When Li Shimin came out, he was angry in his heart, and he would not be polite when he talked to Wang Xuance.

He knows very well that Wang Xuance is the son of that son, and he has no official position in any court.

In order to prepare a commemorative birthday gift for His Majesty, His Royal Highness the King of Chu was not afraid of hardships and dangers, and personally led the fleet to sea.

Zhuang Ziyun: There is a fish in the North Underworld, and its name is Kun. The Kun is so big that I don't know how many thousands of miles it is; Turned into a bird, its name is Peng. Peng's back, I don't know how many thousands of miles it is; Flying in anger, its wings are like clouds hanging from the sky.

The birthday gift prepared by His Royal Highness the King of Chu for His Majesty this time is just like a whale like Kunpeng, which is two zhang tall, more than eight zhang long, and weighs one million catties. ”

Facing the power of Li Shimin's Son of Heaven, Wang Xuance was not in a hurry or impatient, pointed to the giant skeleton next to him, and explained slowly.

"This is the whale you are talking about?"

Hearing Wang Xuance's words, although Li Shimin's anger has not subsided, his curiosity has been raised.

"That's right, Your Majesty, this is the head of a whale, and this skull alone weighs eight hundred pounds; This whale is the overlord of the sea, and when it swims, its head will constantly spray water, and when its tail is swept away, it can easily smash the boat, and it can directly swallow hundreds of catties of food in one bite. His Royal Highness the King of Chu heard that there was such a huge thing in the sea, and deliberately went to the sea......"

"Okay, what kind of virtue is that Li Kuan, I still don't know?"

Li Shimin obviously didn't want to listen to Wang Xuance's boasting there, although he didn't doubt that the whale was caught by Li Kuan's people, but he didn't believe that Li Kuan really did it to give him a birthday gift.

No profit can not be early, this is the nature of that Li Kuan.

This whale must be like this, but he still understands where the "benefit" of the whale lies for a while.

"Guanyin, let's go, let's go over with me and have a look." After Li Shimin finished speaking, he walked directly to the whale skeleton.

Suzaku Gate is next to the various yamen of the imperial court, Honglu Temple, Taichang Temple, those nearby officials heard that something strange happened in Suzaku Gate, they all ran over to join in the fun, and the beautiful name said: Inspection.

"Just now, His Majesty was still blaming Kuan'er for being too forgetful, but now it seems that people have been prepared. This whale skeleton is so huge, just like the divine object recorded in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas", if it were not for Kuan'er, for the rest of his life, the officials of the court would not believe that there is such a divine object in the world. ”

Empress Eldest Sun stroked the whale's tailbone, full of respect for this behemoth.

"This whale is huge, and it must be extremely powerful, but I wonder how Kuan'er managed to catch it. The son of Qianjun, if he doesn't sit in the hall, why doesn't he have a long lesson at all. ”

The more he saw the extraordinary whale, the faster the anger in Li Shimin's heart disappeared.

In addition, Laifu presented the portrait of the whale at the right time, so that Li Shimin and the eldest grandson queen could feel the appearance of the whale more intuitively, and the only thing left in Li Shimin's heart was worry.

"Wang Xuance, what is the purpose of this whale?"

After feeling the magnificence of the whale skeleton, Li Shimin began to ask the doubts in his heart.

"Your Majesty, His Royal Highness the King of Chu said that this whale is full of treasures, which is of great significance to the prosperity of my Tang Dynasty."

Li Kuan had long expected that Li Shimin would definitely ask what was the use of catching the whale, so Wang Xuance listened to Li Shimin's question and was able to answer it immediately.

"Huh? What do you mean by that? ”

"Whales are huge, a whale can provide as little as hundreds of thousands of catties of meat, as much as millions of catties, as long as a few are caught every day, it can solve the carnivorous problem of most people in Dengzhou Prefecture."

"That makes sense, but is there any other use? Didn't you say that whales are full of treasures? ”

Li Shimin felt that if it was only to solve the problem of meat, although it was of great significance, it would be an exaggeration to say that it was related to the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty.

The chickens, ducks and geese in the annex of the Chu Wangfu have been sold in the West Market this year, and Chang'an City is not short of meat now.

"Your Majesty, of course there is. According to His Royal Highness the King of Chu, the most meaningful thing about whales is not meat. ”

"Not meat?" Li Shimin's face changed, is this fooling himself?

"Whale oil, Your Majesty, the most meaningful thing about whales is whale oil." Wang Xuance saw that Li Shimin's face was not good, and he didn't dare to sell Guanzi anymore.

Li Shimin didn't answer again, just stared at Wang Xuance with his eyes.

"This whale is huge, and the sea is very cold, and in order to maintain its body temperature, there is a very thick oil under the whale skin, which can be refined into whale oil, which can be used to make whale oil candles. Like the whale in front of you, the whale oil extracted from it can make hundreds of thousands of candles. ”

Candles are of little use in later generations, and ordinary people do not feel its significance.

But for a country like Datang, which is dark at night, with abundant and inexpensive candles, its significance is definitely very significant.

Wang Xuance himself is a scholar and has a full understanding of this.

"A single whale can make hundreds of thousands of candles?"

Li Shimin was also shocked by the numbers in Wang Xuance's mouth.

You must know that Taiji Palace is the place where the most candles are consumed in the entire Tang Dynasty, but according to Li Shimin's understanding, tens of thousands of candles are used up in the palace every year.

Of course, this has something to do with Li Shimin's advocacy of frugality, after all, the cost of a butter candle is really not low; The most important thing is that even if you have money, you can't buy as much as you want.

"That's right, and His Royal Highness the King of Chu said that this whale oil candle is more resistant to burning than butter candles, and there is almost no peculiar smell when burning, no black smoke, and it is the best candle material."

"Your Majesty, this is the prince's gift list, and the old slave looked at the gift list, and there were 10,000 whale oil candles in it." Laifu stood aside, listened to the conversation between Li Shimin and Wang Xuance, and interjected at the right time.

"Isn't it possible for a single whale to make hundreds of thousands of candles? Why did you only send 10,000 to me, hmph, this son of a sitch, is getting more and more stingy. ”

"Your Majesty, Kuan'er has not been in Dengzhou Mansion for a few months, and this whale was hunted some time ago, and presumably the production of whale oil candles has only just begun. This was just made and sent to His Majesty, Kuan'er's filial piety is commendable. ”

When Empress Changsun saw Li Shimin talking like this on the side, she knew that her anger had disappeared.

"Is there any other use for this whale besides meat and whale oil?"

When Empress Changsun said this, Li Shimin's face was a little unbearable, and he quickly changed the topic.

"Your Majesty, naturally there is, His Royal Highness the King of Chu said, whales are full of treasures."

"Huh? Is there really any other use? ”

Li Shimin originally just asked casually, but he didn't expect it to be this answer.

"Yes, whale skin is a great umbrella material, and fish bones can be crushed to make good feed......"

Wang Xuance's words made Li Shimin completely interested in whales.