Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

The person who brought Xun Zhan in was a Jingzhou businessman who used to rely on the Huitong Pavilion to do some trading. What he did was to resell the goods sent as tribute from overseas countries up the river to the Huguang Chief Envoy to make some money. Because of the price difference business, I got to know Xun Zhan, but now he has changed his career. However, due to the previous friendship, Xun Zhan was a moderate official and could not afford to offend him, so I brought him in.

"Who is this?"

This familiar business partner of the Jingzhou merchant was a little confused when he saw Xun Zhan being brought into the auction behind him. Although Nanjing has a population of one million and is the commercial center of the entire Ming Dynasty, the circle of merchants is actually so large. As long as the assets reach a certain scale, you can always recognize a familiar face.

"Brother Liu, this is the newly appointed Secretary of the Imperial College."

The Jingzhou businessman who led the way introduced: "Don't neglect it."

"That's it!" The businessman surnamed Liu suddenly understood and hurriedly held his hands in greeting.

Now that Xian Zhan had entered the auction venue, his goal had been achieved, and the civil official dignity in his bones began to show up again. He actually raised his head and snorted, his nostrils pointed at the person, not bothering to talk to the other person at all.

The businessman surnamed Liu's face froze, and he was secretly angry, but he still had to smile and said: "The smell of copper has disturbed your purity, please don't blame me."

After saying that, he bowed his hands to the Jingzhou merchants and left.

In fact, this kind of thing is very common in the Ming Dynasty, because the business environment for merchants is generally relatively poor. The ranking of "scholars, farmers, industry and commerce" is no joke. No matter how much money there is, the social status is low. In front of civil servants, as long as you are a Officials almost always dare to show off their power to businessmen. If they happen to have some authority and authority, they can do whatever they want.

Therefore, when faced with the pretense of civil servants, businessmen have already learned to bow their heads and admit defeat. After all, no one can guarantee that the other party does not have the backing of the country party, the same year, or the teacher. All these factors have long built a dense network. In the network of relationships, no one can exist alone, and one move affects the whole body.

Of course, it would be fine if Xun Zhan was just an ordinary petty official, but now the businessman surnamed Liu already knows that the other party is the secretary of the Imperial College, and his status is unusual. It is even more inappropriate to provoke him at this time, otherwise he will definitely suffer a loss. Own.

The attitude of this businessman surnamed Liu surprised several familiar businessmen not far away. I don't know what the reason was, but he could make such an old fox decisively give up his face.

Because it was now a period of turmoil in the court, they had heard a lot of things, and felt a little uneasy.

——————

"This man looks familiar."

Jiang Xinghuo was young, not short-sighted, and had very good eyesight. In the VIP lounge on the second floor, he caught a glimpse of the small conflict downstairs.

After thinking for a long time, Jiang Xinghuo finally recalled the identity of the other party.

The young minister of Honglu Temple in "The Case of Injury by the Champa State Mission" was a disciple of Wang Jing, the left minister of the Ministry of Rites.

Jiang Xinghuo looked at Xun Zhan sitting down in the back row and thought in his mind: "There is something strange about this person coming here."

"Help me invite that businessman over."

Li Zengzhi also witnessed this scene. Although he didn't know why Jiang Xinghuo wanted to find this person, he still ordered his men as he was told.

Not long after, the businessman surnamed Liu came here tremblingly.

"I don't know the name of Shopkeeper Liu? Where is his family name?"

Although the merchant was short and fat and had a sinister face, Jiang Xinghuo did not look down on him, but asked in a pleasant manner.

Shopkeeper Liu saw that the other party was wearing a unicorn uniform. Although he was young, his status must be extremely respected, otherwise Li Zengzhi from Cao Guogong's mansion would not be accompanying him, and he was not contemptuous of him, so he naturally had to treat him seriously.

"My surname is Liu and my name is Fuchun. I am a native of Yangzhou. I dare not call myself the shopkeeper. Mr. Liu is just an errand boy!"

There was already a hint of flattery in Liu Fuchun's words.

"Shopkeeper Liu is so humble."

Jiang Xinghuo shook his head with a smile, and then asked, "I want to know something, and I hope Shopkeeper Liu will tell the truth."

Li Zengzhi winked at him, and a man as discerning as Liu Fuchun would naturally understand.

Jiang Xinghuo asked clearly what happened between Liu Fuchun and Xun Zhan just now, and got a rough understanding of the situation.

"Do you want it?" Li Zengzhi raised his chin toward the downstairs.

"No, it's okay to let him stay here for a long time. He can also convey the message clearly to Wang Jing when he goes back."

Jiang Xinghuo naturally knew what Xun Zhan was here for, but he didn't take it seriously. The matter here was not a secret deal, and there was nothing to hide.

Next, Jiang Xinghuo asked Liu Fuchun some questions about business, ranging from tax categories to tax rates, to traffic conditions, and the extent of official deductions. He basically asked them all about business.

"Are there any good specialty products in Yangzhou?"

"Yes! I wonder what kind of goods you need?" Liu Fuchun asked with a smile.

"Tell me everything."

“Yangzhou’s specialty goods are mainly lacquerware, green Yangchun tea from Yizheng, and salt from Huaiyang Salt Farm.”

At the end of the sentence, the smile on Liu Fuchun's face could no longer be maintained.

After all, among the three industries of salt, lacquer, and tea in Yangzhou, the salt industry and the lacquer industry are both monopolies, especially the lacquer industry. As for the salt industry, it is a huge profit industry. He is engaged in the salt industry.

Private salt even saves taxes, and in some places it is impossible to distinguish official salt from private salt. In addition, with a huge network of relationships, Liu Fuchun had the courage to open a shop in Jiangnan to sell private salt in exchange for a "meager" profit. , but this matter cannot be discussed on the table.

Most of the salt produced in the Huaihe River and Huaihe River is transported through the Grand Canal. The northern distribution center is in Huai'an, and the southern distribution center is in Yangzhou. Huai'an salt is transported to Yangzhou via Huai'an, and then transferred from Yangzhou to various parts of the south through the Yangtze River, thus forming a large amount of accumulated salt. A wealthy group of merchants - Huaiyang salt merchants.

The water here is too deep, and salt production and water transportation are inseparable. Hundreds of thousands of salt workers and water transportation are dependent on food and clothing, and there are countless tangled webs of interests in the middle.

When Liu Fuchun saw the other party's detailed questions about business matters, he naturally became suspicious. However, it was only because of Li Zengzhi's face that he did not dare not answer. When it came to the salt industry, he made up his mind, no matter what. Ken said it, otherwise his whole family might die without knowing how.

When Jiang Xinghuo saw the other party's expression, he didn't force him too much, but waved his hand and let Liu Fuchun leave.

No matter how Liu Fuchun gasped for breath when he walked out of the house, Li Zengzhi inside the house carefully asked: "Master Imperial Master, you asked such detailed questions about business matters, but do you have deep meaning?"

"You are Brother Jiujiang's biological brother, and I won't hide it from you."

Jiang Xinghuo leaned over and took a sip of tea, and said slowly: "Let me ask you, what has been the purpose of the reforms in all dynasties?"

"Enrich the country and strengthen the army."

Li Zengzhi thought about it for a few breaths and then answered.

This answer is from the perspective of the emperor and ministers. If the situation had not had to change, if it had not been for the sake of enriching the country and strengthening the army, who would be willing to make the effort to live a stable life?

Jiang Xinghuo nodded and did not debate whether the fundamental purpose was to "enrich the country and strengthen the army" or "strengthen the country and the people", but continued to ask:

"Then what are the steps of the reform?"

Li Zengzhi grew up in the top wealthy family of the Ming Dynasty. Although he had no military talent, he was good at business and shrewd. He also saw things in the temple thoroughly and gave his own answer after a little thought.

"The battle of public opinion; in-depth reform; success or failure."

"That's it."

Jiang Xinghuo sighed: "The current disputes in public opinion have gone through the three debates of Jing Qing's Blood Oath and 'Wang Ba Righteousness, Ancient and Modern', and only this last shudder is left. Two days later [Taizu's Death Day], it will be We want to see the outcome.”

"After all the quarrels about public opinion, we have determined that we will use hegemony to strengthen the country, we have determined that we want profit, we have determined that the modern people are better than the ancients, and if we want to use the laws of our ancestors, we must let the supporters of the reform really see it." It's useless to talk about making money. Only when the imperial court's account books can be seen, the finances are extremely abundant, and His Majesty really has the money to conquer the world, then this reform can be considered to be advanced."

Jiang Xinghuo spoke clearly and did not hide anything from Li Zengzhi. Li Zengzhi also let go of his scruples when speaking.

"Can the national teacher really do this, and the country benefits without adding taxes to the people? If it is just to make money, I'm afraid it will be like Wang Anshi's reform. If it is implemented and the money is collected, there will be a huge commotion below and the public opinion will be boiling. long."

"Of course it can be done. My method is different from Wang Anshi's."

If Wang Anshi is the template for ancient financial experts, then due to the limitations of the times, the methods are actually variations of those passed down from the time of Shang Yang.

The situation faced by Jiang Xinghuo was different. One was that Emperor Yongle was more daring to kill than Song Shenzong, and this rebellious emperor did not need to worry about all kinds of criticism; the other was that Jiang Xinghuo would never let his policies be implemented at the grassroots level. This is the most important lesson he learned from Wang Anshi's reform; the third is that Jiang Xinghuo has more methods. In addition to learning from the successful experience of Zhang Juzheng's reform, he also has the modern methods he has learned. If a combination of banking, currency reform, fiscal and monetary policy, free trade system, and transferring domestic economic pressure to the outside world are used together, it will be strange that money cannot be generated.

In fact, this is also the significant difference between the second phase of the Yongle New Deal and the first phase.

The first stage, which is the current stage, is mainly to demonstrate whether the reform is necessary and whether the reform is reasonable and legal.

In the second stage, it is determined that the reform is necessary. After the reform is legal and reasonable, ideological and cultural matters are also important, such as the reform of Confucianism, the promotion of science, etc. But more importantly, it is to effectively improve the manufacturing capacity and make the Ming Dynasty's finances better. Get rich quickly.

Only when a huge amount of money arrived in his account, Emperor Yongle would continue to support the reform with an unwavering attitude.

——Because this is what civil servants cannot give him.

The civil servants would only advise him to rest and recuperate and not to go into war, but Jiang Xinghuo could not only get him a lot of money to meet his needs of "ruling the Tang and Song Dynasties and reaching the Han and Tang Dynasties" through the ages, but he could also maintain social stability. This It was Jiang Xinghuo's irreplaceable value to Emperor Yongle.

As long as this irreplaceable value always exists, no matter what Emperor Yongle's attitude towards him is or whether his personal relationship has changed, he will unswervingly support Jiang Xinghuo.

"Then what is the next step for the Imperial Master? If someone can help the Imperial Master commercially, our Duke Cao's office will be obliged to do so!" Li Zengzhi promised, patting his chest.

Jiang Xinghuo knew that even though the other party said so, deep down in his heart he was probably still thinking about how to take advantage of the opportunity to gain more wealth. However, he did not expose it. After all, people like Dao Yan and Xia Yuanji followed him to make reforms for their ideals. It's still too few. Everyone else wants something, but they want it differently. If you want to accomplish something, you can't push everyone to the opposite side.

"Two aspects, let's talk about foreign countries first. Since we want to make money, the maritime ban must be abolished. Otherwise, the unarmed free trade zone will not be established tomorrow, and the subsequent free trade with Annan and North Korea will not be established. The interest rate differential of sea trade is the new policy view of the reform. The biggest result is that no one can stop it."

"Then domestically, how did "On Salt and Iron" come about? It was not because Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty established a government monopoly on salt and iron in order to make money during the Western Han Dynasty, so there was a Salt and Iron Conference. Nowadays, the long-standing disadvantages of the "Salt and Iron Theory" have been revealed, and the Salt Law Along with water transportation, not only the two themselves, but also the economic communication between the north and the south have been blocked. If you want to promote domestic commerce, commercial taxes and various policies must change accordingly, and things cannot be done completely. Now, we can’t force all businessmen to death. On the contrary, business must be further upgraded, such as futures this time. There will be many new things to be launched in the future. Business will be greatly prosperous, and the same will be true for manufacturing. In this way, the domestic economic cycle Only then can it be enlivened.”

Li Zengzhi asked thoughtfully: "Will it affect grain output and grain prices?"

This is not because Li Zengzhi is worried about the country and the people, but because Cao Guogong has a large number of manors and farmland under his name. After all, the growth rate of wealth purchased in this era is not as exaggerated as Jiang Xinghuo estimated in many online forums in his previous life, but it is still a Compared with business, items are a more stable financial management method for ordinary people.

In fact, business has been suppressed in the Ming Dynasty and businessmen have not been successful. In fact, a very important reason is that business is not "stable" enough. This includes factors such as local tax rates, road safety, and official extortion. If the business environment can achieve unified tax rates And it is relatively low, road safety is guaranteed and people will not be robbed, and officials will not frequently extort money, then domestic business will definitely prosper greatly. By then, even if the business tax rate is lower, the total volume will show an explosive After the growth, the money collected is still much more than before.

Faced with Li Zengzhi's question, Jiang Xinghuo answered it.

"Both grain output and grain prices will not fluctuate greatly. Now that the Ming Dynasty has experienced war and population reduction, chemical fertilizers have led to an increase in grain production. With the promotion of chemical fertilizers and crop rotation and intercropping across the country, grain production will definitely increase year by year in the future. Yes, there won’t be any food pressure for decades.”

In fact, it is impossible to carry out the first industrial revolution without sufficient agricultural and food production support. Fortunately, after more than 30 years of efforts by Lao Zhu, the Ming Dynasty now has no shortage of food, and has experienced During the four-year Jingnan War, the conflicts between man and land that had just emerged temporarily disappeared.

Therefore, the time when Jiang Xinghuo arrived became the best time to initiate China's first industrial revolution.

There is a strong and cold-blooded monarch, an army capable of conquering and fighting, a navigator who is brave in exploration, and the world's largest national power. But in front of Ming Dynasty, there are several new continents that have not yet been explored.

Jiang Xinghuo's vision has never been limited to the struggles and quarrels in domestic temples. The stars and the sea are the way forward he plans for the Ming Dynasty.

But back to the present, the first stage of the reform, that is, the public opinion struggle is about to end, and it is about to enter the second stage to promote the deepening of the reform and achieve economic benefits. It is obviously extremely difficult to understand the business groups and the current business situation of Ming Dynasty. It's necessary.

As the saying goes, "Those who are not investigating should not speak."

Li Zengzhi was also relieved. He roughly understood Jiang Xinghuo's next thoughts on domestic and foreign business reforms, which were nothing more than to rectify the existing domestic finance fields such as land tax, salt tax, and tea tax, and at the same time reform business-related policies. , to promote domestic business development; externally, to conduct free trade with Japan, North Korea, and Annan to expand financial resources.

Now that we understand the plan of the reform leader, Li Zengzhi's huge business kingdom will naturally have a U-turn.

"Commercial circulation does not create commodity value, and exchanges between the north and the south are limited after all, but manual workshops are different. The future direction of the Ming Dynasty is still in manufacturing. Ding Guogong, there are some things that will be carried out on a large scale later. I understand. ?"

After hearing Jiang Xinghuo's words, Li Zengzhi looked happy.

"Thank you, Imperial Master, for the tip!"

"Um."

Jiang Xinghuo didn't say anything else. The first batch of bourgeoisie would eventually be born from the old aristocrats and big businessmen.

——————

While the two of them were chatting about topics related to deepening the reform in the VIP lounge upstairs, the auction on the first day downstairs also officially started.

Everyone had just sat down and chatted for a while when a beautiful and slim woman stepped onto the auction stage. She was wearing a long skirt and was obviously the host. However, she did not seem to be good at dealing with the atmosphere at the auction. In fact, in In the current era of the early Ming Dynasty, although auctions are not uncommon, such large-scale public auctions, especially those hosted by women, are still rare for these businessmen to see.

Obviously, this is also the business model innovation Jiang Xinghuo brought to the world.

The beautiful woman first gave an introduction to the auction, and then tapped the table with the gavel in her hand: "The next is the first lot of the day."

The beautiful woman's voice was slightly stiff and nervous, while whispers came from the audience.

Under such circumstances, the woman became even more panicked.

She looked at a shopkeeper under Li Zengzhi next to her and motioned for him to help him say a few words to set the scene.

The shopkeeper was not surprised. After all, this was the first time he tried this model. It was normal for him to be unable to suppress the crowd temporarily. He took a few steps forward, cleared his throat and said: "Ahem! The auction has started now. Please be quiet. , listen to what I have to say, thank you!"

The shopkeeper's eyes swept across everyone's faces, and then said: "First of all, I would like to thank all of you colleagues for taking time out of your busy schedule to participate in this auction. This auction was initiated by Japanese businessmen in order to support Annan's restoration movement. I hereby ask for help. We, we are a country of benevolence and righteousness, and I believe that everyone here is bound to do this kind of thing."

Someone cheered, and others followed suit.

"Okay, without further ado, let's talk about the first item to be auctioned today - cypress fans, a total of 300 boxes, which will be auctioned in ten batches."

The name of the cypress fan comes from the use of cypress flakes at the end of the fan. In addition to flower and plant patterns, there are also some painted figures on the silk fan, with long and beautiful ribbons hanging down. It is rich and luxurious. The main production method is based on the According to the number of fan spokes, use a folding mold to fold the fan surface, leave a slit in the paper for the spokes to pass through, and insert the center spoke with glue. Finally, glue the fan bones at both ends to the fan paper.

This small Japanese handicraft is undoubtedly the crystallization of superb craftsmanship. It feels comfortable to hold, has high-quality texture, and is extremely practical.

In fact, the trade between the Ming Dynasty and Japan is complementary to a certain extent. There is little conflict between the two sides in terms of goods. Moreover, the goods in the Ming Dynasty are obviously more high-end, mainly made by large-scale handicrafts, while Japan's products are made by small-scale handicrafts. Mainly products and raw materials.

The main export goods of Ming Dynasty to Japan: silk, porcelain, lacquerware, tea, medicinal materials, paper, etc.

Japan's main exports to the Ming Dynasty: handicrafts, copper ingots, fine furs, furniture wood, specialty fish, etc.

The first batch of cypress fans were very popular among merchants in the Ming Dynasty, because the value of this thing is easy to judge, and among the huge citizen class in Jiangnan today, there is no need to worry about selling it. The smuggling price is much higher than the price obtained at auction here, and you will make money if you buy it. arrived, so each and every one of them wielded a special style of wooden bargaining knife and had a great time chopping.

The next goods are basically handicraft gadgets or furniture, wood and other items that are difficult to lose money. The prices of the goods circulating at such auctions are not expensive, generally speaking, they are 80 to 90% of the smuggling price. about.

There was a bit of a hiatus when selling fish, but some people tried to take over. After all, the quality of the fish that Japanese businessmen can bring to Daming for sale is guaranteed. Maybe it would be a good choice to supply special dishes to their own restaurants.

And because the host of this auction was a beautiful woman, the atmosphere gradually became more lively halfway through the auction. There were many businessmen with medium-sized assets eager to bid, and of course more Small businessmen and citizens who were lucky enough to sneak in just watched with an attitude of observation and insight, because an auction of this scale was simply not something they could afford.

What I want to say here is that the entire auction process is like this.

The first step is to participate in the lottery every day, and you can only purchase goods when the last number corresponding to the day is drawn.

In the second step, if you purchase a product worth 10,000 Wen individually, you will get a bargaining knife; if you purchase a product worth 100,000 Wen individually, you will get 11 bargaining knives. Each person has a daily purchase limit of 100,000 Wen.

The third step is to hold the lottery number corresponding to the last number of the day and at least one bargaining knife to enter the daily auction.

So it was actually the Jingzhou businessman who assigned the qualifications of the clerk who had won the number to Xun Zhan.

But this is normal, because the big businessmen all find a bunch of guys to draw the numbers, but in fact they don't bring the guys in, and except for these big businessmen, everyone else basically draws the number and buys it on the first day. Small and medium-sized businessmen and wealthy citizens with goods worth at least 10,000 yuan, anyway, have lottery tickets and bargaining knives in their hands. Although they can't get any auction items, they can at least watch the excitement, participate in the auction, and have bragging rights after going out. Otherwise, if you wait until tomorrow, this qualification will be wasted.

Under this environment, the hostess's pressure suddenly eased, and she successfully auctioned off all the next items without too many interruptions. Such a result was for the first auction held. , which is already considered very good.

However, Jiang Xinghuo found that because the host was not a professional, his behavior was a bit stiff in front of everyone, and he lacked a sufficient sense of humor, it was not easy for him to stir up the atmosphere in the venue. The most obvious thing was the price of the auction items. However, there was no irrational premium.

The subsequent auction also gradually came to an end, and the auction items became more and more valuable. Finally, it reached the most exciting moment, because what follows is the finale of the day (a term for opera, referring to the penultimate program of a theatrical performance, the penultimate The first show is called the highlight of the show - Tang Sancai.

The three types of Tang Sancai artifacts are basically daily necessities and human figurines. Daily necessities mainly include bottles, pots, cans, bowls, cups, plates, etc. The human figurines include ladies, dignitaries, warriors, kings, barbarians, etc.

Tang Sancai first appeared during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty. It was extremely popular during the Kaiyuan period, with various shapes and brilliant colors. After Tianbao, the number gradually decreased. In the Tang Dynasty, it was mainly used as funerary objects for burials. However, Tang Sancai became popular not only in the Tang Dynasty but also in the Tang Dynasty. , and this multi-color glazed pottery is deeply loved by foreign people for its colorful glaze, bright luster, and beautiful shape. It sells well overseas, and can be found in Tianzhu, Japan, North Korea, and even the Middle East and North Africa. When businessmen come to the Tang Dynasty, Tang Sancai is almost a must-buy item.

After the appraisal by Li Zhigang's father-in-law, a professional treasure appraiser, these Tang Sancai pottery were indeed precious pottery brought back from the Tang Dynasty by Japanese envoys to the Tang Dynasty, rather than imitations of Nara Sancai pottery from Japan's Nara period.

One of the three-color Tang Sancai presented is the Three-color Heavenly King figurine. The glaze is rich and thick, the patterns are fine and elegant, and the shape is simple and natural. The Heavenly King is tall and thin, with one hand on the waist and the other waving his arm. The bottom is painted with the pattern of a dragon and a tiger leaping through the clouds and mists. It looks more artistic and beautiful; the other one is a three-color bottle, with its ears and shoulders carved with exquisite floral patterns, which are lifelike and lifelike. Below it is a landscape pattern, depicting a solitary peak. A tall pine tree with green leaves and straight branches seems to rise into the sky. It makes people feel a sense of boldness and vastness, which is very heroic and majestic style of the Tang Dynasty.

The patterns of these two pieces of Tang Sancai are very rich in the style of the early Tang Dynasty, and the price is destined to be high. Moreover, once you get these things, they will be sold not only in Nanjing City, but also to people all over the country.

Everyone present held their breath and waited quietly for the female auctioneer to call out the starting price. Their eyes were fixed on the several Tang Sancai exhibition lots, expecting their prices to get higher and higher until they reached an incredible level.

The female auctioneer scanned the surrounding customers and said: "Treasures of Tang Sancai. The starting price for the first Terracotta Warriors of the Heavenly King is a bargaining knife (10,000 yuan as a gift, which is approximately equivalent to 8.3 taels of silver in the early Ming Dynasty). Bidding begins now." !”

After everyone listened, they quoted the price one after another.

"One hundred." Someone shouted loudly, holding up a sign.

"One hundred and one." Someone immediately shouted, obviously there was some grudge between the two parties.

"Four hundred."

"..."

Prices are still slowly climbing.

"Four hundred and ninety-nine."

Xun Zhan was sitting in the corner, his expression seemed careless, but his heart was full of inexplicable sourness. He studied hard from a humble childhood and worked hard to become a big man. Now he has become such a big official, with an annual salary of only two hundred dan, which can only be converted into silver. Dozens of taels, it felt bad to treat Cao Run to a meal, but these despicable businessmen were able to auction an unprecedented Tang Sancai at such an exaggerated price. A tattered pottery figurine was actually sold for more than 4,000 taels. Silver, are these businessmen crazy?

Of course, for these merchants, this is not how the accounts are calculated, because the total value of the Japanese merchants' goods is about 120,000 to 130,000 taels of silver, and the auction is divided into three days. The daily transaction volume is just over 40,000 taels of silver, and According to the lottery base, each top businessman can only eat four to five thousand taels of goods at most, and the knives in his hand are more than five hundred and less than six hundred at most.

Although the bargaining knives are different from the daily lottery that changes, these bargaining knives are, to put it bluntly, invalid if not used for three days. If they like something valuable, they will definitely take action, otherwise they will hesitate. After three days, It's equivalent to not taking any photos. These smart businessmen will not let their bargaining knives rot in their hands.

"Five hundred and fifty-five!"

"Five hundred and eighty-eight!"

Prince Jinsu Wang Zhenqing gritted his teeth and shouted again that although his family was rich, he could not withstand such a torment. This was the last time he would increase the price.

As soon as the price came out, the venue suddenly became quiet, and everyone was silent for a moment. Although the three-color Terracotta Warriors of the Heavenly King are good, the price is already a bit high. If it is not for your own collection, but for profit, I am afraid there is not much room for spread. .

Then a voice sounded: "Six hundred!"

It was coming from the VIP room upstairs.

Seeing that it was Li Zengzhi who took action, everyone lost their intention to fight for it. Wang Zhenqing was initially worried and wanted to give it a try, but when he looked in that direction, he seemed to think of something, so he gave up decisively.

——————

VIP room on the second floor.

Li Zengzhi looked at the person in front of him who could be regarded as a cousin of the same generation, Zhu Gaosui, with a smile on his face.

"My cousin likes it, so I will give it to you as a brother."

"Thank you."

Zhu Gaosui narrowed his eyes and smiled.

Li Zengzhi was also sensible. Seeing that the third prince and the Imperial Master had something to discuss, he consciously withdrew.

Zhu Gaosui whispered a few words beside Jiang Xinghuo. It was Xun Zhan who asked Cao Run to impeach Zhuo Jing.

Jiang Xinghuo nodded and discussed with Zhu Gaosui for a while.

"Little secret?"

"You know I know!"

Zhu Gaosui watched the three-color figurine of the Heavenly King being brought over by the attendants and caressed it lovingly.

"By the way, Imperial Master, there is another news. Maybe you want to know about [Taizu's death anniversary]?"