The Emperor ordered Zhao Tang

Chapter 220 Meeting the Immortal
Afang Palace in the western suburbs of Chang'an.

The Qin Palace of Chaoge and Yexian had long gone, leaving only some remnants of the palace walls and platforms, and the rest were all farmland and villages, which the scholars and civilians called Acheng. Since the Jingfu period, thousands of hooligans have been settled here, and Acheng has gradually regained its vitality. Small cities, villages, single households, farmlands, and workshops are scattered all over the place, much like the urban-rural junction of later generations.

There is a large, dense, towering sycamore forest in the south of Acheng. "Fu Jian believed that the phoenix would not roost unless it was a sycamore tree and would not eat unless it was bamboo fruit, so he planted thousands of sycamore trees in Acheng in anticipation of the phoenix's arrival."

It's amazing that it was not destroyed in the war!

By now, he must be five hundred years old, right?

"The mountains are stacked one on top of another, blocking out the sky and the sun. You can't see the sun or the moon except at midnight..." Li Yuan walked in the woods for a long time with his hands behind his back before he found a manor: "Old man!"

"Who is it?"

"I!"

"Ah? Please wait a moment!" The noisy clanging sound inside stopped.

Suddenly, a white-haired old man came out with dozens of sweaty, shirtless strong men, strong women, young men and women.

"Mr. Li!" The old man crossed his arms and said with a smile, "It's only June 20th, and it's not the deadline yet. We need 300 pairs of bows, 100 Mo Daos, and 50 sets of infantry armor, and we're 30% short."

"Too slow. I found you at the beginning of the year." Li Yuan sat down in the yard and complained with some dissatisfaction.

"This is what Mr. Li doesn't understand." The old man served tea and sat with the guests, pointing to a busy girl in the corner: "The stem is for distance. The horns are for speed. The tendons are for depth. The glue is for harmony. The silk is for solidity. The lacquer is for protection against frost and dew. The six processes of pulling the stem, grinding the horns, rubbing the tendons, applying glue, drawing silk, and applying lacquer cannot be neglected. Otherwise, the bow will be bad, and the saint will want to kill my whole family to vent his anger. How can you save it? If you don't rush it, you should also observe the solar terms of taking the stem in winter, taking the horns in autumn, and silk and lacquering in summer... Follow the principles of heaven and the nature of things, and only then can a warrior be a warrior. The saying "a good bow is made in a year" is about this principle."

Li Yuan looked at the girl.

There was a pile of horns at her feet, and in front of her was a table with various knives and round stones on it. At this moment, she was holding a knife in her left hand and a horn in her right hand, carving and scraping without looking away. She carved and scraped twice, blew a breath, then held it to her ear and flicked it with her index fingernail. After listening, she raised it back to her eyes. Her movements were sophisticated, prudent, and skillful. Her slender fingers were agile and light, her expression was focused, and her work was full of rhythmic beauty.

Next to her, there were two children about eight or nine years old sitting on the ground, picking silk and combing tendons.

Under the shed, a group of strong men and women were sweating profusely. The husbands held the tongs in their left hands, clamped the knife mold and the nail leaf on the anvil, and swung the short hammer continuously. The wives sat on the stool, one hand supported the ground, and the other hand pushed and pulled the bellows back and forth. They either wove the thread to string the leaves, or cut the handles... The men and women divided the work, and everything was in order. The apprentices, hired workers, and children ran around, dizzy.

How can I describe the family model? There are many advantages, but the disadvantages are also obvious - the inheritance is easily broken in wartime. Before the Chaos Rebellion, there was a pipa family in Western Shu called the Lei family. The pipa they made was famous throughout the country. Several of the imperial harps of Su and Yi were specially made by this family. After the chaos, the Lei family disappeared.

After looking at it for a while, Li Yuan sighed to the old man: "Old man, I don't care about the process, the laws of nature, or the natural order of things, everything must be delivered before the Double Ninth Festival. I don't mind waiting, but the court can't wait. The prime ministers are like epileptics, issuing orders one after another since the beginning of spring. The Ministry of Works, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Defense, the Jingzhao Yin, the Ministry of Water Resources, the Yanziku, the Weibei Warehouse... Even I, the Xijing Armory Commander, can't live in peace, carrying a set of armor and war equipment. Yesterday, Zheng Yanchang ran to the government office again and made a noise, it was so noisy, ah!"

"Isn't the commander of the armory in charge of the collection of military equipment? How come it is Lord Li's turn to make these?"

"Tsk. A lackey of the sixth rank, you have to go wherever the bandits want you to go. The old man Zheng Yanchang can't die. The doctor of the Treasury can be sent to Wuyue as an envoy. The magistrate of the West Market can be sent to Shayuan to count sheep. If you ask me to supervise a batch of armor and weapons, I have to obey your order, otherwise I will lose my official hat."

"Isn't Lord Li a member of the royal family of Xun Wangfang? Why are you afraid of Zheng Yanchang?"

"I am a relative of the first generation, and I have forgotten to mention the third and fourth generations. Beyond the fifth generation, I am just a royal family member, but in reality, I am no different from ordinary people. I have to rely on myself. A family of more than a dozen people depends on my salary to survive. Who wouldn't be afraid? Who would dare to offend? I don't even dare to offend you. I won't say anything more, I'm leaving!" Li Yuan stood up and instructed: "You must keep my affairs in mind. Your daughter is getting married, and I can help you find one."

The old man seemed not to hear and clapped his hands: "This..."

"Don't worry, the balance has been paid to our company."

After leaving Cai's workshop in Wutonglin, Li Yuan went to urge several service providers in Acheng one after another.

The equipment of the dynasty is of various types, and it is not enough to rely solely on the government.

There are three types of military drums: bronze drum, war drum and cymbal drum. There are four types of gold drums: 錞, 錞, 錙 and 錙. To make these two, you need to know music.

There are four types of bows: the longbow for infantry, the horn bow for knights, also known as the cavalry bow, the short bow, used by archers who are in the front line and specialize in archery, and the lattice bow, a luxurious version with colorful decorations.

There are seven types of crossbows: the broken crossbow, the horn crossbow, the wooden crossbow, the large crossbow, the bamboo crossbow, the large bamboo crossbow, and the hidden crossbow, which are also divided into infantry and cavalry.

There are four kinds of arrows: bamboo arrows, wooden arrows, crossbow arrows, and "weapon arrows" used to break iron armor.

There are thirteen kinds of armor: Mingguang armor, Guangyao armor, fine scale armor, Shanwen armor, bird hammer armor, white cloth armor, Fujuan armor, cloth back armor, infantry armor, leather armor, rattan armor, chain mail, and horse armor. There is no need to make a lot of armor. The existing ones plus the spoils are enough.

There are many types of shields: rattan shield, round shield, lacquer shield, wooden shield, linked wooden shield and leather shield.

Flags are the main tool for issuing orders, and there are 32 kinds of flags: Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, Yellow Dragon Carrying a Map, Yinglong, Dragon Horse, Phoenix, Luan, Kylin, Yuqi, Baize, Five Oxen, Rhinoceros, Golden Oxen, Triangle Beast, Zuoya, Deer, Wolf, Bear...

It can be seen from these equipment and those not mentioned that once the small and medium-sized vassal states suffered a "disarmament", it would be difficult for them to recover in two to three years.

The production of flags, drums, and gold requires the participation of various professionals, such as musicians, painters, and tailors, and not just a hundred but eighty of them. If you lose too many at a time, how long will it take to reassemble? Before that, how can the army be commanded? There is no command.

I won't talk about the bows, crossbows, swords, spears, and armor. Materials are secondary, and the main thing is manpower. From beginning to end, every link is purely handmade, and it's enough to have hands.

All kinds of equipment combined require a considerable number of off-duty craftsmen under your rule. Moreover, you must be able to make them profitable and not give them credit, otherwise they will not be able to keep their business. If this supply service chain is weak or even non-existent, there is no way to talk about the construction of military combat effectiveness. The army and combat effectiveness are the products of two multi-dimensional co-construction. Whoever does it well will have a greater chance of having the last laugh.

After leaving Acheng, Li Yuan returned to the Secretariat to report the progress to Zheng Yanchang.

The winter wheat in the roadside fields had been harvested, and the spring wheat sown in late March was growing vigorously, forming a pastoral scene of half green and half yellow. On the thoroughfare, messengers, horse teams, and porters passed by from time to time.

The imperial edict had been issued, and the capital was now filled with a sense of tension as war was about to come. The wood that used to be scattered all over the ground had disappeared, and the prices of wheat, soybeans, grass, firewood, charcoal, and medicinal materials kept rising.

"There are complaints in the army." The sage and the ministers, including the royal women and eunuchs in the palace, are now clamoring, rioting, and unhappy with these words and similar words. They are afraid of them like a tiger and turn pale at the mention of them. Therefore, every time there is a war, the court always desperately hoards baggage. The people are afraid of starving to death, so they also sell all kinds of wealth, hoarding grain, salt, and winter clothes.

Passing by a single-family house, Li Yuan heard crying and scolding. He looked out and saw a few evil officials chasing a man. In the end, the evil officials managed to run away and caught him. He knocked him to the ground with two punches, turned over and sat on his crotch. He hurriedly found a rope to tie the man up and took him to the road.

"Cui San!" The wife, children and parents who were chasing after him cried out in pain.

The old woman threw herself on the ground, hugged the official's legs and begged for mercy, but the official kicked her away: "Crazy wife! I didn't arrest your son just to fill the trenches and transport grain. If it weren't for your difficult family situation, I would have locked up your father-in-law and daughter-in-law together. Stop making noise and get out!"

Another evil official said, "Oh my God, please don't curse me in the temple. It's not that I'm cruel, I just feel sorry for your family. You don't have enough friends, so you beat me with a stick until my butt is broken. Who will feel sorry for me? Go, go, go, your son will be back in a year at the latest."

In the end, they captured Lao Ru's only son and fled.

Li Yuan felt sad.

Before I knew it, I had returned to the capital. Yanping Gate was in chaos. After asking around, I found out that the Jingzhao Prefecture was conscripting monks from five temples and Taoist temples in Yongheli nearby to perform forced labor.

"Please save me!" A monk was handcuffed and cried to someone on the roadside.

"I pray for the saint day and night to suppress the rebellion. It is impossible... impossible... I want to see the saint!"

"Handcuff me!"

A monk who was trying to escape over the wall was stabbed back by a vicious official guarding outside the wall with a bamboo pole. He fell off the wall and onto the ground. Seeing the official coming to catch him, he immediately waved his claws and said, "Let me go! Who the hell are you? How dare you come and arrest me? I am a disciple of Master Guangjing, and my master has lectured on sutras for the Emperor!"

The evil official whipped him so hard that he screamed and shouted, "Take him away!"

Li Yuan got goosebumps when he saw the lively scene.

Can monks and Taoists be arrested randomly?

The former was welcomed by Xian and Yi, and the latter is the state religion. Sun Weisheng is doing this, and he will shorten his life. Alas, I don’t know how the monks and Taoists offended the saints to suffer such a disaster. If the monks and Taoists are forced to perform corvee labor like this, I am afraid that no one will be willing to become a monk in the future...

Li Yuan shook his head and walked away.

When they arrived at Changleli, they saw a large group of soldiers and officers surrounding a restaurant. The sounds of shouting and cursing from inside were sometimes loud and sometimes low. Li Yuan went closer to take a look and saw that it was indeed a group of warriors fighting.

"Fuck you, you Uighur dog!"

"Fuck you, you bastard!"

"The Uighurs are anti-spicy!"

"The guards are rebelling, brothers, beat him up!"

As the soldiers and officers outside rushed in, they were able to forcibly separate the dozens of Han and foreign soldiers who had been beaten into bloody pulps.

Li Yuan folded his hands, watching with great interest. He liked to watch street fights the most. The Bawangdu infantry and the Longjie knights disliked each other. The imperial guards and the foreign troops quarreled with each other. The Yunji soldiers of the Liangzhou army and the Zhengyi school lieutenant troops reorganized from the surrendered soldiers of the Bian army fought each other in armor. The Turks and the Tibetans fought. The Tibetans and the Dangxiang fought. The Uighurs and the Han fought, the cultivated aboriginals and the savages fought... There was no end to the fun.

These are the pros and cons.

In Guanzhong, Guanxi, Hedong, and Youzhou, the mixed barbarians are an unavoidable problem. There are so many barbarians. If you don't care about them, and let them bully each other, steal, and eat and wait for death, it would be a waste. Recruiting them as soldiers is cheap and useful, but there are many ethnic and surname conflicts, which is a great test of the art of ruling and the degree of understanding of their habits.

But there is nothing much to say. There are very few things that are completely beneficial without any harm. Life is all about weighing and choosing.

See how the saint controls it.

After watching dozens of Han and foreign soldiers get up after being whipped, covering their burning buttocks, hurling harsh words at each other, and then returning to the barracks in shame, Li Yuan also dispersed with the spectators.

****
"Master Weixia and Master Yuanche usually stay in the west wing of Sanqing Hall. Tonight, Master Weixia is also in the west wing Yuxian Tower to entertain the saint..." Nunu Shen held a candle and walked slowly in front. As she walked, she looked back to see if the saint was catching up: "Saint?" The saint put his hands together and responded politely: "I am listening, fairy, please lead the way."

This trip was not to peek at his sister-in-law taking a bath, but to attend a banquet invited by Zheng Zhaoyi and Meng Cairen.

"This way."

"Ok."

The clear night light illuminated the quiet and peaceful snowy courtyard. Fireflies danced and insects chirped. As they passed the winding corridors, they saw a hexagonal red building covered with ivy in the shade of the trees. Shen stopped, stepped aside, and pointed at the building with her sleeve: "This is Yuxian Building. Go up to the second floor, turn left and push the first door."

"I understand." He sniffed the fragrant wind in front of him and raised his head. Shen Nuguan's powder makeup, peach cheeks, red lips, and smiling eyes were reflected in his pupils. The saint found that his hands and feet moved uncontrollably for some reason, and he gently... grabbed Taoist Shen's hand.

Nuguan Shen was shocked but couldn't say anything. She just stared at him, her ears and face turning red.

The saint leaned on her shoulder.

It was very smooth, and had a unique scent of powder and feminine body odor.

Reach your hand behind your waist...and embrace!
Eyes facing each other.

"I have never heard of the Taoist nun's name."

"Shen——"

Taoist Shen could only breathe heavily and drool. A hand, like a snake, slowly entered his robe.

"Wow." With a sound, the lower part of the skirt was lifted up, and Taoist Shen was pushed against the rockery.

After the review, I was not allowed to write.

A good while.

"In the future, when you are in a Taoist temple, the saint should at least cover up. If someone sees you in the garden..."

Taoist Shen, sweating profusely, sat down on the ground as limp as a noodle in a pot.

Her hair was stuck to her temples, her cheeks were rosy, her face expressionless, she seemed to be immersed in it, and she seemed to be savoring it.

"Thank you, Taoist nun." After saying this, the man floated towards Yuxian Tower. An aura of nobility, otherworldliness, indifference, and desirelessness emanated from him.

Now you can go to the banquet and stop getting drunk for the time being.

Walk into Yuxian Tower.

The furnishings on the first floor were simple and neat, with ritual implements, scriptures, portraits, desks, and some sundries arranged in different categories. The other rooms on the second floor were dark, except for the first room on the left, where there was indeed a flickering light.

"Sister-in-law, I'm here to keep my appointment." The Saint knocked on the door three times and called out.

After getting permission, he pushed the door open, not daring to look around, and bowed his head to the room and said, "Sister-in-law, Qilang is here to greet you."

Then he walked in respectfully.

But as soon as he stepped over the threshold, the scene in front of him made him dumbfounded, "Ah?"

Behind the door was a translucent pink hazy gauze curtain. Inside the pink gauze, a half-length bronze statue was holding a lamp. On the couch in the middle, a young woman had dark red makeup on the corners of her eyes and a cinnabar hairpin between her eyebrows. She was wearing a snow-white gauze with a gold-embroidered hem, and the blasphemous clothes were visible to the naked eye. Her hair was flowing, her left arm was draped over the curve of her hips, her legs were crossed, her body was slightly curled up in the posture of an immortal lying down, and the five fingers of her right hand were supporting the half of her face facing the door.

"Sister-in-law, sister-in-law!" The saint immediately broke out in a sweat.

It’s over, it’s over. Leopard Head mistakenly entered the White Tiger Hall and there is no way he can defend himself.

He quickly raised his sleeves to block his view.

On the couch, Master Yuanche stared at him with a pair of dark eyes, and there was no longer any torment, pain, or struggle before the decision. Zheng Zhaoyi could hear her own heartbeat at this moment, excited, flustered, and embarrassed, but more of it was calm: "My brother has peeped at Master Weixia and I bathing, thirteen times."

"Sister-in-law, please listen to my explanation!" The saint was so frightened that he leaned forward again, stammering in his throat, but he could not refute the "clever" excuse he had prepared long ago.

Just turn around and prepare to run away.

"Why are you in such a hurry to leave, brother?" A charming voice with the unique charm of a mature woman sounded in front of him.

A pair of pointed shoes and a swaying skirt came into view.

"Greetings, sisters-in-law!" The saint, whose way was blocked, looked up and hurriedly clasped his hands in greeting, speaking incoherently, anxiously and feebly to defend himself: "I came to attend the banquet as scheduled, but entered the bedrooms of the two sisters-in-law by mistake. What a sin! It's all because of that Taoist Shen, who was confused and didn't give clear directions, which led to this absurd situation. I'll leave now, I'll leave now..."

"I heard that Qilang will go to war in two days?"

"Yes, the day after tomorrow."

"To fight against Zhu the thief?"

"Yes, I want to recover Luoyang."

"How sure are you?"

"I appear to be very confident in front of others, but in fact I am not sure..."

There were two soft "puff" sounds, and everything in front of my eyes went dark. The already dim room fell into complete darkness.

It was Talented Lady Meng and Consort Zheng who blew out two bronze lamps.

A sudden warmth came from his palm. Meng Cairen took his hand and pulled him to sit on the couch. Zheng Zhaoyi had sat up without knowing when, sitting on his left, and Meng Cairen sat on his right.

On the left and right, they surrounded the anxious, nearly fainting saint. His two thighs and a pair of shoulders were adjacent to the legs and shoulders of the two women respectively. He could feel the heat of their breath on his face. His elbows were throbbing - this was because Zheng Zhaoyi sat half sideways, facing him, and her chest touched his arm.

"Sister-in-law, I'm here for a banquet—"

"I know. I invited Qilang to this banquet. Don't move..." Zheng Zhaoyi noticed that the saint was fidgeting, his claws clenching on his clothes, grabbing and unclenching, loosening and clenching again, and then she pressed her hot palms on his legs.

"Sister-in-law, please respect yourself. Ye is a gentleman who will never regret his actions even if he dies nine times. Stop having any random thoughts and refrain from greed and anger." The saint wiped the sweat off his face and closed his eyes.

"Since you have given up greed, why do you keep doing it so many times—"

"Everyone has a demon in their heart."

"Stop talking." Meng Cairen, who had been silent all this time, spoke.

"Ugh! I can't breathe!" The saint yelled incoherently, with only the surging elasticity and the strange fragrance entering his nostrils on his face. To be precise, it was Meng Cairen who embraced him in his arms, and his face and nose were filled between Meng Cairen's chest.

Different from Zhao Ruxin.

Also different from Concubine Shu.

And Cui Yuzhang...

Damn, what was I thinking!
"Qi Lang, don't struggle." Meng Cairen loosened his grip slightly. The saint raised his head and took a few breaths. He was about to say something when Meng Cairen's hand touched his mouth. "When I was taken to the devil's cave and refused to commit suicide in Changchun Palace, I thought the end would be to be beaten to death and eaten. I didn't expect that my fortune would change and I could see the Tang Palace again. Qi Lang has entered the devil's test of me and Ah Zheng. Don't think about anything else now. Just be tested in this Tianzun Divine Court. Whether it's a disorderly conduct or disrespectful conduct, this is my devil."

The pleasant moonlight came in through the window. With the cold light, Meng Cairen stood in front of him and looked at him. She put her hands on her belt and slowly untied it. Then she crossed her hands and grabbed her shoulders and slowly pulled them down. On the couch, Zheng Zhaoyi was also silent and in similar movements.

Soon, two graceful, slender, graceful and curvaceous bodies appeared before the saint in the illumination of the snow-white moonlight.

"After reading this, focus on suppressing the rebellion."

"Don't peek anymore."

"No, I can't let my royal brother down!" The saint gritted his teeth, stretched out his hand to adjust a certain part of his body, stood up and tried to escape.

"You sneaked into the bathhouse, you came to the bedroom of Yuxian Building, you sat on the couch, and you also held the hand of Meng Cairen. You also smelled and touched things that you shouldn't smell and shouldn't touch. Now two widowed sisters are in the same room with you in the dark, and you are completely exposed, and you still say that you have failed your brother?"

"In the next life, if there is——"

"Don't talk, just watch quietly." Zheng Zhaoyi held his hand: "Cultivating immortals is fake. Living in the deep palace with resentment, crying in front of the statue, being lonely and not seeing anyone all year round... Not to mention the precepts and rules, the defense of rites and music, I want a child..." His neck and cheeks were itchy from the friction of her hair, and there was a suppressed murmur in her ears.

The saint sat there like an ostrich, like a fool.

(End of this chapter)