Chapter 344: Entering Chang'an and Seizing the Throne
When Li Yin returned to the Tang Dynasty, he even lay on the ground and took two deep breaths of the fragrance of the earth.

This is the romance of the Hun people. In his words, I would rather love a pinch of soil in my hometown than a ton of gold in a foreign land.

Of course, there was a small incident when he came back.

When he was told that it was the Yonghui period, Li Yin was stunned at first, then he fell to his knees with a plop, making a sound like a crying horse.

"Aye! Aye! Aye..."

Feng Qing was stunned for a moment, and it took him a long time to realize that His Royal Highness the Prince of Shu might have thought that the emperor had passed away and was passing the throne to the present emperor.

Misunderstanding, isn't this a misunderstanding?

He wiped his sweat, supported Li Yin and said, "Your Highness..."

I almost didn't pay attention and was led astray by Li Yin and said the word "condolences".

This was too rebellious. Feng Qing secretly slapped his mouth and then advised Li Yin: "Don't worry, Your Majesty. It's not because the emperor passed away that he passed the throne, but because the emperor felt that he was not energetic enough, so he passed the throne to the prince."

Li Yin's crying stopped immediately.

"I said that Lao Deng would not die so easily." Li Yin wiped his tears and smiled, then asked suspiciously: "Since Aye wanted to pass on the throne, why didn't he pass it to his elder brother, but to the eldest brother instead?"

Feng Qing: Ah?

No, my king, aren’t your brother and your eldest brother the same person?

Then he remembered, oh, the King of Shu called the prince brother.

The generational relationships in this family... are so fucking messed up.

Feng Qing wiped his sweat and continued to explain to Li Yin: "After all, the current emperor was still the crown prince at that time, and the crown prince was still the crown prince's grandson. There is no reason in this world for the crown prince to become the emperor before he ascends the throne..."

"I think it's quite suitable." Li Yin spread his hands and turned his gaze to Feng Qing: "Feng Changshi, why don't you follow me to Chang'an, seize the throne, let your brother become the emperor, and your eldest brother abdicate as the emperor, wouldn't it be beautiful..."

Before he could utter the word "哉", he heard Feng Qing roar, rushed over and covered his mouth with his hands.

"My king, I beg you to stop talking!" Feng Qing said with great sorrow.

"Oh, if you don't want to tell me, then don't tell me." Li Yin stopped talking without hesitation, "Old Feng, how come I've been gone for so long, and you're still the Chief Clerk of Dengzhou? Didn't the court say you'd be promoted?"

As he spoke, Li Yin raised his hands twice, pretending to rise.

"Your Majesty should know that I am the prince's man. Even if the court wants to promote me, it has to wait until the prince..." Having said that, Feng Qing did not continue.

If Feng Qing were chatting about this with others, he would definitely have to act dumb and confused to avoid being caught.

But Li Yin is different. He won't allow you to think divergently, nor will he hold on to the topic endlessly.

"I understand. I will suppress you first and use you after the crown prince ascends the throne, so that you won't be promoted to any higher position by then." Li Yin nodded in understanding, "I do have some wisdom in this regard."

“Here.” Li Yin took out a handful of dried cocoa from his pocket and winked at Feng Qing: “Come on, Old Feng, let’s try this——”

"What is this?" Feng Qing asked with interest, "Forgive my poor eyesight. I am over 40 years old, but I have never seen anything like this..."

"This? This is cocoa." Li Yin replied with a smile: "This is a specialty of Yindian. It's normal that you haven't seen it. There is also something called 'coffee'. Ah, ha, I think you will like that - wait a minute ha."

After saying that, he turned around and called for someone to bring over the coffee beans wrapped in oil paper.

"What is this?" Feng Qing asked.

"Didn't I tell you, coffee?" Li Yin said with a smile, "Originally, this thing was picked and boiled to drink, but before I came back, I asked people to study a method to preserve it. After drying, the soldiers found that the flavor was much better than boiling it directly after picking. How smart I am. Since drying tastes better, why not use charcoal to roast it? So, here, this is the coffee bean after charcoal roasting."

He took a mortar and crushed the coffee beans. Then he took a piece of gauze from Feng Qing's study desk, wrapped the ground coffee beans in it, and brewed it with hot water.

"It smells really good!" Feng Qing was cheered up. The taste was really good.

"Really?" Li Yan smiled. "I think this thing is suitable for you. Drink a cup when you feel sleepy. Hey, it will make you feel more energetic!"

"If that's the case, that's great." Feng Qing said happily, reaching out to take the cup handed to her by Li Yin, and looking down, the brewed water was dark brown and looked a bit like medicinal soup.

He lowered his head and smelled the unique and rich aroma that made him unable to stop. He picked up the bowl and took a sip.

Then he showed an expression like a mask of pain.

"Why is it so painful?" Feng Qing looked up and asked.

Before Li Yan could answer, he continued, "Very strange, have another bite."

After taking another sip, Feng Qing felt that he had tasted something.

"Well, this is something a gentleman should love." Feng Qing laughed, "To find joy in hardship, to have a bowl of rice and a gourd of water, to live in a humble alley, and not change one's ambition - this is exactly the treasure of scholars like me!"

"Your sister is suffering." Li Yin rolled his eyes. "Just transporting the coffee beans from Yindian all the way here, including the travel expenses, the price of the coffee beans in the Tang Dynasty must be at least ten times its weight in gold!"

After hearing what Li Yin said, Feng Qing also reacted.

Yes, it is true that this thing is not expensive in Yindian, and Li Yin also said that it can be found everywhere in the mountains and plains. But the amazing thing is that this thing does not exist in the Tang Dynasty, only in Yindian. If you want to drink it, you can only transport it across the ocean.

Once the value of crossing the ocean is added, the value is immeasurable.

"I'll give you two kilograms." Li Yan said with a smile: "I only brought one boatload of food this time, and the rest are all these strange and weird things——"

"You're such a spendthrift! You're such a spendthrift!" Feng Qing pointed at Li Yan and said tremblingly, "Why didn't you bring more food?"

"Each ship brought some food, but not much." Li Yan spread his hands and said, "You can't expect the food to be eaten, right? It's for us to make seeds. Don't you think about how many people can eat it?"

"That's true." Feng Qing nodded in agreement: "I was not thoughtful enough."

"You are more than inconsiderate." Li Yan rolled his eyes. "I specially reserved some potatoes and sweet potatoes for you. I remember hearing from my brother that these two crops can grow in saline-alkali land after selective breeding. You can arrange for professional farmers to try and breed them."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Feng Qing nodded.

However, this may be Li Xiang's wishful thinking. After all, the good harvest of potatoes grown in saline-alkali land is only possible after modern seed selection and breeding.

"I'm confident that you can do the job." Li Yan said with a smile, "I'll leave you two kilograms of coffee beans and some cocoa as well - but I haven't found a suitable way to consume the cocoa yet, so I'll ask my brother when we get back."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Feng Qing bowed sincerely.

Both Mao and he understood the value of coffee. This thing must be a rare commodity in the Tang Dynasty.

Two kilograms is good enough. If I drink it sparingly, I should be able to last until the next delivery.

……

Old Li had already made arrangements, and on the day of Li Yin's triumphant return, he would be welcomed at Wei Bridge and celebrate with all the people.

The day before Li Yin returned, Li Chengqian brought Queen Su Yi and Crown Prince Li Xiang to the Taimiao to pay tribute to their ancestors.

The next morning, civil and military officials set out from Chang'an and followed Li Chengqian to Wei Bridge to welcome Li Yin who had returned from afar.

Behind all the ministers, Li Shimin sat high on the imperial sedan chair, waiting for his eldest son to return. They didn't have to wait long, and at the hour of Chen, Li Yin's team appeared in everyone's sight.

Seeing the crowd on Wei Bridge, Li Yin couldn't help but be overjoyed.

"It seems that Aye still loves me." He said to Liu Zude beside him, "But I don't think it was Aye's idea. Eighty percent of it was my eldest brother's idea."

When they were in Dengzhou, they had already heard that it was no longer the Zhenguan period, but the Yonghui period.

"Why?" Liu Zude asked.

"Because Aye won't come to pick me up in person, just wait and see." Li Yan said angrily, "He has never liked me very much."

Soon, the team crossed the Ba Bridge.

Under the guidance of the ceremonial officer, Li Yin and others came to Li Chengqian.

"Your Highness, this is Li Yin." Li Yin said with full energy, "I led an expedition team of 2,213 people to open up the Yindian route, and now we are back! Excluding those who got lost in the storm and those who stayed in the Yindian Protectorate, a total of 512 people have returned!"

"Thank you for your hard work." Li Chengqian walked forward and comforted Li Yin.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Li Yin bowed deeply.

Then it was Queen Su Yi who came forward, and Li Chengqian filled the glass with wine before handing it to Su Yi.

She held the wine glass in both hands and handed it to Li Yin.

"Uncle has worked tirelessly for the country, please drink this cup."

"Thank you, sister-in-law." Li Yin bowed again, took the wine glass with both hands and drank it all in one gulp.

Li Xiang also stepped forward and bowed to Li Yin.

"Uncle Six has made great contributions to the country's expansion. Please accept my nephew's greetings!"

"I dare not, I dare not." In such a solemn occasion, Li Yin was too embarrassed to call him brother directly, and just kept saying he dared not.

After the ceremony, all the ministers, under the guidance of the ceremonial officer, bowed and congratulated Li Yin.

"The King of Shu has expanded the country's territory. He is truly a wise king of the Tang Dynasty!"

Li Yin scratched his head and smiled foolishly.

He never dared to dream that one day he would become a wise king of the Tang Dynasty.

You know, the one who has always been praised by everyone is the fourth prince of Wei, Li Tai, who is always talking nonsense. He is a typical negative example, and was judged by the emperor as a man "worse than beasts and stones".

Now he is actually... also virtuous?

Good job! Good timing!
After receiving the respect from all the ministers, Li Chengqian took Li Yin's hand and invited him to board the chariot together.

Li Yin was so confused that he didn't react until he sat down. He immediately jumped up as if his butt was on fire and hurriedly declined from Li Chengqian.

"Sixth brother." Li Chengqian pulled him and said with a smile: "You have expanded the territory for our Tang Dynasty and fought in the wind and waves. You can afford to sit on this imperial chariot!"

"Really?" Li Yin scratched his head.

"Aye is here today, too." Li Chengqian pointed behind him secretly, and then said, "It's just that Aye is a little embarrassed. If you really feel embarrassed here, you can go find Aye."

"Is...is this okay?" Li Yin was somewhat tempted, but even though he was a rough man, he knew it wasn't a good idea to abandon Li Chengqian now.

The main reason was that he was afraid that his eldest brother would think too much, because he knew that his eldest brother was a narrow-minded person.

"Don't worry, big brother, I know who you are." Li Chengqian patted Li Yan's shoulder with a smile: "I won't worry too much, just go."

Hearing Li Chengqian's words, Li Yin jumped up.

"Then I'll go, brother."

"Go ahead." Li Chengqian smiled gently.

"Oh, big brother." Li Yin took out a map from his arms: "It should be more intuitive if you look at it this way." He added: "I forgot to attach a map to my previous memorial. It only said that the Protectorate was opened up, which was not intuitive enough. Now it should be better with the help of a map."

Li Chengqian took the map and nodded at Li Yin, meaning that you can go find Aye now.

Then he opened the map, looked down, and was stunned.

There was no other reason. He originally thought that Yindian was just a small place like Japan, but Lao Liu's map made him feel how large this territory was.

Then, his heart became extremely hot.

You know what, he always says he wants to do something great, but his ideas are more unreliable than the last.

Just when his passion had died down, Lao Liu suddenly presented him with such a great gift.

What is a great achievement?

In addition to politics and culture, there is also military.

Isn’t this achievement of expanding territory a great feat?
It was indeed Lao Liu who went to America, but he was the emperor, so he earned this credit without doing anything!

"Da Lang, what's wrong?" Su Yi walked to the side of the imperial carriage and looked at the stunned Li Chengqian with concern.

Li Chengqian's eyes became moist.

"Old Six has really given me a great gift!" he said with emotion, "I have to think carefully about how to reward Old Six!"

Let’s not talk about Li Chengqian who was still struggling, and let’s talk about Li Yin who came skipping to the side of Li Shimin’s imperial carriage and knocked on the door with his hand.

"Who?" Li Shimin's voice came from inside.

"Yeah, it's me, Lao Liu." Li Yin opened the door with a smile, and while Li Shimin was not paying attention, he jumped onto the carriage and sat next to him.

He asked with a smile: "Aye, I heard you missed me?"

"Oh." Li Shimin came back to his senses and smiled calmly, "Why would I miss a fool like you?"

"You're lying." Li Yin said with a smile, "I heard from my elder brother and Xiang'er that Aye kept talking about me every day."

"Why am I talking about you?" Li Shimin said in a tense tone, "You left without saying goodbye, leaving your mother to miss you."

"Really?" Li Yin looked at Old Li and suddenly found the traces of tears on his cheeks. "Aye cried?"

"Shut up." Li Shimin said.

Li Yin turned his head in a very annoying manner and looked at Lao Li from top to bottom: "Are you really crying?"

(End of this chapter)