I was the emperor in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 439 Billiards
The battle to grab cotton in the capital is intensifying, causing many people who were not very interested in this industry before to try it out and want to join in.

After all, as long as the source of goods can be obtained, the return can be nearly half higher than before when transported back to the capital, which is almost a guaranteed profit.

It's just that the new merchants who joined the exchange didn't know for a while who was manipulating the battle behind this time, and they didn't know when the war would end. Many of them were in a wait-and-see state.

Among these waiting and watching crowds, it must be said that Zhao Wang Zhu Gaosui has the most weight.

He actually participated in the establishment of the exchange.

However, he represented the Royal Bank, but because many things were handled by his subordinate Chen Fangmin, he actually didn't know much about what the exchange was.

In the past two days, he suddenly heard that the price of cotton had suddenly skyrocketed, and he became interested in this opportunity to make a lot of money.

First, he discussed with Chen Fangmin for a long time. When he figured out the specific operation method of the exchange, he also knew who the two people behind the snatching of cotton were.

But when he learned that the cause of the war was actually caused by Li Tian, ​​he began to feel a little scared.

But the skyrocketing cotton price still made him feel unwilling.

So he took advantage of the fact that he didn't have the opportunity to go to court today, and went to the palace to meet Li Tian, ​​hoping to get some reliable news from him before making a decision on whether to participate or not.

Li Tian usually finishes his official duties in the palace, and when he has spare time, he will go to the entertainment room he runs to relax and play for a while.

In fact, there are many such places in the imperial palace, such as places for listening to and watching operas, places for writing poems and playing chess, and some emperors who are good at martial arts will practice horseback riding and archery and other activities.

Polo, which was popular in the Tang Dynasty, and Cuju, which was popular in the Song Dynasty, were actually passed down from the royal family to the folk.

Some people say that entertainment activities were scarce in ancient times, but this is not the case.

Due to the hardships of life among the people, after a whole day's work, they don't have much time to rest, so naturally they don't have time to play.

But in the upper class, you can play tricks.

Music, chess, calligraphy, painting, tea, poetry and wine, watching dramas, watching operas, fighting crickets, cockfighting, dogfighting, throwing pots, driving, hunting, parading, viewing flowers, admiring fish, fishing, games, playing in water, etc. are the most basic entertainment. project only.

These are relatively normal hobbies, and those relatively dirty hobbies are actually no less than these, and even more attractive.

Li Tian once read a book called Miscellaneous Notes on the Night Boat.

When this book was just published, it didn't attract many people's ideas, and it was discovered by later generations in 67.

The author of the book can be said to be a top-notch rich man named Zhang Dai.

The Playing Treasures section of the night sailing ship written by him records a lot of strange fun experiences of people in the Ming Dynasty.

Although the content recorded in it covers a wide range, it is more colorful than the Pingmei that is regarded as a divine book by countless otaku in later generations.

Most of the entertainment items in it can actually be found in the capital, and there are many in the palace.

It's just that Li Tian, ​​as a modern person who has traveled through time, is not very interested in most of the entertainment items in ancient times.

So he made a separate entertainment room that suits his wishes.

There are already many kinds of gadgets in this entertainment room, such as backgammon, military flag, playing cards, monopoly, flying chess and so on.

Recently, he has even brought out the billiards that he has been thinking about so much, and he has been playing happily these few days.

But no matter what entertainment it is, playing alone is always meaningless.

Except for his own concubines and princes, the people in the palace are palace maids and eunuchs. Except for the queen who can occasionally play with him for a while, the others dare not play with Li Tian even if they want to play. For play.

It made Li Tian unable to find someone who was evenly matched, and he was very depressed.

However, although they didn't dare to play with Li Tian, ​​many people sneaked here to play in private.

Among them, the most frequent patrons here are a few half-grown princes. They act like thieves every time, and run away after playing for a while, for fear of being caught by Li Tian and scolding them for not doing their job properly.

It's just that the new entertainment tools invented by Li Tian are really interesting, and they always like to come here when they have nothing to do.

On this day, when Zhu Gaosui came to look for Li Tian.

It happened that several princes were lying outside the entertainment room one by one, secretly peeping inside, so fascinated that they didn't even notice his arrival.

Zhu Gaosui was also very curious, and instead of disturbing these nephews, he followed them to lie on the window and look inside.

I saw a huge table that was one and a half meters wide and two meters long in the center of the entertainment room.

The table was covered with a thick layer of silk cloth, and above the silk cloth were more than a dozen round stone balls divided into many colors and strange symbols painted on them.

These stone balls are slightly smaller than an adult's fist.

At this time, Li Tianzheng and Wang Fu, each holding a wooden pole more than one meter long, were gesturing in front of Zhuo, as if they were thinking about something.

Wang Fu didn't seem to be very good at playing. After gesticulating for a long time, he half-kneeled down, raised the wooden stick, and slammed it towards a white stone ball.

I don't know if I was too nervous or not accurate enough, but this shot missed at such a close distance.

The white ball spun around on the spot, then rolled forward slowly and then stopped.

Seeing this scene, before Zhu Gaosui understood what was going on, the little nephews beside him all sighed.

"Stinky ball, what a stinky ball, it can be missed, Manager Wang is so stupid."

"Hmph, if it were me, I would never be able to miss it!"

"Just you, I don't know who kicked the white ball out of the table last time."

"I... It was my first time playing, and I didn't master it well. Next time, I will definitely not do it next time."

Hearing the quarrel between several nephews, Zhu Gaosui became even more confused. He asked in a low voice,
"Brother Huang, what are they playing?"

Only at this time did the little ones realize that there was actually an adult standing beside them, and they suddenly dispersed in panic,
"Third Uncle, you haven't seen us, so don't tell Father that you have seen us!"

After speaking, he ran away without a trace.

Hearing the commotion outside, Li Tian didn't come out, so he said directly,
"It's Gao Sui, come in!"

Zhu Gaosui pushed open the door and walked in. The stove inside was burning brightly, and a gust of warm wind came out in front of him, which made him feel a little uncomfortable.

"Why is it so hot here, brother emperor, what are you doing, new stuff?"

(End of this chapter)