"The envoy from the Zhenla Kingdom pays homage to His Majesty the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty~!"
"The envoy from Funan Kingdom pays homage to His Majesty the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty~!"
"The envoy from Piao State pays homage to His Majesty the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty~!"
As Li Xiaogong finished speaking, a group of people with different skin colors and clothes got off the boat. They followed various etiquettes and spoke respectfully to Li Er.
Some people spoke their own language, and some people spoke directly in very blunt Chinese. Seeing this, Li Xiaogong quickly assigned a middle-aged scribe next to him to help translate.
After Li Er heard this, Hou Longyan was delighted. As an emperor, there is no reason why he would not be happy with his achievements. It's just that each emperor's emphasis is different.
"Haha~! Okay~! Where is Cui Aiqing~?"
Cui Shanfu stood out from the crowd of civil and military officials, cupped his hands and said, "I'm here, my old minister!"
"Bring the envoys from various countries to Honglu Temple to entertain them without any mistakes! Three days later, I will summon the envoys from all countries at the Great Court Meeting!"
In the Tang Dynasty, Honglu Temple was one of the nine temples. It was in charge of tribute, banquets, gifts, and welcomes from the four barbarians, as well as the country's ominous rituals, the Zhongdu Temple, Taoist Book Accounts, and other prohibitions. When the ruler comes to court, his envoys will identify their rank, treat them with courtesy, provide them with accommodation, give them speeches, gifts, and host banquets. There will be a preceptor to prepare the tools in advance, and a translator who is responsible for translating under his jurisdiction. All twenty of them are proficient in different foreign languages.
In general, Honglu Temple is equivalent to the modern Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the additional function of a translation bureau. Cui Shanfu was the minister of Honglu Temple at this time.
An institution corresponding to Honglu Temple is called Dianke Department, but the functions of the two are substantially different. Honglu Temple deals with foreign guests, while Dianke Department mainly handles ethnic affairs.
"I obey your decree~!"
Cui Shanfu remained calm on his face, but he was secretly complaining in his heart, because this time there were envoys from thirty-two countries. The number was so large that it was rare to see him in a hundred years. There were so many envoys from different countries. It was difficult to communicate, let alone other things, and the pressure on Cui Shangfu suddenly became full.
After the envoys from various countries left the dock with Cui Shanfu and headed for Chang'an, Li Er looked at the endless ships on the river, turned around and said:
"Xiao Aiqing and Yan Aiqing, you two are here to coordinate the freight. The grain and goods on the imperial official ships will be transported directly to the Ministry of Household Affairs. The goods on the private merchant ships, you have people count the income of each family. After they pay the business tax, they will Let them start unloading! Be careful to prevent some people from secretly deducting money!"
When the fleet went south, the imperial court had said that all merchant ships accompanying the army must pay half of the commercial tax based on their business income. This can be understood as protection fees, but with such a luxurious lineup as the 20,000 elite navy dispatched by the imperial court, In comparison, this protection fee is really cheap.
"Old minister accepts the order~!"
Xiao Yu, Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and Yan Lide, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, heard this. When Li Er called his name, they quickly stepped forward and bowed in response.
Li Er nodded, seeing that everything was done here, he immediately said to the ministers: "Go back to the court~!"
The eunuch who passed the order announced Li Er's order loudly, and all the civil and military officials who came with him responded loudly. Li Er was about to return to the palace with Li Xiaogong and the court officials. Suddenly, he turned around and looked at the people secretly watching. Li Zexuan said, "You also come back to the palace with me~!"
Li Zexuan looked confused. He didn't know why "Goddess of Luck" suddenly came to him, making him unable to resist.
"Yes, Your Majesty~!"
Since he can't resist, let's enjoy it. It just so happens that he also wants to hear what the whole country has gained from mobilizing troops and going south for trade.
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"Prince Hejian, would you like to tell me how you gained from this trip?"
After Li Er led the ministers back to Tai Chi Hall, he sat directly above him, looked at Li Xiaogong and said with a smile.
"Yes, Your Majesty~!"
Li Xiaogong was prepared. He responded, then took out a booklet and began to read slowly:
"For this trip, the imperial court raised a total of 500 official ships. I used more than 3,000 pieces of silk and porcelain to exchange for a total of 880,000 shi of grain, including Gansong, Suhe, Anxi, Yujin, and Nadu. , andra, clove, agarwood, sandalwood, musk, agarwood, whitehead incense, angelica dahurica, wolfberry, spikenard, triphenaceae and other spices, a total of 170,000 jins, 70 pairs of ivory, thousands of tiger skins, Nanyang There are countless specialties from various countries~! In addition, there are fifty thousand catties of brass and three hundred thousand taels of silver~!"
Quiet, as Li Xiaogong read out one sentence after another, the court suddenly fell into a strange silence!
Eight hundred and eighty thousand kilos of grain. Although this amount is a bit large and a bit beyond everyone's expectations, it can be attributed to the fact that the small Nanyang country is rich in grain and has never seen the gorgeous silks and porcelain of the Central Plains. But those 20,000 kilograms of spices are What the hell~? Do you think spices are weeds or radish and cabbage? Oh, at this time, radish is not called radish, it is called Fei (see "The Book of Songs Bei Feng Gu Feng" says "picking Fei and picking Fei, there is no lower body"), and cabbage is not called cabbage, it is called Siong.
But things like spices have always been very cherished in the Tang Dynasty. They are usually sold by two. Depending on the type, the price ranges from dozens of coins to several thousand yuan per tael. I have never heard of anyone who can own more than one tael. Where are the thousands of kilograms of spices~? The 170,000 kilograms of spices Li Xiaogong mentioned is really scary!
But this is not a lie by Li Xiaogong, because some spices are really rampant in some island countries in the South China Sea, just like weeds, growing everywhere. The 20,000 sailors he led have been used as "mowing grass" many times. "Farmer.
As for fifty thousand catties of brass and three hundred thousand taels of silver, this is even more terrifying~! At present, all the silver mined in the entire Tang Dynasty probably only adds up to 20,000 to 300,000 taels of silver. However, Li Xiaogong unexpectedly brought back 300,000 taels of silver. What is even more surprising is that he also brought back 50,000 jins of gold. Tong, many courtiers began to look at Li Xiaogong with strange eyes. They wanted to ask: "Brother, have you looted a country~?"
The courtiers were not surprised because the gap between the effort and the gain was too great. According to Li Xiaogong, he only used more than 3,000 strings of silk and porcelain to exchange things, but what about the things he brought back? 880,000 kilograms of grain alone, according to the current price of grain, would be worth more than 30,000 kilograms, including 170,000 kilograms of spices, 300,000 taels of silver, and 50,000 kilograms of brass... Oops, Edi Niang! Many ministers thought about it in their minds, and found it difficult to breathe!
Huge profits! This is more than ten times the huge profit! It’s a huge profit hundreds of times that of Special Girl! What else in the world can be more profitable than this~?
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(End of chapter)
