Red Mansion Taoist

Chapter 365 Sending Pills
In the Cining Palace, the Empress Dowager was looking at herself in the mirror. Li Qiang and Lin Daiyu had just left.

"The longevity elixir also has the effect of improving my complexion. I look a lot younger!" The Queen Mother looked at the person in the mirror and said to herself with a smile on her face.

The female officials serving beside her looked at the empress dowager with envy.

As a female official beside the Empress Dowager, she knew clearly what happened in the Cining Palace today.

Emperor Li Qiang actually sent an immortal elixir to the Empress Dowager, which increased the Empress Dowager's lifespan by a hundred years.

"Your Majesty, Dai Quan is outside asking for a meeting!" a palace maid said outside the door.

"Let him in!" The Queen Mother was in a good mood today and gave the order calmly.

Under normal circumstances, it is uncertain whether Dai Quan will be able to see the empress dowager. At most, Dai Quan can pass the message to the female official.

Dai Quan lowered his head, holding a box carefully in his hands, afraid that the box would fall, and he entered the Queen Mother's bedroom.

"Your servant pays his respects to the Queen Mother!" Dai Quan knelt down and saluted.

His hands kept the box lifted and level.

"Stand up!" the Queen Mother waved her hand.

Dai Quan stood up and handed the box to the Queen Mother.

"This is what my master asked me to bring!" Dai Quan carefully opened the box, revealing a jade bottle.

When the Queen Mother saw the jade bottle, she recognized what it was.

She had just taken a longevity pill that was contained in the same jade bottle.

She picked up the jade bottle and opened it without hesitation to observe.

"This old fellow, how dare he take out such an important thing casually!" The Queen Mother covered the jade bottle and scolded.

Although her tone was not nice, everyone could hear the concern in her words.

The Queen Mother was of course moved. Li Qiang sent her a longevity pill, but because the pill was too precious, she did not tell anyone about it. No one knew that Li Qiang had sent a longevity pill to the Queen Mother.

The retired emperor also didn't know this, but he sent the longevity elixir that originally belonged to him, which meant he gave up his own 100 years of life.

Even though the Empress Dowager had become a stranger to the Emperor Retired because of some things, those things had now become a thing of the past.

"Go to Changchun Palace!" The Queen Mother would never let Dai Quan take the longevity pill back. She wanted to deliver it personally and watch the retired emperor take it.

After this incident, there was no more rift between the Empress Dowager and the Emperor.

Li Qiang only found out about it afterwards, and he couldn't help but marvel at the strategy of the retired emperor.

He didn't believe that the emperor didn't guess that he would give the empress dowager a life-extending pill, but still took this opportunity to ease his relationship with the empress dowager.

On the way back to Daming Palace, Lin Daiyu seemed to be hesitant to speak.

"Leave the palace and go to Lin Mansion!" Li Qiang saw it, and he instructed Jin Dong.

"Brother Qiang, why are you going to the Lin Mansion?" Lin Daiyu asked expectantly.

"Of course I'll send you the longevity elixir!" Li Qiang replied with a smile.

Lin Daiyu was extremely surprised. She just wanted to ask Li Qiang for two longevity pills for her parents.

But it is really difficult to ask for this. The longevity elixir that can extend life by a hundred years is a treasure passed down from generation to generation in the Daqian Palace.

Although one can live forever in the Realm of Illusion, leaving the Realm of Illusion will consume one's lifespan. Therefore, even if one lives in the Realm of Illusion, the longevity pill is not completely useless.

"Thank you!" Lin Daiyu couldn't bear to refuse, she could only say softly.

"You and I are husband and wife, there's no need to be so polite!" Li Qiang said as he held Lin Daiyu in his arms.

The Lin Mansion remained in its original location and was not moved to a bigger house just because Lin Ruhai was promoted to Grand Secretary of the Cabinet.

According to Lin Ruhai, there were only him and Jia Min at home, so there was no need for the big house.

In addition, Li Qiang's old house was used by Lin Ruhai and Jia Min. Jia Min loved the Grand View Garden very much and would live there from time to time.

As Li Qiang and Lin Daiyu arrived very suddenly and there was no ceremonial guard this time, the Lin family did not know that Li Qiang and Lin Daiyu had arrived until Jin Dong came forward and knocked on the door.

During this private visit, Li Qiang did not allow Lin Ruhai and Jia Min to greet each other.

Lin Ruhai and Jia Min also knew Li Qiang's temper, so they welcomed Li Qiang and Lin Daiyu into their home, treating them as normal daughter and son-in-law.

"Brother Qiang, you haven't been here for a while!" Jia Min said as they sat down in the hall.

Although she was talking about Li Qiang, her eyes were on Lin Daiyu, and her meaning was very obvious.

Ever since Li Qiang moved to the Daming Palace, there were many more concubines in the harem, and Jia Min could no longer go to the harem often.

And it is impossible for Queen Lin Daiyu to leave the palace at will, as that would set a bad example for the concubines in the harem, and Lin Daiyu certainly would not do that.

"Mother, I am the queen. I can't always trouble your family to entertain me!" Lin Daiyu replied with a smile.

If the queen really returns to her parents' home, her parents' home will need to decorate the house with lights and lanterns to receive her. The ceremony can be compared to the visit of Yuanchun to her parents that year.

"If you don't come back, you must bring the child back for me to see!" Jia Min stated her purpose.

As she got older, her love for children grew.

But there was no sign of Lin Daiyu's second son, and Jia Min could not often see her grandson and granddaughter. How could she not feel resentful?

"It's my fault. I've been busy these two years. I'll come here more often in the future!" Li Qiang said to smooth things over.

"Well, my daughter finally came back!" Lin Ruhai said, and then he said to Li Qiang: "The cabinet has planned the first phase of the project for Tatar. We are going to build a cement road to connect Daqian to Tatar, and form a road network inside Tatar!"

"Okay, the cement workshop needs to be expanded. I will contact Datong Bank about this matter!" Li Qiang nodded.

When Jia Min saw Lin Ruhai and Li Qiang talking about government affairs, she wanted to say something, but then she looked at her daughter, reached out and pulled her daughter aside, and the mother and daughter started talking in private.

Lin Ruhai had a very high enthusiasm for work. After Grand Secretary Tian retired, the power of the cabinet fell into his hands.

In addition, Gan Feng, the new cabinet minister, is also on Li Qiang's side, so there are few superfluous voices in the cabinet.

Normally, it would be difficult to find Li Qiang even if one entered the palace. This time, when meeting Li Qiang at home, Lin Ruhai naturally expressed many of his thoughts and discussed with Li Qiang.

This conversation lasted for an hour until Jia Min came over and knocked on the table.

"It's time to eat together!" Lin Ruhai realized that it was time for dinner, and he said with a reluctant look. "Father-in-law, there are many things that you don't need to discuss with me. You can do whatever you think is right!" Li Qiang said as he stood up.

"This won't do. This is the cabinet's rule of conduct, and the rule cannot be broken. Now that I have a close relationship with you and have broken the rule, after I retire, it will affect the behavior of those who come after me!" Lin Ruhai also stood up and said.

The two came to the dining table and sat down.

"I'm afraid you will have to serve in the cabinet for at least a hundred years!" Li Qiang said with a smile.

Lin Daiyu had just sat down at this time, and when she heard Li Qiang's words, she couldn't help but laugh too.

"What do you mean? How can someone serve in the cabinet for a hundred years? That would make him an old monster!" Lin Ruhai thought Li Qiang and Lin Daiyu were joking, so he shook his head and laughed.

"Dad, I came back this time to give you the elixir of longevity. Brother Qiang got an elixir from an immortal outside that can extend a person's life by a hundred years!" Lin Daiyu explained with a smile.

Li Qiang did not hesitate and took out two jade bottles and placed them in front of Lin Ruhai and Jia Min respectively.

"Is there really such a treasure?" Lin Ruhai still couldn't believe it.

Jia Min was not polite. She picked up the jade bottle and poured the longevity elixir in the bottle into her palm.

He first took a close look at the longevity pill, then put it into his mouth and swallowed it in one gulp.

"It was given to me by Qiang'er and his daughter. Why are you asking so many questions? Why don't you eat it quickly!" She swallowed the longevity pill and said to Lin Ruhai in a bad mood.

Lin Ruhai smiled calmly and took out the longevity pill and swallowed it.

"Mom, you look younger!" Lin Daiyu said to Jia Min.

"Really? I'll go back to my room and take a look. You guys eat first!" After hearing this, Jia Min could not sit still anymore. She stood up and went to the inner room without forgetting to say something.

"I'm going to see mother!" Lin Daiyu also stood up and said, then quickly ran to the inner room.

Li Qiang and Lin Ruhai looked at each other, looked at the empty seat at the table, and couldn't help but shake their heads.

"Should we consider building the cement road to the Tatars? The war with the Tatars will soon be over, right?" Lin Ruhai soon started talking about government affairs again.

"Most of the Tatar army has been destroyed. In a few days, Tatar will be destroyed. By then, the Ministry of War will need to continue to send troops to station there!" Li Qiang said after thinking for a while.

The war on the Oirat side was very easy, especially after the Oirat leader learned that the Tatar sacred mountain was destroyed and the first and second leaders were killed, he left Oirat and disappeared.

"After swallowing up two countries at once, Daqian needs some time to digest. I wonder when the war will stop?" Lin Ruhai asked again.

Not to mention the Oirat, even the large tracts of Tatar territory have not been completely controlled.

The 200,000 troops that entered Tartary could only control the area where the city was to be built.

The area of ​​Tartary is too large, and 200,000 troops are somewhat stretched.

If we send more troops to invade Oirat, we will probably need to increase the number of troops by at least 200,000. In addition, the work of relocating the people and carrying out construction will probably not stop for the next ten years.

"If it doesn't work, we can use barbarians to fight barbarians. The cabinet should make a plan and send officials to implement it. The war will not stop in a short time. We can take the opportunity to pursue the Tatar king and destroy as many countries as possible!" Li Qiang did not want to stop, he said.

What a great opportunity! The Tatar king fled to the Oirat Khanate, and the army he sent out destroyed the Oirat Khanate.

Now that the Tatar King and the Oirat King have fled together to a farther southwest direction, Li Qiang can use this as an excuse to launch a war against all the countries that have taken in and helped the Tatar King and the Oirat King.

As for when to stop the attack, Li Qiang's idea was to stop when the ammunition was exhausted.

His sights were actually on the Middle East, where there was incalculable amounts of oil.

Why did he develop the steam engine instead of the better internal combustion engine? It was because oil was hard to find in Daqian.

Even though he knew that there were high-yield oil fields in the north, the kind of oil fields that needed to be mined underground could not be mined now, not to mention that it was not easy to find the location of the oil fields.

On the contrary, in the Middle East, some oil does not need to be extracted underground, but can be directly extracted from the ground.

Once he occupied the Middle East, he vigorously developed the internal combustion engine and had already arranged related research.

"Why are you in such a hurry? You are still young, why are you so eager to start a war?" Lin Ruhai couldn't help asking.

Indeed, considering Li Qiang’s age, he conquered the lands of Tatar and Oirat in one fell swoop, which makes him worthy of being called an emperor of all ages.

"Do you know how I feel now!" Li Qiang said with a smile.

He stood up and looked into the distance.

"The current Daqian is like a strong man holding a long sword, while other countries in this world are as weak as children. Why don't we occupy these children before they grow up? Or wait until they become strong and then counterattack Daqian!" Li Qiang said in a deep voice.

There are some things in his heart that he will not tell others, even to the people closest to him.

Daqian's strength is based on the technology he forcibly improved. Although he has found a way to block the military technology, since the scientific books have been published, if other countries really get that set of scientific books, they can develop a strong military force based on it.

What Li Qiang has to do now is to not give any country the opportunity to develop.

He wanted to occupy this world in a short period of time and make sure that there was only one country, Daqian, in this world.

Before he obtained the Great Illusion Realm, this idea might have been a little difficult.

The mobilization of troops and the replenishment of supplies are big problems.

But with the Illusion of Taixu, at least there is no need to worry about the mobilization and supply of the artillery army and the First Guard of the Beijing Camp.

As long as Zang Feiyu continued to set up government offices, he could send ammunition and supplies from the rear to the front through the Taixu Illusion Realm.

"This is the eve of Daqian's rise. The difficulties are not insurmountable. As long as this period of time passes, Daqian will usher in an unprecedented era of prosperity!" Li Qiang said with a glow in his eyes.

Lin Ruhai listened quietly, fearing that only in the environment of home could he hear Li Qiang's heartfelt words.

He believed Li Qiang, so he had no doubt about what Li Qiang said. Li Qiang proved time and time again that what she said was true.

"Forget it. The cabinet will work at its full capacity and mobilize all the government offices in Daqian to ensure a smooth transition in the occupied territories. The most difficult part of fighting has been done, and all we have to do is to restore order!" Lin Ruhai slammed the table and said excitedly.

"As soon as we left, you started talking about official business. Hurry up and sit down to have your meal!" Jia Min walked out and said.

Lin Ruhai noticed that Jia Min had put on more makeup on her face, and after taking the longevity elixir, Jia Min looked much younger. It seemed as if he had returned to the time when he first arrived in Yangzhou.

Lin Ruhai couldn't help but touch his face. He was a cabinet minister. If he suddenly became younger, how could he subdue those civil servants?

"Don't touch your face. Unless you shave your beard, you won't look younger!" Jia Min knew her husband very well, and she said unhappily.

Lin Daiyu followed behind her mother. She wanted to laugh but didn't dare to, so she could only turn her head away.

(End of this chapter)