After three days, Li Yi finally finished his drawing.
He brought a stack of drawings to the workshop and handed them to everyone.
"Let's work together and produce results as soon as possible. Let's start with a smaller one that can sail on the Ba River.
When you have finished, the river will be developed and Zhuangzi will use it to transport goods. "
Li Yi was relieved after giving his instructions. He thought for a while and muttered: "Tubo is so shameless. If I don't do anything, don't they know how to apologize? "
"Where is Song De?" Li Yi asked someone.
The person shook his head.
Li Yi turned and entered the monitoring room: "Where did Song De go?"
"I saw the path Steward Song took just now. He should have gone to the kiln at the back." The person in charge of monitoring answered.
Li Yi went to the kiln and found Song De. He gave him some instructions and Song De smiled and nodded.
Just after noon, a two-wheeled carriage from the Li Family Zhuangzi arrived outside the Honglu Temple in the imperial city.
The people who followed them carried a box from the carriage and placed it in front of the Honglu Temple. They then drove the carriage away quickly.
There was a burning incense on the box. The passersby looked at it curiously and smelled it. It was an incense used to drive away mosquitoes in summer.
The people from the Honglu Temple came out to take a look. Not long after, the officials left one after another. No one touched the box.
The other people also came out to take a look. When they saw the burning incense, an inexplicable sense of fear appeared. They each found an excuse to leave.
The leader of the Tubo envoys, Bo Xie, was depressed. The box was not for anyone else and no one could touch it.
But what was in the box?
"Quick, run. There should be gunpowder inside. The gunpowder used in firecrackers. When the incense burns to the back, there will be a loud explosion. God knows how big the explosion will be."
Isinba, who was sent by the Tubo to compete, guessed.
"How can it explode if it is extinguished?" A Tubo envoy wanted to take action.
"Don't touch it. It belongs to the Li Family Zhuangzi. It is not the box we are waiting for. If we touch it, the Li Family Zhuangzi will have an excuse to cause trouble."
Isinba quickly stopped them. If anyone wanted to touch it, it should be the officials from the Honglu Temple.
"How should we deal with it? Li Yi is coming for us. "
"Retreat. Let's head out first and find a place. Quick." Bo Xie urged. Since they were going out at the last moment, he didn't care anymore.
When the commoners noticed the situation, they all moved away.
He waited and waited until the incense was extinguished. There was no movement at all.
The Li Family Zhuangzi's men appeared again. They circled the box a few times, shook their heads, lifted the box into the car, and left.
The people from the Chamberlain of Dependencies all returned. The danger had passed and there was no explosion. Something must have gone wrong.
Tubo's people also headed back. Just as they arrived outside the Honglu Temple, a villager ran over with a bag in his hand, mumbling, "Let's fight, let's fight."
Poof! He threw the bag at the feet of Tubo and the others. The villager suddenly sped up, as if he was trying to hide from something.
"Quick, run!" Isinba shouted loudly.
Whoosh! The surrounding Tubo people ran in all directions.
"I, take me with you," said Isinbal, struggling with his crutch, and falling to the ground with a plop.
He struggled to get up, and crawled some distance away.
The villager who had thrown the bag ran back. He was just as suspicious as before. He circled the bag twice before picking it up and leaving.
"It's fake, it's fake. It's all fake. Li Yi is just trying to scare us." Isinba lay there, thinking it through.
"Since that's the case, let's not bother about him in the future." The Tubo man who had returned panted heavily.
"No, he might do something real. The key is …" Isinba thought of something else.
Before he could finish speaking, the Tubo man came over, "You Tubo people have to bear the consequences of your own actions. Don't implicate us."
"Compensate us. Hurry up and compensate us. You've been scaring us to death."
"The assassination didn't succeed, and you want to pretend it didn't happen? What are you thinking? "
"We even lost a horse last time. You should move out. Don't stay with us in the Honglu Temple. We're always on tenterhooks because of you."
The other foreign envoys started to criticize the Tubo envoys.
Bo Qiao finally understood. He gritted his teeth, "Despicable."
He knew that Li Yi was trying to scare all the envoys in the Honglu Temple and use them to force his Tubo to compensate.
There was no need for evidence for an assassination.
The key was that the Li Family Zhuangzi's men could torture people in the Honglu Temple, but he couldn't go to the Li Family Zhuangzi himself.
The only thing he could be thankful for was that Li Yi didn't intend to kill anyone yet.
The group returned to their own courtyard. For the time being, they couldn't hear the complaints of the other envoys.
"Why don't we challenge Li Yi?" Isinba said helplessly. He wanted to wait until his leg was better.
"What if he doesn't agree?" Bo Qiao was worried.
"We'll use their men as bargaining chips. As long as he agrees to the challenge and wins, we'll release some of their men."
Isinba had already made a plan. He had discussed it before coming out.
He wanted to force the imperial court of the Tang Dynasty to put pressure on Li Yi.
Tubo would always find opportunities to rob the people of the Tang Dynasty. After robbing them of their money, they would bring them back to work.
The people who were robbed were not all Han Chinese. Some of them were local people of various ethnic groups. However, they were all people of the Tang Dynasty.
If they were robbed, they would be Tubo's slaves.
If the Tang Dynasty fought with Tubo and won, they would capture the other party's prisoners and exchange them with Tubo.
The current problem was that Tubo captured more people than the Tang Dynasty.
"Okay." Bo Qiao immediately wrote a letter of credence. He could only represent himself. He didn't belong to the Prime Minister.
After handing it to the officials of the Honglu Temple, Tubo's men waited.
In the Li Family Zhuangzi, Li Longji and Empress Wang brought the child over in the evening.
They examined the child's body first. He didn't have any health problems and was very active.
They hugged him, but he didn't agree. He struggled to get off the ground and crawled around.
"Brother Yi, Tubo's envoy wrote a letter. He wants to compete with you in the name of the 200 people of the Tang Dynasty who were robbed."
Li Longji told Li Yi about the letter of credence he received today.
"Last time, Tubo formed an alliance and betrayed them. They didn't even bring the people. Why should I believe them?"
Li Yi curled his lips. Tubo had no credibility. This was an excuse to refuse.
Li Longji lowered his head slightly. He thought and said, "The officials in the imperial court have many supporters."
"Let them compete. If they lose, they will be beheaded. If Tubo wants to compete with me, it should be technology. "
Li Yi could guess that the 20,000 catties of alcohol were almost used up. He lit the hot air balloon again and again.
As long as the people of Tubo were not stupid, they would definitely understand that the key technology was missing.
One was the technology of how to lift the hot air balloon. The other was the technology of alcohol distillation.
Otherwise, they would know how to burn it.
"Is there any other way?" Li Longji didn't say anything out of anger.
The robbed people had a chance to come back, but the imperial court didn't agree. They were in a passive position.
"Let them send 200 people over as hostages. The Tang Dynasty has more credibility than them.
When the news is sent back, their people will come over. I have also made arrangements here.
It's cold now. I have a sure-win method, but it's not suitable for operation. "
Li Yi gave a method. He also knew that once the news of Tubo spread, the hat of righteousness would be put on his head.
Tubo used an overt scheme. He could only use it against them.
"Okay." Li Longji was willing to cooperate.
"Third Brother, tell them to put the matter of the people aside. How much money do they have? I will use money to gamble with them."
Li Yi was thinking about the money brought by Tubo. If the other party paid, he would also pay. If his technology was not good, he would use it to gamble with the people.
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