"The wax on the ash wood that we use is artificial and we raise the ash worms on the tree. Ants can also be raised. They like to eat the wax of the ash insects … "
Li Yi's voice floated in the hot spring.
The other three listened carefully. It was the first time they heard that ants were so interesting.
They were so small. How could they be raised?
"Report, Li Dongzhu is back. They're back. Yu Huaide's caravan. The smuggling, no, the trading caravan is back."
The voice traveled to the hot spring from afar. Through the voice, they could tell how excited the messenger was.
"Sir, I'm not playing anymore. You win this game. You can soak first. I'm going to see if there are any casualties. I'm rich."
Li Yi grabbed a handful of chess pieces, placed them on the chessboard, and surrendered.
Li Yi ran away before the three of them finished listening to the story of the ants.
"Who is Yu Huaide?" Noble Consort Lu felt that the name was familiar, but she couldn't remember.
"He once offended Li Yi. Later, he cooperated with Li Yi and went to Tubo to exchange things in private.
After San Lang found out, he sent the Winged Knights to protect them along the way and took half of the money as protection fee. "
Li Dan understood the situation, and Li Yi took out a lot of "valuable" things.
"The things can't run away. The ants aren't finished yet." Noble Consort Lu was thinking about the interesting things about the ants.
Li Yi had already killed the ants. He was most worried about the casualties of the Winged Knights.
He put on some clothes and went outside. When he saw the Winged Knights, he asked, "How are the brothers?"
"Not a single one died. No one was seriously injured. They said that they encountered a few groups of people. They were not organized at all. Their fighting strength was too weak."
The messenger grinned. He was happy that his comrades were still alive.
Li Yi thought for a moment and shook his head. "The Winged Knights have so many people and horses. The caravan is huge, and there are guards. How can anyone take the risk?"
"There will always be people who think that they can do it. What if they scare them a little and the caravan gives them some benefits? Then, they can continue to scare them and slowly dig them out."
This winged cavalry warrior gave him a process that he thought was more or less the same.
This was the process, but the result was different from what the other party had expected.
"Wait for me to change my clothes. I don't want to soak in the hot spring anymore." Li Yi turned around to look for clothes.
Not long after, a group of cavalrymen escorted him to Zhuangzi. Yu Huaide and his group could not enter the city.
The Li Family Zhuangzi was the only place that was suitable for her.
With hot food and a house to live in, he could arrange for the others to stay in the Zhang family's village, which was a tourist attraction.
In the palace, Li Longji, who was in charge of reviewing memorials, received the news in advance and knew the approximate amount of money.
Gold, Tubo, jewels, horses, oxen, cocks, wool, felt, and leather, all added up to about a million and a half.
The messenger said that the merchants thanked His Majesty for sending the Winged Knights to protect them and were willing to share 800,000 silver coins with His Majesty.
"800,000 silver coins. It's not the end of the year yet, but the accounts of the goods transported to Chang 'an from all over the country are out. It's 9.2 million silver coins, which is 1.4 million more than last year."
Li Longji calculated the amount of money from the imperial court this year and compared it to 800,000 silver coins. How many state capitals were rented for this year?
"Lishi, do you think Tubo is very rich?"
Li Longji thought that if Tubo could be exchanged for so much money, wouldn't it be similar to the Tang dynasty?
"Your Majesty, the accounts can't be calculated like this. The Tang dynasty collects rent, and the merchants' taxes have not been collected yet."
Gao Lishi looked at it from a different perspective.
"Yes, Yu Huaide and his group went to exchange for goods, and the people they exchanged were rich people in Tubo. If everyone in the Tang dynasty paid taxes, 30 million silver coins a year would also be fine."
Li Longji thought about the money and became more and more determined to collect taxes on the merchants.
"Did someone inform Brother Yi?" Li Longji immediately thought of the good news to share.
"Yes, Li Dongzhu should be accompanying the Retired Emperor to soak in the hot spring." Gao Lishi replied.
"Brother Yi's marriage is really troublesome. Alas!" Li Longji thought of this and felt a headache.
If a woman from an ordinary family married Li Yi, she would not be of much help, and Li Yi would have to take care of her family.
Unless everyone in the other party's family died. If a woman's family died and she did not die, did she cause her family to die because of her bad luck?
"Your Majesty, Li Dongzhu's marriage is not urgent. Many people have not married at his age." Gao Lishi advised.
"That's because he can't marry, not because he doesn't want to. Brother Yi hasn't married yet. Forget it, maybe he plans to marry after he reaches the age of 20. "
Li Longji was silent after he finished speaking, and then he continued to edit the memorials.
When Li Yi returned to Zhuangzi, he did not see Yu Huaide and the others.
"Where are they?" Li Yi asked the farmer.
"Including the Winged Knights. They are bathing in the various baths, and the food has been sent in. They will probably go to sleep after bathing and eating."
The farmer pointed in a few directions.
The baths in Zhuangzi were occupied, and so were the baths in the Zhang Clan's village and the migrant workers' district.
Li Yi suddenly understood, "Yes, I will go to sleep too. They must have fought hard for the last part of the journey, and want to go home early."
As he said, many people fell asleep after bathing, and they were carried out of the baths, and did not eat at all.
If it was not for the fact that the cows and horses needed to rest and eat, these people would not have slept for the last two days.
Li Yi went to the courtyard to rest, and the farmers lit up the kerosene lamps and lanterns, illuminating Zhuangzi and the migrant workers.
The cows and horses were thin from hunger. When they were in Shu County, it was easy to survive. Shu County was warm, and there was grass in winter.
After leaving Shu County and heading east, there was less and less grass, and they could only eat hay and some grains.
Now that they were back, they were labor, not food, and the farmers took good care of them.
The alfalfa planted in the greenhouse was mixed with fried bean flour and green chard, and they were placed in the trough.
The trough of the horses was also filled with goose eggs and duck eggs.
The cows and horses were overjoyed. They ate while looking at the people feeding them, as if they wanted to remember what the other person looked like.
The people who knew how to identify the horses were divided into groups, and they looked at the horses with flashlights.
The horses were of different sizes. Some could be used as military horses, while others could only be used for manual labor.
The horses themselves could not tell which type they could be used for, and they needed to be found by the people who identified them.
In order not to make mistakes, the people who identified the horses were divided into groups. One group looked at the horses, and the other group looked at them.
The good horses were selected, and they could eat fresh eggs, pepper, and sugar as snacks in the future.
The horses that were not selected could only continue to eat ordinary food.
Some of the migrant workers were called up to build barns and stables for the cows and horses.
The farmers knew that Dongzhu did not like jewels, so they would definitely give the livestock to Zhuangzi.
In the future, these cows and horses would belong to Zhuangzi. The first thing they needed to do was to build a house for them to live in, and when the sun rose, they could bathe them.
Cows and horses that were fed with good food were very docile. As for whether they would still be docile after being ridden, that was another matter.
At dawn, when Li Yi woke up for breakfast, he saw many familiar faces.
"Have you all slept enough? Sleep for a while after breakfast. "The Winged Knights came to the cafeteria to eat.
Yu Huaide and the others, including the guards they hired, were still asleep. They had not woken up at all.
At noon, Yu Huaide and the others woke up one after another and went to the toilet.
Their heads were a little dizzy, probably because they had slept too much.
Li Yi treated them to stir-fried vegetables instead of hotpot. There were many vegetables in the greenhouse, and there were also prepared drunk crabs.
"Li Dongzhu, we will go again next year. We have already talked to the other side. If you have any good things, we will continue to go there to sell."
Yu Huaide ate a mouthful of cucumber with garlic paste. He was almost in tears. The days of being a merchant were tough.
"Yes, I have better things. They will definitely like it, and they must buy it." Li Yi smiled and nodded.
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