In the sixth year of Zhenguan, on the 19th day of the first lunar month, at the third quarter of Shenshi, Qinjiazhuang
A carriage, protected by a group of guards, slowly drove into Qinjiazhuang.
Sitting on the carriage were none other than His Majesty the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, Li Er, his counselor Fang Xuanling, and his cousin Li Xiaogong.
The reason why Li Shimin brought these two people to Qinjiazhuang after the court meeting was mainly because he wanted to see the Zhancheng rice with his own eyes.
Speaking of this, we have to start from last night.
At the end of Xu Shi last night, Cui Xin of Honglu Temple finally managed to extract the information Li Shimin wanted from the drunken envoy of the Champa Kingdom.
So he did not dare to delay, and hurriedly entered the palace to tell Li Shimin the good news.
What Qin Ming said is true. Champa State really has rice that is harvested three times a year.
This news excited Li Shimin so much that he called Fang Xuanling and Changsun Wuji into the Manlu Hall overnight to discuss countermeasures.
After Li Shimin destroyed the Eastern Turks, his eyes have been on the Western Regions and Goguryeo.
In the past, Li Shimin didn't care at all about Champa, a neighboring country. He thought it was a barren land with dense jungles and frequent infestations of snakes, insects, rats, and ants.
But things are different now. Li Shimin never imagined that the small country of Champa would have such good grain varieties, with high yields and three crops a year.
What makes Li Shimin even more hateful is that according to the information obtained by Cui Xin, since there is no shortage of food in the country, there is wild rice everywhere.
This also led to the fact that in many places in the Champa Kingdom, no one harvested the rice even when it was ripe, leaving the rice to rot in the fields.
Think about the people of the Tang Dynasty. After a year of hard work, few people had enough food in their homes.
Comparing the two, Li Shimin was itching with hatred.
The most hateful thing is that envoys from the Champa Kingdom came to the Tang Dynasty so many times. Every year they paid tribute, the court would give back several times the amount of property they paid tribute.
But they traveled between the Tang Dynasty and Champa State all year round. They knew that the Tang Dynasty was short of food, but they tightly held on to their own food. They would rather rot in the ground than let merchants sell the food to the Tang Dynasty. What's more, Not a single bit of news was revealed to Datang.
What is the use of such a vassal state?
Do you want to keep them to watch the Tang Dynasty’s jokes?
If Changsun Wuji and Fang Xuanling hadn't stopped him last night, Li Shimin would have called all the generals to the Manlu Hall that night to plan how to destroy the Champa Kingdom and bring that rich land to the Tang Dynasty.
At the end of the discussion last night, Fang Xuanling finally suggested that the most important thing right now is to send a few envoys and caravans first, and return to the Champa Kingdom with the envoys of the Champa State to find out more information and buy a batch of them. The main thing is to get the rice back.
After listening to Fang Xuanling's suggestion, Li Shimin also felt that it was reasonable. After all, the Champa Kingdom was too far away from Chang'an. It would be too expensive to send troops directly from Chang'an.
And Li Shimin would be worried if troops were sent from Lingnan. After all, the Feng family's power is now deeply rooted in Lingnan, and their troops and horses are strong.
If Feng Ang is allowed to send troops again, he can attack the Champa Kingdom, which has abundant food. Then he holds military power in one hand and food and grass in the other.
By that time, even if Feng An doesn't want to rebel, the arrogant and powerful generals under him will force him to rebel.
Li Shimin himself sat on the throne in this way, so he knew very well that it was not the time to destroy Zhancheng yet.
Li Shimin, Fang Xuanling, and Changsun Wuji discussed until late at night before finally finalizing the details of sending envoys and caravans.
...
When Qin Ming woke up this morning, he felt that his body had recovered to some extent.
So after breakfast, he and Yang Zijun went to the academy to teach.
The students in the academy were very happy to see Qin Ming's arrival, and they all gathered around Qin Ming to greet him.
After class, Qin Ming did not rush back home. Instead, he took Yang Zijun and Mao Tu to the School of Engineering and found Li Chun, the dean of the School of Engineering.
Qin Ming took a sip of tea, took out a piece of paper from his arms, and said:
"Dean Li, I have a blueprint for making soft armor here. I need your research institute and the School of Engineering to study it together. According to the pattern of the blueprint, we can create several pieces of soft soft armor as soon as possible."
Mao Tu's eyes lit up when she heard this. She immediately took the drawing from Qin Ming and handed it to Li Chun with both hands.
Li Chun naturally understood that this soft armor was used by Qin Ming to save his life. Qin Ming was assassinated a few days ago, and he was also frightened.
After all, in this world, it is not easy to meet a bole like Qin Ming.
Naturally, he hoped from the bottom of his heart more than anyone else that Qin Ming could live a long life.
So he solemnly took the drawings with both hands and looked at them carefully.
But when he finished reading the drawings, he couldn't help but frown, thought for a while and said:
"Sir, if I build it according to your drawings, the cost of this soft armor will probably be very high. Do you want to make one first?"
Qin Ming waved his hands and said:
"Don't be afraid of spending money. You have to spend the money you earn. You just need to think about how to make this soft armor both soft and strong."
Li Chun's expression became solemn when he heard this, and he said:
"No. I will make arrangements right away."
Qin Ming smiled and nodded, and then led Yang Zijun and Mao Tu out of the academy.
On the way, Maotu carefully pulled Yang Zijun's sleeve, glanced at Qin Ming who was walking in front of them, and whispered:
"Miss, miss, I also want a piece of soft armor. Can you help me and ask the master for one?"
After getting along with each other these days, Yang Zijun has long regarded Mao Tu as his biological sister.
At this moment, she was looking at Mao Tu with a hopeful look on her face. She couldn't bear to refuse.
After hesitating for a moment, she whispered:
"I can help you ask, but if the young master doesn't give it, then there is nothing we can do."
Maotu immediately beamed after hearing this. She chuckled and said:
"Miss, you are so good-looking. Even when I see your true face for the first time, my slave wants to take you as my own. Needless to say, Master."
"As long as you deliberately show your true face when you go to beg the young master, he will definitely agree to you."
Yang Zijun blushed when she heard this. She reached out and patted Maotu and said:
"Damn girl, what are you talking about? If you keep doing this, I won't ask questions for you."
When Maotu heard this, he blinked his big pitiful eyes and begged for mercy:
"Slave, that's wrong. Miss, you must help me!"
Seeing this, Yang Zijun nodded with satisfaction.
She quickly followed Qin Ming, pretending to be confused and asked:
"Sir, since the cost of making that soft armor is very high, why do you have to make a few pieces?"
Qin Ming blurted out after hearing this:
"Of course I made it for you guys!"
Yang Zijun was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then he felt happy.
She is not a martial artist like Mao Tu, and she doesn't like items like swords and soft armor.
The main reason why she was happy was because of Qin Ming's intention.
"Does that mean that Mao Tu, Qingwan and I will all have soft armor in the future?"
Qin Ming smiled and nodded and said:
"Yes, they will all be there."
.......
