Red Mansion: After being expelled from the family, I was granted the title of Marquis of Mobei

Chapter 53 Take your money and do your thing
Not long after, Ping'er came into the room with a shy face, and a relay race was staged in the bedroom.

The next day, Jia Jue got up refreshed and did his morning exercises, leaving Wang Xifeng and Ping'er exhausted in the room to rest and recover.

In the morning, when Jia Jue was leisurely drinking tea in the side hall, the servant came to the side hall, bowed and said.

"My Lord, the Prince of Beijing has come to visit you at our house."

Jia Jue said calmly after hearing this.

"Got it, please let him in."

The servant then left.

Not long after, in the carriage outside the Marquis of Guanjun’s mansion, veins bulged on Prince Beijing’s face, and he could hardly conceal his anger.

He didn't expect that Jia Jue would be so arrogant. He came to visit him in person, but he was so arrogant that he didn't even come out to greet him in person, but only sent a servant to greet him.

Thinking of this, Prince Beijing's face became more and more ugly, but he soon recovered his calm look.

The most important thing at the moment was to take it seriously. He suppressed his anger, got off the carriage, and followed the servant's lead to the side hall of the Marquis' Mansion.

In the side hall, after seeing Prince Beijing, Jia Jue spoke as if no one was around.

"I am busy with my affairs and have no time to greet the Prince. I hope Your Majesty will not blame me."

Prince Beijing forced a smile and said.

"Champion Hou, you're too kind."

"I am sorry to bother you, Lord Marquis, by coming here uninvited."

Jia Jue said calmly.

"Your Highness, you are welcome. The last time we were in Your Majesty's Palace of Heavenly Purity, Your Highness acted like a public-spirited righteous man, unlike today."

Prince Beijing naturally understood that what Jia Jue was talking about was the last time he helped the Rongguo Mansion to go to the Qianqing Palace to sue Jia Jue for stealing Prince Xifeng.

Seeing Jia Jue say this, Prince Beijing understood that Jia Jue was holding a grudge against him and was deliberately trying to intimidate him.

The situation was stronger than the person, so Prince Beijing could only speak with a smile.

"Marquis Guanjun, to be honest, I was deceived by the Rongguo Mansion last time and didn't know that you had an old grudge against the Rongguo Mansion."

"If I had known this earlier, I would not have gotten involved in this matter."

"This king also deeply apologizes for this matter."

"As a token of my apology, and as the Champion Marquis' wedding is approaching, I have specially prepared a gift for him."

"Please look, my lord."

As Prince Beijing spoke, he opened the two brocade boxes he brought with him one by one.

There were two Dongzhu necklaces placed in two brocade boxes.

I saw the Dongzhu necklace, each bead was full and plump, like a round bright moon, and the beads were evenly sized, as if they were carefully selected soldiers, and were neatly arranged.

Its color is an extremely rare light gold. Under the sunlight, it seems to be covered with a layer of mysterious glow, just like the golden glazed tiles in an ancient palace, shining with noble and gorgeous light.

Dongzhu is produced in the Heishui River in the Liaodong area of ​​the Great Zhou Dynasty. It has a unique growing environment and has strict requirements on water quality, climate and other conditions.

Dongzhu pearls are round, plump, and relatively uniform in size, emitting a multicolored luster. Compared to other pearls, they are often larger, and the jewelry made from them is dazzling and luxurious.

Because of its rarity and beauty, Dongzhu is highly sought after by princes and nobles, and is a treasure coveted by officials, wives of officials and noble ladies.

However, due to the bitter cold weather in Liaodong, collecting Dongzhu is extremely difficult.

The best season for collecting Dongzhu pearls is from January to April. The river water temperature during this period is lower, the clams are fatter, and the quality of the Dongzhu pearls produced is relatively good.

During the reign of Emperor Taizong of Zhou, after twenty years of large-scale collection, the production of Dongzhu dropped sharply.

However, the pursuit of Dongzhu by the powerful and wealthy has not diminished in the slightest. In order to meet the demand of the powerful and wealthy for Dongzhu, Liaodong officials recruited a large number of pearl divers from the Heishui River Basin to dive into the Heishui River in the cold winter to collect Dongzhu.

The weather was freezing cold, and in ancient times there were no protective facilities such as thermal clothing and oxygen cylinders. The production of every high-quality Dongzhu pearl required the lives of dozens of pearl divers.

This action directly led to the lower-class people in the Heishui River Basin being unable to bear the burden and rising up in rebellion. This was the Dongzhu Rebellion that swept across the three counties in the Heishui River Basin during the reign of Emperor Taizong.

After suppressing the rebellion, Emperor Taizong of Zhou personally issued an edict prohibiting the collection of Eastern pearls to avoid wasting money and labor and forcing the people to rebel.

From then on, except for the secret collection of Dongzhu, large-scale collection of Dongzhu completely disappeared.

Since then, the price of Dongzhu has been rising steadily, and it has become a top luxury item that is almost out of print.

As a top noble, the Dongzhu necklace that Prince Beijing personally gave away was naturally the top-grade Dongzhu.

Considering how precious these two Dongzhu necklaces are, it would be impossible to buy them without 200,000 or 300,000 taels of silver.

Seeing that Prince Beijing presented such a valuable gift, Jia Jue smiled calmly and said.

"I knew that the prince must have been deceived by the Rongguo Mansion. How could he be such a fool?"

"Since Your Majesty is so sincere, I would be disrespectful to refuse. Come on, put it away quickly."

Then the servant took the two brocade boxes to the warehouse and stored them.

Prince Beijing took a last look at the two brocade boxes with some reluctance, feeling a little pain in his heart.

Even in the warehouse of Prince Beijing, these two strings of oriental pearls are considered the top treasures.

The value is secondary. The most important thing is that this is a top-quality Dongzhu necklace. Once it is given away, it is basically impossible to collect a complete string.

However, when he thought about the dozen or so families that were eagerly waiting for their children to become noble, Prince Beijing had no choice but to give up the throne with great reluctance.

Then Prince Beijing looked at Jia Jue and continued.

"My Lord, are you satisfied with these two strings of Dongzhu?"

Jia Jue nodded slightly and said.

"Your Highness is so sincere, I am naturally satisfied."

"Let's write off what happened before."

"Don't mind, Your Majesty."

Prince Beijing smiled and said.

"Thank you for your generosity, sir."

"By the way, Lord Marquis, there is one more matter that I would like to discuss with you."

Jia Jue said with a calm smile.

"What is it, Your Majesty, please tell me."

Prince Beijing said helplessly.

"It's like this. The Marquis was ordered to reorganize the Beijing camp. A group of young men from aristocratic families were so bold as to offend the Marquis."

"The Marquis acted impartially and had them thrown into the Imperial Prison."

"Logically speaking, the Marquis's handling of the matter is very appropriate."

“It’s just that I’m ashamed to say that these people’s fathers and brothers have some friendship with this king.”

"I wonder if the Marquis could show some favor to me and spare them this time."

Jia Jue said with embarrassment after hearing this.

"Your Majesty, this is not a easy matter to handle."

Prince Beijing nodded and said.

"Yes, yes, I know this matter is a bit embarrassing for the Marquis."

"But my Lord, I hope you can think of a solution." The meaning of Prince Beijing was obvious. You have already accepted two priceless Dongzhu necklaces, and I came to you in person to beg you. You can't just ignore me.

But he obviously underestimated Jia Jue's thick skin.

Jia Jue still shook his head and said.

"Your Majesty, it's not that I don't give you face."

"It's really hard to handle. He is now in the imperial prison, not in the military camp in the capital."

"The county magistrate is better off managing it now. Please forgive me, Your Majesty."

When Prince Beijing heard this, he felt embarrassed and said with a grim expression.

"My Lord, there were more than twenty people who were arrested together. Now more than a dozen of them have been released from the imperial prison. It was all my Lord's responsibility."

"I came here in person and presented a gift. Can't you, Lord Marquis, even give me a little face?"

Jia Jue looked at Prince Beijing with a puzzled look and said.

"The prince gave me the Dongzhu, wasn't it to resolve past grievances?"

"Why is it bringing up the issue of face again?"

Seeing Jia Jue pretending to be confused, Prince Beijing was so angry that his lungs were about to explode.

If I didn't have something to ask you, I, the bastard, would want to make peace with you.

I'd like to give you two strings of priceless pearls in exchange for reconciling our past grievances. How dare you be so shameless?

But at this moment, I was at the mercy of others, and the Prince of Beijing could only suppress his anger and speak.

"Of course, I want to resolve my past grievances with the Marquis."

"I just hope that the Marquis can help me with this."

"Ultimately, this matter is still the responsibility of the Marquis, and the Jinyiwei are just co-organizers."

"My Lord, it shouldn't be a problem for you to greet the Imperial Guards."

Seeing Prince Beijing looking suffocated and cowardly, Jia Jue couldn't help but smile in his heart.

"Of course that's no problem, but Your Highness has lived in the Divine Capital for a long time and is more familiar with officialdom than I am."

"Although the Jinyiwei are assisting me in handling this matter, they are, after all, your Majesty's personal army and hold a special status."

"My empty words alone won't work, I'm afraid."

When the Prince of Beijing heard this, he immediately understood. Oh my god, it turns out that this Marquis Guanjun is a greedy man who is reaching out from under his coffin to get money.

Things have come to this point, and Prince Beijing could only grit his teeth and speak.

"I understand what the Marquis means, but I'm just wondering how much tea you'll need to help coordinate."

Jia Jue said after a moment of thought.

"It shouldn't be too much. Thirty thousand taels per person is enough."

"Mr. Duo? Thirty thousand taels per person?"

Even the Prince of Beijing was frightened by Jia Jue's loud mouth.

My goodness, you have already accepted two strings of Dongzhu necklaces worth two or three hundred thousand taels of silver from me. Now I ask you to help rescue someone, but you actually accept 30,000 taels of silver from me alone. You are really cruel.

Jia Jue said calmly.

"Don't misunderstand, Your Majesty. This silver is not what I want. I am just using your silver to help you with your business."

"Of course, if His Majesty has other better ways, you can try them."

"To be honest, this matter is really a hot potato. If it weren't for the prince coming here in person, I really wouldn't want to get involved in this trivial matter."

Upon hearing this, Prince Beijing suddenly didn't know what to say.

Damn it, I was eaten alive from beginning to end, without any ability to fight back at all.

Negotiations require bargaining chips, but I don’t have any bargaining chips at all, so I can only accept whatever price the other party offers.

Prince Beijing gritted his teeth and said.

"Okay, I'll do as you say, sir. But I don't know when you can release them."

Jia Jue said with a calm smile.

"That depends on when the prince sends the banknotes."

"After all, as I just said, sweet words and white teeth really don't work."

Prince Beijing nodded and said.

"I understand. I will send the banknotes tomorrow. Goodbye."

At this time, Prince Beijing didn't even want to go through the basic politeness. He stood up and left after saying that.

He was really worried that if he sat down any longer, Jia Jue would be so angry that he would vomit blood.

After seeing Prince Beijing leave, Jia Jue did not pay too much attention to it, but continued to drink tea leisurely.

Are you kidding? You, the Prince of Beijing, are my enemy. You came to my door yourself. If I don't kill you, I would be sorry for my previous meddling.

The next day, Prince Beijing sent someone to deliver 360,000 taels of silver notes, but what surprised Jia Jue was that Prince Beijing actually made a profit from the difference.

Jia Jue and Prince Beijing quoted a price of 30,000 taels per person, and Prince Beijing directly notified these noble families that the price was 50,000 taels per person.

With this calculation, he earned a total of 240,000 taels of silver from the difference between the twelve people, which means he basically broke even.

But the matter cannot be calculated in this way. The affairs of the Beijing camp were originally led by the Rongguo Mansion at the instruction of Prince Beijing.

Things went wrong, and the leader, Prince Beijing, did not take the initiative to assume responsibility. He waited until a group of nobles came to make trouble before coming to negotiate with Jia Jue. Then he asked these nobles' families to pay the money and took a share of the difference. This brother was extremely calculating.

However, these nobles had few opportunities to communicate directly with Jia Jue, and this matter would not cause a rift among the founding fathers, so Jia Jue kept this card and prepared to play it at the critical moment.

After receiving the silver notes, Jia Jue said goodbye to the imperial prison and distributed 120,000 taels of silver notes to the Jinyiwei. Then the twelve sons of nobles were released from the imperial prison covered in blood.

During their time in the imperial prison, they also had a good time. Every day they were whipped with cold water, a hundred times a day.

There were a few timid ones who came out in a daze and looked a little neurotic.

However, this is not within the scope of Jia Jue's after-sales service. After all, the person has been released, and we have to ensure that he is normal. How can we let you take all the good things?

After this little episode ended, it was early February.

There was only half a month left before Jia Jue's wedding. During this period, Jia Jue was very busy. He had to pay betrothals and prepare ceremonies on both ends. This time, he married two wives at once and held ceremonies at the same time. Jia Jue was setting a precedent.

In the Weirui Pavilion of the Sheng Mansion, the eldest lady Wang Ruofu was looking at the list of betrothal gifts sent by the Guanjun Marquis' Mansion.

At this time, Sheng Rulan, the fifth daughter of the Sheng family, walked in and said.

"Mother, is this the betrothal gift from the Champion Marquis' Mansion?"

Wang Ruofu nodded and said.

"Yes, the Marquis of Guanjun's Mansion is very generous. If our family doesn't give enough dowry this time, we will probably be ridiculed."

Sheng Rulan said curiously.

"Really? How much betrothal gift did the Champion Marquisate give?"

Wang Ruofu handed the list to Sheng Rulan and said.

"See for yourself."

(End of this chapter)