Not knowing whether it was to prevent the father and son from colluding or to stop them from being unable to restrain themselves and starting a fight, Yuan Li sat between the two of them.

This area was designated for vassal states’ seating. Between the two were Prince Li of Chengguo and Yuan Li, while below Tuoba Liuxiu sat Prince Zhang Shi of Xiliang and his envoy. By rights, Tuoba Liuxiu should have been sitting together with his father.

Prince Li seemed to find this odd as well, and during the meal couldn’t help glancing back and forth between father and son, always frowning when looking at Tuoba Liuxiu.

Yuan Li knew this prince was pure-hearted and valued filial piety greatly. He was the type who, if his father and uncle handed him a knife and told him to commit suicide, would use it to slit his throat without a second word—a completely opposite character from Tuoba Liuxiu.

At the palace banquet, whether it was father and son fighting or two vassal princes fighting, neither would look good, so Yuan Li could only constantly divert his attention, introducing him to various dishes one moment, asking him about Shu cuisine the next, never letting his mind rest idle.

Tuoba Yilu glanced at Tuoba Liuxiu several times, signaling with his eyes when Yuan Li wasn’t paying attention, wanting him to leave his seat so father and son could have a proper talk.

But even though he got up to visit the toilet twice, Tuoba Liuxiu remained nailed to his seat, refusing to move, which infuriated Tuoba Yilu.

Did he not know that Dai was in danger? At this point, he no longer cared about their father-son enmity and only wanted to unite against Zhao Hanzhang.

But clearly Tuoba Liuxiu could not understand him, nor did he want to understand him.

Seeing Zhao Hanzhang look over, Tuoba Yilu held back for a moment, but still took advantage of the performers changing acts to rise and step forward, kneeling on one knee and saying, “Your Majesty, this subject has a memorial to present.”

The performers about to take the stage paused slightly in their steps and gently retreated to wait at the side.

Zhao Hanzhang gestured for Tuoba Yilu to speak.

Tuoba Yilu ground his teeth, but still said, “Your Majesty, this subject requests that my eldest son Tuoba Liuxiu be appointed as Crown Prince of Dai.”

Zhao Hanzhang smiled and said, “This truly fulfills today’s auspicious omens—double happiness indeed. Granted!”

All the officials had no objections either, congratulating Tuoba Yilu and his son one after another while praising the Emperor’s wisdom.

Only Prince Li looked completely bewildered and couldn’t help turning to ask Yuan Li, “General Yuan, wasn’t it said that father and son in Dai were killing each other, that the Dai Prince defeated and captured his own father?”

Yuan Li explained, “Those were just rumors spread by those who wished chaos upon the world. Even upper and lower teeth clash sometimes, let alone father and son?”

“It was merely a dispute between father and son that got a bit loud. Now look, they’ve already reconciled.” Yuan Li smiled and said, “And by the looks of it, they’ll become increasingly harmonious in the future.”

Prince Li looked at Tuoba Yilu and Tuoba Liuxiu, who had been seated separately, half-believing.

Meanwhile, Zhang Shi sitting below them didn’t believe it at all.

Xiliang and the Xianbei had always been rivals, understanding each other well. Compared to Chengguo, he dared not claim complete knowledge of what happened inside Dai, but he knew eight or nine parts out of ten.

Moreover, the conflict between the Tuoba father and son had long roots. Two years ago, his father had predicted that if Tuoba Yilu didn’t change his mind and still insisted on deposing the eldest to establish the younger, Dai would surely fall into chaos.

At that time, if Xiliang suffered no natural disasters, they could seize the opportunity to capture it and recover Dai for the court.

But now it seemed that Xiliang’s military intervention would not be needed.

After thinking it over, Zhang Shi also rose and stepped forward, kneeling on one knee and saying, “Your Majesty, this subject has a treasure to present.”

“Oh?” Zhao Hanzhang leaned forward with great interest. “What is it?”

The palace banquet was scheduled for a short time, so naturally it was impossible to have each vassal king and governor present their gifts individually, so they simply submitted gift lists directly.

For something to be singled out as a treasure, it must be truly precious.

Zhang Shi then presented a box, not very large, just a bit bigger than a palm.

Lai Qing stepped forward to receive it, opening the box facing himself first for Zhao Hanzhang, and only after confirming there was no danger did he pass it forward.

Lai Qing was quite confused, completely unconvinced this counted as a treasure—this flower wasn’t even that attractive.

A small tuft of white, snow-like cotton sat quietly in the box.

Upon seeing what was in the box, Zhao Hanzhang couldn’t help standing up. “Cotton?”

Zhang Shi smiled and said, “Precisely cotton. Your Majesty has been sending people to search for this material. Xiliang was blessed by heaven—last year we rescued a merchant caravan from the Western Regions in the desert, and they had this very material. Xiliang sent people to follow that caravan back, and in May of this year brought back five carts of cotton.”

Zhao Hanzhang asked urgently, “Are there seeds?”

Zhang Shi said, “There are.”

“The people of that Western Region nation guard their seeds especially strictly, not allowing anyone to take them out. Fortunately, the Western Regions are cold, so our people thought to sew the seeds into clothing and shoes, thus smuggling them out.”

Zhao Hanzhang was overjoyed and happily said, “Excellent! Reward everyone who accompanied the caravan, generously!”

Seeing her happiness, Zhang Shi couldn’t help asking, “But I don’t know how to use this material. Xiliang’s craftsmen have tried—this cotton isn’t like our silk threads for weaving.”

He knew this was meant for making clothes; the people from that Western Region caravan had said cotton was mainly used for making garments in their land.

Zhao Hanzhang pinched that tuft of cotton and looked at it, her eyes shining bright as the stars in the sky. “That’s because you haven’t found the method yet. Besides being woven into cloth, its main use is actually for stuffing and compression.”

With cotton, the problem of clothing for warmth would have a solution.

Zhao Hanzhang gripped the cotton in her hand tightly, as if grasping something precious.

Fu Tinghan asked, “How many seeds are there?”

Zhao Hanzhang quickly looked toward Zhang Shi.

Zhang Shi said proudly, “This time, this minor subject has brought ten jin of quality seeds.”

“This…” Zhao Hanzhang looked uncertainly at Fu Tinghan. “Even if we plant individually, one mu would need four or five jin of seeds, right?”

Fu Tinghan nodded. “For seeds with lint, yes, and even more than that.”

Zhao Hanzhang asked Zhang Shi, “How many cotton seeds did you bring back in total?”

Zhang Shi’s heart skipped a beat, and he honestly said, “Fifteen jin in total. Xiliang kept five jin.”

So he felt that Xiliang’s tribute of ten jin was already quite generous, but from the sound of it, it still wasn’t enough?

Zhao Hanzhang asked, “Is that Western Region nation far?”

“Past Shule, you still need to travel west for about five days before reaching it. Near the nation of Dayuan, it’s a newly established small nation called Kang.”

This was their own phonetic translation.

Zhao Hanzhang then had a good idea. She said, “I want to purchase cotton seeds. Whether domestic or foreign citizens, as long as they can bring viable seeds, before this time next year, one jin of cotton will fetch ten gold pieces!”

All the officials gasped and stepped forward one after another to remonstrate, “Your Majesty, please reconsider!”

Changning cried out urgently, “Your Majesty, the national treasury is empty—”

Zhao Hanzhang said, “This money will come from my private treasury.”

Changning choked, but wasn’t pleased either, because her private treasury had always been connected to the national treasury. If she spent large amounts of gold buying cotton seeds, wouldn’t that mean less money available for the national treasury?

Among the crowd, only Zhao Hu’s eyes suddenly lit up. After they finished shouting, he hurriedly asked, “Will you pay in cash?”

Zhao Hanzhang said, “…Yes, cash.”

Zhao Hu’s heart soared. One jin of seeds for ten gold pieces—if he could bring back a hundred jin, wouldn’t that be a thousand gold pieces? A thousand gold pieces!