After walking up the winding mountain road for about a quarter of an hour, a small, dilapidated village appeared in front of us.
The small village is located in a soothing area at the foot of the mountainside, with a small river running through it to the east. Most of the houses in the middle are made of grass and trees. They look like they will be blown down by a gust of wind. They are much simpler than the refugee shacks outside Caishi Town.
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"Master Baihu, this small place is too simple. Master Baihu, please don't take offense!" The young father-in-law also felt that this place was too intimidating, so he bowed to Liu Ruyi with some embarrassment.
Liu Ruyi couldn't take it seriously. She raised her hands and said with a smile: "Father, you are too polite! It's all for the emperor and the court. I admire my father-in-law for working hard in a place like this!"
The young father-in-law felt relieved when he saw that Liu Ruyi's words were sincere and his expression did not seem to be fake, and he smiled and said: "Master Baihu is such a sweet-tempered person! Come on, let's go to the front and have a sip of hot tea before we talk!"
Walking along the center of the village and climbing up a hill, I saw a dozen adobe houses built of bricks and stones. Although these houses were somewhat dilapidated, compared with those in the village, they could be called
'Luxury villa', this is where the little father-in-law and more than a dozen royal guards live.
After walking into the middle house and sitting down, a young eunuch served fragrant tea to the two of them. The young father-in-law smiled and said: "Master Baihu has traveled across mountains and rivers, working tirelessly to come to this small temple of Zajia. I don't know what the business is."
? Let’s talk about family scandals at the beginning. Eunuch Ding specifically gave instructions here. You can’t get away with it!”
'Leave the water' apparently means putting out fires, but here, the little father-in-law means to tell Liu Ruyi that this gold mine is being watched by big shots from above, and it's okay to make a small fuss.
It is definitely not possible to make big deals here!
Although this little father-in-law is young and occasionally a little childish, when it comes to serious matters, his mind is not confused and he draws the bottom line clearly.
Liu Ruyi also put away her contempt in her heart, cupped her hands and said with a smile: "What my father-in-law said is absolutely true! It should be like this, how can Liu cause trouble to my father-in-law? However, this matter..."
After Liu Ruyi finished speaking, she glanced around pretending to be unintentional.
The young father-in-law agreed, and gently waved his hand, signaling the few guards in royal robes and the young eunuchs waiting on the side to retreat. When they walked away, he suddenly lowered his voice and said, "I don't know, Mr. Baihu, how much do you want to eat? Here at Zajia's house
There are still some stocks, if Master Baihu can eat them all, we can take a look at the goods first!"
After he finished speaking, he took out a few shining grains of gold sand from his arms and handed them to Liu Ruyi.
Liu Ruyi took the golden sand and observed it carefully. The color was quite pure. He put it in his mouth and took a bite. It was moderately soft and hard. Although there were some impurities in the middle, the quality should be pretty good.
In this era, due to the limitation of productivity, equipment and tools are far from being comparable to those of later generations. Seventy or eighty percent of the gold content is considered good. Even the jewelry used by the royal family can only be refined once or twice at most.
, it is almost impossible to achieve the 99% gold content of later generations.
Based on this inference, the young father-in-law should have brought out some good stuff, and Liu Ruyi gradually felt relieved.
"I wonder how much my father-in-law has this kind of stuff? If the prices are about the same, I'll take them all!" Liu Ruyi said cheerfully.
"Master Baihu is such a happy person!"
The little father-in-law instantly beamed. He bowed slightly to Liu Ruyi, walked to the secret compartment behind the wooden beams in the room, carefully carried a small box, and handed it to Liu Ruyi, "Master Baihu, the market is not going well these days.
Okay, that’s all we have! If Mr. Baihu waits for a while longer, maybe the Zajia family can get some more!”
The eunuchs have lost the most important thing, and that money is the eternal goal they pursue! It has been like this throughout the ages!
Liu Ruyi took out the red bag from the box, unwrapped it and checked it. The golden piece was full of gold sand the size of rice grains. When he weighed it in his hand, it weighed about half a catty.
"I wonder what price your father-in-law wants?" Liu Ruyi returned the gold bag to the young father-in-law and stared directly into his eyes.
The little father-in-law gritted his teeth, hesitated for a moment, seemed to have made a great determination, and uttered a few words with difficulty: "One thousand taels, no more!"
"Haha——!" Liu Ruyi suddenly laughed loudly.
A pound of Ming Dynasty gold is sixteen taels, and this bag of gold sand is about ten taels. According to the ratio on the official market, one tael of gold can be exchanged for about ten taels of silver. On the black market, the price is higher, but it is not high.
Where to go.
The young father-in-law only paid one thousand taels, which is almost the same as the official market price. But after all, this is ‘black gold’ and cannot be seen in the light. He is definitely talking like a lion!
"What's the matter? Bai, Baihu is not satisfied?" The little father-in-law felt a little guilty.
But Liu Ruyi didn't give him a chance to breathe at all. She stared into his eyes with her sharp eyes, "My father-in-law is bullying me, am I a stranger? At such a price, I'm still making a lot of money!"
"Hundred, Mr. Baihu, please calm down! Everything can be discussed! If, if it doesn't work, nine hundred taels can be done!" After all, this young father-in-law has little experience in human affairs. When Liu Ruyi pressed him, he panicked and couldn't speak.
Not very neat.
After all, this is trying to pry Emperor Chongzhen's corner. Although gold mines, iron mines, and coal mines all over the country are doing this, no one has the courage to put it out in the open.
One hundred heads are not enough to chop off! With Emperor Chongzhen’s temper, it would be easy to kill all nine of his clans!
"Hey!" Liu Ruyi pretended to sigh and took a long breath, "Father-in-law, don't blame Liu for telling the truth. According to the current market situation, Liu will give you 800 taels, which is already the most! This thing, father-in-law,
You should know it in your heart! Even if you want to sell it, someone has to dare to take it!"
"But, but, there are such brothers under the Zajia family. If it's eight hundred taels, the Zajia family, the Zajia family can't explain to the brothers!" The little father-in-law was already a little scared, and his eyes were filled with worry when he looked at Liu Ruyi.
A pleading look.
After all, he is still a child. He must have mustered up a lot of courage to have the courage to sell these gold particles. Now that the price cannot be negotiated, he naturally feels more guilty, for fear that something will go wrong!
Liu Ruyi picked up the tea cup, took a sip of tea, and said with a faint smile: "Father, what am I? How should I put it? Although I can be considered a businessman, I usually have a problem, that is, I like the most
Make friends! If you find it difficult for me, father-in-law, even if I give you an extra thousand or two thousand taels, it’s not a big deal. I’ll just treat you as a friend, father-in-law! It’s just..."
Liu Ruyi said, and gave the little father-in-law a embarrassed look.
"Master Baihu, Master Baihu, if you have anything to do, just tell me! As long as I can do it, I will never frown! I think Master Baihu has a majestic appearance and unique bones. He must be a dragon or a phoenix among men."
, the future is limitless! I am honored to have the honor of being friends with Master Baihu!"
After all, this young father-in-law was born in the palace, and he was very sharp-tongued. Inadvertently, he changed his title. He didn't even dare to call himself 'miscellaneous family', and directly replaced him with 'slave'. His attitude was as respectful as the master who served him.
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In fact, eunuchs are a very dangerous profession. Even though those great eunuchs were so powerful and arrogant for a while, all of this was based on the emperor's trust!
If the emperor trusts him, he will be inferior to one person and superior to tens of thousands of people, such as the great eunuchs Wang Zhen, Liu Jin, and Nine Thousand Years Old.
In comparison, I’m afraid it’s not as good as anything!
‘Nine Thousand Years Old’ can be regarded as a man of power, right?
Throughout the Tianqi years, he had the final say on everything from the emperor and his ministers to the people in the market! Even if Tianqi wants to be blessed with his favorite concubine, he must first get the nod of the 'Nine Thousand Years Old'! Even
Therefore, 'Nine Thousand Years Old' often handed over the palace daughters whom Lord Tianqi had slept with to his nephews for humiliation, just so that he could conceive a 'dragon seed'.
Even for a person like him, as soon as Master Tianqi left, in less than a year, Emperor Chongzhen ransacked his family and exterminated his family, killing everyone. The greedy billions of family wealth also arrogantly made a wedding dress for others!
To put it bluntly, the eunuch is the dog raised by the emperor! If he is given food, he will bark! If he is not given food, he will starve to death!
Like this little father-in-law, he seems to be alone and majestic, but all this is based on the trust of the great eunuch Ding Si. If he loses the trust of Ding Si, there will be consequences.
As you can imagine! Of course, it’s not impossible for a salted fish to turn around, but it’s definitely rare!
"Father-in-law, if you want to say that, you are talking about it! I really want to make friends with you, my father-in-law. If you are so polite, doesn't it mean that you are treating Liu as an outsider?" Liu Ruyi looked at the little father-in-law pretending to be angry.
At first glance, it seemed like they couldn't reach an agreement and were about to leave.
"Master Baihu, slave, slave, I know I'm wrong! I have something to say, I have something to say!" The little father-in-law said in fear, wishing he could kneel down and kowtow to Liu Ruyi.
Although he is the 'number one' here, he is still young after all. Even with Ding Si backing him up, it would be quite difficult to suppress the group of senior men in uniforms! In this way, it is not easy to find a buyer.
If you come to the door, you can share some of the pressure for him, so how can he let it go so easily?
Silver is always the most powerful weapon!
With money, he is the eldest father-in-law, a superior little father-in-law! If he loses the money and cannot bring benefits to his brothers, then he will never be able to secure his position!
Seeing that the initiative was completely in his own hands, and that the little father-in-law's inner defense was about the same, Liu Ruyi smiled slightly and said: "Father-in-law, hearing what you said, I suddenly remembered that Liu really has a little thing to do.
Excuse me, father-in-law!"
The young father-in-law was overjoyed and took Liu Ruyi's hand and said excitedly: "Master Baihu, if you have something to do, just give me your orders! As long as I can speak to you, I will definitely try my best to do it for you!"
"Thank you so much, father-in-law! It's not a big deal, it's just..." Liu Ruyi was about to say the main topic when she suddenly heard "boom, boom, boom" outside. There were several loud noises in succession, and the whole world shook.