The products in Liangzhou City are quite poor, and it is not suitable for farming. Only a small amount of millet and wheat are grown in the villages and counties nearby outside the city.
Commercially, this city is not favored by merchants. If they choose to trade or transit, most merchants will choose Yumenguan and Suzhou between the Tang Dynasty and the Western Regions. If they want to earn the maximum profit, merchants will We will choose to go to Chang'an.
As a result, Liangzhou City was very poor in both agriculture and commerce. Food and other necessities in the city could only be exchanged for cattle and sheep with neighboring cities or with merchants.
Zi Nu was squatting in the kitchen yard of the Governor's Mansion, carefully washing a handful of spinach.
Spinach, formerly known as Persian, was first spread from Persia to all over the world. In the 21st year of Zhenguan, the Niboluo Kingdom (Nepal) presented spinach seeds to Taizong, and it was widely planted in the Tang Dynasty.
The spinach in Zi Nu's hands was obtained from the merchants in the city. Green vegetables are very scarce in winter, and a handful of spinach is much more expensive than mutton.
Today's Zinu is no longer just a dancer, she is also a maid who takes care of Li Qinzai's daily life.
In the cold winter, boiling a handful of spinach for him to relieve the greasy meat from recent meals would surely please the Tang envoy more.
What makes her regretful is that since Li Qinzai bought her, no matter whether she tempted her intentionally or unintentionally, he remained unmoved, just like a Taoist monk who abstained from female sex and turned a blind eye to her temptation.
Thinking about it, it's no wonder that she didn't know where she had exposed a flaw that made him doubt her. She escaped by not touching the pile of papers in the room yesterday.
But Li Qinzai's suspicion of her has not been dispelled. At this time, Zi Nu can only be careful and cautious, and never dare to make any suspicious moves.
While she was immersed in washing the spinach, a pot-bellied peddler walked into the kitchen yard and threw half a fan of mutton at her feet. Zi Nu looked up in surprise, but the peddler grinned.
"Girl, the governor's office sent people to buy mutton from the young man. The money and goods are settled."
Zi Nu glanced at the dealer, his beautiful purple eyes showed a slight look of panic, he looked around nervously, lowered his voice and said: "Are you looking for death? What do you want to do by sneaking into the Governor's Mansion?"
The dealer was an acquaintance of hers. He was the one who pretended to be a Hu merchant and sold her and a group of dancers. Today, he has a big beard on his face, a felt hat on his head, and his clothes are in tatters. It also exudes the bloody smell of livestock, much like a butcher.
The vendor knelt down and pretended to clean the mutton. He whispered while busy: "The Prime Minister has sent someone to ask, has he got the details of the Tang Army's new weapon?"
Zi Nu didn't even raise his head, and said coldly: "The Tang envoy has already suspected me. I want to clear myself of the suspicion. It is not appropriate to take action recently."
The dealer frowned and said, "The Prime Minister must be pressing hard. The army is hiding outside Jishi Mountain and dare not move an inch. The Prime Minister said that he must get the details of the weapon as soon as possible so that he can continue to mobilize the army and swallow Tuyuhun."
Zi Nu sighed softly: "That Tang envoy is more difficult to deal with than I thought. I don't know where I have exposed my flaws in the past few days, and I was actually suspected by him. If the Prime Minister wants to get the details of the new weapons in the short term, the Governor's Mansion is here I’m afraid it will be difficult to obtain…”
"What about that?"
Zi Nu thought for a while and said: "That new weapon has been equipped with more than a thousand Tang Army soldiers. Half of these more than a thousand soldiers are guarding the governor's mansion, and the other half are camping outside Liangzhou City. We might as well make a plan and start from These soldiers stole several new weapons..."
The dealer said bitterly: "There are only dozens of brothers lurking in the city. How can we steal new weapons from the heavily guarded camp?"
Zi Nu was silent for a moment and said: "I'll give it a try in the next two days. It would be best if I can meet Tang Jun who is alone."
…………
A big event happened in Liangzhou Chengguanyi, where the diplomatic missions of the two countries lived.
The envoys and accompanying guards of the Tibetan mission all suffered from food poisoning.
After lunch today, the members of the Tibetan mission felt stomachaches that were as sharp as a knife, and they were running away. Dozens of people were crying and shouting to grab the toilet. Those who couldn't grab the toilet panicked and ran to the backyard to solve the problem themselves.
After running round after round, in less than an hour, all the members of the Tibetan delegation had weak legs and swayed when walking. Their faces were extremely pale, and some of the weak ones even passed out.
The Tibetan envoys were sparse and the sky was dark. The strange thing was that the Tuyuhun envoys who lived under the same roof were unscathed. They were all in high spirits. They gathered in the backyard to watch the Tibetan envoys disperse. Every time someone came out of the toilet, Tuyuhun The entourage of the mission gave out loud cheers.
The people from the Tubo mission glared at the entourage of the Tuyuhun mission, and the two sides began to quarrel in the backyard, accusing Tuyuhun of being despicable and shameless, and even poisoning the food.
This is hard to explain.
Everyone ate and lived together. All members of the Tibetan delegation were poisoned, but Tuyuhun was unscathed. In addition, due to the feud between the two countries, the two sides often fought with each other after entering Liangzhou City, killing each other.
Now that the Tubo mission was poisoned and the Tuyuhun mission was fine, who else could be the murderer? No more suspense.
The Tuyuhun mission had no excuse and simply refused to explain.
Fortunately, due to the high prestige of Li Qinzai, the Tang envoy, the two envoys continued to scold each other and did not dare to take action. Otherwise, with the physical strength and condition of the Tibetan envoy at this time, another wave of annihilation would have occurred.
When it was getting dark, Li Qinzai hurried to Guanyi after receiving the news. He was shocked when he saw the pale-faced Lun Zhongcong and the gloating Princess Honghua.
"What happened to the noble envoy of Tubo? Did he eat dirty food?" Li Qinzai asked with concern.
Lun Zhongcong cheered up, his eyes turned red, and he choked up and said: "Your envoy has come at the right time. I also ask your envoy to uphold justice for Tubo. The Tuyuhun envoy is despicable and shameless. They actually poisoned the food. My envoy was unaware of it. They have actually got their way, this is the city of Liangzhou, please envoy from the Tang State to speak out for justice for Tubo."
Princess Honghua said angrily: "I am the princess of the Tang Dynasty, how can I bother to do such sneaky things? As for Zhong Cong, don't think that just because you are a Tibetan envoy, I can slander you at will. I will kill you like a dog." Is there any need to poison me?"
Li Qinzai said warmly: "Your Highness the Princess, calm down your anger, and the noble envoy of Tubo calm down. Is there any misunderstanding about this matter? With the dignity of a princess, I would not do such a despicable thing... right?"
Princess Honghua was stunned, pointed at Li Qinzai and said angrily: "Li Qinzai, you hesitated just now? You hesitated! Do you even think that I did it?"
"I don't dare to have such an intention, but..." Li Qinzai said awkwardly: "All members of the Tubo delegation were poisoned while living in the same hotel, but the Tuyuhun delegation was completely fine. Your Highness, I really don't know what happened to this official. Let me explain it to you."
Princess Honghua said angrily: "I swear on the name of my ancestors from the Li and Tang Dynasties that the poison caused by the Tibetan mission was definitely not caused by me or the Tuyuhun mission."
Li Qinzai sighed, he really should have asked his grandfather Li Ji to watch. He was always said to be an unworthy descendant because he often swore on his ancestors.
There is also an unscrupulous person in the royal family. There are three envoys in the courtyard, two of them are bastards. Is it possible that the envoy profession is specially designed for bastards?
