Chapter 53: The Southwest Silk Road

More than a dozen carpenters, following the measurements of the first set of tables and chairs they had made, finished the desks and chairs for the thirty-some students and teachers at the Imperial Academy.

Now, both students and teachers were using brand-new desks and chairs.

Not only did the students find these desks and chairs novel and comfortable, but even the masters had nothing but praise for such comfortable chairs.

In truth, everyone felt that kneeling for too long made their legs and feet very uncomfortable, but because this had been the etiquette since ancient times, no one had ever raised an objection.

Unexpectedly, Princess Jianling was so intelligent that she invented such tables and chairs, liberating their legs; this way, no matter how long they sat, their legs and feet would no longer go numb.

For a time, Liu Li's image in everyone's hearts became elevated; most of the students in the academy did not disrespect her just because she was young.

Sometimes, when those young noble sons were playing cuju and needed someone to act as a referee, they would even come to find Liu Li.

According to Liu Li's suggestion, the school schedule at the Imperial Academy was five days of study and two days of rest, with classes starting around nine in the morning and ending at three in the afternoon. Every morning, after having breakfast at Weiyang Palace, a special carriage would take Liu Li to the Imperial Academy for class. At three in the afternoon, they would punctually take Liu Li back to Weiyang Palace, just in time for dinner.

At first, Liu Li was not used to the two-meal system of the Western Han, and she had to eat something at noon no matter what, but now she was accustomed to the two-meal system; in any case, she had snacks in her bag, so she wouldn't go hungry.

Liu Che was dissatisfied with the Imperial Academy's five-days-on, two-days-off schedule and wanted to have Dong Zhongshu modify the regulations, but he was retorted by Liu Li: "Father Emperor, you used to attend the morning court only once every five days. We go to the Imperial Academy and study for five consecutive days before resting for two. Reading and studying are also very tiring; we need rest to digest knowledge, don't we?"

Hearing Liu Li say this, Liu Che was silent for a moment and reluctantly accepted this five-on, two-off rule. Then he spoke: "Since that is the case, let me test how you have been studying these past five days."

As he spoke, he began to ask about some political arguments in the *Gongyang Zhuan*. Hearing the "zhi, hu, zhe, ye, yi, yan, zai" in his speech, Liu Li's head immediately ached.

And this *Gongyang Zhuan* was a course Liu Che had arranged for the doctors to teach as a priority.

Liu Li remembered that the entire core ideology of the *Gongyang Zhuan* consisted of only two points: one was Great Unification, and the other was Great Revenge.

These two core points were exactly what Liu Che wanted to realize most, which was why he ordered Dong Zhongshu to focus on teaching the *Gongyang Zhuan* to the students.

In the early Han, the Great Han advocated marriage alliances with the Xiongnu to exchange for peace. But Emperor Wu of Han felt that marriage alliances were very stifling; the Great Han was no longer the Great Han of before, and he wanted to wage war against the Xiongnu so that the Xiongnu would no longer dare to bully the Han people.

Liu Li pursed her lips and said: "The meaning is roughly that a gentleman's revenge is never too late, even after ten years. Back then, the Xiongnu took advantage of the Great Han's weak national strength to rob us; this grudge cannot be forgotten by the people of the Great Han, and in the future, we must make the Xiongnu pay it back."

Listening to Liu Li's theory, Liu Che only felt that what she said was excellent: "A fine 'a gentleman's revenge is never too late, even after ten years'! A Li, you understand the *Gongyang Zhuan*."

Liu Li secretly curled her lips; no, I don't understand the *Gongyang Zhuan*, I understand you.

Liu Che wanted to wage war against the Xiongnu, but more than half of the ministers in the court were opposed to it. Liu Che needed the revenge ideology in the *Gongyang Zhuan*, so she was merely saying what Liu Che wanted to hear.

Because Liu Li hoodwinked Liu Che, she successfully increased his favorability toward her by another 2 points. She also spent the two days she didn't have to go to the Imperial Academy very comfortably.

Early this day, Su Wen came to report: "Your Majesty, the Magistrate of Poyang, Tang Meng, has returned and is currently outside the Xuanshi Hall requesting an audience with Your Majesty."

Hearing the name and title, A Jiao was a bit confused for a moment, wondering in her heart, who is this Magistrate of Poyang, Tang Meng?

Liu Che's eyes lit up when he heard this. After waving his hand to dismiss Su Wen, he said to A Jiao: "This Magistrate of Poyang, Tang Meng, was arranged by me during the Jianyuan era; let's see what he has gained over these years."

A Jiao did not know how Liu Che had arranged things back then, so she had no choice but to take Liu Che to the Xuanshi Hall together.

In Liu Li's mind, the system notification sound suddenly popped up again: 【Witness

the birth of the "Southwest Silk Road."】

Liu Li, who was lying on her bed like a salted fish, sat up from the bed with a carp-like leap, closing her eyes as she looked at the new task that had suddenly popped up on the system interface.

This was the first time Liu Li had noticed the system's progress after its upgrade. Previously, the tasks triggered only appeared after she heard important keywords on the scene.

Now, as she lay in her room, the task was automatically delivered to her door.

The Silk Road, Liu Li knew about it.

But shouldn't the person related to the Silk Road be Zhang Qian on his mission to the Western Regions? At this time, Zhang Qian was still trapped by the Xiongnu, so how did a Silk Road suddenly pop up?

No, there were two more characters before this Silk Road: Southwest.

The Southwest Silk Road?

Liu Li couldn't remember for a moment who the relevant person for this Southwest Silk Road was. She put on her shoes while walking out of the room.

She happened to run into A Jiao and Liu Che, who were preparing to go to the Xuanshi Hall together. She hurriedly stopped the two: "Father Emperor, Mother Empress, where are you going?"

A Jiao said: "Going to the Xuanshi Hall to meet an envoy."

An envoy?!

Liu Li's eyes lit up: "Who is it, who is it? Can I go together?" She hopped directly to A Jiao's side and held her hand: "A Li wants to go too."

Liu Che glanced at his spoiled daughter and chuckled: "Rare to see you so active; is it that the Goddess has given instructions again?"

Liu Li: "..." In a way, that could be considered so.

The three of them walked to the carriage that had been prepared long ago. Su Wen took out a small stool and placed it by the carriage. Liu Li lifted her skirt and stepped on the small stool to board the imperial carriage.

Then Liu Che and A Jiao also stepped on the stool and boarded. After the Emperor and Empress were both in the carriage, Su Wen put the small stool away and had the driver drive to the Xuanshi Hall.

This small stool was specially made by carpenters at Liu Li's request to facilitate her getting on and off the carriage, and it had already been promoted throughout the entire Weiyang Palace.

The imperial carriage slowly traveled to the Xuanshi Hall. The Magistrate of Poyang, Tang Meng, was waiting quietly in the hall. Hearing the eunuch's report, Tang Meng knew the Son of Heaven had arrived, so he suppressed his nervous and excited heart and bowed to the Son of Heaven.

A Jiao and Liu Che spoke together, telling him to forgo the formalities.

Tang Meng looked up in surprise and saw the Empress and the little girl beside the Son of Heaven.

During the years Tang Meng went to Nanyue, he had heard a little about what happened in Chang'an. He thought this girl should be Princess Jianling.

While on the imperial carriage, Liu Che had already told A Jiao about the arrangement to send Tang Meng to Nanyue back then. Liu Li listened from the side and also understood the general idea.

In the sixth year of Jianyuan, the vassal states in the Nanyue region (the area of modern-day Guangdong and Guangxi) often caused trouble, leading to the people there living in misery.

To eliminate local separatist forces, Liu Che arranged for the Magistrate of Poyang, Tang Meng, to go on a mission to Nanyue to give them a good warning. This trip lasted several years.

A Jiao granted Tang Meng a seat and then asked him to recount the experiences of his mission over the past few years.

Tang Meng first presented A Jiao with a piece of silk showing his mission route over the years, and then spoke of the hardships and obstacles he encountered along the way.

"Your Majesty, after I arrived in Nanyue, I discovered an interesting thing." As Tang Meng spoke, he took a small jar from his sleeve and presented it to A Jiao and Liu Che.

A Jiao opened the jar and saw that it contained something red, like jam. She asked: "What is this?"

Tang Meng replied: "This item is ginger sauce, a specialty of our Great Han's Shu Commandery. When I lived in Nanyue, they used this to entertain me, saying it was food from the Yelang Kingdom."

How did things from the Great Han's Shu Commandery end up in the Nanyue Kingdom? Liu Che hurriedly asked: "And then?"

Tang Meng continued: "I then inquired from the Nanyue people and found out that there is a Zangke River to the northwest of the Nanyue Kingdom; the river is very wide, and large ships can sail directly to Panyu City (modern-day Guangzhou)."

After Tang Meng returned from Nanyue, he did not rush to enter the palace but specifically went to find merchants from Shu Commandery to understand the matter of ginger sauce. From the merchants, he learned that on the other side of the Zangke River, there was another Yelang Kingdom (the modern-day Yunnan region).

Ginger sauce was transported by the Yelang Kingdom via the Zangke River and then

resold to the Nanyue Kingdom.

Hearing about the Yelang Kingdom, Liu Li couldn't sit still. She thought of an idiom: "Yelang is arrogant." Unexpectedly, Yelang was not only arrogant but also a middleman.

Tang Meng said: "Your Majesty, Nanyue superficially submits to our Great Han, but in reality, they have always relied on their troops to be arrogant. If the Great Han sends troops from Changsha and Imperial Chief, not to mention the difficult roads, the waterway is also upstream, which is disadvantageous to the Great Han. I have heard that the Yelang Kingdom has more than 100,000 elite soldiers. If we can go downstream along the Zangke River directly to Panyu City, we will surely be able to win by surprise and take the Nanyue Kingdom."

Speaking excitedly, Tang Meng's voice paused for a moment, then he continued: "Now, with the strength of our Great Han and the wealth of Shu Commandery, we can build several roads leading to the Yelang Kingdom, so that we can also control the Yelang Kingdom."

Hearing Tang Meng's words, Liu Che exclaimed that it was wonderful.

Liu Li heard Tang Meng's suggestion to build roads and, combined with the new task on her system panel, immediately understood what this so-called "Southwest Silk Road" meant.

It could be said that the Southwest Silk Road was the earliest to be developed, and this road was of great historical significance.

If Emperor Wu of Han had not agreed to develop this Southwest Silk Road and incorporate the Yelang Kingdom, Diannan, and other regions into the Great Han territory, perhaps in the future, the Chengdu region of Sichuan would have been a border city.

Liu Li did not believe that the emperors who followed would have the ambition and courage of Emperor Wu of Han.

It was undeniable that for a Chinese person, Emperor Wu of Han deserved the title of Emperor through the ages. Because the Great Han had an emperor like him, it could create the prosperity and self-confidence of the entire Han nation.

Thinking of this, Liu Li turned to look at Liu Che, whose eyes were shining, and she knew that the Liu Che of this space-time would also agree to Tang Meng's suggestion.

However, at this time, Liu Che did not forget that he was still the Empress. He gently patted A Jiao's hand, and A Jiao understood and said: "Tang Meng, I will seriously consider your suggestion. You should go back and rest well, and wait for my decree."

Tang Meng bowed and withdrew.

After Tang Meng left, Liu Che finally released the emotions in his heart. He stood up and paced back and forth in the Xuanshi Hall: "I didn't expect this Tang Meng to be so capable. Yelang Kingdom, Yelang Kingdom... During the Warring States period, King Xiang of Chu once attacked the King of Yelang, and after that, there were no records. Now that the Yelang Kingdom has appeared again, it is a good omen."

Liu Li rested her chin on her hand and said: "Does Father Emperor want the Yelang Kingdom to submit to the Great Han?"

Liu Che said as a matter of course: "Naturally."

He raised his head slightly; although it was A Jiao's voice, the words he spoke were domineering: "I once said, wherever the sun and moon shine, all shall submit! The Yelang Kingdom must, and the Xiongnu must too!"

Liu Li was shocked by Liu Che, who was wearing A Jiao's appearance. The meaning of his words was probably that wherever the sun and moon could shine, all must submit to the Great Han!

This was Liu Che's ambition, and also the ambition of that Emperor Wu of Han in history! Seeming to be infected, Liu Li suddenly wanted to give Liu Che a world map; would he slowly turn the entire world into the Great Han?!

How big the heart is, how big the Great Han is?

Thinking was thinking, but Liu Li didn't dare to actually do it.

From Liu Che's state, A Jiao also saw that he agreed with Tang Meng's idea of going on a mission to Yelang. So, after discussing with Liu Che, A Jiao enfeoffed Tang Meng as a General of the Household, arranged for an army of more than 1,000 people to protect him, as well as a transport team of more than 10,000 people to transport jewelry and gold to Yelang.

Of course, this measure could not be decided by Liu Che and A Jiao alone; it still had to be discussed with the ministers in the court to confirm the final result.

What made Liu Li puzzled was that although Liu Che and A Jiao both agreed to Tang Meng's mission, her system did not show that this matter had been completed.

Could it be that there would be changes later?

Liu Li couldn't figure it out, but the court only discussed it for three days before A Jiao overcame all opposition to confirm the plan and arranged for people to escort Tang Meng on his mission.

Tang Meng left Chang'an for Chengdu in Shu Commandery, preparing to assemble the team in Chengdu to set off. Things had developed to this point, but Liu Li's new task was still in an incomplete state.

"System, you haven't encountered any bugs, have you?" Liu Li said: "Haven't I already witnessed the Southwest Silk Road?"

【Upon detection, the host has not witnessed the birth of the Southwest Silk Road.】

Liu Li rolled her eyes and complained unhappily: "What's wrong? You don't want me to follow Tang Meng on his mission to Yelang, so that I can witness it with my own eyes, do you?"

The system remained silent: 【...】

The expression on Liu Li's face froze, and she even gasped: "No way? You really want me to follow on the mission?"

"If I were sixteen instead of six, I would definitely go with Tang Meng." Liu Li's mouth twitched: "So what is the use of you arranging this event for me?"

The system said: 【Host, you are overthinking. Tang Meng's mission to Yelang is just the beginning of the Silk Road; the subsequent construction of the road from Shu Commandery to the Yelang Kingdom is the Southwest Silk Road you truly need to witness.】

Hearing this, Liu Li breathed a sigh of relief: "Hey, why didn't you say so earlier."

It was said that Tang Meng also took a lot of money from the national treasury, which was used to handle the soldiers. Regarding money, Sang Hongyang, who was now the Grand Minister of Agriculture, came to A Jiao again to cry about the difficulties of reforming the roads.

"My Majesty, we have just recovered some inferior money, and it has been issued by you again. When will this back-and-forth end?" The reform policies previously proposed by Sang Hongyang had basically been realized, except for the progress of currency reform, which remained stagnant.

Because after a batch was just recovered, another batch would appear in the market and among the people, as if those inferior copper coins could never be banned.

Liu Li couldn't watch anymore and suggested: "Master Sang, I have a way, I don't know if you want to hear it."

Sang Hongyang seemed to have seen a savior: "Princess Jianling, please speak."

"Change the coin-casting template and then manufacture a type of copper coin that is not easily worn down." Liu Li actually had more methods in her mind, such as issuing paper currency.

Then she thought again, there wasn't even paper yet, what would she use to issue paper currency?

The difficulty Sang Hongyang was currently facing was that the central government had already controlled the mining rights of copper mines and had also banned the private casting of coins by the people. However, despite this, inferior coins were still circulating in the market.

Just after recovering a batch, new ones would appear, as if it could never be stopped.

It was said that some unscrupulous merchants used files to grind off a layer of the standard copper coins they received and then melted the ground-off copper to cast new copper coins, achieving the goal of money begetting money. Therefore, the inferior copper coins in the market could never be banned.

"Copper coins that are not easily worn down?" Sang Hongyang couldn't figure out how to make copper coins that were not easily worn down.

In fact, Liu Li didn't know either, but she thought of the one-yuan coin in modern times; the material of this one-yuan coin was very good.

Liu Li licked her lips and hurriedly said: "Master Sang, let me think about it carefully first, and I will tell you when I have thought of it."

It just so happened that she could experiment with the system reward 【Encyclopedia】 she chose after the system upgrade.

Liu Li clicked on the encyclopedia skill and asked the system: "What material is the one-yuan coin made of?"

【Stainless steel, steel core plated with copper, copper-nickel alloy, steel core plated with nickel.】

Liu Li: "..." Useless knowledge has increased!

She followed these materials provided by the system and asked the system how to make these things. Finally, Liu Li discovered that what could be achieved at the current level was copper-nickel alloy.

Unfortunately, she didn't study chemistry very well when she was in school, and she didn't know how to fuse copper-nickel alloy.

After the encyclopedia, the system gave her a bunch of chemical element formulas. However, it did provide Liu Li with a train of thought.

At worst, just fuse the two metals, copper and nickel, and wouldn't there be a copper-nickel alloy?

And Liu Li also found in the encyclopedia that nickel mines had already appeared in ancient China, especially the nickel content in the nickel mines in the Yunnan region was very high.

Isn't this a coincidence? Isn't the Yelang Kingdom that Tang Meng is going to visit the Yunnan region?!

If she wanted to make copper-nickel alloy coins, she would have to wait until Tang Meng returned from his mission to see if she could get nickel ore, and then decide.

Liu Li thought carefully and still suggested to Sang Hongyang that it would be better to change the copper coin template first, redesign a new coin-casting template, and then nationwide

issue new copper coins, and old coins could be exchanged for new ones.

The old copper coins would be uniformly recovered and then melted down to be remade into new copper coins.

"What about the vassal states?" Sang Hongyang asked: "Even if there are new copper coins, the vassal states probably won't come to exchange them."

Liu Li said: "Don't they have to pay tribute to the Great Han every year? Tell them that the money for the annual tribute must be the new copper coins issued by the Great Han, otherwise, it will be treated as no tribute."

Hearing this, Sang Hongyang looked at A Jiao on the side and teased in a low voice: "Your Majesty, Princess Jianling truly has your demeanor from back then."

Previously, in order to weaken the strength of the vassal states, Liu Che required the vassal states to offer a piece of white jade coin when they paid tribute every year. But this kind of white jade was only possessed by the Son of Heaven, and the vassals didn't have it, so what could they do?

This was also easy to handle; the vassal kings could spend money to buy white jade from Liu Che and then offer the white jade to the Son of Heaven. Liu Che also achieved the goal of collecting money from the vassal states in this way.

Now, this move by Liu Li had the same effect as Liu Che's move.

"Your Majesty, do you think the Princess's plan is feasible?" Sang Hongyang felt that there was no big problem, but he still had to ask for the Son of Heaven's opinion.

A Jiao then said: "From now on, Princess Jianling's opinion is my opinion. If you feel there is no problem, just go and do it."

Sang Hongyang hurriedly said: "Nuo." As he spoke, he looked at Liu Li again: "I heard that the Princess previously designed tables and chairs, and now many places among the people have successively produced tables and chairs for people to rest and eat. Why not let the Princess design the new copper coin template as well?"

Liu Li was stunned: "Ask me to design the copper coins?"

Sang Hongyang nodded: "Yes, the Princess has always had wonderful ideas. If the new copper coins are designed by the Princess, even if there are stolen coins among the people, I am afraid they can be identified at a glance."

Hearing this, Liu Li only felt that this task was a bit of a heavy responsibility for her.

And she didn't study art design; what if she designed it very ugly, wouldn't that make everyone use such ugly copper coins in the future?

Liu Li blinked her eyes and nodded, somewhat excitedly: "Okay, then let me try."

The current currency of the Great Han was the half-tael coin. In history, it was only after Liu Che promoted the five-grain-weight coin that the subsequent economic crisis was eased.

The current Great Han did not have an economic crisis for the time being, but since there was a precedent, Liu Li felt that it would be good to start promoting the five-grain-weight coin now.

She only needed to change the appearance on the basis of the five-grain-weight coin. Since she wanted to prevent people from pirating, she could mark the year of coin-making on the coin, and after two or three years, change another coin-casting template; this could effectively prevent illegal casting.

After connecting to the Yelang Kingdom in the future and having nickel ore, they would produce copper-nickel alloy versions of coins and walk at the forefront of the world! ===== CHAPTER 54 =====