Water Margin: The opening scene involves assassinating Emperor Huizong of Song and forcibly taking L

Before even disembarking, we had already witnessed the sights and sounds of Luoyang.

Whether they were high-ranking officials or ordinary people, everyone wore peony flowers in their hair.

The entire city of Luoyang is a sea of ​​flowers.

This was Liu Yannian's first time visiting Luoyang. He was so captivated by the magnificent scenery that he couldn't resist buying a flower hairpin.

"Flowers for sale! Flowers for sale!"

As soon as the boat docked, several young men and women carrying flower baskets squeezed to the front.

The older ones were fourteen or fifteen years old, and the younger ones were eleven or twelve. Their clothes were quite cheap, and they were clearly children from ordinary families.

They held up flower baskets and hawked their wares to passengers disembarking from the ship.

"How much is one branch?" someone next to Liu Yannian asked.

"Five coins!"

"My three-cent coin."

"I still have ten coins left, which are very valuable."

"..."

The man quickly bought a peony to wear in his hair, and Liu Yannian also took out his money and bought one for ten coins.

He took his servants, chose an inn to stay in, and then wandered around Luoyang City aimlessly.

As they walked along a street, they saw a large crowd of people crammed into the alley next to them, and even several horse-drawn carriages parked there.

Could it be the residence of some minister?

Liu Yannian walked over curiously and asked the person squeezed on the outer edge of the crowd, "Whose residence is this?"

"The Yang family," the man replied.

Liu Yannian then asked, "Which official in the Six Ministries?"

The man laughed and said, "It's Master Yang, who's in business."

A merchant family?

"The door is open! The door is open!"

These people started shouting.

But the gate was only slightly ajar, and a servant poked his head out and shouted, "Don't listen to those bad people spreading rumors! We don't sell Wei flowers!"

Liu Yannian was speechless. So many people had crowded around, and they were actually there to buy flowers.

And the owner won't sell it.

"Wei Flower" is the king of peonies in Luoyang. Back when the Wei family had not yet declined, you had to buy a ticket to enter the garden to admire the flowers.

A ticket costs more than ten coins, and the Wei family can collect more than ten strings of cash every day.

That was in the early Song Dynasty, when prices weren't high!

Later, the garden was donated to the imperial family, who then bestowed it upon a temple.

The monks sold all the peony plants, turned the flower garden into farmland, and planted wheat and mulberry trees instead.

Gradually, the wheat and mulberry trees disappeared, and the garden became the temple's back garden.

Today, the temple has been banned by the imperial court and converted into residences and shops.

Although "Wei Hua" has been distributed to people's homes, the quantity is extremely small, and no one is willing to sell it.

The less famous "Yao Huang" flower is relatively easy to buy, with each flower costing about two or three hundred coins.

This is because it gradually spread, and when it was rare, a single "Yao Huang" cigarette was worth a thousand coins.

Grafting is also an option.

Grafting a "Wei flower" once, regardless of whether it's successful or not, will cost you 100 shi of rice—the grafting fee!

"Yaohuang" is cheaper. It used to cost 100 shi of rice, but now it only costs 20 shi for grafting.

After listening to the man's story, Liu Yannian shook his head repeatedly and said, "Peony is inedible, how can you waste money like this?"

"What do you know, you outsider?" the man said disdainfully.

Liu Yannian continued strolling around, surrounded by flowers everywhere...

Arriving at Zhuque Avenue, which was renamed after the Ming Dynasty moved its capital, one sees a father and son embracing a rare peony, standing on the street surrounded by countless people.

Suddenly, several wealthy young men rode up on horseback, shouting along the way, "Who has any rare items? Who has any rare items?"

"Here, here!" the onlookers responded.

"Excuse me, please make way!"

Several wealthy young men squeezed into the crowd, and after carefully observing, they exclaimed in amazement.

One of them asked, "How much is this whole plant?"

The person holding the flowers said, "I'm not selling. If I wanted to sell flowers, I would have gone to the flower market. Why would I come to Zhuque Avenue?"

The rich man quoted a price: "Thirty strings of cash!"

A wealthy merchant in the crowd laughed and said, "Nephew, you're always thinking of such good things. He wouldn't sell to me even if I offered fifty strings of cash."

The person holding the flowers said, "I'm waiting here to present them to His Majesty."

Upon hearing this, those who wanted to buy flowers immediately gave up.

Offering flowers is a tradition in Luoyang. If unusual items are discovered, commoners would sell them to wealthy households.

Chapter 3595 The Flower Offerer

However, as long as they have enough to eat and wear, they will try their best to cultivate dungeons.

Then, if one of the copies is presented to the emperor or prime minister, this rare item will suddenly become a hundred times more valuable.

Those who offered flowers not only received monetary rewards from the emperor and prime minister, but the book they kept would also become a golden goose.

The "Wei Flower," the king of peonies, was originally presented to the prime minister by a woodcutter.

However, there is no real copy; it was after the prime minister obtained this wild and exotic plant that he personally cultivated "Wei Flower" into a variety.

Will His Majesty pass by here?

Liu Yannian's focus was clearly different.

"His Majesty has entered the city! His Majesty has entered the city!"

The carriage slowly approached from outside the city, and the crowd spontaneously dispersed, making way for the flower presenters to walk out.

The rare peony plant was quite large, and the person who presented the flower carried it with his son, followed closely by a crowd.

Zhao Yuan would go to the experimental fields outside the city every few days, and he didn't have many guards with him.

At this moment, the guards were on high alert. One of them stepped forward and questioned, "What is the purpose of you gathering here and obstructing His Majesty's carriage?"

The flower presenter suddenly knelt down: "This humble subject, Fan Dazhong, has an exceptional peony to offer to Your Majesty!"

The guards quickly called their companions, and the two carefully carried the peony away, returning to the carriage and saying, "Your Majesty, a commoner has presented us with an unusual peony."

Zhao Yuan understood peonies, a knowledge stemming from his time at Genyue Garden.

Genyue cultivated many precious peonies, and someone even helped Emperor Huizong of Song with grafting.

He even used colchicine to induce polyploid mutations, hoping to create a rare peony to please Emperor Huizong of Song.

Unfortunately, the success rate of polyploid peonies is too low.

After admiring it for a moment, Zhao Yuan nodded in approval and said, "With its numerous leaves and pale yellow color, let's call it Thousand-Leaf Pale Yellow."

"Good name!"

Those commoners who were separated by the guards but were closer to the emperor immediately praised the emperor emeritus for bestowing the name.

Zhao Yuan then called the father and son who had presented the flowers over: "Although I like peonies, I do not wish to steal the beauty of others... Do not speak."

"If I accept your flowers, should I accept them if someone offers me a treasure?"

“If this precedent is set, local officials will rush to offer tributes, wouldn’t that turn it into a corrupt emperor’s tribute of flowers and stones? Giving it a flower name is enough.”

The person offering the flowers immediately knelt down to express their gratitude: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for bestowing a name upon the flowers!"

With a name bestowed by His Majesty, this rare peony will surely become much more valuable.

Liu Yannian exclaimed, "What a wise and benevolent ruler! With such a wise ruler, the country and all its people are truly blessed."

Not only Liu Yannian was praising it, but the people at the scene were also praising it.

Emperor Huizong of Song once ordered the requisition of flowers and stones to repair the Luoyang Imperial Palace.

Many local residents of Luoyang were conscripted into service, and all the cattle in the surrounding villages were slaughtered—the cattle bones were ground into powder and boiled to make mortar.

Upon hearing the retired emperor say that he was afraid of the tribute of flowers and stones and refused to accept the peonies, the common people subconsciously thought of Emperor Huizong of Song.

Comparing the two, the one before us is the better emperor.

The carriage continued its journey, gradually entering the imperial city.

The area where flowers were just offered has gone wild.

Because Zhao Yuan personally bestowed a name upon the peony, someone immediately shouted, "I'll bid eighty strings of cash!" for this peony, which had the highest bid of fifty strings of cash.

"One hundred strings of cash, sell it to me now!"

"One hundred and fifty strings of cash."

"One hundred and eighty strings of cash, that's already a very high price."

"You want to buy this rare item named by His Majesty for only 180 strings of cash? I'll offer 200 strings!"

"..."

The father and son who presented the flowers were beaming with pride, laughing as they said, "This rare specimen was named Thousand-Petaled Goose Yellow by the Emperor Emeritus."

"I won't sell it, but I'm willing to graft it."

"In a few months, when it's the right time for grafting, you can come to me with your money."

"I'm afraid of harming the mother plant, so I only marry off one branch a year, and I'll marry it off to whoever offers the highest price!"

The father and son carried the rare peony and walked happily home.

Many Luoyang residents followed along, constantly praising this unusual plant.

The scene was like a fisherman carrying a big fish through the streets, with a group of fellow anglers showering him with compliments and praising his fishing skills.

“That rare plant is indeed extraordinary,” said Shen Yourong, who was sitting in the carriage as they approached the capital.

Li Qingzhao smiled and said, "It is still much inferior to Wei Zi and Yao Huang, but its quality is similar to that Zuo Hua (a type of Qianye Zi).

An Xiaomei said, "No matter how good Wei Zi and Yao Huang are, they can't compare to that yin-yang face plant in the palace."

"It's just that the name is too... sigh, a name given by the emperor." Li Qingzhao couldn't help but sigh.

There was also a rare peony in the palace, which Zhao Yuan created using colchicine.

Polyploid peonies have an extremely low success rate and a low survival rate; they often die while being cultivated, and they are very difficult to graft and plant.

Zhao Yuan treated it purely as a pastime to pass the time, repeatedly inducing experiments with colchicine at concentrations of 0.5% to 1% for nearly ten years.

Only a few have survived so far, and there is only one truly exceptional specimen with a "yin-yang face".

The name was given by Zhao Yuan. The same peony plant produces both white and blue flowers, so the seeds are probably a hybrid variety.

If you want to turn this polyploid variant from a single plant into a variety... it's very difficult!

Chapter 3596 Seeking Fame and Reputation

Even with modern technology, we cannot guarantee what will happen hundreds of years from now.

If you succeed, it's pure luck.

For example, the variety "Shou'an Hong" – who knows how it came about?

It is highly likely that it was a hybrid formed by accident, and inexplicably became a triploid peony that could reproduce.