Jiapingguan Chronicle

"Seven hundred taels is still far behind?" Xue Ruitian rolled his eyes and said angrily, "It can't be more than a thousand, right? That's too outrageous!"

"Master Hou is right, it is indeed thousands. Guess, how many thousand taels is it?" Liang Jieque looked at Shen Zhonghe and then at Xue Ruitian, "Bold guess, the more outrageous the better. "

"Seven thousand?" Shen Haolin raised an eyebrow, "It should be closer, right?"

"The Duke is still the Duke, it's really close, seven thousand eight hundred taels."

"What?" Shen Zhonghe looked at Liang Jieque in shock, "This piece of crap costs seven thousand eight hundred taels? Is the emperor crazy, or are these ministers crazy? How can it be possible to spend so much money to buy such a thing? What a crap thing? Is the salary of the Minister of Household Affairs so high?"

"You don't know, right? This tea set was obtained through bidding. Do you know why Tian Mo is willing to spend this price to buy this crap?" Seeing Shen Zhonghe shake his head gently, Liang Jieque continued. , "Because I want to show my loyalty."

"Generally speaking, when you buy these things, especially those flashy things at high prices, you have to show your loyalty." Xue Ruitian nodded, "The reason why Tian Mo bought this is related to the Xiangyuan mentioned before. ?”

"The Marquis is smart, that's what it is." Liang Jieque nodded, "As I said just now, the elephants must be purchased from Hu merchants. The prices are very expensive. The treasury does not have enough money to buy so many elephants. It's like an elephant, so the Hubu told the emperor about this difficulty. The emperor thought about it for a long time and came up with the idea of ​​asking the civil and military officials to give him some money. But he was too embarrassed to grab it openly. If he wants it explicitly, it will still have a great impact on his reputation, but he is not happy about it. It happens that these Western things in his private treasury are about to be sold, so he can take this opportunity to sell those things that he does not want. If you buy something you like at a high price, you can also get some money to give to the household department, so that the household department can buy elephants from Hu merchants. Isn't this the best of both worlds?"

"He..." Shen Zhonghe sighed, shook his head helplessly, and said, "It is indeed as his chamberlain said, if you don't become an emperor, you can do business successfully. Such an idea, It’s not something that ordinary people can imagine.”

"If most people can imagine it, Emperor Mo would have done it long ago. There is no need to wait until that time."

"When he set up this so-called market, the Elephant Garden had not yet been built?"

"Not yet." Liang Jieque shook his head slightly and said, "In the early stage, the deer pen must be demolished and the elephant garden built on the original basis of the deer pen. In this way, the money spent will be a lot less. It was also approved by the last emperor. In addition, they needed to sell deer and buy elephants, which also took some time. It was not that fast. I remember my grandfather said that it took nearly three years to build it. OK."

"Three years?" Merlin looked shocked, "How much money will it cost?"

"Almost..." Liang Jieque did some calculations, "It's several million taels. This is much more expensive than building a deer enclosure."

"The last emperor's hobbies are really very expensive. It's not just about the people's wealth, but also about the civil and military officials, the emperor's relatives and the country's relatives!"

"Who says it's not the case!" Liang Jieque looked at everyone and then at Merlin, "Can you give me a cup of tea, please?" "Of course, wait a minute!"

Mei Lin quickly poured a cup of warm tea for Liang Jieque, then carried the teapot around the tent and filled everyone's tea bowls with tea.

Liang Jieque took two sips of tea, moistened her throat, and continued telling her story.

"The accident happened when buying the elephant. The people responsible for buying the elephant were Tian Mo and De Xiao. They established a good friendship with the two Hu businessmen who had this channel. At least in their opinion, at least at the time It was a very good friendship." She sighed softly, "Because later Ding Shangshu was beaten to death in Xiangyuan, it was these two Hu Shang friends who came to help and sent the news out in time and made arrangements. The route sent Ding Shangshu, Tian Mo, and De Xiao's family safely out of the capital, allowing them to escape the late emperor's pursuit, and then they could smoothly go to the southern town and hide their names."

"So, these two Hu businessmen are indeed life-savers, and they should repay their kindness." Shen Zhonghe looked at Liang Jieque, "But Aunt Liang doesn't seem to like them very much and is very dissatisfied with them? Also, they are Aren’t they the ancestors of Hui Niang?”

"Don't rush to conclusions yet, listen to me slowly." Liang Jieque shook her head helplessly, "I've always had such a quick temper since I was a child, and it hasn't changed at all now at this age." She sighed and said, " Tian Mo and De Xiao thought they had made good friends, but who would have thought that this was the beginning of their descendants’ nightmare. At that time, in the entire capital, these two businessmen were the only ones who had channels to buy elephants. Although those in Fanbang were They had been paying tribute to elephants every year, but those elephants were a bit old and looked a little old, which the emperor didn't like very much. He liked baby elephants that were one or two years old, or even a few months old, so he ordered Tian Mo and Dexiao, if possible, choose a few baby elephants and put them in the elephant garden."

“Are baby elephants expensive?”

"Yes, for example, an adult elephant's price is several thousand taels, then a baby elephant's price is likely to be tens of thousands of taels. Even some of the better-quality baby elephants are not settled in silver, but in gold. "

"So expensive?" Merlin clicked his tongue twice, "I really heard something amazing!"

"It should be expensive. After all, we don't have these animals here. Besides, if they are not expensive, how can they be tributes, right?" Liang Jieque smiled and said, "Tian Mo and De Xiao are the same as those two. The Hu merchants spent more than a month negotiating and bargaining with each other, and then drinking and calling each other brothers. Finally, they finally got through. There were four or five baby elephants in total, all between seven months and one year old."

"That's really not easy." Shen Zhonghe nodded, "But how to transport it here?"

"These are all Hu Shang's responsibility, including the losses encountered on the road. For example, some baby elephants unfortunately died. Hu Shang is responsible for this loss." Seeing that everyone understood this, Liang Jieque continued. , "After several months... about half a year of waiting, the baby elephants were transported to the capital intact. After being inspected by the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Rites, and by the veterinarian at Taiyuan Hospital, they were finally into their final home.”

"Is this Elephant Garden matter over?"

"Yes, the money has been settled with Hu Shang and the Ministry of Industry. This project has come to an end and they can all take a break." Liang Jieque nodded lightly, "However, Tian Mo and De Xiao I also found an aristocratic family where everyone is free, and I would like to express my special thanks to those two Hu merchants. If it weren’t for their generous help, this mission would not have been completed so smoothly.”