96

Gu Yuanbai: "The Western Xia Emperor looks like he's drunk."

The look in his eyes made the Western Xia Imperial Prince sober up slightly for a split second, and a cold sweat broke out on top of his head as he obediently said, "Yes, it's me who drank too much wine and forgot the rules."

This matter is not salty put down, after lunch, the Western Xia messenger with all the courtiers out of the Xuanzheng Hall. Palace guards will lead the Western Xia people out of the palace, Chu Wei also happened to come out of the palace.

He took the initiative for the first time towards the Western Xia Prince, Li Angshun saw him, stood still, waiting for people on the front and back on the frivolous laugh: "Chu adults this is not able to give up on me?"

Chu Wei was calm and peaceful, his eyes gazing at him as if he wanted to see inside through the skin, "Seventh Prince, you said you like me?"

Lee Aung Soon froze for a moment, then said, "Of course."

He stroked the black hair slightly curled in front of his chest, and his face under the felt hat had a deep look that was different from that of the Daheng people. Western Xia people and Khitan people have intermarriage, Li Angshun's mother is a Khitan leader's daughter, which makes his appearance also has a bit of exotic flavor, but his eyes arrogant, very people do not like, "Could it be that Chu adults heart shake, really want to go back to the Western Xia with me, and then marry me?"

Chu Wei looked at him deeply, coldly, and suddenly came up with the inexplicable words, "You'd better be honest."

Then turn around and walk away.

Li Angshun's face sank, and he got on the horse in silence. Even a small official of Daheng had dared to threaten him, had dared to teach him a lesson, Li Angshun was at least the seventh prince of Western Xia, he thought about Chu Wei's just now disgusted hidden disdainful face, remembered the Daheng Emperor's defense of Chu Wei this person, his face was cloudy and uncertain.

*

The emperor's things are large and small, can be said to be numerous. Gu Yuanbai the more to the end of the year the busier, the entire political affairs hall are followed by a busy head, officials around the end of the year to the performance report gradually submitted up, the official's assessment, rewards and punishments, and so on, need to be one by one over.

While the various organs of the entire court were operating at high speed, Gu Yuanbai pushed aside all matters and skipped work bright and early, as he planned to make a bed!

When the emperor for so many years, the first three years of the time to endure humiliation, not to mention the disk bed, can not live are dependent on the face of others. Last year, I finally came to power, but I had to survive the winter with a serious illness. This year, so far, there is no illness, there is no powerful ministers in the way, this year, if you don't make a bed and don't make a hot pot, Gu Yuanbai is going to forget that he is a person who has traveled through the world.

The kang is divided into three parts: the kang stove, the kang body and the chimney. Shengjing palace there are many disk kang palace, Gu Yuanbai body bones are not good, the night of the soup woman a cold, Gu Yuanbai can be raw frozen awake, a few days down, he was annoyed, and simply find the royal craftsmen, and told them the memory of the fire kang and floor heating method.

In the Ming Dynasty, the brick underground was paved with a flue, and Gu Yuanbai could have started without floor heating, but he definitely wanted a fire kang.

After listening to the idea of the saint, a few craftsmen after thinking about it but said it is not difficult, "the difficult thing is the treatment of the flue, and the palace is so big, only one kang can not warm the whole palace, if you set up a few more kangs, but also to find a good location."

It is not difficult to make a bed, but it is difficult to make it look beautiful and gorgeous, without destroying the beauty of the whole palace in the middle.

Gu Yuanbai nodded, "On top of the bricks are stone slabs, on top of the stone slabs is mud, and inside there is a layer of wall between the kangs, the flue should be in the wall between the kangs."

The craftsmen nodded their heads in succession, they looked relaxed, "Your Holiness, don't worry, we will draw out the style as soon as possible and hand it over to you later."

Gu Yuanbai was relieved beyond measure, "Then I'll work hard for all of you."

Several craftsmen left from the emperor to get together, discuss how to make the kang. His Majesty with the kang naturally can not be, to see what kind of material to keep warm for a longer period of time, the inside of the flue must be smooth and smooth, but also clean, beautiful, no odor and no noise, all aspects of a consideration, simple also become not simple.

But never thought of this heating method before, the saint put forward, the craftsmen have a sense of enlightenment, they talk about it is also mostly excited, research drawings is the spirit of vitality, can be called sleep and food.

A few days later, Gu Yuanbai received the drawings for the fire bed.

The craftsmen added the kang in combination with the palace style, and several of the palaces where the saint often stayed would be coiled with kangs, especially the bedchamber and the place where the court affairs were handled, because the palaces were large, and if you wanted the whole house to be warm and cozy, then you needed to coiled with more kangs.

In the bedchamber alone, where His Holiness rested, seven kangs were set up.

As soon as Gu Yuanbai saw this drawing, it was as if he had already felt the heat of the kang, his whole body warmed up. He took out the drawing of the kang again and took a look at it separately, the exhaust holes, the flue, the load bearing walls and the surface of the kang, it was neat and beautiful.

The wisdom of the ancients can not be underestimated, in addition to those Gu Yuanbai said, the craftsmen also added many small details, all appropriate and useful.

Gu Yuanbai immediately said, "Admirable. Allocate the silver on the same day and begin to undertake the repair of the firebed."

Inside the palace, because of this order from His Majesty, the palace began to work feverishly. In the side hall of the Xuanzheng Hall, people were also going in to make kangs, and occasionally, when some adults walked by and heard the noise inside, they would ask what they were doing.

Gu Yuanbai made a sweeping statement, "Plate the bed."

The saint used the thing, often will let the hundred officials follow. Hundreds of officials a use, that will bring the people also times aspire to. As the saint previously wore cotton, cotton clothes, wearing brocade and silk officials and businessmen also want to change the silk to follow the cotton clothes. But the cotton clothes were sent to the border, it is difficult to get a piece. But the more so, the more highly sought after.

After figuring out the role of this kang, the officials who entered and left the Xuanzheng Hall were all a bit impressed. The things used by His Majesty are all good things, but the drawings are in the hands of the royal family, even if the ministers are moved, they do not know how to go out and make a sound.

So he detoured to the Minister of the Household, and when the Minister of the Household heard about it, he was struck by an idea to make money, and specially came to Gu Yuanbai to report, "Your Majesty, all the ministers are very interested in the kang in the palace, so why don't we wait for the palace craftsmen to finish their work on the kang in the palace and then charge a fee for going door to door to plate kangs in the homes of the ministers and clansmen? In this way, the court will also be able to earn an extra share of the money for the kang."

Gu Yuanbai was looking through the folders and couldn't help but sniff, "The court has been so poor that you, the Minister of the Household, need to do this?"

The Minister of the Household smiled and refused to give up, "Your Majesty, there are more or less tens of thousands of people in the capital who have the spare capacity to make a disk kang. If it's really as the craftsmen say, it has such an excellent heating effect, then surely this winter, the CD kang will be able to make a lot of money."

"My kang hasn't been plated out yet, and you guys are starting to think about it," Gu Yuanbai had a headache, "I had originally planned to wait for the palace to finish its busy schedule, and then send people to plate out kangs in the mansions of the officials and clansmen to reward them for the merits they've done to the court. With you interrupting like this, am I going to collect the money later and then go back to descending favors?"

The Minister of the Household thought for a moment, ''Your Majesty. The palace craftsmen personally went to the minister's residence to build this kind of warmth, this is a great favor. I will certainly be grateful and always remember Your Majesty's kindness. But if the ministers use it well, they will also think of their parents, wives and daughters, so how can a household have a dozen or so kangs on the plate, and in that case, it's still not enough."

Gu Yuanbai had already put down the zhang folders in his hands, "Speak on."

The Minister of the Household Department saluted and said: "I think, in addition to the ministers and relatives, the merchants and the people's families also aspire to the method of the hot bed. After His Majesty's favor, the court must know the power of this thing, then want to make more kang, the ministers are not good to come directly to His Majesty. If the craftsmen in the palace take over these jobs, they will only do business with the officials and the clansmen. The private citizens and merchants, on the other hand, will give the drawings to the private craftsmen and allow them to take over the work of coiling kangs, and then according to the number of coiled kangs, they will pay a share of the money to the court for each coiled kang."

"In this way, it will also allow the folk artisans to earn more money and have a good year. Let the people's houses be warm and comfortable through this harsh winter."

The saint pondered for a while, nodded and said, "You guys go and write an exhaustive charter."

The Minister of the Household rejoiced, "Yes!"

*

Soon, the palace's fireplace will be ready for use.

What Gu Yuanbai was most pleased about was not that he could use the kang to feed the court, but that he could finally get a good night's sleep with warm hands and feet.

These days, the only time he had a good night's sleep was precisely the night that Xue Yuan ran all the way back to the capital, covering his hands and feet to sleep. He had a dreamless night, and was soothed and refreshed. On the second day, after no one was there to warm the bed, the night went back to before liberation.

However, the kang is good, but the only thing is that it is too dry. When Gu Yuanbai got up in the morning, he needed to drink several cups of water to quench his thirst, and when he touched his lips, they were already so dry that they peeled.

Tian Fusheng always pay attention to the saint's body changes, now it is winter, the kang is warm but dry, he is worried that the saint's body is too much fire, but the imperial physician after taking the pulse said: "These days are okay, the kang prevents cold from entering the body, but instead of beneficial. The saint only needs to drink more tea to quench thirst and lower the fire is just, if the mouth is dry, liver and stomach sizzling hot, that is only the internal fire is too big, need to avoid food."

"Cold doesn't work, hot doesn't work," Gu Yuanbai sighed, "Alright, I know, go down."

After the imperial physician went down, Tian Fusheng took out the ointment again, "Your Holiness, the imperial physician told me that too much dryness will also cause the hands and face to be chapped, and the ointment needs to be used as well."

Gu Yuanbai handed his hand to him, and when Tian Fusheng drew back his hand after applying the medicine, the tip of his nose smelled a light scent of herbs, and he raised his hand to his nose to take a whiff, "It seems like I've smelled this flavor before."

Tian Fusheng's apprentice came forward to deliver the tea, and also followed the tip of his nose to sniff, remembering something and said, "Your Holiness, when Lord Xue was still on duty in front of the temple, he had asked for something to protect his hands. That thing also had herbs added to it, and the flavor was a bit similar to this."

Hand protection stuff?

Gu Yuanbai couldn't recall, "When?"

"It was precisely the time you contracted a wind chill," the little eunuch said methodically, "after the Lantern Festival, the second day after you had just made a lantern at Lord Chu's residence."

Gu Yuanbai remembered, and he said thoughtfully, "It was that time."

He burned his mouth, Xue Yuan stepped forward to protect it, and as a result, his movements were too hasty, and in turn, his rough hands rubbed his lips in pain.

No wonder his hands had become a bit more delicate in the middle of the summer palace afterward. But when he rushed back a few days ago, the hand that touched Gu Yuanbai's body seemed to have become deeply calloused once again.

So you had a crush on him that early?

Xue Jiuyao, you really know how to hide.