"700,000 guan!" Zhao Xing offered a reasonable price, not long ago, in Sichuan, an emerald was sold at this price, however, the identity of the buyer was not exposed Qian Xun obviously heard this rumor, he smacked his tongue, regretfully looked at it for a long time, and reluctantly returned the gem to Zhao Xing.

He couldn't afford it, of course, even if he could afford it, he wouldn't dare to be so public, because the identity of the prince of Qian made him have a lot of scruples about doing things.

Qian Xian's play in Zhao Xing's mansion for a while, and after dinner, he got up to say goodbye, during which he also tasted a few new dishes that Zhao Xingxin got his hands on, and after they left, Cheng Laoqi stepped forward with a cow and greeted Zhao Xing: "Brother-in-law, seeing that it is almost the end of the year, this year's Jiangxia worships the ancestors, is my brother-in-law going to take the child back?" ”

Zhao Xing hurriedly got up and threw his hand at the old seven. Cheng Laoqi is cowardly by nature, he said this to let Zhao Xing take the child back to Jiangxia and list it in the family tree, so that the Jiangxia Cheng clan can recognize Zhao Xing's qualifications as in-laws, but Zhao Xing thought that it was cold and freezing, and it was really unsafe to travel with children.

"Uncle Yue, now it's freezing outside, Azhu is weak after giving birth, and the child is young, how can he travel thousands of miles and stay next year."

Cheng Laoqi is a cowardly person, Zhao Xing didn't agree, he smacked his lips and replied: "Brother-in-law is reasonable, since this is the case, I will reply like this." Zhao Xing didn't plan to go back, but the Jiangxia Cheng clan, plus the people sent by the Cheng clan in Huangzhou, had to return to their hometowns. These days were the days of departure, just in time for them to bring back the letters.

Although Zhao Xing didn't go back, the etiquette was exhausted, and the New Year's rites were not left behind, and the gifts he brought back were enough to load three ships, and after these people left, the castle was empty, and the Winter Solstice Festival was here again.

This year's winter solstice in Hangzhou, because of the presence of Su Shi, is particularly heavy. At the ceremony to pay tribute to the ancestors. Zhao Xing also made a full part, the three sacrifices were very sufficient, with Su Shi and Qian Xian's joint main sacrifice, the readers of Hangzhou City had a greasy and fat winter solstice festival.

A few days of the winter solstice are over. It's Zhengdan. Now, in addition to Jin Fuji, Xiao father and son, and those Gurkha warriors in the castle, there is only one person left, and the lack of manpower makes it necessary for Zhao Xing to open the gate of the castle himself. On the day of Zhengdan, Zhao Xing opened the door, still sighing in his heart: "I was wrong." It is too undesirable to build such a large yard. With such a long courtyard wall, it really has to be defended. How many people are needed. Isn't that too big to be true? ”

Among the people present, only Jin Buji said what he said, because he was Zhao Xing's Tang Hands master, so he could speak on the ground, and he said while helping Zhao Xing pull the pulley: "Da Lang's words are a bit interesting, such a city wall." If you want to keep it. It also needs 10,000 people, but the wall is high. It is not easy to climb, so there are fewer people, and 5,000 people are enough. ”

Zhao Xing actually complained, he knew that hundreds of years later, the last crusade of the Crusader army in the end of the battle, at that time, the Egyptian Mubarak soldiers who defeated the Mongol southern expedition besieged the last crusader, 600,000 troops attacked the small castle with an area several times that of Zhao Xing, and the defenders in the castle at that time were only 30,000 men, women and children, and the 600,000 army was attacked for several years until the other side ran out of ammunition and food.

In other words, this small city does not need too many people to defend, and if it is really to the point of being besieged, Zhao Xing might as well escape by boat from the dock...... Of course, it was not easy to say this to Jin Fuji, and he sneered and dragged the pulley rope with Jin Fuji.

The top door of the castle is two tumblers, the stone cap on the head of the tumbler is hoisted with a pulley, the two tumblers stand up automatically, and then Zhao Xing opens the gate of the stone fort layer by layer, several Gurkha soldiers wear thick furs, carry the bed chair to the gate of the stone fort, pose as a gatekeeper, the castle is high, a person who is a person who is a person who is a person who is a person of music and a person who is a person of music on the other side of the city can cross the bridge.

Then the citadel was revived, and the Israelites on the other side entered the citadel from the bridge in a very characteristic carriage, where they had their own resting place, and their families went into the fortified houses to make fires and warm them, while the young and strong laborers drove the loaded wagons to the market to do business.

Jin Buji looked at the carriage of the Israelites, and said with a little disdain: "This group of people who give pleasure and industry will never have the intention of earning enough money, but whenever there is an opportunity to make money, they will never let it go, are they not earning enough money, and they have to be so embarrassed." ”

Zhao Xing smiled, Jin Buji is from Goryeo, he has not yet realized the Song people, in fact, most Song people are also like the Israelis, they are not ashamed of doing business, and always seize all opportunities to make money.

Speaking of which, the annual income of this group of Israelis is not low, this year Zhao Xing's bank has begun to take shape, this group of Israelis just the salary and dividends of the bank are enough for them to live a petty bourgeois life in the Song Dynasty, but the Jews are almost instinctive about money, even if the leader of them, I Yu and others, do not give up the opportunity to set up stalls, and almost seize all the time to make money.

Relatively speaking, Jin Buer's salary is not as good as this group of Israelis, in addition to a salary from Zhao Xing, that is, a few apprentices bought a few dumps of land in the suburbs of Hangzhou, however, these incomes have made Jin Buer very satisfied, he is now proud of a Song people, and when he meets people, he says, "Actually, I am a descendant of the Han and Tang Dynasties" and so on, who dares to question a little, he dares to speak with his fists.

Jin Buer recently married a wife, and he used the standards of the Song people everywhere to demand himself, in comparison, Zhao Xing seems to be more like a Song person, such as the first day of the Lunar New Year, after Jin Buer opened the castle door, he was in a hurry to go home to worship his ancestors, but Zhao Xing still has the leisure to hang out on the street and feel the New Year's flavor of Hangzhou in the Song Dynasty.

The first day of the Lunar New Year is not a New Year's flavor, all the adults are in a hurry to worship their ancestors, the children are happily setting off firecrackers on the street, Zhao Xing slipped around, except for seeing a group of children around him asking for candy, did not see an adult, after a while, he touched his nose and walked back to the castle.

The sky is getting brighter, and the castle is full of people. The Gurkha warriors guarding the gate were lazy, posing as guarding the door, but only caring about drinking wine. In fact, it is indeed an ornament, in Zhao Xing's castle, there are too many people who have the right to enter and exit, except for the Israelis, the thousands of workers who built houses.

After chatting with the Gurkha warrior at the door, Zhao Xing walked all the way back to his house with his hands behind his back, and Cheng Azhu was busy erecting tablets with Chen Yiyi and Liao Xiaoxiao at this time. The nurse followed her buttocks with her baby in her arms, not leaving an inch. Seeing Zhao Xing coming in, Azhu raised his handkerchief and said hello. I was concentrating on the work in the house.

Now, Cheng Azhu has realized the benefits of this small building. Originally, she could only lie in bed during confinement, occasionally walking on the ground, and walking in front of the bed and the door. But this small building is different, she can move around from room to room. Upstairs and downstairs non-stop, the idle mountain girl Cheng Azhu This kind of large-scale exercise activity made her recover quickly after giving birth, and basically she could go up and down the stairs by herself after a month. But the power of rules is just too great. She still maintains the habit of not going out in March, and she does not leave the small building.

In the New Year, Zhao Xing held a hundred gifts for the child, and officially named the child "Yi" and the milk name "Xiaobao". After a busy time, the Lantern Festival came in the blink of an eye.

During this year's Lantern Festival, Cheng Azhu commanded his family to hang a lantern at the gate of the castle. Although there is only one lantern. But it was built so big that there was no shed. Inside is a mountain of eighteen candles covered by a red glass cover. Make the entrance to the castle appear bright.

After hanging up the lamp, Cheng Azhu hugged the child, looked at the child's fat face with satisfaction at the gate of the castle, and said to herself: "The concubine has also done her best for the Zhao family, and it will depend on you in the future, little girl, why haven't you moved yet?" ”

Cheng Azhu is purely promoting the power of the main mother, Liao Xiaoxiao was so ashamed that she couldn't speak, Chen Yiyi stabbed people with her index finger behind Zhao Xing, and muttered: "Eighteen, I'm eighteen." ”

Kasli looked indifferent, pretending not to understand Chinese, staring blankly at the lantern, and saying nonsense: "I don't know what kind of scene it should be on the street today?" ”

In the distance, there was a loud shout, and the firelight lit up half of the night sky, which was where the City God Temple was located, and those people shouted "The dragon lantern has gone up the mountain!" ”

"The dragon lantern has gone up the mountain", the people in the castle are also shouting in unison, whether it is the Chinese Israelis, or the Koreans, or the Japanese people, they all follow this shout, hang the lanterns in their hands along the way, and then clap their hands together and shout: "The dragon lantern has gone up the mountain!" ”

The Lantern Festival in the Tang Dynasty lasted only three days, and in the Song Dynasty, it was extended to five days, with the 14th day of the first month, the 15th day of the lantern, and the 18th day of the lantern. However, the Lantern Festival in Hangzhou is two days longer than in other cities, and it has become 12 lights up and 18 lights down. This extra two days of carnival time is after King Qian returned to the Song Dynasty to buy the land. Since then, these two days have become the unique "sacrifice to the king of money" ritual in Hangzhou in the Song Dynasty.

On the twelfth day of the first month, the people of Hangzhou will carry the new dragon lantern to the dragon temple of Chenghuang Mountain, after worshipping, the ink dots its eyes, called "opening the light", when the dragon lantern turns on the moment, the people of the whole city call "the dragon lantern goes up the mountain", and begin to hang their own lanterns.

Then there is the boiled rice balls. The moment the lanterns are hung up, the housewives begin to cook the rice balls, and in the Song Dynasty, the Lantern Festival is made of glutinous rice, either solid or filled. The filling has bean paste, sugar, hawthorn, all kinds of fruits, etc., which can be boiled, fried, steamed and fried when eaten. At first, people called this food "floating balls", and later called "soup balls" or "rice balls", these names "reunion" are similar to the phonetic sound, take the meaning of reunion, symbolize the reunion of the whole family, harmony and happiness, people also miss the parting relatives, and place good wishes for the future life.

On the twelfth day of the first month, after a few rice balls are in the stomach, you can see the *** on the street when you walk out of the alley, and you can catch up with the ancient lantern festival - this day is really called happiness.

It was about the time to finish eating the rice balls, Su Yu took his wife Ouyang, Su Guo came over with his wife Fan, and listened to their brothers, after eating the Lantern Festival, Su Shi took his wife's hand, Qin Guan also took his wife, and the two groups went to find Qian Xian, as well as Chao Buzhi's father Chao Duanyou, these literati gathered together to sweep the Lantern Festival riddles along the street, and the remaining juniors had nowhere to go, so they came to Zhao Xing to play.

It is equivalent to Hangzhou, Mizhou is just a small city, Zhao Xing has long had the intention to see the Hangzhou Lantern Festival described by Zhu Shuzhen, Su Shi brother instigated, he was also ready to move, so he turned around and asked Cheng Azhu: "Azhu, go together, how about it?" ”

Cheng Azhu gave birth to a child. All her thoughts were on the child, she looked outside, shook her head and said, "No, it's cold, I'm afraid the child will freeze." ”

Chen Yiyi and Liao Xiaoxiao couldn't bear it, and had already jumped to Zhao Xing's side, looking at Zhao Xing longingly, while Kasli looked well-behaved, shook her head and pointed at the child, indicating that she wanted to accompany Cheng Azhu. Zhao Xing thought for a while, nodded and said, "Anyway, it's more than one day to enjoy the lanterns, and Kasli won't go today, so I'll go the day after tomorrow." Let's go. ”

Today is the day of the lights, and the so-called lights are the days of building the lantern shed. Out of the castle, along the way, countless wealthy families are directing their families to build Denghai Lantern Mountain, among which, the Dengshan built at the entrance of the government is the most magnificent. When a large lantern is set up there, it is called a "mountain shed". The steps are made of bamboo shelves, and the steps are densely hung with various lanterns, and the officials climb high and low to light up the lanterns. Meet Zhao Xinglai. While greeting warmly, he kept in his hands.

It was Gao Yu who commanded the construction of the lantern shed. Although the students of the Cheng clan are gone, Gao Yu is also very clueless, several shifts of workers take turns to operate, and the light mountain gradually takes shape, and after a while, the work comes to an end. The officials began to climb the ladder to hang the lantern at the top. Gao Yu was busy with his feet on the ground. Zhao Xing looked at it for a moment and decided not to disturb the other party. He led the Su Yi brothers along the West Lake, and the carriage followed them slowly. After walking a few steps, Zhao Xing asked curiously: "What about Gan'er, why didn't you see Gan'er come out to join in the fun?" ”

Su Yu replied: "The fourth brother has been sick again recently, and the branch wife invited him to see a doctor, and I am planning to call Lang Zhong, who is happy to work, to come back tomorrow during the day." ”

Zhao Xing nodded, his eyes stared at a group of guests by the lake, this group of guests happened to occupy a good location in front of the pagoda, and was building a lantern shed, that group of people Zhao Xing knew everyone, led by Zhou Bangshi, behind him was Yang Chong, next to Yang Chong was Tang Di (d), the word Qiu Mountain.

Zhou Bangshi has not come to visit Zhao Xing since he went to see Zhang, and at this moment, he behaved as if nothing happened, and teased Zhao Xing: "Brother Liren, at this moment, every family in Hangzhou is moving, why didn't you see the shed built by your family?" People say that the brother likes to fiddle with delicate things, the bright moonlit night you created, now it is also the usual lighting of each family, we all say it, if the brother also builds a lantern shed, put hundreds of glass lamps, will be able to be very brilliant. ”

Yang Chong and Tang Di nodded frequently. These two people didn't dare to say more, because Zhao Xing was really notorious, and in the past few years, Zhao Xing's killing of beggars in the capital has gradually spread by word of mouth and spread to Hangzhou. Hangzhou people think of the matter of cutting off the dragon king's horn land when Zhao Xing sacrificed the rain, and they all feel that this person is worthy of being the clean street tiger of Bianliang City, Tokyo, the top bully of the Song Dynasty, and even people like Bu Qing dare to chase and kill non-stop, which is really unprovoked.

These two people are not as familiar with Zhao Xing as Zhou Bangshi, and they are at most nodding friends when they meet, so Zhou Bangshi can make jokes about Zhao Xing, and these two people only need to nod. Zhao Xing laughed, first greeted Yang Chong, and then greeted Tang Di, saying: "Five horses, why didn't you bring those five ladies out, haha, I have long wanted to meet the five ladies." ”

Tang Di smiled proudly and replied: "Brother Liren said that I laughed and laughed, others don't know me, don't you know, I'm ashamed." ”

This Tang Di is a very interesting person, he is a collector and likes to collect princesses. He couldn't collect the authentic princess, so he had to collect the clan girl.

In the Song Dynasty, it was expensive to marry a daughter, and some less important clans could not afford to marry their daughters, and the princes of the slightly more prominent clans even borrowed money to marry their daughters. As a result, a unique phenomenon has emerged, the clan girls who were not popular are the best-sellers, and the wealthy businessmen like to marry such clan girls the most, even if they don't want a dowry, they are willing to do it, and Tang Di is one of them.

This guy is also a maritime businessman, since his grandfather started to run the sea trade, counting the family assets in the tens of millions, sometimes, Zhao Xing is a little ashamed of himself in the face of the other party's accumulation of three lifetimes.

With his strong family resources, Tang Di married five clan girls in a row, and these clan girls without titles are actually not princesses, but the people don't care about these, so they call him "five horses", which means the horses of the five princesses. This is what Tang Di is most proud of, although he doesn't show off to the outside very much, but when others mention it, it always makes him happy.

Tang Di is not the most bullish "princess collector" in this era, the most bullish "princess collector" is in Fujian, and there is a maritime merchant in Fujian who has collected eleven "clan girls", which is called "eleven horses" by the folk.

Tang Di is a wealthy person, originally Zhou Bangshi couldn't get around such a person, but recently Zhou Bangshi pulled Yangchong, specializing in the business route from Hangzhou to Luzhou, and at the same time participated in Zhao Xing's overseas trade, and his family wealth gradually became rich, and he could talk to the rich. The sea of lights in front of the pagoda was sponsored by him, Tang Di and Yang Chong, and the hanging lights are ever-changing and dazzling.

This sea of lights is also one of Tang Di's pride, originally he couldn't talk to Zhao Xing, but now seeing Zhao Xing taking the initiative to show goodwill, he warmly invited Zhao Xing to enter the lantern shed and watch it nearby.

It is worthy of the lantern shed built by wealthy merchants, the magnificence is outrageous, the lantern shed has a five-color pearl net, made of "(Zhen) bead lamp", the "leather lamp" dyed by the delicate five-color dyeing, the "horse lantern" that rotates like flying with the five-color wax paper paste, and the eye-catching "boneless lamp" of the new production. This kind of boneless lamp is special in making, it is to use silk sacs to store millet as the womb, so it is burned, and burned into a hard shell, and the millet is mixed like a glass ball. The scenery is ingenious, and there is no comparison.

The lanterns of the Song Dynasty were actually a tool for political satire, and the lanterns were "painted with many characters, sometimes sneering, hiding their heads, and teasing pedestrians in old Beijing proverbs." ”

Zhao Xing browsed the characters on several lamps and found that Zhou Bangshi's political stance seems to have loosened recently, and the sarcasm on it no longer frequently attacks the old party figures, but pays more attention to the people's feelings and customs. is impartial to the dispute in the court, and what he said makes Zhao Xing feel reasonable.

Seeing Zhao Xing nodding, Tang Di was very happy, he shouted, the five ladies came out together, saluted Zhao Xing, these five ladies were not named, Tang Di named them in order as "Shufang Xian Jingyi", this guy held his breath, married, married to the fifth clan girl. It is estimated that the clan was also afraid, for fear that he would learn from that Fujianese, so he simply gave him a Jilu official - Xiu Zhilang, this official is the thirty-sixth rank of civil officials, that is, the penultimate order.

After getting the official rank of cultivator, Tang Di accepted it when he saw it, and did not continue to marry, this cultivator Lang was from the ninth grade, one grade higher than Di Gonglang, because of this official rank from the ninth grade, his five wives had a formal official title, so Zhao Xing did not dare to accept the salute of the five ladies easily, he turned sideways and respectfully returned the other party's five salutes, this scene fell in Tang Di's eyes, which made him very happy.

Tang Di likes to use his wife to tease others, he is a big businessman, yes, and as long as there is a penultimate official title on his head, but his five wives are really good, although they do not have the title of princess, but they all have the identity of "Mrs. Yipin", every time he meets someone who looks down on him, Tang Di likes to call his five wives out together, salute each other, and see that they are impolite to others.

Others are often very embarrassed by Tang Di's excessive politeness, but Zhao Xing has seen Zhao Qin'er, who is even more bullish, so his return gift is decent, and he doesn't let others find fault with it.

After the salute, Tang Di grinned, patted his round belly, like a drum, he squinted his eyes proudly, and said: "I heard that Brother Zhao recently bought a batch of seafood, but unfortunately the price is too high, it is not easy to sell for a while, I heard Lord Qian say, there are some emeralds, very valuable, Brother Zhao, why don't you buy some for me, my five ladies are all money goods, and I can't treat them badly." ”

"Oh, is it good for Lord Qian to have a good relationship with you?" Zhao Xing asked rhetorically.

Tang Di looked at his five ladies with satisfaction and replied, "Yes! ”

"Yet" a fart, if it weren't for your five clan girls, Qian Xian wouldn't have looked at you squarely. Zhao Xing pursed his lips in his heart, with a smile on his face, smiling very happily.

Can Zhao Xing not laugh, he finally caught a big fat sheep, looking at Tang Di is like looking at a pile of gold bricks, and explained very attentively: "Yes, they are all emeralds from Zhongli Kingdom and White Clothes Food (Egypt), polished by Tianzhu craftsmen, with more than ten facets, and the workmanship is extremely exquisite." Each gemstone is like a pear blossom, tsk, it is simply beautiful. ”

Zhou Bangshi was extremely curious, and asked tightly: "How much?" ”