"What? Let go of these five ministers? Shangguan Yang'er, why are you still speaking for these dog ministers? ”

In the prince's imperial study, the empress dowager Zhou Lan, who had not slept all night, discussed the current situation with Shangguan Yang'er early in the morning. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Hearing this, the Queen Mother Zhou Yu felt dizzy, and she has been unable to sleep at night recently. The whole country of the Crystal Empire is already in chaos. The Tiger King rebelled, and the rebels continued to advance westward along the southern foot of the Great Wall; Qinglongjiang Shanghai monsters are rampant. The Tiger King and the Sea Monster are like two sharp knives inserted into the Crystal Empire!

"Not only did the five ministers go, but also took advantage of the emperor's birthday to give amnesty to the world in order to win the hearts of the people. At the same time, the whole empire selects military generals to make up for the trouble of too few generals! At the same time, counties are allowed to set up private armies to resist the invasion! Now the capital is already an isolated island, and a large amount of our silk is backlogged on the wharf, and the top priority is to clean up the sea monsters on the Qinglong River as soon as possible and open up trade routes! There is not much silver in the treasury for the imperial court to spend, not to mention that the soldiers of the Beida Battalion will soon withdraw from Crystal City and be stationed around the capital, which is another huge expense! Shangguan Yang'er accurately analyzed the situation.

"Well, that's what you listen to!" Zhou Lan said physically and mentally exhausted, "Announce these decisions to me early tomorrow morning!" ”

"Queen Mother, there is another benefit to celebrating the prince's birthday with such fanfare!" Shangguan Yang'er smiled and said, "Officials from all over the country must give some gifts or even silver!" ”

Zhou Lan couldn't help but admire Shangguan Yang'er, but of course she couldn't be happy, so she pretended to be deep and said, "Then how to keep the Silk Road open?" ”

"Queen Mother, isn't it a little strange that the main force of the Tiger King did not go straight to the capital, but invaded westward along the line of the Great Wall?"

"That's right, what is the purpose of the Tiger King?"

"I think the Queen Mother has already thought of it, but she doesn't want to mention him! - The Lion King! ”

"Him!"

Shangguan Yang'er noticed that the Queen Mother Zhou Lan had a different color on her face, and even a little flushed.

"Queen Mother, now, only the Lion King can save the capital from danger again! Don't forget, the mages of Xijia Village, who can deal with sea monsters, are all supporters of the Lion King! ”

Shangguan Yang'er knew that the Queen Mother Zhou Lan had a "special relationship" with the Lion King, and it was Zhou Lan's recommendation that made the Lion King what it is today, so she did not continue to speak, but observed the Queen Mother's reaction.

"However, the Lion King is guarding the Imperial Mausoleum, and he doesn't have many troops in his hands?"

"After all, the importance of the capital is far greater than that of the imperial tomb! Besides, as long as the lion king stays in the capital, it can reach 100,000 male soldiers! In addition, there are 50,000 old subordinates of the Lion King on the Great Wall! ”

"Yes, and the defenders on the Great Wall!" Pan Yu's eyes suddenly brightened, "However, will the Beili Kingdom take advantage of the weakness?" ”

"The country of Northern Li has been wounded and has moved its capital to the cold north, which requires huge financial and material resources, and the king of Tory has no time to take care of the south! In addition, the Tiger King was in such a hurry to advance because he wanted to isolate the defenders of the Great Wall from the Lion King so that they could break through. ”

"So, you want the Lion King to return to the helm of the defenders of the Great Wall?"

"Queen Mother, now it is a matter of the safety of the empire, and the minister thinks that he can take this risk!"

Shangguan Yang'er knew that Zhou Lan was hesitant for the Lion King to take charge of the 50,000 Great Wall defenders again, and he would be worried that the tail would not be lost.

Zhou Lan walked back and forth a few times in the study, and finally made up her mind.

"Just do it! For the sake of Wu'er Tanghua's smooth ascension to the throne, I can only gamble! …… Ay! If only Nakayama was here! Only the left arm and not the right arm, then how can it be done? ”

"Newspaper—"

A herald hurried in. Two urgent reports were sent in.

Shangguan Yang'er hurriedly took the urgent report and sent the herald out of the study.

"Good news! Dowager! ”

"No need to read it, I'll see it myself!" Zhou Lan hurriedly took the good news. The latest battle reports, the Queen Mother always asked Shangguan Yang'er to read to her, because they were all news of defeat, Zhou Lan was already bored, when two good news came, how could Zhou Lan not like it?

After reading the good news, Zhou Lan's face was full of brilliance, and she handed the good news to Shangguan Yang'er.

"Great, more than 100 miles east of the capital, a crystal mine has been discovered, so that you don't have to be subject to Crystal City anymore! There is also a letter from Rabbit Tooth: The army of Beidaying will arrive in the capital in one more day! Shangguan Yang'er said in surprise, "In this way, we only need to restore a Silk Road, and that's it!" ”

"Quick, Yang'er, get the map!" Zhou Lan suddenly had a spirit, "The good news said that the crystal mine is in a place called Wanling County. ”

Hearing the Queen Mother Zhou Lan directly call herself "Yang'er", Shangguan Yang'er smiled, which reminded her of Zhongshan Lang, because he also called himself so.

"Well, tomorrow I will call the county order of Wanling County to summon me!"

"Queen Mother, it's best to ask the county order to bring even the county chronicles, and by the way, take a look at the local customs!" Shangguan Yang'er suggested.

"Okay, then you can go and draw up the purpose! I'm going to take a look! ”

……

The Empress Dowager Zhou Lan left the imperial study with a spring breeze on her face.

The lonely Shangguan Yang'er felt lonely again in her heart, and after she finished cleaning up the imperial study, it was already afternoon, so she decided to take a walk outside the palace.

In order to be able to truly understand the situation in the capital, Shangguan Yang'er and the four Ouchi guards disguised themselves as ordinary people, while Shangguan Yang'er directly disguised herself as a man.

After the five of them left the palace gate, they ran directly to the dock in the western suburbs of the capital. Sure enough, there was a huge backlog of goods there, most of which were silk that had just been collected from the people. However, there was not a single boat on the dock, and the people on the surrounding docks described it as withered and idle.

"If this goes on for a long time, I'm afraid it will change!" Standing on the dock, Shangguan Yang'er, who was looking at the sparkling river from afar, said secretly in his heart.

Shangguan Yang'er then began to discuss business with other silk merchants on the docks as a silk merchant.

"These truckloads are yours, right?" Yang'er asked a gorgeously dressed middle-aged merchant on the shore, who was five short in stature, with a face shaped like a gourd, and mouse-like eyes revealing shrewdness.

"That's right! These ten truckloads of fine silk are all mine, but now they can't be transported, you see this is a trouble! ”

As soon as the shrewd businessman saw Shangguan Yang'er and the four tall men with serious faces behind him, he knew that the person who came was not an ordinary person, and he was going to scold the imperial court, so he swallowed it back again.

"Don't worry, the imperial court will definitely find a way! My goods are also backlogged here! ”

Shangguan Yang'er could only say this, but in fact, even the imperial court couldn't think of anything for a while.

"Hey! This little brother, have you heard, a crystal mine has been found in the west of the capital! ”

Hearing this chubby businessman call himself his little brother, Shangguan Yang'er couldn't help but smile.

"I heard that the imperial court is also very tight!" After speaking, the merchant squeezed his eyes vigorously.

"Good guy, you actually got the idea of a crystal mine!"

But Shangguan Yang'er remained silent, she decided to see what the hell this businessman had in mind, and she quickly blinked her eyes back a few times, indicating that she was also interested in the crystal mine.

"What do you think of this brother?" Shangguan Yang'er asked in a low voice.

"In troubled times, wars are continuous, so what's the most important!"

"Weapons, of course?"

"Little brother is really smart enough, but you only got part of the answer right! Think about it, what does it take to create a weapon? ”

"Steel, of course!" Shangguan Yang'er deliberately pretended not to understand anything.

"Oh, little brother, I really doubt that you are a businessman! It's the age of magic! Although it is still not a close fight, the balance of victory often tilts in favor of the magically powerful side! ”

"In any era, a businessman is the most astute!" Shangguan Yang'er sighed secretly.

"Brother Ren is really a dragon in business!"

"It's over! I'm not done yet! The merchant was interested, and continued, "Silk can be recreated, but crystals can't, and if we can control the mining of crystals, we will control the world!" ”

Hearing this, Shangguan Yang'er's face sank and said, "Let's talk about it, how to get the mining right of the crystal mine?" ”

The fat merchant was obviously interested, and then said with a fluttering eyebrow: "As far as I know, there is already a huge gap in the imperial court's food and salary, which is obviously not enough to cope with the upcoming crisis, and persuade the imperial court to sell the mining rights of the crystal mine to our merchants, which will be beneficial to the imperial court and to us!" ”

Hearing this, Shangguan Yang'er couldn't help but be secretly surprised.

"It seems that the imperial court's policy of valuing agriculture and suppressing commerce should be adjusted, and the Silk Road must be expanded, so that merchants can pay more taxes! In this way, the situation of the imperial court making ends meet may be changed! ”

"What's your name?"

"Xue Yan, then this little brother, your name is ......"

"Someone, bring this person into the palace!" When the four big men showed off their inner guardian gold medal, the fat businessman Xue Yan almost collapsed to the ground.

…………

"Listen to you! Yang'er, as long as we can replenish our treasury and survive the current crisis, you can do it! "The next morning, the court ended, and only the Empress Dowager Zhou Lan and Shangguan were left in the court. Prince Tang went to the imperial study as usual.

"Bring the merchant here!"

After a while, the merchant Xue Yan trembled and knelt in front of Zhou Lan.

"The villain Xue Yan knocked on the Queen Mother Chitose! Chichitose! ”

"Let's be polite!"

"Empress Dowager Xie!"

"I heard you're interested in crystal mining?" Zhou Lan asked as she sorted out her jade wrench.

"The villain just ate the bear's heart and leopard gall, and actually started the idea of the imperial court crystal mine! It's a moment of confusion! Confused for a while! Xue Yan knelt down again and kowtowed.

"The crystal mine belongs to the property of the empire, and it also belongs to the subjects of the empire, and this also includes the crystal mine in Crystal City!"

Hearing the words of the Empress Dowager Zhou Lan, Shangguan Yang'er smiled slightly, and said to Xue Yan as if comforting: "You don't have to worry, the mining rights of the empire's crystal mines will be completely sold to the legitimate merchants of the empire, and you only need to pay a small amount of silver taels for guarantee and pay taxes regularly!" This also includes the Crystal Mine in Crystal City! Of course, you'll have to join forces with other Imperial merchants to buy mining rights, otherwise your own silver taels won't be enough! I heard that you have great prestige among the merchants of the Empire, and that you have your wealth even in Crystal City and Sea City! Therefore, the Empress Dowager has decided to appoint you as the Minister of Commerce of the Empire to directly assist the imperial court in managing the commerce of crystal and silk! ”

Hearing this, Xue Yan couldn't help but feel ecstatic, but he had many worries. The joy is that he can finally obtain the mining rights of the crystal mine and make a windfall, and he unexpectedly became an official of the imperial court; The worry is that she is worried that she will be used - the Queen Mother's intention is very obvious: she wants the merchants of the Crystal Empire to put pressure on the Crystal City, because the Crystal City not only does not open the mining rights of the crystal mines, but also repeatedly delays and even resists the taxes paid by the imperial court.

"Thank you, Lord Ronne! However, Her Royal Highness the Queen Mother, our trade routes are no longer open! Xue Yan voiced his other concern.

"So, we will recruit sailors and build warships to rid the Qinglong River of sea monsters! -- But our treasury doesn't have enough silver! The Queen Mother said.

"Regarding the matter of the silver taels, the Queen Mother doesn't have to worry, the minister can raise it now! - However, my letter of appointment ......"

"Emperor Shangguan, go and do it now!"

"Yes!"

……

In the study, it was quiet as usual. The little prince Tang Zhu read the book to his heart's content. Shangguan Yang'er came back tired and sat behind the prince, happy to see that Tang Hua was not lazy.

"Can we really restart the Silk Road?" The prince's immature face turned to Shangguan Yang'er, and the curious and longing gaze suddenly made Yang'er's exhaustion disappear without a trace.

"Yes, otherwise your family will die of poverty!" Shangguan Yang'er pressed the soup with his hand and scratched his handsome nose and said jokingly.

"Then can I travel along the Silk Road once?"

"When our national strength is truly strong and can ensure the safety and prosperity of the Silk Road, you can do it! However, you have to learn: learn to govern the country, understand the customs and customs of the Silk Road countries, and know how to sympathize with the labor of the people...... In short, you have to learn a lot! ”

"Hmmm! I must study hard! ”

Looking at the prince's excited expression, Shangguan Yang'er suddenly remembered his mother and sister.

"Are they still alive? Is it good to live? Shangguan Yang'er asked many times in her heart......