Han Du sent everyone away and returned to the racecourse to find An Qing and his parents.
Seeing Han Du open the door and come in, An Qing happily stepped forward to hold Han Du's arm and asked expectantly: "How is it? How much did we earn today?"
It was okay if An Qing didn't ask, but when he asked, it brought up Han Du's sadness. Thirty-one thousand five hundred guan, just gone, made his heart bleed.
Without answering An Qing, Han Du forced a smile, raised his hand and patted his face, and said with a dry smile: "Dad, Mom, it's getting late today, why don't we go back first~"
"Okay, I'm tired too, so I'll go back today." Seeing that Han Du didn't answer An Qing, Han De glanced at their faces lightly and said nothing more.
After saying that, he pulled Mrs. Liu, who was a little confused, to stand up.
When An Qing saw this, he didn't want to ask Han Du any more, so he stepped forward to hold Liu's arm and left the racecourse.
After getting on the carriage, An Qing couldn't hold it in any longer. He pulled Han Du's brocade robe and asked dissatisfiedly: "What's going on? What do you think?"
The racecourse cost the family 300,000 yuan. Although An Qing did not feel distressed, it was not a small amount. As the wife of the Marquis of Zhenhai, it was natural for her to care about making money.
Originally, I had already made money, but if your father hadn't interfered, Han Du would have slandered me.
Facing An Qing's unwilling eyes, Han Du said calmly: "I made money originally, 31,500 yuan."
An Qing was stunned for two seconds, half-opened his mouth and said: "Wait, what do you mean I made money before, but now where is the money?"
"All the money was taken away by your father." With an extremely depressed mood, Han Du told An Qing in detail about Lao Zhu's visit here.
"What did you say? Why did Father come here? Why didn't I know?" An Qing was even more surprised at this moment than before.
Han Du spread his hands: "If the emperor hadn't also placed bets on horse racing, I wouldn't have known that the emperor was here." Needless to say, when Han Du found Lao Zhu, he must have mentioned sending people to kill everyone at the gate of the racecourse.
It's under control. In this way, if no one reports it, Han Du will naturally not know about it.
"My father is here, then why don't you send someone to inform him so that I can go and pay my respects to my father." An Qing let go of Han Du's robe and couldn't help but give it a light hammer.
Han Du smiled bitterly, "I tried to find a chance to go out, but I couldn't find one. The emperor looked at me so hard that he didn't even give me a chance to leave the house. How could I inform you?"
Although An Qing was a little regretful that she could not pay her respects to her father in time, but since this was what her father wanted, she no longer thought about it. Instead, she thought of her own money and asked with some confusion:
"That means my father won all the money that originally belonged to us?"
"That's it." Han Du nodded feebly.
An Qing felt distressed for a moment, and asked with some worry: "What will we do in the future? If my father comes to place bets every time we race, won't we make no money at all?"
It's not a pleasant feeling to work hard and end up making wedding clothes for others.
Han Du laughed instead, patted An Qing's hand to comfort him for a moment, and said: "This is the first time that my father-in-law took advantage of my father's lack of preparation. Look, if my father wants to win like this in the future, that's not right."
It’s possible.”
An Qing heard that the racecourse could make money in the future. Although she didn't know what Han Du could do, she was still happy. However, she was quite critical of Han Du's statement, "Don't let your father take advantage of this loophole."
The emperor heard it."
Han Du was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized that he had made a mistake. He quickly smiled to cover up his embarrassment and kept saying: "It was my husband who made a mistake, and I won't do it again."
The time was advanced, and Lao Zhu was sitting on the wooden bench, stroking his beard with a smile on his face, feeling somewhat complacent.
When Queen Ma saw him, she didn't know what he was so proud of. She came closer and said with a smile: "Your Majesty is having a great time today and has won so much money."
"Hmph, Han Du has a lot of clever ideas, but he didn't fall into my hands yet." Lao Zhu said.
The reason why I am so proud is mainly because I won money.
Empress Ma smiled and echoed, as if coaxing a child, "Yes, yes, yes, no matter how smart Han Du is, how can he be the emperor's opponent?"
Just when Lao Zhu was happy, Empress Ma added abruptly, "But every step of the way makes you wiser. Han Du has suffered such a big loss at your hands this time, and he will definitely find a way to make up for it. Next time the emperor
I’m afraid it won’t be easy to win money again.”
Lao Zhu, who was in high spirits, didn't believe Queen Ma's words at all. In his opinion, horse betting depends on the horse's vision and careful evaluation of the rider's skills. Sometimes even the best horse in the field, but as long as
It is impossible to win with a bad rider. If the best rider rides a bad horse, the result will be the same.
Therefore, only the best result obtained by combining the pros and cons of the rider and the horse is the horse that should really be bet on.
Lao Zhu was proud that he was very proficient in both of these, and did not believe what Queen Ma said at all. He shook his head in disbelief and said: "Then just watch, I will be able to win all Han Du's money in the next horse race."
"Why don't I take a gamble with the emperor?" Queen Ma suggested with a roll of her eyes when she saw Lao Zhu's confidence.
Not only was Lao Zhu not angry at Queen Ma's suggestion of a bet, but he even said more enthusiastically: "Oh? Are you so confident in Han Du? Well, I'll bet with you!"
Five days later, Lao Zhu received the news again and looked at the paper with a pale face.
The paper was brought back from the racecourse, and it was densely printed with words. The first line was: Horse Racing Betting Rules.
Lao Zhu didn't look at the others, but just stared at one of them: the racecourse takes 20% of all gambling funds each time as the cost of feeding the horses and managing them, and all the other money is used to distribute the money to the winners in proportion.
In other words, Han Du can get 20% of the income no matter what. It is impossible for Lao Zhu to take away all the money like last time.
Lao Zhu let the paper fall on the imperial desk dejectedly. He sighed and sat down, and said to the old eunuch: "Go and report to the empress, I lost."
The old eunuch covered his mouth and snickered, then turned around and left quickly before Lao Zhu got angry.
Lao Zhu was resentful of the racecourse's horse racing rules, but for gamblers in the capital, this was simply an extremely fair, just and open gambling opportunity.
Everyone knows that gambling houses in the world are all about gambling and cheating. But these gamblers still can't help themselves. The illusion of instant wealth stimulates them, even if they lose and lose everything, they still go in and gamble.
Nowadays, the racecourse has printed the rules of horse racing on a piece of paper and informed everyone in detail, and it is written in black and white. The racecourse only takes 20% of the commission for each horse betting, and the rest belongs to the winner.
Han Du even specially found some storytellers to come and sent a dozen people to sit at the entrance of the racecourse. Each person had a table and a pot of tea. They didn't have to do anything. When someone asked what the horse betting was about.
When the time comes, they can just be responsible for answering questions for everyone.
The consistent high salary every day stimulates all storytellers. Even if they are angry when explaining over and over again, even if their throats are filled with smoke, under the comfort of such a high salary, all problems are not problems.
Horse racing betting forms a fixed amount of bets according to the number of games. There are 100-wen games, 10-guan games, 10-guan games, and even 100-guan games and 1000-guan games. However, the most common ones are the first three. Don’t look at the appearance of 100-guan games.
One bet is too small, but there are many people who can't bear to bet. Taken together, it is actually not less than those who have made hundreds of thousands of bets.
As soon as the horse racing betting method spread, the business of the entire gambling house in the capital plummeted instantly, with more than 80% of it gone.
If it were anyone else, they might have been torn to pieces by these gambling shop owners with red eyes like rabbits. Unfortunately, in front of Han Du, they were just ants. If they dared to step forward to cause trouble, they could be crushed with just one finger.
die.
The popularity of the racecourse has resulted in a sea of people coming to the racecourse every day to have fun.
People are the foundation of everything, and there are people who have everything. Seeing the popularity of the racecourse, those nobles no longer had any doubts, and started to take action on the land around the racecourse.
At first, the price of these lands was not high. Even if it was 25 to 30 guan according to the market price, or even a little lower than that, you could buy it. After all, the people had limited knowledge, and the people who came to buy their land
, either the housekeeper of the Marquis Mansion or the cronies of the Duke's Mansion were polite to them, and did not deliberately lower the price, so they purchased their land according to the market price.
Although the people were reluctant to part with the land, they knew they couldn't afford to offend these people. If they didn't agree, they would probably suffer retaliation. How could ordinary people like them withstand the retaliation from the marquis and the Duke's government? In addition, the price was not deliberately lowered, so they gritted their teeth.
If you endure it for a while, you will sell the land.
After all, they took the money from selling the land and immediately went to other places to buy the land back. There was no loss at all when they went in and out, which was just a little trouble. And it was obvious that this trouble was nothing like Hou.
Compared with the revenge of the government and the Duke's government, it is simply not worth mentioning.
But there is always a contingency, some people sell directly, some people hesitate and want to wait and see, and some people are determined not to buy.
Ma Laoliu is such a die-hard person. His family has a piece of land in a very good location, just opposite the gate of the racecourse. Moreover, the area of the land is not small, a full six acres, and the long and narrow terrain almost covers the front of the racecourse.
One side was completely surrounded.
The housekeepers in each government were very discerning and naturally knew that this land was of extraordinary value, so they were the first to come to Ma Laoliu to buy it.
As a result, Ma Laoliu didn't agree to any of them, and refused to sell them until he died.
"Liuzi, sell it. The silks and satins those people wear are better than those of the county masters. We can't afford to offend any of them. If you sell it, wouldn't it be the same if we went to the western suburbs to buy a piece of land?" said an old woman.
The man tried to persuade Ma Laoliu with earnest words.
"Mom, my father died from exhaustion when he opened up wasteland. Those are the thoughts he left for his son. No matter how much money he made, he would never sell them." Although Ma Laoliu has never read a book and is not very smart, he is
It is people like him who tend to be stubborn. As long as he has determined something, no one can change it.
He determined that the land was related to his father's death, and he would not change even if his mother persuaded him.
It was obviously not the first time that the old woman had tried to persuade her. Seeing her son being so stubborn, she had no choice but to sigh: "That's fine, our family is so poor that you can't even afford a wife, so it doesn't make any difference whether we sell it or not.
It's just the right time for those noble people to take revenge, and it's just the right time for our family to escape from the sea of misery and be together neatly."
After saying that, the old woman shook her head, turned around and walked into the dilapidated house.
Not long after the old woman entered the house, an old man wearing coarse clothes came over with a group of people. The color of the old man's clothes was dark and light, obviously it had been washed many times, but even though it was
This old-looking clothes was worn by the old man, and the old man took great care of it. Even when walking, he had to be discerning and quick to avoid branches and weeds on the ground. Some were afraid of being stained by weeds or being scratched by branches.
Cloth cover.
Next to the old man was an old man wearing brocade, with deerskin carved boots on his feet, and holding a piece of jade in his hand to play with.
The old man flattered the old man to the best of his ability. He always had to pay attention to the old man's expression. Even if the old man had some inconvenience and was stopped, he would stop quickly, for fear of rushing in front of the old man and making the old man unhappy with him.
.
When a group of people came to Ma Liu, the old man stepped forward first, pointed at Ma Lao Liu and said: "Xiao Liuzi, your wealth has come. Do you know who this is? I'll scare you to death if I tell you. This is Liang Guogong Fu Lan.
Sir, why don't you salute Sir Lan quickly?"
The old man listened to this man's nonsense and felt a little dissatisfied. Before Ma Laoliu could salute, he stepped forward with a smile and said, "Brother, there is no need to be polite. I am here to buy the land from my brother. No."
Do you know if you can cut off your love?"
"Not for sale!" When Ma Laoliu heard that he was buying land again, he immediately had a bad look on these people and spat out two words coldly.
The old man had long heard of this man's stubbornness, but he didn't think anything of it.
But the old man next to me
As if his authority had been challenged, he jumped out immediately, pointed at Ma Laoliu and cursed: "You don't have anything that you can see. I'm giving you face, right? When a noble person buys your land, he thinks highly of you. You
It’s okay to be ungrateful, but you still dare to refuse?”
The old man chuckled twice without saying anything. The old man in front of him wanted to take credit in front of him, but he didn't know that this man's tricks were just leftovers from their games. If it hadn't been for His Highness the Crown Prince's order this time, they wouldn't have done anything to him.
The seller, Ma Laoliu, was so polite.
"Not for sale!" Facing the old man's insult, Ma Laoliu still said these two cold words.
"Liuzi, are you committing a crime?" The old man's eyes widened, as if he felt humiliated, and he stepped forward with red eyes.
And Ma Laoliu also stood up suddenly, stared at the old man fiercely, and slowly clenched his fists.
Seeing this, the old man stepped forward, stopped him, and said to Ma Laoliu with a smile: "Brother, don't be anxious, why don't you first listen to me about the price?"
Ma Laoliu was still a little afraid of the old man. After all, he couldn't afford to offend such a noble man, and he didn't want to offend him. But it was impossible for him to sell his land.
"I won't sell it. I told you that I won't sell it for any amount of money."
The old man smiled calmly and spit out a price: "Ordinary land is only thirty thousand dollars per mu at most. How about your landlady giving you forty dollars per mu?"
Ma Laoliu didn't even hum, obviously dismissive of the old man's statement.
"Oh? Still think it's too little? How about fifty dollars per acre?" The old man showed no impatience. Seeing that Ma Laoliu didn't agree, he raised the price without hesitation.
This made the old man standing aside widen his eyes. It was fifty guan per acre. You must know that his land was only sold for 25 guan. Doesn't it mean that Ma Laoliu would get one more guan than him if he sells his land now?
Times?
"My lord, please don't waste your efforts. We won't sell the land." Seeing that the old man only negotiated the price with him and did not take it by force, Ma Laoliu felt a little fond of him.
"Sixty dollars per acre." The old man did not explain too much to Ma Laoliu and directly chose to increase the price.
After waiting for a moment, the old man did not wait long enough for Ma Laoliu to nod his head and said with a smile: "Still not satisfied? Then seventy ounces per acre."
"Eighty dollars per acre." The old man continued to increase the price calmly.
Ma Laoliu was shocked. Although he was too deeply involved with that piece of land, he had never thought about selling it. But now that he saw the old man increasing the price without hesitation, he was stunned.
Eighty guan per acre is a sky-high price that has never been heard of. Let alone land, even good farmland is not worth 80 guan. What is there in that land that attracts the noble man in front of me so much?
Gold?
Ma Laoliu shook his head with certainty. There must be no gold in the land, otherwise he would have discovered it long ago after farming every year for so many years.
Even though he didn't even nod his head to sell it after eighty guan, this was a bit of a slap in the face. If he hadn't had scruples, how could the old man have talked to Yi Niji in such a pleasant manner?
Just when the old man looked slightly angry, Cheng Yaojin came out halfway.
"One hundred strings!"
The old man followed the sound, looked at the person coming and sneered: "Who do I think it is? It turns out to be the Huaiyuan Marquis Mansion. How come you are qualified to rob it with me?"
The visitor was also a richly dressed old man. Faced with threatening words, the old man was not afraid at all. He laughed and said: "Although Mr. Liang's family status is higher than ours, everyone knows what happened this time.
The nobles won't care. So, Old Lan, you don't need to carry out Liang Guogong to scare me."
Knowing that it would be useless to talk to this scoundrel, Old Man Lan turned directly to Ma Laoliu and said: "One hundred and ten acres per acre. If you are willing to sell the land to me, I will ask to see the father-in-law and let you live in my house."
Find a job."
The old man later was not to be outdone, and directly offered a price: "Old man Lan just added ten guans. This is not the courage of your high-ranking Liang Guogong Mansion. Look at me, one hundred and fifty guans per acre, if you
Promise, I don’t need to ask, I promise to find you a job in the house."
Ma Laoliu was hit by these unprecedented words, which made him dizzy and his eyes were filled with stars.