"Your Highness, this is indeed Wo Nation's fault, but please give us ten days. If we can't hand Nakamura Yuo over to you after ten days, the Eda Division and the entire Wo Nation are willing to accept any punishment!"
After the guards left, the Empress of the Wo Nation bowed slightly to Li Xiaogong and said.
Li Xiaogong shook his head without thinking and said, "I have the Emperor's order, so I can't stay in Wo Nation for ten days. I will return to Chang 'an tomorrow!"
The Empress of the Wo Nation was stunned. She seemed to be caught off guard by this result. After a moment of thought, she said,
"No matter what, Wo Nation has caused the Tang Empire to suffer losses. The Eda Division is willing to take out a thousand kilograms of brass and a hundred thousand taels of silver as compensation! After we catch Nakamura Yuo and the rest, the Eda Division will send an envoy to Chang 'an for Your Highness to deal with! What do you think, Your Highness? "
Li Xiaogong couldn't help but hold his breath. Wo Nation was really rich!
What did the Tang Empire lack now? What it lacked the most was, of course, silver and brass!
The Tang Empire's territory was vast, but the exploration and mining technology of gold, silver, and copper were not good. Therefore, the country's annual silver production was only about fifteen thousand taels of silver. Yes, you heard right, fifteen thousand taels of silver!
This fifteen thousand taels of newly refined silver, together with the silver that local officials plundered from the people and offered to the Emperor, and sometimes the provinces and prefectures would turn the taxes into silver and send it to the capital. The silver was usually cast into rectangular silver collars, one foot long and two inches wide. Most of the silver collars were 50 taels of silver. The collars had to be engraved or written with the weight, color, origin of the silver, the name, official position, year of the tribute, and so on.
Therefore, silver was not a currency in the Tang Empire.
Thinking about the later dynasties, those corrupt officials would embezzle tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of taels of silver. For example, Yan Song of the Ming Dynasty embezzled 30,000 taels of gold and 2 million taels of silver. He Shen of the Qing Dynasty embezzled 800 million taels of silver. It was more than 10 years of the Imperial Court's income. Compared to these corrupt officials, the Tang Dynasty's silver reserves were really weak ~!
There was also brass. In the past few years, Great Tang had been recuperating, and the country was flourishing. The lives of the commoners had improved, and the demand for copper coins had increased. However, there were only so many copper mines that the imperial court had discovered, and there was no such thing as' Jiaozi 'or' Baozi 'banknotes. Thus, in the past two years, Great Tang had already experienced a shortage of money ~!
At the very least, the Great Tang didn't dare to play around like this when the Wo Nation casually took out a thousand jin of brass.
"Ten thousand kilograms of brass and a hundred thousand taels of silver. After capturing Nakamura Kawa Yuto, he must be personally escorted to Chang 'an by someone of sufficient status. In this way, I can pretend that nothing happened!"
Li Xiaogong pondered for a moment before looking at the empress and saying flatly, "Don't worry.
How greedy!
The bearded man couldn't help but look at Li Xiaogong in surprise. This was what it meant to be greedy ~!
Ten thousand kilograms of brass, if brought back to Chang 'an, would definitely be enough to solve the current shortage of money in the imperial court!
The Big Brother on the mountain's back pursed his lips and clenched his fists. Even though he belonged to the conservative faction of the Wo Nation, he couldn't help but feel a little angry at Li Xiaogong's greedy demand.
The empress's eyes narrowed, and then she clenched her teeth and said, "Your Highness, this ten thousand kilograms of brass is really …"
"Say no more ~!"
Li Xiaogong waved his hand and interrupted her. "There's no room for discussion ~! Queen, do you know that the 20 soldiers who died in battle were the bravest soldiers of Great Tang, and those innocent sailors? Now, they are all buried in the sea, and not even their bones are left ~!
Before I set out to sea, His Majesty once told me. If there are any invaders, I will use all my strength to wipe them out! The Wo people have killed the soldiers and people of the Great Tang. Logically speaking, this king should have sent soldiers to attack them, but out of consideration for Her Majesty's devotion to the Great Tang, this king decided to give them a chance. Don't try to bargain! "
Li Xiaogong's arrogance was vividly displayed at this moment ~!
A weak country has no diplomacy, and a strong country has hegemony. This sentence was also vividly displayed at this moment ~!
The empress closed her eyes. After a long while, she sighed and said, "Okay ~! I'll do as you say ~! But the amount of brass and silver is huge. Please give me two more days ~! "
She weighed and struggled in her heart for a long time before she agreed to this "humiliating" condition.
Li Xiaogong said lightly, "Two days is too long. You must prepare ten thousand kilograms of brass and one hundred thousand taels of silver by noon tomorrow ~!"
The empress clenched her teeth and said after a while, "Okay ~! I'll try my best ~! "
Li Xiaogong didn't think that she was disobedient. He looked around and said, "Then I wonder who the empress is going to send to escort Nakamura Kawa ~?"
The empress thought for a moment and said, "This matter is of great importance. Emeda wants to stay until tomorrow's court …"
"Your Majesty ~! I'm willing to escort Nakamura Kawa to Great Tang ~! "
The empress originally wanted to let the officials discuss this matter in the morning court tomorrow, but before she finished speaking, the eldest brother of the mountain back stepped forward and bowed, "I've admired Great Tang for a long time.
This time I go to Great Tang to broaden my knowledge. When I come back, I can serve the Wo Nation and share the worries of Your Majesty ~! "
The empress raised her eyebrows, and her face suddenly became ugly. Obviously, she didn't want the eldest brother of the mountain back to Great Tang.
Li Xiaogong narrowed his eyes and looked at the eldest brother of the mountain back. Then he said, "Who are you that I mentioned before ~?"
The eldest brother of the mountain back didn't show anger because of Li Xiaogong's contempt. He cupped his hands and replied, "I'm the eldest brother of the mountain back. The current imperial court's purple crown prince is Crown Prince Shengde. I wonder if the prince can give me this opportunity ~?"
(Previously, Crown Prince Shengde divided the officials into twelve ranks and differentiated them by the color of the crown. That is, Great Virtue, Xiao Virtue, Da Ren, Xiao Ren, Da Li, Xiao Li, Da Xin, Xiao Xin, Da Yi, Xiao Yi, Da Zhi, Xiao Zhi, Da Zhi, Xiao Zhi, Da Zhi, Xiao Zhi, etc. Each rank uses the same color to make the crown. The purple crown is the first rank.)
"Crown Prince Shengde ~?"
Li Xiaogong whispered in his heart. He had heard a lot about Crown Prince Shengde's deeds from the bearded man on the ship. He knew that this person's reputation in Wo Nation was great. It was basically equivalent to Li Er's reputation in Great Tang.
So, he nodded and said, "Haha ~! Good ~! It's you ~! Since the matter has been discussed, then the prince will leave ~! "
After that, he stood up and prepared to leave with the bearded man without hesitation.
The empress and the eldest brother of the mountain back cupped their hands and said goodbye.
Out of the palace gate, Yoko Ono stepped forward and smiled flatteringly, "Prince, this way please ~! His Majesty has prepared a carriage for you ~! It's late now. You two must be tired. You can rest in the carriage for a while ~! "
Li Xiaogong thought for a moment and nodded, "En ~! Lead the way ~! "
"Yes, yes, yes ~!"
…
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