Although he had ulterior motives, Zhao Junchen’s proposal was indeed tempting. The owners of several famous gardens in Suzhou were not saints, so naturally he was very excited. ↖,
After you are moved, don't expect them to have any bottom line when fighting for you.
Next, they either boasted about the advantages of their own garden, or insinuated the shortcomings of the other party's garden, or expressed their loyalty to Emperor Deqing, or exposed the personal morality of others, and temporarily stayed for Emperor Deqing.
The qualifications of my own garden have been completely ruined. There is no longer the harmonious atmosphere just now, and there is going to be a fight.
Even Hui Bao, who looks like an eminent monk, and Wan Changling, who looks like a Taoist teacher, are both unavoidable. In fact, among everyone, they are the most active and active, eating statues.
It is also the most ugly.
For example, Wan Changling publicly mocked the owner of the Lotus Garden, Liu Bolai, for having an affair with his daughter-in-law, completely ignoring the generation-to-generation friendship between the Wan and Liu families; while Hui Bao was a little more reserved, but also complained to Zhao Junchen about Nan Chan
The believers of the temple were exploited and oppressed by the local wealthy family, and the words implicitly reflected Niu Jinyan, the owner of Wanbai Villa.
Under the instigation of Wan Changling and Hui Bao, everyone was not willing to be humiliated and fought back one after another. What stories had to be told between the monks and female believers in Nanchan Temple, what Wan Changling liked masculine styles and cultivated male favorites, what
Wang Longzhi opened a brothel to force girls into prostitution, and so on and so forth.
As a result, the banquet hosted by Zhao Junchen actually turned into a meeting for the Suzhou wealthy families to expose each other's shortcomings, which allowed Zhao Junchen to know a lot of scandals and inside stories.
If Zhao Junchen were asked to sum it up in one sentence, it would be "none of these people in front of me are good people"!
Almost all garden owners have been exposed or slandered by others. On the contrary, Xu Manhua, the owner of the western part of the Humble Administrator's Garden, who looks down and out, has no one to criticize, after all, in the eyes of everyone. The Xu family has been in decline for many years, and the western part of the Humble Administrator's Garden has also become a
It was a mess. So Xu Manhua had no qualifications to compete at all, so there was no need to waste energy on dealing with him.
While the various garden owners were fighting endlessly, although Zhao Junchen was disdainful, he had no intention of stopping it, let alone any interest in getting involved. He just listened with a smile, without commenting or showing any inclination.
On the other side, after fighting for a long time, the garden owners finally gradually discovered something strange about Zhao Junchen.
Then, they suddenly discovered that all the previous fights were of little use. Which garden Emperor Deqing would stay in temporarily would ultimately depend on Zhao Junchen's attitude.
Among them, Hui Bao felt that he was a monk and had the least black spots, so he asked tentatively: "Master Zhao, since you have summoned us, you must have an idea. Which garden do you think is the most suitable for His Majesty to move to?"
After a pause, Huibao said subconsciously: "I heard that His Majesty has always believed in Buddhism, and Nanchan Temple is one of the largest temples in Nanzhili. Canglang Pavilion is not only the oldest garden in Suzhou. Passing by Nanchan Temple
After many years of operation, it is also a Buddhist holy place, and I think your majesty will definitely like it. In my humble opinion, it is most suitable for your majesty to settle in Canglang Pavilion."
On the side, Wang Longzhi snorted softly and said: "In the Great Hall of Canglang Pavilion, countless believers go there every day to burn incense and worship Buddha. The people are inevitably mixed. In this way, how can the safety of His Majesty be guaranteed? If a believer accidentally bumps into His Majesty,
, so what? Is it possible that when His Majesty comes to Canglang Pavilion, Master Huibao will shut out all ordinary believers? This is a way, but if Master Huibao does this, it will inevitably violate the principle of equality of all living beings.
The purpose of Buddhism, once this matter falls into the ears of others, I am afraid it will also affect the reputation of Master Huibao, a great Buddhist sect."
"Amitabha!" After reciting the Buddha's name, Hui Bao lowered his eyes and said, "If Your Majesty comes to Canglang Pavilion, it will not only enhance the reputation of Buddhism, but also benefit countless Buddhist believers. In comparison, even if a poor monk is misunderstood by others,
Yes, they are all small details."
Wang Longzhi smiled sarcastically and said: "I admire you the most, Master Huibao, for your high-sounding ability. It's a pity that Nanchan Temple receives so much incense money every year, and I haven't seen you do any good deeds. But it's your body type that Master Huibao has."
The richer you become, the more luxurious your cassock becomes."
Seeing that everyone was about to fall into a fight again, Zhao Junchen finally spoke slowly.
"I hope you can forgive me. I suddenly thought of something just now. I was so absorbed in it that I neglected everyone. I'm really sorry." After saying that, without waiting for anyone to ask, Zhao Junchen went on to explain: "I just thought of something.
After His Majesty moved to the Jiangnan Garden, unlike his palace and official residence, all preparations had to be rearranged. Whether it was ceremonial guards, guards or daily expenses, they all cost a lot of money. The money in the court is not rich now, and His Majesty is touring the south.
My budget is also very tight, so I need to carefully consider how to get this money out... In addition, for occupying your residence, the court should compensate you a little or two."
After hearing what Zhao Junchen said, what did everyone not understand?
Wan Changling was the first to say: "What are you talking about, Mr. Zhao? If Your Majesty moves to the Lion Forest of my Wan family, it will be a great honor for our Wan family. How can our Wan family dare to ask for compensation from the imperial court? Mr. Zhao is really overly concerned.
Already."
Wang Longzhi has been in business for many years and is the most wealthy. He then said: "If His Majesty is willing to move to the Humble Administrator's Garden, my Wang family will not only never ask for compensation, but will also fund His Majesty's southern tour with 10,000 taels of silver as a token of appreciation."
"I think the Zhao family also dare not ask for compensation, and will also fund 13,000 taels of silver for His Majesty's southern tour."
"We, Heyuan, are willing to sponsor fifteen thousand taels of silver."
"The Niu family of Wanbai Villa is willing to sponsor eighteen thousand taels of silver!"
It is unbelievable that someone else lives in your own garden, but you still need to pay a large amount of money.
However, driven by interests, any strange and inexplicable behavior will have its reasonable reasons.
Many times, for many things, the superiors will always make some surprising and seemingly stupid decisions. There are obviously better ways and better directions, but the superiors just turn a blind eye. This is not actually because of the superiors.
Short-sightedness and lack of wisdom. In fact, any extremely stupid and short-sighted decision is often the result of a group of smart people competing for their own interests.
For example, this is the case at this time!
Zhao Junchen secretly sighed as he watched the various garden owners throw out large sums of money just to allow Emperor Deqing to stay in their gardens for a few days.
While in the temple, Zhao Junchen felt particularly deeply about this point.
And just as Zhao Junchen was secretly sighing, Wang Longzhi saw others raising their prices, snorted softly, and said again: "I, Wang Longzhi, are willing to sponsor your Majesty's southern tour of thirty thousand taels of silver!"
Wang Longzhi is worthy of being a wealthy businessman who has been doing business for many years, and he has nearly doubled the amount of money in one breath. This is not only Wang Longzhi's courage to make money, but also Wang Longzhi's determination to win.
After hearing Wang Longzhi's bid, most of the others fell silent. After all, although the property of these garden owners is abundant, most of it is real estate accumulated over generations. This is not Yangzhou where Huizhou merchants gather. Not everyone can be like Wang Longzhi.
Generally, you can spend thousands of dollars.
Just when Wang Longzhi thought he was sure to win, Hui Bao on the side suddenly spoke after a moment of silence: "Amitabha, our Nanchan Temple is willing to sponsor 60,000 taels of silver as a fund for His Majesty's southern tour."
Following Hui Bao's words, everyone in the room was shocked.
Everyone knows that Nanzen Temple, as a large temple that has been in operation for hundreds of years, is full of incense every day and has countless believers. From time to time, believers even donate all their property to Nanzen Temple, so Nanzen Temple must be rich.
It was a shame, but no one expected that Nanchan Temple would be so rich that he could sell out 60,000 taels of silver in one go, which was twice as high as Wang Longzhi’s bid!
For a while, even Wang Longzhi found it difficult to quote a higher price. After all, although Wang Longzhi was a famous merchant in Suzhou, he only ran an ordinary business. He was not a member of the Salt Merchants Association, and he was not as wealthy as anyone in the country.
.
Seeing this scene, Zhao Junchen smiled softly.
In fact, this result was also within Zhao Junchen's expectation.
For Zhao Junchen's next plan, it is indeed the best choice to let Emperor Deqing stay in Canglang Pavilion.