At night.
The Ouchi Imperial Palace is decorated with lights and colors everywhere, extremely gorgeous and extravagant.
The courtiers of the third rank and above took their seats with their families, filling a large open space in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, which further showed the grandeur and excitement of today's event.
Shangguan Yi attended the banquet alone. After greeting all the courtiers warmly, he sat at a table near the high platform.
Although Jiang Lin had already told the Ministry of Internal Affairs to prohibit the Ministry of Internal Affairs from providing the imperial dining room with the ingredients requested by Prince Rong.
Moreover, in the past few days, Shangguan Yi also secretly sent people to monitor outside Prince Rong's residence, but did not see any food items coming in or out.
However, Shangguan Yi ordered people to go to the imperial kitchen to inquire about the situation, but he did not hear Prince Rong informing the imperial kitchen to change the menu!
This makes Shangguan Yi full of doubts!
Even the ingredients for the dinner were not prepared. What did Prince Rong plan to entertain the Xia envoys?
Air?
Just when Shangguan Yi was full of doubts, Emperor Liang had already walked onto the high platform in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony with Queen Shangguan and several beloved concubines.
"Long live your Majesty—Long live—Long live—"
All the ministers stood up one after another and bowed down to Emperor Liang.
Emperor Liang raised his hand calmly: "My dear friends, please get back on your feet!"
"Today the Crown Prince of Xia Kingdom comes to court, and I have specially arranged a dinner to entertain him."
"Just think of it as a family dinner tonight, so there's no need to be formal."
"Yes!" Everyone stood up again and thanked Emperor Liang.
Xia Wenqi was sitting under a high platform not far from Emperor Liang. Sitting next to him was his sister, Xia Wenying.
However, Xia Wenying kept her head lowered, looking frightened, as if she was not used to such a grand event.
Seeing that everyone was here, but there wasn't even half a dish on the table, only some silverware, knives and forks, Xia Wenqi couldn't help but sneered.
"Your Majesty, I originally thought that it would be very unsightly for us Xia people to eat large pieces of meat and drink a lot of wine."
"I didn't expect that the great country of Liang Dynasty would still use this knife and fork to eat!"
"Isn't this no different from drinking blood with hair?"
After saying that, Xia Wenqi laughed to himself.
Not only did Xia Wenqi have this idea, several courtiers also showed dissatisfaction when they saw the knives and forks on the table.
"I heard that today's dinner was planned and prepared by Prince Rong? Why, did Prince Rong just use a knife and fork to greet the envoys?"
"Alas! We, Daliang, are originally a huge country, but we overturned on such a small detail!"
"Can eating with a knife and fork be a civilized person's behavior? Even if I don't eat a bite of food these days, I will definitely not use the knife and fork!"
"That's right! Nondescript! It's really a joke to the people of Xia!..."
Emperor Liang looked at the knife and fork in his hand with a very puzzled expression.
I remember that the fourth child promised me that tonight's dinner would definitely impress the Xia Kingdom's envoys and allow them to experience a new and unprecedented experience!
But, does the new experience he talks about mean eating with a knife and a fork?
What a novel experience this is!
However, since you have chosen to trust the fourth child, let’s see what tricks he will come up with soon!
Faced with Xia Wenqi's sarcasm, Song Huan chose to laugh it off.
"The Crown Prince of the Xia Kingdom grew up in a small area of the Xia Kingdom. I'm afraid he has never heard of what Western food is!"
"Today, I take this opportunity to open your eyes!"
"Lest you go around talking nonsense and lose the face of your Xia royal family!"
With that said, Song Huan clapped his hands and signaled the imperial kitchen to start serving food.
Not long after, I saw a group of palace ladies holding trays in their hands and wearing light gauze skirts, walking slowly towards the moon.
When everyone saw what was in the palace maid's tray, their eyes widened in disbelief!
"This is……"
"This is a glass cup!"
"This is the first time I have seen such a beautifully made glass cup!"
"Yes! This glass is made of crystal clear and flawless! It is even more exquisite than the glass Buddha statue that the Xia Kingdom paid tribute to ten years ago!"
"And the most important thing is that everyone has such an exquisite glass cup!"
"Oh my God, I couldn't have been mistaken!"
"Did Prince Rong buy all this with his own money?"
"How much will it cost to have so many glass cups?"
"..."
Xia Wenqi stared at the glass cup on the table and smiled proudly.
"I just heard from some adults that tonight's dinner was personally planned by Prince Rong."
"It turns out that Prince Rong was so generous and purchased hundreds of exquisite colored glaze cups from our Xia Kingdom!"
"Prince Rong must have spent a lot of money to buy so many glazed cups, right?"
"I still have to thank Prince Rong for his strong support to our Xia merchants!"
Song Huan sneered: "Your Majesty, you are a little too confident!"
"Who told you that this is your Xia Kingdom's glass cup?"
"This is obviously the glass independently developed and produced by Daliang!"
"The prince doesn't even think about it. With Xia's current technology, can he create such a flawless and radiant glass cup?"
Xia Wenqi's expression changed and he stared at the cup at hand again.
Now that I look at it carefully, I can see that it is even more exquisite than the colored glaze produced in Xia Kingdom!
However, Xia Wenqi was not willing to believe that this could actually be the colored glaze that Daliang could create!
"impossible!"
"Absolutely impossible!"
"Our Xia Kingdom has hundreds of years of excellent black iron forging technology. It is with the support of this technology that we can create top-notch colored glaze."
"Prince Rong said this was produced in Daliang, but is there any evidence?"
Song Huan smiled and said nothing. On the other side, Liu Qing, who was sitting at the same table as Liu Delin, the Minister of Household Affairs, stood up and bowed to Emperor Liang.
"Your Majesty!"
"I can testify!"
"Prince Rong ordered me to build a glaze workshop in the west of the city in advance for tonight's dinner!"
"These glass cups, as well as the glass plates and bowls needed for the dinner..."
"All of them are made by my master craftsman in the Liulic Workshop!"
"Moreover, Prince Rong treats craftsmen well and recruits talented people in Bianjing City."
"Anyone who has the ability will be recruited into the Liulic Workshop by Prince Rong with a high salary!"
As soon as Liu Qing finished speaking, several courtiers said: "That's right! Wei Chen has indeed seen Liulicongfang's recruitment booth in the city!"
"The conditions for recruiting workers in this glass workshop are very favorable. Those craftsmen are full of praise for Prince Rui's kindness. Now it has become a favorite story in the streets of Daliang and after dinner!"
"It is known among the people that Prince Rong is generous to others and extremely generous to craftsmen!"
"I didn't expect that the glaze produced in Prince Rong's glaze workshop would be of such high quality!"
Liu Qing smiled and sat down. Liu Delin beside him was already stunned.
"You kid, since when did you do such a thing behind my back?"
"I do not know how!"
Liu Qing chuckled: "Dad, isn't it a great thing for my son to do this?"
"From now on we, Daliang, can be proud and use our own colored glaze!"
"You no longer have to spend that unjust money to buy it at a high price from Xia merchants!"
"Do you think this is a very meaningful thing?"
Looking at the increasingly mature Liu Qing beside him, Liu Delin couldn't help but burst into tears.
This kid has finally grown up and is no longer the bastard who just talks about asking for money!
It seems that following Prince Rong has really made this kid grow up a lot!
