The group waited and chatted while walking, and Bai Liyan asked half-jokingly:

"Your Excellency Mooney is here to do business, don't you want to take some more information?"

"I thought, will you give me a chance?"

"Huh...... It's better not to fight, is your new majesty still planning a northern expedition? ”

"It's a mess in the country, and Your Majesty won't do it now, but it's hard to say when the new king ascends the throne in the future, and the church is still very angry at what you did, so the church has been doing its best to study the Earthquake Fire for more than ten years, and it won't be easy to spare you when the time comes."

"Is that still the earth-shattering fire of copper?"

Bai Liyan asked casually, and Mooney was suddenly very angry:

"The iron earth-shaking fire of the Central Plains people is not much better, and it is not as good as the copper sky-shaking fire."

"Oh...... Then I'm relieved......"

"I know that Xianguo has made a good iron cannon, but that's not it."

"Huh...... Sort of, but something is better than nothing. ”

Bailiyan's voice was lukewarm, tepid, but Gongliangxiu heard the clue, but he didn't make a sound, and continued to ride north with the two.

At dusk, there were still more than 100 miles away from the palace capital, and the group camped on the spot, and Bailiyan arranged for Figos to be with Mooney, and then went to Gongliangxiu for questioning.

"You're not afraid that the white hair will sell you." Gongliang Xiu asked vigilantly.

"No, he only knows one and doesn't know the other, and he is secretly monitored by the royal guest on weekdays, and he can't make any big waves. It's a good brother, in addition to Mooney's gold and silver, there should be something else to do. ”

"You and I have been friends for many years, and I won't hide it from you, Mooney is here to buy goods, and my king hopes to get a share of the benefits, and he knows that I have had several relationships with Mooney, so he sent me with him. In addition, it has recently been discovered that there is a shortage of gold and silver, which, according to Xiong Lundao, was done by the patriotic foolish faction, which was intended to destroy the national strength of your Xian country and then open the way for the eastward invasion. ”

"Do you really say that?" Bai Liyan asked rhetorically.

"There are many secrets to be known in the eloquent way, and there is no mistake in saying that."

But as long as it is profitable, no matter how dirty the work, someone will take it.

After the defeat of the black scarf, the "traitors" such as the Xiong Tan Dao and the Foolish Theory faction were nominally exterminated by the defense of the country, but in fact they changed their names and surnames and reappeared in the rivers and lakes. Today's Xionglundao has been renamed the "Faji School", and the Foolish School has changed its name to "Shiwangjia", but the essence is still the spiritual thought of the two factions in the same line.

The fifteen-year Black Turban Rebellion did not completely cut off the harm of rebellion, and the rest of the evils continued to divide and spread to the vassal states, continuing to impact the existing geopolitics.

With the letter of Gongliang Xiu, Bailiyan fully said the plan of "leaving enough to give up the shortage".

"This plan is really lacking in virtue, if it is done, it will not pit out the old blood of the king of Wei!"

"Hehe, this calls him unkind, and I am unjust. As long as the four kingdoms of Jin, Xian, Zhi, and Song joined forces to cut gold, and finally pulled the eldest grandson, sixty percent of the commercial goods in the Central Plains passed through the five countries, and the country could do anything about it. ”

"Then what should Liang Guo do? If the defense of the country coerces the Liang State with soldiers, and the Son of Heaven does not let go, the eldest grandson may not fall to us in the face of the danger that is close at hand. ”

"Then drag it out. Nowadays, the salty country can be self-sufficient in coal, iron and copper, and the rest are mostly from the Jin Kingdom, Zhi, and the Song Dynasty, and the trade with the Wei State is mostly the things and luxury goods needed by the people, and the trade between your Zhi State and the Jin State to the West Sea is not much, and more than eighty percent of the trade still comes from my Xian State, and the demand for the Wei Guo is not large. Cotton, soybeans, medicinal herbs, wood, spices, horses, furs, leather, minerals, the Zhi, Jin, Song, and Xian were all self-sufficient, and they could still survive without the supply of the country.

Moreover, Wei Guo has never had an outlet to the sea in Beihai, and it cannot cut off the route from Beihai to Liang, Yan, Qi, Zhao, and Chen.

I don't think he will go crazy and dare to provoke the three kingdoms of Xian, Zhi, and Jin at the same time. ”

"Well......" Gongliangxiu nodded in agreement, and then said: "But I'm still worried about King Jin, in the past few years, I have repeatedly been to the Kingdom of Jin, and I have had a lot of contact with Fan Tao of Xiangguo, this person is quite sharp, but if he likes extremes, I am worried that King Jin will have other calculations in this matter." ”

"Hi...... Brother Gongliang, you're right. That Fan Tao and his mentor Uncle Kuo have a virtue, they both like to go to extremes, and Ben Hou also forced Uncle Kuo to be cornered. If you want to say that there is no other calculation, I don't believe it, is it true that King Zhi does not have his own calculation? Definitely. It's just that this Jin State does not border with the Wei Kingdom, so it may not be of the same heart as you and me. ”

Gongliangxiu's worries are not unreasonable, the Jin State is located in the East China Sea, and it does not border the land routes, water and land of the Wei Kingdom, the Black Turban Rebellion has not been affected, and the Wei State invades the East Zhi State and the Xian State in the way, and the Jin State is still at ease, and its mentality is bound to be completely different from that of the Zhi State and the Xian State.

It is inevitable that while the three countries will benefit from joining forces, they will find ways to weaken the national strength of Xianguo and Zhiguo, which is beyond doubt.

"The matter of leaving enough to give up the shortage has already been discussed by the foreign dynasty, and most of the envoys sent by King Zhi to Lingling are likely to pass the news to King Zhi, and the situation of Zhiguo should be better than that of Xianguo, and most of King Zhi is still sitting and watching the excitement, thinking about whether he can take the benefits from my Xianguo, but this situation will not be too long.

It is best for Brother Gongliang to inform King Zhi of the details as soon as possible, and persuade him to advance and retreat together, so as to show his merits in front of King Zhi in the future. ”

"You, you, are still so treacherous."

"Each other, this trick will change anyone, the ingenuity is different, King Zhi's thoughts, Ben Hou still knows."

"Well, I'll send a letter to my father and second uncle tonight to play the king on this matter." In response to this matter, Gongliang Xiu changed his words and said: "I walked with Mooney earlier, I listened to your tone, did Xianguo build a powerful artillery?" ”

"Why, didn't you Zhiguo also refine the best copper cannon?"

"You have to hide from me, I know that Yongxing City has changed a lot in recent years, it is Jianruitian again, and it is Qianlin City, whether it has made good artillery, yes or no."

"If I say no, my brother will definitely not believe it."

"That's it!" Gongliang Xiu asked.

"Isn't it, Ben Hou said that Brother Gongliang doesn't believe it, how about inviting my brother to watch the cannon then."

"Oh, can you let me see the cannon?"

Gongliangxiu questioned, and Bai Liyan nodded in affirmation:

"If I say it emptyly, you will definitely not believe it, seeing is believing and hearing is false, and after the good brother has seen it with his own eyes, he will know the power of the new cannon."

As far as personal friendship is concerned, the good brother is a kind person, attaches great importance to love and righteousness, and once it rises to the national level, it immediately reveals his vicious fangs, which is understandable.

While the two were talking, Mooney and Figos were not having a pleasant conversation.

Figos has been severely "brainwashed", and Mooney's disrespect for the moon god makes Mooney very annoyed, and even more annoyed is that Bailiyan stole the "ice velvet flower" that can only grow in the cold zone and came out of the tropics.

"He's a thief, I know there's nothing good about him!"

"Your Excellency Mooney, what I said is true, the moon is a big ball, and the potholes on it are extremely ugly, you can see it with your own eyes when you go to the Miaotian Mountain, the church and the high priest are talking nonsense."

"Enough!" Mooney scolded, and Figos was stunned, retracting his tongue and falling silent. Mooney was silent for a moment and said, "Are there a lot of ice velvet flowers planted by Baili Yan?" ”

"I don't know, but in the past two years, King Xian has given two strains of wine to Lord Gudappa, and I don't know how many there are every year."

"What the hell, in such a hot place, you can grow ice velvet flowers, how did he do it!"

The price of an ice velvet flower in the Central Plains is not an exaggeration, if people take the root system or stem and leaf buds of the ice velweiss flower before they lose their breath, they can put away the effect of resurrection, and have a strong therapeutic effect on malignant tumors and cancers.

Mooney brought thirty ice velvet flowers as trading commodities on this trip, and he was going to use them as bargaining chips for a huge transaction, but he suddenly learned that Baili Yan had planted ice velvet flowers, and his annoyance can be imagined.

I didn't sleep all night, and I went to Bailiyan early the next morning to confront him:

"I learned last night that you also planted hyelweiss!"

Mooney came abruptly, and Bailiyan yawned and said:

"Figos is such a tongue-chewing guy, yes, yes. But I know that you must have tried it for hundreds of years, no matter how windy or rainy it is in spring, summer, autumn and winter, you can't grow it, right? ”

"How do you know?" Mooney was taken aback, and his heart was even more confused.

"Of course I know, at first I thought that ice velvet flowers were not suitable for growing in bitter cold places, but they still did not sprout in hot places, but nine years ago, I discovered the mystery by chance, and in nine years, it has grown three times."

"Mystery? What a mystery! ”

Mooney couldn't wait to ask, but Bailiyan smiled:

"Do you think Ben Hou can say it?"

"You!" Mooney was angry, but there was nothing he could do.

Icevelvet is a perennial root-growing plant with an average lifespan of 55 years, and in extreme cases, it can reach more than 60 years.

This plant has a miraculous feature, it only bears fruit once in three years, the first fruit bears only two fruits, the second fruit bears three grains, the third fruit bears five grains, the fourth round bears eight grains, until the body dies, and increases every three years.

In the winter of nine years ago, when Baili Yan began to cultivate white mold, he accidentally found that the preserved ice velvet seeds germinated inexplicably, it was winter, and the temperature was just about half a degree above zero.

After that, the temperature was artificially controlled in the zero range, and the other seeds germinated one after another, so it was determined that the ice velvet flowers would only germinate at around zero degrees.

In that year, 41 seeds were found from the south, and after all of them were cultivated and transplanted in Miaotian Mountain, crop rotation and conservation planting were successively implemented for nine years, and no harvest was done to ensure that one seed could be harvested every year.

After the first batch was planted, several stubbles of seeds were harvested in nine years, and now there are hundreds of ice velvet flowers planted on Miaotian Mountain, which are taken care of by Du Ming, Du Ji, and Du Dan in turn.

The population began to expand one after another, so every winter after fruiting ten plants for the use of the salty king, occasionally also used as a reward, last year Baili Yan got two ice velvet flowers as a reward for the New Year.

Although the population is thriving, considering that the ice velvet flowers are not easy to come by, Baili Yan did not guard and steal them.

The longer the ice elweiss flower, the larger the root system, the higher the content of active ingredients, the stronger the medicinal power, usually cut into slices after drying, and put it into medicine with one or half a penny, or soak in wine or oral, the oral effect of soaking wine is better, and regular consumption is beneficial to the body.

In view of the fact that the ice velvet flower is a scarce resource, the cultivation has been kept in a state of high secrecy, and the harvest has been successively harvested the year before last, and it has only been circulated among a few medical officials in the palace.

But paper can't keep the fire after all, and the news leaked to the world last year, and it was quickly coveted by various countries, and espionage and diplomatic activities increased significantly, all for free ice elweiss.