Zhao Ji became interested and said, "Since we are free, you can tell me the origin of this story in detail."
"Since the emperor is willing to listen, I will tell you."
Zhang Shixun opened the door to the living room, invited Zhao Ji to sit down, and cleared his throat. "It's a long story. The experience of obtaining Yinghui was full of twists and turns. If you want to know its origin, we have to start from the beginning. Our family has been living overseas for more than a hundred years. We have been to India, Daqin, Baghdad, Srivijaya, Champa, Japan, and Goryeo..."
Zhang Shixun counted on his fingers and said a long list of foreign names.
"Young Master Zhang, you have traveled to so many places. Is there any country richer than the Song Dynasty?" Zhao Ji asked with interest.
Zhang Shixun shook his head and said, "All the countries combined are not as wealthy as the Song Dynasty. At most, they are only 10% or 20% as wealthy as the Song Dynasty."
"Really?" Zhao Ji's eyes lit up.
"Take Baghdad for example. It is already a very wealthy place, but the rich and powerful there live a life not even as good as the people guarding the city gates of the Song Dynasty." Zhang Shixun began to talk nonsense. Anyway, they had no way to verify it.
"Oh my God!" Someone exclaimed.
"Think about it, compared to the Song Dynasty, a place like this is not even as good as the countryside. So, after I came back from overseas, I always felt like a country bumpkin."
"But..." Zhang Shixun changed the subject and said, "Although these foreigners are so poor that they can't even afford a pair of pants, they also have good things." He pointed at the Yinghui in Zhao Ji's hand and said, "This priceless treasure is worn by the Princess of Baghdad."
Everyone looked at Yinghui again. Although the door of the living room had been opened, the light emitted by Yinghui still had a charming feeling.
Zhang Shixun continued, "Yinghui is said to have fallen from heaven and was accidentally found by the royal family of Baghdad. They regarded it as a national treasure and stipulated that only the princess could wear it. After the death of the previous princess, it was passed down to the next princess, and this way it was passed down from generation to generation for hundreds of years."
"Later, the King of Baghdad indulged in extravagance and debauchery. To build the gardens of his palace, he plundered the people's wealth, causing widespread resentment among the people. Some loyal ministers risked their lives to warn the King of Baghdad, saying that if he continued like this, the people would suffer and the country would be ruined. They hoped that the King of Baghdad would change his ways, but he would not listen and continued his life of drunkenness and debauchery..."
"The foreign tribes, who had long coveted Baghdad, saw an opportunity and suddenly launched a war, attacking the city with lightning speed. Only then did the King of Baghdad finally wake up from his dream and hastily issued an edict of repentance, calling on the people to resist the foreign invasion. However, the people's hearts had already turned cold, and they were unwilling to fight for this absurd king. Thus, Baghdad was captured by the foreign tribes. After the city was captured, the corpses piled up like mountains and the blood flowed like rivers..."
Zhao Ji broke out in a cold sweat and asked nervously, "Where is the royal family in Baghdad? Did they escape?"
"Escape?" Zhang Shixun said coldly, "Where to escape to? Baghdad is surrounded by flat land, and many places are desert. There is nowhere to escape to."
"What happened next?"
Zhang Shixun said, "The King of Baghdad and all the members of the royal family were captured by the foreigners. However, they didn't kill him, but gave him an extremely humiliating title - Duke Hun De. Haha! This title is quite interesting..."
At this point, Zhang Shixun clearly saw the muscles on Zhao Ji's face twitch, and he thought to himself: This old guy must be feeling sympathy for his own kind and is being provoked. If he knew that the title of "Duke Hun De" would belong to him in the future, I don't know how he would deal with it.
"What happened next?" Liang Shicheng couldn't help but interrupt and ask.
Zhang Shixun glanced at him and sneered in his heart: You stinky eunuch, you should care about your own destiny, you will die in a few years.
Seeing that he had stopped, Zhao Ji urged him, "Keep talking, don't stop."
"Later, the male members of the royal family were either killed or enslaved, and the women were even worse off. The pretty ones became concubines and slaves, while the others were sent to brothels... It was so miserable!" Zhang Shixun narrated seriously.
He deliberately mixed up the events and moved the story of the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty to Baghdad without any changes.
Everyone sighed after hearing this. Zhao Ji pointed at Yinghui in his hand and asked, "How did this treasure fall into your hands?"
"When Baghdad fell, a prince managed to escape. Unfortunately, one of his legs was cut, and it became festered." Zhang Shixun continued to make up the story. "I found him in a ruin in the desert. He had a high fever, his legs were crawling with maggots, and he was almost dead..."
Liang Shicheng interrupted, "Humph! You're definitely going to take advantage of the situation, kill the prince, and then loot all the treasures on him, right?"
"The donkey thinks so too." Zhang Shixun said with a smile. Since he had already offended the eunuch, he was not afraid of offending him again.
Everyone burst into laughter.
"You...you are so rude!" Liang Shicheng pointed at Zhang Shixun, furious.
"Alright, alright!" Zhao Ji glared at Liang Shicheng and said, "You can't argue with him, so why do you keep provoking him... Don't interrupt, let him continue."
Liang Shicheng shrank his head and said nothing, just staring at Zhang Shixun.
Zhang Shixun pretended not to see it and said, "I saw this man was dying, and I felt pity for him. He was in such a disaster, I couldn't just stand by and watch him die."
Gao Qiu said, "Shixun has a kind heart and will surely be rewarded in the future."
Unlike Liang Shicheng, Gao Qiu had a very good impression of Zhang Shixun.
Zhang Shixun smiled at him and continued, "I saw that his lips were chapped from the fever, so I gave him some water, cleaned the wound on his leg, and then stayed by his side until he woke up."
"I waited for over an hour, until the sun was about to set, when he slowly woke up. The first thing he asked was who I was, and he looked very nervous. I told him I came here from a great country called the Great Song."
"Yes, yes! Our Song Dynasty is indeed a great country." Zhao Ji was very happy.
Zhang Shixun said, "The prince let out a long sigh after hearing this, his nervousness subsiding. Clearly, he had heard of the Great Song. I gave him some more water, and he told me, intermittently, that he had dreamed of visiting the Great Song since he was a child, to see what the legendary paradise-like life was like... Clearly, in his mind, life in the Great Song was no less than heaven."
Zhao Ji and everyone nodded.
"As a Song citizen, I was naturally delighted to hear that a Arab longed for the Song. I gave him the food I had brought with me, and he wolfed it down while telling me that he was a prince of Baghdad—one of the seventy-two princes..."
"Ah!?" Zhao Ji exclaimed, "The King of Baghdad actually has seventy-two princes?"
"Um!"
"Are all these seventy-two princes the biological children of the King of Baghdad?"
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