Jinting Han people

Chapter 130 Sima Rong's Bribe (4k)

The significance of this list is enormous. Sima Rong made his judgment after just one glance.

Although there were many unfamiliar names among them, he also saw many familiar names: Meng Guan, Shi Yi, Xu Chao, Sima Ya, Lu Shi, Zhang Heng, Zhang Lin, Lu He, Yin Hun...

Each name on this white silk has a bright red fingerprint, symbolizing the determination behind these names and also representing a bloody storm.

King Liang tried his best to remain calm, but the wrinkles on his face couldn't help trembling. He understood the meaning of this list too well, so he couldn't hide his inner excitement and could only cover it up with coughing.

He looked up at Zu Ti and saw that after he presented such a list, his eyes were still bright and his expression was as usual. He couldn't help but think: This man is really bold.

Sima Rong folded the white silk again and said to Zu Ti, "Do you know what you are doing?"

Zu Ti said, "I am rescuing people."

"Are you really saving people?" Sima Rong sneered. He slowly walked to the nearby Hu bed and sat down. He patted the white silk in his hand and said, "If these words you just said were to get out, every word would be enough to stir up a bloody storm. In the end, you're even instigating a fight between the Queen and me. Isn't that murder?"

"You should understand, my lord. Saving lives means losing lives. This is unavoidable. Besides, I am saving you."

"What a sharp tongue!" Sima Rong closed his eyes, pondered for a moment, and continued, "Is this list really useful? How could the King of Chu, with all these people, suffer such a crushing defeat?"

"Because His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu wanted to use his power to overpower the enemy, he actually mobilized the entire Imperial Guard. But in reality, they were a mixed bag, and the Queen had laid many hidden cards. As a result, they were caught off guard, and the Queen took advantage of the situation to create the illusion of inevitable defeat, and then they were calculated to death."

"If His Majesty the Prince of Chu only uses the two hundred officers he personally trained and the four thousand soldiers under his command, the Queen will have no choice but to let His Majesty the Prince of Chu do what he wants."

"Of course, this is what I said afterward. Beforehand, no one knew that the Queen could insert so many spies into the Imperial Guards."

Upon hearing this, Sima Rong immediately gained a more concrete understanding of Zu Ti. This young man before him was not only incredibly daring, but also possessed considerable military talent. He could even analyze the pros and cons of a coup in just a few sentences.

He was not only courageous, but also knowledgeable, loyal, and popular. Sima Rong thought, this is truly a natural-born hero. If given a stage, he would probably accomplish something remarkable that would attract worldwide attention.

If his father were alive, he would definitely use him and rely on him! Sima Rong looked up at the autumn willow branches and felt quite emotional: Unfortunately, I am not such a person, and I don’t want to associate with such people.

So he said, "Aren't you afraid that I will pass this list on to the Queen? Then, perhaps she will completely trust me, and the King of Chu and his followers, along with you, will be finished."

Zu Ti's expression remained unchanged as he said sincerely, "If you, my lord, believed the queen to be trustworthy, you wouldn't be talking to me until now."

"Hahaha, you're such a smart guy..." Sima Rong laughed for a moment, but then his expression changed. He handed the blank paper back to Zu Ti and said, "But I really don't need this list. Your kindness is a waste."

"How could it be!" At this point, Zu Ti had basically refuted all of the reasons for the King of Liang's refusal. In his opinion, this was a sure thing, and if it were him, he would certainly agree happily. But unexpectedly, Sima Rong still chose to refuse. Why?

Xiuhua, who had been listening for a long time, also became anxious. She stepped forward and pleaded, "Eighth Uncle..."

But before he could finish his words, Sima Rong interrupted him with a wave of his hand. He looked at Zu Ti and said slowly, "You must be wondering, if it were you, the queen would have been torn into pieces by five horses. Why would I refuse?"

"The answer is actually very simple. People can't be generalized. You are very courageous, but not everyone is as courageous as you."

"I'm sixty years old now, and I've lived a carefree life. Even though I've offended people, I've always done so within my means. I've never offended anyone I couldn't afford to offend."

"Fighting with someone as vicious as the Queen is exhausting and may not end well in the end. Why bother?"

"I'd rather enjoy a few years of peace and quiet and then die than get involved in this kind of intrigue. And what you just said, every word, is pushing me in that direction, which only makes me disgusted."

"This..." Zu Ti was dumbfounded for a moment. He had indeed never thought about it in this direction. What seemed natural to him was something that others would rather die than do.

Could it be that after planning for so long, it ended up failing because of such a ridiculous reason?
Just when he was feeling frustrated, Sima Rong smiled and sighed, "However, I still decided to give you a chance."

"Hmm? Are you serious about what I said?"

Sima Rong nodded, then turned to look at Empress Xiuhua and sighed, "I can't afford to offend Empress Jia, nor do I want to provoke energetic young people like you. Of course, there are also my nephews and nieces..."

"Young people are to be feared! If I were to incur your jealousy, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to live the rest of my life well."

"So, I can give you a chance. If you can agree to one condition, I can help you rescue Liu Xian."

"Oh?" Zu Ti was overjoyed at the unexpected turn of events. He asked, "I wonder what conditions you would like to propose?"

The King of Liang replied calmly, "It's very simple. You raise some money for me. Then I can go to the palace and ask for the person I want, just in case."

Bribery? Zu Ti was stunned at first, then suddenly realized. The King of Liang was using bribery as a pretext to rescue someone. To put it bluntly, he was sullying himself. He intended to tarnish his own reputation to demonstrate his sincerity in following Empress Jia, just as Xiao He had done to Liu Bang.

After all, anyone who aspires to seize power must at least present a polished political image. By using the excuse of rescuing Liu Xian to solicit a bribe, the King of Liang could both rescue Liu Xian and demonstrate his lack of ulterior motives, while also making a killing. It was a trifecta of success.

Faced with the Prince of Liang's gesture, Empress Jia, a politician who still wanted to maintain her power for a long time, could not refuse. Otherwise, if the clan elders had already made such a gesture and refused to yield, what would the princes, both great and small, think? She might even be forced into a desperate situation and launch another coup.

This was indeed a feasible plan. Zu Ti asked happily, "How much money does Ming Gong need?"

Prince Liang held up two fingers and said leisurely, "I am the son of Emperor Xuan, and I am also known for my integrity. At this time, I have to defile myself and ask for a bribe in a way that is worthy of Emperor Xuan's dignity."

"Twenty thousand gold. My reputation is worth twenty thousand gold."

"I'll give you half a month to raise the funds. If you can't raise the funds within half a month, you won't be able to wait until the deadline."

"Well, can you take it out?"

"This……"

Zu Ti's face turned pale when Sima Rong asked him this. Although he had expected this to be a huge sum of money before the King of Liang opened his mouth, he still didn't expect Sima Rong to dare to ask for a bribe to this extent!
This was an unimaginably large sum. According to Han Dynasty regulations, one gold coin was equivalent to ten thousand coins. Twenty thousand gold coins, to put it bluntly, amounted to two hundred million coins. Consider that during the Qiang Rebellion of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Duan Xing led five thousand cavalry and ten thousand infantry in a bloody three-year battle in Liang Province, expending an estimated four and a half billion coins. Even with the century of chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty, the value of gold, particularly the five-zhu coin, depreciated somewhat, leading to a decrease in the value of gold. But gold is gold, and China is not a gold-producing nation, which ultimately determines its preciousness.

If we want to convert it accurately, Sima Shi's secret support of 3,000 death warriors must have cost him about 20,000 gold.

But Zu Ti knew that at this point, there was probably no other choice to rescue Liu Xian. Although the conditions offered by Sima Rong sounded horrifying, they were actually the only way out. No matter what he did, he had to raise 20,000 gold within half a month.

After leaving Prince Liang's mansion, Xiu Hua took the initiative to say, "I have three thousand gold in my dowry. I will ask my husband. He should be willing to embezzle it."

Zu Ti immediately expressed his gratitude on Liu Xian's behalf, but he also knew that this was still a long way from his goal of 20,000 gold. He immediately said goodbye to Xiu Hua and hurried to his compound in the western suburbs to count the gold and silver left from the looting of Jingu Garden.

Four years had passed since the Jin Gu Garden robbery. Zu Ti and Liu Xian had won three thousand gold that year, and after spending it sporadically over time, they had spent about one thousand gold, leaving them with two thousand gold. If they sold off their existing stock at a low price, they could probably make another four hundred gold.

But this and the princess's money together only amounted to more than 5,000 gold, less than half of the target.

The only option left was to find the gang that had divided the spoils. Zu Ti went straight to the Imperial College that night to find Liu Cong and told him about this matter: "I want to rescue Huai Chong. Can you lend me some money?"

Liu Cong asked: "How much do you want to borrow?"

"I'll borrow as much as you have."

Liu Cong was very straightforward. In his view, Zu Ti and Liu Xian were both heroes worth befriending, and their value could not be measured by money. So he calculated the money he had saved in Luoyang and promised Zu Ti that he would transfer 4,000 gold within five days. This was already a huge sum, and he could not afford more.

At this point, he already had nine thousand gold, but Zu Ti knew that the easiest amount to raise had already been raised, and every bit of money raised from then on would become extremely difficult.

Sure enough, when Zu Ti later visited the Prince of Chu's palace, the Princess Qin only gave him 500 gold coins. This was because Sima Wei had been generous and popular during his lifetime, and he did not leave much money in the palace. A lot of this money was the Princess's private money.

Afterwards, Zu Ti visited the officials of the Eastern Palace and some of Liu Xian's other good friends, such as Wang Dun and Jiang Tong. Wang Dun was more generous. As the son-in-law of Liu Xian, he also lent out a thousand gold. But the others were not so rich. Lu Ji, Zhou Xi, Liu Qiao, Lu Yao and others pooled their money, and together they only had about a thousand gold.

At this point, after seven days of negotiations with Liang Wang Sima Rong, Zu Ti had collected 12,000 gold coins. Even in Luoyang, it had to be said that this was a miracle of some magnitude.

Even so, there was still a shortfall of eight thousand gold coins, which was still a huge sum of money, and for Zu Ti at the moment, it was almost impossible to raise it. What should he do?

Zu Ti once thought about whether he should go and check out the area and dig a few graves to see how it goes.

But since the rampages of Dong Zhuo and Cao Cao in the late Han Dynasty, our ancestors, scrambling to fund military expenditures, have practically emptied the tombs of the Central Plains. Those who survived, conscious of this horrific atmosphere, have opted for simple burials. Where could he find a tomb filled with gold?
Or go rob Jingu Garden again?

But since that robbery, Shi Chong had renovated the Jin Gu Garden and nearly doubled the number of guards, making it no longer as easy to rob as it was the previous time. And even if the robbery was successful, would they simply transport the stolen gold to the Prince of Liang's mansion? That would make almost everyone aware of what had happened.

At this point, Zu Ti had to admit that he had reached the limit of his ability. Even if he was extremely bold, there were sometimes things he could not do.

What should he do? Zu Ti didn't know, but no matter what he did, he should inform Anle Mansion of his current situation. He had been running around in various mansions in Luoyang these days, losing seven or eight pounds, but he had never stayed in Anle Mansion.

This is not surprising. After all, Liu Xian's uncles and aunts all rely on Liu Xian to glorify the family. Now that Liu Xian is in prison, they have returned to their previous state of almost isolation from the world. Zu Ti does not expect them to be of any help, so even for such a big thing as raising money, he has to do it all by himself.

Zu Ti also liquidated the properties of the Anle Mansion. The most valuable one was probably the feathered horse that Afule gave to Liu Xian. If the market was good, it could be sold for about 500 gold. But the rest of the land and houses only had a total of about 1,000 gold, which was impossible to sell. Otherwise, what would they eat and where would they live in the future?
As soon as he entered the Anle Mansion, Zu Ti felt all kinds of expectant gazes from the people inside. This made him a little embarrassed, but he didn't show it on his face. Instead, he asked, "Where is my sister-in-law?"

Shang Rou was praying in the ancestral hall in the backyard at this time. She knew that there was nothing she could do, so she could only pray, hoping that the souls in heaven could bless the living people, so that the living people could be full of hope, walk out of suffering and move towards happiness.

But when she turned around and saw Zu Ti's ashen face, her heart skipped a beat and she had a bad feeling. But she would not say anything like "Oh, what's wrong with you?" or other nonsense.

Shang Rou was mentally prepared, so there was no blaming look on her face. Instead, she said, "Brother Zu, you've been busy for so long, aren't you tired? Do you want to take a break?"

Zu Ti looked at Shang Rou and felt a little ashamed for a moment, but he did not hide anything and said directly to Shang Rou: "No, sister-in-law, I have some bad news to tell you directly."

An autumn breeze blew, and Shang Rou felt a little cold, but she still stood up like her husband to face the judgment of fate.

He explained his predicament to Shang Rou in detail, saying, "Prince Liang agreed to rescue Huai Chong, but he made an almost impossible condition. He wants 20,000 gold. I've tried my best, but I'm still 8,000 gold short."

After Zu Ti said this, he didn't dare to look into Shang Rou's eyes for a moment. He couldn't imagine how painful and sad a wife would feel after having hope once and then being disappointed.

But unexpectedly, he did not hear Shang Rou sobbing, but a light laugh was heard in the courtyard.

Zu Ti looked up and indeed saw Shang Rou's smiling face. She asked with a smile, "You're still short of eight thousand gold, right?"

Shang Rou ran into the yard without hesitation. She ran so eagerly, as if she was running in a dream, and she felt that if she didn't move faster, she would wake up from the dream.

She walked through the ancestral hall, down the corridor, and when she saw the osmanthus forest in the side yard, she slowed down her pace, calming her heaving chest. Then, calmly and attentively, she stretched out her arms and pushed open the door to the side wing.

Cobwebs and dust fell down, bobbing up and down in beams of light and shadow. It could also be seen that the room was filled with discarded debris such as beds and ladders.

Shang Rou stepped past the miscellaneous items and headed straight for the corner of the side wing. Here, three heavy boxes were placed. These were Shang Rou's dowry. Since their marriage, Liu Xian had been reluctant to use his wife's dowry, so it had been stored here. According to the wedding gift list, everyone assumed that it contained items such as candlesticks and porcelain pillows.

She opened the wooden box and threw away the cloth that was covering it. The golden light immediately broke through the dust, dazzling people.

This is the radiance of gold. The three boxes are filled with densely packed, flowing horseshoe gold.

Four years ago, when Shang Rou got married, her father, Juan Chenggong, warned her not to use the gold unless it was absolutely necessary. Liu Xian had no interest in inspecting his wife's dowry, so the horseshoe gold remained hidden in a corner, gathering dust over the years, unknown to anyone else.

But now, it's time for these horseshoe golds to come in handy.

There are a thousand horseshoe gold coins here, and one horseshoe gold coin is worth exactly eight gold coins.

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(End of this chapter)