Great Master of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 23 Chapter 23
In the third auction, Zuo Ming made a change in the way of drawing lots. The numbers on it were changed to English initials by him, which made some people who had studied the rules of Arabic numerals and planned to cheat from it extremely depressed. At one time, he only sold more than 500 glazed products.

However, although the quantity was small, these 3000 pieces of products were all sold at a very good price. Zuo Ming directly earned [-] million yuan of income from these products alone.

And the next fourth game is the key!At this time, most people have no purchasing power, and the rest are all envoys from various countries. It was only from this day that Zuo Ming discovered that there are so many small countries around the Tang Dynasty!And these small countries are so rich!
The gold has been sold out, and the next transactions are basically currencies made of gems, jade, and pearls.At this time, Zuo Ming, who has always had a strong sense of pride in being ahead of his time, discovered that he was actually a mountain gunner.
Looking at several gemstones that were bigger than his eyes, as well as countless diamonds of different sizes, he was completely stunned.Where in his previous life had he seen so many luxury goods of such high quality?

Especially diamonds, which he personally asked to join the ranks of exchange.People nowadays don't know the preciousness of diamonds, so the exchange rate is extremely low. Zuo Ming, a black-hearted guy, even gave them a price of [-] to [-].In other words, nearly ten diamonds can be exchanged for one glass product.

This exchange price, in modern society, I'm afraid you can't even think about it!

In modern society, a diamond is more than enough to exchange a ton of glass.

Zuo Ming made it clear that he bullied the ancients with long hair and short knowledge.
However, Zuo Ming was happy to receive the diamonds, but Li Shimin's face turned dark when facing a pile of unpolished raw diamonds.

He really couldn't see the use of these stones, they were so gray and useless except that they were hard.

Zuo Ming is naturally clear about Li Shimin's psychology, and he will not be polite to Li Shimin.Immediately said, I don't want the money you want to share with me, and just give me these stones that you don't like.

However, just when Zuo Ming thought he was sure of everything, Li Shimin refused!

yes!He refused!Moreover, that batch of diamonds was directly confiscated, and directly threw 50 copper coins to Zuo Ming!
Regarding Li Shimin's actions, even Empress Changsun was puzzled.

"Your Majesty, why are you doing this? Aren't they just a few ugly white gems, if he wants it, just give it to him, why bother with him?"

Empress Changsun thought that Li Shimin was trying to get angry on purpose. She felt that it was not worthwhile to do so, because it was a bit emotional to exchange 50 yuan for a pile of useless stones.

However, after hearing this, Li Shimin smiled treacherously, "Maid Guanyin, haven't you seen that kid clearly for so long? He is a useless early riser. These stones seem useless, but I bet you , the value is definitely the highest among all gems! He is black-hearted, and when he estimated the value, he was actually counted as five thousand to one!"

Empress Changsun thought for a while, and seemed to think that what Li Shimin said made sense. They knew Zuo Ming until now, and they really didn't see him suffer any disadvantages.

It's just that Empress Changsun is obviously not as courageous as Li Shimin, and she can make a decision based on her own knowledge of Zuo Ming without knowing the specific price of these diamonds.So until now, she still has some worries about gains and losses.

50 guan is not a small amount, it is enough for the palace to buy a lot of things.

In the past, the treasury was empty, so she naturally wanted to persuade Li Shimin to be frugal, but now there is a huge sum of 8000 million guan, if she yells at the emperor to stop extravagance, she will be really stupid.

After working hard for nine days, but only got 50 yuan in benefits, Zuo Ming was really in a bad mood.So the emperor asked him to paint portraits for them in the palace, but he refused at that time.

He flatly refused, but he choked Zhao Si, who delivered the decree, and immediately said with a mournful face, "My Lord Zuo! Even if you want to resist the decree, you have to give me a reason! How can you tell me to go back?" ?”

Zhao Si is also seeing it now, this is a master who is not afraid of anything, he can really do things like resisting the decree, and he also knows that although His Majesty will be angry, he will never do anything to him.

This is a strange phenomenon. There are so many talented people in the world, but His Majesty seems to have infinite tolerance for this Zuo Ming.

"Eh, you go back and say that I don't have all the paints. Wait until you come back from the south and the paints are all ready."

After pondering for a while, Zuo Ming also seemed to feel that it was inappropriate to directly resist the decree, so he came up with such a trick.

Zhao Si naturally has no objection, Zuo Ming can come up with a pretty good excuse, he is already thankful, at least he can make a job.

Zhao Si went back to the palace and returned to the palace. Hearing that Zuo Ming resisted the edict, Li Shimin and Empress Changsun, who had already been dressed in a very grand manner, were naturally furious.

The last time it was because Zuo Ming was too tired after a night of sleepless nights, and due to the interruption of theater affairs, Li Shimin also forgot to ask Zuo Ming to paint him a portrait. Fate actually resisted the decree!
It's not easy for them to wear these clothes. Zuo Ming's rebellion not only hurts them mentally, but also hurts them physically.

It's just that they really didn't have anything to say about Zuo Ming's reason, and they didn't bother him at that time, but it can be imagined that Zuo Ming's life will definitely not be easy in the future.

Zuo Ming didn't care about that. His 50 yuan was spent on the Anle Grand Theater. He had already drawn the blueprints, but he also had to take care of other tasks. Only when these arrangements were put on the right track would he Only then can I go to the south to do business with peace of mind.

In a blink of an eye, the month of January is here.

Li Shimin, who had money, was really domineering. He directly increased the army from [-] to [-], and his subordinates were even armed to the teeth.

It is worth mentioning that before Zuo Ming left Beijing to rush to the Wuzhou Guard, the Emperor Li Shimin sent someone to deliver an exquisite chain mail.

It can be seen that the emperor still attaches great importance to Zuo Ming's life.

Going to Wuzhou this time, Zuo Ming went there with a light cart, and it was a donkey cart.It's not that he doesn't want to bring guards, but that he doesn't have one.This can be regarded as the most shabby imperial envoy trip in the history of the Tang Dynasty.

But fortunately, with his shabby appearance, there are no small thieves trying to rob him.

When Zuo Ming arrived in Wuzhou, he was grandly welcomed by Niu Jinda, who had arrived earlier, and Chen Zhenghong, the new governor of Wuzhou.

It's just that the two are very polite to Zuo Ming, but they never discuss with Zuo Ming about major military affairs, and they just treat him as air in the pre-tent meeting.

As a result, Zuo Ming was naturally extremely tired in the barracks.I had no choice but to take out the map I had prepared a long time ago.

As soon as this picture came out, Niu Jinda was naturally overjoyed.The reason why he has been slow to go south to the west is because of unknown geography.

Although the new governor of Wuzhou, Chen Zhenghong, is a native of Lingnan, he doesn't know much about the local terrain, or he only knows a general idea, not as detailed as Zuo Ming's map.

The arrival of this map really made him overjoyed, and he naturally had a good impression of Zuo Ming.I think this supervising army is not so wasteful anymore.

Zuo Mingna naturally knew the change in Niu Jinda's attitude, and this was the result he needed.Because only in this way can he ask Niu Jinda to arrange for him to meet those Liao captives.

This was also because he was unwilling to use the imperial decree, for fear of making trouble with Niu Jinda, otherwise it would not have been such a trouble.

Zuo Ming had such a request, which was originally within the scope of his duties, so Niu Jinda naturally had no reason to refuse.Although Zuo Ming felt that it was a waste of effort to do so, he still sent the two Liaoren captives to his account.

It was a middle-aged man and an old man. They were both dark-skinned and skinny, but their eyes were still clear.

These two people were obviously often tortured. When Zuo Ming saw them, in addition to countless new wounds, there were also many scars from old wounds on their bodies.

Being dragged all the way to Zuo Ming's tent, the two of them naturally had no good looks towards Zuo Ming. When Zuo Ming approached to check their wounds, they spit thick phlegm on Zuo Ming's body.

Seeing this situation, the sergeant under Zuo Ming's tent immediately became angry, and kicked them to the ground when they came up, and Zuo Ming stopped them when they wanted to beat them again.

"Forget it! You all back down."

Seeing that Zuo Ming wiped his face, although his face was ugly, he didn't show much anger. Several sergeants retreated with strange expressions, but before leaving, they added, "My lord, I'll wait outside. If something happens , just call us!"

After sending away a few sergeants, Zuo Ming sat down on the ground like the two Liao people, looked at them and smiled slightly.

"Tell me! Why do you hate me so much? We seem to have never met before, so why do you spit on me when we meet?"

Looking at Zuo Ming's smiling face, and hearing this question, the two Liao people looked puzzled, and felt that this question was really superfluous.

"What's the point of asking! You are Han and I am Liao. You don't kill us now just because you want to torture us to find out about Dashan's situation! If I could, I would like to kill you! What is it? I don’t think you should make any plans. Although our Liao people are weak, our bones are still strong. If you want me to betray the tribe, it’s impossible!”

The young Liao said with a sneer.

"I think you have misunderstood. I didn't come to you to ask about the situation in the mountains. Besides, you think that you are safe hiding in the mountains. It is really a very naive idea. It must be extremely dangerous for the Tang army to enter the mountains. But in my opinion, there is no need for Tang Jun to enter the mountain at all. If it were me, I could just burn the mountain with a torch! I don’t believe that under such circumstances, you can continue to squat in the cave! Of course , if this happens, you Liao people are not the only ones who are unlucky, I am afraid that the Yao people in the mountains will also be implicated. So this strategy can only be the next strategy."

Zuo Ming smiled and said confidently.

This is a poisonous plan, and an orthodox general like Niu Jinda would definitely not be able to think of it, otherwise, he would probably have so many.He has been rolling on corpses for decades, so he will never be as merciful as Zuo Ming.

"Who are you? What do you want to do!?"

When Zuo Ming proposed the strategy of burning the mountain, the old bureaucrat panicked, especially when Zuo Ming accidentally mentioned the Yao people.

Others don't know, but he knows that the Liao people in Wu and Chun prefectures were able to hide in the mountains with the help of the Yao people this time, so that the Tang army could not find them.

Could it be that the young man in front of him has already seen everything?
If this is the case, then the Liao people and even the Yao people in Xijiang will be in danger this time.

(End of this chapter)