Xiao Quzhi only stayed at home for 20 days, carefully accompanied and took care of He Keer, and set off on the evening of the 21st, arrived in Chang'an, and met Li Longji and Yang Guifei in Xingqing Palace.

In the past year, Li Longji has lived a very happy life, his body is young and energetic, but his mentality has not returned to the hard work of his youth, but has become more and more intensified, with fearless extravagance and pleasure, drunk and dreaming of death!

In terms of political affairs, he has completely handed over to Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong, the ordinary ministers of Chang'an City, except for Li Longji who saw him on the day of Xiao Quai's wedding, in the past ten months, people who have seen the emperor can count them on two hands.

In political affairs, due to the butterfly effect brought about by Xiao Qu's illness, the chief of Tongluo, Absi Li Xianzhong, was not forced by An Lushan to rebel against the Tang Dynasty in this year, and Li Linfu was not implicated by this, but he was also alienated by Li Longji because of Wang Jie's affairs, and Li Long basically had the intention to train Yang Guozhong to replace Li Linfu to preside over state affairs.

Therefore, the current political situation is that although Li Linfu is still on the right side, the overall situation of the DPRK and China is basically presided over by Yang Guozhong, and Li Linfu can only temporarily maintain a shelf under Yang Guozhong's constant blows, but the inner bag is already empty, and Li Linfu is also worried and sick.

But the slave of this right still insists on working every day, as long as she can manage everything, no matter how big or small, he has to personally take care of it, seeing that his health is getting worse and worse, he is afraid that he will not live for a few months.

Yang Guozhong, on the other hand, is completely a villain, frivolous and arrogant, and commanding all his subordinates. He worked at home every day, and instructed several six Shangshu and squire to turn around, Yang Guozhong smiled triumphantly at Mrs. Yu Guo and said, "What do you think of my two purple-clothed officials? ”

"Chen Xiao went to the sick and wished His Majesty the Emperor a long life. Banzai. Banzai. Hooray! ”

In the Nanxun Hall of Xingqing Palace, Xiao Qubing bowed respectfully to Li Longji, and Li Longji was also very happy, this Xiao Qubing is too good at making money, not counting this trip to the South China Sea, within a year, the Four Seas Trading Company has earned him more than 4.8 million yuan, and if you count this time, there will be nearly 50 million yuan. This is the financial income of Datang in the past for three months a year.

Now that his body is young, he has time, energy and money, so it's not how he wants to play, how can he play how he wants, how can Li Longji not be ecstatic?

"The auxiliary minister has opened up thousands of miles of sea frontier for the country, you have worked hard, you don't have to be polite, come and sit down."

Xiao Quzhi obediently walked over, saluted Yang Guifei, and then sat down.

"Auxiliary. Why do you smell so good? Yang Guifei sniffed, her eyes staring at the box that Xiao Quzhi was holding in her hand. Asked with a smile.

Xiao Quzhi opened the box and said with a smile: "These are two strings of Qi Nan incense prayer beads, given to Your Majesty and Sister A to play with, but at four o'clock it is pleasant, calm and clear, and the fragrance lingers in the room, prolonging life."

These are two ambergris sachets for His Majesty and Sister A. These are two bottles of new perfume produced by the Four Seas Trading Company, called the love water, these two bottles are made by me and my perfumer for His Majesty and Sister, the only two bottles in the world, this bottle of blue is His Majesty's, and this bottle of pink is Sister's.

This is a string of natural crystal necklaces, which can be worn by Sister in summer, which is very cool; It's a gadget called a music box, and as long as you rotate here, there will be music coming out. ”

Xiao Quzhi tightened the clockwork, and the crystal-pure light music of "Canon" flowed out, as a top musician in the Tang Dynasty, Li Longji was fascinated by it at once, due to technical reasons, when it was played for ninety seconds, the music stopped abruptly, but Li Longji obviously did not come back to his senses, and he was still unsatisfied.

He snatched the music box and tightened the clockwork according to Xiao Qu's illness, and the music remembered again, Li Longji was fascinated again, and after listening to it three times in a row, he couldn't help but admire: "There is such pure and fascinating music in this world!" Minister, you really have too many wonderful ideas. ”

Xiao Quzhi said with a smile: "How dare you take credit for going to illness, this is still Ke'er, Li Guinian, Dong Da and Luoyang Engineering Bureau's skilled craftsmen for more than half a year." ”

Before Xiao Qu's illness went to the South China Sea, he thought about making a music box for He Keer as a gift, and at the same time, it could also be sold in the Sihai supermarket to make money.

In fact, the principle of the music box is super simple, that is, the clockwork drives the drum to rotate, the solder joints on the drum move the edge of the thin strip of the chip, vibrate and make a sound, and turn it around to form a movement.

The technical difficulty lies in the production of spring steel sheets and chip thin strip steel sheets, and it was not until more than half a year later that the metallurgical masters of the Engineering Bureau produced these two types of steel that met the requirements, and together with the continuous debugging of several musicians, the first music box was born.

"Haha, no wonder Li Gui has been mysteriously staying in Luoyang for two months ago and refuses to come back, it turns out that he is doing this! Haha, you've all got a reward. Li Longji's interest is very high, and this engineering bureau under the name of Sihai Trading Company can always bring him countless surprises.

Four months ago, they developed a flat glass plan, so the technical staff of Sihai Trading Company went to Daming Palace and Xingqing Palace, replaced many windows with glass windows, and built two crystal palaces that were bright on all sides.

Immediately afterwards, there was the development of glass mirrors that could be seen by people; Later, the carriage was fitted with spring shock absorbers, which were really fast and stable; Later, they invented glass lamps that could be used in windy and rainy days; Until now, I have researched the music box.

In addition to these big technological advances, other good things that are fresh and fresh have not been broken, during the Qingming Dynasty, the simple and delicious green tea before was available, and then three months later, a black tea was developed;

Then came the advent of movable type printing workshops, thread-bound books, and newspapers; There's also canned whale meat, grilled whale jerky, smokeless candles, toffee, perfume, and an extremely delicious seasoning called thirteen spices.

In short, relying on leading technology and these fresh and good things, Sihai Trading Company is doing better and better, getting bigger and bigger, and making more and more money for itself.

Although Xiao Quzhi said that most of these things were the work of the skilled craftsmen of the Engineering Bureau, Li Longji knew very well that if Xiao Quzhi had not shown them the direction, these things would not have come out.

Li Longji said happily: "Especially you, the auxiliary minister, this time you opened up thousands of miles of sea frontier for the Tang Dynasty and brought back such gold and silver treasures, what reward do you want, but it doesn't matter." ”

"These things are the ambition of the minister, and it is also the duty of the minister, where do you dare to take credit? His Majesty Xu Chen took the fleet to sea, and the ambition of his life has already made the ministers grateful, where do they dare to ask for any reward.

Xiao Quzhi said respectfully: "But the minister has something to do, and I implore Your Majesty to agree." ”

"What's the matter, tell me."

"Your Majesty also saw it, the minister brought back so many gold, silver treasures and spices from the South China Sea this time, and everyone saw it along the way, which has caused a sensation in the whole Tang Dynasty.

Now people's hearts are moving, and almost all people know that the South China Sea is full of treasures, and they all want to make a fortune in the South China Sea. When the minister was in Guangzhou, many people had already stopped the minister and wanted the minister to take them to the South China Sea, and even prepared to go there secretly.

I would like to ask Your Majesty's permission to appropriately relax the restrictions on the movement of people and the passage of people to the sea. ”

When it comes to political affairs, Li Longji doesn't have much thought, but there is really no way to avoid this matter, Li Longji thought about it and looked embarrassed.

Xiao Quzhi hurriedly added: "If the army and population of the Tang people in the South China Sea are small, I am afraid that it will not be long before those local natives understand it, and the little people who stay in the South China Sea will not be able to defend it."

And if there are more Tang people who go to the South China Sea, the ministers will guarantee that our Datang's annual income will increase by a few percent. ”

Li Longji couldn't figure it out, so many people went to the South China Sea, and they couldn't receive their rents, and they would definitely steal the profits of the Four Seas Trading Company, both of which would lose income, how could they increase their income?

"What do you mean by that?"

"Your Majesty, you think, now due to the large population in the interior of the Tang Dynasty and the annexation of land, a large number of displaced people have been created, and it is difficult for these six people to receive their rent and transfer again, so that the Tang people can flow to the South China Sea, which can just relieve the land pressure in the mainland of the Tang Dynasty.

Again, these people make a fortune in the South China Sea, they must need the protection of the army, and we can collect their taxes, and the more they make a fortune, the more taxes we collect.

And we Chinese are the most nostalgic, these people have made a fortune in the South China Sea, and in the end they are not going to return to the Tang Dynasty, and the wealth will be brought with them, and we can continue to collect their rents, and then the money, as long as it is used, we can collect more taxes. ”

Li Longji nodded, Xiao Qubing told him before, it is like a person who spends 10,000 yuan in a restaurant, the income of the restaurant is high, the tax paid is more, and the country will benefit, so the more developed the economy, the proportion of commercial tax in the national tax will be more and more, not as before, most of the tax is the rent of the peasants.

"But if they go to the South China Sea, won't it affect the business of the Four Seas Trading Company?"

"How come, the South China Sea is so big, there are so many gold and silver treasures, the Four Seas Trading Company can't do it alone, and how can they compete with the Four Seas Trading Company, and we can stipulate that some businesses are only allowed to operate by the Four Seas Trading Company." So not only will it not have an impact, but it will help. ”

Li Longji sounded that this was indeed the case, and he didn't have the heart to think deeply, so he said: "This matter is accurate, you go to Li Xiang and Yang Xiang to discuss." ”

Xiao Qu was overjoyed when he was sick, and hurriedly started the next thing: "Your Majesty, our Four Seas Trading Company has found a big silver mountain and two gold mountains in Japan. According to the agreement signed between Sihai Trading Company and them, we have the exclusive right to build a concession and exploit it. The minister asked His Majesty to agree that the Four Seas Trading Company should send people to garrison it now and garrison troops in three places. ”

"I'm all right, you go and discuss it with the two of them." Li Longji was a little impatient, and I quickly changed the topic and said, "Tell me quickly, who made this music box tune of yours, and what is its name?" (To be continued.) )