Inheriting a Taoist temple, the story begins with Wu Zetian offering incense.

Chapter 326 "A few local products from the Western Regions, not worth mentioning!" [Requesting monthly votes]

Inside the Martial Virtue Hall of the Kaiyuan World, Granny Gongsun, while eating the palace snacks brought by Gao Lishi, asked:
"Wasn't your idol Emperor Taizong? Why did you change it again?"

Li Longji gave an awkward smile:
"As a child, I lived in constant fear. I longed to be an envoy like the Marquis of Dingyuan, to pacify the Western Regions and free the Tang Dynasty from border troubles... Unfortunately, before my dream could be realized, I became emperor in a muddle. What can I do?"

Grandma Gongsun took a bite of a pastry covered in melon seeds:
"Stop showing off... Marquis Dingyuan now has twenty-six close followers. Prepare twenty-six sets of Mingguang armor, as well as weapons like horse spears and Tang Hengdao swords, according to the standards of ten thousand cavalry. As for Ban Chao himself, equip him according to Chen Xuanli's rank... As for other aspects, you can provide whatever you think is appropriate."

There was a reason why Ban Chao was provided with Tang Dynasty military equipment. The Han Dynasty valued restraint, and the Western Region people, who lacked knowledge and culture, often had no idea how powerful and mighty the Han Dynasty was.

At this point, the flamboyant, exaggerated, and unrestrained Tang-style weapons would be appropriate.

Whether it's armor or weapons, everything is polished to a shine and decorated with various intricate patterns and ribbons. Although it looks like something a nouveau riche would wear, the foreign tribes love it.

After listening, Li Longji issued an imperial decree:
"Prepare one set of the Golden Guard General's Armor and its matching weapons, twenty-six sets of the Feathered Forest Guard Captain's Armor and its matching weapons, and one hundred sets of the Ten Thousand Cavalry Armor and its matching weapons. Deliver them to Yiyuan Temple before sunset, without fail!"

The armor of the General of the Golden Guard was gold, while the armor of the Captain of the Feathered Forest Guard was bright silver. These two types of armor were very suitable for Ban Chao and his entourage.

Logically, that should have been enough, but Li Longji felt that supporting his idol was not easy, and a mere twenty-seven sets of military equipment was not enough, so he added one hundred sets of 10,000-cavalry military equipment so that Ban Chao could develop his own force.

One hundred armored followers would be an invincible force in the Western Regions during the Han Dynasty, where half of the population used bronze weapons.

As for the issue of loyalty, Ban Chao had a token in his hand, which allowed him to easily select obedient followers, or even rulers, from the various kingdoms of the Western Regions.

When it comes to deities, the efficiency of the Tang Dynasty's Military Equipment Bureau is quite fast.

Before long, truckloads of military equipment and weapons were delivered to Yiyuan Temple.

These weapons may not sound like much, but they are actually quite impressive. For example, the weapons include long weapons such as the horse lance, close-combat weapons such as the Tang sword, defensive weapons such as the shield sword, ranged weapons such as bows and arrows, and communication magic weapons such as the whistling arrow. They are armed to the teeth.

These weapons were piled up in the courtyard of Yiyuan Temple. A group of people who were reading high school math textbooks put down their books, got up and came to the courtyard. They stood in front of the weapons and began to recite scriptures softly.

Gongsun Da Niang asked:

"Little monk, what are you doing? Trying to send these murderous weapons to the afterlife?"

One line shook its head:
"This humble monk is reciting the Vajra Sutra, which can make the souls of those who have fallen by the sword depart faster..."

Yan Zhenqing, who was sitting on the porch eating Doritos, asked in a childish voice:
Doesn't Buddhism encourage people to do good?

Princess Taiping liked the little guy very much, and rubbed his head, saying:

"Kill the bad guys, and all that's left are good people."

Meanwhile, inside the Hunyuan Palace, Li Qingzhao was happily munching on chicken wings. She wanted a small glass of sweet water, but worried that it would affect her studies, so she reluctantly refrained from drinking it.

Well, it's not too late to drink it after the textbooks are compiled. We can just chug it straight from the bottle then!

Zhou Yi glanced at the calendar and said:
"Ban Chao and Gongsun Da Niang will be coming tomorrow. Meiniang, stay here and explain various things to Ban Chao so he can learn more. Gongsun and Xi Shi, come with me to the crane factory to perform a ritual."

Tomorrow is the last time. After that, I can focus on preparing for the big gathering the day after tomorrow and also research that important topic—leading people to conduct experiments.

Goods can be brought over, living things can be brought over, now it's time to see if we can bring people over.

Zhou Yi had mentioned this to Wu Meiniang before, and Wu Meiniang had always wanted to bring Li Mingda with her, but she did not try it rashly. What if Li Mingda disappeared from there and did not appear in Hunyuan Palace, but instead got lost in the space-time passage? Wouldn't that leave her at a loss?

Therefore, after discussing this with everyone, we need to be careful and make thorough preparations before bringing people along. Before bringing people, we should also set up offerings in the Sanqing Hall to increase the success rate as much as possible.

In the evening, Zhou Yi chopped a chicken into small pieces, sprinkled it with chopped chili peppers, and steamed it thoroughly in a steamer.

The steamed chicken was tender and not greasy, and the chopped chili peppers added a spicy flavor. The beautiful woman enjoyed the meal very much and planned to take some chopped chili peppers with her when she left, specifically to use for mixing with noodles.

The next morning, Xi Shi started cooking in the kitchen.

First, cook the pumpkin and millet porridge. Then, pick a bottle gourd from the vegetable garden, wash it, grate it into shreds, add some shredded carrots, crack in a few eggs, add salt and seasonings, and finally stir it into a paste with flour.

Heat oil in a frying pan, scoop a spoonful of batter onto it and spread it out. This is the newest dish that the beautiful lady has learned to make: batter pancakes, also known as vegetable pancakes.

Li Qingzhao, who was brushing her teeth, followed the aroma to the kitchen. She glanced at the pancakes that had just been fried, quickly finished brushing her teeth, and hastily washed her face before excitedly heading to the kitchen.
"Sister Xi Shi's cooking skills are truly superb. I am not very talented, but I would like to help you taste the saltiness."

Xi Shi smiled and said:

"Eat if you want, I'm afraid you won't like it."

Li Qingzhao picked up a pancake from the plate, tasted it, and gave Xi Shi a thumbs up: "Super delicious, AA+, top-notch!"

Zhou Yi had just finished brushing his teeth and was about to rinse his mouth when he heard this and almost swallowed the toothpaste foam:
"Did you stay up late last night secretly watching 'Infernal Affairs'?"

Li Qingzhao smiled awkwardly:
"I only watched some short clips, I didn't finish watching it. Immortal Master, are there any gangsters around here?"

Zhou Yi nodded:

"Yes, you can spend money to eat at a restaurant, and just because you complain about the food online, the restaurant owner will issue a hit order against you... Even the Mafia and Mexican drug lords aren't that ruthless."

Li Qingzhao was so surprised that she forgot to eat her pancake:
"I didn't know eating at a restaurant was so dangerous! Luckily, I like your cooking, so I don't have to take that risk."

Just then, Granny Gongsun arrived on her electric scooter:
"Haha, I made it in time for breakfast. Brother Li Bai, come again tomorrow. I brought His Majesty's gift for Marquis Dingyuan and came ahead to scout the place."

Breakfast was ready, and everyone sat down in the dining room to eat.

Granny Gongsun started reciting the names on the household registration book and asked Zhou Yi:
"Master, have you chosen a name for me yet?"

Li Qingzhao immediately raised her hand and said:
"I've decided on the name. Let's call him Gongsun Ran. Ran means 'rising slowly,' and it got a perfect score on the name-generating website, matching your birth date and time. What do you think?"

Gongsun Da Niang's eyes lit up:
"Good, this is much better than Gongsun Tiechui and Gongsun Cuihua. The Taoist priest is terrible at naming things; he can only fool me with names like this."

Halfway through breakfast, Zhou Yi was startled by the sudden neighing of horses in the courtyard. When he went outside, he discovered a herd of horses outside the gate.

Ban Chao squeezed his way out of the herd of horses, not expecting this situation. He grabbed the whip and quickly gathered the horses, fearing they would wreak havoc on the vegetable garden in the courtyard.

Zhou Yi and the four beauties forgot about their meal and rushed over to help. They drove all the warhorses that Ban Chao had brought to the back mountain, added a lot of high-protein feed to the animal troughs, and changed the water in the water troughs to clean water.

Wu Zetian noticed that several dozen horses were significantly taller and more magnificent, their coats glossy like satin. She asked Ban Chao:
"Is that an Akhal-Teke horse?"

Ban Chao nodded:

“Shache was once part of Dayuan, and its nobles possessed the breeding techniques for Akhal-Teke horses. I have brought thirty Akhal-Teke horses and ten stallions with me on this trip. Please accept them.”

Everyone present knew how precious the Akhal-Teke horses were. Ban Chao's decision to bring out thirty warhorses and ten stallions in one go had probably emptied Shache's coffers.

To be honest, the old man is a really honest man!
Fortunately, Lady Gongsun was prepared and said to Ban Chao:

"Emperor Li Longji of our Kaiyuan world has gifted you over a hundred sets of armor and various weapons, hoping that the old general will achieve many victories in the Western Regions and spread the good name of China!"

After saying this, she excitedly ran to Xiaopenglai, carrying a three-meter-long lance, and rushed back to show Ban Chao. Ban Chao was so happy that he didn't know what to say:
"I only brought some worthless local products from the Western Regions, yet you have gifted me divine weapons. It is a pity that I cannot thank you in person. Please forgive me, Emperor Li."

Gongsun Da Niang pulled Wu Meiniang aside and said:
"If Marquis Dingyuan wants to express his gratitude, he should thank the head steward of Hunyuan Palace. The emperor of our world is her grandson."

Ban Chao was startled, but then realized that they were grandfather and grandson from different times.

After settling the horses in, everyone washed their hands and returned to the restaurant to continue their meal. Ban Chao also enjoyed the breakfast at Hunyuan Palace and thought every dish was a delicacy.

After the meal, he took out several bamboo slips with the foot lengths of his attendants written on them.

Li Qingzhao calculated that she planned to go to the labor protection store in town at noon to buy all the shoes she needed. Since the Kaiyuan World had donated supplies, as a representative of the Zhezong World, she had to reciprocate.

There are many types of work shoes: low-top, high-top, puncture-proof... Li Qingzhao planned to buy them all, and if the sizes were not all available, she would ask the shop owner to quickly restock.

In short, before Ban Chao left, he insisted that Ban Chao take all sorts of new shoes with him back with him.

Upon learning that eight-year-old Ban Yong had been following Ban Chao around, the talented young woman immediately announced that she would take care of all of Ban Yong's food, clothing, and daily necessities from now on!
I can't help with other things, but I can definitely help with buying clothes and shoes.

Ban Chao stayed at Hunyuan Palace, learning modern knowledge from Wu Meiniang and Li Qingzhao. Gongsun Da Niang changed into a red Taoist robe and went to the crane factory with Zhou Yi and Xi Shi to perform a ritual.

Meanwhile, in the world of Emperor Yuan of the Western Han Dynasty, in the Yellow River beach area near Zhongwei, Chen Tang was hunting down a group of Qiang cavalry. He raised a drone and, through a walkie-talkie, coordinated with Wang Zhang to form a pincer movement and wipe out the Qiang cavalry in one fell swoop.

Wang Zhang said:

"The land in the Yellow River floodplain is fertile and should be developed into good farmland. Does General Zigong have this idea?"

Chen Tang nodded:

"Tomorrow when I go to Hunyuan Palace, I will ask the Immortal Master to bestow county names... Beidi County and Anding County, several new counties need to be added, so as to prevent the northwestern region from being influenced by the barbarians!"

(End of this chapter)