After fifteen rounds of wine, it was time to take a break. At this time, the dishes became clear, and they were exactly the forty dishes from the previous banquet.

Needless to say, all the wine was from Lanqiao Fengyue, and as for the water, everyone noticed at this moment, it was all water from pressurized wells, without any spring water or old well water.

On the eighth day, because all the previous guests had arrived, Zhang Jun was full of confidence and went to write the eighth invitation himself. However, before he finished writing the invitations, he received another invitation instead... It was from Emperor Zhao who sent Feng Erguan to deliver the invitation, inviting him and Wu Jie, who had just arrived in Tokyo today, to attend a banquet in the palace.

Zhang Jun was caught off guard for a moment, but there was nothing he could do but leave in fear.

According to the invitation, the commander-in-chief of the right army of the imperial camp first met with the commander-in-chief of the rear army of the imperial camp, Wu Jie, in front of Tongtian Gate in the north, and then went with Feng Yi towards Hanfang Garden.

Hanfang Garden is also known as Ruisheng Garden. As the name suggests, it is another private property of Emperor Zhao.

However, because this property was outside the city, it had been razed to the ground as early as during the Jing Kang period, leaving only a rough outline. But now it has been used by Emperor Zhao as a venue for the Small Cuju League in Tokyo City.

The so-called Small Cuju League is a new competition system formulated by the court based on last year's extremely effective Cuju League, but it divides the Cuju competition into two seasons, spring and autumn. It starts in mid-March in spring, with round-robin competitions in different regions and ranking based on points; in autumn, it is the playoffs, and the top eight teams compete in a series of elimination matches to determine the league champion. For this, Emperor Zhao even gave a special title, called the champion; and finally before the New Year, the four champions of Kaifeng Prefecture, Jingxi, Jingdong, and Imperial Camp Central Army will decide the victory in the World's No. 1 Cuju Conference... At that time, Emperor Zhao will personally award the badges to the World's No. 1 Cuju Team.

Back to the present, the two generals suppressed their anxiety and followed Feng Yi to Hanfang Garden, turning into the huge Cuju field that was shaped like a big pot... Of course, it was said that this was also designed by Emperor Zhao, who always liked to do some meaningless things... Then they went straight to the house on the top floor.

This simple house with an observation platform at the highest point has another name, called a private room, because Emperor Zhao reserved a large private room in the middle facing north and south, and designated the private rooms on the left and right to several prime ministers and two fathers-in-law, so all the dignitaries wanted to have a private room here.

As for today, it is not the official match day, but the day before the official match, when the public buys the box seats. There is only an exhibition match to liven up the atmosphere. The so-called buying is a very popular gambling behavior in the Song Dynasty, which is roughly equivalent to the bidding in later generations.

“Well done!”

Outside the box, Yang Yizhong was dressed in casual clothes, leading seven or eight big men standing solemnly. When they saw the two, they just said nothing. Inside the box, Emperor Zhao personally held the youngest Princess Yiyou, and by her side were the two little princesses Foyou and Shenyou, plus two concubines, and four or five attendants. When they saw the visitors, they greeted them casually. "Just sit and watch a game and wait for the results of the betting."

The two looked at each other, and could only step forward and pay their respects to the emperor and the two concubines in turn, and then carefully sat down on the stage outside the box.

The game seemed lackluster.

Of course, it is also possible that the competition was good, but no one’s mind was on it… There was no need to say much about the two generals, and the two imperial concubines were also not interested. They just sat there with a little princess each, and Emperor Zhao was even more intent on teasing the youngest Princess Yiyou… Everyone occasionally said something, but Emperor Zhao did not get involved, and although Imperial Concubine Pan was more imposing, she could not say much because of the presence of two foreign ministers, and the others just agreed.

Just like that, when a Cuju match was about to end, Feng Yi pushed the door open and handed over a piece of paper. Emperor Zhao just hugged the little princess and laughed and said, "These people, they said they fled south and north and lost most of their property, but they still managed to get so much money... Boying, you and Jin Qing take a look."

Zhang Boying quickly took it and went to see it with Wu Jie, and he was indeed moved.

It turned out that according to what was written on the paper, the wealthy and powerful who were interested in buying the private rooms at the Hanfang Garden Cuju Stadium rushed to buy nearly a hundred private rooms, one by one, and the transaction price kept rising, ranging from a few dozen to several thousand, and finally the total price was nearly 50,000! On average, each private room received 500 strings of cash!

Zhang Jun was fine, but Wu Jie was a country bumpkin on his first visit to Beijing. He held the paper in his hand and looked around. He felt that this strange-looking semi-open box was not worth 500 coins at all. How could it be sold for 500 coins? He was also shocked for a moment.

But at the same time, Zhang Boying turned around and laughed: "If the emperor had said so earlier, I would have bought a box closer to the emperor."

"I left it for you." Zhao Jiu said casually, but he was also moved. "It's just that I didn't expect to get so much money... I have only visited this Cuju field twice. It was mainly designed by Chen Xianggong and repaired by Yan Dayin. Because it is my private property, I borrowed money from Wu Guozhang in my personal capacity to renovate it. It cost me more than 10,000 strings of cash in total. I have made 40,000 in free money before the game even started."

Zhang Jun listened quietly and laughed again: "In my opinion, if the Cuju competition continues like this, the government will make a fortune... Not only the private rooms, but also some shops and restaurants around Hanfang Garden can be rented out, and the annual rent will be a large sum of money."

The yellow-faced Wu Jie came to his senses immediately and nodded repeatedly.

"I am more greedy than you think." Zhao Jiu continued to hold the little princess in his arms and laughed. "I am also planning to start a Cuju betting in the Kaifeng Prefecture competition area, and place a bet on every game..."

Zhang Jun was slightly startled, and could not help but ask sideways: "I have just thought of this matter, but Your Majesty... will the ministers and the censors allow Your Majesty to do this?"

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