The scenery inside the palace is very different from Chang'an City.
Although Li Shimin is not the kind of emperor who pays attention to ostentation, he still needs royal etiquette.
The Tang Dynasty has become more and more wealthy in recent years. We can't just leave the palace in tatters and let other vassal countries come and watch the joke.
In the past, if Li Shimin wanted to build a palace, he had to pay for it himself or consult with the Ministry of Household Affairs.
But now it is the Ministry of Revenue who is taking the initiative to repair the palace.
How can they negotiate business with other countries when the palace is in tatters? How do people believe in your strength?
Knowing that this was the castle where the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty lived, Egbert secretly compared it.
Then it took about three seconds for him to give up.
This is nonsense!
If both sides are similar, that's called comparison.
If the gap between the two sides is too big and you still want to compare, you are a fool!
The size of this palace alone is almost the same as the size of our own city of Wessex.
The rockery and trees inside were so pleasing to the eye, and the palace maids and chambermaids coming and going made Egbert feel that he was not a king at all but a beggar.
This is called true nobility!
"Ping Guo Gong, His Majesty's court meeting is not over yet. He invites you to go directly." A chamberlain came up and said to Tang Ping.
"Then I'll go to the Ministry of Industry and wait for my work report." Li Yu and Tang Ping said goodbye and left.
Tang Ping took Egbert to the main hall.
"His Majesty is just holding a court meeting. We will go in and solve your problems together."
"What is the Great Court Meeting?" Egbert didn't understand.
"It's a conference where officials from all ministries are called. Anyway, there are quite a lot of people."
The two of them talked for a few words and then arrived at the door of the hall.
"Pingguo Gong brings King Egbert of Wessex into the palace!"
As soon as he arrived at the door, Egbert heard a sharp voice coming from inside. He couldn't understand anything else, but it seemed to be calling his name.
Entering the main hall, Egbert was stunned again. The main hall was densely packed with officials, who all turned back to look at him at this time.
"So many people? Are all the officials from across the country here today?" Egbert asked in disbelief.
"Only senior officials of the Tang Dynasty are here, not even one-fifth of the officials in Chang'an. Even more officials in Chang'an are not qualified to enter here."
Tang Ping explained and led him forward.
It was also at this time that many officials knew that Tang Ping had returned, and they were all talking quietly, but ignored the king of some country next to him.
"Tang boy, I told you that nothing will happen to you, and you will be in trouble for thousands of years, hahaha!" Cheng Zhijie waved his hand and called Tang Ping to stand over him.
Tang Ping usually doesn't come to attend court gatherings, and he doesn't have a fixed place. When he comes, he just finds a place in the front row to stand in the Guogong area.
But today he was going to be Egbert's translator. He shook his head at the old ruffian Cheng Zhijie, and then he and Egbert came to the front. For Egbert, Li Shimin still paid high respect. Although it was impossible to be equal to him, at least he was given a seat.
Ask Egbert to sit down, and Tang Ping stood beside him to act as a translator.
At this time, Egbert looked at Li Shimin sitting at the top. As expected, he was the dignified middle-aged man he had seen yesterday.
Today, it looks even more powerful in this hall.
"Tang Ping, you are here just in time. We have just finished talking about things here. If you don't come, we will leave the meeting." Li Shimin said with a smile: "Tell this king that as long as he is willing to go to South Africa to help us mine ore, we will Give him the greatest support.”
Tang Ping nodded, and then translated the words to Egbert.
Egbert was not a fool. The things he wanted yesterday belonged to yesterday. At that time, the only person who could get things out was the Wessex treasury.
But today is different. Today we are negotiating terms with Datang. Naturally, he wants more.
"What conditions can you give me?" Egbert thought for a while and asked Tang Ping, first looking at the other party's quotation.
Tang Ping asked Li Shimin and replied: "We can give you thirty large ships, each of which can carry 800 people. Then we will give you weapons and equipment for 10,000 people and working tools for 20,000 people. In terms of food, we can provide enough for the two of you." Eatable year-round, providing excellent seeds suitable for local planting."
"We can send people to help you build the mine, and the shares will be divided equally. That means half of the minerals produced will belong to us, and you can choose to sell the other half to us, other countries, or keep it for your own use."
"As for the mines you build yourself, the natural autonomy is in your hands. The total amount of all the materials we fund will reach at least the two million gold coins you have."
"If it is not enough later, our Datang National Development Bank will also provide you with loans as appropriate, and you can repay it with minerals."
Egbert planned to lower the price at first. He thought that if he raised the price, he would ask for at least 200,000 gold coins. Then Datang counter-offered the supplies with his own psychological price of 150,000 gold coins.
You must know that the total value of the things he told Tang Ping to take away from Wessex yesterday was only a little over 100,000 gold coins. He felt that he was very satisfied to get half more.
Now he finally knew why Tang Ping said he was poor!
I am... so damn poor.
Just those thirty large ships, each carrying 800 people, is unimaginable.
He initially expected that he could take 100,000 people from Wessex, but it would not be easy for these 100,000 people to reach southern Africa. Now it seems that 4 or 5 round trips with such a large ship are enough.
The price... was beyond negotiation. If he wanted to increase it, he didn't know how to increase it, so he simply agreed.
The reason why Tang Ping and the others paid such a seemingly huge price was actually because Tang Ping told Li Shimin in advance that southern Africa was extremely rich in mineral resources. If someone helped them mine, of course they had to provide appropriate support.
Next, it is said to be two million gold coins, but ships like those were originally sailing ships that were obsolete after the diesel and steam engines came out. Instead of tearing them down and burning them, it is better to recycle them.
As for other weapons, tools, etc., they are certainly not cheap based on market prices, but the cost of producing them by Datang itself is not that high.
So it was said that Egbert was given two million gold coins in supplies. These things would only be much more in their European market, but in fact Datang did not pay much.
Compared with future harvests, it can be said to be minimal. You must know that South Africa alone is the "King of Minerals" on the African continent and one of the five largest mineral resource countries in the world.
Not to mention that countries such as Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Namibia are very rich in minerals.
