Chapter 533: Crashing the Venue

Li Ye circled Old Song twice, looking him over clearly and thoroughly from head to toe.

A high-end custom-made Fenghua-brand mandarin-collar Tang suit gave Old Song's thin frame an upright temperament.

His rosy complexion was much better than when he was in the mainland, and his hair even showed signs of turning black again.

It wasn't the kind of black from chemical dyes; it was truly white hair turning black.

Li Ye glanced into the distance at Old Song's "apprentice and assistant," and doubts arose in his heart.

【This old guy, didn't he really study *Dongxuanzi*? How is he getting younger the older he gets?】

Old Song felt his scalp tingle under Li Ye's gaze and could only laugh sheepishly, "Zhuangyuan-lang, my current status isn't very convenient for chatting much here. How about I treat you to a tour of this Cherry Blossom Country tomorrow or the day after?"

Li Ye tilted his head and glanced at Old Song, asking with a smile, "Yo, what is your status now, old man?"

Old Song took out a gold-stamped business card and handed it to Li Ye, grinning, "Hehehe, just fooling around, just fooling around."

Li Ye looked at the business card; good heavens, Old Song was now the chairman of some "Datang Cultural Society," with business items including the Four Treasures of the Study, antique appraisal, cultural exchange, and so on.

No wonder he came today! It turns out he was here to pull in clients and fool around!

Seeing Li Ye deep in thought while holding the business card, Old Song quickly added, "The parent company of this cultural society is a company in Hong Kong, and the major shareholder is you, Zhuangyuan-lang. I'm just taking some pocket money based on the share you gave me back then."

Li Ye glanced at Old Song and said calmly, "Since it's a stall you set up yourself, I can't take the lion's share. You take 60%, I'll take 40%."

"No, no, no," Old Song said immediately, "I'm just a worker. If you really want to steer the ship, it still has to be you, Zhuangyuan-lang. If you really think I'm capable, just add another 10% share for me, hehehehe."

Li Ye chuckled and nodded in agreement.

A major shareholder doesn't just take money for nothing; when there's a real issue, one must provide sufficient support.

Old Song, this guy, had been running a pawnshop in troubled times fifty years ago; how could he not understand this principle?

Old Song saw Li Ye nod and was instantly beaming, feeling that he could live for another fifty years.

Li Ye had originally been very generous, giving him a 10% share; now with 20%, he couldn't spend it all, absolutely couldn't spend it all, even raising ten assistants wouldn't spend it all.

"Then I'll head over first, Zhuangyuan-lang, we'll..."

Old Song was about to leave with a giggle, but suddenly stopped his train of thought and looked at a group of people who had just entered the venue.

Li Ye also looked over and asked, "What's wrong, Old Song? Do you know these people?"

Old Song, with a gloomy face, gave a sinister smile, "I suppose I know them. They might be here to crash the venue."

This group of people was indeed here to cause trouble.

"I am truly sorry, but I express doubt regarding the cultural and historical materials you are displaying. The Tang Dynasty did not form an absolute advantage in military power externally, and the process and results of several foreign wars were not as simple as recorded in your materials..."

"According to our multi-faceted research, the reason the Tang army entrenched itself in the Western Regions for hundreds of years was by relying on local ethnic armed forces..."

"The Battle of Talas was precisely because the Tang army lost the support of ethnic armed forces, leading to a crushing defeat..."

Team Leader Zhou and the others were clearly caught off guard.

For the sake of "friendship" at this time, the exhibition materials from the mainland this time did not include war history materials related to Japan, such as the "Battle of Baekgang."

But now, these people were questioning the history of the Tang Dynasty's Western Regions wars in front of so many guests, which was very impolite.

You prove you're awesome just by saying I'm that pathetic?

"This gentleman, if you want to question the authenticity of historical materials, please provide real evidence; do not use this kind of baseless inference to affect the friendship between us."

Because cultural relics were being exhibited this time, there was a researcher from the Chang'an Museum, Old Wei, in the exhibition delegation. Old Wei was a Northwest man with a fiery temper, and he immediately stood out to refute.

"Friendship?"

A short, stocky Japanese man stood to the front and said coldly, "I don't think you are engaged in friendly exchange; you are using fictional history to carry out cultural aggression against us."

"Oh~"

"What is he saying?"

"He said we are being subjected to aggression."

Old Wei's face turned red instantly; the word "aggression" was an eternal pain in the hearts of the people of the country.

He asked angrily, "Who are you people, and why are you spouting nonsense here?"

An old man stood out with a straight face and said arrogantly, "I am Gao Qiao Hejie, the president of the Kyoto Military History Research Association. Whether I am spouting nonsense, you know better than I do..."

"Are these armors and weapons strictly imitated according to the military equipment of your Tang Dynasty? You are using fake, trashy industrial products to deceive our friendly and kind countrymen,"

"Your movie also used a large number of false plots and shots, causing ideological deception to our audience."

"And the original author of this movie is even shamelessly contemptuous of us in the work."

Li Ye, outside the crowd, didn't feel angry about any cultural aggression, because his original intention in making this movie was cultural dissemination.

As for the shameless contempt, that was artistic processing based on historical records; think whatever you want!

Li Ye just asked Old Song in a low voice, "Why are these people here to make trouble?"

Old Song whispered, "There are many reasons. To put it broadly, they don't admit that we were once a powerful country, and they don't admit our historical status in East Asia. To put it narrowly... we snatched their business."

Li Ye asked in surprise, "Snatched their business? What do you mean?"

Old Song gave a grin and explained, "That Military History Research Association is also operating house-guarding armor, but what they sell is traditional Japanese *ō-yoroi* and *dō-maru*, which are ugly and priced like robbery."

"Starting last year, Hong Kong began promoting mainland armor here, but it has been strongly resisted by them."

"However, after *The Lone Army of the Homeland* was released, it was clearly different. In fact, many Japanese people admire our culture, and many even believe their ancestors originated from China."

Li Ye suddenly realized; this was hitting their vital interests. Otherwise, how could a country that had dispatched countless envoys to the Tang Dynasty resist the infiltration of Tang culture?

"These armors and weapons of ours are strictly imitated according to unearthed literature. This is not just an artwork; it is our history. Therefore, Mr. Gao Qiao, your words just now were very impolite."

Director Xiong was also angry and found an interpreter to reprimand them.

He had finally understood the path of "film and television peripherals" that Li Ye mentioned, and hundreds of sets of armor had already been pre-ordered today. You damn well came to cut off my path to wealth?

If this weren't in a foreign land, Old Xiong would have jumped over to grab the other party by the collar.

"History?"

Gao Qiao Hejie sneered and pointed at the heavy metal armor, "You say this is the standard Mingguang armor of the Tang army, then may I ask who can fight wearing 80-jin armor? That's not one person; it's an entire army."

"Can you Chinese people kill three in and three out on the battlefield wearing this kind of armor? Can you fight hundreds of cavalry alone? Can you save your princess and kill your way out of the encirclement?"

Old Xiong didn't know how to answer for a moment.

Because everything Gao Qiao said later were clips from the movie *The Lone Army of the Homeland*.

The actors were wearing props, weighing at most ten-plus jin, so naturally, their movements weren't affected, but the armor on-site was different.

Since it's selling art, how could it use light aluminum alloy? Then are you still selling history? You're selling toys.

History must be heavy.

So the armor displayed on-site was very heavy, and the long spears were also very long, adding up to a weight approaching 80 jin, only heavier and not lighter than the armor recorded in real history.

Wearing this kind of armor, even walking is tiring, let alone killing three in and three out; that would be something Zhao Yun would do.

Where can you find a Zhao Zhao Zilong now?

Old Xiong's heart stirred, and he turned his head quietly to look for Li Ye.

But Gao Qiao Hejie turned to the people around him and said, "I watched their movie; it is filled with exaggerated and false shots. They are deceiving us. The Chinese have never been as powerful as in the movie."

"You should watch our movies; our movies are the real history."

Then Gao Qiao Hejie turned and pointed at the armor artwork on-site, "These things are also not imitation ancient art; they are fake goods they fabricated while disregarding the facts."

The venue fell into silence instantly, and then it became chaotic with buzzing sounds.

Gao Qiao Hejie's words seemed like unreasonable trouble-making, but after such a scene, everyone on-site had an impression—all the history narrated in the movie was fake, these things were all fake, they weren't worth this price at all, and they weren't worth buying.

You want to explain to them that ancient soldiers wearing Mingguang armor were just stabbing squarely, and it was impossible to jump around,

Then what about the fighting in your movie? Isn't it fake?

There were already people on-site distributing "Real History," and the large promotional pages featured Japanese samurai wearing Japanese-style *ō-yoroi* and *dō-maru* armor, wielding samurai swords.

And they also brought several reporters who were holding cameras and constantly taking pictures. Once a large number of articles mixing truth and falsehood were released, this overseas trip for *The Lone Army of the Homeland* would be considered a failure.

Zhou Song Ziyuan was anxious and kept negotiating with the organizers, hoping that the staff could stop these people from making trouble here.

But the organizers only had a few young volunteers on-site, and they mumbled for a long time, only conveying one meaning—these guys could be traced back to the surviving "Imperial Army" from '45; ordinary people were afraid to avoid them, so who would dare to provoke them?

Old Xie couldn't watch anymore and had to stand out, saying with restraint, "Mr. Gao Qiao, a movie is an artistic form of expression; the actors in the movie are not real soldiers. You cannot infer the untruth of history from this..."

"So, it is still fake!"

Gao Qiao interrupted Old Xie's words and smiled contemptuously, smiling very happily and very insidiously. ===== CHAPTER 534 =====