The next morning, Lu Zhi bid farewell to Zuo Feng and returned to the capital, never giving Zuo Feng anything he was looking forward to, with a businesslike face and no compromise.

Zuo Feng's hopes were shattered, he was very annoyed, and left the barracks angrily.

"Lu Zhi doesn't know what to do, I gave him a reward for thousands of miles, but he didn't say anything at all, hum! It's good to have him! ”

Zuo Feng had secretly decided in his heart that he wanted to give Lu Zhi a little color and give Lu Zhi eye medicine.

As a result, after walking not much way, the convoy suddenly stopped, Zuo Feng frowned, and immediately asked what was going on, and the people around him came to report that someone was waiting for him in front.

"Someone is waiting for me? Who? ”

"Someone said it was Yingchuan Guo Peng."

"Guo Peng?"

Zuo Feng was taken aback, hurriedly stepped forward, and when he saw it, it was Guo Peng, Guo Peng was accompanied by a few people, and a car, smiling, waiting for him.

Guo Peng's reputation Zuo Feng naturally knows, and he also knows that this is not a simple character.

is not only Lu Zhi's disciple, but also Cao Song's son-in-law, who has two incompatible attributes, but can find a balance between the two, and looks like he is at ease.

He didn't have any dealings with eunuchs, but because of Cao Song's relationship, no eunuchs would deliberately target him......

Zuo Feng had a plan in his heart.

With a straight face, Zuo Feng stepped forward, Guo Peng also walked forward, approached, and bowed.

"Changshui Sima Guo Peng, I've seen angels."

"Don't dare, don't dare, the slave maid has seen Guo Lang, Guo Lang's reputation is thunderous in the capital, the slave maid is a little eunuch, where can he afford Guo Lang's courtesy?"

Zuo Feng's words had some unhappiness in his words, Guo Peng was disdainful in his heart, and he still had a smile on his face.

"Where are the words of the angel? Angels have been tired for thousands of miles to give our army a reward, and they can't afford this gift? ”

Guo Peng continued to speak softly, and Zuo Feng felt a little more comfortable in his heart.

"It's a bit decent to say this, it's much better than your teacher, the slaves and maids have come all the way, and there is no merit and hard work, Guo Lang said yes, right?"

"That's nature."

Hearing Zuo Feng's words, there was an inexplicable hint of arrogance, Guo Pengqiang held back the greasy taste in his heart, and said with a smile: "So, I'm here to thank the angels, can the angels go with me to have a look?" It's in that car. ”

Guo Peng pointed to the car behind him, Zuo Feng immediately understood what Guo Peng meant, but he couldn't figure out whose meaning it was, so he planned to go and see it first.

If you don't take the benefits, isn't that a fool? Didn't Lu Zhi Lao Er wipe his face himself, and secretly called his disciples to please me?

Hmph, it's not easy.

Zuo Feng followed Guo Peng into the car, and saw a few boxes in the car, Guo Peng smiled mysteriously, and as soon as he stretched out his hand and opened one of the youngest, Zuo Feng's eyes immediately straightened.

"Gold?"

"Exactly."

Guo Peng reached out and opened several other boxes, which contained some silk cloth and jade, which were the trophies that Guo Peng had captured himself.

"This box of gold has twenty catties, and the rest of these silk cloths and jade artifacts are for their own booty."

Guo Peng smiled: "It should be to thank the angels for their hard work." ”

"Twenty pounds?"

Zuo Feng was slightly taken aback, this is not a small amount.

The Eastern Han Dynasty was not like the Western Han Dynasty, the Western Han Emperor spent money like dirt, and the Eastern Han Emperor cherished gold like life.

According to the research of later generations, there are several statements that are more agreeable.

One is that the reason for the sharp decline in gold circulation after the Western Han Dynasty is mainly that the emperor of the Western Han Dynasty rewarded too much, often thousands of catties, or even 10,000 catties.

After Wei Qinghuo defeated the Huns, he got a total of more than 200,000 catties of gold.

After the death of King Liang Xiao, the younger brother of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty, "the wealth was huge and incalculable, and when he died, there were still more than 400,000 catties of gold left in the Tibetan mansion."

The meritorious nobles who received the gold were buried as funerary goods, resulting in a large decrease in the amount of gold circulating in the market.

This statement is tenable, and the gold found in the unearthed Han tombs can be corroborated, but it is not comprehensive.

There is another statement, which is more explicit.

It was in the Western Han Dynasty that gold had the status of quasi-currency, and the Western Han government had strong control over the people, so it established a set of effective gold operation payment system, and many aspects of taxation and worship required payment in gold.

Therefore, although the emperor of the Western Han Dynasty rewarded a lot, he could still recover it through various means such as tax offerings, and the wool came out of the sheep, and he was grateful, and he could earn the reward money back.

However, by the time of Wang Mang, this effective gold system was terminated, and by the Eastern Han Dynasty, the government's control over the local area was greatly reduced, and the gold system of the Western Han Dynasty could not be rebuilt.

As a result, the circulation of gold failed, and all of it was scattered among the people and became dead gold, and the emperor naturally did not have a large amount of gold in his hands.

As for the statement that gold is copper, it is untenable, and it is clearly stated in the historical materials.

Jin Zhuo said in "Hanshu Huidi Ji" that if you say "gold", you will be really gold, and if you don't say "yellow", you will be called money.

That is to say, when it comes to gold, it is gold, and when it is only gold, it is a general term for metal currency, which can refer to copper coins, plainly.

Taken together, these two statements are very revealing.

Therefore, the emperor of the Western Han Dynasty rewarded hundreds of catties and thousands of catties, and in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the emperor could only tighten his belt to live, and the rewards were dozens of catties and dozens of catties.

Now that Guo Peng has sold twenty catties of gold, this is definitely not a small amount for a person like Zuo Feng.

At the beginning, Guo Shan gave Guo Peng twenty catties of gold to press the bottom of the box, which was already half of the gold reserves of the entire Guo family.

In fact, Guo Peng did not have a lot of gold in his hands, and the original twenty catties were not much.

The Cao family gave gold, and some big heroes also gave Guo Peng gold, and Yuan Shu was rich and gave a lot of gold to Guo Peng, so the gold in Guo Peng's hand was abundant.

It is definitely a beautiful thing to give gold to a distinguished friend in this year.

Before this expedition, Guo Peng had already thought of Zuo Feng's framing of Lu Zhi, and knew that Lu Zhi had such a character, so he prepared twenty catties of gold to take with him, which came in handy this time.

As the sect member said, the official position of Xiaohuangmen is very low, only 600 stones, which is not as good as Guo Peng's position of Changshui Sima, but this is the emperor's close minister, who follows the emperor to do things.

As the saying goes, there are seven officials in front of the prime minister, and the emperor has to raise a whole level no matter what.

I am not afraid that the civil officials will participate in the performance, but I am afraid that the eunuchs and slaves around these emperors will take eye medicine.

Compared with the ministers, the emperor definitely trusted the eunuchs more.

The official is small, but the relationship is big, in order to help Lu Zhi, this is necessary, this is one of them.

Second, Guo Peng also has some of his own selfishness in it, before Emperor Ling's illness and death, the authority of the Han court still existed, and the eunuchs around Emperor Ling were still somewhat valuable.

Guo Peng also wants to have his own connections in the palace, not just relying on the Cao family.

So this time for Lu Zhi, but also for himself.

Sure enough, after Zuo Feng was stunned for a short time, he smiled, and the anger he had just pretended to be completely invisible.

"Guo Lang is generous, and the slave maid can be regarded as having seen it."

Then, Zuo Feng couldn't help but look at the twenty catties of yellow and clear gold bars again, swallowed his saliva, and said: "Lu Zhonglang is loyal to the monarch and the country, Guo Lang is young and brave, this time the slave and maid will definitely speak for the two in front of the Son of Heaven." ”

Zuo Feng thought that this was Guo Peng's purpose, but Guo Peng shook his head.

"And the angels must not do this."

"Huh?"

Zuo Feng thought he had misheard.