Nanjing was the capital of Zhu Yuanzhang when he established the Ming Dynasty, and later Zhu Di launched the Battle of Jingjing to seize the throne of Emperor Jianwen, moved the capital to Beiping, changed Nanjing to stay in the capital, and set up six departments and other institutions in Nanjing. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, Nanjing's population had reached one million, making it the largest city in the world at that time. It has always been the political, economic and cultural center of the south and even the whole country.

Now the Ming Dynasty has been plagued by famine for many years, but it does not affect the enjoyment of Nanjing's dignitaries, the whole city is still prosperous, the Confucius Temple in Nanjing Qinhuai River is surrounded by green buildings, the warbler sings and dances, and the industry is very prosperous.

The old bustard of Yicuilou, the largest brothel on the banks of the Qinhuai River, was very happy for a few days, and a rich boy came to the brothel, and he generously made the brothel and the girls make a lot of money, and also made a new trick in the brothel, and held a seven-day treasure auction. That Gongzi said that the surname Zhou extended from Shaanxi, although from the land of disaster and famine but really rich, Zhou Gongzi rented a brothel lobby after giving enough money to the old bustard, and took out a few pieces of antique jade every day to do what auction there, the guests here have seen the world, it can be seen that Zhou Gongzi's treasures are also amazing, a few days down the guests have understood the rules of the auction, Zhou Gongzi took out more and more treasures, more and more quantities, face-to-face bidding has triggered the anger of the guests, Show yourself your wealth and wealth in front of everyone.

There is no loss in doing so, Zhou Gongzi's treasures are indeed rare in the world. The guests not only came to shoot by themselves, but also found powerful friends to watch the novelty together. The number of customers in the brothel has increased greatly, and they are all rich and big, the old bustard looked at the guests in the lobby and closed his mouth happily, this is all money, every guest who comes here will spend here. Of course, compared to Zhou Gongzi, these small sums seem too insignificant, and in the past few days, Zhou Gongzi's auction income has exceeded tens of thousands of taels of silver, and Zhou Gongzi also released words that more and better treasures will be taken out today on the last day of the auction.

The guests got the news and came early to take their seats in the lobby and wait for the auction to begin.

The brothel's Oiran cabaret performance ended, and a handsome little official stepped onto the stage. For the past few days, he has presided over the auction of the treasures, and the guests know that the auction is about to begin.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, the last treasure auction is now open, now please take the first treasure". The maid dressed in light gauze walked up to the stage with a treasure with light steps, the perfect curve loomed, some of the spectators who came just to see the excitement were obviously more interested in the beauty than the treasure, and they had been shouting for a long time, the maid came to the middle of the stage, smiled at the audience, and the people who applauded the audience were intoxicated by this laugh and stopped shouting. The maid placed the treasure on the stand in the middle of the stage and retreated, and the attention of the people turned back to the treasure. Those who are interested quote the price in their hearts, and others increase the price unhurriedly. As the treasures were sold one by one, people's anger was also fought, and the bidding became more and more intense, gradually with some gunpowder smell. This is not surprising, because the treasures auctioned are getting better and better, and each one is rare in the world.

It turned out that these treasures were all trophies that Zhang Chu snatched back from Hou Jin, and they were carefully selected. Although the Houjin did not defeat the Beijing Division, they also robbed the prefectures and counties around the Beijing Division, and the collections of rich and noble families and officials for many years became the pockets of the Houjin Army, and then changed hands to Zhang Chu. Naturally, those things have never been seen in Nanjing.

With a crisp announcement from the host of the little official, the finale of the auction began, surrounded by a group of light gauze beauties, Zhou Jialin Zhou Gongzi came to the stage, carefully matched gorgeous clothes, set off the young and handsome face, more than a year of experience Zhou Jialin has grown a lot, naturally than the average gentleman has a layer of calm and sophisticated temperament, many people do not look at the beauty and treasures but pay attention to Zhou Jialin. Zhou Jialin put down the treasure in his hand gently, peeled off the light veil on it, a piece of white mutton fat white jade carved into the jade Guanyin presented in front of everyone, the beautiful jade in the candlelight under the light of the candle looks extraordinarily moist, the exquisite knife work takes advantage of the situation to follow the shape, the treasure of the Guanyin master portrayed is solemn, naturally with a kind of sacred atmosphere.

"A statue of the White Jade Guanyin, the reserve price is 10,000 taels, please bid, start shooting now." Zhou Jialin loudly announced the start of the final auction.

"Ten thousand taels." A sharp voice sounded, and the bidder was a white-faced, beardless, plump old man. After the old man made a bid, the audience fell silent, and he did not compete for bids as expected.

Zhou Jialin looked a little cold, and swept to the corner of the lobby with the afterglow of his eyes, and Zhang Chu in the corner sat there without any expression. Originally, in order to prevent the auction from being cold, or the treasure being auctioned off at a too low price, not only did they set a reserve price, but also arranged for people to mix in with the guests, pretending to be buyers bidding at the right time, and mobilizing the atmosphere in the venue.

Zhou Jialin couldn't wait for a long time, so he had to report loudly: "Ten thousand taels for the first time." ”

Then he looked around the audience with his eyes, and the guests in the audience seemed to think that the auction was over, but they just sat there quietly eating tea without saying anything.

"Ten thousand taels for the second time," Zhou Jialin shouted helplessly for the second time.

10,000 taels is far less than the value of this piece of jade, and if Zhang Chu doesn't say anything, this piece of jade will be auctioned away. Zhou Jialin's heart was a little anxious. At this time, a maid refilled the tea bowl in front of Zhou Jialin with a little tea, and secretly stuffed a note to Zhou Jialin. Zhou Jialin quickly glanced at it, only to see that it was written, "Nanjing garrison eunuch Han Zanzhou, give it to him." At first glance, this is Zhang Chu's handwriting. With clear instructions, Zhou Jialin's spirit was lifted.

Seeing that no one in the audience answered, the wooden hammer in his hand struck and said loudly: "Ten thousand taels for the third time, the deal!" ”

There was sparse applause from the audience. Zhou Jialin waved his hand to signal everyone to be quiet and then said: "The reason why we take this Guanyin Bodhisattva statue as the last lot is a deep meaning, the Bodhisattva is a god who blesses us all, and can only worship and cannot use her for profit. After speaking, Zhou Jialin picked up the statue and walked down the stage to the front of the old man, and said respectfully: "I have the fate to meet Mr. today, and I will definitely visit the house in the future." An entourage next to him had already taken over the statue, and the old man smiled: "The young man is good, he knows how to count etiquette, I like it." There was a sigh of running out around, some people sighed at Han Zanzhou's power, and some people sighed at Zhou Jialin's generosity, and tens of thousands of taels of silver were sent out without frowning.

Zhou Jialin Shili retired, returned to the stage, and said to everyone: "Thank you for your support in the past few days, I organized this auction in addition to showing a few gadgets to make everyone happy. His words immediately drew everyone back.

Zhou Jialin continued: "I came here from Shaanxi mainly to do business, the auction is to get to know the rich people in Jiangnan, tomorrow I will open a money bank called 'Zhongyang Bank' and a Zhongyang trading firm in Nanjing, and the money bank will open branches in all the prefectures and counties from Nanjing to Jiubian Yanyi Road, so that everyone can do business and exchange." The trading firm will be engaged in the sale of goods, and will be open to the public, and those who are interested can go to the back to obtain the articles of association. After saying that, he saluted everyone and walked off the stage.

The guests in the lobby were amazed again, the money bank suddenly opened from Nanjing to Jiubian, so financial, and can not say that this Zhou Gongzi bragging, just these few days of auction income must have hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, and people also said that this is some gadgets, I really don't know where this is the rich boy who came out of nowhere, I really want to see how his money is earned, people with a heart go to the back to find Zhou Jialin to ask for the articles of association of the trading firm, to see if they can make a fortune with him.