I support the army through farming and business.

Chapter 243 Selling Again
After downing a glass of strong liquor, Sheri Tulimaide felt a surge of pleasure from the spiciness and immediately wanted to sign a purchase agreement with Tang Zhao.

Tang Zhao, citing insufficient reserves, only agreed to half of the transaction amount.

Sheri Tuli Maide looked at Tang Zhao accusingly. "Who doesn't know that the people of Dayu are good at farming? You could at least give a different reason. Why do you have to say that there isn't enough food?"

Tang Zhao was unwilling to waste her brainpower trying to deceive Sheli Tulimaide; she focused all her energy on promoting the flower dew.

Tang Zhao took Sheli Tulimaide back to the Protector General's Mansion and personally presented him with a pot of peonies.

Upon receiving the gift from his friend, Shariputra decided to generously forgive him. He inhaled the rich fragrance emanating from the peony and couldn't wait to take it home to give to his wife.

Ashidedor was overjoyed and wanted to pick a peony to wear on her head, but when she touched it, she realized that the peony was made of gauze.

Ashidedor was greatly surprised. The room was filled with the rich fragrance of peonies, and she regarded the flower as a miracle.

The person who performed the miracle naturally aroused Ashidedor's curiosity.

Early the next morning, Sheri Tulimaide and Ashidedor knocked on the gate of the Protector General's Mansion.

Ashide Dor, who was visiting the Protector General's Mansion for the first time, sat in the spacious and bright hall. In order to maintain the dignity and honor of the Ashide clan, she tried her best to control her expression, but the surprise in her eyes betrayed her.

Ashidedor recognized herself as a descendant of the Turkic clan, though she was from a collateral branch, she had witnessed the life of the top Turkic nobles, but the wealth and extravagance of the Protector General's Mansion still opened her eyes.

This kind of wealth and luxury is not reflected in how much gold and silver jewelry is displayed, but in the details and daily life.

Everywhere you look, there are colorful flowers woven from gauze, a huge glass window covering an entire wall, tea and wine served to guests, and so on.

None of them were things she had ever seen or heard of before.

Ashidedor drank a cup of wine to calm her nerves. This was a wine specially made for women, with a low alcohol content, similar to fruit wine.

But Ashidedor didn't like it. She always drank strong liquor. With Tang Zhao's permission, Chunfeng served Ashidedor the strongest liquor.

Ashidedor drank a large bowl of it, and although his tongue was numb from the spiciness, he felt extremely refreshed.

Tang Zhao subtly probed for information while chatting.

Ashidedor complained, "That Consort Zhi is some kind of vixen who has bewitched the Khan into repeatedly disobeying the Empress Dowager. If it were me, I would have executed that vixen."

Ashidedor immediately realized he had let something slip and quickly changed the subject.

Tang Zhao smiled slightly. She knew far more than Ashideduoer, but she followed Ashideduoer's lead and started talking about the pot of peonies.

"It's made of gauze. In the winter, when we had nothing to do, the nanny and the maids made it for fun. I thought it looked pretty, and I also thought that the mansion was too monotonous with all the snow in winter, so I found a lot of flower pots and put them in. It looks pleasing to the eye."

"Why not display real flowers?" The Turkic royal palace has real flowers even in winter, let alone the Great Yu.

"Real flowers are too delicate for me to afford," Tang Zhao joked, pointing to the silk roses in the corner. "Don't these look pretty good too?"

Ashidedor was surprised and glanced again at the huge floor-to-ceiling glass window.

Sheri Tulimaide quietly explained to her, and Ashidedor understood.

"It's really nice, I can even smell the fragrance of flowers," Ashideduoer quickly asked when Tang Zhao brought it up, "May I ask how the princess managed to do that?"

“I ordered my maid to spray the flower petals with floral dew; that’s the scent of floral dew.”

"Flower dew?" Ashidedor asked, puzzled.

Tang Zhao introduced her to the origin and production process of the floral dew, and generously gave her several samples of the floral dew.

Ashidedor was overjoyed. She picked up a small sample bottle and, imitating Tang Zhao, sprayed it on her wrist. Instantly, a refreshing fragrance wafted out. "What's this scent?"

"The scent of lilies," Tang Zhao said, bringing her wrist to Ashideduoer's nose. "Mine smells like roses."

Ashidedor's eyes brightened. "How long can it last?"

"Indoors, it will take at least two days; outdoors, one day is definitely no problem."

"Princess, I'd like to buy some flower dew from you," Ashidedor said excitedly. She had a premonition that this flower dew would replace the Huguang Mirror and become the beloved dew of Turkic noblewomen!
And as a result, she would be even more favored by the Turkic Queen Mother.

Tang Zhao smiled apologetically, "The production of flower dew is complicated and intricate, and it's not even enough to sell to the noble families of Dayu."

"I can offer a high price!" Ashidedor said earnestly, "Twenty percent, no, thirty percent!"

Tang Zhao continued to appear troubled.

“I heard from Maide that Dorje of Tibet was killed, and the princess’s trade with Tibet was cut off. I, Ashide Dorje, am willing to take Dorje’s place and give the princess cattle, sheep, horses and jewels.”

These words were spoken with great sincerity and also solved Tang Zhao's current predicament. "Alright, but I need to source the goods from other places, so please wait a while."

Ashidedor asked anxiously, "How long?"

"At least a month."

Ashidedor nodded, "One month, no problem, one month it is. I also need time to prepare the cattle, sheep and horses for the transaction."

Ashidedor ordered ten bottles of each of the various scents of floral dew, especially the peony floral dew, which she ordered twenty bottles of at once. Tang Zhao couldn't help but marvel at her wealth and generosity.

After seeing the two off, Tang Zhao hurriedly sent a message to the Flower Dew Workshop via carrier pigeon, instructing them to speed up the production of flower dew.

A month later, the deputy manager of the Flower Dew Shop delivered the flower dew to the Protector General's Mansion as promised, and the transaction was completed smoothly.

Tang Zhao looked at the tens of millions of cattle and sheep and was momentarily at a loss as to where to store them.

Ah, what a happy problem!

That afternoon, Tang Zhao generously designated a plot of land north of Wuwei City as a cattle and sheep trading market, where cattle and sheep could be traded at low prices.

Horses are one thing, but buying and selling horses privately is a serious crime.

People from Wuwei flocked to the area upon hearing the news. After a year or two of work-for-relief programs, every household had saved up a considerable amount of money, especially the local farmers. As a result, every family wanted to buy an ox to ease the hardship of farming.

The cattle and sheep trading market was bustling with activity every day, and even King Xuan joined in the fun, buying a hundred cattle and sheep to provide extra food for his soldiers.

Yes, because of Prince Xuan's merit in stabilizing the tea-horse trade, Emperor Pingyuan specially bestowed gold and silver as rewards. With money in hand, Prince Xuan spent it very extravagantly, which caused Consort Qin to make a big fuss.

The reason was simple: Consort Qin was preparing her daughter's dowry.

When a young lady from the Xuan Prince's mansion gets married, the Princess Consort of Xuan will, as is customary, provide a dowry from the public funds. As for the private portion, that depends on each person's ability.

Consort Qin came from a peasant family, meaning she had no family to support. Otherwise, it would be a blessing if she didn't have to take things from Prince Xuan's mansion to support her family. How could she possibly have the money to prepare a dowry for her daughter?

Consort Qin only had designs on King Xuan.

However, due to the rule in the Xuanwang Mansion that men were not allowed to own private property, all of the Xuanwang's salary was managed by the Xuanwang Consort. Under the shrewd management of the Xuanwang Consort, Consort Qin could not extract a single copper coin.

Consort Qin was filled with resentment, so she could only throw a tantrum and make a scene, disturbing the peace of the entire Prince Xuan's residence.

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