choke element

"This... polo? Royal family? Miaolian Temple? Daxiangguo Temple?"

Cui Junwen jumped up.

Yin Chang smiled a little proudly.

Cui Junwen suddenly slapped his forehead.

Cui Junwen had a lot of guesses about the purpose of Yin Chang's trip.

He knew best that he had no friendship with Li Yun, and he also knew that with the growth of trade, today's Koryo Kingdom was becoming more and more like a child holding gold and walking around in the busy city. Even if the little gold in the hands of a child is nothing compared to the vastness of the Central Plains, it is inevitable that someone will take advantage of the wealth and reach out to grab it.

He thought that the worst possibility was that Yin Chang, with hundreds of elite swordsmen and axemen, and Han'er merchants in Bilanting, would take over the entire port in one fell swoop, and then march to the city to intervene in the internal affairs of Goryeo. .

During this appointment, he seemed calm, but in fact he was so nervous that the clothes on his back were soaked. My mind is full of calculations, whether this tiger will eat people, and who will this tiger eat?

As a result, the tiger didn't show his teeth. Instead, he showed his special skills with a smile and said, "I like to sing and dance. I am nearly sixty years old, so I came here to organize a celebration for your country?" So he is really a professional?

When it comes to the polo competition, it's true.

The polo custom of Korea originated from the Tang Dynasty, was introduced together with Go, and flourished for hundreds of years. Moreover, in the past few years, many Korean merchants also traveled between Zhou and Song Dynasties. They saw the gorgeous flowers in Lin'an, Kaifeng, Zhongdu and other places, learned many tricks and used them in their own polo matches.

Since last year, some wealthy businessmen from Goryeo have spent huge sums of money to hire teams from the Southern Song Dynasty to stage local polo matches as if they were boiling oil, attracting crowds of spectators. .

But the reason why the polo game is so valued is not only because of its entertainment and economic benefits. Because players participating in polo events must have excellent riding skills, after the players form a team, they need long-term training in order to be able to communicate with each other and cooperate skillfully. Such a team of people and horses is not something that ordinary people can afford.

Ordinary people can only wave flags and cheer as spectators. The polo match itself is often regarded as a channel for competition between powerful figures. If it wins, it will show that a certain side is superior in strength, and the morale of its subordinates will soar, and its appeal will also rise; if it loses, it will show that a certain side lacks confidence and cannot even assemble a team of players. How can it plan for big things?

Since the fall of the Wang family, authority has been transferred to the hands of military ministers. The military ministers compete with each other and do not allow failure. Therefore, large-scale polo matches often involve bloodshed and even endless fights, and the participants in the matches have also transformed from ordinary golfers into warriors who have been favored by the leader for a long time, have outstanding skills and are not afraid of death.

The more so, the more people pay attention to this game.

According to the tradition of Goryeo, the royal family should have held a polo tournament at the beginning of each spring, inviting all the giants from the royal capital to participate. However, King Choi Chung-hyun of Goryeo was seriously ill and was still unsure whether to participate.

Since Cui Zhongxian is not moving, Cui Yu, the crown prince and deputy privy envoy who is nominally responsible for the operation of the capital, cannot move. Cui Junwen, Chi Yunshen, Liu Songjie and other close officials surrounding Cui Zhongxian who control finance and force cannot move either. Recently, Cui Zhongxian's second son and Baocheng Bo Cui Que, whose status has risen rapidly in the past few years, cannot be moved.

Other parties eligible to participate in the polo competition are even more silent.

It wasn't until three months ago that this deadlocked situation changed. The current King of Goryeo, Wang Hao, personally visited Cui Zhongxian, who lived in seclusion, and obtained the powerful official's permission to continue the polo competition. In the eyes of many people, the polo competition was held at the same time as Cui Zhongxian's fate was approaching, and his son and subordinates were vying for power and position.

Perhaps at this time, it is particularly necessary to organize vigorous entertainment activities to whitewash the peace.

News came from Kaesong earlier that in order to ensure that the polo match would not be exploited by any party, the king had instructed the famous Goryeo Buddhist temple, Myoryeonsa Temple, to send monks to the Central Plains and invite a group of Central Plains people who had nothing to do with Goryeo's political situation. Manage the competition.

The power of monks in Goryeo is actually not a good thing. Just a year ago, some monks in Kaicheng took advantage of the opportunity of invasion from other places and organized thousands of warrior monks to rebel. As a result, a large number of them were killed by the Cui family. Only Miaolian Temple is the lower courtyard of the Tiantai Sect. It has never colluded with other monks. Instead, it has always been focused on Buddhism itself.

To practice Buddhism, one must study scriptures, and many of the Tiantai Sect’s mantra scriptures are hidden in the Daxiangguo Temple in Bianliang, Central Plains.

As we all know, in recent hundreds of years, Kaifeng Daxiangguo Temple has been more of a gold-selling cave than a religious organization. Now that the monks of Myolian Temple have been entrusted by various parties in Goryeo to find a team that can host the polo competition, they must do it to perfection in order to slightly cover up the tense atmosphere in the junior high school... By opening up the sea route, directly It was only natural to go to Daxiangguo Temple to ask for help.

Yin Chang laughed again: "Nanjing is facing the Song Dynasty, and many trade relations are of great importance and have to be handled by the central ministers of the emperor. But I have not been the deputy guard in Nanjing in vain in the past few years, nor have I had to tolerate those people. The theater troupes and artists from Kaifeng gathered together. They used the land of Daxiangguo Temple to organize various celebrations in recent years, restoring it to the glorious scene a hundred years ago. People who are famous all over the world..."

He pointed to the bridge of his nose with his thumb: "That's Yin!"

Cui Junwen laughed twice: "I admire you, I admire you."

From his point of view, there is a high probability that it was not arranged by Yin Chang himself, but by one of his trading houses or guild organizations. But it's incredible that a high-ranking general would pay attention to such a lowly career outside of official duties. I think the military ministers who came to power in the Great Zhou Dynasty were all born into thieves and thieves. They were not as noble as the descendants of the Goryeo Kingdom. They could not be expected to act gracefully.

Sure enough, Yin Changgang puffed out his chest and said this with great aura, and then slumped his shoulders slightly, showing a bit of age: "General Cui, I was very unlucky at the beginning of the year, and many of my old subordinates also lost their income. . But even though I have the ability to make money at the bottom of the box, I can’t use it easily. You have to know..."

Cui Junwen had also experienced several political struggle trainings in Goryeo, and he nodded immediately: "What about Kaifeng? After all, you have lost your official position and lost face. If you want to continue to hold the treasure of Daxiangguo Temple, I am afraid you will have to face endless threats. The nuisance. Although Zhongdu and Tianjin are not as prosperous as Kaifeng, they are too close to His Majesty the Emperor above. I am afraid that His Majesty the Emperor may not be willing to see Duke Yin at various celebrations."

The words are quite harsh, but the truth is this, it’s true.

Yin Chang nodded and continued: "I thought about going back to Shandong again. But there are many old brothers in the Red Coat Army in Shandong. Hey, I, Mr. Yin, was the first one in the Red Coat Army to serve His Majesty. Back then, he was regarded as the bones of a rich horse. Now he has ended up like this. He has lost his face and is not easy to see. I am also afraid that someone has ulterior motives and adds insult to injury!"

"Then the only way is to go to sea... I think, if the wealth and splendor of the above country is placed in a humble place like ours, it will be very popular. If the polo competition is well held, my king will definitely..."

Cui Junwen relaxed a lot. He raised his body slightly and pushed the plate with fruits in front of Yin Chang: "Mr. Yin, please try it. These are honey-soaked apricots specially bought from Hebei. They are very delicious."

Yin Chang twisted it casually, took a bite, put it in his mouth and chewed it.

While chewing, he casually replied: "I don't care what happens to the king. I'm here, and I don't rely on that little kid king. The old monk Yi Xuan over there at the Daxiangguo Temple is Miaolian from your country. The monk who is the abbot of the temple is the senior brother of Zen Master Haiyuan. Monk Yi Xuan has already arrived in Kaicheng first to be my go-between for collecting money... This greedy monk, just because of this trip, he wants to take away the two thousand gu in benefits. two hundred!"

The current king of Goryeo, Wang Hao, is already thirty years old. Although he is a puppet, it would be disrespectful for Yin Chang to call him a brat.

But Cui Junwen suddenly became more relaxed after hearing this.

When Yin Chang kept saying that his trip was not easy and that the two thousand guan was purely hard-earned money, he also tried to comfort him, saying that according to the usual practice, there would be other rewards, plus the income from betting on the outcome, how could it be so? More than two thousand strings.

After listening to Cui Junwen's words, Yin Chang's interest suddenly rose:

"Really? Do those high-ranking families in your country have such skills? Ahem, General Cui, it's not that I look down on you Koreans. In the past few years, you have been selling porcelain and ginseng and mink skins, so you are rich. ! But my trip here is really expensive. I will show you in a moment. In order to prevent too many people from dying at the polo match, there are more than a dozen famous doctors specially hired from the Song Dynasty. They go one way , I have to give out dozens of strings!"

Not just those doctors? Most of the accountants, clerks, etc. you brought here were hired from the Song Dynasty. We have also been specially trained to make us mistakenly think that they are all your old subordinates who have been following you for a long time. In order to prop up the face of my predecessor who stayed behind in my country of Korea and earn this money... you, a down-and-out old man, have worked very hard!

Thinking of this, Cui Junwen felt a little contemptuous. But then he thought that if he was working under Cui Zhongxian, wouldn't he also be accompanying him like a tiger? Isn't it the same as today not knowing what will happen tomorrow? Isn’t Prime Minister Cui’s suspicion and rage in recent years equally unbearable?

This discovery made him feel sad and felt that there was a little sincerity and understanding between him and Yin Chang.

After less than half an hour, Yin Chang said goodbye after drinking and eating, and slowly returned to the port with a few guards.

The subordinate stepped out from behind Cui Junwen and asked, "Do you want to continue staring?"

Cui Junwen sneered: "What time is it now? There are too many people worth noting, and there are people with evil intentions everywhere. Where do we get so many eyes! Whoever likes to stare at them, just stare until they come in Let’s go to Kaicheng and then go watch polo!”