Not to mention the distant officials from other places, just the officials from Beijing and Henan Road, where the capital is located, can be described as a mountain of various so-called New Year gifts sent to express their feelings. Although there are no more than a hundred strings, the problem is that there are too many. To put it bluntly, just the various so-called hometown rituals made the British Prince's Palace a little bit reluctant to let go.
To exaggerate, just the high-quality Jiangnan rice from the so-called hometown soil is enough for the entire British palace, and there will be no need to buy a grain of grain in the next two years. Although none of them cost more than one hundred guan, the problem was that they couldn't handle the large amount. Moreover, those officials put a lot of thought into giving gifts, which made Huang Qiong very difficult to guard against.
Those so-called earthen rituals do not exceed one hundred guan, but those 100 guan are calculated according to the price of their respective places of origin. After it was shipped to the capital, the price increased many times, so naturally no one paid any attention to it. An official from the Ministry of Revenue, whose home is on Guangnan East Road, sent dozens of baskets of bananas and lychees. These fruits, which are still rare in the capital, are worth thousands of guan.
But people say that this thing is very cheap in their hometown, and even if it is doubled, it is not worth a hundred yuan. It's just that this official's tricks couldn't be hidden from Huang Qiong. But the problem is that as a prince, Huang Qiong cannot do nothing every day and just wait at the concierge to check how much those so-called hundred-year gifts are really worth.
The one who accepts these annual gifts is naturally the concierge of the British Prince's Palace. But in an era when transportation is still far from developed, have ordinary people seen these things that have always been enjoyed only by princes and nobles? Most of the family members in the British palace were selected from the refugees, and they were even less familiar with these high-end things. In a daze, Huang Qiong accepted it as an ordinary thing. By the time Huang Qiong found out, it was already too late.
And the new Chengdu magistrate, after personally escorting the Shu king's family and the confiscated property to the capital, he did not send any so-called high-end goods such as Shu brocade. But there were a lot of cordyceps, a specialty of West Sichuan Road, as well as high-end supplements and medicinal materials such as Gastrodia elata. People say that these things are cheaper than Chinese cabbage on Sichuan West Road.
Okay, just like what he said, these high-end supplements and medicinal materials are not valuable on West Sichuan Road. But the key is that what he gave was not one box, but two large baskets of each item. Not to mention anything else, those two baskets of cordyceps were enough for Huang Qiong in a first-tier city in his previous life, and they were enough for him to buy a house. Even in this era where things are far from rare, they are still valuable.
As for the new prefect, in addition to the gifts he gave himself, he also gave a bunch of so-called gifts that did not exceed one year for the West Sichuan Road pacification envoys, transfer envoys, administrative envoys, academic administrators and other officials who could not come to Beijing. Hundreds of earth rituals. In his words, those deer antlers, deer whips, furs, leopard bones, rhinoceros horns, etc. are everywhere on West Sichuan Road and are not valuable at all.
The most exaggerated thing is that this man also gave a pair of black and white bears that were only three months old and a pair of monkeys covered with golden hair to the British Prince's Palace, saying that they were for the future young prince to play with. When Huang Qiong, who had been punished in the palace for giving gifts to officials, returned home, she was shocked to find that the pair of golden monkeys were nothing more than nothing. It's quite cute, you can keep it and play with it if you have nothing to do.
But weren't the so-called small black and white bears the national treasure giant pandas from his previous life? Seeing the pair of pandas, Huang Qiong wanted to strangle the prefect to death. These days, I was gifted a pair of these things. When I was far away from the two rivers and Luoyang, where could I find bamboo to feed them? Transporting bamboo all the way from Liangchuan to the capital, I would probably go bankrupt in less than half a year.
What's more, except for him, almost everyone didn't know that this thing just looked silly, but it was actually extremely dangerous. Especially before these two were caught, they were still pure wild ones, rather than the artificially bred and domesticated ones, which have long since lost their wildness. Its true combat power is enough to dominate the mountains. This is the true face that both tigers and leopards are afraid of and dare not provoke.
But the problem is, after seeing this kind of naive animal, at least in appearance, He Yao and the other girls couldn't help but fall in love with it. Especially He Yao, who is pregnant and has an abnormally overflowing maternal instinct. When I see this cute little animal when I was little, I just can't put it down. Although this thing doesn't need protection yet, the problem is that Jingzhao doesn't have it.
Huang Qiong, who couldn't bear to make his woman sad, could only resist the urge to send people away at all times, and kept these two living treasures and the pair of golden monkeys. However, Huang Qiong was afraid that the girls would be deceived by the cute appearance of the pair of pandas and accidentally hurt herself. He repeatedly told them that it was okay, but they were absolutely not allowed to get too close.
Especially He Yao, who was currently pregnant, was strictly ordered by him to come within three feet of her. Even though all the girls had kung fu, Huang Qiong would not allow them to get close to him. Because in Huang Qiong's opinion, no matter how high his kung fu is, he can't withstand the strength of a guy who can slap a wolf away with a slap, sit someone to death with a slap of the butt, and can even bite an iron rod with a mouth full of teeth.
Today I was scolded when I entered the palace, and this thing was given to me. His woman liked it, so Huang Qiong simply accepted it. As for the bamboo needed to feed these living treasures, wait for that bastard to come with the boatload of bamboo and think of a solution after eating it. Anyway, this thing is an omnivore, so it’s not like it can’t eat other things.
In fact, Huang Qiong didn't know. His emperor, I, indeed brought him into the palace today to find trouble and scolded him. It was just an excuse to accept the official's annual gift. The real reason is something else, but I can't say it openly. As for the matter of receiving New Year's gifts, I might want him to relax a bit. Since the official killing incident in Zhengzhou, there have been some problems with the relationship between him and the civil servants.
The emperor just scolded him and didn't really want to pursue anything. What's more, the emperor also knew clearly that it was not Huang Qiong who deliberately accepted gifts in such a manner. Setting a limit of one hundred strings shows that you are not a greedy person. I don't want to slap those shameless officials in the face who come to give gifts, and make the already stiff relationship even more tense.
The reason why they collected so much stuff was because they underestimated the extent of the officials' corruption and were simply deceived to a certain extent. Moreover, this son, who has always been shrewd, had a rare fall into trouble this time and was deceived by those officials, but it was all Tuyi who received the reward. Among the annual gifts given by all the officials, there really was not a penny of gold or silver.
As for those so-called medicinal materials, supplements, and fruits, the emperor who held the North and South Zhenfu Division in his hands also knew that they were indeed valuable in the capital where water was three-thirds more expensive. But in the country of origin, it’s really not that expensive. Even the most expensive Cordyceps sinensis, according to the memorial of Nanzhen Fusi, among the Tibetan herdsmen in the Daxue Mountain area on West Sichuan Road, one pound of rough tea leaves can be exchanged for one pound.
The official who sent Huang Qiong's bananas and the bananas and lychees he sent were too expensive on Guangnan East Road, and the sales of similar products in other places were all controlled by the Guilin County Prince's Palace. The selling price is very low, and sometimes it's so rotten that no one picks it up. Just because it was difficult to transport, it was sold at a sky-high price in the capital.
Compared with the original crown prince, the earthly rituals that Huang Qiong received were not even a drop in the bucket. You know, the prince back then was just trying to show off. I won’t even look at anything worth less than five thousand guan. Usually only real gold and silver, or high-end things such as Dongzhu, Hetian jade, and gemstones are required. People never even take a look at the medicinal materials and fruits Huang Qiong collected.
The reason why officials are rushing to send New Year's gifts now is not only because they want to curry favor with Huang Qiong, a new rich man, but at least a large part of it is also the cause and effect planted by the prince. The reason why Tangtang comforted the envoy all the way was because he didn't give the prince a New Year gift during the Chinese New Year. When he went to Beijing to report on his duties, it was time for him to go to Xijing to worship his ancestors, leaving the prince to stay in Jingzhao to supervise the country.
This very unlucky pacifier, a man in his fifties, was forced to find an excuse that was not an excuse by the prince, and made a speech outside Li Zhengmen in front of all the civil and military officials, guards and eunuchs, in the hottest time of the year. In the dog days of summer, I had to kneel for a whole afternoon. Although the person was not sunburned to death, he lost a whole layer of skin.
With the pacifier's past experience, it is not a surprise that these civil and military officials acted this way. After all, they knew far less about their ninth son than the prince. Sending some gifts to test the character of the new king of England has always been a common method used by these officials. As a ninth son, it is already quite good for him to set a bottom line of one hundred strings.
If it were another son, I'm afraid he wouldn't be any better than the prince. How could the emperor, who knew everything in his heart, really scold Huang Qiong for such a trivial matter in his eyes? What's more, after Huang Qiong received the things, he basically reciprocated the gift. So a reprimand was a reprimand, but the emperor finally chose to acquiesce in Huang Qiong's behavior of accepting gifts.
With the emperor's disguised acquiescence, Huang Qiong, who still didn't know the real reason why he was scolded, was still a little guilty and worried that he would be scolded even worse that day. But because it was something my woman liked, I kept it as a matter of course. Huang Qiong rarely accepted two pairs of living animals, and the Chengdu prefect's method quickly became popular.
Let others worry that the gifts they send will not attract the attention of the King of England. Or officials who didn't know what they could give quickly followed suit. After all, giving rare birds and animals, compared to those gifts that are limited to one hundred guans, is valuable if it is said to be valuable. If it is said to be worthless, it cannot be said to be worthless, but if a few hunters put in the effort, it will definitely not exceed a hundred strings.
Besides, how can a dead thing be more easily remembered than a living thing? Sending some rare birds and animals, the King of England took a look and said, oh, this is from so-and-so. It must be more impressive than those earthen rituals that were eaten, used and then forgotten. Of course, it's too late to catch the year now. Even if it is caught, there are only a few days left to celebrate the New Year, and it will definitely not be transported to the capital after traveling thousands of miles.
But it is said that the concubine whom the King of England loved very much is now pregnant. Although it is not enough as a New Year gift, it is still a good reason to give some live animals to the future young prince and princess to play with. Therefore, for a long period of time, officials went to the British Prince's Palace and used various methods to send some rare birds and animals that were rarely seen in daily life.
As a direct result, within the next half year, the British Palace almost became a zoo. What come from the white tigers and big snakes on Fujian Road, the various eagles, eagles, falcons and other raptors on Shandong Road, the colorful golden pheasants, leopards and musk deer on Shanxi Road, the civets, civets and pangolins on Huguang North and South Road, Zhejiang and Guangnan East Various monkeys and black bears on the road.
There are also various cranes and waterfowl on the east-west road of Jiangnan, almost a wide variety of species. A large part of them became protected animals more than a thousand years later. And some of the animals, not to mention Huang Qiong, didn't know what they were. Even the officials who sent them and the hunters who captured them didn't know what they were called. Those animals put together have more species than the zoo Huang Qiong visited in his previous life.
