area51novel Chapter 386
Chapter 386
Empress Changsun stayed in Princess Changle's room for half an hour and saw the quilt that Su Chen had mentioned.
Very warm!
Princess Changle pointed at her watch, "Mother, I have to go back to school."
"Well, go! Mother, go see if your father and the others are back!"
Empress Changsun nodded, and the mother and daughter walked out of the room together.
"I heard from your fourth brother that Su Chen picks you up and takes you to school every day? The manor is only an incense stick away from the school, why bother Su Chen to pick you up?"
Empress Changsun looked at Princess Changle and started preaching.
"Mother, Su Chen wanted to do it himself!" Princess Changle whispered.
Empress Changsun shook her head, "You! You are still as ignorant as a child. If it were before, you would have been married long ago!"
Princess Changle shrugged and stuck out her tongue, but did not answer.
"Su Chen?"
"You didn't go with your father?"
Princess Changle and Empress Changsun came to the living room and found Su Chen sitting alone in the living room.
"Yeah, there's nothing to see with the explosives. I just took a nap in the study." Su Chen stood up and said with a smile.
"Oh!"
Empress Changsun looked at Su Chen and smiled slightly, "Su Chen, you go to school, don't be late!"
Who dares to refuse to accompany the emperor!
Only Su Chen dared.
Su Chen bowed slightly, "Okay, mother, you sit here for a while and I will be back soon." Su Chen didn't have so many etiquette for other people, but it was different for Empress Changsun.
Empress Changsun watched the two of them leave the manor side by side with a smile on her face.
"Su Chen, what kind of gloves do you like?"
Princess Changle remembered the anti-freeze gloves Empress Changsun mentioned, and she also wanted to get a pair for Su Chen.
"It's all right. I've never worn that thing."
Princess Changle pouted and looked at Su Chen, "Perfunctory!"
"Uh~ I like it as long as you knit it yourself!" Su Chen added without any disobedience.
"Hmph, no sincerity at all!"
Su Chen took her hand and said sincerely: "Really, I didn't lie to you!"
"Okay, I believe you for now!"
After a while, the school was in sight.
"Su Chen, go back!" Princess Changle stopped at the school gate and looked at Su Chen.
"Okay, I'll pick you up after school!"
Waving his hand, Su Chen turned and left.
Just then, there was an explosion from a far distance, and Su Chen stopped for a moment.
'Strange, why did the explosives explode now! '
It had been almost two hours since Li Shimin and his men left the manor, and it wouldn't take that much time to place the explosives.
Su Chen thought the explosives had exploded in the hour he was asleep.
‘Damn, how much explosives did they bring to play with! ’
…
“Father, we really can’t let it go! That guy Su Chen has repeatedly stated that explosives are used to open mountains and build roads.”
Li Tai persuaded Li Shimin earnestly, and at the same time regretted that he brought too much explosives.
All six explosives were detonated twice.
Li Shimin nodded, he was very satisfied now.
Such a hard mine was actually blown into pieces by three sugarcane-like explosives. It only takes a little processing by workers to be directly used in cement production.
“Qingque, the current low production of explosives is only because the amount of sugarcane can’t keep up, is it true or not?”
After thinking about it, Li Shimin asked seriously.
“Replying to Father, that’s right.
The second is sulfur. The sulfur mine in Hua County doesn’t produce much. Only one pound of sulfur can be extracted from a hundred pounds of pyrite.”
Li Shimin nodded and looked at Changsun Wuji.
"Your Majesty, I will arrange fifty carriages to go to Lingnan to purchase sugar cane. Even though the road is rugged and inconvenient for carriages to pass, 20,000 kilograms of sugar cane can still be transported to Chang'an smoothly."
Changsun Wuji immediately took the initiative to report.
"Assistant, send people to Lingnan after returning to the palace to collect as much sugar cane as possible.
I can see that sugar cane can be stored for a long time after being refined into white sugar, so no matter how much sugar cane is sent to Chang'an, it must be refined into white sugar."
Li Shimin thought that 10,000 or 20,000 kilograms of sugar cane was still too little.
"I obey your order!"
"...Sulfur!" Li Shimin murmured, he knew nothing about sulfur.
"Father, Su Chen asked me to chase Atana into the Western Regions for sulfur. I think since my brother-in-law said there is sulfur in the Western Regions, there must be sulfur. He has never done anything without confidence."
Li Chengqian thought to himself that Atana had been on the road for almost a month and should be arriving in the Western Regions soon.
Li Shimin nodded when he heard it.
...
Li Chengqian was thinking about Atana.
Little did he know that Atana, who was in the Western Regions at the moment, had met a big client.
This time, Atana set out from Chang'an and arrived in the Western Regions in just over 20 days. In the weather in October, he could travel as much as he wanted during the day without having to escape the heat. In addition, he was familiar with the roads, so he was much faster than last time.Atana was in a yurt, listening to the poor Chinese of the envoy sent by the royal family of the Western Regions, feeling very uncomfortable.
After arriving in the Western Regions, Atana went straight to the place where he had traded last time. In two days, he sold all the fine salt and tea, leaving only some to exchange for white folded rice and yellow stones.
On the third day, he was preparing to start looking for yellow stones.
Unexpectedly, an envoy came, claiming to be sent by the royal nobles of the Western Regions, and handed Atana a sheepskin letter.
But Atana didn't recognize the Chinese characters on it!
So, the envoy invited Atana and his eleven companions into a yurt.
"My Western Regions Royal Family heard that you have a good relationship with a senior official of the Tang Dynasty. Please give this letter to the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty."
"The Western Regions are willing to exchange white folded rice for salt and tea of the Tang Dynasty. To show sincerity, when you return to Chang'an this time, the Western Regions Royal Family will present 500 cattle and sheep to His Majesty the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty."
The envoy told Atana the contents of the sheepskin letter.
"Messenger, I didn't bring so many people this time. Only ten people can't bring back those cattle and sheep." After Atana understood, he felt that this matter was not complicated.
Whether the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty agrees or not has little to do with him, as long as he brings the things back to Chang'an.
"You don't need to worry about this matter. We will arrange 300 people to accompany you. This envoy will go to Chang'an with you." The envoy said very politely.
Atana heard it and instantly had an idea.
"Messenger, the emperor likes the white sedge flowers in the Western Regions very much. This time, the prime minister specifically told me to bring more back.
So..."
The messenger waved his hands and smiled, "When you left the Western Regions last time, my king had ordered the tribes to collect a large number of white sedges. At that time, you can send them to Chang'an along with cattle and sheep."
There has never been any conflict or dispute between the Western Regions and the Tang Dynasty.
Moreover, the Western Regions are the most important place on the Silk Road since the Han Dynasty.
"Messenger, there is one more thing. You should know that the Han people are used to building walls with bricks. The prime minister of the Tang Dynasty told me to bring more yellow stones back to Chang'an.
The yellow stones are very strong when crushed to build walls.
So..."
Atana looked at the messenger with a smile, and the meaning was self-evident.
"Yellow stones?" The messenger asked in confusion.
"Oh, yellow stones are often found in places where volcanoes have erupted. Do you know about volcanoes? It is the fire that comes out from the bottom of the mountain." Atana explained hurriedly.
How could we not make good use of the free help we finally found?
We had the cotton, but the yellow stone was the only thing we hadn't found.