Li An is using every opportunity to advertise the automobile industry of the Tang Dynasty, and he believes that the kings and nobles of these small countries must be willing to buy cars, although the price of cars is very high, much more expensive than horse-drawn carriages, and the cost of maintenance and consumption is higher, but the comfort of the car is far more than that of the horse-drawn carriage, especially the backward carriage like Luo Yueguo is incomparable.

In Li An's opinion, the carriage that the king of Luo Yue was riding, in addition to hanging gold and jade, looked more luxurious, but the structure and performance inside were very backward, and the running was very bumpy, which was simply a crime.

"Cars? What is a car, Xiao Wang has never sat in it? ”

King Luo Yue asked curiously.

Li An naturally carried a car on this trip, but because the distance was not far, Li An directly took the carriage of the king of Luo Yueguo, and the car was still in the cabin and did not come out?

"The car is the latest means of transportation for my Datang, if His Royal Highness the King is interested, the official will take you around and let you open your eyes."

Since cars will definitely enter these small countries in the future, it is also excellent to let them experience it in advance.

"Okay, that's really good, Xiao Wang must have a good experience."

King Luo Yue said happily.

After jumping out of the carriage, there was a fairly good scale workshop in front of him, the wall of the workshop is a simple wooden fence, people and animals can not pass under normal circumstances, but standing outside, you can see everything inside, there are three or five janitors with rudimentary weapons at the gate, and there are busy employees inside.

Li An raised his eyes and saw a lot of things inside, in a large open space inside the gate, the other party had bags of palm seeds, and they were all sun-dried raw materials, which could be used to extract oil at any time.

The situation in the house inside is not clear, but it is clear that it must be the place where the oil is extracted.

"Yes, there are palm trees nearby, and it seems that Luo Yue is a country with a large number of palm trees."

Along the way, through the curtain of the carriage, Li Ang saw a large number of palm trees, which is enough to show that this tropical country has many palm trees and is a big palm tree.

"What Li Shilang said is that my Luo Yuguo is relatively poor, but there are a lot of palm trees and coconut trees, as many as there are."

King Luo Yue replied with a smile.

Li An stepped forward and said, "Let's go, Your Highness the King, let's go in and have a look." ”

After that, enter the palm oil workshop.

When the gatekeeper saw the king of Luo Yue and the Tang Dynasty soldiers and horses appearing at the door, they were already frightened and retreated to the side, where did they dare to stop them.

"Your Majesty, why are you here, who is this?"

Come to greet the director of Luo Yueguo, although this workshop is opened by Zhang Batian, he is from the Tang Dynasty, but because the workers hired are all Luo Yueguo people, it is most suitable to hire Luo Yueguo as a supervisor.

"This is Li Shilang of Datang, we came here to visit, there is no other purpose, you don't have to worry."

King Luo Yue said.

"Your Majesty the King, please, Li Shilang, please."

A kind invitation from the director.

Li An took a cursory look at the palm seeds placed in the open space at least a few thousand deniers, and all of them were in a state of open exposure.

"There are thousands of deniers of palm seeds here, so aren't you afraid of sudden rain? If it gets wet, it's not easy to squeeze the oil. ”

Ang Lee kindly reminded.

"What Li Shilang said is that the palm seeds to be pressed are the most afraid of rain, but today's weather is very good, you can dry it, if it rains suddenly, you are not afraid, we have prepared a rain shield, just cover it directly."

The Director explained.

Li An raised his eyes and saw that this was really the case, he just wondered how there were so many wooden pillars in the open space, it turned out that these wooden pillars were supports, as long as the wooden planks were covered on them, it became a shed that could block the rain, and now because the sun was very good, they removed the wooden planks on the top, so that the sunlight could shine in wantonly, so as to dry these palm seeds purchased from the local area to be more conducive to processing.

Li An grabbed a handful of palm seeds casually, feeling that it was already very dry, which fully met the requirements of oil extraction, but not all the palm seeds that were being exposed to the sun were dry, and there were many wet, and it would take a long time to be exposed to the sun before the oil could be extracted.

"Did you guys collect all these palm seeds?"

Ang Lee asked.

The supervisor shook his head and said: "How is this possible, we only have a hundred people here, so many palm seeds, manpower is far from enough, they are all purchased from the hands of the people nearby, according to the color and dryness and wetness, different prices are given, the closer places, we send people to buy door-to-door, and there are vendors in the farther places to buy, and then sell to us." ”

When Li An heard this, he looked at the king of Luo Yue Kingdom and said with a smile: "Your Royal Highness, Zhang Batian has done you a great favor, he has built this palm oil processing workshop, so that the people of Luo Yue Kingdom have a way to make money, this one benefit, you didn't say it just now!" ”

King Luo Yueguo said with a smile: "Li Shilang, Xiao Wang really doesn't know much about this matter, Xiao Wang is also the first time to come here, I didn't expect that the raw materials for their oil extraction are all purchased from the hands of the local people, so that the idle people have something to do." ”

Li An said: "The resources of Luo Yue Country are not poor, so many trees and land are useful resources, in addition, maybe there are many resources that have not been discovered?" As long as you look carefully, you can always find a lot of valuable resources, and in the future, there will be more businessmen from Datang to invest here, and your life will be better and better. ”

"Oops! That's a good thing! Xiao Wang is looking forward to it now! I hope that, as Li Shilang said, the Maritime Silk Road will become a road for the Tang Dynasty and other countries to get rich together. ”

The king of Luo Yue also looked forward to it.

Entering the oil extraction workshop, Li An saw a large group of people busy squeezing oil, because Zhang Batian did not have access to the most advanced oil extraction technology, so he was still using the ancient method of oil extraction, but despite this, the method he used was much better than the method used by the people of Luo Yueguo, and the cost was more cheap, otherwise, why didn't the local people choose to squeeze oil and sell it themselves, but directly sell the unprocessed palm seeds to him?

Because the taste of palm oil is very light, there is hardly much smell, only the yellow-orange-orange translucent liquid appears in the white ceramic jar.

Except for a very small number of palm oils that have to enter the market of Luo Yueguo, most of them have to be packed and shipped to Datang's Guangzhou, which then distributes them all over the country.

In fact, the taste of palm oil is not very good, it is not in line with the eating habits of the people of Datang, and it is really far worse than soybean oil.

But the benefits of palm oil are also obvious, that is, the price is relatively cheap, soybeans need farmers to work hard to plant, very labor-intensive and land-consuming, and palm seeds are grown on natural trees in Nanyang, the local people do not need to take care of palm trees at all, only need to collect seeds when they are ripe, and the labor force in the Nanyang area is relatively cheap, which further increases the low price of palm oil, so that palm oil has a competitive advantage.

In addition, many restaurants are more willing to use low-cost palm oil, which can save a little bit, especially fried hawkers, a large part of the cost is the loss of oil, and the use of cheaper palm oil is the best choice to increase profits.

"How often do you ship ships?"

Ang Lee asked.

"Back to Li Shilang, once a month, there are about more than 10,000 altars at a time, the key station of transportation is Guangzhou of the Tang Dynasty, and then, I will return to Luo Yue Country with some of Datang's specialties, and I will pass through the Longyamen countries on the way, sell some special errands, and after arriving in Luo Yue Country, there will generally only be half left."

The Director spoke.

Li An took a closer look at the newly squeezed palm oil, felt that the quality was still excellent, and nodded with satisfaction, this workshop is the first step for Datang businessmen to invest overseas, and it is of great significance, so even if it is just a small workshop, it is worth Ang Lee's time.

After inspecting the entire workshop, Li An and the king of Luo Yue were ready to leave here and go to the palace of Luo Yue Kingdom.

"Li Shilang, what is this?"

After walking out of the workshop, the king of Luo Yue Kingdom saw a luxury version of the car and was a little stunned.

This is Li An's special explanation, before entering the workshop, Li An asked his subordinates to pass the order, let them drive their cars, ready to take the king of Luo Yue for a ride, in order to better enjoy the scenery, this car is not closed, but similar to a sports car convertible, the rear has a canvas umbrella that can be folded, which can be used to shade the sun and rain, and at the same time, it will not make people feel depressed.

Li An introduced with a smile: "Your Royal Highness, this is my Datang car, it is much more comfortable to sit on than a carriage, please." ”

Of course, the king of Luo Yue Kingdom would not refute Li An's face, so he did it very obediently and sat side by side with Li An.

Li An looked at the driver in front of him and said softly, "Drive, be slower." ”

"Yes, Li Shilang."

The car drove at a slower pace, which was basically the same as the speed of the carriage just now, and the entourage could follow well.

"How about it, Your Highness the King, don't you feel the bumps?"

Ang Lee asked proudly.

The king of Luo Yue was stunned for a moment, and said: "Hey, it seems to be really like this, this car is really good, not only does it not need horses to pull the cart, but it is also not bumpy at all, this is strange, this car is not pulled by horses, how can it run?" ”

"Haha! This car can not only run, the fastest speed is more than ten times that of the carriage, very fast, however, the road conditions here are not ideal, driving too fast is easy to get out of danger, or drive slowly! ”

Ang Lee proudly introduced.

"Oh, it's really amazing, this is Datang's car! How much does it cost? Where is it sold? ”

King Luo Yue moved his body and experienced the benefits of a car, and he couldn't wait to have a car of his own immediately, so that he would be much more comfortable when he went out in the future, and he would no longer have to live a bumpy life.

Li An opened his mouth and said: "The price is very expensive, Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty, and Luoyang are all sold. ”

"How expensive is that?"

King Luo Yue continued to ask.

Li An thought for a moment and replied: "There are many types of cars, some large and small, some luxurious, and some simple, the price gap is very large, what is the specific price, the official did not pay attention, this car was rewarded to me by His Majesty the Emperor, and it didn't cost a penny." ”

"Oh, Xiao Wang really wants to buy one, this time when he sends someone to pay tribute to the Tang Dynasty, he will buy one."

The king of Luo Yue said wistfully.

Li An whispered: "Your Royal Highness, if this car wants to run on the road, it needs to consume gasoline, when you buy a car, don't forget to buy gasoline!" Also, you have to send your people to learn driving skills in Datang, otherwise you won't be able to drive! Also, the car will be damaged, and if it is broken, it must be repaired, and you have to buy car parts produced by Datang, which you don't have. ”

"Uh, that's a hassle!"

When the king of Luo Yue Kingdom heard this, he immediately took a breath of cold air.

He just thought about the benefits of the car, but he didn't expect to have a car is also to pay the corresponding price, and the price of the car is relatively expensive, it is not difficult to buy gasoline and train drivers, he is the king, it is affordable, but repairing the car is a big trouble, if it is broken not long after it was bought, he also has to mail the car to Luoyang in Datang, and then, after repairing it and shipping it back, it is too much time, and it takes a lot of time to go back and forth, which is obviously not cost-effective.

Li An saw the concerns of the king of Luo Yueguo, and said: "His Royal Highness's worries are very clear in his heart, the Silk Road has not been completely opened at present, the pirate force still exists, many merchants in Datang do not dare to enter the maritime trade, after these conditions improve, Datang merchants will inevitably flock to the sea trade routes, and when the time comes, retail industries such as automobiles will also enter here, Malacca is now the territory of Datang, and a car repair workshop can be built within half a year, and by the way, stock up on gasoline and sell it, If there is any problem with His Royal Highness's car, he can go directly to Malacca, which may be much more convenient. ”

When the king of Luo Yue Kingdom heard this, he immediately furrowed his brows, and made up his mind in his heart that he must buy a luxury version of the car to improve his living standards.

Of course, as long as the Maritime Silk Road is completely unblocked, all kinds of fresh goods of the Tang Dynasty will be sold to these countries along the way through trade, so as to improve the living standards of the people in these small countries, and at the same time, it can also make the Tang Empire more prosperous, and always override these small countries, so that they can never surpass.