Sui Dynasty: I, Yang Guang, am both scrupulous and stable

Chapter 55 The magic mirror, the magic mirror, tell me

Jiankang City spans forty miles from east to west, north to south, and has three layers of palace walls. It embraces Qinhuai in the south, Houhu in the north, and the Yangtze River in the west. It is surrounded by Stone City, Xizhou City, Dongfu City, Baixia City, Nanlangxie County City, etc. Satellite cities surround and form a defensive force.

It was the capital of the six dynasties of Eastern Wu, Eastern Jin, Liu Song, Southern Qi, Nanliang, and Nanchen. It was the seat of the Beijing Chariot God Gao for more than 300 years in the Southern Dynasties.

It was also the first city in the world with a population of more than one million. Compared with the countries of Nanchen and Sui dynasties, Chang'an at this time was not as prosperous as Jiankang City.

The gentry from the south of the Yangtze River and the descendants of the aristocratic people who traveled south all lived in it. The capital was established in many dynasties, and the population composition was relatively complex.

In the majestic Jiankang Palace, a small group of eunuchs were walking quickly towards the harem holding a delicate vermilion box.

Afraid of falling when running and afraid of walking too slowly, a group of eunuchs walked quickly with sweat all over their heads and nervously arrived at the queen's palace.

Queen Liu Jingyan was fifty years old, and she was sitting elegantly. She was a little excited when she saw the eunuchs coming in, but she didn't express it in words. Sitting below were the concubines of Emperor Chen Xuan, as well as the concubines of Prince Chen Shubao, Zhang Lihua and Crown Princess Shen Wuhua.

A group of women seemed to be waiting for a rare treasure, and everyone's eyes were focused on the exquisite red wooden box.

The eunuch slowly opened the wooden box. It was cushioned with cotton and covered with silk satin, and a palm-sized mirror lay inside.

The back of the mirror is a round copper frame, with a carved image of Buddha holding a Luan bird, surrounded by Sanskrit Buddhist words, and a handle to hold it.

Queen Liu Jingyan of the Chen Dynasty stretched out her hand, grasped the handle gracefully, and took it out lightly.

All the girls looked at the rumored treasure mirror and vaguely saw the lifelike image reflected on the mirror. Liu Jingyan was seen looking at the mirror with joy.

Bronze mirrors of this era did not have modern polishing fluids and grinding tools, so even the bronze mirrors made by the best craftsmen were still not good enough.

Looking at herself in the mirror, this was the first time she saw her clear appearance. Different from those yellowed bronze mirrors, the self in this mirror was so real and so detailed. She could see the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes. , a few light white hairs, and Liu Jingyan burst into tears for a while.

"The Queen Mother."

"The Queen Mother..."

Liu Jingyan gently covered his face: "When I was young, I used water as a mirror, and later I used a bronze mirror to dress my hair. Only now do I know my full face. I'm lucky."

"You all have a look."

As the mirror was passed around, the women couldn't help but look at themselves in the mirror in surprise. This mirror was so clear and bright.

When the mirror came into Zhang Lihua's hands, this peerless beauty saw her face clearly for the first time and gained a new understanding of her own beauty.

"I am so good-looking. Normally, this group of women would be envious and jealous of me. I used to feel aggrieved, but now I think about it."

"No matter what I did, I will be forgiven, because I am so beautiful!"

Zhang Lihua was often called the peerless Queen along with Daji. At this time, she felt arrogant that no one in the world could be worthy of her.

Since ancient times, beauty is only worthy of the strong.

The concubines started talking at once: "Queen, is this mirror the legendary treasure of the Western Regions?"

Liu Jingyan took the mirror back and nodded with satisfaction.

"It is said that this is a treasure from the Western Regions as tribute to the Northern Sui Dynasty. The Northern Sui Dynasty spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to trade it with them. It was a birthday gift from the Sui Emperor to please Lonely Jialuo."

"It must be so. I heard that the tributes from the Western Regions were actually robbed on the way. The Sui Emperor offered a reward of [-] taels of gold to find traces of these treasures. No one would have thought that they would all flow into our country. Such treasures are still the Queen's. The most worthy of having." "Yes, the Queen is so beautiful that she is most worthy of this mirror."

Flattery voices kept coming, and Liu Jingyan was in a very good mood. He said quite proudly: "This mirror is indeed the one that was robbed by Emperor Sui. It came from the Western Regions. It is called [Buddha's Heart and My Mirror]. It is the mirror where the Buddha gazed at the lake." , it is formed by seeing the true self. Anyone who looks in the mirror can see the true self in the world."

"No wonder when I looked in the mirror just now, I felt much happier. Congratulations to the Queen for receiving the most precious Buddhist treasure."

"My dear, this mirror must cost a lot of money."

A vain woman's proudest moment is when she shows off the price of luxury goods: "Buddhism pays attention to fate. Since you meet someone, it is fate. Money is an external thing, but it is only 5000 taels of gold."

After hearing this, everyone couldn't help but sigh, the queen is really rich, a mirror costs 5000 taels of gold.

"This is a rare and unique item. It is the Queen's blessing that brings blessings to the heavens, and your Majesty's blessings reach the heavens."

Everyone was excited, except Zhang Lihua who stared blankly at the mirror in the Queen's hand. She also wanted to have such a mirror.

The women in the Chen Dynasty's palace were delighted to see such a mirror.

But none of them knew that the unique product in the hands of Queen Chen Chao was being manufactured in large quantities in a workshop in the west city of Chang'an City, waiting for an opportunity to be released.

Yang Guang doesn't understand art, but he understands art. Why art is valuable? Because of its rarity and its story.

An ordinary mirror has very little value in itself, but this technology is very rare nowadays. If this is the only one on the market now, its rarity makes it valuable.

Yang Guang made up an origin for it. It was a treasure from the Western Regions. The emperor of the Sui Dynasty spent a lot of money to get it in order to please the queen. It was robbed on the way and flowed into the Chen Dynasty.

As two separate dynasties in the north and south, the things that the other emperor valued so much fell into his own hands. Isn't this mad?The other party has offered a huge bounty to find something, and it makes me happy to think about it in my own hands. This is the attached emotional value.

Finally, we compiled an origin story. This mirror is called "Buddha's Heart and Self Mirror". It was created by the Buddha when he gazed at the lake and saw his true self. Anyone who looks in the mirror can see his true self in the world.

Why make up such a story?
Because the Southern Dynasties believed in Buddhism.

The 480 temples in the Southern Dynasties are surrounded by many towers. Although the Southern Dynasties changed dynasties, they still practiced Buddhism. Buddhism penetrated into various fields such as literature, art, philosophy and so on in the Southern Dynasties. Therefore, it is a bonus to be linked to Buddhism.

This made the queen of Nanchen spend a lot of money to buy mirrors.

Yang Guang, who lives next door, was almost crazy with joy. He didn't expect that he could make more money by doing art than selling real estate.

He made the first batch of five mirrors of this kind and sent them to Jiankang, Nanling, Changsha and other places in Nanchen at the same time. The same thing and the same story.

The exchange of information was slow, and everyone hid the treasures, so they had to buy them first. The local profiteers and Lu Ben's caravan colluded together. Bah, it was mutually beneficial and win-win, and they sold the things to the local noble families.

Yang Guang stipulated that an additional batch should be sold every half month, all of which would be sold to the Southern Dynasties. When the price gradually became worthless, they would be spread out for sale.

Empress Dugu in the palace of Chang'an City held a mirror and applied her makeup in the mirror, thinking about how Empress Chen would look in a few months when she found out that the mirror he bought for five thousand gold would be in the hands of all the nobles of the Sui Dynasty. , Emperor Chen Chao's terminally ill body would just pass away in anger.

In the eldest princess's house, Yang Lihua looked around in the mirror and said to Xiao Menglan: "Look at this heartless guy. I told him last time that you liked Liuli, and he worked hard to make Liuli for you, and he still made it You got this transparent glass mirror, why don’t you want to focus on me?”

Xiao Menglan smiled shyly: "Your Royal Highness, Princess Jin, this is given to you by His Royal Highness Prince Jin. I just took a look."

"He didn't give it to me, you heartless guy. If he asks you next time, just say you like gold and ask him to give you more. Hairpins, earrings, bracelets, all on your face and hands. So far, there are plenty of him anyway.”

(End of this chapter)