The Turks had not yet left when the Tibetans arrived.
Time had truly changed. The present was different from the past. They were all becoming more and more humble.
This time, it wasn't Lu Dongzan who came from Tibet but Sambhota, who had completely replaced Lu Dongzan's position in the envoy group.
When he came to the Honglu Temple again, Du Jingtong asked him, "Why isn't Lu Dongzan here? Has something happened to him?"
"He said the wrong thing and offended our Zanpu, so he was dismissed from office. That's why I've taken over his duties to present our Tibetan gifts to the Tang Dynasty."
Sambhota was becoming more and more cautious in his words.
"I see."
Du Jingtong was also sensible enough not to pursue the matter further.
That was the end of that conversation.
The number of Tibetan sheep was much smaller than that of the Turks', only a little over a thousand. On their way down from the plateau, more than half of them died on the road.
Even so, when meeting Li Jingyun, Sambhota still had the nerve to plead with her, asking her to give them a few more sweaters considering their remote and bitterly cold land.
Of course, Li Jingyun didn't agree to this.
With this precedent, how should she respond when Tuchuo, the prince of the Uyghurs, came later?
Wasn't this just asking for trouble?
In the new courtyard, boxes of sweaters were packed together and loaded onto carriages.
They were about to set off for Tibet.
Li Jingyun, Su Gui, and Sambhota were all on the scene, watching as the sweaters were packed. One thick sweater after another was stacked until there was no gap left in the boxes.
"Thank you, Princess Chengyang, for your kindness." Sambhota bowed to Li Jingyun.
"Rise." Li Jingyun waved her hand. She was increasingly taking on the qualities of her father and third aunt.
"This was a deal we made long ago, but the number of sheep you brought this time is really too small, less than one - fifth of what the Turks brought. You need to pay more attention. Do you understand?" Su Gui glanced at him and gave him a reminder.
Raising sheep was the most important part of their whole plan.
"Yes, yes, yes. We understand."
Sambhota responded repeatedly, never imagining that his own push would push Tibet into an inescapable abyss.
As for the sheep that entered the Tang Dynasty, most of them were sold as mutton. For a while, from the Anbei Protectorate to Jiaozhi, there were countless mutton restaurants in the entire Tang Dynasty, selling mutton Hu Bing (a kind of pancake), mutton soup, mutton kebabs, and so on.
These were all the restaurants of the fifth elder brother, Li You.
Why was this task given to him? Because the other elder brothers were all busy.
The eldest brother was busy with state affairs, the third brother was dealing with the coal shops, the fourth brother was devoted to reading and didn't want to get involved in business at all, even though it was very profitable. The sixth brother was having a great time and didn't need the money. The younger brothers were too young to take on such a big responsibility.
As for the elder sisters, some were married, some were giving birth, and some were raising children. They didn't have the energy to deal with these trivial matters.
So it could only be given to the fifth elder brother to handle.
Li You really took this matter seriously and paid attention to every detail, such as how many floors the restaurant should have, two or three? Should there be stone lions at the entrance? How many waiters should each restaurant hire?
Of course, Shi An also helped a lot in this. He had completely won Li You's trust and became an indispensable steward in Li You's mansion.
Concubine Yin watched helplessly as her son got closer and closer to Li Jingyun and the others, and followed the other princes and princesses in calling Emperor Li Shimin and Empress Zhangsun "father" and "mother". She knew that her plan had failed.
Could a mere Shi An have such great influence?
If she had known this would happen, she should have killed that man with a single knife back then! But now it was too late. Her son couldn't do without Shi An. If she really killed Shi An, her stupid son would even dare to come at her with a sword.
On the second day of the second lunar month, the day when the dragon raises its head.
Carriage after carriage of sweaters passed through Songzhou and were transported to Tibet.
During this time, another major event happened. Wang Fuzhi, who had returned to the capital to report on his duties, found the Zhancheng rice and cotton that Li Jingyun had asked for.
Li Jingyun would never forget that day.
She was just having a headache about how to plead with her father not to go to the Hongwen Hall, because she already knew all the characters she needed to know and didn't need a teacher to teach her bit by bit.
She was acting coquettishly and in a stalemate with Li Shimin and his wife when Wang De came in to report that Wang Fuzhi, the county magistrate of Jiaozhi, was asking for an audience!
Then, Wang Fuzhi came in, followed by four palace servants. Two of them were carrying a basket of cotton, and the other two were carrying a basket of Zhancheng rice seeds.
"Your Majesty, Your Highness, Princess, I have fulfilled my mission and retrieved the Zhancheng rice and cotton!"
As Wang Fuzhi said this, he bowed deeply.
He was obviously much darker and thinner than he was six months ago, but he looked more energetic and capable.
"Good!"
Li Shimin shouted, not caring about his daughter's schooling anymore. He immediately stepped down to take a look.
"Is it really like what Hong Xuan said, able to be harvested three times a year with extremely high yields?"
"Exactly. I've inquired many times." Wang Fuzhi replied.
"Heaven blesses the Tang Dynasty! Heaven blesses the Tang Dynasty!"
Li Shimin paced around, sighing with excitement. He was smiling so widely that his face was full of wrinkles.
No wonder he lost his composure. Rice that could be harvested three times a year! If it was planted, how much more grain would the Tang Dynasty produce? How many poor people could fill their stomachs and no longer suffer from hunger because of this?
And this cotton. When you touched a basket of it, it was soft, warm, and lightweight. If it was planted, the people of the Tang Dynasty could wear cotton - padded clothes in addition to sweaters next winter!
After that, Li Shimin quickly arranged for people to store these things properly and planned to plant them in the Tang Dynasty.
The Zhancheng rice from Jiaozhi might not adapt to the soil in Chang'an. It should be tried in the Jiangnan area and Yizhou area. Maybe it would thrive there.
The same went for the cotton. An open space was marked out around Chang'an to plant it.
They wanted to see how they would grow in the heartland of the Tang Dynasty.
Li Shimin still understood the principle that an orange tree in the south of the Huai River bears oranges, while in the north it bears trifoliate oranges.
Spring had arrived. All things were coming back to life, and the temperature was rising little by little.
Li Jingyun vaguely remembered that last winter, it was a heavy snow that brought the desolate cold wind to Chang'an. But this spring, it was a spring rain that melted the frozen river and moistened the land and seedlings.
The place where the cotton was planted was not far from Li Jingyun's courtyard. Less than a month after it was planted, a lush green could be seen there, which was very pleasing to the eye.
Especially after the rain, the water droplets on the leaves made it even more beautiful.
She would go to the courtyard from time to time to check on the growth of the cotton.
At the same time, the court became busy. Not only were there always a group of people around the prime ministers' doors, trying to get in touch with them and talk about literature, but even outside the door of Li Jingyun, a five - year - old princess, there were a large number of people lingering. This made Li Jingyun not even want to go back to live there.
Ask her to read those long and pedantic articles? Wasn't that just making things difficult for her?