In the final analysis, this matter was a tragedy from beginning to end. The most distinguished and talented daughter of the Qu family married a mediocre man, and was then framed and beaten for several years.
It would be fine if I didn't encounter this matter, but now that I have encountered it, I can't let it go.
But how to do this specifically requires a lot of thinking. After all, the three families of Yuan, Qu, and Liang have an inseparable relationship that cannot be broken.
Before Li Hao could come up with an idea, the carriage had already arrived at Yuan Mansion. Li Hao had no choice but to get out of the car and plan to go back to his yard to think again.
As a result, as soon as he entered the door, the steward of the palace came forward and said: "Sir, someone from the palace just came and asked you to come to the palace tomorrow to see him."
This was a serious matter. Originally, Li Hao thought it would take a few days before it was his turn, so he didn't rush to prepare the materials.
After all, there is no basis for words. Emperor Wen will definitely see the real thing with his own eyes when he arrives. Of course, the specific construction will definitely have to wait for Emperor Wen's word.
After all, it was a siege weapon. It would be too taboo to build it privately and place it outside the capital.
But the capital city is not Ling County. It is densely populated and requires a lot of firewood. In addition, due to safety concerns, there are not many strong trees near the city.
According to Li Hao's original plan, he would send someone to pick suitable wood from a distance and transport it directly to the outside of the city.
After meeting Emperor Wen, he can build it directly, so as not to make Emperor Wen wait too long and appear unprepared.
Who would have thought that Emperor Wen's efficiency would be so high this time? According to Li Hao's original experience, officials from other places waiting for more than ten days to come to Beijing for an audience were already considered important to the emperor.
Moreover, the last time Yuan Pei brought him here to present Quyuanli, he had to wait for many days, so it was no problem.
There was no way, I definitely couldn't refuse the emperor's summons. After all, I wasn't Ling Buyi, so I didn't have such a great reputation with Emperor Wen.
The only way to make amends was to make amends. Li Hao immediately summoned his subordinates and asked them to quickly go out of the city to the suburbs to search for materials. In addition, he also drove all the Yuan family's carriages and horses outside the city, so that even if there was no time for luck at night, they could still make it the next day. Get it back early in the morning.
As for Li Hao himself, he went back to familiarize himself with the materials. If Emperor Wen asked him about it, he would be able to answer more smoothly.
Early the next morning, after Li Hao urged his servants to go out of the city to check the materials, he took a carriage to the palace.
This time, the place where Emperor Wen met with Li Hao was not the Xuanming Hall in the North Palace, but the Chongde Hall in the South Palace.
After all, the Beigong was mostly the residence of the emperor and his concubines. The last time I let Li Hao and Yuan Pei go over, it was because the business matters had already been discussed, and they were simply summoned to show their closeness.
But this is good, at least Chongde Hall is closer to the palace gate, and Li Hao can save a lot of walking this time.
At about the time of two sticks of incense, Li Hao walked outside the Chongde Hall, and then waited for the eunuch Tong Bing to see when he could be called in.
They waited for an hour, and then they saw a group of courtiers walking out of Chongde Hall. They must have just finished discussing political affairs.
Li Hao thought that he should be able to go in now. Unexpectedly, no one came to call him. It was not until the hour passed that Li Hao saw two people coming from a distance.
After getting closer, Li Hao found out that it was the prince and Ling Buyi, thinking that they had something to do with Emperor Wen, he couldn't help but sigh, wondering when he could go in now.
But to Li Hao's surprise, the prince approached and stopped in front of Li Hao and said, "Master Yuan, why are you waiting here instead of going to the palace?"
Hearing this, Li Hao was stunned. He and the prince had only met once two years ago, and he had been growing up in the past two years, so his height and appearance had changed a lot. He didn't expect that the prince could recognize him at a glance. .
Regardless of whether this was prepared in advance or not, it at least proved that the prince had put some thought into him, which made people feel very comfortable.
"Replying to His Majesty the Crown Prince, His Majesty has not summoned you yet, so I am waiting here." Li Hao quickly replied.
After hearing this, the prince said to the eunuch on the side: "Go into the palace and see if His Majesty is still busy. If he is empty, tell me that Buji and Mr. Yuan and I are waiting outside the palace to see you."
After the eunuch received the order, he walked into the palace, and Li Hao said at this time: "If His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has something to discuss with His Majesty, don't worry about me. I will wait outside the palace."
The prince replied: "I came here today just because of your business. The day before yesterday, you sent Yuan Zhoumu's minister to the palace. My father was very interested after seeing it, so he ordered me to bring Buyi here to participate today."
At this point, the prince probably realized that Li Hao and Ling Buyi did not know each other, so he pointed at Ling Buyi and introduced to Li Hao:
"By the way, let me introduce to you. This is Ling Buyi, the son of Marquis Chengyang. He was brought up in the palace by his father a few years ago and grew up with us."
Then he pointed at Li Hao and introduced to Ling Buyi: "This is Yuan Ang, the son of Yuan Zhoumu, who was born in the Yuan family in Jiaodong. He was the one who made Quyuanli two years ago, and he even went to the palace at that time. , it’s just that you were at the queen mother’s place at that time and never saw her.”
After the prince's introduction, Li Hao and Ling Buyi bowed to each other, indicating that they had known each other.
But it was obvious that the two of them had nothing to talk about. After all, Ling Buyi's temperament was indeed a little cooler. He had been here for a while, and his cold expression had not changed. Naturally, Li Hao didn't want to stick to this cold ass.
But facing the prince, Li Hao didn't know what to say. After all, he had never had much contact with him, and Li Hao didn't live in the capital, so he had nothing to talk about when he wanted to gossip.
When Li Hao thought of this, he thought about Qu Lengjun's matter. Should he mention this matter to the prince? After all, he was also a participant in this matter.
Now that he has not been married for long, he still has deep feelings for Qu Lengjun. If he can be involved, the marriage will most likely not be successful.
Just when Li Hao was thinking about whether he could do this, the prince noticed that the two of them were silent, and the scene suddenly turned cold.
So he took the initiative and said: "I read in Yuan Zhoumu's memorial that you personally took the troops to Xuzhou to suppress the bandits this time, and verified the power of these siege equipment on the spot.
I didn’t realize that at such a young age, you are not only good at the art of organization, but are also involved in military matters. "
After hearing this, Li Hao put down what was in his mind and replied: "His Royal Highness, you are looking down on others. It is not your age that matters. As long as you are capable and willing to serve your Majesty, age is not important." ?
In the pre-Qin Dynasty, Gan Luo became a minister at the age of twelve. Although I dare not compare myself to Gan Luo's talent, I can always carry on his ambition. "
The prince smiled when he heard this and said: "For your dedication to the country, I will have to talk to my father later and let him reward you."
Li Hao couldn't help but laugh after hearing this. Even Ling Buyi, who had a straight face at the side, seemed to have softened his face a lot.
At this time, the person whom the prince had just asked to go in to deliver the message came out and said that His Majesty was free and asked everyone to go in and talk.
So the prince went first, while Li Hao and Ling Buyi followed a few steps behind, and walked into the Chongde Hall together.
Then Li Hao discovered that there were still many people here, among whom Li Hao was more familiar with Xiao Yue Hou, Cui Hou, and Wang Chun, who had business dealings with the Yuan family.
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The others should be Wu Hui and He Yong, Emperor Wen's favorite generals. Li Hao could barely recognize them from the portraits he had seen.
However, Emperor Wen obviously didn't care about this, and had no intention of introducing Li Hao one by one. After the three of them sat down, he said:
"Your father's memorial mentioned that you led people to improve a lot of siege equipment some time ago. They tried it in Xuzhou and found it usable, so they thought of coming to the capital to offer treasures."
Li Hao heard the words and replied: "Reporting to your Majesty, this siege weapon is useful to the court. Therefore, after the experiment was successful, I thought of compiling it into a book and dedicating it to Your Majesty, hoping to do my best for your Majesty's country."
Emperor Wen smiled after hearing this and said: "Oh, this time it is you who want to dedicate it to me, it is not your father's idea.
I remember that the last time you made that Quyuan plow, you were not still thinking about making money. In the end, it was your father who found out about it and offered it to you. "
As soon as these words came out, everyone present smiled, and Li Hao had no choice but to laugh along with him. Li Hao never expected that the last time he praised Yuan Pei would have such sequelae.
Seeing that Li Hao didn't speak, Emperor Wen didn't ask any more questions. Instead, he took out the booklet that Li Hao had given him in advance when he entered the palace.
Emperor Wen had already circulated the equipment here to the ministers at the court meeting just now.
Of the many people present, except for Wang Chun, everyone else had made great achievements on the battlefield and naturally had unique insights into siege equipment.
Faced with the drill and actual combat results marked on the booklet by Li Hao, they all agreed that they were relatively credible. Of course, specific physical verification was needed.
So everyone only asked a few questions in Li Hao's book. After Li Hao answered them one by one, they stopped talking.
After all, compared to this thing that they know better, they are actually more curious about the paper used for writing, especially Xiao Yuehou, Cuihou, and Wang Chun, the three people who have done business with Li Hao.
It was just that when Emperor Wen didn't say anything, they couldn't speak. They just made up their mind to ask Li Hao to come over to talk to him later.
At this time, Emperor Wen said: "Since everyone has no problem, Yuan Ang, you will have people make all the things mentioned in the book outside the city. Then I will go and have a look with all the ministers.
The prince will assist in this matter. If you need anything, just ask the prince directly. "
After hearing Emperor Wen's order, Li Hao and the prince stood up to accept the order.
Afterwards, now that the matter was over, Emperor Wen ordered all the ministers to leave. Li Hao originally got up and followed him.
As a result, he was left behind by Emperor Wen as soon as he got up, along with the prince and Ling Buyi.
At this time, Emperor Wen asked: "I haven't asked you just now, is the paper used in this book newly made by your family?"
Li Hao replied: "Yes, the production technology of this paper has just been improved not long ago. It just so happens that it is a long way to the capital this time, and it is inconvenient to bring a bunch of bamboo slips.
Moreover, it was regarded as the best for Your Majesty, so I used this paper to draw and make a book. "
Emperor Wen nodded, and then said: "Well, if that's the case, then how many such papers did you bring to me when you came to Beijing this time!"
Although Li Hao had indeed prepared it for Emperor Wen, he still felt a little helpless when he heard him asking for it so directly.
But this does not affect the answer: "I came from Xuzhou this time, so I didn't bring much with me. I visited Liang's house yesterday and gave some away. The remaining paper can probably make more than thirty booklets like this. .
However, when I came to Xuzhou, I had already sent a message back to Jiaodong, asking them to send the newly produced paper to the capital to present to His Majesty.
But because the technology for making this paper is not yet mature and the cost is still a bit high, it has been improving and has not been mass-produced, so the quantity may not be large. "
When Emperor Wen heard this, he asked, "Oh, how much does your paper cost now?"
Li Hao replied: "According to my calculations when I left Jiaodong, the cost of making ten pieces of paper is equivalent to the same area of cloth."
"Then the price of this paper is indeed not low. It is several times more expensive than the bamboo slips. I'm afraid I won't be able to use it for a long time." Emperor Wen sighed after hearing this.
Li Hao replied, "Your Majesty has set an example for the world by being diligent and thrifty, which really makes me admire you very much. When I go back, I will study carefully to reduce the cost of this paper so that more people can use it.
During this experiment, I would like to use part of the paper created by the caravan to bring it to the capital and present it to His Majesty. "
Emperor Wen shook his head at this and said: "Forget it, I won't take advantage of your Yuan family. I think you will definitely sell this paper. I will just buy some myself."
Of course, I will not give you any money for this batch of paper. I will only treat it as your contribution to the country. After verifying the siege equipment, I will also give you a reward.
However, your improvement work should really be completed as soon as possible. After all, I don’t have much money in my internal funds. "
Li Hao replied: "Thank you, Your Majesty. I will definitely step up improvements."
As soon as Li Hao finished his reply, he suddenly heard Emperor Wen say: "By the way, you just visited the Liang family yesterday. I remember that your mother seems to be the legitimate daughter of the Liang family, and the Yuan Qing family is also your uncle. So how much paper did you send to his house?”
Li Hao was really helpless after hearing this, so he had to reply: "It's roughly more than one-third of the money given to His Majesty, which is equivalent to making a dozen booklets."
"Then I feel much better. Okay, you can go down and do things." After hearing Emperor Wen's words, Li Hao quickly stood up and left to avoid being questioned by Emperor Wen again.
However, the prince and Ling Buyi were kept by Emperor Wen, which made Li Hao feel a pity. Originally, Li Hao wanted to test it again to see if he could be asked to intervene.
Anyway, Qu Lengjun is not married yet, so he will not be accused of having a secret meeting with his wife. At worst, Qu Lengjun will be allowed to enter the crown prince's uterus as a concubine.
At that time, with Qu Lengjun's ability and the prince's favor, it would be easy to suppress Sun and make her unable to stand up.
But it doesn't matter if he can't find a chance to test this time. Anyway, since Emperor Wen asked the prince to assist him in doing things, he will naturally have opportunities if he has more contacts in the future.
After leaving the palace, Li Hao went straight to the outside of the city to see how the materials were being prepared.
