After Lin Jingwan danced, the guests in the store were still discussing, and the guest officer at the table next to her even fought for whether her waist circumference was one foot seven inches or one foot six inches. Zhao Xingde shook his head secretly. The servants of the Changsheng Building, Qizhou Bajiao, cleaned up the center of the store. At this time, a middle-aged man wearing a purple silk robe and a white jade pendant on his waist walked out slowly, and the voice of discussion suddenly weakened. I saw that his face was solemn, and he arched his hand towards the surrounding groups, and said loudly: "Excuse me, I am the head of the thirty-eight jade stores in Chang'an, Shangguan Boyu." As soon as he finished speaking, the people around him greeted one after another: "Shangguan Xingshou is polite." "Shangguan Xingtou, fortunately, fortunately."

Outside Chang'an is the autonomous area of the Chamber of Commerce, and among the Chamber of Commerce, there are eight guilds with the greatest power, which is often called the eight major lines of Chang'an, which refers to the silk and cotton cloth line, gold, silver and bronze ware line, jade line, iron, tin wood business, spice and gemstone line, grain and forage line, shop boat foot line, money money tooth line, horse, cattle and alpaca line. Together, these eight guilds are enough to decide the major events in the autonomous area of the chamber of commerce outside Chang'an, not only affecting the market of the entire Guanzhong, but also the markets of Shuzhong, Hezhong, and even the Liao and Song kingdoms. Although the imperial court promulgated the "Self-Defending City Yi Law", the power of the guild was only weakened. The voice of the Eight Great Banks in Chang'an, even the Prime Minister's Mansion has to pay attention to it. Shangguan Boyu's jade store controlled the production of stone ore veins and water veins in the entire Western Regions, Kunlun Mountain and Lantian Mountain, and eight or nine out of ten jade stores in the Xia, Liao and Song kingdoms were sold by 38 jade stores, and the 38 jade shops were good for generations, and the qi was the same as the branches, and together they maintained a steady rise in the price of jade and jade in the market. The so-called gold is priceless and jade is priceless, in the Song and Liao countries, rich merchants and magnates are willing to pay hundreds, or even thousands of thousands of silver dollars in order to buy all kinds of exquisite jade from major jade stores, they even think that the more expensive the better, and finally the jade bank to ship at a low price to calm down the skyrocketing market price. In Chang'an Commercial City, as the head of the 38 jade stores, Shangguan Boyu is a figure with high prestige and a wide response.

"As you all know, the beauty of jade has five virtues, which are benevolence, righteousness, wisdom, courage and purity. Moisturize with warmth, and the recipe for benevolence is also; Reason comes from the outside, you can know the middle, and the righteous side is also; Its voice is soothing, dedicated to hearing from afar, and the wisdom is also; Indomitable and bending, brave and brave; Sharp and honest but not relentless, clean prescription also. "Shangguan Boyu's voice is pleasing to the ear, everyone has long known the five virtues of jade, listening to the head of the jade line to say, the feeling is different from usual, his voice is gentle and slow, "As the saying goes, close to Zhu Zhechi, Chang'an thirty-eight jade shops, far back to the Tang Dynasty, every day and jade dealings, but also by some jade benefits, a certain convinced, this jade business, not sincerity, non-faith, Chang'an thirty-eight jade business, three or four hundred years of jade, uphold is a' The word 'sincerity', plus the word 'faith'. The jade and jade are all from the mineral veins and water veins of Kunlun Mountain and Lantian Mountain in Guanzhong in the Western Regions, and they have never dared to pass off other variegated stones as beautiful jade. ”

Everyone nodded frequently, but Shangguan Boyu's eyes gradually sharpened, and he said in a deep voice: "However, recently, there have been some unscrupulous traders who have picked some thief stones from the Nanban and pretended to be jade, carved into tools, dazzling people's eyes and ears, confusing jade virtues, and corrupting customs. With a wave of his hand, two servants came up carrying a coffee table, and all kinds of rings, bracelets, pendants, and cups were crystal clear, red, emerald green, and ice flowers, and shimmered seductively under the candlelight of the shop.

Zhao Xingde recognized the origin of this stone at a glance, and it was a rare and superb in later generations, he couldn't help but look at Shangguan Boyu in surprise, only to see that his face sank like water, his left hand raised his jade pendant, and his right hand picked up a thing on the table at will, and said slowly: "These things, although they are like beautiful jade, are actually thief stones." Jade is warm, introverted like a gentleman, elegant and ladylike, and wears it to nurture people with warmth and disease. The thief stone is cold and colorful, and it makes people cool and frivolous, and if you wear it for a long time, you may even die of happiness. Shangguan Boyu frowned, as if he was not used to such evil words and hurtful words, he sighed and said, "According to the 'self-defense of the city', some people are willing to buy, some people are willing to sell, and the old man can't control them, but the old man has dealt with jade all his life, and he really doesn't want the world to be blinded by the thief stone, and he will confuse the jade virtue, so the old man will not hesitate to collect as much as possible the thief stones on the market in Chang'an, and destroy them in public, so as to warn the world of people who are blinded by the thief stone." ”

"Someone!" He waved his hand again, and the two servants carried a basket out and fell on the table without pity.

"The old man invited the Gao Shi of Chang'an to testify, and he smashed these thief stones today, to maintain the jade virtue, in the future, the old man and the thirty-eight jade shops will also go to the book to protect the country, please send troops as soon as possible to crusade against the Southern Barbarian Thief Cave, plough the court and sweep the hole, destroy the thief stone vein, and eliminate the harm for the people of the world!" While Shangguan Boyu was talking, the servants walked around the banquet and invited the six VIPs out of the private room upstairs, and one servant walked up to Chen Qianli to invite him, Chen Qianli apologized to Zhao Xingde, restrained his smile, and walked to the middle of the store with a solemn face. Seven men stood in a row in front of the desk, and the servants each handed the hammer to the people. This hammer was very large and extremely heavy, and eight people, including Chen Qianli, held it with both hands. Some of the guests in the Changsheng Building knew the inside story, but some didn't expect to see such a hot scene, their faces were full of excitement, a few of them took out the kind of "thief stone" that Shangguan Boyu said from their pockets, and put them on the table with disdain, and a few others quietly stuffed the jade pendant on their waists, for fear that others would see it. When the male guests were all standing, Lin Jingwan, who was dressed in a strong suit, was also invited out of the inner room by the servants, standing in front of the desk with a mask sternly, and when she held the huge hammer in her slender hands, the atmosphere in the store reached a climax.

"Smash—" I don't know who shouted first.

"Smash! Smash! Smash! Everyone shouted rhythmically, many guests stretched their necks, and some stood up, and the few who had just found the thief stone on the table shouted loudly, "Smash!" Smash! Smash! He took the thief stone in his hand and lifted it high, only to fall heavily on the ground.

Zhao Xingde couldn't help but be speechless, he actually knew all the eight people in this row. In addition to Shangguan Boyu, the head of the Yuxing Bank, and Lin Jingwan, the dancing girl, there are also Chang'an Protector Han Gong Li Chan, Chang'an Regiment Training Envoy Chen Qianli, as well as Chang'an Ling Zhou Longxi, Chang'an Bachelor's Mansion Deputy Shi Ruan Changling, Inquisition Chief Su Qianren, and Prime Minister's Mansion Trade Cao Deputy Shi Zheng Jianyan. In terms of official qualifications, Chen Qianli is the lowest among the latter six.

"Please give the order to the Korean public—" Shangguan Boyu humbly conceded. Li Chan nodded slightly, took a breath and said, "Everyone, get ready, one-two-three!" He slammed the hammer in his hand down, only to hear a few crisp cracking sounds, and those crystal clear objects were instantly smashed into pieces. After the dignitaries smashed it a few times, they put down the hammer, and the servants came up, and in order to prevent the fragments from collapsing and hurting people, they wrapped all these objects tightly with a tablecloth, put them on the ground, and swung the hammer again in public, regardless of thirty-seven twenty-one, until the original bulging baggage became flattened, and presumably all the objects inside were reduced to debris, and then they stopped.

With this hammer smashing, the excitement of the customers in the store also reached its highest point, and everyone cheered loudly, glad that they had witnessed this rare act of maintaining Yude. Chen Qianli clapped his hands, bowed his hand to the people who cheered loudly around him, and then returned to his seat, and smiled at Zhao Xingde: "How, this scene is still a little interesting, right?" ”

"Why?" Zhao Xingde wondered.

Chen Qianli smiled slightly, lifted the teacup, took a sip lightly, and said in a deep voice: "Do you know how much income the jade vein mines in the Western Regions and Lantian bring to the imperial court every year, and how much silk tea, cattle and sheep can be exchanged for us every year for the jade sold to the Liao and Song dynasties through thirty-eight jade stores?" His eyes flashed with a glimmer of light, and he smiled slightly, "Shu conquered Annan, and there are still many barbarians who have not served, just a month ago, this thief stone vein was produced, which not only interfered with the jade market, but also funded the rebellion of the southern barbarians, so there is today's move." Moreover, the thirty-eight jade shops are not just smashing thieves here. ”

"But," Zhao Xingde hesitated, "is this okay?" ”

"Of course it works," Chen Qianli said with a smile, "What is jade?" Jade has five virtues? Right and wrong, it's just cultural relics. Just ask the world, there is no other family except for the Song Kingdom, who can compete with my Xia Kingdom for cultural relics. However, the Song Kingdom itself did not produce jade. The high-ranking officials and magnates of the Song Kingdom have already bought a large amount of jade, and it is even more impossible to accept the 'thief stone' of 'fish eyes and pearls'. Liao, barbarian? He said with some mockery, "In this regard, it's just a matter of following us and Song Guo." ”

At this time, there were also people next to him who said indignantly: "Speaking of this thief stone, it was originally worthless, but later the merchants of the Song Kingdom found out, so they transported it to the north to deceive the barbarians. ”

Zhao Xingde was dumbfounded for a while, and Chen Qianli said the truth, those who can compete for cultural relics are only in the east and west. Although the soldiers and horses of the Song Kingdom are not strong, the high-quality pen, ink, paper and inkstone produced by the Song Kingdom, the cloth with exquisite patterns, the tea cakes with complicated processes, and the exquisite porcelain are all sold well in the Xia Kingdom. What Zhao Xingde saw in Liaodong that the utensils of the Liao State and the Jurchens also had merits, but the Central Plains people were despicable and could never use them.

Zhao Xingde took a sip of tea, sighed in his heart, and remembered the war-torn Yunzhou City, and wondered how this Liao and Song Dynasty soldiers would end. The Great Song Dynasty is indeed a cultural relic, but in many cases, the outcome of the war cannot be determined by the literary style alone. In this era, without strong force, everything is in smoke.