The day before the coronation ceremony.
A group of strangely dressed guests came to Jianye City. They wore both cloth and leather goods, and their styles were completely different from the Central Plains costumes, which made them particularly eye-catching. However, because Jianye City is located in the center of Chu State's trade, there are many business travelers coming and going. Especially the clothing of the Baiyue people adjacent to the south is also different from that of the Central Plains, so it is not very eye-catching.
Looking at the city walls more than ten meters high, the wide roads, and the busy streets, a young man and woman in the team were particularly excited.
"Grandpa, look! Look! There's a lot of food over there."
A girl of fourteen or fifteen years old happily pointed to a row of vendors in the distance.
Although another boy with a tough head was equally excited, he spoke sarcastically to the girl.
"Humph, you just know how to eat! Dad came to the capital of the Han people to do business."
The girl raised her eyebrows, slapped the boy on the head, and cursed.
"How can we do business if we don't have enough food? Are you not convinced?"
The young man murmured a few words, but did not dare to refute.
The group of people were not surprised by this. The middle-aged man at the head looked at it all with a smile and said while stroking his beard.
"Don't be in a hurry to eat. Let's find a place to stay and rest first. I didn't expect it to take so long to get to Jianye. The journey has exhausted my old bones."
A young man next to him, who was a lot stronger than the middle-aged man, said with a smile.
"Chief, we, the Ugo tribe, have nothing to say when you are in office. But if you are no longer alive, I will not recognize this coward Meng Huo as my leader!"
Meng Du, the leader, was still smiling and stroking his beard, nodding.
"I don't worry about that. He will fight for it in the future."
The young Meng Huo nodded.
The girl who spoke earlier stared at the big man with dangerous eyes.
"Wutugu! So you are very brave?"
"Hmph, Zhu Rong, don't think that I, the number one warrior of the Southern Barbarians, will be afraid of you!"
Seeing that the two of them were about to fight, Meng Du interrupted helplessly.
"Okay, okay, let's find a place to stay first. Calm down your temper, we are on someone else's territory now."
The two of them looked away after hearing this. The group moved forward along the road and found the inn.
In fact, there are quite a few inns in Jianye, and the group didn't go far when they came across a "Youjian Inn". Meng Du, Meng Huo, Zhu Rong, and Wu Tu Gu got off their horses and went into the store to check, while the others stayed outside the door.
"Store, do you still have any rooms?"
"Yes, yes! Don't worry, sir."
The shopkeeper, who was tapping the abacus on the counter, looked up at everyone, turned his eyes half a circle, and said with a smile.
"But I wonder how many people will be staying there?"
"There are twenty-four of us. How big is your guest room?"
When Meng Du said the number of people, the shopkeeper showed a troubled look on his face and said after a long pause.
"There are a lot of people staying in the hotel recently. Sir, you need three big rooms for ten people. I will ask the guests to move them to make room for them. But one room costs five taels of silver a day. Three rooms are enough. Fifteen taels, please take a look, guest..."
Fifteen taels of silver a day!
Meng Du and others were shocked. They had stayed in hotels in other places along the way. They didn't expect Jianye's price to be so high.
Before Meng Du could say anything, Zhu Rong couldn't help but slap the table.
"How much? We only get ten taels of silver from selling a cart of leather goods, and you, an old man, ask for fifteen taels of silver a day! You are clearly blackmailing us! Don't think that we have never stayed in an inn. A guest room in other places only costs 200 taels of silver a day. .”
Ouch.
The shopkeeper said with a smile.
"Girl, you are joking. I'm just open for business, how can I blackmail you? How can other places compare with our capital? Every inch of land here is precious!"
"In addition, His Majesty will hold the enthronement ceremony tomorrow. There are countless people coming to Jianye to join in the fun, and they are all full! We can only scrape together three houses.
A large room. If you arrive late, you won’t have a place to stay if you have money. If you don’t believe me, go and ask somewhere else. I'm afraid that if you take the lead, people coming from behind will take over the house. When the time comes, I can't drive them away even if you want to live in it. "
this?
Seeing the boss's calm and sincere look, Zhu Rong couldn't help but be confused. He could only look at Meng Du blankly and let the leader make the decision.
Meng Du frowned and couldn't make up his mind for a moment.
The boss is right. Looking at the people coming and going in Jianye, I am afraid that there are not many guest rooms in other places. If I miss it, what will I do if the place is full later?
They could still afford fifteen taels of silver, but even if they only stayed for two days, the expense would be quite painful.
"Brother, don't worry! The shopkeeper is clearly trying to blackmail you."
There are many tables in the lobby of the inn, and there are also many dining guests, but most of them just glanced at it and ignored it. Only a scholar who was eating noodles stood up with an unswerving expression.
The young scholar stepped forward, glared at the shopkeeper who was already shrinking, and explained to Meng Du and Zhu Rong.
"The cheapest guest room here only costs 200 francs a day, and the best room here only costs 20 taels of silver a day. The Datongbu room that accommodates ten people is obviously not a good guest room, and it only costs 300 francs a day at most."
"The imperial court has already issued regulations. During the festival, the price cannot be increased by more than 50%! This shopkeeper clearly thinks that you are outsiders and do not know the laws, so he intends to blackmail you."
When Zhu Rong heard this, he counted his fingers.
Three hundred fen a day, a 50% increase to 450 fen. Three rooms are equivalent to 1,350 cash.
Fifteen taels of silver is fifteen guan of money, which is fifteen thousand Wen.
Zhu Rong looked at the shopkeeper who was so honest just now with a surprised look on his face and said.
"You, you, you have increased more than ten times!"
"How brave! How dare you blackmail your grandfather!"
Wu Tu Gu slapped the counter in annoyance, causing the wooden counter to shake. The abacus on the counter bounced off, and the shopkeeper was even frightened and was thrown under the table.
"Brother, calm down, brother, calm down!"
Upon seeing this, the scholar hurriedly stepped forward to stop him. He stood up because he couldn't tolerate any sand in his eyes, but it would be quite troublesome if they really fought.
Seeing that the scholar who had just spoken for them was standing in front of them, Wu Tu Gu stopped taking action and just stared with big eyes, his face looked like a tiger trying to eat people.
The shopkeeper was so frightened that he took out a piece of silver from under the counter and handed it over with trembling hands.
"Everyone, please calm down, calm down. I can use these ten taels of silver to apologize to you and treat you to tea."
Ten taels of silver!
That's ten thousand coins, ten thousand yuan. You can still make money by staying in a hotel!
Zhu Rong quickly picked up the ten taels of silver with bright eyes and turned to look at Meng Du.
"Grandpa, I think, or else forget it."
Everyone looked at the money-obsessed girl speechlessly.
How else?
Are you willing to return the money to the shopkeeper?
The shopkeeper used one move to eliminate wealth and disaster, which instantly made everyone lose their temper.
