My wife has a secret

Chapter 163 Treasures Meeting

"What are the differences between the treasures in the princess's mansion and those in other places?"

Xu Qing thought about it, then turned to ask the maid beside him about the situation of the Treasures Association.

Since it is difficult to come up with new ideas in the singing and dancing programs of the Paradise Banquet, could it be that this treasure is so unique that it makes these ministers and nobles linger?
The maid seemed to have confirmed Xu Qing's guess, and nodded in response: "My Lord, the princess's treasures are indeed very different from those elsewhere... The time is almost up, so why don't you witness it with your own eyes?"

"it is good."

She is just a maid in the princess's mansion, but she speaks clearly and is very polite. No wonder the Princess Danyang can run such a big business.

Xu Qing turned his gaze back to the audience. At this time, the seats were already full. In front of each gold and jade pedestal table, there was a nobleman in casual clothes.

At first glance, it looks like a vast golden galaxy.

The sound of bamboo flutes came from nowhere, and the lights in the cave, which was originally extremely bright, suddenly went out. Tens of thousands of lights were extinguished at the same time.

Only a woman in palace dress was left on the stage, illuminated by a bright light around her. She looked like a beautiful lady with delicate makeup, a slim figure and flawless fair skin.

"Everyone, most people know the rules of the Princess's Mansion, but this Bliss Banquet is different from the past. After the turmoil a few days ago, many new nobles have been born in the capital, so I am here to briefly explain the rules to you adults."

The woman smiled slightly and said, "The treasures will be the appetizers for the feast of bliss. Here we are competing for the wooden sign in our hands as the main one."

Another maid swayed and walked slowly forward with a tray.

The wooden plaque on the plate seems to be made of precious fragrant wood, carved with special patterns and symbols.

"You may bid on these plaques and take possession of the things they represent. Please look here..."

After the woman explained the general rules, she nodded slightly behind her.

After a moment, a man came forward pushing a simple wooden cart. The space inside was not large, and a blue and white porcelain vase was placed on it.

"This bottle was made in the Jiangnan official kiln. The Princess of Color sought a special beauty pill made by an alchemist. Long-term use of this pill can strengthen the complexion and skin, and keep one young forever."

Xu Qing raised his eyebrows slightly, because the woman's words on the stage reminded him of the salesman in his past life.

But the difference between the two is that after hearing the name of the beauty pill, these people did not worry at all whether these pills had the functions that the woman boasted about, and their eyes became burning and passionate.

"Today's treasure fair will start with this beauty pill."

As soon as the woman on the stage finished speaking, many ministers raised their right hands.

The moment they raised it, a maid who was serving beside them came forward with a tray.

On the tray was a piece of blue silk cloth and an inkstone and brush. The ministers and nobles who were familiar with it picked up the brush and ink with ease and wrote their bids on it.

After the maids gathered backstage and prepared the items and served them up, the woman in palace dress presiding over the auction took a quick glance and then, with a smile, announced the bidder's name and bid.

"King Luanchuan offers three thousand taels of gold to bid for this bottle of beauty pills."

Hearing the name of Three Thousand Taels, many people in the audience gasped and looked towards the place not far from the stage.

There, a royal prince wearing a dragon robe and with a round figure and face was resting with his eyes closed, enjoying the admiration from all directions.

Xu Qing had heard of the title of King Luanchuan. His surname was Li. Judging from his seniority, he should be the uncle of Emperor Xuan and the younger brother of the late emperor.

On the day of the late emperor's death, the King of Luanchuan was also a very strong candidate for the throne because the late emperor's children were still young.

But surprisingly, this prince's intention was not to be the emperor, but to be an idle prince.

Later, the Queen Mother came to power and ordered the princes to return to their fiefdoms. The Prince of Luanchuan was the first to respond to the court's call and took the initiative to move to the imperial city.

Because of this, the King of Luanchuan accumulated a lot of wealth and properties over the years and became an invisible rich man in the capital.

"My Lord, do you want to take a picture?"

Hearing the question from the maid beside him, Xu Qing waved his hand.

Although he was very curious about the beauty pill in the bottle and wanted to see the results of the ancient alchemist's alchemy, the price of one thousand taels of gold exceeded all his belongings.

In ancient times, productivity was low, and the average household might only spend five taels of silver a month.

One tael of gold was equivalent to ten taels of silver, and three thousand taels of gold were enough to support a family of five for five hundred years.

"Since no one else has made an offer, the beauty pill belongs to King Luanchuan."

The smile of the woman in palace dress was as bright as a spring breeze. The Prince of Luanchuan also stood up amid the congratulations of the people around him and took the wooden sign with number one.

After a while, the beauty pills were brought to the prince. Several lights were lit on the stage at the same time, and new goods were pushed out.

When they saw that the object being pushed up was a prison van, everyone's eyes were filled with astonishment.

Moreover, people could clearly see that three girls with ragged clothes but delicate makeup were imprisoned with handcuffs and iron chains in the car.

Although the clothes of the three girls were torn as if they had been forcibly torn apart, Xu Qing could tell at a glance that the fabrics they were wearing were brocade and gorgeous clothes with bright and beautiful colors, as if they were some kind of special court clothing.

The three of them looked outside with pitiful expressions. They were frightened and terrified by the pairs of bright eyes like torches in the darkness. Their bodies kept curling up and shaking.

"I believe that all of you are smart people who can discern pearls. You can see that the origins of these three girls are not ordinary... They are members of the royal family of the Northern Jin Kingdom. The one in the middle is a descendant of the famous Wanyan clan, and the other two girls are also descendants of the Jin Kingdom's dignitaries."

As soon as the woman in palace dress finished speaking, the sound of whispers could be heard from below.

"Wanyan? I heard that the brother of the founding emperor of the Jin Dynasty, Jin Taizong, was Wanyan Digan... If this woman were in the Jin Dynasty, she would be a top-notch aristocrat!"

"Yes, hasn't the Jin Kingdom been growing strong in recent years, and has it beaten the Liao Kingdom to its knees? How could a noblewoman end up in our Great Qi?"

The discussions from the audience also confused Xu Qing.

Although the geographical conditions here are similar to those in the memories of the previous life, there are many differences in the details and regional maps.

For example, the Jin Dynasty, the Liao Dynasty and the Mongols in history all rose at this time and occupied large tracts of territory in the north.

Although the Great Qi Dynasty had a glorious history, from the perspective of the entire known world map, it was just a declining dynasty that was isolated in a corner and paid tribute of cloth and silver to the north every year.

The Jin Dynasty was stronger than the Liao Dynasty and the Great Qi Dynasty, and was only slightly stronger than the fierce and warlike Mongolians who lived on horseback. So how did these three people end up in the Great Qi Dynasty?
"Before winter, my lords, do you remember that Jin and Liao fought a battle in Mohe, Northeast China? The Liao Kingdom was defeated and lost three cities in a row."

Of course everyone remembered what the woman in palace dress said.

After all, the policy adopted by Da Qi now is to drive the tiger to devour the wolf and secretly support the Liao Kingdom in the north.

Otherwise, if the North is unified by a foreign race, tens of millions of cavalry will march south and flatten the entire southern hinterland.

"Although the Liao Kingdom was badly defeated, one of its troops lost its way due to the sudden heavy snowfall and mistakenly entered a border town behind the Jin Kingdom. They captured the wives, concubines and children of many of the Jin Kingdom's dignitaries in this town and took them back to the capital as hostages."

The woman in palace dress continued, "It was because of these hostages that the Jin Kingdom was forced to abandon its winter offensive and negotiate peace with them in the Mohe area."

"I see."

Xu Qing sat in the chair and thought about it thoughtfully.

Chengxuanfang is not only responsible for internal intelligence collection, but also for external military intelligence collection.

But for some reason, the situation described by the woman in palace dress was not recorded in the intelligence reported by Chengxuanfang.

Could it be that Princess Danyang has her own connections?

Xu Qing's thought was confirmed almost the next moment.

"For this batch of goods, the princess sent people to the capital of Liao to negotiate with the Yelu royal family and brought them back... Although the princesses and princes of Jin were also captured by Liao and brought to the capital, the Liao was unwilling to exchange them."

When these literati, ministers, and wealthy and powerful people heard the news, they were all terrified and looked horrified.

As a prominent family in the Jin Dynasty, it was already a great honor for the Wanyan clan to appear here. How could we expect the royal family of the Jin Dynasty to appear in the mall?
But think about it, if I can buy the enemy woman who has repeatedly defeated the Da Qi army on the battlefield and bring her home to be my concubine, wouldn't this be a patriotic act to share the country's worries?

"Take the photo of the Wanyan family in the middle, and the remaining two daughters of the Jin nobles will also be given as gifts... Gentlemen, take them home and use them however you want. After all, the Jin and Liao countries are now on the verge of a war, and it is very likely that they will go to war again after the winter ends. The other side will not offend the Great Qi because of the Wanyan family and two ministers whose names cannot be named."

Everyone nodded, impressed by Princess Danyang's thoughtful consideration.

They had thought that the appearance of the wives and daughters of several guilty and traitorous generals at the treasure fair was a sure kill, but who could have imagined that the Princess of Danyang was so capable that she could actually reach an agreement with the Liao Kingdom and snatch food from its mouth.

The ministers of the Great Qi all knew that the Liao Kingdom had a big appetite, and generally only absolute benefits would be offered in exchange for the other party's concessions.

Princess Danyang must have spent a lot of effort to trade these three women as commodities.

"Everyone, the maid has checked their bodies and they are all innocent. It's just that their fierceness has not been tamed yet... If the customer who bought them has any request, there is no need to pay extra money. Give the princess's mansion three days and we will tame them and do whatever you want."

After the palace-dressed woman introduced the goods, she blinked and said calmly, "Please make an offer."

Although most of the light poles in the venue were now extinguished, Xu Qing could see through the moving shadows that the charm of the Jin Kingdom's female slaves was far greater than the previous beauty pills. Almost half of the people raised their hands to bid and wrote their bids on the paper silk tray handed to them.

"My Lord, do you want to take a picture of this?"

Xu Qing waved his hand subconsciously, but his hand froze just as it reached halfway into the air.

Because there were many rumors about him in the capital, and even because he personally exposed the chaos during the Heavenly Sacrifice Ceremony, many people regarded him as the male version of Shen Shuangxu.

Although he wanted to bring down the White Lotus Sect, his successive actions after losing his memory had deviated from his original intention and turned his image into that of a resourceful and wise man.

Besides, Princess Danyang once expressed her intention to marry him, so he might as well use this incident to let her know that he is not a man who respects his wife and obeys the rules.

"shoot."

Xu Qing casually wrote a number on the tray handed to him by the maid.

When the maid walked down with the tray, the woman in palace dress took a quick look and then walked up to the stage and announced, "The bidder for the number two wooden sign is Marquis Guangping, and he is offering ten thousand taels of gold."

"what?"

Now, not only the people in the audience, but even Xu Qing himself found it hard to believe what the woman in palace dress said, and his left cheek twitched continuously.

Most of the gold that the Empress Dowager had rewarded Qin Shuying had been spent in the Marquis of Guangping's Mansion.

After all, the expenses of a proper marquis's mansion are not comparable to those of an ordinary family.

So when I wrote the price just now, I wrote one hundred taels of gold.

But he didn't know where to get the gold that the woman in palace dress was talking about.

"My Lord, don't worry. The princess has instructed me...anything that the Marquis likes at the treasure fair is yours. Any expenses that the Marquis spends here will be covered by the princess."

Xu Qing glanced at the maid beside him and suddenly didn't know what to say.

Is this what it feels like to be kept by rich lady Da Qi?
"My Lord, would you like to send these three female slaves of the Jin Dynasty directly to your residence, or let the princess train them?"

Xu Qing knew vaguely that the training the maid mentioned should be similar to the condition of Empress Gongsun.

But the status of these female slaves in the Jin Dynasty was not higher than that of Empress Gongsun. One was a prisoner who was transported to an enemy country thousands of miles away, while the other was still the nominal queen of the dynasty and was required to preside over the ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven.

From this, it can be predicted that if he agreed to the maids' words, their fate would be worse than death.

Although Xu Qing is not a kind-hearted saint, it is very likely that Princess Danyang is a member of the White Lotus Sect. If he allows the villains of the White Lotus Sect to use these tricks to harass other people, then wouldn't he be their accomplice?
So Xu Qing shook his head and said calmly: "Send it to my house. The Fourth Young Madam is at home. She knows what to do."

Qin Shuying is extremely smart, intelligent and sensible, and given her personality, when she sees these people she would at most say a few bad things about herself and would never do anything that goes against the overall situation.

"Yes."

The maid's footsteps and figure gradually faded away. At the following treasure show, Xu Qing returned to his silent style and never dared to take pictures of these things again.

A favor worth a ton of gold is hard to repay, and he doesn't want to have any more contact with Princess Danyang.

For example, the legendary iceberg snow lotus, Tai Sui...all kinds of items for sale, it can be seen that Princess Danyang has put a lot of effort into this treasure fair and has prepared many eye-opening things.

"The treasure will end here."

After handing over the seventh wooden sign, the woman in palace dress standing on the stage uttered the closing words.

(End of this chapter)