Qingji and Sun Wu rushed to the palace group on the east side of the inner palace to store treasures, which was strictly guarded by the palace guards, and the inside was being checked by the palace temple people one by one and registered into a book.

The first row of warehouses is full of high-grade silk silk, Qi Lu Lu piled up from the ground to the top of the hall, the rows are neat and orderly, Qing Ji happily said: "These silk silk can be directly used as currency payment." Despite the constant wars and disputes, the power of various countries still has a large demand for these fine silks, and families have their own business channels, so as long as these silk silks are successfully shipped, they can be sold for a good price. Cheng Xiu is now the official of our Wu Kingdom, and he will not make our money with his conscience, and this warehouse of silk can exchange a lot of high-quality rice for us. ”

Sun Wu smiled and said: "These items are also needed in the Great King's Palace, the Great King has ascended the throne, and it will be a matter of hiring concubines this year and next year, and the time will be greater, so why sell them and buy them back in the future?" The king, please see, there are several halls behind, all kinds of treasures, these are the treasures of the Chu royal family, priceless, as long as you find a few buyers among the powerful giants of various countries, the income is enough to deal with our food shortage this autumn and next spring, of course, the premise is that the grain has to be bought, if there is no price, then it will be troublesome. ”

Qingji smiled slightly: "Don't worry about this, the widow has talked carefully with Cheng Xiu, the amount of food that the Cheng family has accumulated is very amazing, as long as it is transported, it will be enough to use." Cheng Xiu may not be willing to tell the details of the family business to the widow, but what he has revealed is already very amazing. ”

Qingji sighed: "Only by listening to what he said will you truly understand what it means to be rich and rival the country." The family background of these giant businessmen is really extraordinary. ”，

Sun Wu nodded and said: "Therefore, although the merchants are not from the clan of the ministers, they are more and more respected and courteous in many vassal states, and have great influence, some smaller vassal states, if there are three or two giant merchants in the country, it is equivalent to the economic lifeline of the country, if these giant merchants suddenly move to other countries, then the country will collapse immediately, and the national strength will be weakened to a weak point." Success is also a businessman, defeat is also a businessman, whether it is a disaster or a blessing, it is difficult to predict......"

Qingji couldn't help laughing, he patted Sun Wu's shoulder and said, "Changqing, you have come to turn around and wipe your feet to advise the widow again." Your Highness, you and I are in the name of a monarch and a minister, but in private I treat you as a friend and a brother, and you don't have to speak so tactfully, but you are worried that I will rely too much on some families, so that the national strength will be stored in private, and I, the king of Wu, will be subject to my subordinates? ”

Sun Wu was broken by him, and couldn't help but smile, Qingji smiled: "The Cheng family and the Ren family have made great contributions in the battle of the widow to restore the country, and they are naturally to be reused, they are all famous businessmen in the world, or good at business, or good at manufacturing, they are the leaders of the industrial and commercial worlds, and they can support and make them stronger, so that the strength of our Wu country can be said to be strong." But the money, let them earn, the more they earn, the more financial resources of my Wu country, but their family and clan must be firmly controlled by the imperial court, which requires some methods. You can rest assured at this point, the widow will not be a faint monarch who smiles at a beauty and captivates the country and the city. ”

Qingji took the opportunity to explain his thoughts to this most trusted henchman: "Once the clan is strong, it will inevitably be weak and strong, those giant merchant families, the family generals and slaves in the house, the number of people is often thousands, these people are their private property, and they should not be underestimated when armed, you must know that most of the vassal states today, the army of the whole country is only tens of millions of people." In fact, it is not only them, but also those ministers and doctors who have fiefdoms, who have been running for generations, and on the land of their fiefdoms, they also have their own set of officials with complete reading power, which is equivalent to a small country under the imperial court. When their power becomes stronger, they inevitably threaten the existence of the imperial court.

The widow is trying to gradually eliminate this possibility, but these things must not be rushed, they must be treated slowly, and slowly change. In the future, my Wu State will expand its territory, and every time I occupy a piece of land, I will follow the example of Chu State to set up a county and govern it, and send officials to the country, and no longer divide it.

In addition, slaves are attached to their masters, and life and death are also owned by their masters, which belong to the private property of their masters, and they have been attached to their masters for generations, and they have survived by their masters, and naturally they only obey the orders of their masters, and they only have masters in their eyes, and there is no national court. This is an important reason why the family can interfere in the government once it is strong.

Now that the well field system has existed in name only, the number of fugitive slaves is increasing, and the widows are ready to abolish the slavery system after the country is more stable, and turn slaves into tenant farmers, servant farmers, or free farmers who reclaim wasteland to become masters, which weakens their dependence on landlords and family owners, and strengthens the influence of the imperial court on them, which has the effect of drawing wages from the bottom of the kettle and reducing the possibility of clan rebellion.

In addition, in the military, new systems and regulations will be gradually promulgated, reforms will be carried out in many aspects such as conscription, training, and use of troops, and the direct control of the imperial court will be strengthened. ”

"The king is wise, and the ministers obey orders!" Sun Wu happily agreed, and the two of them walked out of the hall while talking, and continued to walk forward.

"King, this row of halls is stored with thorn branches, fish gelatin, feathers, animal horns, ox tendons and nearly 10,000 Chu crossbows made of arrows, long swords, spear blades, boxes of armor, and a large number of copper ingots, their value is immeasurable, these are directly taken from the arsenal of the Chu State, the number is clear, and it is stacked neatly, so it has been sealed and has not been opened yet."

"Hmm!"

"This row of halls is stacked with treasures, jewelry, jade, gold and silver utensils taken from the palace of the king of Chu, the ministers of the state of Chu, and the mansions of merchants, and is currently being registered one by one, and it has been determined which ones can be sold, which ones are kept as national treasures, and which have obvious characteristics, which need to be temporarily hidden......"

"Well, go in and have a look."

This row of halls is a temple with three floors in the left, middle and right, and there are samurai guards at the door, and when they enter the hall, they see a bookcase in front of them, and there are three people sitting behind the bookcase, and a white-faced bearded person outside the side is round, and the fat face is round, like a kind-faced old lady, holding a brush in her hand, and there is a scroll of wooden tablets spread on the case, and on his side, the written wooden tablets have been piled up into a hill. Inside him were two old men with crane hair and childish faces, each with a beautiful beard under their jaws that reached to their abdomen, and the table was piled with mutton fat jade, cat's eyes, emeralds, pearl agate, coral, and gold and silver utensils, and the two of them picked up one at random, shaking their heads and commenting.

The three of them, and even the many children who were constantly moving jewelry to the bookcase, and many of the children who moved the jewelry were all wearing close-fitting crotch pants and undershirts, shirtless, Sun Wu said: "These, most of them are from the palace temple, those two old gentlemen, who have settled in Wu for more than three generations, have an innocent and reliable background, and are the best at identifying all kinds of jewelry and jade, and call them shirtless, because they are afraid that someone will see the wealth and hide the treasure on their bodies without permission. ”

Qingji nodded, he didn't expect to see a treasure appreciation show today, seeing that the people in the hall were busy, and before they found them entering, he made a gesture to Sun Wu, and the two did not let the soldiers at the door report, and quietly walked in, standing against the dragon pillar in the door, and looking at the situation in the room.

There are many shelves made of fine wood in this large hall, and there are many treasures of all kinds piled up on it, and many large utensils are piled up on the ground. There are still many chests and pockets on the ground, and the treasures inside have not yet been cleared.

I saw a white-bearded old man singing loudly: "Four three-foot-high coral trees, a pair of jade horses, twelve jewel beads, eighteen pearl beads, and eight large rubies." ”

The old man next to him worked hard to write, and Sun Wu said softly: "The minister came once in the morning, and at that time there were a total of five hundred and twenty-two jewels and more than one hundred large rubies. ”

Qingji nodded, only to hear another old man next to him say: "Two seven-star swords, ten whole jade Ruyi, eight white jade plates, and nine jasper soup bowls......"

The people of the small temple and the two treasure experts thought that they were already very familiar with the twisting, and a small temple man holding a stack of gold-inlaid jade dishes asked curiously: "Old Master, shouldn't this sword be classified as a weapon, why should it be registered in the jewelry book?" ”

The old man took out a silk handkerchief and wiped his sweat, and said with a smile: "What do you know kid, these two swords are well-made ancient swords, and their value has far exceeded the value of the weapon itself, and this scabbard is a green shark skin scabbard, inlaid with red and sapphire for a total of one hundred and eight, and the middle is inlaid with seven stars made of the best jade. ”

Only then did the little temple man suddenly realize. When the old man was talking to the small temple man, another old man pulled out a large piece of jade from the pile of jewelry, and was carefully looking up and down, and exclaimed at this time: "Jie Lao, you come and see, this piece of jade, transparent and clear, jade color is moist, radiant, the front is a white jade, the side looks, then white, green, purple, yellow and other colors are distinct, such jade, only a piece of thumb size, is a rare thing, but this piece of jade, enough to be the size of a child's head, such a large superb jade is just rare, The old man had never heard of such a treasure in his life. ”

"Oh?" The old man surnamed Jie was very interested, and hurriedly leaned over, and said with a smile: "There are really few treasures that can be praised so much by Brother Jiang, wait for me to appreciate them." ”

The old master took the big jade, carefully appreciated it, and exclaimed: "Such a big jade is flawless, and it is really rare." Such a treasure is really a masterpiece of heaven and earth, which can be encountered but not sought. Such a beautiful jade, it is impossible to use it as a nameless, it must be a famous treasure of the Chu State. ”

The old man surnamed Jiang looked at this beautiful jade from the side, and suddenly said in surprise: "The color of the side view is blue, and the color of the right view is white." Hey, this piece of jade...... This piece of jade ......, I thought of it! ”

The two looked at each other and shouted in unison: "The best of the He's family!" ”

"He's Bi?" Upon hearing this long-known first treasure of the ages, Qingji couldn't help but be moved, and immediately stepped forward and asked, "You say, this piece of jade is He's bi?" ”

When everyone in the hall saw Qingji and Sun Wu appear, they hurriedly turned over and bowed down, and shouted: "Meet the king." ”

Qingji hurriedly waved his hand and asked, "You say, this jade is He's bi?" ”

When the two old men saw Qingji, they became cautious when they spoke, and Old Master Jiang hesitated for a moment and replied: "This piece of jade is of excellent quality, and its value can only be compared with He's bi. More than 200 years ago, Chu Bian and got this beautiful jade, and then dedicated to the king of Chu, cut the stone to see the jade, the record has mentioned that the color of this jade is blue and the color is white, and this beautiful jade is also in line with it, and the small people have this judgment. ”

"He's Bi is worth a lot, such a treasure, it won't even have a box, right?" Qing Ji said suspiciously.

A temple man plucked up his courage and said: "King, this jade was originally placed in a box, but the box was squeezed and damaged during transportation, so the villain did not present it." ”

"Bring it to me."

The temple people hurriedly ran to find the box containing this piece of jade, Qingji took it, turned over and over again, and found the four small words "He's Bi" at the bottom of the box, and couldn't help but say in surprise: "It's it, it's really it!" Bring it to me! ”

Jie Lao hurriedly offered He's bi with both hands, Qingji took it, and carefully admired it for a long time, in his eyes who didn't understand jade, this was just a piece of white and a little transparent, and there were some green stones on the side, the so-called crystal clear, it seemed that it was not as attractive as imitation jade resin.

The two treasure experts stared at Qingji with blazing eyes, waiting for his appreciation, Qingji saw it, so he had to pretend to look at it for a long time, and praised: "Good jade!" Sure enough, it is a piece of excellent jade! ”

Sun Wudao: "King, although this jade is valuable, it is not suitable to ...... at this time."

Qingji smiled: "The widow knows that this piece of jade should not see the light at this time." ”

He grinned and put the jade on the table and said, "Since you can't take it out to meet people, let's change it and keep it for yourself." Two old gentlemen, what kind of master of gold and stone engraving do you know? ”

Jie Lao smiled slightly, although in front of the king, he still involuntarily stretched out his hand, stroked the long beard that reached his abdomen, and straightened his waist a little. Jiang Lao next to him said with a smile: "King, Jie Zongyuan is the first master of engraving in my Wu Kingdom." ”

"Oh?" Qingji glanced at the old man unexpectedly and said: "In this case, I will hand over this piece of beautiful jade to Mr. Jie, please design it, carve it into a jade seal, and keep it as the treasure of my Wu Guozhen." ”

Jie Zongyuan was very excited when he heard this, if this priceless treasure was carved into a jade seal and became a national treasure of Wu State, then his name would also be passed down through the ages with this national treasure, which was something that everyone dreamed of, and Jiang Lao next to him already showed envy on his face.

Jie Zongyuan hurriedly bowed to the ground and said excitedly: "The small people obey the order, the small people obey the order, I don't know what inscription the king wants to engrave on this piece of jade?" ”

Qingji took a long breath and said with a smile: "Then you still need to ask?" Yes, of course...... Received, ordered, in, day, both longevity and eternal prosperity! ”

Sun Wu glanced at Qingji, and said secretly in his heart: "Why do you say 'Of course it is'?" ”

(To be continued)