"Obediently, a single golden cup will weigh a pound." Sun Shen grinned and said in a low voice, "But I like it." ”

At this time, the shopkeeper had removed the screen separating each private room, and the ninth floor of Wanghai Building became a hall.

The people who can come up to this ninth layer, if they are not high-grade civil and military officials, or wealthy businessmen, are well-informed people, the Great Song Dynasty advocates elegance and meticulousness, and should not be discolored by a little gold and silver. However, perhaps it is the freshness of this strange artifact that evokes a sense of luxury from the bottom of my heart, stimulating people's love for gold and silver. Even a big businessman like Nie Siwei secretly competed for bidding, half out of friendship with Zhao Xingde, and half out of love for luxury utensils full of exotic flavors.

Sun Shen stared at the golden cup, secretly calculated in his heart, looking at the shape, this cup is enough to weigh a catty, and the money that melts gold alone is enough for one hundred and sixty taels, which is enough for ordinary people to live for three years. As the saying goes, good food is not as good as beautiful food. In a wealthy and noble family, the cost of eating is always limited, and you can neither eat ten cows at a meal, nor can you enjoy dragon liver and phoenix gall every day. And the exquisiteness on the utensils is endless. The official eunuch's house is not a famous product, it is best to be a unique product of the previous dynasty, and it is called luxury if you use the same and less of the same. Although the wealthy merchant family is not so particular, its love for gold and silver is much more direct. The Song people advocated elegance, and the gold and silver ware were made delicate and small, and suddenly saw this "big enough" and "heavy enough" thing, and the merchants couldn't help but be fascinated, just waiting for the price to win.

"Before bidding, I want to teach you to know in advance," Zhao Xingde saw this, smiled slightly, and said in a deep voice: "These are actually bronze utensils, and the Great Food and Persians make good use of gilt and silver plating, which looks no different from gold and silver utensils, but the inside is still copper. The clear voice fell in the ears, as if cold water was pouring down from the head, and immediately extinguished the fire in the hearts of many people.

"What's going on? Is it a fake? ”

"Fakes?" Many looked incredulous.

"How is that possible?" Sun Shen thought in shock, "Zhao Jieshuai kindly took out something to help the apprentices, how could it be just bronze?" He was like a child who saw the sugar man and salivated, and someone next to him went to tell him that the sugar man was full of flour, and the disappointment in his heart was indescribable. Although the others were not so disappointed, they also looked at Zhao Xingde, hoping that he would give an explanation.

"Why don't you try it?" Zhao Xingde smiled slightly and stood up.

Everyone's faces were puzzled, Zhao Xingde didn't sell Guanzi, he picked up a gilt twig vase from the tray, checked it in his hand, and said with a smile, "Although it is much lighter than pure gold, it is very handy, the gilt layer outside is very thick, inlaid with silver wire, just look at the luster, you can't see that it is bronze at all." He put the vase down, paced and picked up a thick silver plate of more than ten inches, flicked it with his fingers, and made a "ding" sound.

Sun Shen's face changed slightly, this was clearly the afterglow of the silver voice, which he was most familiar with.

"This is still copper," Zhao Xingde said with a smile, "It's just a little lighter than the sterling silver one." ”

"This layer of bread outside the copper tire is very thick, so don't say blow the bomb, even if you scrape it with a knife, you can't tell whether it's true or not," he said, he actually took out the knife he was carrying, made two hard cuts on the north side of the silver plate, looked at the nicks carefully, and said with a smile, "Sure enough." Then he gave the carved silver plate to the others to examine. Luo Huan and the others were even more full of novelty. Although Zhao Jieshuai has the identity of a military general, but in the eyes of the Qingliu people of the Song Kingdom, he is Mr. Zhao after all, and this banquet is also a big-sleeved gown, just now he suddenly took out a sharp blade with him, which has made many people gasp, and then made a knife to engrave the silver plate, which simply made the Qingliu officials have a very strange feeling, but those maritime merchants felt closer, politely took the plate, one by one, some people rubbed the mark with their hands, while watching, while making a smack sound.

"The great food and the craftsmanship of the Persian craftsmen can be described as fake."

"I think even if this copper plate is sold as a silver plate, no one can see it, can it be dissolved to inspect the goods?"

The businessmen were discussing, and the Qingliu civil officials who didn't know what to do had complicated faces, and Liu Gongliang's face was slightly gloomy.

"Lord Zhao, what do you mean by this?" Huang Yuanlong glared at Zhao Xingde even more angrily, and asked in a deep voice: "Could it be that the sailor is short of money to this extent?" He snorted heavily, not that he really felt that Zhao Xingde interrupted and disregarded his reputation and teamed up with merchants in Guangnan to sell fake gold and silverware, but vaguely guessed that Zhao Xingde used this as a means to cry the poor and force the palace, and find a way to squeeze a sum of food from the gentry and merchants in Guangnan. Although Huang Yuanlong didn't see through his methods, he raised his momentum first, so as not to be caught off guard.

"Lord Zhao, you don't really want it? ......" Zuo Nianyuan and the others looked at Zhao Xingde in surprise.

"What do you mean?" Zhao Xingde shook his head and said with a smile, "This big food, the ingenuity of Persian craftsmen, although I won't sell this fake thing for a real price." If you make good use of it, the profits you make from it will not be too much. He picked up a marsity-patterned marigold, and when he greeted the light, everyone felt that the golden light was dazzling, and Xiao Er nearby couldn't help but swallow his saliva.

"Although these gold objects are copper, the craftsmanship of gilding and silver plating gives people the same feeling as gold and silver utensils."

Zhao Xingde shook his head and continued: "In other words, it is far lower than the price of gold and silver utensils, but the enjoyment is almost the same as that of gold and silver utensils. I have nearly 10 million households in the Song Dynasty, and there are probably not a few people who can't afford to use gold and silver utensils but can afford to use such utensils, right? The world is bustling, all for profit, the world is bustling, all for profit, but each takes what he needs. Do you think that we can make gilded vessels using the great food and the Persian craftsmanship to make this consensual trade? He put the gilded cup back on the tray, looked around at everyone, and said in a deep voice: "These things are very cost-effective, whoever wants to bring them back and play with them carefully, just bid now." ”

The maritime merchants chewed on Zhao Xingde's words, some didn't care, and some people's eyes flashed.

"That's right!" Sun Shen thought secretly, "Why didn't I think of it? ”

"The great food craftsman has such craftsmanship," Zuo Nianyuan looked suspicious and said in a low voice: "Why don't you do a good deal?" ”

"Because I use porcelain bowls and clay jars in the homes of the common people, even the eunuchs, even if they use bronze, they will only be bronze and brass. Therefore, the Great Cannibal never thought that this kind of gilded and silver-plated bronze would be very popular in our dynasty. There was a hint of triumph in the corners of Liang Jianren's eyes, and he explained in a low voice, "And the merchants of my dynasty didn't expect that the bronzes of the Great Food and the Persians were so exquisitely made. ”

"I see." Zuo Nianyuan nodded and sighed, "Lord Zhao is really capable of what people can't." ”

"Lord Zhao is really extraordinary." Huang Yuanlong's face softened, "This move has a deep meaning. ”

Liu Gongliang also nodded in agreement. As members of the party, the two of them have different knowledge from ordinary gentry.

"It's not that I'm not good for the people." Liu Yu looked at the puzzled looks of some people, shook his head and said, "Since the Taizu Dynasty, there has been a shortage of money. Copper mines were owned by the imperial court and could only be minted for money. The people want to cast bronze utensils but can't get them, and the price of copper is very expensive, which is far better than copper coins of the same weight. As a result, the merchant simply melted the copper coins to cast bronze ware, and some people hoarded copper coins. The money shortage intensified, and the imperial court could only enforce the copper ban, and also collected bronze coins from the people. However, how can the world's desire for profit be stopped, this ban is sometimes loosened and sometimes tightened, and the money shortage is getting worse and worse, and it has become a dead knot. It was not until later that the Kansai commercial banks traded a large number of gold and silver, and there were many Xia gold and silver coins on the market, and the money shortage in the whole country was slightly alleviated. If we can trade copper artifacts from Dashi and Persia, solve the source of copper materials, and introduce this source of living water, I am afraid it will be a real way to solve the shortage of money. ”

Liu Yu pretended to be admired, and then looked at the maritime merchants, many of them were already eager to try.

"Two hundred!" Sun Shen hurriedly shouted a price first, and then smiled at everyone, "Owners, just let it go to me." ”

This price is very sincere, 200 guan, which is 200,000 copper coins, and the weight is far more than the sum of these bronze objects. "Four hundred!" A pot-bellied businessman, Lu Enhan smiled and arched his hand, "Sun Dongjia, I'm sorry." He glanced at Sun Shen, but secretly said in his heart: "Two hundred thousand want to wrap up?" Don't you see the thick layer of silver plated on that plate? What's more, who knows if there will be other benefits to winning the bid. This big bronze business is not only a utensil, but also a real money. "Copper is money, Liu Yu's seemingly unintentional words just now completely ignited the imagination and enthusiasm of the businessmen. Bidding for this batch of bronzes, will it be favored by Zhao Jieshuai and the government, and he can seize the opportunity in the bronze trade?

"Five hundred!" Sun Shen didn't give in, and looked at Lu En's eyes with a little more fierceness.

"Six hundred!" Another merchant joined the bidding.

"Six hundred and fifty thousand!" "Seven hundred!" "Eight hundred!"

On the ninth floor of Wanghai Tower, the first auction of the loot from the Great Food, the merchants were already full of the taste of mutual indifference.

"Living water at the source, living water at the source......" Zuo Nianyuan said thoughtfully. Luo Huan and the others also looked at this scene excitedly.

"It's really ......" Luo Huan shook his head, "It's like spending money." "If it's a famous horse treasure knife, no matter how much money you have, you can do it, but it's obviously just bronze, he can't think of it, why are these merchants willing to spend so much money to buy it? Is it really as Lord Zhao just said, since the authenticity is indistinguishable, then it should be bought as real? Thinking about it, Luo Huan still felt that most of these businessmen were trying to curry favor with Zhao Xingde, which was the case. "Mr. Zhao also handed them over," he thought secretly, "The money from red and black is all used to help the apprentices, and no one is in the bag, isn't it all for the Great Song Dynasty?" When the water is clear, there are no fish. Thinking of this, he smiled relieved and poured himself a drink.