The word "Tingxue" is very imaginative.
No one knows when the King of Liao gave the restaurant this name, whether it was taken from Han Yuanji's "The bamboo stove listens to the snow and sits on the futon, and the poet who laughs is not able to withstand the cold" or from Lu You's "The crisis has passed, but I am still shocked, and the nightmare has returned for the first time" A little bit of stretch. Can you master this magical power? Listen to the wind, listen to the snow and wait for the new year."
No matter what, Tingxue Tower is a special existence in the capital.
Because there is little snow in Nanjing, there are many arty snow-watching guests, high-ranking officials, romantic talents, who indulge themselves and sing loudly, so many of them choose here.
In other words, this is an elegant place for princes, nobles and bureaucrats, and ordinary businessmen are not qualified to enter. Of course, Chang Baiye and Chang Jin, who were holding the invitation from Cao Guogong, were welcomed in with a smile.
This kind of smile is not for Chang Baiye, but for Cao Guogong.
"President of the Shanxi Merchants Chamber of Commerce, the Chang family and Chang Baiye are here."
Chang Baiye had just entered a main hall on the third floor when someone beside him announced loudly.
The originally lively hall suddenly became quiet, and everyone turned their gazes over. Some people stood up and came forward to greet him: "I don't know that President Chang came to the capital and didn't visit before. I'm rude and disrespectful."
Chang Baiye returned the favor one by one with a warm smile on his face. There were many wealthy businessmen here, including Hu Wenyi, the "Grain King" of Huizhou, as well as salt merchant Hu Yuan, Suzhou Zhao Dayu, and the capital's Liang Wenxing. Oh, and Qu Bao, a Shanxi merchant in the capital...
With some regret, Shen Yiyuan went to sea again.
"When did your kid come? You didn't send any news when you came. Do you think Uncle Qu is an outsider?"
Qu Bao looked at Chang Baiye with relief.
Chang Baiye called out: "Uncle Qu, Qianqian and I just entered the city yesterday. Didn't we just go there with a tired look on our faces and empty hands just because we wanted to rest for two days? You have no objection, just in case your father-in-law finds out." , and you won’t even beat me.”
Qu Bao nodded with satisfaction and said in a low voice: "The marriage between Changhou and his family is so quiet. It's not as good as an ordinary people's family. Aren't you afraid of being laughed at?"
Chang Baiye replied: "Uncle Qu, Qianqian has the final say on this matter."
"Qianqian her?"
Qu Bao was a little confused. Who didn't want to be a glamorous woman when she got married? How could she be so low-key?
Chang Baiye explained, his heart filled with happiness.
Hou Qianqian is not an ordinary woman. She knows that with the financial resources of the Chang family and the Hou family, not to mention ten miles of red makeup, even thirty miles can be obtained. But are these really beneficial?
At present, there is a large-scale immigration in Shanxi, and many families are immersed in sad farewells. The Chang family is doing great things at this time. The family is reunited and the whole family is happy. Some of the people watching are envious, and there must be some who are more sad.
For example, some elderly people watch their sons leave their homes and wonder what to do when their younger son gets married, whether they can still see their son, and whether they can see their grandson in the future...
It doesn't matter if there are one or two who are unhappy and hate the rich. However, if too many people are involved, it will inevitably affect the reputation of the Chang family and the Hou family, affect their influence among the people, and even affect the Shanxi Merchants Chamber of Commerce.
The most important thing is that Hou Qianqian believes that the luxurious ostentation of businessmen can easily lead to disaster.
It has only been a year or two since the imperial court lifted the ban on commerce. If there is a censor who is not enlightened and thinks that such ostentation is extravagant and leads the people to bad things, and tries to control the merchants, the shackles that were finally released will have to be tied again.
After careful consideration, Hou Qianqian persuaded Chang Baiye, as well as the Chang family and the Hou family, to get married in a low-key manner for the sake of a longer-term future.
After hearing this, Qu Bao raised his thumb and praised: "The daughter of the Hou family is indeed the daughter of a daughter. You have to treat him well, otherwise we uncles will not be able to spare you."
Chang Baiye quickly agreed, then looked around and asked, "Is there anyone else who hasn't come?"
Qu Bao nodded heavily and said: "Also
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There is an important person. "
"who?"
"The acting king of the Heroes Chamber of Commerce, Zhu Gui."
"The feudal lord?!"
Chang Baiye was shocked.
Li Jinglong just invited businessmen, and even the prince also invited him. Is this too much noise? What exactly does he want to do?
Just when everyone was getting a little irritable, a shout came from the door: "The Acting King of the Heroes Chamber of Commerce and Duke Cao have arrived."
Chang Baiye and others stood up and saluted.
Li Jinglong greeted Zhu Gui and arranged for everyone to sit down. Zhu Gui sat down and said simply: "I am here today, not as a prince, but only as a representative of the Heroes Chamber of Commerce. Any matters will be discussed in accordance with the businessman's rules. Come and go." Liberty, without restraint.”
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, fearing that these two big men would buy and sell by force. Now that the king has spoken, there is room for change.
Li Jinglong started with self-deprecation: "Due to his brother-in-law's incident, the emperor banned Li for half a year. I thought that no one would dare to accept the invitation from Cao Guogong's mansion when he left the house. But I didn't expect that everyone is here. Such a compliment, I will give you the first glass of wine." .”
Chang Baiye looked at the somewhat hypocritical Li Jinglong and secretly despised him.
What you wrote on the invitation was not the three characters Li Jinglong, but the six characters "Cao Guogong Li Jinglong". It was not that you wrote three more characters with your idle hands, but you used the name of Cao Guogong to threaten you. Everyone can reject Li Jinglong, but not everyone can reject Cao Guogong.
It is not appropriate for a big man to laugh at himself and not to laugh with him.
After everyone had a good chat and a few glasses of wine, Li Jinglong's face turned red and he couldn't help but said: "I'm inviting you all to the banquet today because I have a business I want to do with you all."
Chang Baiye looked at Qu Bao on the side and asked in a low voice: "Uncle Qu, do you know what the deal is?"
Qu Bao shook his head. Cao Guogong's government didn't have much credibility at all. He recalled that when they were in Yangjiang, Guangdong, they received benefits from many businessmen and agreed to follow Zheng He to go to sea. However, things went wrong. They took advantage of the benefits and ran away. Those businessmen lost all their money, and many people cursed Cao Guogong's government openly and secretly.
Be cautious when doing business with people who have lost credibility like this.
There are those who don’t support it, and naturally there are those who do. For example, Zhao Dayu had wanted to join an official line for a long time. King Qi and King Min ignored him several times. King Dai was a miner and his business was not compatible. Now that a prince came out, he was also a good candidate.
Zhao Dayu immediately supported: "Cao Guogong, tell me what kind of business you are doing and give everyone a way to make a fortune."
Chang Baiye looked at Zhao Dayu, and Qu Bao whispered: "Look, some businessmen are only as smart as this."
Chang Baiye nodded. Zhao Dayu was quite well-known, especially when he wanted to send a sum of money when the silver-copper ratio was out of balance. As a result, he hesitated and hesitated. In the end, he suffered a lot of losses and became a quarrel with the government. A victim to the ratio of gold to silver.
Li Jinglong looked at the crowd, and only a few people expressed their opinions, but it didn't matter. After all, they were businessmen. Who could refuse a deal that was sure to make a profit without losing any money?
"This deal is a martial arts test."
Li Jinglong said in a deep voice.
In an instant, no one in the hall spoke. They all looked at Li Jinglong in surprise. Even the acting king Zhu Gui frowned.
Chang Baiye and Qu Bao looked at each other, wanting to run away.
The martial arts examination is a court-level examination. The people who preside over this examination are the Ministry of War and the Fifth Army Commander's Office. You, an idle prince, dare to treat the martial arts examination as a business. Isn't this courting death?
The grounding last time was not enough. Are you planning to go to the Ministry of Punishment and live together with Li Zengzhi? We have your brother in the Punishment Department, so you won't feel lonely there, but you have no acquaintances in the Punishment Department, so we don't want to go.
Zhao Dayu's face hurt a little, and he didn't dare to speak at this time.
Who dares to interfere in the court ceremony?
It depends on what Li Jinglong means, he is
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He was planning to try out the martial arts competition and fake the match. This would not work. If the court got angry and chopped him off with a knife, Cao Guogong would have a tile on his neck, but he had no tiles on his neck.
This is not a sale, this is harm.
Li Jinglong looked at the uncooperative crowd, drank a glass of wine by himself, and then said: "Open a handicap, indicate the odds, and bet freely."
"oh……"
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Zhao Dayu wiped his sweat quickly. It turned out that it was not a match-fixing, but a handicap set up outside the martial arts competition, and the bet was raised...
Gambling can be said to have a long history. Among the four ancient civilizations, although the other three died prematurely, a closer look shows that there was also a gambling civilization...
In this regard, China is not lagging behind others. It has continued to flourish through the dynasties, and it was not until the Qing Dynasty and later generations that it was gradually "completely" banned.
The earliest gambling game in China is called "Liubo".
According to the explanation in "Shuowen Jiezi", it was created by Wu Cao, a minister during the Jie period of the Xia Dynasty. It’s hard to say whether this statement is accurate or not, and whether there is a person like Wu Cao, but when people feel anxious about losing, they will shout “I am Cao”. I don’t know if there is any historical origin in this.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, gambling activities had been highly developed. Both the upper-class princes and monarchies and the lower-class handymen and common people were addicted to gambling. They not only gambled, but also fought. For example, Min Gong, the monarch of the Song Dynasty, was playing a game with others. As a result, there was an argument. I don't know whether he brought with him not enough people or because he was too weak, so he was beaten to death...
The famous Tian Ji horse racing is not just a horse betting event.
Cockfighting, dogfighting, pot throwing, chess, and six games were the mainstream gambling businesses during this period...
But one thing that needs to be explained is that although gambling during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period involved winning and losing money, it had an element of entertainment to some extent, that is, a small amount of gambling for fun, and just enough gambling was enough.
But by the Qin and Han Dynasties, especially the Han Dynasty, gambling had completely become a pure "playing to take people's wealth" and pure gambling. Before Sima Qian wrote "Historical Records", he was probably victimized by gambling. He called him a "trailing rich man". He was already in cahoots with him and turned into a traitor. What other good words could he use...
As for the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, although the society was very turbulent, gambling was very lively. In addition, people in this era were very gentlemanly and broad-minded. If you lose cleanly and laugh, you can win a good reputation: you Look, this man is so open-minded and a gentleman.
Emperor Wu of the Southern Song Dynasty, Liu Yu, came from a humble background and loved gambling. As a result, he lost 30,000 yuan and was tied to a horse post. Later, Liu Yu became the emperor. Whoever tied him back then would be chopped off with a knife after chasing him.
Therefore, gambling is risky and you need to be cautious when entering the industry.
What really made the gambling industry flourish was the Tang and Song Dynasties. For example, the dice that have been passed down for thousands of years and are still used by people are gambling tools invented by the Tang people. It can be said that if you pick up the dice, you have a relationship with the Tang Dynasty a thousand years ago...
Things like Solitaire, Pai Gow, and Ye Zixi are all the crystallization of the "wisdom" of that era.
Xiao Wu in the Tang Dynasty was addicted to gambling, and even asked Di Renjie and Zhang Changzong to gamble. There are also Tang Xuanzong, Yang Guifei, etc. It is said that one point on the dice is red, which is what Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty requested. The so-called "those whose dice are decorated with red".
Not to mention the Song Dynasty, where buying was common. Although other dynasties liked gambling, they wanted to gain some face. It was enough for a group of people to gamble and then go home and sleep. But in the Song Dynasty, there were special cabinet workshops, and there were hundreds of cabinets in one place. Not only did the common people participate, but even the army was tricked into entering...
This makes it incomprehensible. In order to boost morale, the Song Dynasty army found conmen to defraud gambling sergeants out of their money, and then said, "Brothers, copy the guys, and if you win, your debts will be forgiven..."
Now, Li Jinglong wants to come out, no, he wants to set up a closet shop and open a business, but from the looks of him, he wants to attract people to join him.
However, it seems illegal...
(End of chapter)
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