The days when I pretended to be a cat in the Forbidden City[Comprehensive]

In terms of etiquette, the vassal dynasty saw that they were waiting for Da Honglu to come to the festival in the outskirts of Chang'an, and then introduced them one by one to the vassal mansion.After that, the emperor will hold a grand welcome dinner for the vassals, and have several one-on-one exchanges and interviews, and finally send them away from Chang'an.

Don't underestimate this complicated etiquette, which shows the mutual help and obedience between the emperor and the vassal.For little princes like Xia Anran, the etiquette is relatively loose. After all, they are courtiers meeting the emperor, and they will not be too strict with their sons and emperors. However, the etiquette when meeting uncles is much more complicated.

But although it can be simplified, this process is still unavoidable, so the three vassals must wait in the suburbs for a while, and send domestic officials to report all the people accompanying this trip, and then Da Honglu will send someone to count After getting it right, you can take the carriage sent by the emperor to enter the city.

So when the Zhongshan Kingdom sent people to inform, Xia Anran ordered the wild boar captured by Zhidu and entered the city together.

According to him, the wild boar is a symbol to express the bravery of the three little princes, but in fact...

Since this wild boar was subdued by Zhidu.And a few years ago, Zhidu owed the little king's mother, Mrs. Jia, a pig, and now the little king gave him another pig subdued by Zhidu...

Of course, Xia Anran didn't want to say it clearly, she just secretly wanted to see if his own father could understand this stalk.

It is reckoned that Emperor Jing could understand it. If he hadn't had such a bad taste, he would not have sent Zhidu to Zhongshan to be the prime minister.

Huh?Is bad taste also inherited?Xia Anran unkindly dumped the blame on his emperor's father in his heart.

As soon as Emperor Jing changed hands, he sent half of the meat to the harem, and kept the half for himself. Then he entertained the officials and said very modestly: "Oh, this is from those stinky boys of mine. This pig meat is smelly, and you want to eat it." It took a lot of effort to get rid of the smell...

Hey, the brat doesn’t know how to eat. What kind of wild boar are you talking about? The mutton is the most beautiful in winter... Bobo boo...

All the courtiers in the hall had kind smiles on their faces, and a humble look of "whatever you say is right", it is not known what is in their hearts.

Anyway, it is estimated that it is not a good word, because after the next day, all the wild boars in the suburbs of Chang'an City were confiscated.

No matter how angry the wild boar was, there was no way to justify it, and the nobles in Chang'an City clearly refused to let them survive the winter.If you can't beat it, you can only escape.

When the vassal dynasty met, Chang'an City fell into a state of watching the excitement.

Whenever there are free people, they gather around the sides of the road, waiting to see the guard of honor of the vassal king entering the capital.They are not interested in what people look like, they have two eyes and one nose anyway, but they are very interested in what they bring.

The carriage that the vassal king rode in was sent by the imperial court, everyone was the same, it was nothing more than different names, but the gifts they brought were various and each had its own characteristics!

When the feudal kings entered the capital, they didn't mind showing their wealth to the people at all, and usually displayed their gifts along the way.

Therefore, the people of Chang'an are always the most knowledgeable among the people of a country.

Of course, it's not that the vassal kings intend to show off... Cough, at least not entirely, most of them are advertising for their vassal state.

It is also a very good way to promote one's vassal state through the gifts sent by the audience. It probably means: Look, my place is very rich!Welcome to do business, travel, and settle down. It would be even better if you can bring capital into the country!

At the same time, there are also special promotions.

For example, Hejian Wang, who likes culture, brought a cart full of books...the kind of books that are all paper books, the amount of a full cart is huge. It is said that they are all collected by Hejian Wang over the years. new book.

For example, Liu Fei, the king of Jiangdu, brought a large amount of lacquerware, and one of the lacquerware screens used three full oxen to pull the cart.Although wrapped in brocade, its size is extremely large at first glance, and it must be magnificent and magnificent.

In addition, there are local special products, such as Jiaoxi Wang. The "local products" sent by this person are sea cucumbers and dried fish from the Yellow Sea. People in Chang'an City who have only seen river fish were amazed.

These are all normal painting styles, but there are also a few different painting styles.

For example, the king of Changsha, he brought many boxes and jars, big and small, and some people who approached said that there was a burst of fragrance, while others said that they smelled a stench.

For example, the king of Jiaodong, the king of Jiaodong brought many carts, but most of them contained fruits, vegetables, rice and the like, which were very ordinary and simple.

For example, the king of Zhongshan, he brought a lot of things, but almost all of them were covered tightly. After waiting for a long time, the people who eat melons saw several carts loaded with livestock, poultry and birds, and they were not rare. Variety.

On the contrary, King Zhao brought a lot of good things. Among them, a glazed cup is the most eye-catching. The sunlight passing through the gap in the glazed cup can print the pattern on the ground. From a distance, it looks like a torch that was lit in broad daylight. General, exceptionally eye-catching.

These carts and their owners were brought into the building successively by Da Honglu.

It is logical that feudal kings should have mansions in Chang'an City for them to live in when they are feudal, and this is where they entertain guests. The mansions of these new kingdoms have not yet been completed. Although there are also mansions left over from the previous generation, for the sake of fairness, everyone simply lives together this time.

The way of handling it was indeed simple and rude, but this was stipulated by the father, and the son naturally had to obey obediently.

The buildings where the little princes live are relatively close to Weiyang Palace, almost within walking distance, but because of this, the scale of the houses is relatively small.After all, young boys have no family members but only courtiers, and most of the courtiers live outside, so they don't need too much space.

Xia Anran and others were the last to arrive. Fortunately, they were three people traveling together, so it is understandable that they were slowed down.On the first day, after the brothers greeted each other and greeted each other, everyone was polite and a bit unfamiliar... However, the second day immediately warmed up, and on the third and fourth days, all the princes in the museum refused. Even outsiders have visited, but they have never stepped out. What these young gentlemen are doing has become a question of concern to those who are interested.

What are the little kings doing?They are making up homework.

Because everyone's memorials were written in pieces and sent over, when he was sorting out the transcriptions, King Hejian found that everyone had more or less encountered similar problems in Fengguo.

And because the king's personality is different, the prime minister's experience is different, and the way to deal with the problem is even more different.And because basically no one has written it in detail, there is no way to compare whose method is better in this part. King Hejian can only rely on his richer experience than other princes to make judgments and adopt it.

But of course some people disagree with such a judgment. From yesterday afternoon to this morning, the eight princes started a debate on these issues.

It was at this time that everyone knew that the culprit in this incident was King Zhongshan and not King Zhao... But it didn't matter, the elders waved their hands and said that the older brother Zhao Wang didn't take good care of his younger brother, so he deserved being scolded.

As for King Zhongshan, it would be over if each person sent a head collapse, because now they have different enemies-those who disagree with themselves.

This means that your way of dealing with it is too soft, are you a woman?

Is that attacking you like that trying to kill Qin Houchen?

There are also swaying wall grass on the side, and the atmosphere is extremely hot.

If you disagree with one word, bear it, if you disagree with another word, bear it again... There are too many times, and in the end, the few princes who can't hold back fight into a ball, keeping their fists to the flesh, but they all tacitly agree not to hit the face.

Of course, such a scene cannot be seen by outsiders, but it also inadvertently creates a mysterious image of the little princes.

But such a situation naturally reached Liu Qi's ears.What are the boys doing?The old man was very curious, so Liu Qi sent the prince to have a look.

Prince Liu Rong, as everyone's elder brother, has already been in touch with the government. His soft personality does not mean that he lacks the vision of governing. At least he has the decision to judge which of the younger brothers has a better handling method.

So, the eldest brother who was clearly here to see what the younger brothers were doing was dragged into the water.Liu Rong was dragged to sit down and appreciate the verbal battle of the younger brothers, and also helped his mother and younger brother Hejian Wang to be the referee.

Since it was a gift from Jiufan's sons to the old father, it was not good for him to interfere, but it didn't hurt to give some opinions.

After all, he is the elder brother.

With the crown prince's final decision, King Hejian copied and revised the book a lot faster, and showed the little kings one by one again, and this part was ready to be handed in.

However, as soon as the atmosphere relaxed, the brothers immediately became tense again, because the second section was the bragging part of the little princes.

As the editor, King Hejian had the most headache at this time, because the younger brothers wrote a lot that they couldn't understand.

You have to explain to your elder brother what you messed up, who can understand it if you write it like this?What are you doing?Here we should especially criticize King Zhongshan.

He is used to speaking with concise data, and since staying with science student Zhai Xin for a long time, the little king's ability to express words has plummeted, and his words can't express his meaning. It was very sad to see.

Xia Anran, who was picked out as a typical one, shrank her neck, and then stuck her neck to express that it was difficult to understand!It would be nice to explain it to you here!

I'm only young and have a low level of education. Isn't that normal?It's normal for an older brother to wipe his younger brother's butt!

When the older brothers were shocked by the younger brother's shamelessness, they all spoke out to criticize him.

It was at this moment that everyone found out... Liu Sheng is an amazing kid, why does he have a good relationship with everyone?Even King Jiaoxi, who has the most sinister personality, can tolerate him rubbing against each other to avoid the scolding of his brothers!This is a treatment that King Jiaoxi's elder brother Lu Wang Liu Yu does not have.

If someone asked the little king this question, he would definitely tell him the answer with a holy face—for pocket money.

The state’s agricultural and food income is owned by the state. For the little princes, only business taxes are private money. Although everyone is single, after the little king lists out the expenses for raising a child for them , the expressions of almost all the little kings became extremely severe.

Especially Liu Zhi, because in his heart, besides raising his own, he also had to help his elder brother raise his cubs.

Xia Anran and Hejian Wang's waterway transportation has just opened, and both of them have received the profits of this shipping.On Xia Anran's side, there are also costs for port building and shipbuilding, while Hejian Wang's side is all net income except for almost negligible labor costs.

After Shaofu statistics, the figures are extremely impressive.

Xia Anran enthusiastically explained his little composition to the elders with an excuse, and actually practiced the reality of painting big cakes.The princes were standing or sitting, watching their younger brothers laying white paper on a hanging board to write a plan, and by the way, the Amway brothers joined their current logistics chain.

In this official logistics chain established through the avenue, income has also been steadily increasing after receiving fixed orders from several trading companies.And with the connection of the waterways between Hejian Kingdom and Zhongshan Kingdom, it is possible to open water and land transport in the future.

In order to prove the bright future of land and water transport, Xia Anran also brought a small model of Zhongshan Port to his brothers to show the superiority of Zhongshan's port.

That's right, his small closed boxes were stuffed with small models, and even Liu Xiaozhu didn't know how many figures his brother brought over.

The little prince held his head high and held his chest high, "We plan to open a regular mail channel in the future, mainly to send messages to the common people..."

"Hey——" He had just finished speaking when he felt a light pat on the back of his head.

The same-year-old King Jiaoxi, whom he had just used as a shield, was sitting behind him, squinting at him, "You are a Zhongshan country, how many literate people can you find?"

Facing his brother's ridicule, Xia Anran puffed out his small chest and was very confident. He said that it is absolutely unnecessary for everyone to be literate.According to today's labor conditions, it is almost impossible to deliver one by one to individuals, so his initial idea is: letters will be sent to a distribution center like goods, and then transferred to various counties in the kingdom. The place is hung on the top for a month or two, and the villagers pass on the news to each other after seeing the news.

Simply put, that is, the message is responsible for reaching the location, but not the individual.

This is not so much a letter as a word of mouth, and you can charge according to the number of words and display time.When the literacy rate increases and the people can afford the cost of sending letters, they can develop further. This level is enough now.

But therein lies the problem.

Liu Fei is the most sensitive about this, and he immediately pointed out this problem, "If it is implemented as Ah Sheng wants, everyone in the news can see it, and it is all advisable, how can we prevent it from being subtle?"

Several older feudal lords thought about this. In the past, when people passed letters from person to person, although there was bound to be news missing, it was easier to catch people.But if according to Xia Anran's statement, the information is announced and carefully hidden among the crowd, how can we find someone?

Even if there is a problem with the message, follow the recipient to find it, but what if you are cunning and write an address that does not exist when sending the mail, or a recipient that does not exist at all?

The little king smiled mysteriously, he pushed Liu Xiaozhu in front of the people, and said, "I have thought of a solution!"

Facing the scorching eyes of his brothers, Liu Xiaozhu did not show any stage fright.The method is actually very simple, just change the display method. The message is hidden inside the envelope, and only the address and name of the recipient are displayed externally, and the recipient can pick it up by himself.

As he said that, he shook his chubby hands and showed his brothers how to fold a piece of paper into an envelope that can be written on the inside and used as a package. After sticking it with glue, it can be directly pasted on the list In terms of cost, the cost is extremely low.

Xia Anran patted the shoulder of the younger brother who stood on tiptoe to stick the envelope on the board with appreciation, and then continued to tell the elders, "Zhongshan has already started trial operation...the profit is huge."

Although he didn't say it clearly, the brothers who knew his brother's ability to make money all narrowed their eyes. This model is very simple, and they can imitate it. They have kept this matter in their hearts, but whether it will be implemented... is to be determined.

The fief area of ​​Zhongshan Kingdom is vast, and it runs north-south. It takes seven or eight days from the southernmost point to the northernmost point, so there is a market for spending some money to send a message. Other feudal countries... such as Zhao Guo, this kind of It is meaningless if the terrain is relatively round, but the connection between countries can be discussed.

For the little kings who have their own cavalry, the additional cost of this business is negligible, but generally speaking... they don't think it makes much sense.

Little kings who don't know how profitable document delivery is in the express delivery industry quickly regard it as tasteless in their hearts.The host of the meeting, King Hejian, nodded to express his understanding of his younger brother's achievements. After rearranging the messy report written by the little king in a few words, he waved his hand to signal the next one.

The next one to appear is Changsha King Liu Fa.

King Hejian looked at this unfamiliar younger brother and asked directly, "What is sugar plate? What are white sugar and brown sugar?"

Don't you write a note when you create a noun?Are all younger brothers so ugly now?

In fact, the term was informed by the king of Zhongshan, so the king of Changsha thought it was a new term for the Central Plains.Liu Fa, who was completely implicated by his younger brother, was hesitating. How should these terms be explained?It's so nerve-wracking.

In the end, Liu Fa felt that he couldn't speak clearly, so he simply took out his luggage and showed the real thing to his brothers.

If the brothers could keep calm when they saw the candy, but when the box was opened to reveal the candy as white as snow, all of them stared wide-eyed.

Especially after the little princes took the tea and dipped it in sugar and put it into their mouths to try it out, the pure and extremely full sweet taste in the mouth instantly made the little boys burst into great enthusiasm—how to buy it?

This is not only a matter of color control, but the taste of white sugar is indeed clearer and purer than that of brown sugar.

In the eyes of the princes, this more elegant taste is the sweet taste they want to pursue.

"What white sugar!" King Hejian criticized this, "This thing is sweet and looks like frost and snow. Brother thought it was named icing sugar."

As soon as the cultural man's words came out, he was unanimously approved by the brothers.King Hejian glanced at King Changsha, who was so pissed off by him, he nodded immediately to express that brother Xie changed his name, and the name of sugar frost was indeed much better than white sugar.

King Hejian immediately put pen to paper and changed the name from Liu Fa's small notebook.

Xia Anran quietly rolled his eyes, he didn't really want to pay attention to these brothers who were making fuss about the sugar bowl, he turned his eyes and noticed his younger brother's salivating eyes towards the sugar bowl, he was immediately annoyed and funny.

"Brother, I'm starving you!" Xia Anran leaned over and pinched Liu Zhi's cheeks that were about to drool.Liu Zhi immediately swallowed his saliva with a grunt, and glanced at his brother very short of breath, his little eyes were clear-brother, don't you give me candy!

The Zhongshan Kingdom does not have much sucrose and syrup reserves. After all, the location of the Zhongshan Kingdom is not suitable for growing sugar cane. If you want to eat sweets, you must either raise honey or buy it.

But although sugarcane is not good, millet can be grown.Millet has a more familiar name in modern times, called sorghum.

As a crop that has been excluded from the five-grain array, except for a very few areas, sorghum is basically no longer planted, and even if it is planted, its status is also a commercial crop.

The reason is simple. Although its yield is not low, it is not as good as rice and wheat; and its taste is bitter and poor in palatability.In addition to low environmental requirements, it basically has no advantages.

In the Western Han Dynasty, after the country used corn as the main unit of calculation, millet was planted wherever possible, and the environment for planting millet was similar. As a result, millet naturally gradually withdrew from the market.

Moreover, there is another shortcoming of millet, which is not a shortcoming. Its fruit, that is, broomcorn millet, is very popular with birds and birds.If it is planted on a large scale, it is very difficult for farmers to grab food from birds in the Western Han Dynasty where fast, large-scale and intensive harvesting is not possible.

Zhidu told him this when he was trying to grow millet.Compared with the large grains of wheat and rice, the small grains of millet are too difficult to defend, and the difficulty of threshing is also very high.Over time, a small number of millet planters either had unsuitable land or used it for wine making.

The sugar content of millet is high, which can provide a large amount of energy conversion resources for various molecules during the wine making process, so the taste of millet wine will be more mellow than the wine brewed from other crops.

The tannins that cause the bad taste of millet will also be transformed in this process and become a special aroma.This is also the reason why Chinese baijiu is almost dominated by sorghum wine in later generations.

But Xia Anran didn't grow millet for wine making at that time, he planted millet for the stalks.

The stalks of millet have a high sugar content, especially when they are cut during the filling period, and their sugar content is even comparable to that of many fruits.

When Xia Anran was young, this kind of plant called "sweet milo" was often sold on the street. It was slightly thicker than a finger and had a verdant green appearance. It was chewed like sugarcane.

In the era when the infrastructure of the Great Heavenly Dynasty had not yet begun to flourish, sugarcane was still a relatively luxurious southern plant, while sweet milo, a plant that grew in the north and was resistant to barrenness, salt and alkali, and could survive no matter what, was very popular at the time. Satisfy the greed of the children.

Of course, its sugar content is not as high as that of sugar cane, and its skin is thick and sharp. It cannot be peeled with a plane, but it can only be bitten with the mouth, which is easy to wear the skin of the mouth.Therefore, after sugarcane entered the northern market, sweet milo gradually disappeared. Only those who missed their childhood would go to the farm to buy it and eat it, and basically did not do large-scale commercial planting.

And even if it's a farm, it's mostly just for fun.

Of course, the variety eaten in modern times is the improved sweet sorghum, which is still different from the original sorghum, but compared with the current unmodified sugar cane, Xia Anran feels that the sugar content of sorghum stalks should not be much worse.

That's right, the little king grows sorghum for sugar.

But when he was really greedy, he secretly cut off the sorghum and ate it, but was caught by Liu Xiaozhu.In order to stop his brother's mouth, Xia Anran quietly distributed a sorghum stalk, and then the two brothers were impressed by the elegant sweetness, couldn't hold back, and quietly chopped several sorghum stalks and chewed them dryly. I'm hungry.

Since then, Liu Zhi has been waiting for the sorghum to be grouted, because my elder brother said that it would be more delicious at that time.

But unfortunately, he didn't wait.

The sorghum was used to make silage.

Because of the Han-Hungarian trade, Zhongshan has a large number of livestock, and these livestock consume a considerable amount of feed every day. Naturally, the original reserves cannot meet their needs.At that time, the little king was also worried about the feed, grinding the floor around in circles, and finally his eyes fell on the sorghum stalks that were about to mature.

He has really struggled. After all, if sugar can be made from millet stalks, then the benefits will definitely be huge. It is somewhat wasteful to use such a cash crop as feed.

Why don't you wait for me.

The author has something to say:

Xia Miao: I struggled, really.

Xia Miao: I also like to eat sweets!

Xia Miao: I swear in the name of my grandpa!The matter of turning it into feed... hey, it's all Shi Chen's fault.

Liu Xiaozhu: Scam! ! !