The Di people regarded cattle and sheep as important as their own lives. The older generation, the more deeply ingrained those ideas were. It was extremely difficult to get food from their mouths, so the old man Risong’s group insisted on not letting go.
Aguda and other younger generations did not give in because they knew why the Great Khan suddenly proposed to congratulate the Jokhang Emperor on his birthday. Only a richer birthday gift was more likely to impress the Jokhang people.
If that plan succeeded, what was a big deal even if they had to tighten their belts and endure the whole winter? The worst was, as the King Khan said, they would raid the Rong people’s nest!
In the past few days, Urhan had been quarreling with them. Although he had a right in his tribe, cattle and sheep were related to the livelihood of the whole tribe. Even he could not touch it easily. At least, more than half of the tribe people had to agree.
“I have a few words. I wonder if you are willing to listen?” Jiang Rui turned her head to look at him and said slowly.
Urhan raised his eyebrows and said, “Yanshi, just say it.”
“If you only decide to send cattle, horses, and sheep, I’m afraid that it will be difficult for Father Emperor to be truly tempted, even if you give away all the cattle and sheep in the tribe.”
Jiang Rui knew from the memory of Princess Chaoyang that although Jokhang was mediocre in power and weak in military strength, it was unexpectedly prosperous.
Its unique geographical location and mild climate were the best hotbeds for the development of agriculture. Basically with agriculture as the foundation, various other industries had also developed very prosperously.
She could say without hesitation that any small landowner in Jokhang had a better life than her, the former Princess who became the current Beidi’s Yanshi.
At least, people could eat meat if they wanted, vegetables if they wanted, white noodles if they wanted, and they could play with sugar. But it didn’t matter what she wanted. She had to grow a few bean sprouts by herself.
Ordinary people’s lives were carefree, let alone the most noble Emperor in the kingdom. Were cattle, sheep, and horses rare in his eyes?
No matter how much it was sent, it was nothing more than a string of numbers. Perhaps it even was not worth more than the smile of a concubine in the harem.
She said it directly, but Urhan didn’t feel offended and asked seriously: “So, what does Yanshi mean?”
“It’s not necessary to have too many gifts. If they are to your heart’s content, one is enough. If you want to give something, give something rare. Give something that is not available in Jokhang Palace.”
Urhan nodded slowly, frowning as he thought about her words.
Someone was walking outside the big tent. Jiang Rui looked over and said, “Who is outside?”
“King Khan, Princess, this one is the slave.” Qiuhua opened the curtain and went inside to salute.
Seeing that the two of them were not discussing anything, she breathed a sigh of relief and walked to Jiang Rui’s side, saying softly: “That group of children has been here several times. They knew that the Great Khan was here, so they didn’t dare to make any noise. They pestered me to ask questions. They said that three of the pumpkins in the field had turned yellow and they wanted to ask the Princess if they could eat them.”
Thinking of those greedy children, Jiang Rui curled her lips and shook her head, “You can take them to pick it and let the kitchen make pumpkin pie for them to eat.”
Qiuhua hesitated to speak.
Earlier when the caravan came, she went to buy some rice, flour, sugar, and other items. It was originally planned to improve the food for the Princess.
But these days, the Princess had asked people to cook food for the children one after another, but the Princess herself didn’t eat much. To make pumpkin pie today, they needed glutinous rice flour and sugar, and both of which were very rare here.
Seeing her thoughts, Jiang Rui said: “Of those things, which one of us was not tired of eating it in the past? If you want to eat, just wait for the pumpkin pie to be ready and eat more.”
“Slave didn’t mean that.” Qiuhua pouted, said nothing more, and went out to tell the children the good news.
In fact, Qiuhua had a misunderstanding. Jiang Rui didn’t want to keep subsidizing those children. After all, she didn’t have many supplies in her own hands.
It was just that these pumpkins were the children’s first real harvest. After working hard for so long, she had to give them some sweetness so that they could be more motivated.
When there were more pumpkins in the future, she wouldn’t have so much glutinous rice flour to mix with them, so she would let each of them take one home and steam it to eat.
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Sam Williams On TYMIMA Chapter 152