaixian is not Shi Siming. Shi Siming killed too many people in Hebei. He knew that he had sinned heavily and was afraid that the court would liquidate him, so he did not surrender sincerely. Li Huaixian did not have the sins of Shi Siming, nor did he have the sins of Shi Siming." Such ambition to become emperor, the old slave thinks that he really wants to surrender."

Li Heng thought about it and asked, "What conditions does he have?"

Li Fuguo did not dare to take out Li Huaixian's second letter. He just said vaguely: "He must have some conditions. For example, he wants to be the governor of Fan Yang, wants to be canonized by a king, and wants autonomy. The old slave feels that these You can talk about everything, you can give him some power, or you can take back some power. It's better than nothing. More importantly, as long as he surrenders to the court, there will be no rebellion in Youzhou, and he can even assist the court to destroy Shi Chaoyi. , Your Majesty still expects Li Ye to unify the world? Do you still want to give the emperor's brother time to grow up?"

Li Fuguo knew Li Heng too well, and every word he said hit Li Heng's key point. Now Li Heng also knew that with the strength and financial resources of the imperial court, it was no longer possible to suppress Shi Siming's rebellion. Li Ye did have the strength to let Li Ye send troops. The price is too high. If he is allowed to pacify the world, the world will belong to him. Li Heng is already regretting letting him regain Luoyang. He will never make the same mistake again.

The second is the problem of the emperor's brother. This is even more serious and urgent than Li Ye's problem. Now their energy is tied up by the rebels. He must end the rebellion as soon as possible before he can concentrate on dealing with the Supreme Emperor and Yong. Wang Lilin.

Thinking of this, Li Heng finally agreed to Li Fuguo's plan. He nodded, "I agree to negotiate!"