"In addition to the carved rooster gemstones, they also polished other small accessories, and left a large piece that could not shine. The craftsman hid some stones and tried to transport the peeled shell back home. , besides him, other craftsmen also secretly hid some intercepted luminous stone beads."
The status of craftsmen is very low, especially in Gaochang Kingdom, where craftsmen are controlled by nobles.
They farm in the village in their free time, and they are directly recruited when necessary. They need a lot of money to leave their craftsman status.
So they didn't dare to take out the things for sale for a while, so they hid them quietly.
Tang Daren said: "The rooster gem was presented to the Gaochang royal family by that dignitary. Until the fourteenth year of Dazhen, King Gaochang formed an alliance with the Turks, and His Majesty sent Hou Ji, Xue Wan and others to conquer Gaochang. Gaochang was destroyed. The gem was hidden by Hou Ji."
Isn't Dazhen's fourteenth year two years ago
Bai Shan asked, "So Hou Ji didn't know there was something wrong with this stone?"
Master Tang raised the corner of his mouth slightly, and said meaningfully: "Prince Gaochang, who once owned this jewel, knew that there was something wrong with this jewel. In the fourteenth year of Dazhen, two children with problems were born in his back house. Not to mention, the eldest son suffered a nosebleed and died of weakness. He invited many doctors to come to the door, and finally the people from the Buddhist temple told him that there was something wrong with the stone."
"Before the Gaochang Kingdom was destroyed, he had already sent people to find the villages of those craftsmen, but before Gaochang had time to do anything, the country was destroyed, and the eldest prince Gaochang was captured. I went to check the day before yesterday, and he was already dead. All the people close to him who served him died, but one person was missing from those who went to that village. He said that the eldest prince once wanted to offer precious stones to His Majesty in order to plot my royal family, but Hou Ji was greedy. , and hid most of the property confiscated from the Gaochang royal family."
Master Tang raised his head to look at the two of them, "Unfortunately, the prince Gaochang has officials who don't want to be slaves, so they told Hou Ji the secret of the gemstone, hoping to get preferential treatment."
Bai Shan asked, "Where are those people?"
"They're all dead," Master Tang said, "They didn't even return to the capital, and died of illness on the way."
Those are captives, they are not members of the Gaochang royal family, they are dead when they die, just as Hou Ji made great contributions, the emperor and courtiers will not trouble Hou Ji for a few officials of the enemy country.
Bai Shan thought of something, "I heard that the prince and Hou Ji are not on good terms."
Master Tang nodded, "After conquering Gaochang, Hou Ji hid most of his property and murdered the captives. His Highness couldn't stand it, and took the lead in impeaching him."
He said: "He was born and died with His Majesty. In the third year of Dazhen, he was named the Duke of Yu. But in the sixth year of Dazhen, because he allowed his slaves to occupy land in the Shangzhou circle, unfortunately, when the crown prince was ordered to inspect Kyushu, he happened to arrive in Shangzhou. state."
The prince's temper was not very good in the first place. At that time, the slave of the Hou family spoke rudely, so he directly cut him off.
Of course, he not only beheaded other people's slaves, but also beheaded Hou Ji's own brother.
It was Hou Ji's younger brother who ordered the slaves to enclose the land. Of course, it may also be Hou Ji. It's a pity that the prince cut it too fast, and didn't have time to ask for a statement.
However, Mr. Tang felt that even if the question was asked, with Hou Ji's meritorious service, he might be reprimanded in the end without pain.
His Majesty has always treated heroes preferentially.
But the prince beheaded Hou Ji's younger brother, and the incident became serious. At that time, the prince had just got married, and it was a time when the scenery was boundless.
At that time, no one knew that he was infertile, and the relationship between brothers was not bad, and no one robbed him, so he hadn't lost his mind. Although he cut him off in anger, he entered the palace as soon as he returned to the capital. Pleading guilty, I apologized to Hou Ji in front of the emperor and his officials, expressing apologetically that I saw someone leading servants to drive away good people and enclose the land, and I was angry in my heart, so I missed it for a while.
Kong Jijiu and Zhang Xueshi were of course not happy to see the apology from the crown prince and Hou Ji whom they had taught. They felt that the crown prince did the right thing, and that he had a certain amount of advance and retreat. Although the procedure is somewhat illegal, these flaws can be ignored .
And the poor family officials headed by Wei Zhi hated the behavior of occupying land in the circle of honorable nobles, so they turned a blind eye to the prince's illegal means and directly attacked Hou Ji fiercely.
Even the emperor would have to take a shot in front of Wei Zhi's mouth, let alone Hou Ji.
His own brother died, and he was already very annoyed, but when he was attacked by Wei Zhi and others, he immediately lost his mind, and fought Wei Zhi in front of the emperor.
At that time, there was a very famous gang fight in the court, and it is still mentioned by some veterans from time to time today.
For example, Mr. Tang's father, Mr. Tang, because the old Mr. Tang was very heroic when Hou Ji rushed up and gave him a kick, saving Mr. Wei who was standing beside him.
Of course, he was also hit on the left side of the cheek in the end, and his face was bruised and swollen for a long time, even Mr. Tang remembered it deeply.
"Your Majesty was annoyed that Hou Ji made a big fuss in the court, and he couldn't restrain his family, so he was demoted to Marquis of Zuoyu," Mr. Tang recounted the grievances of the year, took a sip of tea to moisten his throat, and said, "After that, Hou Ji He was sent to guard Liangzhou. He was the first to conquer Gaochang in the 14th year of Dazhen. He was supposed to be promoted to the Duke of the state, but in the end... "
Lord Tang coughed lightly and said: "The result is that the crown prince can't see him murdering prisoners, and someone has reported him to hide property, so His Royal Highness wrote a letter to investigate thoroughly. His Majesty didn't want to investigate at that time..."
After all, he has only made great contributions. He has just pulled the captive back with his front foot, and he will check him with his back foot. Whether he knows it or not, he will definitely think that he can't tolerate heroes after hearing about it.
The emperor didn't want to chill the hearts of the heroes, and all the nobles in the half dynasty at that time expressed their opposition.
Master Tang said: "But the crown prince entered the palace overnight and didn't know what he had said to His Majesty. The next day His Majesty ordered someone to investigate. However, he did a hasty search and found nothing, but neither did Hou Ji. To be promoted is just to be rewarded with a lot of things, and to be praised several times."
But for Hou Ji, not being promoted is punishment.
Now that the world is getting more and more peaceful, and there are fewer and fewer wars, as military generals, it is becoming more and more difficult for them to make contributions. If he misses this time, he may not be promoted to the Duke of the Kingdom for the rest of his life.
Master Tang said: "After that, Hou Ji often complained about the crown prince, so it's no secret that they were at odds. Judging from the information we have found now, the thing was given to a Hu merchant by one of Hou Ji's disciples, and asked the Hu merchant to give it to him. A secretary of the East Palace, and then the staff will present it to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."
"Hu Shang and the secretary of the East Palace have been taken, and they don't know what's going on," he said, "I think Hou Ji doesn't have much power in the palace, so the prince will give you the gem and a letter from the study, and he won't let you go." Knowing that the gem has been given away, he didn't send people to rob until Master Yin released the news."
Bai Shan was a little puzzled, "Master Tang, why did you tell us this?"