Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 702 Jinling Never Sleeps, Boundless World (Part 1)

When the Empress returned to her resting place, Xia Lin had already left. The female official told San Niang about his visit, and San Niang just smiled upon hearing it.

"What a noisy wind!"

Just then, a report came from outside that Prince Dugu of the Great Tang Dynasty had arrived. Third Sister raised her eyebrows and replied, "Let him come."

A moment later, Bean Sprout strolled in: "I heard you almost emptied your savings this time, right? How much did you spend?"

Didn't you bring your child?

"Hey, hey, hey, you're the emperor of a country, don't let your personal feelings interfere with important matters."

Third Sister didn't even frown: "You didn't bring it?"

"Oh my, that's fierce." Dugu Douya was not afraid at all, and said with his hands behind his back, "I definitely brought them, but not here. As for where they are, I can't say right now. Walls have ears. You know there are many people around. If anything happens to the two of them, not to mention me, even you can't bear the responsibility."

Third Sister put away the airs she had acquired as an emperor, removed her crown, and leaned against the ground: "Then what brings you here?"

"Me? I've come today to introduce a strategist to His Majesty the Emperor of Li Tang. I wonder if His Majesty will grant me an audience?"

"A strategist?" Third Sister frowned. "Da Yun, what are you up to now?"

"If you see him, I'll call him in. If you don't, I'll turn around and leave."

"Tell him to come in."

Overwhelmed with curiosity, Third Sister waited for Bean Sprout to bring over the strategist she had mentioned. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be none other than that scoundrel Xia Daosheng.

"This is the strategist you were talking about?"

Third Sister pointed at Xia Daosheng, who was sitting on a recliner wearing slippers and eating a melon: "Do you think it's fun to play tricks on me? Do you even know what the crime of deceiving the emperor is?"

"Then kill me." Bean Sprout retorted nonchalantly to Third Sister, then turned to Xia Lin and asked, "Hey, do you know what the crime of deceiving the emperor is?"

Xia Lin was already leaning back in the recliner, rocking back and forth: "Where did I deceive the emperor? Didn't Duke Dugu say he would introduce me to a wise ruler? I'm just a commoner, so be it, I should at least find myself a job."

"You've been stripped of your title?"

"It's been stripped. His official rank and title are gone. He's been given a 'not being admitted, not being appointed' sentence, which is better than being permanently barred from service." Xia Lin held the exquisite Li Tang silver spoon in his hand, examining it for a while, then silently put it in his pocket. "I just had nothing better to do, so I came to browse around. I wonder what advice this pretty lady has for me?"

Third Sister was both amused and exasperated. She gestured to dismiss her female attendants and sat down to the side, asking, "Why all this fuss all of a sudden?"

"Big? I don't think it's big enough." Xia Lin tilted her head back and started rocking the chair. "Rehearsals start tomorrow, and you'll know how big it really is on the opening day."

Third Sister frowned: "You want to take the power of speech?"

"What do you mean I want to seize the power of discourse? I want far more than that. My first step is to reshape the order. Has Your Majesty ever heard of the Silk Road?"

"Of course, aren't Chang'an and Luoyang the starting points of the Silk Road?"

Xia Lin remained silent, but after standing up, he bowed to the Third Sister and said, "Please allow me to present this treasure to His Majesty."

After he finished speaking, he clapped his hands, and then footsteps came from outside, followed by seven or eight people carrying a scroll in.

Third Sister was also seeing such a large scroll for the first time. She glanced at Xia Lin in surprise, but Xia Lin simply raised his hand and the scroll was unfurled. A six-zhang square map was then unfolded in the room, making it look like a huge carpet. Even tables and chairs had to be moved out to display it completely.

As soon as the map was unfolded, the colors and patterns inside stunned Third Sister, and even the well-informed Bean Sprout next to her was shocked.

The map is embroidered on a single piece of silk, which is then used in various embroidery techniques to depict the vast landscape. It stretches from Japan in the east to Rome in the west, with each road embroidered with gold thread. The map includes not only mountains and rivers but also cities and ancient castles, and even the ocean is depicted using cloisonné enamel drawing techniques.

"Your Majesty, do you see the lines above? Nine horizontal and fourteen vertical lines—isn't that a vast empire?"

At this moment, San Niang had no mind to listen to him. Women all like shiny things, and the Empress was no exception. This map, which was made purely to show off her skills, had top-notch aesthetic value in addition to its practical use. The shimmering waves of the ocean and the rugged terrain of the mountains and rivers were all recorded clearly.

This is simply a treasure...

"This is mine!" Bean Sprout looked at it for a while and started rolling up the map: "Don't touch my treasure!"

"These are products from the Fuliang exhibition area; you can buy them there," Xia Lin said with a smile. "Why are you in such a hurry?"

"Can I buy this?"

“It can even be customized,” Xia Lin explained. “This is what I’m using to show off my skills, and also to let all the heroes of the world see just how big this world really is. Oh, by the way, I also have a proposal this time, namely the East Asian Truce Agreement, but this thing is just like toilet paper, it’s not very meaningful. The main purpose is just to give all the people a concept. What does Your Majesty think?”

"Can you elaborate?"

"I'm busy today." Xia Lin waved his hand, then glanced at the sky outside. "Alright, it's getting late, and the gifts have been delivered, so I'll take my leave now. Farewell, Your Majesty." "You're leaving?" Third Sister asked in surprise.

Xia Lin turned around, looked at Douyazi and then at San Niang: "Your Majesty is reluctant? But you're not so young anymore. I don't know if I can handle two at once."

Bean Sprout immediately launched a whirlwind kick forward: "You filthy thing, prepare to die!"

After a brief silence, the aloof empress slowly uttered two words: "Try it..."

Let's give it a try... After all, taking risks has always been one of Xia's strengths.

While someone was trying it out, Emperor Jingtai and Lao Zhang each held a bowl containing the recently popular sweet eight-treasure porridge, made with eight kinds of grains and various nuts. In the past, they would have been accused of being extravagant, but now this stuff was bought from a porridge shop not far from the palace gate for thirty coins a large bowl.

They were squatting in the main hall of the Taiji Hall, with a huge map in front of them, as they were searching for their hometown.

"Be careful, Zhang Xiang."

With a hint of reproach, Ma Zhou carefully wiped away the soup that Old Zhang had dripped onto the dish with his sleeve. The dish was so exquisitely made that he didn't know how he would explain it to his descendants if it were tainted by even a drop of porridge.

"That's right, you better watch out for me." Emperor Jingtai pointed at Old Zhang with his chopsticks: "Wait a minute, this style looks so familiar."

Old Zhang hummed a tune from the side.

"If your throat is sore, go see a doctor," Emperor Jingtai scolded. "What are you pretending for?"

"Your Majesty, you think it looks familiar, but haven't you thought about who painted it?"

"You?"

"Who else could it be?" Old Zhang patted the map: "Only he could have made it based on my original drawing!"

"Wow, you're quite something. You've got some skills." Emperor Jingtai pointed to the dot marked Rome on the gold embroidery on the map: "So this is Rome. I always thought it was about mules and horses. I was wondering why there would be a country called Mule and Horse."

At this moment, Xu Jingzong lay there and looked at it carefully: "It's almost 20,000 li from Jinling to Rome, wow... that's really far."

"Why is it black here and here?" Ma Zhou pointed to the area around Huangyaguan in northeast of Jinling and the place marked as Kievan Rus' thousands of miles away: "Look, Jiangnan Road and Lingnan Road are red, Hexi is yellow, and most of the area around Jinling is green. Why is it black over there?"

"Black soil".

After hearing this, Ma Zhou slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "What a wonderful black soil!"

In an instant, everyone's eyes were drawn to that direction. Emperor Jingtai pointed over there with his chopsticks and asked, "Can we grow grain on black soil?"

“No fertilizer is needed.” Old Zhang nodded seriously. “It’s flat and fertile, but it’s too far away.”

"Too far..." Emperor Jingtai practically leaped to the other side of the map like a frog, pointed to the black soil of Europe, and looked up to ask, "How about... we give it a shot? The black soil, huh?"

"It's too far!" Ma Zhou slapped his thigh in frustration: "It's so far, and there's such a vast uninhabited area."

"Think of a way! Think of a way if you have to! What's the use of slapping your thigh here?" Emperor Jingtai became anxious: "Are you all worried to death?"

"Okay."

"Then let's find a way! We'll make it to this black soil in our lifetime!" Emperor Jingtai said with a smile. "I can't even imagine what it would be like if someone could own two vast black soils."

"Shouldn't that be enough to feed 100 million people?" Ma Zhou made a rough estimate: "Well, conservatively 800 million."

"Eight hundred million!!!" Emperor Jingtai jumped up immediately: "You mean I might become the emperor of a country with eight hundred million people? The Great Wei only has about sixty million people now. More than ten times that!? Can we support them?"

"Ma Xiang, Ma Xiang... Hehe... You're too optimistic, Ma Xiang." Xu Jingzong waved his hand and said, "I think it's at most 200 million, anything like 80 or 100 is too outrageous."

Ma Zhou probably realized he had exaggerated a bit. After shoveling a couple of mouthfuls of porridge, he looked up and remained silent for a while: "Twenty million is a huge amount."

Yes, 200 million is an extremely large number.

"Didn't that scoundrel say he had three copies of this thing? Does that mean the Tang dynasty had one too? And the Northern Han dynasty had one too?" Emperor Jingtai suddenly realized: "Why would we send them something like this?"

"He defected to the enemy." Old Zhang curled his lip. "I beg Your Majesty to grant him death."

Ma Zhou was the calmest at this moment, and a thought vaguely came to his mind: "Perhaps it's because... this vast world is too much for our family to handle."

"Then who could possibly eat that?"

“The three families will be united.” Ma Zhou raised his eyelids: “Only by combining their strengths and using them in one place can we dare to have such ambitions.”

(End of this chapter)