"As soon as I entered his house, his big yellow dog pounced on me. It bit and the dog didn't bark. Hehe, it really happened. I swung the wooden stick in my hand and knocked the big yellow dog unconscious with one hit." Liu Damazi became more and more excited.
Zhao Huan interrogated Liu Damazi in the side hall of the Tiger Court. The side hall was very small, and the stool where Liu Damazi sat was not far from Zhao Huan.
In his excitement, Liu Damazi moved his stool closer to Zhao Huan and said, "Let me tell you, Huang Lao Xie appears to be serious, but he's actually a hypocrite. He, hehe, actually... Forget it, I won't tell you."
One has to admire Liu Damazi's ability to express himself verbally, and coupled with his rich body language, Zhao Huan was completely attracted by his story: "Come and listen to it."
Liu Damazi, a chatterbox, couldn't keep a secret. He didn't hold it in for even a second before moving closer to Zhao Huan with a grin: "I'm with you, but you can't tell anyone else."
After getting Zhao Huan's nod of agreement, Liu Damazi spoke again: "I tell you, this Huang Laoxie is having an affair with his maid. I saw him sneak into the maid's room with my own eyes and say some cheesy love words. After listening for a while, this Huang Laoxie started talking about his papermaking formula.
That maid was probably no pushover either. She quickly got the Huang Lao Xie papermaking formula out of her. I overheard it all from the corner. To be honest, I used to be an apprentice at a rice paper mill, but the work was too tiring. I quit after two months.
Liu Damazi had a look of disgust on his face: "Making Xuan paper is not a job for humans, but after Huang Lao Xie did this, I learned the formula of Huang's Xuan paper. Originally, I wanted to teach Huang Lao Xie a lesson, but since he accidentally revealed the formula, I didn't bother with him.
So I climbed over the wall and escaped from the Huang family's house again, but before leaving, I told his wife about Huang Lao Xie's actions in the maid's room. Anyway, when I climbed over the wall, the Huang family was in an uproar, and his wife was beating and scolding me in the yard. Hahahaha."
"Is it over?" Zhao Huan asked coldly.
Liu Damazi then realized that he and Zhao Huan were already at a distance that was not suitable for men and women to touch each other. Liu Damazi put his left hand on Zhao Huan's shoulder and gestured proudly with his right hand.
If he hadn't been so proud of himself that he put his hand on Zhao Huan's shoulder, Zhao Huan would have continued listening.
Liu Damazi finally reacted and was so scared that he slipped off the stool, then knelt under Zhao Huan's desk and trembled all over.
"Well, go on, I want to listen." Zhao Huan said coldly.
After waking up, Liu Damazi didn't dare to act presumptuously again. "Your Majesty, let's go back and think about Huang Lao Xie's papermaking formula. The mixture, combined with poplar vine, celtis bark, sandalwood straw, and peach vine juice, is the paper used to make Jiaozi silver notes."
Zhao Huan was shocked after hearing this. This Liu Damazi actually guessed the formula of silver note paper from Huang Lao Xie's formula.
Liu Damazi continued, "People have made dough figurines, and these figurines also require dyes. So we know that the silver note has gone through seven dye printing processes, but the order of these dyes is different. People first went to the paper mill and told the shopkeeper what formula to add. Sure enough, the paper made by the paper mill was exactly the same as the silver note paper, and it was even finer and smoother than the silver note paper.
They also added another ingredient to the silver bills, making them water-resistant and less prone to deformation. And although the dye they used was different from the one used on the imperial silver bills, the silver bills they made glowed a bluish-blue in the sunlight, a quality no one could replicate.
To be honest, Your Majesty, if the imperial court had produced silver notes according to the recipe, even a great immortal would not have been able to imitate it. Unfortunately, the person who made it was arrested before it was even circulated.
After hearing what he said, Zhao Huan gave him a meaningful look and said, "I've seen your fake banknotes. I know. Come, take him away."
Liu Damazi knew he was doomed to die, so he kowtowed and said, "Long live Your Majesty! I cannot escape the death penalty. I've always heard in the capital that Your Majesty is kind and generous, and a good emperor. The foreign merchants also praised Your Majesty's wisdom. I wonder if such a wise and powerful Majesty could let me suffer less. Anyway, I'm about to die, and I beg Your Majesty to be so kind as to not let the officials of the Tiger Yamen torture me."
Zhao Huan smiled and said, "Now you're scared. What were you doing before?"
Who knew that Liu Damazi shook his head and said: "I'm not afraid, I'm going to die anyway. It's just that I have to suffer all this before I die, I think I'll feel wronged after I die."
"You feel wronged? I will execute your entire clan for forging banknotes. Drag it on!"
The guards escorted Liu Damazi out, and Zhao Huan fell into deep thought. He felt that this silver note was unusual from the beginning. Even real silver notes were far inferior to this workmanship. Liu Damazi was indeed a talent.
The more Zhao Huan looked at the fake silver note in his hand, the more he felt that it was finely made and had no flaws.
Erlangzi's crime was not punishable by death, and Zhao Huan had originally intended to expel him from the palace. However, considering that he had no one to rely on, he sent him to guard the imperial mausoleum.
Unexpectedly, the food in the Tiger Yasi was quite good. Liu Damazi’s first meal was even better than what he had at home. It was a pity that there was no wine.
Liu Damazi was the kind of person who took things as they came. He was going to die anyway, and even though he was afraid of the thought, being afraid was useless. He might as well do what he had to do while he was still alive.
So he would eat until he was full and sleep, and then eat when he woke up. The prison cell of Hu Yasi was dark and dark, and he didn't know why the emperor didn't put him in prison.
Perhaps a person like him, like a stinkbug, was not worth worrying about. He didn't know the time of day or night in prison. Liu Damazi only knew that the days passed very slowly, as if more than ten years had passed, and also as if several months had passed.
One day, the prison door opened and two guards came in. One of them said, "Liu Damazi, let's go."
Liu Damazi walked out obediently, and then he was put in shackles. He studied the shackles on his feet. They were long, but not heavy. Apart from the clanking sound, they didn't affect his walking much, except that he couldn't run.
But he immediately became unhappy: "Don't they eat a bowl of beheading rice before going to the execution ground? Why isn't mine included?"
The guard ignored him and just said, "Stop talking and get out of here!"
"No, did you two embezzle my final meal money? You two embezzled my final meal money, do you have any conscience?" Liu Damazi became even more angry.
A guard stabbed him hard with the butt of his knife: "Stop talking nonsense! Who told you to go to the execution ground? Get out of here!"
Liu Damazi stumbled and looked at the guard doubtfully. Did he change his cell? Was he going to be sent to jail?
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