Li Zhengzao looked at the sugar on the table in shock and was speechless for a long time.
Monk Huikang whispered: "The Luoyang sugar case was well known at the beginning, and many people were exploring the origin of the sugar. Now that the sugar in Luoyang has been sealed, why does Mr. Li still have sugar in his hand?"
Staring, Li Zheng walked to the table, picked up some white sugar, and looked at it carefully, "I have never used white sugar! This is not my!"
The wind and snow outside the window had stopped, and cold air poured in from the windows and doors. Monk Huikang whispered: "Then why did it appear in Mr. Li's package?"
"Someone else must have put it into my baggage."
Monk Huikang added: "The origin of white sugar is a mystery. Who owns white sugar and can put it in Mr. Li's baggage?"
Looking at the old monk's face, Li Zhengzao said angrily: "What do you mean, the sugar case in Luoyang has nothing to do with me!"
Monk Huikang stood up and said, "The old monk will keep what happened today a secret. As for who framed Mr. Li, I would like to ask the old man to find out for himself and give me an explanation."
The old monk took out the drawings in the bag again, "Since Mr. Li is still involved in these complicated things, I won't bother you now. To ensure that the drawings are safe, the old monk will take them away for now and wait until he leaves Tongguan." Make contact.”
"In the spring of next year, the old monk will take a boat to Yangzhou, and then we will discuss who will own the drawings."
After the old monk finished speaking, he took the drawings and sugar and left.
Li Zhengzao stood in the room with veins twitching on his forehead. It was difficult to tell the origin of the sugar.
While the owner of the main house, who was the southern ancestor of the Li family in Zhao County, was still investigating the origin of the sugar in the baggage, rumors about Li Zhengzao and the sugar soon spread.
It is not known who passed it on, whether it was the monk Huikang or someone else.
Li Zhengzao has also experienced ups and downs in life, and he is an old fox who has become a master. He knew that someone must have arranged this matter.
Monk Huikang was knowledgeable and thoughtful. He didn't say much or explain, but left with his monks.
After two days of investigation, Li Zhengzao calmed down and figured out the three locations. The residence in Chang'an City was absolutely clean. The only one who could come into contact with this burden was Pei Xuanji. When he was drinking in Lishan, it was Shangguan Yiwen. The wine was not prepared by His Highness King Wei.
But just when Li Zhengzao had the direction to pursue, people from the Cui family in Qinghe came to visit.
In the Luoyang white sugar case, the Qinghe Cui family suffered the greatest loss and the most money. They had been struggling to trace the sugar this year.
When I heard that Li Zhengzao of the Li family in Zhaojun still owned sugar, he immediately had Li Zhengzao detained and checked on the Li family in Zhaojun, regardless of the fact that everyone was from a prominent family in Hebei.
Cui Zhuo, a direct descendant of the Cui family who served in Yongzhou, sat in front of Li Zhengzao. At such an age, the whole young man had already joined the army as a minister in Yongzhou.
His having such a military position at such a young age was arranged by a prominent family in Qinghe.
Facing the junior in front of him, Li Zhengzao said sternly: "Your old master Cui Ren still calls me brother in Chang'an City. How dare you detain me here?"
Cui Zao was also a ruffian. He played with the dagger in his hand and said, "My father at home would treat you politely before because I didn't know you still had sugar in your hands. The reason why our two brothers are still on death row in Dali Temple is because they need the help of our prominent families in Hebei." Qi connects branches.”
"Now that you have sugar in your hand, we can only detain you first, and we will give you an explanation when we find out the truth."
Cui Zhuo whispered: "Don't worry, Fan Yang and other companies in Taiyuan are also on their way."
Li Zhengzao felt sad.
To say that Li Zhengzao went all the way to Chang'an City to buy papermaking technology, no matter how Lishan printed, Tianhan Khan without paper was like a tiger without teeth, and everyone knew the pros and cons.
Only this time, Li Zhengzao spent 100,000 guan from his family fortune for this transaction, and Buddhism paid 200,000 guan.
After that, each family will have to contribute another million dollars. To raise this money, one family alone is not enough.
The old monk Hui Kuang is about to pass away. He needs to mobilize money from temples in various places. Maybe this is the last thing Hui Kuang, who has been a monk all his life since Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty, does for Buddhism before he passes away. .
But now, someone went to Monk Huikang to confirm that the sugar was obtained from Li Zhengzao's baggage.
This time Li Zhengzao would still lose a layer of skin even if he survived.
In the dead of winter, the entire Lishan Mountain turned silvery white. Li Tai and Shangguan Yi were drinking tea. Four years ago, Zhang Yang used the Red Mansion to roar to the aristocratic family for the first time, and it took another three years to plan the Luoyang matter. From the seventh to eighth year of Zhenguan, two years after the children of the aristocratic family fell into madness, Shangguan Yi stuffed Li Zhengzao's baggage with a bag of sugar.
The conflict over the sugar case was transferred to the Li family of Zhao County.
At this point, Lishan can escape.
In the last month of the tenth year of Zhenguan, Li Shimin gave the Tian Khan's decision to the family. Whoever still controls sugar will be endlessly pursued by the noble families and courts of the world.
Li Shimin had the power to decide the lives and deaths of thousands of people. This Tian Khan, who held the highest authority in the world, gave an order, and heads rolled in front of Chang'an City. All the children of the aristocratic families who had been imprisoned for more than a year were beheaded.
Sun Fujia recited their thirty major crimes aloud, telling the world about each of their crimes for causing harm to one party and poisoning the place.
Hundreds more cavalrymen left Chang'an City and headed for Hebei under the leadership of Ma Zhou, the censor.
So far the Luoyang case has come to an end.
After drinking the tea in the bowl, a guard came to Li Tai and whispered a few words.
Li Tai raised his head and smiled: "I am going to meet someone."
Shangguan Yi nodded and said, "His Royal Highness, King Wei, walk slowly."
The wind and snow in Guanzhong were still very strong, and the wind brought snowflakes and hit his face painfully. Li Tai walked out of Lishan Village and saw Yang Lian, whom he had not seen for a long time, on the official road.
Yang Lian bowed and saluted, "Your Highness, King Wei, are you satisfied with me now?"
Li Tai was very satisfied. Yang Lian had eaten himself into a fat man even fatter than me. Even if he were to walk on Suzaku Street now, the people in Luoyang would not recognize him.
"Have you met your sister? Have you explained everything that needs to be explained?"
Yang Lian still maintained a respectful salute, holding his hands in front of him, "Don't worry, Your Highness, King Wei, everything has been explained."
Li Tai took out a map and said, "This is the location of the Anxi Governor's Mansion in the Western Regions. From now on, go to the Western Regions and hand this matter over to Pei Governor of the Governor's Mansion. After completing this matter for Pei Governor, go to You will have nothing to do with me from now on."
"Thank you, Your Highness, King Wei." Yang Lian took the map and letter with both hands.
This man walked into the wind and snow and rushed to the Western Regions alone.
Li Tai also felt that monk Xuanzang was still a hidden danger, "This monk should be intercepted and killed on the road."
"His Royal Highness the King of Wei, I would like to go to the Western Regions and give Monk Xuanzang to..." The guard made a gesture of wiping his neck.
Li Tai walked back to the village with a sad look on his face, "Brother-in-law said that this matter needs to be considered in the long term."
"Then do we need to arrange for someone to keep an eye on that monk Xuanzang?"
"No need, my father is still on Lishan Mountain, we have to go back as soon as possible."
At this moment, Lishan Mountain was covered with snow, and the children were having a snowball fight in front of the house. A snowball passed over the Huaqing Pool and stood directly on Li Shimin's forehead.
He mechanically turned his head to look at Xiao Sizi, who was the initiator. Li Shimin had no choice but to turn his head back again, pretending that nothing happened.
Mutton was stewed in the hot pot, and Zhang Yang poured wine for His Majesty, "How about this wine?"
Li Shimin took another sip, "This wine is clear and refreshing, and it feels like fire when it enters your throat. It's a good wine."
As he spoke, he took another sip, "There are green vegetables, wine and meat. Your Lishan Mountain is like a fairyland, and the rumored Penglai is just like this."
"Your Majesty is joking, my dilapidated house in Lishan cannot be compared with Penglai Wonderland." Zhang Yang paused before adding: "There has never been a talk of immortality in this world."
Li Shimin nodded slowly.
The little bear was rolling in the snow. It was originally a brown bear, but now it was almost a white bear, with snow all over its body.
Because the upstream of Huaqing Pool is connected to a hot spring pool, even in winter, the Weishui River is frozen, and there is only some thin ice on the surface of Huaqing Pool.
The children's snowball fight continued, their cheeks and hands turned red from the cold, and the hands were divided into two groups, throwing snowballs at each other, and even started to build a small city wall with snow.
The laughter of these children continued to echo in Lishan Mountain.
Li Yue was pregnant again. She was sitting by the stove, looking through the medicinal classics written by Divine Doctor Sun, hoping to learn some pharmacology from them. Before she could finish compiling the golden prescriptions, Divine Doctor Sun gave half a volume to Li. Mountain.
Those who are close to the water and towers get the moon first, and what Lishan got was the first-hand medicinal scripture compiled by Sun Shenyi.
In her spare time, Li Yue would pick up the medicinal book and read it carefully, frantically supplementing the medical knowledge she already lacked.
Li Lizhi and Xu Hui were going to have haircuts in the coming year, and they were frying beef with Xiao Wu. The beef was brought from the palace by their father, the queen, and the queen, so it was rare to eat it.
Inside the house, Queen Changsun and her two aunts were packing the children's new clothes. The aunts also wanted to report to the Queen the current status of the princesses and princes.
With such a big family here, Lishan Mountain was very lively and busy.
Li Tai hurried over and came to the front of his brother-in-law and father, "Father, brother-in-law, the emperor is determined to compete with Zou Guogong in chess skills, and said he will not come back until evening."
The mutton in the hot pot had been finished. When Zhang Yang saw Li Tai coming, he finally picked up two plates of chopped beef and put it into the pot. "This is the beef your majesty brought. It's rare for Lishan to eat beef. Your Highness, King Wei." Try it too.”
After listening to his brother-in-law's words, Li Tai looked at his father's face again.
It was very warm next to the hot pot. Li Shimin's cheeks were already red from drinking the wine, and he was vaguely drunk. "Qingque, sit down too."
"Thank you, father." Li Tai took the bowl and chopsticks and poured some wine for himself, and then diligently poured some into his father's bowl.
Cheng Qian would definitely not be willing to sit aside and eat hot pot with his father, and only Li Tai, who usually had a sweet mind, would sit down.
Li Tai ate a few slices of beef with enjoyment and took a sip of wine, "Well, it's refreshing!"
Zhang Yang added some chopped green onion to the hot pot soup, "Your Majesty is worried that the papermaking industry continues to lose money and the DPRK and China are unable to maintain it?"
It happened that when this matter was mentioned, Li Tai ate beef in his mouth and listened with his ears pricked up.
Li Shimin put down the wine bowl and sat on a small stool. He put his hands on his knees and sat upright. His face, which was already red from drunkenness, said seriously: "I have looked at the accounts of papermaking in the past. You, Lishan, have always been Losing money.”
Zhang Yang explained: "That's true, because our Lishan paper has always been cheap."
"I asked Cen Wenwen to serve as the supervisor of the paper mill. He told me that if the government wants to increase output, the cost will increase at least five times."
Li Tai picked up another piece of beef, added chopped green onions to the hot pot, and took a sip of the soup to make it taste even better.
Listening to the words of his father and brother-in-law, his eyes also flickered between the two of them.
Zhang Yang thought for a moment, thinking that the paper-making workshop still used the paper-drying process.
Li Shimin nodded and said, "I heard that Lishan handed over the papermaking drawings to them."
Li Tai said quickly: "Father, what Lishan gave them was only the drawings of the equipment used in papermaking. It is part of the pressing process we use for papermaking, not all of it."
Knowing Li Shimin's worries, Zhang Yang explained: "It would be a good thing if they could use these drawings to bring papermaking to a higher level."
Of course, the emperor wanted to control the paper and wanted the books to be used by the court instead of being printed into scriptures.
Zhang Yang filled a bowl of soup and drank it slowly, "Actually, there is another craft on the basis of papermaking. There must be a lot of written papers left in the imperial court."
Li Shimin nodded, "Yeah, a lot."
"That's enough. Any used paper in the court can be sent to Lishan. Keep these papers and don't throw them away. Once we master the technology of recycling old paper, the cost of papermaking can be reduced by at least 30%."
Li Shimin made a calculation in his mind. Based on the original Lishan papermaking technology, if the cost could be reduced by 30%, then profitability would not be a problem.
This will solve the immediate problem.
"However, the reuse of recycled paper will also make the paper cheaper than it is now. It can barely break even. If you want books to be spread more widely, you need cheaper paper. This is the case. Paper can only become more and more expensive. It’s cheap, not to mention it can be recycled and reused.”
Zhang Yang took a sip of tea and said, "Your Majesty, since the paper mill is still run by Lishan, Lishan will try its best to help the government balance the balance of payments and make some profits without losing money. What do you think, Your Majesty?"
This son-in-law's ability is still trustworthy. He is a person who can put money between his teeth.
"But I still want Cen Wenwen to supervise the paper mill."
Your Majesty is conceited and suspicious. No matter what, he still wants to place one more person in Lishan.
Zhang Yang sighed: "It doesn't matter. The paper mill in Lishan belongs to your Majesty. You can do whatever you want with it. Lishan's future accounts will be reviewed by Cen Wenwen."
Li Tai also nodded and said: "Father, don't worry, my son and minister can also help."
