"This is……"
The people at the auction house and Mr. Liu from Dongyue Honglu Temple opened their eyes wide and looked at the contents of Tang Ping's box.
Inside is actually an exquisite wooden boat.
"This is a wooden boat!"
Tang Ping took out the wooden boat from the box. It was actually a wooden model aircraft.
Its prototype is the Fu Chuan that only appeared in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. It is recorded in Qi Jiguang's "New Book of Ji Xiao": The Fu Chuan is driven by the city wind, like a chariot rolling over a mantis. It competes with the strength of the ship instead of the manpower, so it always wins.
This was the highest level of maritime warships in ancient China. Later, the treasure ships used by Zheng He on his voyages to the West were actually a collective name for various ships. Among them, the warships used as escorts were actually Fu ships.
As Tang Ping spoke, he began to disassemble the aircraft model: "Look, this sail and this part can be disassembled. You can see the internal structure here. As long as we have this, we can build exactly the same ship." No problem at all.”
"Master Tang, wait!" Master Liu grabbed Tang Ping's hand tightly. If he had known that Tang Ping was going to sell this thing, he would not have brought him here even to death.
You must know that the biggest enemy of East Vietnam is not the Tang Dynasty, but the Japanese, Fuyu and Goguryeo people on the sea.
East Vietnam and Tang Dynasty have been at peace with each other for more than ten years. Although the two countries are not in confrontation, at least there have only been minor frictions occasionally for more than ten years.
But the threats at sea are different. The so-called East Vietnam relies on the sea, and a large part of their financial income comes from the sea.
In order to compete for ownership of sea areas, Dongyue had many conflicts with Japan, Goguryeo, etc.
Although he doesn't know much about maritime affairs, it is obvious that through Tang Ping's introduction just now, the model of the warship in his hand is far more advanced than the warships currently in service in the East Vietnam Navy.
How could something like this be auctioned in this mixed seafood market?
Once its manufacturing technology is lost to several other countries, it will be a disaster for the East Vietnam Navy. Once the maritime power pattern is broken, East Vietnam is likely to fall into crisis.
"What's wrong? Mr. Liu?" Tang Ping looked at Mr. Liu with innocent eyes. This was the preparation he had made in advance. Before coming to Dongyue, he had inquired in detail from Fang and Du.
Based on his understanding of East Vietnam, he believed that East Vietnam would not want such things to spread.
To be honest, this model airplane was a birthday gift from Gou Shaoqun. The big boss even boasted to himself about how professional the model airplane was. He was really reluctant to part with it!
"I can't do it, I can't do it! Mr. Tang!" Mr. Liu was almost in tears. How dare you sell such a thing?
"Hey, Mr. Liu, do you think I want to sell it? This is a gift given to me by one of my brothers. If possible, I really don't want to sell it! You see, I even took it with me when I went to East Vietnam as an envoy. You can imagine The importance of this thing to me.”
The expression on Tang Ping's face was as fake as possible: "But there is no way, so many people are following me, I can't let them starve, right?"
Hungry? When I went to your small courtyard just now, I saw that your two guards were both meat buns the size of a fist. Did they look hungry?
But the things belong to Tang Ping, and he is an envoy of the Tang Dynasty. If he wants to sell his things, can he really stop him?
Yes, there are also contraband in East Vietnam, which are things that are not allowed to be traded openly, but those things do not include this kind of model aircraft.
He also understood what Tang Ping meant. Either he would find a way to get His Majesty to see him now, or he would sell this thing through the auction house with great fanfare.
Of course Dongyue can pay for this thing himself, but how do you know that Tang Ping won't find two shills during the auction?
What if people keep raising prices with you? If it reaches a price that Dongyue cannot accept, will you follow it or not? If you don’t follow, what if the bidder is not a shill, but a Buyeo or a Japanese?
Another way is to use force, but grabbing the treasures of the envoys of the Tang Dynasty is no different from declaring war on the Tang Dynasty. Even if the Tang Dynasty sends troops, it will not be regarded as a military force.
You can wait until the things are sold before taking action, but no matter how you handle it, this matter is now beyond Mr. Liu's authority.
"Master Tang, wait for me, how about you wait for me? Let's go back now. I will definitely give you an accurate message before noon!"
He didn't say what this accurate letter was, but both of them knew that it was whether King Xuanying of East Vietnam wanted to see Tang Ping or not.
"Okay, Mr. Liu also takes good care of me, so I will give Mr. Liu this face." Tang Ping put away the model airplane with a hiss.
After sending Tang Ping back to his small courtyard, Mr. Liu smelled an alluring fragrance when he entered, and his stomach began to growl.
But this was not the time to inquire about these things, so I hurried back to Honglu Temple.
After hearing Mr. Liu's report, the minister of Honglu Temple in Dongyue did not dare to neglect, and immediately entered the palace to meet the saint.
Originally, Wang Xuanying's illness was just a feint. After listening to the report from Honglu Temple Minister, he nodded: "This man named Tang Ping is interesting, so let's arrange to meet in the afternoon!"
When the minister of Honglu Temple went out, he picked up the secret report on the table. The two secret reports, one from the south and one from the north, arrived one after another this morning.
The content is similar, that is, the Northern Corps and the Southern Corps of the Tang Dynasty have received orders to march eastward and are preparing to march eastward.
The east of the Tang Dynasty was East Vietnam. Although everyone had lived in peace and harmony for more than ten years, Wang Xuanying did not think that the two countries could continue to be peaceful like this.
Especially now that a locust plague is about to occur in the Tang Dynasty, it is completely reasonable for the Tang Dynasty to send troops to East Vietnam at this time. Firstly, it can divert domestic conflicts, and secondly, because East Vietnam is located in the land of fish and rice in the south of the Yangtze River, and the most indispensable thing is food. If If Dongyue could be conquered, Datang would no longer have to suffer from food shortages.
This was the reason why he made up his mind to summon Tang Ping. He wanted to know Datang's specific intentions.
You must know that they only exchanged ducks for a batch of iron ore from Datang this year. These iron ores have not yet been turned into weapons and installed in the East Vietnamese Army. Even if they want to fight Datang, it should not be now. But we have to wait until all the iron mines over there turn into swords and guns.
East Vietnam has never lacked money, food and manpower. What it lacks is iron. Now with these iron mines, as long as he can build enough swords and guns, he is confident to fight against the Tang Dynasty.
Since starting a war is not the wise move of the people, let's talk about it. If the other side can be allowed to hand over those model aircraft and East Vietnam can dominate the East China Sea, then this transaction of food to Datang is not an unacceptable situation.
So when Tang Ping and the others were having lunch, they saw Mr. Liu running in panting.
"Master Liu, have you eaten?"
Still using the familiar greeting, Mr. Liu glanced at Tang Ping's sumptuous dinner table, wiped the sweat from his forehead and said while holding back his hunger: "Not yet, Your Majesty invites Mr. Tang to come to the palace in the afternoon to meet the emperor."
