Chapter 37 Gift Giving
"The one I gave you last time was expensive. This one is much cheaper, ten taels of silver each." Tang Wen said.
"You still owe me twenty thousand taels. Give me two thousand." Li Dawang didn't even think about it.
Because, I played it for a few days last time and it was so wonderful.
For example, Li Dawang’s wife wanted a few because they were easy to light.
Otherwise, you have to reserve a fire source, and then blow hard to light it, which is extremely inconvenient. It is much more convenient to have this lighter.
"You are my biggest customer, so I will give you an extra fifty." Tang Wen said with a smile.
"Brother, if you have any problems in the future, come to me, Li Dawang. Let's eat and drink well and go to Piaoxianglou to play with women." Li Dawang looked like a nouveau riche.
"Master, we sold it too cheaply and suffered huge losses." Tang Jun said after coming out.
"What do you mean?" Tang Wen asked.
"Each of the pearls on the silver crown alone costs twenty or thirty taels. Eighteen of them can definitely be sold for around five hundred and fifty taels. Add the silver crown, and it will cost at least seven hundred taels." Tang Jun said.
"Haha, it's okay. It's okay to suffer a small loss and make more friends." Tang Wen waved his hand.
I thought that the wholesale price of one of these low-quality pearls is only thirty or forty yuan in modern society, and a silver crown is less than five thousand yuan.
But there was no pearl farming technology in ancient times, and all pearls were dug out from wild shells.
Naturally, the output is pitifully small, and you have to be very lucky to come across a shell with a pearl.
Therefore, a low-quality pearl would cost twenty or thirty taels.
Li Dawang is not a fool. The eighteen pearls alone are worth more than five hundred taels. He is sure to make a profit.
Both parties thought they had made a lot of money, so naturally, everyone was happy.
Li Dawang was so happy that he even cleared the change of the three hundred taels from Qianyefang.
Accompanied by Butler Ning, both parties went directly to the county government to handle the land deed change procedures.
As soon as I entered the government office, I ran into Yang Yun, who said with a happy face, "Sir, your title of earl has been approved. Lord Zhang was just about to send someone to Koh Samui to inform you, but you came first. It's just right, come with me to see Lord Zhang."
"Congratulations, Your Excellency the Earl ." Upon hearing this, Butler Ning quickly bowed and congratulated him.
"Tang Jun, you go with Butler Ning to handle the changes. I'll go see Lord Zhang." Tang Wen instructed, then followed Yang Yun inside.
"Haha, Count, your wine is really good." As they walked, Yang Yun chatted intimately with Tang Wen.
Butler Ning, who was not far away, stared with his eyes wide open, thinking that the two of them had a good relationship.
"Captain Yang, if you like it, I have a few more bottles. I'll give you another one." Tang Wen said with a smile.
"How can that be done?" Yang Yun said.
"Of course I can. Wine is for drinking. I don't have time to drink with Captain Yang, so I can only let you take it home and taste it." Tang Wen said with a smile.
"Thank you very much, but I really need two bottles." Yang Yun said.
"Captain Yang, are you going to send someone away?" Tang Wen asked.
"You guessed it right. Not long ago, Wu Yunxian, 'Lord Shisi' from the Governor's Office, came down. He drank the wine and kept praising it." Yang Yun said.
"Hehe, then I have to congratulate Captain Yang. I guess you will be promoted soon, right?" Tang Wen said with a smile. Wu Yunxian is the head of the History Department who is in charge of evaluating officials throughout the province.
The modern term is Provincial Party Committee Organization Minister.
Of course, Wu Yunxian’s power only extended to and including the seventh rank.
All those above the seventh rank had to be approved by the Governor's Office and then reported to the Ministry of Classics and History for review and approval.
Of course, the military has to work with the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of History has no right to make direct decisions.
"We haven't even started yet. Alas... It's difficult. Although the county's criminal officer, Mr. Qian, has been transferred to another place. But, let alone the entire province, there are so many eyes watching us in our Yanling County alone." Captain Yang sighed.
A prefectural criminal officer is an official in charge of catching prisoners and supervising prisons. He is of the seventh rank, equivalent to the city public security chief.
Captain Yang is only an eighth-rank official now, so it is naturally a promotion for him to be able to sit in this position.
"Is there any official in Yanling County who is more senior than you, Captain Yang?
You are a native of Wujin. Being a captain of police is a waste of your talent.
It is more appropriate to sit in the position of the prison officer ." Tang Wen asked with a surprised look on his face.
"To be honest, I was supposed to be assigned a seventh-rank post as a general after I passed the military imperial examination.
But, as fate would have it, I actually offended a villain.
As a result, I was demoted to Yanling County as a police chief. I stayed there for seven or eight years, and my butt almost broke the stool. I was still a small police chief.
As a prefectural police chief, it is very difficult to achieve great success by catching thieves and petty criminals. "Captain Yang sighed.
"It's a little difficult to sit in that position with just two bottles of wine. People will give you silver." Tang Wen said.
"Of course. However, Yang is an upright person. He has worked for seven or eight years and has no savings. Even if he borrowed some money and gave it to others, they would not look down on it," said Yang Yun.
"Leave the gift-giving matter to me. I'll find a way for you." Tang Wen said.
"Look, I owe you a favor again. If you have any problems in the future, just let me know." Captain Yang said.
"Of course." Tang Wen nodded. Soon, the two entered Mr. Zhang's office.
It was discovered that in addition to Zhang Hongjiang, there were two other people, one taller and one shorter.
"Haha, congratulations, Lord Tang." Zhang Hongjiang, who was chatting, stood up and bowed to congratulate him when he saw Tang Wen coming in.
"I would also like to thank Lord Zhang for his recommendation." Tang Wen replied humbly.
"Master Zhang, who is this?" The tall middle-aged man with big eyes looked at Tang Wen and asked.
"Hehe, Lord Zhou, you don't know yet, right? He is the owner of Koh Samui, Earl Tang Wen." Zhang Hongjiang said with a smile.
"Zhou Zhao greets His Excellency the Earl." Zhou Zhao bowed, but his attitude was a little cold.
"Mr. Zhou is the co-magistrate of our palace, and this is Mr. Tian Shilong, the assistant magistrate." Zhang Hongjiang said and introduced another person.
"Hello, my two lords." Tang Wen nodded lightly.
You, Zhou Zhao, are showing off your power in front of me, so of course I won't be polite to you either.
"Master, please move the Lord's things over here." Zhang Hongjiang said to Master Zhou Tong.
Next, Zhou Tong took out the newly made hat, documents, robes and tokens, and the old ones had to be handed over.
“The Great Chu Clan House Ordered that the war in the northwest was at a critical moment.
Tang Wen generously donated a large amount of silver to help our Chu army regain lost territory.
In addition, he led the guards to annihilate 72 pirates, for which he made great contributions...
The royal family conferred the title of third-rank Earl of Yanling..."
After completing the formalities, Zhou Zhao and Tian Shilong exchanged a few polite words and found an excuse to leave.
Seeing the two people's attitude, Tang Wen certainly had no need to be a bootlicker.
"Lord Zhang is a master of painting. This time I came here specifically to ask you to appreciate a painting." Tang Wen said with a smile.
"Oh? Bring it here for me to see." Zhang Hongjiang said with a smile.
Tang Wen opened the box. The moment he opened the painting, Zhang Hongjiang suddenly became excited and blurted out, "That's it, that's it."
Of course Tang Wen understood that what Zhang Hongjiang was referring to was the oil painting of "Apollo, the Sun God".
This painting was originally awarded to the ancestors of the Zhang family by the royal family, but it was burned in a fire. Zhang Hongjiang's father became obsessed with painting and has been paralyzed in bed ever since.
At that time, a master of traditional Chinese painting from the State of Chu was asked to copy a painting, but the material was different and the essence of the painting was difficult to capture, which has always been a pity for the Zhang family.
Tang Wen stole the copy of the painting through Yang Yun's mobile phone. After traveling back to the sea of clouds, he specially asked a European oil painting master to copy it.
In this way, the material is the same and the essence comes out.
Not to mention Zhang Hongjiang, even Captain Yang standing next to him was stunned. He was probably wondering why they were exactly the same?
"That's it, Lord Zhang, what do you mean by this it?" Tang Wen looked at him with a puzzled expression.
"To be honest with you, sir, my father has been bedridden for more than ten years because of this disease," said Zhang Hongjiang.
"Yes, back then, the painting was brought back from the West by an official of the imperial court..." Captain Yang immediately added.
"Can you sell this painting to me?" Zhang Hongjiang asked.
"Reselling it is definitely not an option." Tang Wen shook his head.
"Well... then lend it to me for a while. I want to show it to my father and fulfill his lifelong wish." Zhang Hongjiang sighed.
"Sir Zhang, your calligraphy is superb. I would like to ask for two pieces of calligraphy, and this painting will be the reward for the writing. What do you think?" Tang Wen said.
"My Lord, you have found the right person. Lord Zhang's calligraphy is well-known in the court.
Back then, Lord Zhang was the top three winner in the palace examination.
Many people come to ask for calligraphy, but Mr. Zhang usually doesn't pick up a pen." Captain Yang said.
"It seems that I have found the right person. I wonder if Lord Zhang will favor me." Tang Wen bowed.
"What word do you want to ask for, sir?" Zhang Hongjiang asked.
