Zhao Bing's sincere words and a distorted argument finally touched the two people. He knew that Empress Dowager Yang had a considerable trust and reliance on Jie Yan and Liu Fu, and even surpassed Lu Xiufu and Wen Tianxiang. Anyway, he finally won a title for Chen Shu. If nothing unexpected happens, he will continue according to his wishes, and the rest is Li Sanniang's problem.

"Sir, can you tell that Li Sanniang was squeezed out by a group of beautiful women in the palace?" Zhao Bing asked with a sip of tea.

"There are also such things. He has been engaged to Your Majesty for a long time!" Ying Jieyan said in surprise.

"Hmph, but because he is a slang person, some people look down on her from the bottom of her heart, especially the Cheng girl you are optimistic about, which really makes me unable to bear it." Zhao Bing said with a lip silence.

"Li Sanniang was the empress dowager who was the leader of the empress dowager, and all the ministers testified, and the prime minister was the matchmaker. Some people still dared to do something wrong. They were really bold and arrogant!" Liu Fu said angrily after hearing this.

"The whole story of this marriage is not to be said. It can be said that it was only agreed under the threat of the empress dowager and the ministers. But since I have agreed, I should abide by the previous agreement. This is not only related to my reputation, but also to the court. We must know that we were able to quickly quell the turmoil and there was no turmoil in Qiongzhou for more than ten years. It was all due to the achievements of Daning Village. It is impossible to do the work of undone and killing donkeys, otherwise we would be punished by God!" Zhao Bing pointed at the heavens and said.

"Your Majesty said it is right. Although it was forced by the situation back then, he could not break the contract lightly. Otherwise, it would cause turmoil in Qiongzhou and even affect Guangdong and Guangxi." Liu Fu nodded and said.

"That is, marriage with the Li clan is an act of appeasement of the Li clan, and it is also an alliance with the barbarians. If you break the trust of the various clans, it will be a loss of trust and morality in the court and endless troubles." Ying Jieyan also thought it was authentic. He also knew very well that the marriage back then was more inclined to politics and could not compromise, but the sacrifice was the interests of the young emperor. But now the court officials tried to break the contract, not only was it unkind, but it was the loss of virtue.

"Then Your Majesty praised Miss Li on the Mid-Autumn Festival night to appease him and avoid other troubles!" Ying Jieyan thought about what the little emperor did. It seemed that as he said, someone was making trouble in it.

"Of course, I have lived in the temple and can't escape these trivial matters. It's really annoying!" Zhao Bing said unwillingly.

"Your Majesty, the Central Plains must not have the desire to retreat before they are restored. The Song Dynasty cannot do without Your Majesty!" Liu Fu quickly persuaded him when he saw the young emperor bringing up the old things again.

"Hey, Governor Liu is such a bad statement. Everything is fine these days after I left the court, and all departments can operate normally. Why do I need to sit in the court every day?" Zhao Bing waved his hand and said.

"Your Majesty must not be lazy. I think it takes less than a long time for the Empress Dowager to summon Your Majesty to the court to listen to politics and affairs." The young emperor repeatedly refused, Ying Jieyan was unhappy and said with a stern face.

"Sir..." Zhao Bing opened his mouth in a little embarrassed and wanted to refuse, but it was seen that the old man looked angry and had to shut up.

"There is another thing. Your Majesty must not sing those erotic lyrics and lyrics, which will not only damage Your Majesty's reputation, but also cause injustice." Ying Jieyan continued to teach his lesson.

"Sir, what I sing is a slang song in Qiongzhou. Why are it a lewd song? Don't listen to those people's misunderstandings. But few people know about this, and they can all be checked. I think it's nothing more than confusing the public and intend to use the hands of the empress dowager and the husband to suppress me in order to gain profit from it." Zhao Bing said after hearing this.

"No matter who reports to the Queen Mother, it is because His Majesty has made a move first, so why should you worry?" Ying Jieyan said coldly.

"Your Majesty, don't be impatient. You should be a good idea. Things are dangerous. People with ulterior motives will always be willing to do so. If some people seize this matter, they will frequently write letters to advise. This will not only damage Miss Li's reputation, but will also take the opportunity to ask the Empress Dowager to cancel the engagement in the name of a disaster in the harem. If the matter is at that point, Your Majesty will be safe, but Miss Li is afraid it will be difficult to stay in the palace." Seeing the dissatisfied face of the little emperor, Liu Fu hurriedly took the conversation and advised him. He knew that at this age, he was at the time of his personality. Although there were few stories about loving beauty but not the country, if the little emperor could not bear the anger, the matter would be difficult to deal with.

"Then will I be cured by these villains? What's the ability to bully a weak woman? When I find out the culprit, I will expel him from the palace. I will leave such a sinister person beside me. I may not even be able to sleep well." Zhao Bing's face was a little slow, but he still said toughly.

"Your Majesty has been smart since childhood and should know the responsibility of the emperor. Although this matter cannot be as good as the king's wishes, you should not act willfully. If you choose a concubine, you should also put state affairs first. Some grievances should be tolerated to avoid delaying national affairs." Ying Jieyan looked at the young emperor and sighed lightly. He saw that he had grown up and knew that he would rather be broken than bend. Marriage is a big deal for everyone. Who doesn't want to choose a satisfactory wife, but he will be subject to various restrictions and criticisms. It must be depressed. However, sympathy is sympathy, and it is necessary to persuade him.

"What the sir said is that I know the truth, but I am still panicked. I can't act freely even if it is a matter of my life. What's the law of nature?" Zhao Bing spread his hands and said helplessly and angrily.

"I know that Your Majesty has made many sacrifices for national affairs. When he was in his knees, he took on the important task of restoring the country. He worked hard in that barbaric land for ten years, resisted strong enemies several times, rectified the government affairs, and trained elite troops. When he was in his prime, he personally led a large army to capture Jiangnan and returned to the old capital. It can be said that he is an emperor in a hundred years and has great achievements. After choosing this, he should have adhered to the will of the holy, but for the sake of stability of the court and the great cause of restoring the country, I beg Your Majesty to suffer some grievances and take a step back!" Ying Jie Yanshen said.

"Hey, sir, why bother with me? How can I deal with myself?" Zhao Bing was at a loss when the old man was so soft that he quickly got up and said to him.

"I would like to ask Your Majesty to tolerate it for the sake of the Song Dynasty and for the hundreds of millions of people!" Liu Fu said with great tribute and advised him.

"This... I agree, and I will follow what the Empress Dowager and Mr. said!" Zhao Bing thought for a while after thinking about this, then gritted his teeth and said with great determination.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, I will also tell the Empress Dowager Yu what you want to do in order to achieve both ends!" Liu Fu bowed again...

Zhao Bing acted foolishly. Although he failed to make the result of the matter fully meet his wishes, he also knew that he should stop at the right time and could not put himself and everyone in a situation where he could not talk to him. Such a result would be a loss. Only by appropriate compromise could he strive for more benefits. The two of them had a clear answer. They would urge the Queen Mother to add Chen Shu and Li Sanniang to the list of re-elected elections, and Cheng Su, whom he hated, was afraid that he would not be able to choose a concubine.

This matter came to an end, and Zhao Bing also knew that his day to return to Beijing was not far away, and he would fall into a huge amount of documents, because September is about to begin, and the trade wind is coming, so he must seize the time to care about his own money bag and the fleet that makes money, so he summoned Zhuang Shilin of the General Office and Shangguan Hong, the head of the Competitor Office, to come to see him.

The Silk Road is a trade route for China to communicate the world. Zhao Bing knew it in his previous life, but after coming to this world, he had a deeper understanding. As for the starting time, there was a lot of debate. But at this time, as far as he knew, the Maritime Silk Road mainly includes the East China Sea route and the South China Sea route. The East China Sea route mainly goes to the Japanese archipelago and the Korean Peninsula, and the South China Sea route mainly goes to Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean.

However, what made Zhao Bing a little frustrated was that the so-called Silk Road was called the "Tonghaiyi Road" at this time, and China was not what I said in my previous life. It was China who dominated this route. Because at the western end of the so-called Silk Road, whether it was land or sea, it was not what modern times called the West or Western Europe. There was no direct commercial exchange between the two places. The exchanges between them were all traded through Arab and other middlemen. Western Europeans wanted to obtain Chinese silk porcelain through Arabian and Venetian Genoa merchants.

Chinese historical books call the Arab Empire a great country. In all port cities on the ancient Seven-Hai Navigation Road, there are basically Arab merchants. From the Mediterranean Sea to the South China Sea, their ships can be seen in the entire known sea areas of the old world. The Tang Dynasty called these long-distance sea ships "South China Sea ships", "Western Region ships", "Southern Barbarian ships", "Kunlun ships", "Lion ships" or "Braja", and the most common ones are collectively called "Persian ships". Until the middle of the Song Dynasty, Chinese merchants or monks went abroad, most of them were "foreign ships". It was not until the development of China's navigation industry exceeded that of the Arab world in the middle and late Song Dynasty.

In addition, there is another name on this sea route called "The Road of Incense and Medicine". From this we can see that not only Chinese silk and porcelain are circulating on this sea route, but the more prosperous trade is spices. The goods exported by China are mainly four major ingredients of silk, porcelain, tea and copper and iron; the input of back is mainly spices, flowers and plants, and some rare treasures for the palace to enjoy. This situation continues to this moment. China should be considered a supply base for silk, porcelain, tea and other products in the entire process. The spice trade is actually the hard currency and the most profitable transaction in the process of passage.

Zhao Bing came to this era and realized that the extremely ordinary seasonings in his previous life would have such high value. He even regretted not stuffing a few packets of pepper in the express box back then. Let’s say that, if you can put more pepper when cooking, your luxurious and corrupt life is enough to make any ancient European emperor drool. He even heard that the price of pepper in the distant European is comparable to gold. Sometimes a single pepper can be exchanged for a gold coin, but in fact, the price of gold is many times higher than that of gold.

Of course, some spices are also extremely expensive in China. For ordinary agarwood, sandalwood can be sold for hundreds of jin of jin, while the best ambergris can reach tens of thousands of jin. Think about the fourth-rank official who managed the incense and medicine warehouse in the palace, you will know how expensive these things are. In the most popular spices in the Song Dynasty, the most imported one year reached more than 300,000 jin, which shows how big the market is and how much profit is. In order to monopolize the interests of the court, the spices are all official and no one can interfere.

Zhao Bing was also very puzzled at first why spices were so valuable, but people still spared no expense to buy them. They would not die if they put less food. According to previous lives, the role of medieval European spices was mainly to conceal the smell of spoiled foods. However, if you think about it carefully, you will know that spices had become very expensive trading products at that time, and spices from the East were even more luxurious. Rich people who could enjoy spices could naturally enjoy undeteriorated foods.

But he soon found himself wrong. In ancient times, spices could be used for cooking, food storage and seasoning. The aristocrats in the Middle Ages used spices to achieve a more elegant purpose than simply suppressing bad taste. The aristocrats made a variety of sauces to please his employer. Among them, the oldest and most popular ones were black pepper sauce. The effect of spices was not only used in the main meal. After the meal, the nobles also needed dried fruits, spices and candied fruits and other foods.

In addition, people in the Middle Ages often drink wine and beer with spices. Due to the backwardness of winemaking technology, wines at that time would have sour and bitter tastes that were not expected. In the Middle Ages, public health was at a very basic level, and daily water became a strong source of infection, so that medical theory exaggerated the harm of water. In addition, the risk of alcohol being damaged by microorganisms was small, resulting in large-scale consumption of wine. And like sauces and candy, spices greatly increased the possible tricks of drinkers.

Due to the wrong medieval medical theory, people believed that spices not only satisfy people's desires, but also have the effect of treatment and relief. One basis for this belief was the extreme doubts about foods that are considered very nutritious today. At that time, many of the more lethal but unexplained pathogenic sources such as salmonella, cholera, pneumonia, etc. were blamed on food. According to medieval medical theory, many foods needed to be adjusted before they could be safely consumed. The heating and drying properties of spices were believed to be regarded as a form of compensation.

In addition, spices can also be used in witchcraft rituals, mantras, purification, antiseptics, makeup, perfume, treatment, and even poisons. In addition to cooking, a large part of the spices imported from China are made into incense and used for religious activities. When worshiping Buddha, not only should incense be burned, but they will also mix incense medicine in water to bathe in Buddha to show their piety. Thinking about the Buddhist temples of the Song Dynasty, Taoist temples were spread all over the place, and believers could not count them. You can imagine how much demand for incense medicine is.
Chapter completed!