Northern Dynasties Imperial Industry

Although the Western Wei troops on the north bank of the Han River evacuated, Fancheng had been lost and recovered. Except for the departure of nearly 10,000 soldiers and civilians stationed in Fancheng, everything seemed to be back to what it was yesterday.

But what has happened is destined to leave traces. No matter how much the appearance is repaired and covered up, it will never become the same as before. Some seemingly small cracks may have spread extremely deep inside.

King Yueyang has been very busy in recent days. Although he was forced to bow his head and admit his mistake to the people of the Western Wei Dynasty, and his face was quite damaged, he still suffered on behalf of others. Especially when the imperial court had already sent troops to Huaibei, it was not appropriate to start a war on two fronts, which made King Yueyang's behavior even more complex.

Although King Xiangdong, the governor of Jianghan, sent people to ask about the battle, he did not blame King Yueyang for this, but slightly praised King Yueyang for his wise retreat from the enemy. Of course King Yueyang did not take this verbal award seriously, but he was doubly happy that King Xiangdong could do nothing to him.

In addition, this war also greatly improved the situation of King Yueyang in Xiangyang, and his control over the entire Yong Mansion was greatly improved.

Before the war between the two parties, King Yueyang concentrated soldiers and materials from various counties and counties in Xiangyang on the pretext of preparing for war, so that scattered personnel forces were gathered in his own hands, and his strength and confidence increased.

Liu Fanggui, an old official in the state government, defected to the enemy, which gave King Yueyang a reason to purge the state government officials. He disposed of many subordinates who were closely related to Liu Fanggui, and then arranged for his palace retainers to serve in the state government. Today, in the Yongzhou Prefecture, there is no other voice that can question and oppose his decision.

The King of Yueyang entered the country for more than a year, and during this period he made various efforts. However, it was only through a foreign invasion that he finally established a firm foothold in Xiangyang and gained the energy to compete with the powerful local families in Xiangyang.

Of course, it's not all good. The hostility shown by Jingzhao Du towards him during the battle also made King Yueyang more vigilant.

However, he did not directly fall out with the Du family. As one of the big families who moved south, the Jingzhao Du family had been based in the Xiangyang area for many years, and had considerable power and influence in the upper reaches of the Han River since his father's generation. King Yueyang was not sure that he could catch all the Du family. If the snake survived, the northwest area of ​​Yongzhou would be disrupted.

Du family also knew that she was in the wrong. On the one hand, she took the initiative to apologize to King Yueyang and admitted her mistake. On the other hand, she sent her clan members to Jiangling, hoping that King Xiangdong would speak out to protect them. After all, King Xiangdong was the elder of the clan, and also had the military power of governor of Yongzhou. He was the superior of King Yueyang.

King Yueyang has also been dealing with this matter during this period. Not only the Du family in Jingzhao, he also hopes to use this to make the Wei family, Liu family and other wealthy people left in the village show their obedience to him and establish a relationship between each other. Master-slave relationship.

However, this matter is obviously not easy. In addition to the fact that these wealthy families have many ethnic groups and are deeply rooted in Xiangyang, it is also because the representatives of their respective families, such as Wei Can, Liu Zhongli and others, have deep friendships with the current prince, and they have a natural relationship with him. They, the sons of the former prince, became estranged.

On this day, King Yueyang went to the Wei family's villa in the suburbs to visit an elder of the Wei family, hoping that he could take up the post of Sima of the state capital after Liu Fanggui surrendered the enemy. He was sincere, but he was still declined by the other party, saying that he was dim-sighted. , lack of energy, but refused to serve in the state capital.

King Yueyang returned to his mansion physically and mentally exhausted. Soon after he heard that Cai Dabao and his entourage who had been envoy to Mianbei had returned, he cheered up and summoned Cai Dabao into his mansion.

"Cai Canjun, please excuse me. It must be a hard journey. Let's drink a cup of pepper tea to ward off the cold and warm your belly!"

When Cai Dabao entered the hall, King Yueyang quickly said with a smile, and personally cooked a cup of tea with ginger, cinnamon and pepper powder, and passed it to Cai Dabao by the clerk.

Cai Dabao thanked the king quickly, then held the cup in both hands and began to sip slowly. However, the stomach-warming tea he was used to drinking made him think deeply today.

"When Cai Canjun went to Rangcheng, how did Governor Li receive him? Did the gift he gave him in return meet his wishes?"

King Yueyang looked at Cai Dabao and asked with a smile. He was very curious about Li Tai's reaction when he saw the gift in return, so he almost asked directly if he blinded the Beilu's dog eyes?

Cai Dabao was a little distracted, but it took him a while to realize what he was doing. He hurriedly put down his cup, told the king about his mission, and presented Li Tai's reply to King Yueyang in both hands.

King Yueyang was not in a hurry to read the reply, but listened to Cai Dabao's story with great interest. Cai Dabao also understood what the king really cared about, and focused on the reaction of Li Tai and his subordinates after seeing the return gift.

"Alas, the Westerners founded their country because they were poor and weak, with little knowledge and even less material resources. That Governor Li was already one of them with good knowledge. He once had the honor to enter the prisoner's house. I thought he received all the things he gave me there. He was grateful for my kindness and had no repayment for it, so he reluctantly gave it up. But it was not necessary. He valued it for me and gave it back twice as much. It was not to show off to him, but to tell him that these common things were ordinary to me. , no need to send it this way.”

Listening to Cai Dabao's account of the fuss made by Li Tai and others, King Yueyang felt refreshed, and even his previous depression and bad mood improved due to hitting a wall.

Although he didn't say it, in his heart he was still unhappy with Li Tai, a general of the Western Dynasty who was younger than him. He failed to defeat the opponent on the battlefield, and being able to overpower him in other places was considered a victory. .

"Captain Li is also ashamed that he is short of material resources. He said that it is rude to give a gift that cannot be liked by others. However, he has benefited a lot from the king for nothing, and he feels even more ashamed. He does not dare to expose his ugliness anymore, so he can only sincerely give gifts to his family. I built a few things in the village to express my gratitude to the king."

Seeing that the king was in a good mood, Cai Dabao continued to relay what Li Tai said.

"I'm so weak!"

Hearing these obviously weak words, King Yueyang couldn't help but smile. Obviously, what he said before was not to show off, and it was not true. He sent the envoy to the north just to show off his wealth to Li Tai, although the preparation of these return gifts made him quite happy. It felt strenuous, but being able to hear the opponent bow his head and admit defeat also made him extremely happy.

Although he felt that he was a little embarrassed, King Yueyang still laughed for a while before he stopped smiling and said: "Although the earthenware is not precious, it is always thoughtful and presented to me for a while."

After hearing this, another servant went out and took out the things Cai Dabao had sent to the palace.

Compared with the last gift-giving array, this time it was much more low-key. There was only one and a half-person-high box in total, and wooden boxes wrapped in brocade cloth of various sizes were stacked inside. The packaging was quite exquisite. The quantity is relatively shabby, which shows that Li Tai has completely given up on the idea of ​​competing with King Yueyang for wealth.

Cai Dabao stepped forward, personally took out these gift boxes one by one, and presented them to King Yueyang's desk one by one.

What is placed in this first gift box is an object the size of half a palm, shaped like jade, and fragrant. It feels smooth but not hard, and it does not look like jade jewelry. King Yueyang feels like it. It was some kind of food, but he didn't dare to taste it rashly. He just looked at Cai Dabao and asked, "What is this?"

"According to Mr. Li, this thing is called chalcedony ointment. It is prepared using a secret method. It is as effective as facial oil, hand ointment, and fragrant bath beans..."

Cai Dabao introduced it while covering up the usage with his bare hands. When the King of Yueyang saw the novelty, he sent someone to bring water in a copper basin and tried it himself. Looking at the refreshing palms and smelling the fragrance on his hands, he couldn't help but smile and said: "Interesting and interesting, this Li family deserves it." If they were not from a famous family in the North, how could their family have such exquisite thoughts?"

Although I find it interesting, it is not very surprising. After all, there are bath beans and other similar daily necessities. As a royal nobleman, the daily necessities used by King Yueyang are also ingenious and rare.

The next gifts are also related to daily life and food, some exotic spices, or some exquisite utensils.

King Yueyang admired it with great interest, and commented casually, but he couldn't help but feel a little tasteful in his heart. Just looking at these things sent by the other party, it can be seen that Li Boshan is poor, but his quality of life seems to be better than him. A few points higher. Although he was rich, he did not know how to enjoy life any better than the other party. Many of the daily necessities sent by others were things he had never heard of.

This discomfort reached its peak when he saw the last item presented by Cai Dabao. King Yueyang looked at the small, regular-shaped particles that were as white as ice and snow in the porcelain jar. He did not ask questions, but just asked again. He looked straight at Cai Dabao.

Cai Dabao looked at the items in the jar and couldn't help but swallowed a mouthful of saliva. Then he said to King Yueyang: "This thing is called frost sugar by the Li family, but after the official tried it, it was just stone honey."

"Shimi? How can Shimi be so crystal clear?"

After hearing this, King Yueyang immediately widened his eyes and shook his head. He refused to believe it at all. He first asked someone to pour out some granules for the servants to try. After a while, he didn't see any abnormality in them. He just had a look of endless aftertaste on his face. King Yueyang finally couldn't bear it. I couldn't help but twist some out and put it into my mouth to taste. After tasting it, my eyebrows suddenly relaxed.

"Li Dadu supervises his subordinates and informs the king that if the things here are suitable for use, he can send them to others. Due to the limitation of work materials, other types must be given in limited quantities. But the stone honey and frost sugar can be given to the king if necessary. Yes, Governor Li can send the ten stones first..."

Seeing the intoxicated expression on King Yueyang's careful taste, Cai Dabao spoke again.

"Ten, ten stones? Did he really say that? Did Cai Shenjun hear it correctly?"

After King Yueyang heard this, his expression suddenly changed and he hurriedly asked.

Cai Dabao then pointed to Li Tai's reply: "Even if the official heard it wrong, it should be stated in the letter, and the king can read it to confirm."

After being reminded by Cai Dabao, King Yueyang remembered it. He hurriedly grabbed the letter, tore it open and read it carefully. After a while, his face became ecstatic: "How can ten stones be enough? I want more!"