"What song are they practicing?" On the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, Li Chengqi came over for lunch.
He heard the song practiced by the Southern Folk, but he had no impression of it.
"Rosy Clouds Chasing the Moon. They'll perform a song tomorrow night." Li Yi served the spicy mutton giblets he made.
"Tubo asked if they could use other cows and horses to replace the 2,500 military horses." Li Chengqi brought new news.
"They can't give us military horses. Change it to 5,000 cows and horses that are over one year old and under three years old. They can't have any problems."
Li Yi never thought that Tubo would give them military horses. After all, they were enemies. Tubo wanted technology, not to support the enemy.
He wanted to dig out as much as he could. It was useless to kill Tubo's envoys. Otherwise, they would have been killed long ago.
"They said that they want you to demonstrate how to make a rainbow appear in a glass and half a glass of water. Otherwise, they won't approve of your question. "
Li Chengqi also wanted to know, but he resisted the urge to ask.
"When they buy all the cows and horses, I'll demonstrate it to them. It's actually quite simple," Li Yi said with a smile.
"The provincial governors of Danzhou, Qiongzhou, Yazhou, Wananzhou, and Zhenzhou are still local people?"
Li Chengqi was talking about serious matters. Tubo was a small matter.
The Tang dynasty in Hainan Island had five provinces. They used local people as provincial governors. They couldn't collect rent, only tribute.
Although the local people were poor, the tribute was not bad.
There were gold, silver, pearls, tortoiseshell, kun cloth, colorful rattan, and Zhan Tangxiang. Zhan Tangxiang was medicine.
Every year, they would collect some and send it to Li Longji.
The imperial court of the Tang dynasty couldn't control the local people at all. The population was small, and they lived in remote areas. Although it was called a county, it was actually a village.
When officials were sent from other places, the officials refused. The officials could actually refuse the appointment.
After they collected the tribute, they sent people to cross the Qiongzhou Strait and send it to Leizhou by boat.
If anyone wanted to make trouble, the Tang dynasty would send troops to suppress them.
There were only a few people in total, so they were defeated in one fight.
After the fight, the local people promised not to make trouble and return to their original state.
If they really couldn't do it, they would all run to the mountains. Most people couldn't adapt to the tropical climate.
"Use our official position to establish our authority. By giving things, take the old newspapers and teach the locals how to read."
Li Yi refused to let the locals govern the locals, and the imperial court could never interfere.
When they were given something, the locals cheered and divided it among themselves. Then, it was still the appointed locals who were supported.
"It's troublesome to deal with the local officials. They were dissatisfied with being stripped of their official positions, so they're stirring up trouble behind the scenes." Li Chengqi was troubled by this.
"Let them enter Chang 'an and reward them. The imperial court can't send one person to be the provincial governor of a province. They have to send a team."
Li Yi was very familiar with dealing with the old forces. He transferred them out, gave them higher positions, and could even enter Chang 'an to meet His Majesty.
Each province would send a team to take over all the positions.
"Was the handover of government affairs troublesome in the past?" Li Chengqi had another question.
"There's no need to hand it over. Bring a lot of things with you. How much money could they have in the past? Just treat it as nothing and start over. "
Li Yi shook his head with a smile. The locals were poor. How many things could be accumulated in a county that were worth 100 grams?
I can give you 10,000 grams, but I don't want 100 grams.
Li Chengqi also laughed. "I always forget about the local situation. I'm afraid that after planting pepper, someone will invade and incite the local people."
"Choose the local people to form an army. Tell them that they are His Majesty's private army.
Send the toilet water in batches, including the medicine to treat malaria. There are poisonous snakes in the local area. Unfortunately, I can't go there to extract the serum.
Send the poisonous snakes back and make the serum. The preservation time is short. Use realgar and garlic. There are actually snake repellents in the local area. "
At this point, Li Yi stopped hesitating.
After eating two mouthfuls of food, he said, "There's a rich iron mine there. The local people don't know about it. Otherwise, we can directly mine it. The simple smelting method can be used for weapons."
Li Chengqi: "…"
"There's also a lot of copper. There's a good copper mine with a high copper content." Li Yi added.
Li Chengqi took a deep breath. Li Yi was hesitating just now, but now he looked worried.
"Brother Yi, it's too far away. You can't dig there. Otherwise, if other people know about it, they will find a way to fight."
Li Chengqi still had some political wisdom.
"Yes! Then forget it. I won't tell you. "Li Yi expressed his understanding.
Hainan was the southernmost, far away from Chang 'an. There were already two iron mines there, which were enough for the Tang dynasty to use.
Copper could now be used to print money, but its status was lower.
Li Chengqi left with a belly full of worries. Before he left, he went to see the students to see what they were learning.
"There are copper and iron mines there. The content is very high." Li Chengqi found Li Longji and told him about the mines there.
"Don't mine, don't tell." Li Longji thought that other people would fight for it.
"The students of Zhuangzi High School are practicing the poetry and current affairs. In terms of business tax, navy, economic and cultural exchange with Khitan, and military research."
Li Chengqi changed the topic.
"It's good to have a good harvest." Li Longji smiled. This year's topic was set.
He knew that the 220 students were not good at literature. No matter how hard they worked, they were not as talented as others.
The most precious thing for them was to learn new knowledge from Li Yi, such as physics, chemistry, biology, special arithmetic, and economic knowledge.
The Tang dynasty needed this kind of officials. They just needed to make do with their essays.
"I'm just afraid that they didn't memorize it well. If they didn't even get a B grade, they can only be officials of the Nine Sects."
Li Chengqi was worried. He was afraid that the students would not do well in the most basic subjects.
"No. In the Li Family Zhuangzi, the conditions are good. If they can't memorize, their other talents will be mediocre."
Li Longji insisted that they must memorize what should be memorized.
Li Chengqi had no choice. He sent someone to tell Li Yi's answer to Tubo's envoy.
"Five thousand cows and horses? That's a lot of money. Fortunately, there is no spring plowing now. Many people can't afford to raise cows and horses, so they sell them. "
Lying on the bed, Isinba analyzed the price of the cows and horses.
Boqiao was worried. "I'm afraid that Li Yi will announce it. When we wait for the horses and horses, the price will be too high."
"He won't." Isinba said firmly, "If we only buy five thousand cows and horses, the seller will raise the price. Those who are bought will be happy, but those who are not bought will lower the price.
If they lower the price, they won't be satisfied. If they don't lower the price, they won't be able to sell them. They hate Li Yi. Li Yi will lose more than he gains. "
"Since Li Yi is afraid, why don't we help him spread the news?" Boqiao found an opportunity to trick Li Yi.
"If we spread the news, we will have to pay several times more. We can't afford it. If we buy the cows and horses Li Yi wants, we will have to spend tens of thousands of dollars."
Isinba looked at his leg. He was very dissatisfied with Boqiao. He was so timid. He was afraid of Li Yi's revenge, so he broke his own man's leg.
Boqiao acted as if he didn't know. He smiled. "Li Yi gave us a reason to change the compensation to a competition. It will be easier to explain when we go back."
"I don't believe that he can make a rainbow with a glass and half a glass of water."
Isinba had tried many times but failed. He didn't think that Li Yi could do it.
"If he can't, can we still give him the cows and horses?" Boqiao didn't want to give them.
This was because the assassination had nothing to do with him. He didn't give the order and didn't know anything about it.
"Let's see what he has to say." Isinba decided to throw the problem to Li Yi.
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