Lan Haochen was surprised: "Could it be that Brother Li wants to bet 10,000 taels?"
Li Hu nodded and said, "That's ten thousand taels."
Lan Haochen smiled bitterly and said: "Lan's family wealth is limited, but he cannot afford such a large amount of gambling capital."
In fact, Li Hu is much poorer than Lan Haochen. The silver equivalent of the jewelry he collected from the Zhu Huichan siblings has been spent over the years. Now he only has a few copper coins left in his pocket.
However, he seemed to have forgotten all this and said: "Ten thousand taels of silver is just a small amount. As long as you can win one and a half moves, I will give it to you right away. If you lose accidentally, it doesn't matter. Just promise me one thing." "
Lan Haochen asked: "What is it?"
Li Hu grinned and said: "It's just a small matter. There are many people here, let's go over there and talk about it."
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Yonghe Palace is one of the six eastern palaces of the inner court, not too far from Donghua Gate.
However, the so-called not too far away, in this huge Forbidden City, you still have to pass through many courtyards. Once you enter the palace, you will see that the buildings in the palace are all red walls and gold tiles, and there are many precious plants planted in the courtyards. Flowers, plants, potted plants, exotic rocks and trees abound, which opened his eyes.
From Yongle Emperor Zhu Di to today's Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youjian, there have been fourteen emperors in the Forbidden Imperial City, and they have also experienced the Ming Dynasty from its rise to its decline. Even though the Ming Dynasty now has an empty treasury, the previous Many emperors have spent huge sums of money on decoration and expansion, and have collected many treasures from all over the world and placed them in the palace. No other place in the world can match the luxury of this Forbidden City.
Hua Bushi has also seen the Crystal Palace on Black Dragon Island. Although there is a large amount of gold and silver treasures stored there, its scale is much smaller. The Black Dragon Palace is just a pirate dominating one side of the South China Sea. How can it compete with the Ming Dynasty for more than two hundred years? Compared with Hongtu Foundation
After entering the palace gate, there were often eunuchs and maids coming and going. When they saw Chen Ping, Cao Muyun and their entourage, they all stood by the roadside and bowed and saluted, waiting for the group to pass by before continuing. Of course, these people were not interested in Cao Muyun. Dare to be disrespectful and respectful to Chen Ping, which shows that this old eunuch's status in the palace should not be low.
After a cup of tea, the three of them came to a palace courtyard. They saw three golden words "Yonghe Gate" on the plaque under the palace gate. They thought this was the Yonghe Palace where the emperor was.
There was a row of four eunuchs standing outside the door. They were all wearing royal blue brocade gowns and silk hats. Their attire was different from the eunuchs seen on the road before. There were more than ten Ouchi guards with swords beside them. These people saw Cao Muyun arrived but did not salute
Chen Ping walked forward and chatted in a low voice with a blue-shirted eunuch outside the door. Then he turned to Cao Muyun and said, "Your Majesty is drinking tea in the palace. The noble concubine Tian is also in the palace. Do you want me to come in and report it?" "
Cao Muyun said: "Thank you, Eunuch Chen."
Chen Ping said he did not dare to turn around and walk towards the palace gate. The four blue-shirted eunuchs stepped aside. It turned out that Chen Ping was the head eunuch serving the emperor, and these blue-shirted eunuchs were all his subordinates.
Chen Ping walked into the palace gate and waited for a long time before he came out and stood at the door. He waved his fly whisk in his hand and said loudly: "Your Majesty, Emperor Xuan, Mu Yun, common people, Hua Bushi, come to the palace to have an audience."
Cao Muyun glanced at Hua Bushi and walked forward into the palace gate, while Hua Bushi followed closely.
Yonghe Palace is actually a courtyard with two front and back entrances. The main hall is in the front yard. The palace courtyard is naturally much larger than the courtyard of an ordinary house. The two of them walked forty or fifty steps in tandem before arriving at the palace.
Crossing the threshold, I saw a rosewood plan in the middle of the room. Sitting on the dragon couch behind the case was a middle-aged man wearing a yellow robe. He was Emperor Chongzhen. Next to him, there was another man wearing a yellow robe. The woman in the light blue palace dress is probably the Concubine Tian.
Hua Bushi was slightly surprised when he saw the emperor of the Ming Dynasty holding the imperial power and making everyone look up to him. What surprised him was not the majesty of the emperor but the old age of the person in front of him [
The forehead is covered with wrinkles, the head is already pale, the eye circles are blue, the pupils are covered with streaks of blood, but the face lacks blood and the cheeks are sunken. The body is thin and slightly rickety. Considering his age, Chongzhen Ben was not even forty years old, but he However, his appearance is more aging than that of an ordinary person in his fifties and sixties.
The clothes Chongzhen was wearing were very old. The cuffs of the robe had frayed edges, and there was even a patch on the armpits. If not in the palace of the Forbidden City, but in other places, Hua Bushi had seen it. This person would definitely not think that he was the emperor with ninety-five status. The young master also understood why Cao Muyun had specially prepared a set of shabby clothes before and had to change his clothes.
If Hua Bushi was still wearing his original clothes, wouldn't it be more luxurious than the emperor's clothes?
The Concubine Tian next to her does not look aged at all, her duck-egg cheeks are as beautiful as flowers, her eyebrows and phoenix eyes are even more charming.
When Cao Muyun and Hua Bushi entered, they knelt down and kowtowed, saying long live, long live, long live.
But I heard Concubine Na Tian say: "Your Majesty stayed up all night correcting memorials last night. This morning he went to court and was busy all morning. When he arrived at the Yonghe Palace of the Ai family, he should have had a good rest and rested his mind. It's you people who really don't know what to do. Come here to disturb me and say that Your Majesty does not need to see them and tell them to leave."
It was inappropriate for the imperial concubine to speak first before the emperor opened her mouth. However, Chongzhen showed great doting on the imperial concubine Tian and said kindly: "My beloved concubine, Mo Ji Gu, can't you just say a few words and beat them away? This time, thanks to Only by keeping them Xun'er and Chan'er can they return safely."
Concubine Tian pursed her lips and didn’t say much.
Zhu Cixiang and Zhu Huichan were both descended from the main palace, Empress Zhou. If Zhu Cixiang was killed by gangsters, Tian Guifei's biological son Zhu Cizhen would have a chance to become the prince. She would not have a good impression of the person who escorted Zhu Cixiang back to Beijing. Of course, she did not like this displeasure. Will not show it easily
Chongzhen looked at the two people kneeling on the ground and coughed slightly: "Yun'er, please get up."
Cao Muyun said that he stood up and stood aside with his hands respectfully.
Chongzhen said: "Yesterday you told me that you could rescue Xun'er from the bandits and escort him back to Beijing. There was a Mr. Hua who took great credit. I asked you to bring him to see him. Is this the man?"
Cao Muyun said: "Hui Father is this person."
Chongzhen nodded and turned his gaze to Hua Bushi and said, "Raise your head."
Hua Bushi was kneeling on the ground and heard it before he straightened his body and raised his head. He looked at him carefully and saw that Hua Bushi was ordinary in appearance and was a little disappointed. However, he saw that this man was plainly dressed and had two patches on his sleeves. His face became a little calmer
"Where are you from, and what do you do for a living?" Chongzhen asked.
Hua Bushi replied respectfully: "I am a man from Wuyang in Xiangjing who has opened some business in his family."
There are many kinds of business and sects in Jianghu, and they also make money by operating industries for profit. This young master is not deceiving the emperor. As for whether those property transactions are against the king's law, it is another matter.
Chongzhen did not doubt that the others only regarded the person in front of him as an ordinary businessman and said: "Hua Qing has done a great job in rescuing the driver. I will give you five thousand taels of silver and one hundred pieces of brocade. Now go down."
Normally, five thousand taels of silver and a hundred bolts of silk and satin are quite a lot of money, but considering the great contribution of rescuing the crown prince and princess, they are not much. And with the current wealth of the "Evil Dog Gate", such a reward will not be given to Hua Bushi. in eyes
He immediately kowtowed and said: "Thank you for the grace of the Holy One. However, gold and silver are not needed by ordinary people. Can you please ask the Holy One to reward you with something in exchange?"
At this moment, Chongzhen's face suddenly became serious and he said: "Are you not satisfied with the silver brocade that I gave you? What else do you want in exchange for a reward?"
Hua Bushi said: "The common people just want a piece of calligraphy given by the Holy Emperor, which can be worth tens of millions of silver."
Before Chongzhen could speak, Concubine Tian beside him had already shouted: "How can your bold majesty's calligraphy treasure be freely rewarded to a commoner like you?"
She turned to Chongzhen and said: "Your Majesty, this person has a humble look and looks like a man, why don't you drive him out of the palace?"
However, Chongzhen held Concubine Tian's hand and said to Hua Bushi: "Is there any reason why you don't want the silver brocade but want my calligraphy treasure?"
Hua Bushi said: "Gold, silver, brocade and silk are just personal wealth. No matter how much you have, it will be spent all the money. It is the ink treasure given by the Emperor Mingdao to the people. They enshrine it in their homes and pass it on to their descendants to preserve it for generations to come. It is a wealth that we should be able to surpass."
This sentence is as flattering as can be. In fact, it is quite disgusting. Hua is not shy. He is already thick-skinned, eloquent and has good acting skills. When he says it, he really seems to be full of piety.
In fact, these words were all set up by Cao Muyun and the young master in advance. The first thing Shenghua Bushi had to do when entering the palace was to gain the emperor's favor before he could have a chance to achieve his next goal. Although he didn't know much about Emperor Chongzhen, Cao Muyun knew his father very well, including his personality, preferences, habits, etc.
Unlike many kings who like luxury, Emperor Chongzhen was very frugal. This is also related to the current situation of the Ming Dynasty's empty treasury. Thousands of silver taels are nothing in the eyes of the wealthy princes and ministers, and even the leaders of Jianghu sects such as Hua Bushi. But in the eyes of Emperor Zhu Youjian, it was a huge reward, but he was actually quite distressed.
What Chongzhen feared most in his life was that others would say that he was fatuous. The power of the Ming Dynasty had declined to such an extent. There were few bureaucrats, big and small, who were not greedy for corruption. But the Emperor of Ming Dynasty was the most diligent person. He was busy with government affairs every day and often reviewed memorials. He works hard until late at night, which is why he looks like an old man in his fifties or sixties even though he is not very old.