Now I really have to marry the princess.

Chapter 41 Rivals Meet, Eyes Filled with Hatred

The next day, Yang Zhengdao set off early for the Wude Hall. Unexpectedly, he ran into Li Hui as soon as he entered the palace.

"Ah Dao, I didn't expect you to be participating in the martial arts training at the Martial Virtue Hall this time!" Li Hui called out from afar.

Yang Zhengdao glanced at Li Hui and fired the first shot: "I heard you leaked information about the 'Complete Treatise on Agriculture'?"

"This..." Li Hui's face stiffened, and his gaze drifted elsewhere.

"Give me half of what you sell."

"Ah..." Li Hui thought Yang Zhengdao would question him about the leak, but it turned out he wanted to share the spoils with him.

He gave an embarrassed smile and said, "I haven't broken even yet."

"Break even?" Yang Zhengdao was stunned. He asked suspiciously, "When did you get the money from me? You got the information from me."

"I've spent hundreds of strings of cash searching for that ancient book, and so much time has passed without any clues, so I was thinking..."

Yang Zhengdao understood; this was a case of deceiving oneself before deceiving others.

He took a deep breath and asked, "Tell me, how many strings of cash did you spend searching for that ancient book?"

"Um, it's about nine hundred strings of cash..."

Yang Zhengdao felt a pang of heartache; what a spendthrift!

It's likely that Li Hui will get a good beating from Prince Li Xiaogong of Hejian because of this, which is why he came up with the idea of ​​selling information to make up for his losses.

With that in mind, Yang Zhengdao had an even better idea.

"Ah Hui, do you know that I encountered some of my old servants from the grasslands in Liyang County this time? They were carrying a few pages of fragmented text, which are very likely from the Complete Treatise on Agriculture."

"Is this really true?!" Li Hui stared wide-eyed in disbelief. He glanced around, then lowered his voice and said, "Those few pages of fragmented text... do they record some kind of miraculous medicine or technique?"

"There are no miraculous medicines or extraordinary skills, but there is a record of a food called hot pot."

Next, Yang Zhengdao's description successfully piqued Li Hui's interest.

Finally, Yang Zhengdao reluctantly sold the blueprints for the hot pot copper pot and matching ceramic stove to Li Hui at a friendly price of one hundred guan.

The copper pot and ceramic stove were simple in nature, and Yang Zhengdao had no intention of keeping them a secret.

If ceramic stoves and copper pots can be widely adopted, hot pot, a novel food, can quickly enter thousands of households in Chang'an.

After all, in this era, only a minority of people dine at restaurants.

Selling hot pot is not as profitable as selling hot pot base!

If it were a wealthy and powerful family in Chang'an, each household would have a set of copper pots and ceramic stoves specifically for hot pot, ensuring a steady stream of business and abundant wealth for their hot pot base.

Yang Zhengdao only needs to possess the secret recipe for hot pot base to make a fortune.

As for the restaurants prepared in the East and West markets, they are all intended to be experiential stores to promote hot pot as a novel food.

Before long, the two arrived at the Wude Hall.

Here, Yang Zhengdao ran into several people he knew.

Cheng Chubi, the third son of Cheng Zhijie, the Duke of Su; Yuchi Baoqi, the second son of Yuchi Gong, the Duke of Wu; and Shi Renji, the second son of Shi Danai, the Duke of Dou.

Including Li Hui, all four of them are from military families, and all of them are the second or youngest sons in their families, so they have no title to inherit.

That's why they come to participate in martial arts training at the Wude Hall, to gain prestige, so that they can be granted official positions.

But what Yang Zhengdao didn't expect was that Changsun Chong, the eldest son of Duke Changsun Wuji of Qi, was also there.

Changsun Wuji was a civil official, and Changsun Chong was also eligible to inherit the title.

Li Hui seemed to have guessed Yang Zhengdao's doubts, so he lowered his voice and teased him in a cheeky tone, "What? You're allowed to come to the Martial Virtue Hall to learn martial arts, but other people's own cousins ​​aren't allowed to come?"

After Li Hui's explanation, Yang Zhengdao learned that the marriage between Li Lizhi and Changsun Chong was definitely off.

Empress Zhangsun decided to betroth the eldest daughter of Duke Huo, Chai Shao, to Zhangsun Chong.

Out of remorse, Li Er arranged for Changsun Chong to participate in the martial arts training at the Wude Hall. After the training, he should be given a good position.

Apart from Yang Zhengdao and a few others who were directly arranged to enter through the back door by Li Er, there were more than a hundred other brave soldiers who had all passed the assessment of the North Gate Garrison and were truly the elite selected for the palace guards.

The person in charge of this martial arts training was Xu Shiji, the Duke of Cao.

The open space in front of the Wude Hall was quite large. Yang Zhengdao and the others were arranged to stand in a line in front of the hall.

There were a dozen or so Northern Army officers serving as military supervisors and instructors around them, but Xu Shiji had not yet appeared.

As the sun slowly rose higher, Yang Zhengdao was reminded of military training in later generations.

It's also thanks to the good foundation of this body, rather than the fragile college student of later generations.

Perhaps it was the instructor's intention, but Yang Zhengdao and the others were arranged to be together.

To Yang Zhengdao's left was Li Hui, and to his right was Changsun Chong. In front of the three of them were Cheng Chubi, Yuchi Baoqi, and Shi Renji.

Cheng Chubi, Yuchi Baoqi, and Shi Renji, probably because their fathers were strict with them, all three of them stood tall and straight like pine trees, unmoving.

In contrast, Li Hui on the left was quite different. Through the original owner's memories, Yang Zhengdao also learned some inside information about the Hejian Prince's family.

Li Xiaogong, the Prince of Hejian, was Li Er's cousin and Li Yuan's nephew. Among the Li Tang imperial family, he was the only general who could command troops independently.

He was highly valued by Li Yuan, and conquered Bashu, quelled Xiao Xian, managed Jingzhou, and pacified half of the southern country.

Even when Emperor Taizong later ordered the construction of the Lingyan Pavilion and ranked merits, Li Xiaogong was ranked second only to Changsun Wuji.

After the Xuanwu Gate Incident, Li Xiaogong relinquished his military power and groomed Li Chongyi and Li Hui to serve as civil officials.

At the same time, he built luxurious mansions and kept singing girls at home to dispel Li Er's suspicions.

As a result, if the upper beam is crooked, the lower beam will also be crooked. This gave Li Hui the opportunity to hang out in Pingkangfang, where he met Yang Zhengdao and became friends with him.

At this moment, Li Hui's legs were numb from standing. He quietly shifted his weight, but was glared at by a Northern Army officer beside him. He quickly stood up straight again.

Changsun Chong on the right is clearly also in good physical condition.

When Yang Zhengdao glanced at Changsun Chong out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Changsun Chong seemed to be looking at him out of the corner of his eye as well.

The moment their eyes met out of the corner of their eye, Changsun Chong snorted coldly and looked away.

He appeared calm, but stood even straighter, as if he were competing with someone.

Yang Zhengdao thought to himself that Changsun Chong probably already knew about his "love" for Chang Le.

Moreover, a little inquiry reveals that the idea of ​​not marrying close relatives was first proposed by him in front of the immortal Sun.

Combining these two points, it becomes self-evident who ruined Changsun Chong's marriage.

Yang Zhengdao was not afraid of Changsun Chong's resentment.

However, if Changsun Wuji, the person in charge of the Guanlong Group, were to retaliate against him, that would be extremely bad.

Yang Zhengdao suspected that this might be another of Li Er's perverse quirks. What was this all about? Rivals meeting, their eyes blazing with hatred?