The sky was covered with thick clouds, the north wind was gradually rising, and another snowstorm was approaching.
Ma Zhou was riding on the horse. He was shaken by the wind and his body was very cold. He couldn't help shrinking his body. He thought to himself that it would be better to ride in a carriage. Why are you so brave?
The snow in Chang'an has been falling quite frequently this year, one after another. For the poor people, it is probably another disaster. Ma Zhou looked up at the sky and thought with compassion in his heart.
He was born into a poor family and knew the hardships of people's lives.
As the saying goes, if you are rich, you can help the world, but if you are poor, you can live alone. Now that his life is better, he naturally wants to think about other things. If he is also shivering in the cold wind and has nowhere to hide, how can he care about the lives of others?
Is it painful?
……………………
Baihualou is an extremely tacky name, but it is full of temptation and has strong characteristics of Caiyufang.
It's just that Baihua Tower is not in Caiyufang. It is built on the edge of Caiyufang and belongs to the boundary of Pingkangfang.
Last winter, the government gradually relaxed controls. Teahouses, wine shops, grain shops, etc. no longer need to be gathered in one place, but can be set up in various places.
The shops in Caiyufang were all interested, and they tried to walk out of Caiyufang, such as Baihualou, which was one of them.
Because it is still in the trial stage, Baihua House is not considered a brothel. It is a place where you can drink tea, listen to music and watch dancing. Strictly speaking, it is a restaurant. Just by hearing the name, you can tell that it is definitely not Qing Dynasty. There are other things behind it.
In some small yards, the scenery there is very different.
But everyone can feel that the operating model of Chang'an merchants is changing. The previous situation of strict government control seems to be gone forever.
The brothel in Caiyufang is actually not included in this list, but some brave people have already started to think about it, and Baihualou is obviously one of them.
Businessmen are often a group full of adventurous spirit...
Today was Ma Zhou's invitation to invite people to a gathering, so he naturally put a lot of thought into choosing the place. Even with the King of Wu as his backer and no shortage of money, he could have chosen a better place, but he didn't want to do it in the past.
I am too showy in front of my friends.
This place is not close to Prince Wu's Mansion. Walking all the way, Ma Zhou's face turned green and his lips turned white from the cold. A year ago, he would not have left the house all winter. He would huddle in whatever place in the temple was the warmest.
Even if the monk rolled his eyes, he didn't care.
And now, he has no time to spare in winter. King Wu is moving. He has been running around for many days to vacate his current residence before the arrival of the twelfth lunar month. By the time October comes, everything is almost ready.
Now that he had some leisure time, he invited his friends to come out and get together.
Finally, we arrived in front of the Baihua Building. This place was obviously converted from a private house facing the street. This was also the most taboo thing for the government in the past. Businessmen were not allowed to disturb the people.
Even if it is a fair transaction and a matter of mutual consent, when it comes to the Chang'an magistrate's office, it is likely to turn into a case of occupying a private house.
Nowadays, it is much more relaxed, but the owner of Baihua Building should have some means, otherwise it would be wishful thinking to build a brothel in Pingkangfang.
Some time ago, Chang'an Ling's eldest son, Sun Wuji, was promoted to the rank of Shaoqing of Dali Temple. The newly appointed Chang'an Ling's surname is Yuan. It is said that he is the cousin of Yin Yuanlang of Jingzhao Prefecture and can barely be regarded as a relative.
Positions like the Chang'an Order generally do not fall into the hands of outsiders. This is a common practice. Of course, this has nothing to do with Ma Zhou. He went there before and never wanted to hang out in that ghost place again.
………………
The facade of Baihua Building is a newly built building with three floors, which is not too short.
The lower two floors are for individual guests. There is a patio in the middle. You can drink wine and tea while watching the singing and dancing in the patio. This is obviously a pattern passed down from the south. It will stop in winter, and the building does not expect this.
make money.
The third floor is a separate private room. There are only three rooms in the house, which is obviously much higher quality. People who are short of money don't have to go in.
It is similar to the brothel in Caiyufang. The essence of this place is in the small courtyard at the back. It is difficult for ordinary people to spy. It is usually a place for entertaining nobles. As for the wealthy families in Chang'an, there is no need to worry about the poorer ones.
You can't afford to get involved in it.
If Li Po had come here, he would have known that this was during the trial operation period and the prices were affordable, so it would be difficult to attract real aristocrats to visit here.
There are no fancy poems or stage poems, and there are no famous prostitutes in charge. It is definitely not very attractive to scholars. It looks very perfunctory, and looks like it is ready to withdraw funds and run away at any time.
……………………
Ma Zhou has been following Du Fuwei for half a year, and now he knows Caiyufang very well.
Du Fuwei, like many people, eats flower wine to feel fresh. He goes to a place today and changes the world tomorrow. His reputation in Caiyufang is not small, and Ma Zhou has gained a lot of knowledge.
If this continues, he has the potential to become King Wu's henchman.
Arriving in front of the Baihua Tower, Ma Zhou raised his head and looked around. The two servants who followed him muttered that the gentleman was so stingy for choosing such a poor place to entertain guests. Apparently, he had learned more from following King Wu.
Horse Monday people.
The shopkeeper hid inside the door to take shelter from the wind. As he watched the customers come to the door, he immediately opened the door and welcomed them out. He hurled out kind words and held the reins of the customer's horse without intending to let go.
Ma Zhou turned over and dismounted, and said tremblingly, "I have an appointment with someone on the third floor. No one has arrived yet, right?"
It would be rude for the host to arrive late and the guest to arrive first. Naturally, this would not be the case when scholars gather together. Naturally, the guest has not arrived yet.
After the store owner's attentive greeting, Ma Zhou entered the door, and someone happened to come out. The two middle-aged men said a few words to each other in the hall, and passed by Ma Zhou on the way out.
Ma Zhou glanced at them inadvertently. The two people were also very polite and bowed their hands to him. Ma Zhou returned the gesture, and then the two people went out with the store's greetings.
One of them, Ma Zhou, looked familiar. When the shopkeeper led him up to the third floor and served tea, Ma Zhou finally remembered that the man should be a deacon in Tang Jian's house, the Minister of War.
Tang Jian was born in the Tang family in Taiyuan. His grandfather was Zuo Pushe Tang Yong of the Northern Qi Dynasty, and his father was Tang Che, the governor of Rongzhou. He was a serious member of the Jin Dynasty.
And Tang Jian himself was one of Li Yuan's first heroes in Jinyang.
This man has no other achievements except for his first righteousness, but his reputation is not small. People say that Tang Jian knows the military, but they don’t know how it came out. They have never heard of this man’s military exploits... Well, this is for those who don’t know.
It must be a mystery in my heart.
Tang Jian gained the trust of Li Yuan very much. Later, he became very close to Li Shimin and was from Jin Dynasty, so he was greatly ostracized in the court. Li Yuan and Li Shimin and his son took turns to protect him, otherwise he might have been in trouble long ago.
Got a job.
Now that Li Yuan has died, Tang Jian has been transferred to the position of Minister of War and is also one of the senior officials in the court. However, without backers like Li Yuan and Li Shimin, he is expected to be in a more difficult situation.
On the contrary, his ancestral home in Taiyuan has become an advantage. After all, the current emperor started his career in Jin, and many officials in the court were brought over from Jin by the emperor...
Ma Zhou thought that some of these things actually had nothing to do with him. He knew so clearly because he had served as a staff member under General Chang He of Youwuwei for a period of time. Naturally, he had to pay more attention to the Ministry of War, otherwise he would not be able to do anything about it.
Giving advice to others, right?
It was also at that time that he met the previous deacon of the Tang Dynasty once, and he had almost forgotten the other person's name. Naturally, the other party would not remember who a small staff member was.
At this time, he was just thinking to himself, he heard that the family of Tang Shilang was very strict in discipline and was famous for his filial piety, but the deacon of the family came to visit the brothel, haha...
While thinking wildly, I drank a few sips of tea soup, and my body gradually warmed up. Then I thought about how to talk to a few friends. They hadn't seen each other for a long time, and I didn't know how they were doing.
In fact, these people were all casual acquaintances. After Ma Zhou came to Chang'an, he joined Chang He's house, so everyone he met in Chang'an was also under Chang He's family.
After he was kicked out of the Chang Mansion, he lost contact with these people. Especially after that, he lived a miserable life in the temple and was unable to interact with others.
Later, it was even more surprising that he actually entered the palace of Wu King Du Fuwei. How could he think of contacting his friends when he was so frightened? Even if he invited others, they probably would not dare to accept the invitation. Aren't you doing harm to others?
It was only now that he had settled down that he dared to show his face. He was also worried that those few people would not dare to come. He only set a date place after getting the other party's trust.
After thinking about his experiences over the past year, Ma Zhou sighed in his heart. When he left Hebei, he was full of resentment and unwillingness, and his ambitions could burst out from his chest and abdomen.
But after all these years of hard work, how much of those embraces from back then are left? Thinking of those old things, I’m afraid I can only say goodbye in the end, are you young and energetic?
Chang'an Maritime Academy... Ma Zhou touched it and didn't know what it felt like. The academy was already strange enough, but now there was another academy. Could it be that the emperor was joking with King Wu?
The name was so weird that he was ashamed to mention it to others, but he still had to make this sacrificial wine. He could already imagine the weird expressions on several friends' faces when they came to hear about it.
Just like after he heard this, he didn't have the heart to tell the enthusiastic King Wu that the emperor might be perfunctory and find something for you to do to save you from doing anything out of boredom.
And with such a conjecture, his enthusiasm waned, and he didn't feel that there was anything to be happy about being the sacrificial wine of Chang'an Maritime Academy.
Today he made an appointment with some old friends, and he still felt a little guilty. After all, he had "bad intentions" and wanted to recruit people into his gang. Maybe everyone would become the laughing stock of Chang'an soon...
Of course, it depends on how well the other people get along with each other and whether they are smart enough. Judging from their initial interactions with each other... this shouldn't take much effort.