The wind at the beginning of November was already bitterly cold. On Longshouyuan under the setting sun, Ye City, surrounded by four emperors' uncles and one hundred thousand dragon teeth cavalry, was like a lonely peak standing still, desolate and sparse, stained with a touch of blood. red.
Due to the lack of troops in the city, the land transportation has been completely cut off, and the only way for Yecheng to communicate with the outside world is the Grand Canal starting from the capital city of Xi State and passing through Shangzhou and Yecheng. In order to maintain this life-and-death relationship, Prince Chengde sent heavy troops to guard the canal.
"His Royal Highness the Seventh Prince is back!" As soon as he landed on the shore, he heard cheers from the soldiers along the river, and the horns on the watchtower on the bank sounded continuously, one after another from the pier where he landed, spreading the message all the way to the city. The soldiers lined up to defend the city moved quickly, and many generals came up to pay their respects.
Prince Xueya got out of the boat first, and ordered people to set up Jindun to step on and help Jin Bihui get down. There were some whispers among the soldiers, but they didn't dare to say anything: this time the prince went far away to the country of Xi, but no rescuers were invited, but he brought back a woman. I don't know why.
"Help the imperial concubine to get off the boat." Seeing that the first person who came to greet him was his beloved general Shen Tiexin, Yan Bai sighed and confessed, seeing the astonishment on his subordinate's face. He didn't have the mind to argue—along the way, he tried hard to persuade the old boatman to follow him to Yecheng to join Prince Chengde, but the mysterious old man just smiled and shook his head, unmoved at all. Prince Xueya has always been a courteous and virtuous corporal, and his reputation is well-known among the princes. He has never seen such a stubborn old man despite his repeated pleadings.
As soon as the boat entered the border of Liguo, the boatman stayed on the boat and retreated. How could the prince persuade him to stay? He smiled and looked at the newlywed couple in front of him: "You young couple are newlyweds, what is the old man doing here?" He looked at the woman in red. With a caring smile: "Little girl, no matter how good you are, you can't do it—be careful that your husband's family divorced you, huh?"
Jin Bihui was annoyed, but the old boatman didn't answer any more, he just turned around and left, singing the song "Iron Clothes Cold" written by Li Guoguojun. However, he arbitrarily replaced the lyrics of "Shuoqi spreads the golden watchman, and the cold shines on the iron clothes" with ancient poems:
"Beating drums and boring, actively employing troops. Tuguocheng Cao, I travel south alone.
"From Sun Zizhong, Ping Chen and Song Dynasty. If I don't return, I am worried..."
Gradually drifting away, the singing is endless. The platform paved with wooden boards stretches quietly out of the river, the river bank made of stones, and the lamps fluttering in the wind and rain—the seventh prince standing at the ferry to change boats and continue to go north, watching the back of the old man swaying and singing, watching the wind flying up Suddenly, the heart that had been mediating and fighting for half a lifetime suddenly became a little dazed.
Jindun hadn't arrived yet, but Jin Bihui, who hadn't changed her red wedding gown, came out of the cabin before waiting for his men to come and serve her. She looked around the bow of the boat and exclaimed, "This is Ye City? Wow, you're so stylish!"
Without saying a word, he jumped off the boat with his husband and son-in-law, and landed gently on the embankment.
The soldiers and attendants who came up from all around were startled, and they couldn't help but took a few steps back, looking at each other, not knowing who this woman who behaved like this was.
"Don't be too presumptuous!" Really helpless, but he had no choice but to control, Yan Bai frowned and scolded in a low voice.
However, at this moment when the newlyweds saw the soldiers who came to greet them, they obviously remembered the days when they were in the Neptune fleet. They regarded the army under the husband-in-law as their own brothers, glanced at everyone, patted and knelt The shoulder of the soldier who moved Jindun: "Thank you, how can I use this kind of labor, thank you brothers!"
As soon as this action came out, all the soldiers and guards around were terrified and moved. The soldiers who moved Jindun were five big and three rough.
At the gate of the city, even Prince Chengde, who had just heard the news and came out of the city to greet him, stood dumbfounded and forgot to greet his seventh brother.
"Brother Huang." It was Yan Bai who saw his elder brother first, and hurried up to see him, but before he knelt down, he was grabbed by the Prince of Chengde as usual. Are you willing to send troops?"
Yan Bai looked at the eager eyes of the emperor's brother, knowing that Yecheng was running out of food and soldiers at this moment, he subconsciously glanced at the newlywed wife who was standing around looking around, and sighed: "Emperor brother, let's go to the city to talk, okay?" ?”
"Seventh brother, what are you talking about? You are married?!"
The original government office in Yecheng was used as a military camp, and there were only a few top decision-makers in the prince's army in the back hall at the moment. However, after hearing his report on this trip, Prince Chengde still couldn't help being surprised. : "Yutang Jin's family—is that the woman you brought today?"
"Yes. My brother is helpless and helpless in the Xi Kingdom. I am in a hurry and get married before the battle. Please forgive me the crime of ignorance." Under the equally astonished gazes of several generals nearby, Prince Xueya lowered his head and quietly report back.
"The only daughter of the Yutang Jin family—is that girl... a hero among women?" Shen Tiexin, the deputy general of the Zuo Army next to her, blurted out, and almost slipped out the word "female Jin Wu", and quickly changed her words, but her expression was already quite embarrassing.
Prince Chengde's eyes were also complicated: Jin Bihui - even he had heard of this woman's name. That is the female leader of the biggest pirate on the Blue Fall Sea, and she is also the only daughter of the Yutang Jin family who controls the state affairs of the Xi Kingdom.
The name of this woman's bravery and pungentness spread among the princes and countries.
The prince's eyes changed slightly, and his eyes shifted, but he sighed softly: "Seventh brother, it seems that you have suffered—in fact, why should you do this, the current situation is like this, even if the Yutang Jin family forces the lonely king to marry that Women can do it too."
Prince Xueya was stunned, and looked up at his eldest brother in surprise: "Brother Huang has made Wuchen the Crown Princess, how can he abolish the establishment?"
"As you said, is it urgent to follow the power? If it can be exchanged for the unification of Liguo, what are these?" Chengde Prince smiled a little concealedly, and took the topic away, "Is Xiguo willing to send troops?"
Prince Xueya pondered for a moment, and finally answered carefully: "Xi Kingdom should be able to send troops in early December, go north along the canal, and arrive at Ye City."
"It's a pity that the manpower and material resources in the city have been exhausted, and it is difficult to last until December." The person who spoke was the Taifu Xu Fuyan who was sitting next to the Prince of Chengde. With cold insight, he coughed a few times, twitched his long beard under his chin, his eyes suddenly sharpened: "Emperor Xichang, do you really want to help me?"
Prince Xueya's expression was also serious, and he looked at the old man and replied quietly: "To tell you the truth, Emperor Chang and the courtiers did intend to do nothing, but Uncle Jin Guo has promised to try his best to persuade the emperor, and strive to send troops to reinforce Yecheng before the end of the year. .As for financial and material resources..." Pausing slightly, as if feeling a little emotional in his heart, the Seventh Prince picked up the tea, took a sip, and then put down the teacup with steady fingers: "This time, the wife's dowry is enough to support the entire Yechengdu Over the winter."
As soon as the words fell, everyone in the Chinese military camp was shocked.
"Wealth is incomparable to a country." After a long time, Master Xu said something in a low voice, as if feeling emotional.
It was just a box three feet long and two feet wide, not too big, and not necessarily heavy.
—However, it is actually able to support the entire army and civilians of Ye City through the winter
As soon as they entered the inner hall, when the three jewelers from Xijiang saw the box on the table, their eyes couldn't help but light up—it wasn't a sandalwood or agarwood box, but it was actually made of a whole piece of tortoiseshell Nail it! In the smooth dark black texture above, there are faint golden thread patterns entwined, which are the finest tortoise shell.
The jeweler swallowed involuntarily: tortoiseshell is born in the deep sea, not to mention that it is not easy to salvage, and generally it can only grow to the size of a palm at most, and is used as a comb or decoration-such a two-three-foot tortoiseshell is I'm afraid they may not be able to find it in the Dragon Palace.
She is indeed the daughter of the sea king.
The three businessmen looked at each other, and they were a little discouraged from the private negotiation in advance to jointly lower the price.
Jin Bihui was careless and didn't care about so many people watching. She glanced at her husband, but Prince Xueya's expression was serious and he didn't speak. Prince Chengde was also thoughtful.
"I've opened the box!" Jin Bihui glanced sideways, not wanting to delay any longer, and raised his hand to open the box.
In an instant, the radiant light made the people in the inner hall unable to open their eyes, subconsciously raising their hands to cover their eyes.
There were only three jewelers who were eager, but they rushed forward with a voiceless exclamation—
Inside the tortoise shell case, there is a magnificent scene that no jeweler can dream of: on the thick velvet cushion, there is a dense layer of night pearls the size of longan, surrounding a mother-of-pearl the size of a pigeon’s egg in the middle. This is where the dazzling brilliance comes from.
There are some jewelry scattered on the beads, such as Yu Ruyi, Pishui Lingxi, amethyst and emerald jade, each of which is the treasure that jewelers on the mainland of Zhongzhou have dreamed of all their lives.
However, what made several jewelers dumbfounded and speechless was the box-pressed objects placed at the four corners of the box to prevent the legendary five ghosts from carrying Dafa—these were four beads of different colors, not eye-catching , with a faint dark color.
"God! This, this is—" the eldest jeweler among the three wiped his eyes vigorously, stammered, and suddenly his knees gave way, and he knelt down facing the box.
"Fix the wind, avoid the fire, soften the water, and dispel the dust!" The other two jewelers were also stunned, kneeling down as if in a dream—for people in their line of work, encountering the legendary When the supreme treasure is supreme, one does not dare to desecrate it in the slightest.
Needless to say, the jeweler, even Prince Chengde and other subordinates next to him were shocked and speechless. Only the Seventh Prince, who thought about it, already knew the astonishing abundance of his wife's dowry, so he just looked at it indifferently, without expression.
"It's a little bit of vision. It's no wonder that Dad pushed you guys to sell this batch of dowry." Jin Bihui stood by the table with his hands on the dowry cage, with a half-smile on his face, looking at the jeweler's face, " It seems that you don’t have enough confidence! Or like this—the three of you join together and buy as much as you can, how about it?”
"I don't know... I don't know how much the imperial concubine is asking for?" He looked up at the box, as if his eyes had been dazzled by the pearl light again, the oldest jeweler wiped the sweat from his forehead, got up from the ground, no longer domineering, Some apprehensive inquiry.
Jin Bihui was startled, then turned to look at Prince Xueya, wanting to ask her husband's opinion - originally these items were also for his emergency, the father had told his daughter about the groom's background and situation before getting married. She didn't know how much money Yecheng needed to tide over the difficulties this time.
Yan Bai's eyes were looking at Taifu Xu who was beside Prince Chengde.
"At least...500,000 gold baht is required." Tai Fu Xu was in charge of the city's affairs, estimated the military and civilian expenses for the entire winter, set a price in Dali, and waited for the three merchants to pay back the money on the spot.
"500,000 gold baht... 500,000?" For some reason, the jewelers smiled at each other and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Ha." The jewelers were about to agree, but they heard a laugh from someone nearby, which was extremely harsh in the inner hall where the princes and nobles gathered. Everyone turned their heads and saw the newly married prince and concubine snapping the tortoise shell box , looked at her husband, and couldn't help but sneer: "Hey, is there a mistake? You only need half a million gold baht? Then why are you so nervous? I thought you were going to give up The riches of the country came to ask the Yutang Jin family for help... half a million? Tch!"