Chapter 226: Treasure House
Chapter 226: Treasure House
In late March, Xiao Xia finally arrived in Chang'an. He handed Princess Guanghua to the officials who came to greet him. The army also went to the barracks by themselves, and Xiao Xia returned to the mansion alone.
The house was unchanged from when I left last year. Nothing had been touched, but the house was clean inside and out.
I ate a big bowl of mutton noodles, took a nice hot bath, and changed into comfortable clothes.
Xiao Xia suddenly returned to the past. He put away all his weapons, put on his dagger and went out.
Xiao Xia came to the Da Zhou shop located in the metropolitan city, which was one of the three largest shops in the Sui Dynasty and also Yang Lihua's property. Although this shop was not included in the 40% of the property given to Xiao Xia, the money Yang Lihua gave to Xiao Xia was kept in this shop.
The 40% of the wealth that Yang Lihua gave to Xiao Xia was not entirely for Xiao Xia personally. It also included assistance to support her second brother Yang Guang in his fight for the throne. It’s just that it couldn’t be said so clearly, nor could it be given directly to Yang Guang, so it was indirect support through Xiao Xia.
How to distinguish which wealth is for Xiao Xia and which is for supporting his father Yang Guang? Yang Lihua had said before that the property was for Xiao Xia and the money in the shop was used to support his father.
When he walked into the lobby of the shop, a clerk came up to him and said with a smile, "Welcome to our shop, sir!"
Xiao Xia took out a white jade seal given to him by Yang Lihua and held it in his hand. This was for the highest level guests, and only ten people in total had it. The next highest level was the gold seal, then the silver seal, and finally the bronze seal.
The waiter's face changed, and he hurriedly and respectfully invited Xiao Xia into the inner hall, and soon replaced him with a supervisor. He glanced at Bai Yu and smiled, "Is it Mr. Xiao?"
Xiao Xia asked with a puzzled smile: "How do you know?"
"We have records here. The number 10 white jade seal was issued to Master Xiao."
"What if it's my family?"
"It doesn't matter. If Young Master Xiao needs it, we can make a size 10 white jade seal. Young Master Xiao's family can also bring the white jade seal."
Xiao Xia nodded, "What is the function of this white jade seal?"
"The seal is the identity to enter the warehouse. Different seals represent different identities. Only with the white jade seal can you enter warehouse number one."
Xiao Xia smiled and said, "I want to go into my own warehouse and take a look!"
The steward said respectfully: "According to the regulations, you need to do an identity verification. It's very simple. Just press a fingerprint with your right thumb."
Xiao Xia had left a fingerprint of his right thumb in Yang Lihua's house. He probably wanted to verify this fingerprint. He pressed the fingerprint on a white paper and the steward took it to verify it. Not long after, the steward came back and said with a smile: "No problem, sir, please give me half of the jade pendant and I will change the key for you."
Xiao Xia took out half of the jade pendant, and another steward in charge of checking opened the sandalwood box to match it. After it matched, he took out a large copper key from the box and gave it to him. Xiao Xia took the key and followed the two stewards into the warehouse.
As they walked, the manager introduced him, "We only have two private vaults here, No. 1 and No. 2, which are the Jade Seal Vault and the Gold Seal Vault. Silver and Bronze Seals do not have their own vaults. The other vaults only store treasures and gold. Copper coins and silver are stored by us. There is no special vault, otherwise they would not be able to fit in."
Xiao Xia understood that it was actually a bank safe deposit box business, but it was more high-end and was a special small room.
Warehouse No. 1 is a stone house built with large bluestones. It looks magnificent from the outside, and is divided into many small rooms inside. Each room has two iron doors. The steward opened the outer iron door, and Xiao Xia opened the inner iron door himself, and went in alone carrying a lantern.
After opening the iron door, there was a ten-square-meter stone house with wooden shelves on both sides, on which were placed various treasures, all of which were moved from Yang Lihua's warehouse three months ago.
Xiao Xia hung the lantern on the wall and took the treasure list from the wooden rack at the entrance to take a closer look. It was mainly gold, with 200,000 taels of gold divided into 40 large boxes, and a large amount of jade, jewelry, etc.
In the other columns were various miscellaneous items, such as official kiln porcelain, precious lacquerware, precious lamps, precious spices, and the Baibao Colored Glass Lamp presented by the Xiao family was actually here. Xiao Xia remembered that there were three luminous pearls on it, and two precious swords.
Xiao Xia saw the two swords on the wooden rack at a glance. Both scabbards were made of precious shark skin. Xiao Xia gently pulled out one of the swords, only to feel a chill. There were two ancient seal characters on the sword, "Chao Feng".
He put down the sword and drew out another one, which scared him. The ancient seal characters on the sword were: "Zhanlu".
It turned out to be the Zhanlu Sword. The Zhanlu Sword, which should have been kept in the palace, was actually in Yang Lihua's hands.
However, it is also very likely that she was the eldest princess and the empress of the previous dynasty. All the personal treasures of her husband, the Emperor of Northern Zhou, finally belonged to her. Part of it was presented to her father, and the rest she kept for herself. It is not surprising that there was a famous sword among them.
Xiao Xia did not take the Zhanlu Sword, but took the Chaofeng Sword. Chaofeng was one of the nine sons of the dragon, and this sword was also one of the thirteen swords of the Southern Dynasty, ranking third. Moreover, this sword was neither long nor short, low-key and implicit, making it very suitable as a personal sword.
Two years ago, he was only fifteen years old, so it was better for him to wear the Frost Sword. Now, he is seventeen years old and his height has reached 1.85 meters. The Frost Sword seems a bit short. With such a sharp Mocking Wind Sword, it is just right for him to carry it with him.
Xiao Xia thought about it and decided to take the Zhanlu Sword and the Baibao Liuli Lamp away together, but he would do it next time! He had something else to do today.
Xiao Xia locked the door and came out, saying, "I need to withdraw another 100,000 strings of cash. Please give me a receipt!"
After getting the ticket, Xiao Xia came to the Prince of Jin's Mansion in the imperial city. Although Prince of Jin Yang Guang had gone to war, the Prince of Jin's Mansion was still operating normally.
Soon, Yang Zhao came out quickly, saw his brother, and hugged him excitedly. "When did you come back?"
Xiao Xia smiled slightly and said, "It's just noon!"
"Come on! Let's go out for a drink."
Yang Zhao brought his brothers to Guanglufang, opposite the main gate of the imperial city, and sat down by the window on the second floor of a restaurant. They ordered a pot of wine and some side dishes, and Xiao Xia ordered a few plates of Hubing.
"It seems that father hasn't come back yet!"
Xiao Xia nodded, "He is in Huangshui County. Although the war is over, the negotiations are not yet complete. He will not come back until it is completely over."
"It should be soon. I heard that the emperor has already signed the negotiation agreement and sent it to Hehuang a long time ago."
"That will be soon!"
Xiao Xia took out an envelope, put it on the table and pushed it to Yang Zhao, "This is 100,000 strings of cash. Father said you need it urgently?"
Yang Zhao nodded and whispered: "This money is mainly used to recruit private troops!"
"Recruiting private troops?"
Xiao Xia was startled. "Didn't my grandfather always hate the prince for recruiting a private army?"
Yang Zhao smiled bitterly and said, "Grandfather is old and a little confused. He often changes his mind from day to day. He was very angry about the prince recruiting private troops before, but not long after you left, news came out that the King of Han was also recruiting private troops, and the prince arranged for someone to impeach the King of Han.
My grandfather said that it was okay for the prince to have some private soldiers, so the prince renamed his 3,000 private soldiers as private soldiers, and my grandfather acquiesced. Now the prince has 3,000 private soldiers, the King of Han has 2,000 private soldiers, and even the King of Qin has 1,000 private soldiers. My father is getting a little anxious.
"Brother is responsible for recruiting family soldiers?"
Yang Zhao shook his head, "It's not me, it's the second brother who is responsible. I'm only responsible for raising money for him!"
Xiao Xia was somewhat speechless. To fight a tiger, you need brothers. To go into battle, you need fathers and sons. But this father-son army does not include him! His father did not believe him from the bottom of his heart and even refused to tell him about this.
Xiao Xia suddenly felt a little regretful. He shouldn't have given up his post as the commander of Zhangye's army and returned to Chang'an.
Yang Zhao saw that Xiao Xia was a little unhappy, so he advised him, "The second son has been doing secret things for father. He has recruited many warriors before, so it is normal for him to be responsible for recruiting family soldiers this time. You are on the right path. Grandfather will let you lead the Chang'an army, so father will naturally not let you take charge of this matter. Don't take it to heart."
Xiao Xia shook his head, "Brother, you're overthinking it. I don't care!"
Yang Zhao changed the subject and asked with a smile, "Are you free the day after tomorrow?"
"Brother, is there something wrong?"
Yang Zhao smiled slightly and said, "My father-in-law will have his birthday the day after tomorrow. You can come and attend as well. Just relax and get in touch with some prestigious nobles."
Xiao Xia nodded, "I can come, but it's better to keep a low profile."
"I know, you like to keep a low profile!"
Yang Zhao took out an ordinary guest invitation from his arms, asked for paper and pen, filled in Xiao Xia's name on the invitation, handed it to his brother and said, "This is just an ordinary guest invitation. You asked for it yourself. Don't blame me if you are ignored."
Xiao Xia took the invitation and said with a smile: "I still have to prepare a birthday gift!"
Yang Zhao waved his hand and said, "No need to prepare any birthday gifts. Just prepare five thousand coins. This is the customary amount for ordinary guests. You'd better come before noon. The birthday banquet will start in the afternoon."
"Only five strings of cash?"
Xiao Xia was surprised and asked, "Is this gift money enough?"
Yang Zhao sighed, "Not everyone is as rich as you. Five strings of cash is already half a month's salary for a low-level official."
"I see!"
Xiao Xia looked at the invitation and smiled happily: "I will go to have a birthday drink the day after tomorrow."
(End of this chapter)