Chapter 1034 God of Gamblers

Chapter 1034 God of Gamblers

Chapter 1034 God of Gamblers (Part )

By the beginning of October, some scholars and merchants from nearby areas had already arrived in Luoyang.

A large group of people gathered in a house in the east of Luoyang City.

As soon as Huan Wen entered, he felt a huge wave of sound coming.

"I just came back from Jiangxia and Xiangyang. Tao Kan banned gambling, and I was really frustrated." A businessman stared at the dice and complained, "The gambling tools of the officials in the Xiangyang shogunate were confiscated and thrown into the river. I was so angry."

"How can this be banned?" A businessman laughed and said, "Even people who play Go can gamble on it, so it can't be banned."

As he spoke, five dice had been thrown into the wooden bowl.

"Lu! Lu! Lu!" The merchant who was throwing the coins shouted loudly, and the onlookers laughed.

Soon, three of the five dice stopped, two of them showed the black side, one showed the white side, and the other two were in a state of uncertainty.

But the merchant was too lazy to read it.

The onlookers laughed and gloated: "What a mess!"

When Huan Wen saw it, he could no longer move his feet. This was "Chu Pu".

The game had just begun at this time, and after a quick search, he saw Yuan Dan.

Yuan Dan smiled at Huan Wen and said nothing.

It happened to be Yuan Dan's turn to throw. He took the five dice in his hands, rubbed them for a long time, and muttered to himself.

Perhaps this behavior added psychological pressure to people, so someone shouted: "Why are you rubbing? Throw it in now."

Yuan Dan laughed and threw five dice at once.

In an instant, three dice turned black.

The fourth one followed closely, revealing a calf pattern, and it froze there, while the fifth one seemed to keep people in suspense, constantly switching.

When everyone saw this, the atmosphere suddenly became lively.

The shouts of "Lu! Lu! Lu!" rang out again and almost broke the roof.

As if responding to everyone's call, the fifth chess piece was settled, and it was a calf.

"Lu! It's really Lu!" The onlookers shouted in unison, looking crazy.

Yuan Dan laughed loudly, glanced at the other three people playing the game, and said, "I won't be polite."

After saying this, he took out a horse (chess piece) with a wooden stick and moved it sixteen squares on the chessboard.

Then it was the turn of others to cast their dice, but they were unlucky and did not throw any valuable dice, so they could not make any moves.

When it came to Yuan Dan, he took the five dice and rubbed them for a long time.

The other three looked unhappy.

Yuan Dan sneered and took out five chess pieces at the same time. After a moment of tumbling, it turned out to be: black, black, black pheasants, and dozens of arrows.

"It's Guicai again!" everyone exclaimed and looked at Yuan Dan with amazement.

"You just spoke arrogantly, do you recognize me, Yuan Yandao, now?" Yuan Dan held the chips and brought out another horse, moving fourteen squares.

Now on the chessboard, Yuan Dan has already put out two horses, one in front and one behind. The other three have not yet thrown their precious pieces. All five horses are staying at home, making them feel very angry.

Huan Wen looked at Yuan Dan with admiration, the God of Gamblers!
Then he continued to throw the dice. Yuan Dan's luck was neither good nor bad. After several rounds, he got a "white white pheasant" eight arrow noble color and then a horse.

Two of the other three also threw expensive cards and a horse came out, but the last one never threw expensive cards and no horse came out.

After a while, someone outside called out "Yuanzi", and Huan Wen reluctantly left the room.

The visitor was Shan Shihui, the chief of the Left Cavalry Guard. When he saw Huan Wen, he said, "Yuanzi, today is a day off. Instead of studying and practicing martial arts at home, you came here to gamble."

"I don't... I don't have any..." Huan Wen argued a bit, but seeing that people didn't believe him, he could only say: "These merchants are playing big games. They want 200,000 coins to kill a horse. I don't have that much."

"You still want to gamble." Shan Shihui looked at him incredulously and said, "The emperor doesn't like gambling and hates taking medicine. Anyone who is interested in a career in government will not touch these two things. Even if you feel itchy, you can play a few rounds in private. How can you gamble in a place with so many people watching?"

Huan Wen suddenly realized what was going on, bowed in shame, and said, "Thank you for your advice."

"Let's go and sit over there." Shan Shihui pulled Huan Wen and said.

Huan Wen followed silently behind.

The two of them came into the hall, one in front and one behind.

There were already a few people in the room drinking tea and chatting.

"There's news coming back from Huainan that wild silkworms are everywhere in the mountains and valleys, spinning silk into cocoons as big as eggs, but we don't know whether it's real or not." said a middle-aged man wearing Shu brocade.

"I heard there are also some in Jianye. Someone recorded it during the Huanglong period of the Eastern Wu Dynasty." The person who spoke was relatively old, perhaps because he was afraid of the cold. He was wearing a white fox fur coat, which should have come from the Tuoba Dai Kingdom.

"Huainan captured Wu soldiers and mentioned that Xuancheng also had this thing."

"But it may not be the tussah silkworm."

"It's just wild silkworms. I can't figure it out."

More people joined in, talking one after another, and it was obvious that they were excited.

The silk from wild silkworm cocoons can be made into cotton wool, which can be stuffed into linen or silk clothes to create an excellent cotton-padded jacket to keep out the cold.

Many officials received dozens of kilograms of cotton a year, which were used to make winter clothes.

Not to mention the winter clothes for the soldiers in the army, the number of which is huge. After all, the soldiers in the Han area may not necessarily have sheepskin coats to wear.

After they finished speaking, they looked at Shan Shihui with inquiring eyes, as if they had just noticed Huan Wen.

Shan Shihui then introduced Huan Wen to everyone else.

After a long round of greetings, Huan Wen realized that the man in Shu brocade and the old man in fox fur had the highest status among the people. The former was Liu Mi, the Minister of Agriculture, and the latter was Mi Huang, the Supervisor of the Military Academy.

"Yuan Zi, I heard that you had a lot of fun in Jiangdong. Do you know about the wild silkworms?" Mi Huang asked, motioning Huan Wen to sit down.

"To reply Lord Mi, I once went to Xuancheng County and heard the locals talking about wild silkworms. Their cocoons were as big as chicken eggs and filled the forests and valleys for more than 300 miles," said Huan Wen.

They looked at each other and could see the joy in each other's eyes. "Are there any other things?" Liu Mi asked.

"There are many medicinal herbs, as well as a lot of fish and salt, and perhaps even copper, iron, gold and silver," Huan Wen said.

The place suddenly fell silent, as everyone was obviously silently digesting the news.

They had never been to the South, and their idea of ​​how rich the South was was only based on rumors, but they were willing to believe it.

It’s not that they are naive, but that people always subconsciously believe what they want to believe.

The farming industry in the north was in full swing, and it seemed that the inventory of all 19 counties would be completed by the end of the year, and many people would suffer losses in the process.

Will they be satisfied? Definitely not.

But since there was no way to resist, they could only believe in another plan proposed by the emperor: make up for the loss in the north by making up for the loss in the south.

There is no way not to believe it. There were not just one or two people who openly opposed Du Tian, ​​but their endings were all tragic.

Even this year, there was a case of an attack and murder of officials in charge of land measurement in Donglai and Leling counties. After the crime was discovered, they fled with their entire families, sailing south to Jiangdong with their clan members and followers.

There were also people in Jinan County who were dissatisfied, but they did not attack or kill officials. Instead, more than a thousand families gathered together, fled to Changguang, and crossed the sea to the south.

As for those who bribed officials openly or secretly, there were too many of them. After being reported, the whole family was demoted to criminals and sent to Hezhou.

In the eyes of the wealthy families, land allocation was their history of "blood and tears".

Those who do not stand up to resist are forced to submit and accept the loss.

Their willingness to surrender was closely related to the emperor's promise: to go to the south to open up wasteland and build estates.

As the overall situation became settled and the land transfer work was carried out more and more in-depth, they became more and more urgent about this matter.

The southern expedition to Jiangdong was no longer just the business of Emperor Shao Xun, but was related to the vital interests of the vast majority of northern nobles.

As the saying goes, the superiors and the subordinates have the same desire.

However, the people present here are not going to the south to open manors, or in other words, they are not just going to open traditional Zhongchangtong-style manors.

They are the emperor's close ministers and understand the emperor's inner thoughts and ambitions better.

The emperor would rather they engage in business than just reclaim wasteland and grow crops, which would be too disappointing.

This is actually the main reason why the emperor summoned a group of merchants here.

"There are many rare goods in Jiangnan, which can enrich a family and support a clan. It's wonderful." Mi Huang smiled, looked at everyone and said, "The skills that the Mi family of Donghai relies on for survival cannot be wasted."

"Mr. Mi, does His Majesty's previous words still count?" A wealthy merchant who came from afar couldn't help but ask.

"Your Majesty's words are as good as gold. You should keep your word." Mi Huang said, "If your family can take root in Jiangdong and make the family name more glorious, it may not be impossible to be rated as a high-ranking family."

"My family doesn't study the Four Books and Five Classics, so how can we be judged by our status?" The man couldn't help asking.

"If they can serve as officials for several generations in a row, why can't they?"

"Can a businessman also be an official?"

"Military men can be officials, Hu people can be officials, so why can't businessmen be officials?"

When this person heard this, his face showed joy.

When Huan Wen heard this, he was shocked.

In fact, even if you can't be an official, it would be just as comfortable as being a rich man in Jiangnan.

In Jiangdong there were local tyrants such as the Zhou, Shen, and Qian families. They had no family background and were far inferior to the four families of Gu, Lu, Zhu, and Zhang, but their clans were wealthy and powerful. These are all living examples.

"When will your majesty march south?" Someone was encouraged and said, "There are mountains and seas of wealth waiting for you to take."

"I have to present one to His Majesty. Without him, how could such a good thing happen?"

"Just present the beauty of the Wu Palace to your majesty."

"Haha."

A burst of laughter rang out, and everyone became a little excited.

"Yuanzi..." A shout came from outside.

Huan Wen subconsciously turned his head and looked. He recognized that it was Yuan Dan's voice.

"Go ahead." Mi Huang waved his hand and said.

Liu Mi looked at Huan Wen carefully, as if thinking about something.

Huan Wen bowed and took his leave, then went out to look for Yuan Dan.

"Win?" he asked.

Yuan Dan laughed loudly: "How can I not win? Hit the horse ten times and you will get two million coins. Bet on the pit and you will win one million coins. After five horses have run, you will get another million."

Huan Wen was a little shocked.

These wealthy businessmen are truly amazing as they play on such a big scale.

I have heard before that someone won a villa by playing chess. Today, Yuan Yandao won more than 4 million yuan, and got a nice villa, which is not too bad.

But he still had a question: "Where's your winnings?"

"You have to go to the market to get it." Yuan Dan said, "Who can carry millions of dollars with them? Give me the goods to offset it. Some people go out for months and fail to make a single deal, but lose all their goods."

At this point, Yuan Dan looked at Huan Wen with a smile and said, "Yuan Zi, you are skilled in archery and horse riding. Come with me to get the goods. I will give you a million dollars. How about that?"

Huan Wen wanted to refuse, but when the words came to his lips, he swallowed them back shamefully.

"Okay." He blushed and agreed.

(Chapter 2 Afternoon)

(End of this chapter)