In the autumn of the third year of Yuanyou, Goryeo sent envoys to the Song Dynasty for the seventh time, and sent 2,000 purple-white crystals, 50,000 jin of brass, etc. Among these tributes, the most eye-catching ones were the ginseng that came from tribute. These ginseng were mainly divided into two types, namely Goryeo specialty Ginseng and Wild Mountain ginseng produced in Changbai Mountain. Among them, those Goryeo ginseng are nothing, but those Ginseng in Changbai Mountain are extremely precious. Among them, there are twenty old ginseng that are more than a hundred years old, ten ginseng that are more than 500 years old, two ginseng that are more than 800 years old, and one ginseng king that is more than a thousand years old. It is said that as long as a person has a breath, he can hold his life and not die.

Speaking of which, when Zhao Xu was in power, King Wang Hui of Goryeo sent envoys to the Song Dynasty several times. At the beginning, Goryeo took the threat from the Liao Kingdom, which made them afraid to openly contact the Song Dynasty. However, later, the power of the Song Dynasty became stronger and stronger, especially after the Song Dynasty recovered Yanyun, Goryeo sent envoys one after another, and the tributes were more and more expensive year by year. This year, he even spent a lot of money to send all the thousand-year-old ginseng that was regarded as the state... to hold the thick legs of the Song Dynasty.

Originally, when Goryeo sent envoys to pay tribute several times, the people in the capital of the Song Dynasty were cheering, because this showed that the status of the Song Dynasty was improving, and their people also felt a light on their faces. However, as Goryeo came more often, the people in the capital were not surprised. Only the officials of the Ministry of Rites in the capital were still happy about it. After all, after receiving so many tribute gifts from others, they had to treat them well.

Zhao Yan didn't care about this group of Goryeo envoys at first because he had been worried about curbing the rise of the Jurchens during this period. Although Cao Ying pointed out a clear path for him, how should this method be implemented and how should it be done so that no one can find fault with it. There is a lot of considerations in this. Zhao Yan sent a letter to Xu Yuan and Hu Yanping to discuss this issue before, but they had no good solutions, so Zhao Yan was also quite worried about it. How could he have time to pay attention to those Goryeo envoys?

But it was a coincidence that the Goryeo envoys didn't know where to find out the news. Knowing that Zhao Yan's influence in the Song Dynasty, he immediately ran to Zhao Yan's mansion to visit him after delivering tribute. Zhao Yan didn't want to see them at first, but when he accidentally swept the gift list sent by the Goryeo people, he was stunned for a moment, because he saw a gift on the gift list, which made him suddenly have an idea and think of a very feasible solution.

It was precisely because of the above reasons that Zhao Yan immediately changed his mind. Not only did he personally meet the Korean envoys who came to visit, but he also praised the gifts sent by the Korean people, especially the 800-year-old ginseng in the gift list. Although this ginseng is not as good as the thousand-year-old ginseng king that the Korean people paid tribute to the court, the ginseng that can grow to 800 years can also be called a priceless treasure.

It should be added here that later movie novels often appear thousands of years of ginseng at any time. In fact, in reality, although thousands of years of ginseng cannot be said to be lacking, it is also extremely rare. Ginseng also has a lifespan. Generally, ginseng that can grow up to a hundred years can be called treasures, and ginseng that can last for five hundred years is even more rare. It can be called a national treasure. As for ginseng that exceeds thousands of years, it can be called the king of ginseng. Even if it is thousands of years of history in the Central Plains, there are not many records of thousands of years of ginseng. From this we can see the rareness of ginseng.

When meeting the envoy of Goryeo, Zhao Yan seemed to be very interested in ginseng, and the conversations during this period were all about ginseng. Goryeo envoy originally wanted to establish a good relationship with Zhao Yan, so he naturally agreed with his preferences. So he told everything he knew about ginseng.

Among them, Goryeo ginseng is not bad, it is mainly produced in the mountains and forests of Goryeo. It usually matures in six years and has limited medicinal effects. However, the wild ginseng they sent was produced in Changbai Mountain. Speaking of which, it is bordered by Changbai Mountain in the northwest of Goryeo and often conflicts with the Jurchens there. Later, they chose the method of giving equal importance to both force and force. To put it bluntly, they would fight if they could beat them. If they could not beat them, they would urge the Jurchens and then engage in trade with the Jurchens. These wild ginsengs that had been more than a hundred years old were also exchanged for them from the Jurchens.

Zhao Yan was also very satisfied with the Goryeo envoy's answer, and in the end he even sent them out of the mansion in person. As a result, this made Goryeo envoy flattered. After all, they also knew Zhao Yan's influence in the Song Dynasty. To put it bluntly, the Empress Dowager Gao in the court sometimes depends on the face of the King of Yue. Their small Goryeo was able to get such courtesy from each other, which made Goryeo envoy feel like he had a great fortune.

However, after sending off the Goryeo envoy, Zhao Yan suddenly asked someone to post a notice announcing that King Yue would purchase a large number of wild ginseng that had been over a hundred years old, and that as long as it was produced in Changbai Mountain, the King Yue Mansion would purchase it at a high price.

At the beginning, many people were a little skeptical about this news. After all, although ginseng is a precious medicinal herb, ginseng is truly called the King of Herbs in later Ming and Qing dynasties. Doctors in the Song Dynasty did not use ginseng much, and even ginseng that is more than ten years old were rarely found in medicine shops, let alone old ginseng that is more than a hundred years old.

However, soon another news came. Someone took the century-old ginseng to the Yue Palace for sale. As a result, the Yue Palace actually bought it at a price twice as high as the market. After the news came out, it immediately caused a lot of sensation because they could see that the Yue Palace was buying horse bones with a thousand gold coins. From this, it can be seen how eager he is for ten-year-old ginseng.

Given Zhao Yan's good reputation, no one doubted that he would set up any traps. Therefore, many well-informed merchants immediately searched for more than a hundred years of ginseng produced in Changbai Mountain from other places through their own ways. As a result, the Yue Palace was unstoppable and bought them all at a price twice as high. This made many merchants see a way to make a fortune and desperately began to look for more than a hundred years of ginseng produced in Changbai Mountain.

However, the news of Yue Wang Mansion purchasing ginseng was just spread, and soon another explosive news came out. Zhao Yan actually entered the palace again and personally asked Empress Dowager Gao for all the ginseng that had been tributed by the Goryeo people for more than a hundred years. Although many people were doubting how this news came out, it can be seen from this that King Yue Zhao Yan really needed a large number of ginseng more than a hundred years ago.

As more and more people make a big profit by reselling ginseng to the Yue Palace, this also makes many people interested in Zhao Yan's purpose of purchasing a large number of centennial ginseng. Some people say that Zhao Yan's wives and concubines heard that ginseng can keep the face. So a large amount of ginseng is needed to eat it. Some people say that some of Zhao Yan's children have strange diseases and need a large amount of ginseng to treat diseases. Some people directly say that Zhao Yan has strange diseases and needs ginseng to prolong his life. What's even more outrageous is that Zhao Yan has a elixir recipe for immortality. As long as the elixir is refined according to the elixir recipe, you can live forever. The most important medicine for this elixir recipe is a large amount of ginseng.

"Hahahaha~, Uncle San, when will your elixir of immortality be refined? You must leave a pill for your nephew, so that our uncle and nephew will live forever together!" On the bank of the Bian River, Zhao Xu, who had just turned ten, laughed at Zhao Yan beside him.

"Go away~. If there is really an elixir of immortality, I will take it with your aunts after I have refined it. How can I get your portion?" Zhao Yan said to Zhao Xu with a blank look. He was too lazy to pay attention to the rumors outside, because he guessed that there would be these rumors when he announced the acquisition of ginseng that had been more than a hundred years old, but he did not expect that the public's imagination was so rich that even the elixir of immortality could be pulled out.

"Tsk tsk, when it comes to immortality, Emperor Zhenzong was addicted to alchemy back then. I have seen many so-called elixir recipes in the palace. But I didn't know that I was shocked when I saw it. The materials for alchemy were actually lead, mercury, cinnabar, etc., and even arsenic. These are all highly poisonous. The death of Emperor Zhenzong is vague in history books. I doubt if it was poisoned by eating too much these elixirs?" Zhao Xu said with a smile. In recent years, he has learned a lot with Zhao Yan, and his thinking and concepts are very similar to Zhao Yan. Even he doesn't believe in immortality, so naturally he doesn't believe that Zhao Yan will refine any elixir.

"Your kid is getting more and more courageous. Even Emperor Zhenzong dares to tease him, and be careful to spread it to the ears of the empress dowager in the palace. You will be as good as you will be!" Zhao Yan glared at Zhao Xu again and said, in fact, Zhao Xu was also influenced by him, because the first lesson he gave Zhao Xu to Zhao Xu talked about the gains and losses of Zhao Xu and Zhao Xu, which also made Zhao Xu treat the emperors of all the Song Dynasty as his mirror, and would take it out to look at him from time to time.

Hearing Zhao Yan's criticism, Zhao Xu stuck out his tongue mischievously, then turned his head to continue fishing. This morning, Zhao Yan taught him a math class. Because he learned so well, Zhao Yan rewarded him with fishing with him in the afternoon. However, Zhao Xu was a little dissatisfied with this reward, because he was at an active age and did not have the patience of Zhao Yan at all. After sitting for a while, he wanted to move around, or he just talked to Zhao Yan, and he was not interested in fishing at all.

"Uncle San, can you tell me why I bought so many ginseng, and that the ginseng that was tributed by Goryeo is leaving? It won't be like the legend outside that you have any disease you have and need these ginseng to treat, right?" Sure enough, Zhao Xu was quiet for a while and asked Zhao Yan again.

"Those ginsengs are not used to treat people!" Zhao Yan replied without even looking at them this time.

"Why do you want so many ginseng for no one to cure the disease? Could it be that you want to pickle it as a carrot and pickle?" Zhao Xu asked curiously again when he heard this. It was rare that Zhao Yan did such a thing that was contrary to common sense, so Zhao Xu was also very curious about it. It would be really uncomfortable if he didn't find out.

"What do you do if you ask so much about it? Hurry up and catch your fish!" Zhao Yan finally turned his head and said with a blank look at Zhao Xu. Of course, his behavior of purchasing ginseng has its own profound meaning, but he cannot tell Zhao Xu. In this matter, except for Cao Ying knowing his meaning, there is no third person in the entire capital to understand his plans.

Seeing that Zhao Yan didn't say anything, Zhao Xu couldn't help but pouted his mouth and was very unhappy. This was the first time that Zhao Yan had something to hide from him, so the more he thought about it, he became more angry. When fishing, he began to vent his dissatisfaction with small movements, such as constantly slapping the water surface with a fishing rod. Although the movement was not big, it scared away all the fish below.

Looking at the layers of water waves on the river surface, Zhao Yan also felt Zhao Xu's unhappiness, but he pretended that he didn't see it and still sat firmly on Diaoyutai, which made Zhao Xu unable to do anything to him in the end.

Just as Uncle and Nephew Zhao Yan and Nephew were fighting, a sudden burst of footsteps came from the face, and then Su Shi was jokingly jokingly, "Your Highness, have your elixir of immortality be refined? Can you give it to the next one?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Su Shi walked over with a smile. When he saw Zhao Xu, he saluted him first. However, before Su Shi could speak again, Zhao Xu laughed first and said, "I didn't expect that Grand Secretary Su and I both thought of each other. I just asked the third uncle for the elixir of immortality. Unfortunately, Uncle San was too stingy and refused to give it to me!"

"Haha~, I didn't expect that Your Majesty also heard rumors outside, but this kind of rumors can only be regarded as a joke. Your Majesty must not take them seriously!" Su Shi said it easily at the beginning, but in the end he did not forget to warn Zhao Xu. After all, there was an emperor of Zhenzong in the Song Dynasty. That emperor made a mess of the Song Dynasty in order to seek immortality. If it weren't for Kou Zhun and other wise ministers, the Song Dynasty would have lost its country if it weren't for Renzong's hands.

"Don't worry, Grand Secretary Su, I won't believe in the ignorance of immortality, nor will I waste national strength to do something vague and vague!" Although Zhao Xu was young, he was extremely smart. He suddenly heard the warning in Su Shi's words. He smiled and promised that since Su Shi no longer forced him to learn poetry, he also felt that Su Shi was much cute than before.

"Brother Zizhan, aren't you so bored that you came to me to ask for some elixir of immortality?" Zhao Yan said powerlessly at this time. He was too lazy to explain.

"Haha, I naturally don't believe that Your Highness wants to refine elixirs, but it's really puzzling that your Highness suddenly purchases ginseng. I'm worried that Your Highness is really sick like the rumors outside, so I came to visit him." When Su Shi said this, his eyes also showed a look of concern.

"Haha~, don't worry, Grand Secretary Su, Uncle San said that he was not buying ginseng for treatment, but he refused to say what he was doing. Anyway, I didn't ask." At this time, Zhao Xu rushed to speak again.

"Brother Zizhan has troubled me. Ginseng is indeed not used to treat diseases. As for its purpose, I cannot say it for the time being, but you will naturally understand it in the future." Zhao Yan said helplessly again, and at the same time, he was also planning his plan in his heart. It seems that it should be implemented earlier, otherwise it would be a troublesome to be pestered and asked every day. (To be continued...)
Chapter completed!