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After the shopkeeper left, Chu Shiyuan stood up and gave a slight salute and said:

"Some trivial matters need to be dealt with, and please wait for a while."

"It's okay, your store's business is important, three hundred inches of silver is not a trivial matter, it's better to be cautious. However, I heard from the shopkeeper below that this thing is very wonderful, and Ben Hou is a little interested, and I don't know if it is convenient to go with him in the next place. ”

"This is okay, since the Marquis of Yongxing is interested in this thing, I think I must be well-informed, Your Excellency, please."

"Then there will be labor."

After listening to the shopkeeper's description, Bailiyan felt that it should be some kind of music box, but it was not a music box that commonly relied on coil spring energy storage, but needed to rely on artificial hand-cranked external power to provide drive.

With Chu Shiyuan came to the front cabinet, a middle-aged man in yellow was waiting in the outer hall, the huge wooden box was placed on the counter, it was very huge, the two guys were curiously fiddling, emitting crisp and pleasant music, Bai Liyan was almost certain that this was a hand-cranked music box.

Although I don't know the structure, it is amazing that with the current technology, it is amazing to be able to make a music box. This thing must have come from the royal palace and the families of the powerful, and it was by no means accessible to ordinary people.

After Chu Shiyuan saw the music box, he talked to the man, asked the person in detail about his origin and motives, and the music box was moved to the long table behind the counter.

The music box is one foot long, six inches wide, and five inches high, with vermilion lacquer, with a phoenix auspicious pattern, and a copper but blackened hand crank on the outside. Bai Liyan looked around and found that the wooden box could not be opened from the outside, but there was indeed a gap on the top of the wooden box, which was obviously the flap of the music box, but it could not be opened.

"It's strange, there is a mechanism."

At this time, Chu Shiyuan came over and said:

"Does Yongxing Hou know the clues?"

"This is a ritual instrument that can be played by itself, and it must be extremely delicate inside, and three hundred inches of silver are still worth it. The Lord of Trumen might as well buy this and sell it to Benhou. ”

"Oh, Yongxing Hou also has a sound rhythm."

"Hehe, the family prefers music and rhythm, and I just bought it and gave it away, wouldn't it be beautiful."

"Hehaha...... Well, Chu will buy it immediately and return it to your wishes. ”

Chu Shiyuan finally bought the music box at a price of 300 inches of silver, and Bailiyan bought it at a price of 600 inches of silver.

Returning to the back hall, everyone looked around in a circle for a long time, and Bailiyan finally found a clue at the copper crank. It turns out that the handle itself is a key, and the flap of the music box opens upwards by simply pressing it inward.

"Look, it's open!"

Chu Shiyuan shouted in surprise, and Bai Liyan was taken aback when he looked at it:

"My goodness!"

I saw that the mechanism in the box was densely packed vertically and horizontally, and the various mechanisms were ingeniously connected, and with the rotation of the shaking hand, the inner mechanism operated by itself. The sophistication of the mechanism design and the rationality of the wonderful layout are breathtaking.

What is even more commendable is that the structure of this music box is powered by an external source, which can realize mechanical reset and repeated playback of music. Traditional music boxes rely on the spring force to achieve mechanical rotation, so the music stops when the spring force is released.

And this music box comes with a mechanical reset, which basically realizes the reset of the structure, as long as it keeps shaking, the music can always be played from the beginning. What's even more powerful is that the forward and reverse swings can produce two completely different melodies.

"Six hundred inches of silver is too valuable, it's really a wonder in the world!"

"That's it, Yongxing Marquis look here."

Chu Shiyuan pointed to the flap of the wooden box, and there were a few lines of wrong gold in the original language on the inside of the flap. A closer look shows that this object is a token of love given by Sun Guoxin Lingjun to his new wife Zhao in 584 of the Sheng Yuan Dynasty.

"Lord Chumen knows who Xinling Jun is!"

Bai Liyan asked, suddenly curious in his heart, Chu Shiyuan thought for a moment and said:

"Xinlingjun was originally a big family of the Sun Kingdom, and this should be the thing that the previous generation of Xinlingjun did not do."

"In this way, this thing is owned by this generation of Xinling Jun."

"Not necessarily. The Black Turban rioted, and the Xinlingjun clan was almost wiped out, so this thing is very likely to fall into the hands of others. Moreover, when Sun Guo moved westward, he took away a large number of rare treasures and skilled craftsmen, if someone from the Xinling Jun family escaped, the treasures may have been dedicated to the lord of the country to raise funds. ”

"Oh...... In this way, this thing should have been exchanged for gold and silver by Sun Guo. ”

Bai Liyan affirmed, and Chu Shiyuan asked puzzledly:

"How could the Marquis of Yongxing see that this thing is owned by Sun Guo and used it in exchange for gold and silver."

"Huh...... Actually, it's not hard to figure it out. When the black scarf broke out, killing and looting innumerable, specifically for the purpose of robbing money, such exquisite and strange things are exquisite, if they are discovered, they must think that they contain some gold and silver jewelry, they must be opened to see, and if they can't be opened, they will be smashed on the spot to get a glimpse of the clues. Now that it is intact, it must have been preserved by someone with a heart.

In recent years, Sun Guo has retreated to a county, and has not forgotten to seek the restoration of the country, and he has used rare treasures to be converted into gold and silver from various places to raise funds for the restoration of the country, which is really a pity to think about......"

After the black scarf subsided, there was only one county left in the Sun Kingdom, nominally it was still a prince, but in fact it existed in name only and became the protectorate of the Liang State, to say that I am afraid that I can't find such a miserable prince in history, millions of square kilometers of land, only tens of thousands of square kilometers left in more than ten years, and such a sum will be recorded in the history books in the future.

Obtain the music box, if Bailiyan gets the treasure, immediately let people carefully escort back to the minister's palace to hand over to Zong Botai, and immediately take pictures of the structure in the box to avoid accidents in the music box, the structure will be damaged and cannot be restored.

Bailiyan calculates that this music box has a special structure, has merits, and can be used for future mechanical principles, if it can be applied to the technology in it, 600 inches of silver is definitely a valuable technology patent purchase fee.

After saying goodbye to Chu Shiyuan, Bai Liyan hurried to the Four Seasons Fang, originally promising Bai Li Fang to redeem the twin sisters in the Four Seasons Fang Le Lou at two o'clock, but it was delayed until noon, and she was already a little anxious to wait.

When he arrived at the Four Seasons Fang, Xu Wei was already waiting outside the square and looking around:

"Uncle, you're too late, the knife has been redeemed."

"You don't see anything outside, spend my money to do things for you, you're still too slow, why don't you redeem it."

"Hehe, don't I have this ability, or uncle, you are amazing."

"Have you figured out the situation of those two girls, how much silver can redeem people."

"I asked about the situation, the money may be a little expensive."

Bai Liyan's eyebrows raised, and her face suddenly became a little unhappy:

"How much is it down?"

"Three thousand six hundred inches of silver."

"What, three thousand six hundred, why don't they grab it."

Bailiyan reacted violently, and it cost three thousand six to buy two small girls, which can buy hundreds of strong laborers in Weiguo.

At this time, Xu Wei said again:

"This is not the most expensive, the most expensive first-brand dancer costs 4,000 inches of silver to redeem herself, and it costs three inches of silver to watch a dance, and it is still 50 people to watch together."

"It's too dark, what kind of meat is so valuable, it costs three inches of silver at a glance."

Wei Qicui scolded on the side, and Bai Liyan answered:

"This kind of phenomenon is extremely abnormal, there must be an article in it. Wei Qi, you go and find the owner of the Four Seasons Fang. Xu Fei, I'll go and meet those two sisters first. ”

"No!"

The female music and dancing girls are much more expensive than the prostitutes, for many reasons, the training cycle of female music and dancing girls is long, the longer the training cycle, the more resources are invested, and the expenditure on dressing up is much more, especially the rouge gouache invested in women every year, several sets of high-grade silk clothes, jewelry, etc., these are free investment, and more importantly, the original goods are definitely better than broken shoes, which is also undoubted.

At present, precious metals are still very scarce, and hundreds or thousands of gold and silver expenditures are still very difficult and huge expenses even for the aristocracy, so like most commodity transactions, ransom can also be traded in fine silk fabrics, jewelry and jade other than gold and silver.

The price of 1,000 silver is rare even in Chenling, and the price of 4,000 silver is undoubtedly staggering.

With Xu Feng to the second floor of the Four Seasons Fang Le Building, Bai Lifang came early in the morning to wrap up the two of them, chatting while drinking tea, the day was not pleasant. The sister only thought that it was a handsome boy who was talking and laughing with the two of them, but she didn't realize that she was about to fall into Bailifang's "claws".

"Dad, you're here."

Bai Lifang got up and stepped forward, and the pair of sisters also got up and saluted:

"The little woman has seen the grown-up."

"Well, it's all excused."

"Master Xie."

Baili Yanjing sat down and looked at the two of them, in terms of posture and appearance, these two people are like clotted fat teeth like rhinoceros, quite a bit of the head of the moth eyebrows graceful and enchanting, looking like they are eclectic, standing in any aesthetic point of view, there are merits.

After the sister put away the gift, Bai Liyan asked:

"What's your name, Nianfang?"

"Back to this adult, little girl Ya'er, this is Ya'er's sister Yan'er, we are sixteen this year."

"Oh...... Listen to your accent, it doesn't seem to be from Liang Guo. ”

"Back to my lord, Ya'er and her sister Yan'er are both from Sun Guo, and they were sold to Four Seasons Fang as female musicians to serve the adults."

"I see......"

After the collapse of the Sun State, it was divided by the five kingdoms of Liang, Wei, Xian, Zhi and Xu, which is not miserable, and the people of Sun Guo who are divided into Xian and Zhi are okay, and the population of Sun Guo who is divided into Xu, Wei and Liang is very different.

More than half of the people who defended the country were relocated or even reduced to slavery. A third of the Xu State was moved south to make up for the Xu State itself, and the Liang State was nominally given the benevolent government of the Son of Heaven, but in private it was just a high-sounding manipulation tool, and the local magnates competed to divide and divide the sphere of influence.

Seeing that her father was always staring at the pair of sisters, Bai Lifang suddenly worried about whether her father was lustful and got two more little girls for herself, she hurriedly said:

"Dad, aren't you here to ransom your son?"

"Son!" Bai Liyan rolled her eyes when she heard the news: "You haven't told her the two yet?" ”

"No, it's not too late to talk about it after the redemption."

"Then do you know how much gold and silver it costs for the two of them to redeem themselves?"

"How much?" Bai Lifang asked stupidly.

"Three thousand six hundred inches of silver, do you know how many people can feed a year."

Bai Lifang was taken aback:

"It's so expensive!"

"You don't know how expensive firewood and rice are when you return to China, see how your mother cleans you up!" I want to chat about "Empire Travel" with more like-minded people, pay attention to "excellent reading literature" on WeChat, talk about life, and find confidants~