Chapter 32: The Treasure Hunt (Part 2)
"The envoys of the vassal states offer their congratulations to His Imperial Majesty, wishing him peace and prosperity for ten thousand years, long live, long live, long live!" After the mountain call of "long live", several barbarian envoys began to step forward one by one according to the planned procedure.
"On the orders of my lord, I present to Your Imperial Majesty a private gift from my lord!" The tribute is for the state, that's between nations, and it needs to be presented in a formal setting, like the Golden Hall during a grand assembly. This time, it's a private gift from our lord to the Emperor, so it can only be brought up in this not-so-formal setting.
As several envoys reported, eunuchs had already presented the gifts prepared by those barbarian envoys and checked by the Imperial Guard.
"Mountain? respectfully presents a pair of golden silk soft jade armrests, a seven-clever purple sandalwood ruyi scepter, and a dragon-patterned Tian Huang seal!" The envoy in front loudly reported each of the presented gifts one by one, and explained each precious item one by one.
The Yamaue's Fujikabuto is made from a special kind of extremely hard vine that is native to the mountains, which has undergone countless processes of tanning and weaving by skilled craftsmen before it can be used as armor for battle. This Fujikabuto is impervious to swords and guns, and is also very lightweight, does not sink in water, its only weakness being a fear of fire.
However, this is an ordinary rattan armor. The golden silk soft jade rattan armor dedicated to the emperor is even more exceptional. First of all, the selection of rattan is much stricter, and it can be said that it is a rare treasure among millions. Not only does it maintain the toughness of rattan armor, but also through a special craftsmanship, using the thousand-year-old ice from the Thousand-Year Cold Pool to freeze for over a decade, it has overcome its original weakness of being afraid of fire, making it truly impenetrable to swords and guns, and impervious to water and fire. The only reason is that this thousand-year-old ice is extremely rare, and it can only be used to make one set of armor, otherwise, it would have been widely popularized long ago.
Relatively, the golden silk soft jade is purely for decoration, making it change that rough and coarse appearance of rattan, called a rare treasure that can be worn on the royal body. It's hard to come by, only those soft jades are rarely seen, and being able to find so many pure soft jade decorations also counts as spending some effort.
The seven clever purple sandalwood Ruyi is even more rare, the purple sandalwood itself is a natural treasure, this Ruyi uses the most precious part of the heart of the thousand-year-old purple sandalwood tree, which is only a few inches long. It was carved by the best craftsmen over three years, following the texture of the wood grain, and carved out thread by thread. Using this wooden Ruyi regularly can nourish the body, calm the mind, prolong life and increase longevity, it can be said that it is a rare and precious treasure.
The seal itself is already very precious, and after the Tianhuang stone was carved, there are actually natural dragon patterns hidden on it, which is extremely luxurious. The dragon patterned seal, except for the emperor of the heavenly dynasty, who else dares to use it? When Shan Yueguo got this seal, he knew it was trouble, so he generously gave it to the emperor. Of course, nothing was engraved on the seal, and he didn't dare to engrave anything casually, presenting it to the emperor, let him decide what to engrave.
The more the king offered, the more shocked the officials were. To say that these princes and nobles had never seen anything before would be wrong, it was precisely because they knew what they were looking at that they could appreciate its value, and couldn't help but secretly praise him in their hearts. As for the gifts from the envoys behind, even more anticipation was generated.
Even the emperor was delighted with these things, and when they were presented to him, he couldn't help but touch the golden silk armor, then casually picked up the wooden scepter, admiring it for a moment, extremely satisfied.
There was only one corner that seemed to be completely uninterested in these rare treasures. Qin Yifan, at this moment, seemed to have not heard the introduction of those treasures at all, holding a wine cup and clinking it with Long Tongling beside him. This corner, except for Qin Yifan, were all cultivators, and these mundane treasures, except for that wooden Ruyi, they didn't even bother to take a look.
The emperor, who was high above, saw this scene, but he was far away and didn't say anything. He ordered: "Reward!" Immediately, an imperial attendant brought down a yellow lacquer tray to present to the envoy. The tray was covered with yellow silk, and it was unknown what was on it.
But this is something bestowed by the Son of Heaven, the Emperor of China, and it's enough to make these envoys proud just because of this yellow satin, the first envoy happily accepted it and retreated.
Next, the other envoys took turns displaying their own treasures. To say that they had brought a lot of good things this time was no exaggeration.
A unified Jiangshan marble screen, the whole screen is made of a large piece of marble, the most amazing thing is that the natural pattern on it is like a landscape painting of mountains and rivers, this kind of naturally generated pattern, combined with the phrase "unifying Jiangshan", really makes the value of this screen increase exponentially.
A pair of pure-bred Ferghana horses, their bodies strong and majestic, with an air of grandeur. When they gallop, the wind whizzes by, earning them the reputation of being able to travel a thousand miles in a day and eight hundred at night. Locked in their enclosure, their wild nature untamed, they kick and bite at the thick wooden bars, leaving gaps everywhere. Fortunately, the enclosure is sturdy, or else they would have escaped. With just one long whinny, they left all the military officers present with mouths agape.
Three feet long pure coral, fist-sized top-quality black pearls, all sorts of legendary things, made a group of kings and ministers who claimed to be knowledgeable and experienced, all eyes wide with wonder. Even an envoy brought an unknown living creature, shaped strangely, claiming it was auspicious, to present to the Emperor.
The emperor was overjoyed when he received these things. The items themselves were good, but the key point was that a few of them came with an extra auspicious touch, whether it was the unification of the rivers and mountains or the dragon-patterned seal, all of which made the emperor particularly happy.
Everyone was watching with mouths watering, but there were a few people who remained unmoved, eating and drinking as usual, as if the lively atmosphere of the international gathering had nothing to do with them. Even though they were in a remote corner, they were still very eye-catching.
It is the responsibility of envoys to show off the rare treasures they bring and let the rulers of China know about the prosperity of their own country. Moreover, everyone has agreed that this time, taking advantage of the opportunity, they will also make the rulers of China lose face in some aspects. Although China's national prestige is very strong, there are some things that China cannot compare to the so-called foreign countries. The expressions of those people when they saw these rare treasures just now were very delightful for all the envoys. Of course, they only dare to show off in this aspect and no one dares to say anything about military matters.
It's surprising that there are still a few people who don't take these things seriously, and yet they're just ordinary civilians. How can they possibly satisfy several envoys? Immediately afterwards, a few people exchanged glances with each other while the group of officials were admiring those things.
