The grass in the factory should be plucked

Chapter 387 Peace Talks

In early spring, when everything starts to grow, it is a good time to plant sweet potatoes.

Xu Jing and his disciples taught everyone step by step how to cultivate potato seedlings, how to divide the seedlings, and how to plant them one by one in the cleared mountain land.

Those who came to learn how to grow red yams included officials from the Ministry of Industry’s Military Farming Division, experienced farmers, and even Mongolian and Jurchen envoys.

The Tenth Prince Bater and Prince Rui naturally would not go down to the fields themselves.

They sat in the pavilion of the imperial farm, watching the people busy in the fields while drinking tea and eating snacks.

The snacks were sent by Prince Jing'an. I heard that this crystal clear flower jelly was made of cassava. Only Longmen Snacks, which is owned by Longmen Trading Company, has the exclusive right to sell this product.

The two tasted a piece and were amazed by its soft, fragrant and smooth taste with a sweet flavor.

Battelle especially liked it and ate piece after piece until there was only one piece left on the plate. He then realized that Prince Rui had not eaten much and could not help but retract his chopsticks in embarrassment.

Prince Rui smiled slightly: "I heard that this cake is made of cassava? It really has a unique taste and is very delicious."

He looked at the young eunuch standing beside him and asked, "I wonder what cassava looks like? It is said to be very productive, so why isn't it planted in the imperial farm?"

The young eunuch replied respectfully: "Your Highness, although cassava is drought-resistant and high-yielding, it likes heat and fears cold, so it is not suitable for planting in the north."

Bater asked curiously, "Did this drought save countless lives because of this cassava?"

"Yes, Your Highness."

Speaking of cassava, the young eunuch began to talk incessantly, telling the two distinguished guests the "legendary experience" of how cassava was introduced into the Great Chu.

Upon hearing that Prince Jing'an and Duke Dingguo had actually sneaked into a neighboring country to steal cassava without telling their twins, Prince Rui couldn't help but smile.

"Your prince is indeed as brave as a man!"

Bater was speechless. Only those two evil guys could do such a thing.

Prince Rui was curious again, "Why did the prince and the duke take their children with them to go deep into the neighboring country?"

The young eunuch scratched his head and said, "How do I know the specific reason? I heard that the young county lady and the young prince look very much like the Duke. The prince and the Duke love them like treasures and cannot leave them for a moment. They carry them with them wherever they go."

There was a gleam in Prince Rui's eyes.

After all the potato seedlings were planted, the first peace talks between Da Chu, Mongolia and Jurchen began.

Those present from the Great Chu included officials from the Honglu Temple and the Ministry of Rites, and officials from the Ministry of Works headed by Xu Jing. Sitting in the middle were the Director General of the General Administration of Commerce Jiang Li and the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue Cui Jue.

This meeting is a preliminary communication, where each country puts forward its own conditions, or to put it bluntly, it is a time for them to make sky-high offers.

The tenth prince Bater opened the document handed to him by the Honglu Temple and took a closer look. His face turned pale immediately. The Great Chu was simply asking for too much!

The Greater Khingan Range and the land within a radius of 100 miles were assigned to the Great Chu.

Mongolia also had to pay tribute of 100,000 sheep, 50,000 war horses, and 100,000 furs to the Chu every year!

The price offered to the Jurchens was an exorbitant price that Prince Rui could not accept.

The Great Chu not only wants the Greater Khingan Range, but also the sacred mountain of the Jurchens - Changbai Mountain!

At the same time, a large number of precious medicinal materials such as wild ginseng and 100,000 furs must be paid as tribute to Da Chu every year!

Prince Rui said calmly: "The Greater Khingan Range is fine, but the sacred mountain cannot be ceded!"

Anyway, the Greater Khingan Range was shared with Mongolia, and the Mongolians would cross it from time to time to invade the Jurchens. Giving it to the Chu State was just the right place for the Chu State to defend against Mongolia and become a solid line of defense for the Jurchens.

Bater also said: "The Greater Khingan Range is a hundred miles in radius and is where the Borjigin tribe is located. This is the land of the Khan's mother clan. How can we cede it?"

Cui Jue smiled slightly and said, "Do you know how the red yam was obtained?"

He exaggerated the story of the fleet sailing to Southeast Asia, which crossed the ocean, experienced storms, and went through many twists and turns before finding the red yam in Luzon.

How they managed to mix the potato vines into the ship's ropes under the close surveillance of the Luzon officers and soldiers and sneak through.

How come he encountered a storm on his way back and narrowly escaped death, but then encountered pirates and lost his trace.

The Fujian Navy fleet that heard the news and went out to sea to search for them was trapped at sea by thick fog and lost contact.

Cui Jue was an eloquent speaker, and he narrated the events like a storyteller, with many ups and downs and twists and turns, which made everyone present startled and their hearts surge.

"What happened next? How did the fleet finally escape danger and return to Da Chu?" Bater asked impatiently.

Cui Jue smiled and said, "Let our Lord Xu tell us how we escaped from danger later."

Xu Jing smiled and said, "Of course it's the work of our Prince Jing'an and Duke Dingguo. After they learned that the navy fleet had also lost its trace at sea, they asked His Majesty to bring the Eagle God and the Dragon King and quickly rushed to the East China Sea..."

He described how Jiang Li and his companions took the dragon to the bottom of the sea and discovered the formation. After breaking the formation, the thick fog dissipated and they rescued the navy fleet trapped in the fog. He also described how they trained the seabirds into a scout team and discovered their traces in the Yaeyama Islands...

He was the person involved and he narrated the whole incident vividly, which made everyone else fascinated and unable to stop listening.

Cui Jue said loudly: "Think about it, if it weren't for Lord Xu and the warriors of Longmen Tiangong, how could we have retrieved the red yam from Nanyang?"

"Without Prince Jing'an and Duke Dingguo, who else in this world can summon the Eagle God and the Dragon King? Who can command seabirds as scouts?"

"Without these two people turning the tide, I'm afraid that the fleet that has gone through so much trouble to find Zhu Shu will disappear in the vast ocean!"

"Excuse me, can Mongolia do it? Can Jurchen do it?"

Bater and Prince Rui were both speechless.

The Mongolian and Jurchen delegations fell silent for a moment.

They could never have imagined that the process of Da Chu's recovery of Zhushu would be so tortuous, bizarre and thrilling!

The Great Chu State took advantage of this rare commodity and offered a sky-high price, which didn't seem excessive?

Jiang Li smiled slightly: "Eagle God and Dragon King, you have resolved the drought and saved the people of the world. Your merits are immeasurable. In order to show the merits of the immortals, the Emperor of Great Chu plans to build mountain temples and Dragon King Temples in Greater Khingan Range and Changbai Mountain, so that the immortals can receive incense from the people and transform into dragons as soon as possible and join the ranks of immortals."

"The Great Chu asked the two countries for the Greater Khingan Range and Changbai Mountain, not for personal gain, but for the benefit of the people and for the benefit of future generations."

Her words were so high-sounding that there was absolutely no room for rebuttal!

Prince Rui said slowly, "I have no objection to building mountain temples and dragon temples in Greater Khingan Range and Changbai Mountain. Why do you want to cede these two places to Great Chu?"

"I heard that the Dragon King turned into a dragon in the sacred mountain and holy lake of our country. He is the guardian dragon of our Jurchen nation! If you want to build a temple for the Dragon King, our Jurchen emperor can just issue an order. There is no need to trouble the emperor of Great Chu."

You, the Great Chu, clearly want to interfere in other people's affairs and seize the sacred mountain of the Jurchens!

Bater's eyes lit up and he said hurriedly, "Yes, the Eagle God is originally our Mongolian Eagle God. If you want to build a mountain temple, we can build it ourselves!"

The officials of the Great Chu were almost laughing out of anger. Are you going to rob even the Eagle God and the Dragon King?