books44 Chapter 299 The Man with Two Legs
Chapter 299 The Man with Two Legs
Liu Xie smiled and said, "No need for formalities, please have a seat!" With that, he led Ouyang Qian to the table set up on a higher step.
After Liu Xie sat down, the dozens of explorers and merchants took their seats. Six of the larger and more representative merchants, led by guards, sat with the emperor. Although they had known this arrangement beforehand, being there in person, sitting with the emperor, these six explorers and merchants who had wielded considerable influence overseas still trembled and became restless.
Liu Xie gestured to Ouyang Qian to arrange for food and drinks to be served. He looked at the six somewhat restless explorers and asked with a smile, "Did you come here today to leave me with a good impression or a bad impression?"
The six men immediately froze, slightly raising their heads, but still dared not look directly at the emperor. Liu Xie then asked, "You are all the vanguard of my Chinese Empire's conquest of foreign lands, your footprints have traversed the five lakes and four seas, to the ends of the earth. I, Liu Xie, have never even left Luoyang. You are clearly more knowledgeable than I am. Have you ever seen a man like me with a head, two arms, and two legs?"
The walls of the Sihai Hall had echo chambers, so people could hear each other clearly, even from a distance. The explorers further away chuckled softly when they heard Liu Xie say this.
The six adventurers and merchants at the table couldn't help but smile. One of the wealthy merchants steadied himself and looked at Liu Xie, saying, "Your Majesty, although we are all very knowledgeable, this is truly our first time entering the palace. Please forgive us!"
Ouyang Qian whispered from the side, "His name is Song Yuanxing."
As Liu Xie listened to Ouyang Qian's introduction, he replied, "The palace isn't anything special. It might be moved in the future, so this place can be used as a museum for exhibitions. Everyone can look at it however they want. Your name is Song Yuanxing, right? What discoveries have you made in the Americas?"
"Your Majesty, I mainly deal in tea and silk, which I transport to the west coast of South America for sale. That area is primarily the territory of the Inca Empire, and they mainly live in the Andes Mountains."
“I once left the ship and went to Cusco, the capital of the Inca Empire, to investigate. Most of their cities were built on mountains, making them easy to defend and difficult to attack. Moreover, the Incas worshipped the sun, and the king called himself the Son of the Sun. They were very united. If we were to have a conflict in the future, I suggest using long-range weapons,” Song Yuanxing replied.
"Isn't it just the Spanish musketeers' conquest of the indigenous peoples?"
Liu Xie muttered to himself. Then, introduced by Ouyang Qian, he chatted with the others present, inquiring about the Aztec Empire, the Mayan Kingdom, the Inca Empire, and many other smaller countries in the Americas, preparing for a future conquest of the Americas. Behind the main table were two small tables, one for recording the emperor's words and the other for noting down the words of other explorers, which would later be compiled into documents.
At 10:40, the banquet was set up. Liu Xie simply drank a few glasses of wine with everyone and didn't eat much food because it wasn't lunchtime yet.
While drinking, Liu Xie walked into the circle of explorers and chatted. Although he didn't know how many ancient civilizations there were in the world, he had a general impression of the global topography and was very clear about which places had important resources. He spoke eloquently, which impressed dozens of explorers and merchants who considered themselves well-traveled.
After spending more than an hour receiving this group of explorers from the coast, Liu Xie left the Sihai Hall, took a carriage back to the inner palace, and wrote in his study under the pen name Nanshan.
This time, he wrote a book titled "How the Steel Was Tempered," borrowing some aphorisms from the famous book of his previous life, but the content was unrelated. He conceived the main content of the book himself, using the story of an ordinary soldier's heroic fighting and indomitable spirit to create an inspirational novel.
For nearly two decades, Liu Xie has set aside some time each day to write, recording his memories in a different way and in a different format, so that readers across the country can have more new books to read that keep up with the changing national situation, broaden their horizons, improve their intelligence, and enhance the country's strength.
At 12:30, reminded by Ouyang Qian, Liu Xie left his desk and went to Lanyue Pavilion for a meal.
In the main hall of Lanyue Pavilion, the emperor's wives and concubines sat around a large round table. Among them were Empress Zhao Yu, Consorts Diao Xiuer, Cai Yan, Da Qiao and Xiao Qiao, Concubines Song Xue, Song Yan, and Mi Huan, as well as several concubines who had entered the palace a few years earlier.
Upon seeing Liu Xie enter, the concubines, led by Zhao Yu, greeted him. Liu Xie nodded, sat in the main seat in the north, and gestured for everyone to sit down and begin their meal. Empress Zhao Yu and her personal secretary Ouyang Qian sat on either side of him.
This round table, based on Liu Xie's idea, has a rotating mechanism, so everyone can rotate the table to eat the dishes they want, and no one has to stand up and stretch out their long arms to grab food.
Although winter had just ended and there weren't many vegetables outside, the palace had a glass greenhouse built under Liu Xie's personal supervision. Although the variety of vegetables grown was limited, the palace chefs skillfully created many beautiful and delicious dishes, making the meal very enjoyable.
"Your Majesty, the Xueyan sisters wish to return to their hometown of Yingchuan to visit their grandmother. They have heard that the old lady is not in good health and hopes to see the two sisters."
As Zhao Yu ate, she spoke, while the two sisters, Song Xue and Song Yan, across from her also looked at Liu Xie expectantly. When Liu Xie heard that their grandmother was ill, and thought that the two sisters had not returned to their parents' home for two or three years, he nodded and replied to Zhao Yu, "You can make the arrangements. Send more guards to protect her, and go to the inner treasury to get two old ginseng roots to take back and see if they can help the old lady recover."
Zhao Yu nodded in agreement, and the Xueyan sisters across from her were also overjoyed. They thanked their emperor husband and their meal became more enjoyable.
Liu Xie ate three bowls of rice before patting his stomach and returning to his palace for a midday rest. Of course, it was not appropriate to indulge in sensual pleasures during the day, and for the sake of his health, no concubines were allowed to sleep with him. He simply had a maid light some calming sandalwood incense, and soon fell asleep.
At 3 p.m., Liu Xie was woken by a maid, washed his face, and returned to the Imperial Secretariat office building to work. Several documents required the Imperial Seal, which Liu Xie personally stamped before instructing the relevant leaders to return them to their original departments for execution. Feeling bored as Ju Shou and Xi Zhicai handled most of the tasks, Liu Xie took Ouyang Qian to the Internal Affairs Department to find Jia Xu.
Because of the ongoing war, the leaders of the Internal Affairs Department were extremely busy, and when they saw Liu Xie, they only gave him a brief greeting before running off to attend to their own affairs. Liu Xie led Ouyang Qian into Jia Xu's office on the third floor. Jia Xu, who was buried in a pile of documents, looked up and saw that it was the Emperor. He quickly put down his pen and came out to pay his respects to the Emperor.