I was the emperor in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 76
"This squirrel mandarin fish is not bad, but it tastes better than the one made by the imperial kitchen supervisor in the palace." Li Tian couldn't help commenting that the tender fish melted in his mouth.

"It's really good." Zheng He pushed the squirrel mandarin fish in front of Li Tian, ​​and said:
"When our family was on an embassy trip to the West, we saw Javanese people grind dried seaweed into powder and mix it into dishes. Our family was lucky enough to taste it, and it tasted very fresh. Seaweed powder should also be mixed into the dishes of Sea Lion House."

Seaweed is the kelp of later generations. Li Tian knew that the earliest monosodium glutamate was extracted from kelp, so he nodded and said:

"Wang Fu, go and ask for another dish, this one belongs to me."

"My lords, the oiran of the Thrushcross House has arrived and is preparing for it in the back room. There will be a pawn sale later in this building. Are any lords interested in participating?"

The same maid from before walked up to Li Tian's side, deliberately shaking the incense towel in her hand and bowing her body.

Smelling the elegant and fragrant scent of balm powder, Li Tian unceremoniously dragged the maid directly onto his lap, wrapped his arms around his waist and said:

"Is this how your shopkeeper taught you to serve customers?"

The maid exclaimed, and her whole body bumped into Li Tian's arms. It took a long time to raise her head with her mouth pouted and said:
"Young master is so rude, but the slave family is still a good family."

Even though she said so, the maid didn't get up, but deliberately rubbed against Li Tian's chest, and kept leaning on Li Tian.

Good family?

I believe you ghost, which woman from a good family would rub her breasts against someone, gently rubbing the soft flesh on the maid's waist, Li Tian curled his lips noncommittally, and asked with a smile:

"What is the pawn sale you mentioned earlier?"

"My lord, you haven't heard of the pawn sale?" The maid covered her mouth in surprise, and explained thoughtfully:

"The auction is where the young master competes with other guests to bid, and the one with the highest price will win."

"Isn't this the auction in Jinling City?" Interrupting the maid, Li Tian said with a look of surprise.

The maid was slightly stunned, thinking that the names of the north and the south were different, and she nodded her chin: "Then is the young master interested in participating?"

"You fooled me into participating, there should be a lot of profit to be taken."

"How could it be fooling you? The slave's family is so sad what the young master said." The maid punched Li Tian lightly with her fist, but continued in her mouth:

"The auction at the Sea Lion Building is a must in Beijing. There are Zhenla gems, Timur crystals, Harleigh BMWs, everything you need."

gem?crystal?BMW?

Li Tian's eyelids twitched when he heard the words, didn't Zhu Yuanzhang order the board not to go into the sea?
Since Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the Shipping Departments of Quanzhou, Fujian, Mingzhou, Zhejiang, and Guangzhou, Guangdong, Ming’s foreign trade has been cut off. In the past 20 years, only Zheng He should have been sent to the West. Where did the sea lion building come from?

Sensing the puzzled eyes of the emperor, Zheng He coughed twice and said:

"When I heard about the late emperor, every time Zheng He returned from his voyages to the West, the late emperor would reward all his ministers with Western goods. The sea lion tower's foreign goods should come from the hands of the ministers."

Hearing Zheng He talking about himself, Li Tian couldn't help but turn to look at the maid in his arms:
"But that's the case?"

"This lord is really insightful." After Zheng He finished speaking, the maid's eyes were full of brilliance, and her heart became more and more convinced that Li Tian was extraordinary, but she shook her head and said:

"But our Sea Lion Building is not a place to dump second-hand goods."

The smile on Li Tian's face stopped abruptly, he let go of his hands, motioned for the maid to stand up, narrowed his eyes slightly and said:
"That is to say, the items auctioned by your Sea Lion Tower were all brought back by Zheng He from his voyage to the West?"

Seeing Li Tian's expression was unkind, the maid thought she had said something wrong, and hurriedly said:
"Young master, are you worried that you will be traced by the court if you take photos of this building?"

Li Tian kept silent, sipping tea in small sips, raised his head after a while, and said with a smile on his face:

"When will the auction start? I am really interested."

Just as the maid was about to speak, she heard the crisp sound of metal and stone colliding, and hurriedly opened the partition door and said:
"That's how it started, my lord."

Li Tian raised his eyes and saw a two-foot-high round platform suddenly appeared in the middle of the third floor surrounded by all sides.

On the round stage, the previous fat shopkeeper was beating a small pure copper bell.

"Santa to all my lords, and my lords, please be well."

The fat shopkeeper pouted his buttocks and arched his hands, turned his body and said repeatedly.

Listening to the maid talking, Li Tian knew that the highlight of the event today was Gu Meizhu's singing. This auction was only added temporarily, and it will be put aside in the past. Before each auction, there will be an opening dance by a long-sleeved dancer.

"The first item, a pair of 'General Palm Prints' Siamese white fur cats, is priced at 1000 taels."

There were not so many bells and whistles in the temporarily added auction, and the fat shopkeeper quickly introduced the first item of the auction.

Li Tian looked at the civet cat with white hair except for a square birthmark on its head, turned to Zheng He and said:

"is not it."

Zheng He's face was very ugly at this time, he nodded, and said in a deep voice:
"A total of eighteen."

The maid thought Li Tian was playing a riddle, shook Li Tian's arm, and said charmingly:
"Young master, what are you talking about? I want to know too."

Li Tian was furious at the moment, he just asked Zheng He to put all the Western harvest into the internal treasury yesterday, and he saw it outside today, it is really fate.

Glancing at the maid who was waiting for him to spend money, Li Tian said coldly:

"go out."

The maid shuddered in fright at Li Tian's horrifying eyes. For some reason, she hurriedly stopped and retreated:

"Why did you suddenly get angry, but what did the slave family do wrong?"

Seeing this, Wang Fu hurriedly got up and said:

"Get out, get out, it has nothing to do with you."

The maid bit her lips lightly, looked at Li Tian with a stern face, snorted softly, turned around and walked out of the cubicle quickly.

Seeing the fat shopkeeper auctioning off pieces of Western goods, Li Tian held the teacup tightly in his hand, suppressing his anger and said:
"Jiang Bao, close the door."

As soon as the door was closed, Wang Fu and Jiang Bao hurriedly fell to their knees on the ground, ready to meet Shengwei's wrath. Even Zheng He stood up, bowed and waited for the punishment.

Taking a deep breath, Li Tian gritted his teeth and said:
"Jiang Bao, you are in charge of my internal treasury, so you should speak first."

Jiang Bao was afraid that Li Tian would misunderstand him, so he kowtowed like garlic, and wiped his nose and tears:
"This old slave used to be greedy for the property of the Mo Emperor. Not only did His Majesty not condemn the old slave, but he also gave the old slave a chance to reform himself. The old slave will never dare to do things like this again. Your Majesty, you must trust the old slave."

Worried that the partition wall has ears, Li Tian lowered his voice:

"I didn't ask you to talk about this, I asked how the things in the inner library came to the Sea Lion Tower."

Suppressing his tears, Jiang Bao raised his head, thinking:
"Yesterday, I went to unload the ship on the Canal Fu, and it was the old slave who went with Hu Rang, the head of the imperial supervisor, and Wei Dehai, the head of the treasury bureau.

The old slave and Hu Rang did the storage, the key to Wei Dehai's lock, and the key to the warehouse.

When any prison opens the treasury, it must first hand over a note to the chief inspector, and people from the imperial prison and the treasury bureau must also be present."

(End of this chapter)