Early the next morning, Zhao Ziliang came to the Herod Palace with the Dragon Guard, and the other Western Qin officials were busy with their own affairs, and they did not accompany them, only Li Muchen accompanied them.

When Zhao Ziliang arrived at the Herod Palace, other officials of the Eastern Roman Empire had already arrived, and they also wanted to visit the holy sites in Jerusalem, but Empress Irina did not seem to have gotten up yet, and the attendants saw Zhao Ziliang's carriage arrive, and immediately went to wake up Irina, and the officials accompanied Zhao Ziliang to talk.

Zhao Ziliang heard that Irina hadn't gotten up yet, he wasn't annoyed, and instead talked to the officials of Eastern Rome, "Lord Fei Liqi, you are the Minister of Commerce and Trade of Eastern Rome, presumably you are very good at business and trade development, I wonder if you have been to Western Qin and the Tang Dynasty?" ”

He said with great difficulty: "Your Royal Highness, you have complimented, I have indeed been to Western Qin and Datang, my family is a family that has been doing business for generations, I was very young when I traveled to the East and the West to engage in business activities, no less than twenty times, I even went to Yangzhou in Datang, and saw the endless sea east of Datang!" ”

Zhao Ziliang said: "It seems that you are still a person with a lot of experience, are you a disciple?" ”

Fei Liqi hurriedly said: "No, no, no, I am not a believer, our whole family is not a believer, we don't believe in any god in the world, we only believe in this, this is my belief!" ”

A yellow and clear gold coin appeared between Fei Liqi's fingers, and Zhao Ziliang said with a smile: "Lord Fei Liqi, I respect your beliefs very much, I have to say that your choice is very correct, the power of money is very strong, sometimes it can be so strong that even the gods can drive it!" ”

Fei Liqi said in surprise: "Your Highness's remarks are really appalling, but I think they are too right! But what makes me wonder is that His Highness doesn't discriminate against us merchants? ”

Zhao Ziliang said with a smile: "As long as you abide by the law, businessmen are the same as others, no different, businessmen play a great role in the people of the whole country, we can't deny the huge role that businessmen bring in the country's economic system, without businessmen, the circulation of goods and currency will slow down, which is not good for the economic development of the whole country, businessmen have existed since ancient times, and they will be indispensable in the future!" ”

Fei Liqi sighed: "Your Highness's statement is very incisive, this is the highest evaluation I have ever heard of a businessman!" ”

The two chatted like this, Zhao Ziliang tried to find out the real purpose of Irina coming to Jerusalem this time, although Fei Liqi was familiar with the East, but he had not yet appreciated the essence of the language charm of the East, and he was soon attacked by Zhao Ziliang's way, and he unconsciously revealed the true purpose of his party to come here during the conversation.

Soon, Irina walked out after washing and dressing up, and saw Zhao Ziliang and Fei Liqi talking, and stepped forward and asked with a smile, "What are you talking about?" ”

The two stood up and said with difficulty: "Your Highness, I was chatting with His Royal Highness the King of Western Qin just now!" ”

Irina nodded and said to Zhao Ziliang: "Let you wait for a long time, it's too late!" ”

Zhao Ziliang waved his hand: "It's okay, I don't know if Her Royal Highness the Queen is ready?" ”

"Yes!"

"I brought the royal carriage, can I invite His Highness to ride with me?"

Irina looked at her, nodded slightly, and agreed.

The person came to the side of the royal carriage, the waiter lifted the gauze tent, Zhao Ziliang stretched out an arm for Irina to borrow support to walk on the carriage, Irina saw Zhao Ziliang's outstretched arm, looked stunned, but quickly reacted, generously stretched out his hand on his arm, and walked into the carriage with strength.

The Western Qin officials next to them were dumbfounded, and one of the officials muttered to himself, "Oh, my God, what did I see just now?" The King of Western Qin actually stretched out his arm and let Her Royal Highness the Empress help her get into the carriage? Her Royal Highness the Queen didn't even refuse? ”

Another official jumped to his feet and said angrily: "How can the King of Western Qin do this? Didn't he know that doing so would ruin Her Highness's honor? Also, the queen doesn't know how to excuse herself, shouldn't she avoid suspicion? ”

Fei Liqi walked over and scolded in a low voice: "Shut up for me!" You don't understand anything, the King of Western Qin did this to show his demeanor, Her Royal Highness the Queen did not shirk but accepted it generously, not only accepted the kindness of the other party, but also reflected the demeanor of Her Royal Highness the Empress of the Eastern Roman Empire, if you refuse the King of Western Qin, there are no steps to go down on both sides, what should you do next? ”

The officials were reprimanded so that they had no temper at all and lowered their heads one after another.

Under the protection of the Dragon Guard and the Eastern Roman Guard, the royal carriage slowly drove towards the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre. The silk quilt that Irina was wearing sitting in the carriage felt very soft, and she was surprised: "What is the cushion underneath, why is it so soft?" ”

Zhao Ziliang introduced with a smile: "Your Royal Highness, it is stuffed with cotton wool, cotton wool is a kind of tidbit, pick the cotton from the cotton tree, and then remove the cotton seeds through a special process, and the deseeded cotton can be made into a quilt after treatment, which can not only keep warm, but also very soft. If this quilt is wrapped in cotton cloth, it will feel warm to sleep on in the cold winter nights, and there is no need to light a fire in the house."

Irina was amazed: "Cotton is amazing! Your Highness, there should be very little of this cotton, right? ”

Zhao Ziliang shook his head with a smile and said: "Your Highness, this is wrong, cotton can be planted on a large scale, if it is planted on a large scale, even ordinary civilian families can use it, and it is very light, it will not look heavy when made into a quilt to cover the body!" Although the animal skin is also warm, but ordinary civilians simply can't afford it, most civilian families can only use linen, linen to make clothes is good, but the warmth and sweat dissipation performance is far inferior to cotton, now we in the West Qin and most of the Tang Dynasty have begun to widely plant and popularize cotton fabrics! ”

What a smart person is Irina? She immediately understood the huge impact that cotton has on people's lives and its huge economic benefits, and once it is popularized on a large scale, it will make earth-shaking changes in people's lives.

However, Irina also knows that it is very difficult to grow a crop that has never been seen and does not understand the growth habits at all, and it is not difficult to get seeds, as long as you pay for it, you will definitely be able to buy it privately from Xiqin, but it is not too easy to plant it and popularize it on a large scale, this is still the point, the focus is on planting technology, mature planting technology can increase the yield to the greatest extent, even if there are seeds, without planting technology, its yield must not be high, what is the use? If the income from planting barley and wheat on the same acre of land is more than the income from planting cotton, the feudal landowners will definitely not plant cotton, and they will only plant cotton if they make the feudal landowners feel that the income from planting cotton is higher than that from planting wheat and barley.

Send spies to Xiqin to steal planting techniques? I'm afraid it's a little difficult, over the years, Xiqin has intensified its efforts to crack down on spies, and if you want to steal planting techniques, you don't think it's okay in a short time, it's not enough to have a written description, but also have actual planting experience, it will take several years to fully acquire this technology, and it may be discovered by Xiqin's internal guard yamen halfway.

In addition to the continuation of cultivation, there is also the technique of deseeding, which is followed by a corresponding textile technique, which may be different from that of wool and flax.

In a short period of time, Irina's mind turned countless times, and she said with a smile: "I heard Your Highness say this, cotton is really a magical good thing, if I want to buy a large amount of cotton and cotton cloth from your country, I wonder if Your Highness can do it?" ”

Zhao Ziliang was stunned for a moment, and then said with a smile: "It is normal for trade between countries to come and go, but cotton is still a strategic material in my Xiqin, and it will not be exported to other countries easily, otherwise cotton would have been circulated to other countries over the years!" Over the years, although a small amount of cotton has been smuggled to other countries, the quantity is not large enough to make a difference. Moreover, the cultivation of cotton is based on the season, geography and climate, and it is not possible to grow it anywhere. If the Eastern Roman Empire wants to buy cotton and cotton cloth, our country does not mind exporting some to your country, but your country's import volume cannot be too small! ”

Irina was happy in her heart, since she could trade and trade, she didn't have to worry about planting technology, deseeding and textile technology, she thought for a while and said, "Then let's take 500,000 pounds first, I don't know how much it will cost?" ”

Zhao Ziliang waved his hand and smiled: "We don't need to discuss this kind of trivial matter here, right?" Leave it to the officials below to negotiate! ”

Irina immediately knew that she was still a little too tender, and she couldn't control her emotions in front of Zhao Ziliang, an old fox. Can't grasp the rhythm of the conversation.

Herod's Palace was not far from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the two sat in the royal carriage and talked, and it felt like it didn't take long to arrive. After the royal carriage stopped, Zhao Ziliang got out of the carriage first, still standing outside and picking up the gauze tent, Irina smiled and helped his arm to get out of the carriage, and walked towards the entrance gate of the Holy Sepulchre Church together.

Walk through the wide courtyard in front and approach the gate entrance, where a piece of red marble sits in the middle. It was Jesus who placed the next place on this marble from the cross and anointed it for burial, and it is said that the marble was stained with Jesus' blood.

Irina carefully lifted the hem of her skirt, knelt beside the marble under the service of the maid, and began a long prayer.

Zhao Ziliang took advantage of this gap to look at the surrounding furnishings, he could feel that there was a trace of spiritual power scattered here, this spiritual power is very pure, this is not an ordinary person's, the spiritual power of ordinary people cannot be condensed, but the spiritual power of walking here is a substantial thing, although it is invisible to the naked eye, but Zhao Ziliang can feel it, maybe this is left by that person back then? It's just that time has been too long, so this spiritual power has slowly worn off, and only a little bit is left now?