The weather began to slowly turn cooler. The originally unbearable hot weather gradually disappeared under the influence of the breeze. The flowers in the palace also perked up and competed to bloom in their most beautiful form.
Occasionally, there is a pearly dew in the morning, which moisturizes and embellishes the blooming flowers. The dew wets the clothes, but it makes people feel relaxed and happy in the cool air.
Jingzhe and Liebao, after more than 20 days of training by Li Hong, the three of them worked together to explore the professional abilities that spies and agents should have. After stumbling and struggling, they finally achieved Li Hong's goal. In his words, they are now the first batch of amateur agents.
Some awkward words made Jingzhe and Liebao feel obscure and difficult to understand. Li Hong lay on the table and pointed at the cotton he drew. He tried his best to explain for a long time, but the two of them still seemed to understand. Li Hong was so angry that he threw away the charcoal pencil, pointed at the two of them and scolded them for being stupid and not knowing how to understand!
Bai Chun, who was used to the life in the harem, wore a purple dress with narrow sleeves, which set off her exquisite figure just right, with the right curves and curves. At this moment, she was leaning against the door frame, eating melon seeds, and giggling at the furious Li Hong in front of her.
Li Hong glared at her in dissatisfaction and said viciously, "Pay attention to your image. This is the imperial palace, not a brothel. Look at you leaning against the door frame and eating melon seeds. You look like a brothel owner."
Bai Chun felt as if someone had stepped on her tail. Her charming and seductive image disappeared in an instant, and she looked like an old hen with her chicks encountering an eagle.
She walked to Li Hong's table, put down the melon seeds in her hand, put her hands on her hips and said, "I am the thirteenth daughter of the King of Kucha, not a brothel owner! Also, is this cotton or white clouds in the sky that you painted? Even I can't understand that your painting is cotton! Humph."
Li Hong saw Bai Chun criticizing his painting and scratched his head in embarrassment. The painting was indeed a bit difficult. Suddenly, he seemed to remember something and asked, "How do you know about cotton?"
...
...
"Of course it is planted in the Kingdom of Kucha. What's so strange about that? Oh, I thought you, King Dai, knew everything about this world, but it turns out there are things you don't know." Bai Chun said with some disappointment.
During this period of time, she was almost scared to death by the King of Dai. No matter whether it was a big thing or a small thing, the King of Dai could always tell her everything. She didn't know how many books he had read at such a young age, but he was so knowledgeable.
"Can you be less sarcastic? I think describing you as a brothel owner..." Li Hong looked at Bai Chun with her hands on her hips and glaring at him, and stopped talking. He walked up to Bai Chun, held her hand, shook it a few times, and said, "Tell them what this cotton looks like."
Bai Chun was just harsh in her words, but whenever Li Hong asked her for help, she would always agree immediately. As for whether Li Hong was still scolding her in the previous sentence, she had long forgotten it.
Bai Chun shook off Li Hong's hand and walked to the desk. After taking a look at the word "cotton" and the picture of cotton written by Li Hong, he said with disdain: "Oh, this handwriting is really ugly. How dare you show it off."
Li Hong was too lazy to argue with him. He had no choice. His handwriting was notorious among the royal children. He would not write easily. He was also puzzled. His writing skills were not with him. He was reincarnated into this life with his nine reincarnations and ten identities. Now, because of his young age, the words he wrote were crooked.
After Bai Chun explained the characteristics and shape of cotton in detail to Jingzhe and Liebao, he used his skillful hands to draw a cotton pattern for each of them.
Then he turned his head and looked at Li Hong, who was slumped in the chair, and asked curiously, "What do you want this cotton for? Although it is good for keeping warm, isn't the kapok from the Tang Dynasty also good for keeping warm? Why do you have to go far away?"
Cotton originated in India and Arabia, and has only just been introduced to the Western Regions in recent years. It is still many years before it is introduced to the Tang Dynasty.
At that time, in addition to animal fur, the only thing that the Tang Dynasty used to keep warm was kapok. Ordinary people naturally couldn't afford good fur, so they could only use kapok, but kapok couldn't be used to fill quilts to keep warm, so it could only be used for pillows and mattresses. In fact, to put it bluntly, it was kapok cloth.
The most famous thing about kapok cloth is the "Kapok Kasaya", a token of Buddhism. At this time, the Kapok Kasaya was in the hands of Hongren, the fifth ancestor of Zen Buddhism. It would not be long before the Kapok Kasaya was passed to Huineng, the sixth ancestor. But in the end, Wu Mei took it from Huineng and enshrined it in the palace.
Li Hong collapsed in his chair and said weakly, "You'll know when the time comes." Don't those idiots in the Western Regions know that cotton needs to be fluffed? Only after fluffing can it be the perfect thing to keep out the cold?
He did not reveal the secret to Bai Chun. With the help of Xia Zhi, he sat back on the chair and said to Liebao and Jingzhe, "Let's set off tomorrow. You must remember what I said and be cautious. It is better to fail than to expose your final plan! Also, this old procuress... is wrong. Buy as much cotton as Bai Chun draws for you. Don't complain. If you don't have enough money, just write to Xia Zhi for more. She is a wealthy woman now, probably richer than my mother!"
Thinking of this, Li Hong could not help but feel happy. His father actually gave him the money first. Recently, a carriage with his name on it would run to the palace every now and then. Along the way, except for the inspection at Chengtian Gate, he would also undergo the Yangwu inspection.
Glass ornaments of all sizes were transported to the Imperial Household Department and the Yiting Palace. Within a few days, all the palace lanterns inside and outside the palace were replaced with glass lampshades. Li Zhi took out wine glasses, decanters, etc. without exception and showed them off. Even in some important places, Li Zhi replaced the candlesticks with glass ones.
Recently, Li Zhi had invited ministers from the court or foreign envoys to have banquets in the palace every day. Every time he saw the ministers or foreign envoys carefully holding the glass wine glasses to drink, fearing that they would break, Li Zhi's vanity, which came out of nowhere, was greatly satisfied.
Seeing the country bumpkins of his ministers or foreign envoys had become one of his hobbies. After the banquet, he would lead his ministers to change palaces to enjoy singing and dancing. Walking on the roads of the imperial palace, admiring the colorful palace lanterns, Li Zhi was extremely happy. Show off, show off, show off! There is no other way! He is rich!
Li Hong's performance in recent days after Liebao and Jingzhe left almost made Wu Mei and Li Zhi drop their jaws in surprise.
Every day he would come early to pay his respects with his small backpack, and then he would obediently go to the Hongwenguan to study without anyone urging him to do so, jumping and humming some tune. His subjective initiative increased for no reason, which dumbfounded Li Zhi and Wu Mei.
Looking at Li Hong's back, singing and dancing happily like an early bird in the morning, Li Zhi murmured to Wu Mei, "How about finding a monk to perform a ritual for him? Or a Taoist priest to exorcise the evil spirits for him?"
Wu Mei almost fainted when she heard this. She pinched Li Zhi's waist in anger and turned back to the palace. Such an unreliable father must have been infected by Li Hong, right? Wu Mei thought.
Li Hong searched through all the books in Hongwenguan and finally found a piece of tiny handwriting on a bamboo slip. It was recorded in "Ben Jing", also known as "Shennong's Herbal Classic".
This book was also included in the "Book of Sui - Bibliography". Holding the bamboo slips, Li Hong shook his head and sighed helplessly. In the 5,000-year-long history of the Chinese nation, all inventions and creations were basically related to pharmacology.
Mercury, such a poisonous substance, was actually invented for the purpose of medicine. I really don’t know whether to be happy or sad.
He took the bamboo slips to find Shangguan Yi and asked him to help him find the "Original Sutra".
Shangguan Yi had a lot of question marks in his head. This generation of kings either refused to study or buried themselves in the books of the Imperial College, spending their days without eating or drinking.
As a teacher, Shangguan Yi looked at the serious Li Hong. He first touched his own forehead and then pretended to touch Li Hong's forehead. Could it be that this king was possessed by evil spirits?
"King Dai, are you feeling unwell somewhere? Do you want to look up the pharmacology in the Classic of Internal Medicine and prescribe some medicine for yourself?" Shangguan Yi asked considerately.
Li Hong impatiently opened his hand and said angrily: "I'm not sick."
"Then why is the King of Dai looking for such an obscure book?"
"I'm sick, okay?" Li Hong was so angry that he was speechless.
"Then King Dai should find the imperial physician. King Dai, I still hope you can go see the doctor first and come back after you are cured..." Shangguan Yi said as if Tang Xuanzang was possessed.
"Shangguan Yi, I order you to hand over the "Book of Changes" to me now, otherwise I will punish you for your disrespect!" Li Hong was so angry that he talked nonsense and shouted.
Shangguan Yi stroked his beard and looked at Li Hong with great satisfaction, thinking: "The King of Dai finally understands the importance of studying. It's not easy. My efforts are worth it."
But what happened next made Li Hong dumbfounded. He watched as several people came in and out of the library of the Imperial College under the command of Shangguan Yi, and then a pile of bamboo slips like a small mountain appeared in front of him.
Li Hong stared at Shangguan Yi in a daze and murmured, "Sir, please don't tell me this is the Scripture?"
Shangguan Yi stroked his beard and smiled, not without pride, saying: "Yes, all the bamboo scrolls of the Classic are here, and they are well preserved."
Li Hong couldn't help but sigh and patted his head, blaming himself for being too anxious and forgetting the ancient saying "Reading ten thousand books is not as good as traveling ten thousand miles."
Wanjuanshu does not refer to ten thousand books, but to one book! The term "Wanjuan" is just the best annotation for the pile of small bamboo scrolls in front of us.
Before the advent of paper in ancient times, bamboo slips were the only means of engraving books. If the author of a book is a bit crazy or talented, and wants to become famous through a book, it is often the case that a room full of bamboo slips is a book.
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