"What is this?" Ma Ye looked at the things handed over by Li Xiu, and couldn't help but be stunned for a moment and asked, only to see that Li Xiu was holding something very similar to a token in his hand, with a big "pat" written on it, and the whole token was made of brass, half the size of a palm, and there were some small patterns around it, which looked very exquisite.

"This is the token of the auction house, only the person who holds the token can enter the auction house under our financial supervision to buy items, but your token is not ordinary, because there is your name and title behind the token, this is the exclusive customer of the auction house, you can sit in the top position!" Li Xiu explained with a smile.

Ma Ye also took the token curiously when he heard this, and turned it over and found that his name was engraved on the back, but it was the first time he had heard of this auction house, and he asked again: "When did your financial supervisor open an auction house again, and what did this auction house do, are you planning to sell things?" ”

"It's true that you want to sell things, Uncle Ma, you should also know about the bank, many people go to the bank to mortgage things to get loans, but some of them are dead and don't intend to redeem them at all, and some of them can't be redeemed when the deadline expires, and our bank can't keep these things forever, so I thought of such an auction method......" Li Xiu said and explained the form of the auction again.

The auction of this new trading model may have appeared in history, but it has never formed a scale, so many people have no concept of this at all, Ma Ye also felt very novel after hearing it, but he was most interested in the auction things, and couldn't help asking: "What are you auctioning off, if it's just some ordinary gold, silver and jade, then I'm not interested." ”

"Uncle Ma, don't worry, there are all kinds of things auctioned by the auction house, almost everything, such as Uncle Ma, you like to collect weapons and armor, among the items in this auction, there is a Wuzi treasure knife that sharpens iron like clay, and there is also a treasure armor worn by Emperor Wen of Sui at the beginning, presumably Uncle Ma must be very interested in these two things!" Li Xiu said with a smile.

Although Li Xiu has not been to the financial supervision much in the past few days, he has actually been preparing for the auction house, and in order to start the reputation of the auction house, the items in the first auction are also carefully selected by him, and each one is very valuable and rare. In addition, the invited guests are also selected, and in order to participate in the auction, they must hold a bronze medal issued by the auction house, which is not eligible for everyone.

"Uzibao Knife! Are you sure? When Ma Ye heard the name of the Uzi Treasure Knife, he couldn't help but shout at the moment, the so-called Uzi Treasure Knife is actually the Damascus knife of later generations, the surface of this knife has a special exquisite pattern, and it is extremely sharp, it can be said to be a very rare treasure knife, and the Tang Dynasty has a strong martial style, and the generals are also very fond of the sharp Uzi Treasure Knife, but the number of Uzi Treasure Knife is scarce, and money may not be able to buy it, which also makes many generals dream of getting an Uzi Treasure Knife.

"Of course, originally this treasure knife was the knife of a general in the former Sui, but unfortunately his children and grandchildren were not filial, and failed to revitalize the family, but had to rely on pawning the family property to survive, this knife was mortgaged to the bank by his unfilial descendants, and it was still dead, and he didn't plan to redeem it at all, this time it was used as the finale of our auction house, just waiting for a military general like Uncle Ma to buy it home and collect it!" Li Xiu introduced with a smile at this time.

"Stinky boy, there is such a good thing, why don't you just sell it to me, if it is auctioned like this, the ghost knows how many people will rob me?" Ma Ye was a little angry when he heard this, he didn't want the Uzi Treasure Knife for a day or two, Li Xiu must also know that with his position, he could sell the Uzi Treasure Knife to him privately, and of course he wouldn't let the bank suffer a loss.

"Uncle Ma, I'm wronged, I'm busy with the financial supervision during this time, although I am personally responsible for the affairs of the auction house, but it is impossible to do everything personally, such as these things in the auction, I just handed them over to a special person to select, and I didn't have time to look at this auction list until two days ago, but at that time, the auction things had been publicized, and there was no way to change it." Li Xiu hurriedly shouted at this time, of course he couldn't tell the truth, after all, this Wuzi treasure knife was the finale of this auction, and it had a fatal attraction to a military general like Ma Ye, so he could only be sorry for Ma Ye.

"Hmph, I don't know about your fancy intestines?" Ma Ye saw through Li Xiu's mind at a glance, and he couldn't help but glance at him at the moment, but he was not angry, after all, Li Xiu was also for official business, and it was impossible for him to let Li Xiu abolish his public affairs for personal reasons.

Li Xiu also knew that he couldn't hide it from Ma Ye, but he was thick-skinned, and he smiled and said again: "But Uncle Ma, don't worry, although there are a lot of people invited this time, there are not many generals, after all, many generals are stationed outside, and even if they are military generals in Chang'an, they definitely don't have as much money as you, so this treasure knife is already in your pocket!" ”

Ma Ye originally called himself the house slave of Princess Pingyang, and he couldn't give birth, and there were no descendants in the family, so he didn't plan to leave any private property at all, but later he recognized with Hate Er, so he got out of slavery, and later he married the lord of Guanghua County, Li Xiu and Princess Pingyang gave Ma Ye fifty percent of the family business, after all, many businesses were done by Ma Ye, such as canning workshops, but Ma Ye felt that it was too much, and he was only willing to accept thirty percent at first, and then under the persuasion of Li Xiu, he accepted forty percent.

However, even if it is forty percent of Li Xiu's business, it is enough to make Ma Ye a huge rich man in the Tang Dynasty, not to mention anything else, just the two major industries of roasted tea and canned food are making money every day, so Ma Ye is not short of money at all, as long as he is willing, there are really few people in Chang'an City who can compete with him for the Uzi treasure knife.

Ma Ye also felt that this was the case when he heard Li Xiu's words, and he couldn't help but relax at the moment, then picked up the token in his hand and looked at it, and then smiled again: "Boy, you won't give a token to everyone who wants to participate in the auction, right?" ”

"Of course, this token is a threshold, and those who can get the token are either rich or expensive, and there may be nothing now, but in the future, this token will definitely become a symbol of status, and only those who have money and power in Chang'an City are eligible to have such a token!" Li Xiu immediately nodded and said.

"The ambition is not small, but didn't you say that I am an exclusive customer, this token is also too chilling, why do you have to use gold?" Thinking that the Uzi Treasure Knife was about to become his bag, Ma Ye's mood also became good, but he began to pick and choose from Li Xiu.

"I want to use gold, but there are so many powerful people in Chang'an City, and every household will have to send it in the future, so how much gold will it cost? Although the bank has money, it can't be too extravagant! Li Xiu explained helplessly at this time.

"I thought your exclusive customer was so rare, it turned out to be an official and sent it over, so your token is not very valuable!" Ma Ye couldn't help but be a little disgusted when he heard this, when he said this, it happened that Li Xiu's stewed mutton was almost the same, and he served himself a bowl at the moment, and it was not too hot, and he swallowed a bowl of mutton in the blink of an eye.

"That's not the same, I will definitely send more in the future, but there are not many people in the first batch, and those who can get exclusive tokens have to be the founder of the country at least, and the officials are above the fourth grade, otherwise they can only get ordinary tokens, this kind of token is black iron, there is only the front on it, and there is nothing on the back." Li Xiu explained with a smile.

However, Li Xiu did not fully say some words, for example, in his imagination, the auction house will definitely have a private room in the future, and some more advanced tokens will be issued at that time, and these tokens may be made of more valuable gold and silver, or even white jade, of course, these cannot be launched at the beginning, but to let customers spend a certain amount in the auction house before they can get these more valuable tokens, so that customers can have a sense of pleasure in upgrading, and at the same time, they can form a comparison competition.

"Okay, it seems that your appetite is really not small, when will your auction house open, and I can buy my treasure knife back then?" Ma Ye nodded immediately, and then asked again.

"In the second half of this month, the officials will also have a rest, just in time to participate in this auction!" Li Xiu immediately said that although Datang does not have Sundays in later generations, there is a ten-day day every ten days, and officials do not have to work, but this is only the welfare of officials, and other industries do not have the habit of taking a ten-day holiday.

"Okay, I'll go myself!" Ma Ye patted his chest and assured that just for the Uzi Treasure Knife, he would never miss this auction.

Seeing that Ma Ye agreed to participate in the auction, although Li Xiu was not surprised, he was also very happy, and only after eating the mutton did he get up and say goodbye, because the auction house still had a bunch of things to deal with for him.

In the next few days, in addition to being busy preparing for the auction house, Li Xiu also personally visited some important dignitaries in Chang'an City, such as Qin Qiong, who had just returned, Li Xiaogong and others who spent all day drinking at home, but unfortunately Pei Lin had already returned to his hometown, otherwise Li Xiu would definitely invite the other party. Originally, Li Xiu also wanted to invite Li Shimin over, but considering that the auction was a commercial act after all, and the Tang Dynasty also despised commerce, if Li Shimin, the emperor, was invited to participate in the auction, I was afraid that it would attract some people's criticism, so he finally dispelled this idea.

After a period of preparation, the auction house has finally been prepared, and the auction date is approaching, and the first auction of the auction house is finally about to begin.