Traveling across the heavens starting from the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 33 Peeping from Cui of Qinghe

the next day.

time.

Choi House.

Zhang Langjun got up early, but made a special effort to catch a late gathering.

As a big businessman attached to the Cui family.

Zhang Langjun is very familiar with some of the rules of the Cui Mansion. At what time the Cui Mansion will receive guests, and when he has time to summon outsiders, he agrees to meet their merchants.

For these merchants who come to the door.

Even if you arrive early, you still have to wait at the concierge.

It's late.

It's very likely that you didn't even need to enter the gate, and you were sent away by the concierge without even waiting for a greeting card.

and so.

Although Zhang Langjun got up very early, he made preparations and changed into plain clothes.

But he didn't come to Cui Mansion early in the morning to wait. Instead, he counted the time and rushed to Cui Mansion when it was almost [-] o'clock.

"I'd like to trouble the porter to pass the greeting card to Patriarch Cui, and tell him that a certain Zhang Shiren wants to see Patriarch Cui."

In front of the Cui Mansion, Zhang Langjun, Zhang Shiren, handed the greeting card written last night to the Cui Mansion concierge who opened the door with a naive smile. At the same time, his hands were not idle, and he quickly took out one or two coins from his sleeve. The silver was secretly handed to the Cui Mansion gatekeeper who took the invitation with his hands behind his back.

It is said that the seven-rank official in front of the prime minister.

What's more, the disciples of the Qinghe Cui family, one of the five surnames and seven hopes, in front of the Chang'an City mansion are probably a bit higher than the prime minister's disciples.

Judging from the situation in the early Tang Dynasty.

Compared with the gatekeepers of the Tang Dynasty royal family, the disciples with the five surnames and Qi Wang were all equally generous.

In order to make the Cui Mansion's concierge do things efficiently, every time he came to Cui Mansion to do business, he would give some money casually, in order to make him look familiar, so that he could leave goodwill in the heart of the concierge and form a good relationship.

but.

Compared with the money he usually received from Cui Mansion, it was only a few coins, not as much as one tael of silver today.

The reason why I will give the concierge a tael of silver today.

It was because I had something important to do and wanted to see Master Cui as soon as possible. I wanted the porter's servant to run faster when delivering the greeting card. For the sake of the one tael of silver, he could do things more quickly and not waste time.

"Good to say."

The disciple who took the invitation secretly weighed the money in his hand and felt that it was heavy. A smile immediately appeared on his face. He looked at Zhang Shiren kindly and quickly pushed the door behind him wider so that people could face him. Come in.

Then, give way.

"Zhang Langjun, come in quickly and wait for a moment. I will go and send Zhang Langjun's greeting card to the head of my family. I don't dare to delay Zhang Langjun's affairs."

Let Zhang Shiren in and arrange to rest in the concierge.

The concierge's servant then left the concierge with the greeting card and went to the front yard to report the matter. He had the air of taking money to do things seriously.

"What is this Shiren doing here again?"

"Still want to see me?"

In the main hall of Cui Mansion.

Cui Tiancheng, the head of the Cui family in Qinghe, looked at the invitation in his hand with a look of displeasure on his face. As a businessman, he didn't want to keep his business and make money for the Cui family, so he came to the house to visit him all day long. What does he, the head of the family, do?

During this time, because he had something to do in Chang'an City, he, the head of the Qinghe Cui family, had been delayed in the Qinghe Cui family's residence in Chang'an City. He had not had time to return to his old residence in Qinghe to take charge of the entire family's affairs.

Instead, these low-status people found an opportunity to please the Cui family of Qinghe.

"The last business was a loss. I sold the shop to cover part of the money lost by my Cui family. Seeing how sensible he is, I made an exception to meet him as a merchant. Zhang Shiren came to send a greeting card again today because he had figured out what to do. Are you making up for the loss of my Cui family?"

"Last time I came here, it seemed that the shop he sold opened a shop called Liulice."

Cui Tiancheng was talking to himself, or to the old servant beside him who had served him for half his life.

But the old servant didn't say anything. He lit incense for his husband as usual and prepared the books he never left his hands on and liked to read.

After doing all this, he quietly stepped aside.

The whole process did not say a word.

As an old servant who has served Cui Tiancheng since he was a child, he knows very well what kind of rules he needs to abide by when serving his husband.

Sometimes, when your husband says something casually, you don’t need an outsider to talk to you.

Lang Jun just formed the habit of asking and answering questions because of his habit of reading.

Outsiders interjecting can easily disrupt Lang Jun's own thinking.

As an old servant who serves Lang Jun, he only needs to do his duty, do everything quietly, and wait aside. If Lang Jun really has something to tell him, he will call his name.

"Fauber."

"Lang Jun."

Cui Tiancheng picked up the book prepared by the old servant, flipped it casually, looked at the articles in the book, and gave instructions.

"Go and tell people to call Zhang Shiren."

"It's just a good time to take advantage of the reading time to meet this Zhang Shiren again."

The old servant started.

"I'll go right away."

"My husband is waiting for you inside, come in."

The old servant brought Zhang Shiren into the main hall and whispered back to Cui Tiancheng, who was studying in the room.

"Lang Jun, Zhang Shiren is here."

heard.

Cui Tiancheng put down the book in his hand and looked quietly at Zhang Shiren who was standing in the room. He looked at it quietly for a while, then pointed out.

"sit down."

"Thank you sir."

Zhang Shiren, who was almost overwhelmed by the stares, finally heard the order to sit down. He quickly bowed and thanked him, walked to a seat not far from Cui Tiancheng, and sat in the seat prepared by the old servant.

Wait for Zhang Shiren to sit down.

Cui Tiancheng spoke calmly.

"Tell me, why are you looking for me this time?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Shiren stood up quickly, took out a ledger he had prepared in advance last night, bowed and handed it to the old servant beside him, and asked the old servant to pass it to Cui Tiancheng not far away.

While handing over the account book, he also stated the purpose of coming to Cui Mansion today.

"So that Mr. Lang will know that today's visit to the house to disturb Mr. Lang is the same as the last time he came to the house to trouble Mr. Lang. He is still here because of matters at that shop."

"I don't know, but Lang Jun still remembers the Liuli Pavilion that someone mentioned last time."

"This time I came to my house to let you have a look at my estimate of Liuli Pavilion's opening in the past month."

Cui Tiancheng took the account book presented by the old servant and looked through Zhang Shiren's records of Liuli Pavilion.

"Glass Pavilion?"

"Didn't you sell that shop?"

"Sold to a family named Li."

"Now that you've sold the shop, you don't own the shop anymore, so you still care about what other people's shops do."

But when he saw Zhang Shiren's estimated record of Liulice's daily profit and the estimated total monthly income of Liulice, the corners of his eyes couldn't help but tremble. "A Liuli Pavilion can generate at least 500 million yuan in income per month?"

"You didn't lie to me?"

"The income of this Liulic Pavilion in one month can be as much as that of my whole Cui family, which lasts almost a year."

Although Cui Tiancheng has been busy in Chang'an City during this period, he rarely pays attention to the affairs of merchants, and his family does not often mention money matters in his ears.

The entire Cui family is like a huge machine. In every aspect, there will be dedicated people responsible for specific things, without him, the head of the family, needing to pay attention to everything.

As the head of the Cui family, it has always been about the overall situation, about the survival and continuation of the entire family, and being the person in charge of the entire family.

Some money.

How could he be in the eyes of the head of a wealthy family like him?

For a large family like them, which has been passed down from generation to generation, silver money is already an accessory to their prestige and status among the nobles.

We have already done this, to the point where we can just wave and pick it up without having to worry about the lack of money.

There will be many people rushing up to deliver the money in their hands to the house, begging a wealthy family like them to take the money they offer.

Just like the merchant named Zhang Shiren in front of him, he was a big merchant who actively attached himself to the Cui family in Qinghe.

All he asked for was the protection of the Cui family of Qinghe.

The price is that Cui will take at least [-]% of the profits from Zhang Shiren's business.

The Qinghe Cui family does not need to pay a penny. They only need to provide Zhang Shiren's business with some help that the Qinghe Cui family can provide when necessary.

That's it.

But today is different.

Five million gu of silver was enough to shock the Cui family head, who had experienced the changes in the Xuanwu Sect and had seen strong winds and waves, and could still be at the helm of the Cui family in Qinghe.

This Liuli Pavilion's monthly income can bring in 500 million yuan.

one year down.

The income of Liuli Pavilion, if it were less, would be 4000 to 5000 million guan of silver. If it was too much, it would be more than [-] million guan of silver.

These two numbers.

Even the smallest number is enough to be worth the Tang Dynasty's tax for a year.

In other words, as long as there is such a Liulice, it is equivalent to getting a shop whose income can match Datang's annual tax.

The existence of such a shop can be called a truly wealthy country.

How could Cui Tiancheng not look sideways.

They say money moves people's hearts.

As the head of the Cui family in Qinghe, Cui Tiancheng is able to remain calm about ordinary money and keep his true intentions, even though he has extraordinary determination.

That's just not being tempted by ordinary money.

It does not mean that he really regards money as nothing and will not be greedy for any money.

him at this time.

When facing the Liulic Pavilion, which was said to be able to earn 4000 to [-] million guan of silver a year, he was already greedy and wanted to take the Liulic Pavilion into the possession of the Cui family of Qinghe.

At least, Qinghe Cui wants a piece of the pie.

In order to increase the strength of the Cui family in Qinghe.

Just when Cui Tiancheng was shocked by the speed at which Liuli Pavilion made money.

Zhang Shiren stood up and said respectfully: "How dare I deceive Mr. Lang? These estimated amounts are all obtained from my careful investigation in secret over the past month."

"Although it's not an exact number."

"But I can guarantee that the number on this account book is not much different from Liulice's real profit, which is only [-] to [-]%."

talking.

Another thing came to mind.

"Mr. Lang has never paid attention to the affairs of merchants. I'm afraid I haven't heard of it. Liuli Pavilion sold a very large glass mirror some time ago."

"This mirror alone is worth 10 taels of gold."

"As long as you ask the people you know, you will know whether someone is lying."

heard.

Cui Tiancheng was shocked again.

"A 10-tael glass mirror with one side of gold?"

The price was really scary. I turned to look at the old servant waiting on the side and wanted to ask if it was true.

"Mr. Lang, my old servant has indeed heard of such a thing. The buyer of this mirror is the wife of the Wang family. A few days ago, the wife of the Wang family hosted a banquet and invited the nobles of our family to the banquet."

"Also, most of the nobles in the mansion have been to Liuli Pavilion."

"If the old servant remembers correctly, our house was troubled by the fact that a month ago, the wife of Yu Xiaolangjun in Erlang's courtyard brought back a wooden box from outside the house. The wooden box was filled with Liuli Pavilion jewelry. , attracted the envy of the nobles in the house, and then the nobles in the house heard the name of Liuli Pavilion."

As a person who serves the master of the house, the old servant naturally has to know everything about the house in order to prepare for inquiries from the husband from time to time.

Even though this Qinghe Cui Mansion in Chang'an City is not the residence where the head of the family lives permanently,

But after the head of the family moves in, as an old servant beside the head of the house, he can grasp all the information about the Qinghe Cui Mansion in Chang'an City as quickly as possible.

"Yu Xiaolang from my second brother's family?"

"The wife of the Wang family?"

Cui Tiancheng thought about it for himself.

Zhang Shiren, who was standing next to him, explained: "On the first day, I seemed to have seen Mr. Cui Yulang and his wife entering the Liuli Pavilion. From a distance, I saw that Mr. Cui Yulang seemed to be very familiar with the owner of the Liuli Pavilion. He looked intimate, behaved intimately, and talked happily. When Mr. Cui Yulang left, the owner of Liuli Pavilion personally saw him off."

"As for that glazed mirror, my humble wife is also a patron of the glazed pavilion. I am also in the glazed pavilion. From the chats between other nobles, I heard some rumors that the buyer of that glazed mirror is Mrs. Wang's wife. "

Confirmation again.

Cui Tiancheng told the old servant: "Uncle Fu, let someone go to Erlang's yard and take a look. Yulang is not on duty in the yamen, and he is not in the house. If he is on duty, and he is not in the house, let him Someone go find him and bring Yulang over to see me."

"Okay, Mr. Lang, my old servant will go right away."

"Not urgent."

Cui Tiancheng stopped the old servant who was about to leave, and then ordered: "Just let the people below take care of Yulang. You personally take my name card to the Wang family. It just so happens that the head of the Wang family is also in Chang'an." City, please use my name to invite the head of the Wang family to visit the house."

"Come to think of it, that glazed mirror was bought by the Wang family. I guess the Wang family has noticed this glazed pavilion privately, and maybe they have been secretly investigating the background of the glazed pavilion."

"We have five surnames and seven views, and we are all in the same spirit. If we interfere with this Liulice family and don't tell the Wang family, we may hurt the feelings of each family."

Done.

Cui Tiancheng seemed to have made a decision and said: "Forget it, since we have invited the head of the Wang family, let's invite the heads of the other five families. It just so happens that everyone has not left Chang'an City yet, so we might as well get together again to discuss this matter. Jia Liuli Pavilion, who is left behind in the province has caused controversy again."

"Looking at the situation of this Liulice, I'm afraid that we alone can't hold on to such a large property with our own strength."

In Chang'an City, the heads of the families who could be invited to the mansion with their name cards were naturally the heads of the five surnames and Qiwang.

And the Wang family of Mrs. Wang who bought the glazed mirror.

He is naturally referring to the Taiyuan Wang family among the five surnames and seven favorites.

Zhang Shiren on the side was shocked when he heard that Cui Tiancheng wanted to invite all the family heads of the five surnames and Qiwang to the mansion. He did not expect that a Liuli Pavilion could alarm the heads of these seven families at once.

I am afraid that even if there is turmoil in the Tang Dynasty, the heads of these seven families will not be alarmed at once.

At the same time, I felt a little bitter in my heart. Looking at this situation, the duck who wants to plan might not have his turn to eat a bite of meat. With the heads of these seven families here, it is impossible for him to leave any leftovers, let alone drink. Mouth is soupy.

(End of this chapter)