114: 50th Birthday

Chapter 113: Fiftieth Birthday

"This is my fiftieth birthday after all, all you Clan Chiefs and lords must give me Face!"

Under the dim lights, Liu Chengen smiled as he looked at the representatives of the eight great families in front of him, saying sinisterly, "It's my fiftieth birthday, and if anyone doesn't let me have a good time, then I will never let them have a good time either!"

"The Eight Great Merchants of Bing, various families, and landlords must have their Family heads show up. If there is no Family head, then the eldest son or eldest grandson must show up. I must also liven things up properly, hehehe..."

"Get down there and bring my words!"

"Understood... understood!"

Several representatives of the Eight Great Merchants of Bing were so frightened that they trembled, hastily retreating and bringing Liu Chengen's words back to their respective masters.

They were only errand runners; all decisions were still made by the heads of each Family.

When the Eight Great Merchants of Bing received the words brought back by their subordinates, those with big tempers immediately flew into a rage and smashed all the antique vases in their homes.

Those with better tempers were also so angry that they rolled their eyes and convened the core members of their families to discuss matters.

In their view, what Liu Chengen did was still because he wanted money!

Two million silver taels were still not enough to satisfy this old eunuch's appetite.

Wasn't he afraid that the ministers in court would impeach him?

Soon, the Eight Great Merchants of Bing exerted all their strength to contact the officials in the court.

One-third of the court officials were persuaded by them, and a large number of memorials flew toward the cabinet like rain.

Even among the five cabinet assistant ministers inside the cabinet, two of them constantly requested to see Your Majesty.

Unfortunately, all of them were blocked by the people of the Directorate of Ceremonial.

Your Majesty is currently cultivating immortal techniques and will not see anyone!

Helplessly, one message after another returned to the hands of the merchants of Bing.

Some people even directly named them, telling them to spend money to buy safety.

This old eunuch Liu Chengen had suffered grievances in the imperial palace his whole life, and now that he finally ran out of the palace on official business, shouldn't he seize the time to thoroughly loot and plunder?

It was your bad luck to be targeted by him.

Besides, Liu Chengen was favored by Your Majesty, and since Your Majesty was not seeing anyone now, that was why he was so emboldened.

After the news was transmitted back to Bing Province, the Eight Great Merchants of Bing were instantly speechless and could only gather together helplessly.

On this day, the Eight Great Merchants of Bing successively dispatched their main figures, gathering together at the Datong Wang Family.

As one of the aristocratic families and the head of the Eight Great Merchants of Bing, the Datong Wang Family's entire mansion occupied almost one-third of Datong Commandery City, with thousands of continuous houses and extreme prosperity.

There was a nursery rhyme that joked: The East China Sea lacks a white jade bed, the Dragon King comes to invite the Datong King; white jade makes the hall and gold makes the horses, pearls and embroidery make the footrests.

It could be seen how abundant their Family wealth was, rivaling a country!

"Third Uncle in the court sent news that Your Majesty is not seeing anyone, and that group of dog-cursed eunuchs from the Directorate of Ceremonial still keeps the memorials without issuing them, completely not taking us seriously!"

Inside the ancestral hall of the Datong Wang Family, more than a dozen old men and middle-aged men sat together discussing something, with very intense tones.

"Your Majesty is muddle-headed! What immortal cultivation at such a young age? Their brain has been cultivated into confusion, actually letting a group of eunuchs ride on top of the ministers in the court!"

"The most damned are those sycophants who surround the Directorate of Ceremonial and actually dare to contend with the cabinet on equal terms!"

"The Eunuch Faction! This group of damned eunuchs!"

"Sigh, no matter what, what we are discussing today is to come up with a protocol..."

"Old Master Wang, what do you think...?"

The remaining Family heads of the Eight Great Merchants of Bing all looked at the old man at the head.

The old man at the head had mottled white hair and a full Face of wrinkles, but his gaze was extremely profound.

He said indifferently, "What is there to fear? He is just an old eunuch."

"So what if he is part of the Eunuch Faction? This world ultimately still belongs to us aristocratic families!"

"Old Master Wang is wise and discerning!"

Many Family heads immediately cupped their hands and said.

The Old Master Wang before them was none other than the current Old Ancestor of the Datong Wang Family, Wang Zhonghe!

Wang Ze, one of the cabinet assistant ministers in the court, was precisely this person's third son.

And Wang He, another cabinet assistant minister, was also this person's nephew.

It could be said that the Datong Wang Family alone occupied two seats in the cabinet.

Wang Zhonghe said, "Isn't it just wanting money? Two million won't do? Then ten million. If ten million won't do, then twenty million!"

"Can none of you afford this little bit of money?"

Everyone fell silent, and soon Qiao Zhiguang stood up and said, "Old Master Wang, greetings. What you said is correct; our eight great families indeed do not lack money, and any single Family can still pull out twenty million."

"However... things are not done this way!"

"If Liu Chengen comes once and squeezes millions or tens of millions of silver taels from us, what about the future?"

"This time it's Liu Chengen, next time it might be some Zhang Chengen or Li Chengen."

"And after taking ten million the first time, there is no guarantee that the second time he won't open his lion's mouth to ask for twenty million, thirty million..."

"Even if our Family runs a bank, we can't take out that much money!"

"Indeed, indeed..."

As soon as Qiao Zhiguang's voice fell, it immediately sparked agreement from the people around.

"Old Master Qiao said it well, that is precisely the logic."

"Taking ten million every time, our Family cannot hold up either!"

"As for cash in hand, our Family still has to transfer it from the bank; it is simply too troublesome..."

"Clatter, clatter, clatter..."

Wang Zhonghe tapped the ground with his cane and said, "What are you anxious about? What is all the fuss about? He hasn't left yet!"

"Your concerns are not unreasonable, but this old man naturally has my own methods of response."

"This time for his fiftieth birthday, this old man will also go join in the bustle and chip in a sum of money for him."

"After he leaves, you guys go find that group of horse bandits and mountain brigands you raised to come out and move around, letting them contact those mud-legged peasants to make a ruckus together."

"Don't tell this old man you don't know them; do you really think this old man is blind!"

"Just say that the Directorate of Ceremonial's Grand Eunuch Seal-holder Liu Chengen plundered the people's fat and ointment in Bing Province, causing a civilian rebellion, with the military spearhead pointing directly at that grand eunuch!"

"By then, all officials will be filled with indignation, and even Your Majesty will not be able to peacefully Cultivate immortality and will have to step forward to handle this matter."

"The best result is to kill Liu Chengen to calm the fury. Even if he doesn't die, he will be reprimanded by Your Majesty and alienated by Your Majesty."

"By then, how we want to exact revenge will be up to us!"

"Good, good, good! This idea is good!"

"As expected of Old Master Wang, truly old and crafty... oh no wait, truly resourceful and deeply calculating!"

"Then we shall do just that, how about it?"

"Good!"

"For Liu Chengen's fiftieth birthday, this old man will also present a grand gift, hahaha...!"

"Let's go together, let's go together...!"

The Eight Great Merchants of Bing laughed heartily, and even began to consider what gifts to send to Liu Chengen so that they could appear "magnanimous".

Soon, Liu Chengen's fiftieth birthday arrived as scheduled.

He booked the entire Fengling Pavilion, hosting many wealthy merchants and aristocratic families of Bing Province.

The guards of Fengling Pavilion were also secretly replaced by a portion of the New Army and the Jinyi Guard, paying constant attention to the coming and going crowds.

As night fell, the entire Fengling Pavilion became brightly lit.

Over a hundred large lanterns shone upon Fengling Pavilion, making it look even more like a soaring Phoenix spreading its wings.

Liu Chengen sat in an imposing manner on the main seat on the top floor of Fengling Pavilion, looking at Datong City outside the window, not knowing what he was thinking in his eyes.

"What a Datong Wang Family, almost the entire Datong Commandery has the surname Wang, plus more than half of Bing Province. Tsk tsk tsk, truly worthy of being the head of Bing Province's aristocratic families..."

Just at this moment, a master of ceremonies downstairs shouted loudly: "Guests have arrived!"

"Wang Zhonghe of the Datong Wang Family wishes Father-in-law Liu Chengen a pine-and-crane longevity and everlasting youth!"

"Congratulations gift: a pair of emerald and white jade lotus roots!"

Liu Chengen stood up and went down to welcome him personally.

Wang Zhonghe, the head of the Bing Province Wang Family, had stepped down as Family head for more than thirty years, and was now eighty-six years old, old enough to be considered an elder.

His third son and nephew, as well as many Juniors, were all serving as officials in the court.

There were two rank-2 high officials, four rank-3 and rank-4 officials, and countless officials below rank-5.

Even Liu Chengen had to give Face at this time.

"Qiao Zhiguang of the Qiao Family of Qixian wishes Father-in-law Liu Chengen happiness as vast as the Eastern Sea and longevity as old as the Southern Mountain!"

"Congratulations gift: a statue of a golden monkey presenting longevity!"

"Chang Ling of the Chang Family of Yuxia Commandery wishes Father-in-law Liu Chengen a daily rising sun like Mount Heng, and double blessings of fortune and longevity!"

"Congratulations gift: a blood jade coral!"

"Meng Yannian of the Meng Family of Taigu Commandery wishes Liu Chengen the lucky star shining brightly and eternal longevity like the Southern Mountain!"

"Congratulations gift: a scroll of the Hundred Longevity Characters made of pearls!"

"Hou Yongdou of Xi Commandery wishes Liu Chengen..."

One after another, representative figures of the merchants of Bing Province came to offer congratulatory gifts, and all of them were received by dedicated personnel.

And Father-in-law Liu Chengen was only responsible for receiving figures from the Wang Family, Qiao Family, and several official-gentry families.

Those qualified to come and celebrate Liu Chengen's birthday this time were all main figures of each Family.

Either an Old Ancestor, a Family head, or the eldest son and eldest grandson of the Family, extremely important.

And the gifts they presented were also meticulously chosen and extraordinarily precious.

For example, the emerald and white jade lotus roots sent by the Wang Family were carved from a pair of dripping green, almost completely transparent emeralds with only a hint of green, worth a thousand gold pieces.

And for example, the golden monkey presenting longevity statue sent by the Qiao Family was a normal-sized golden snub-nosed monkey golden statue cast entirely from gold, extremely noble.

For another example, the blood jade coral sent by the Chang Family was an peerless treasure dug out from the depths of the East China Sea, possessing the effect of being immune to all poisons, and was a Saint Grade medicinal herb to a Martial Artist.

The pearl hundred longevity scroll sent by the Meng Family was a hundred longevity scroll pieced together from large pearls, shining brilliantly, emitting light in the dark night, and extremely exquisite.

Of course, these were only the top prizes among the congratulatory gifts they sent.

As for the remaining ordinary congratulatory gifts, servants carried a large pile of them and were sent by dedicated personnel to Liu Chengen's military camp.

It could be said that if every person's congratulatory gift present was converted into silver, it would be at least over one million silver taels!

"Old Master Wang, your great name has long been thunderous to my ears!"

"Where, where. My unworthy son and Father-in-law serve as ministers in the same court hall, and we must support each other well."

"That goes without saying..."

"Is Old Master Qiao's health well?"

"My Great Yu needs wise gentry just like all of you!"

"You all can rest assured. After I return to the capital, I will surely report the actions of you wise gentry to Your Majesty, and presumably Your Majesty will be very happy."

Under Liu Chengen's personal accompaniment, the main figures of the Eight Great Merchants of Bing all sat at the main seats.

The remaining accompanying Juniors, second sons, third sons, and the like could only accompany at other tables.

Quite a few people frantically flattered Liu Chengen, and Liu Chengen did not turn anyone away, able to chat a few words with anyone.

Soon, three rounds of wine had passed and five flavors of dishes had been tasted, and Liu Chengen was also flushed red with alcohol.

"Liu Chengen, this commoner offers you another cup. In the future, please take care of our business more..."

"Where, where, we are all one Family now, of course we must take care of it!"

Liu Chengen drained the fine wine in his hand in one gulp, shook his head, stood up, and reached out to press down as a gesture.

"Everyone, I have something to say."

Although his voice was not loud, the people present were all very sensible and quickly quieted down.

"In the past two years, natural and man-made disasters have been incessant in my Great Yu, and the common people have also been living in dire straits. After seeing this, I am also extremely heartbroken!"

Quite a few people secretly rolled their eyes. You, a eunuch, even know how to be heartbroken?

It really makes people laugh their teeth off!

"However, thanks entirely to Your Majesty's heavenly achievements, diligence in governing and love for the people, rising early and sleeping late, finally with the assistance of many wise ministers, the source was set right, the wandering refugees were suppressed, Wu Country was expelled, and a bright and clear universe was returned to Great Yu!"

As soon as his voice fell, someone chimed in, saying: "Your Majesty is wise!"

"Your Majesty is wise~!"

Many officials, aristocratic families, and merchants hurriedly stood up, shouting long live.

At this time, Qiao Maokang, the second son of the Qiao Family, suddenly stood up, ignoring his eldest brother's frantic pulling and tugging, and said with an ingratiating Face: "Your Majesty's great achievements and exploits are naturally known to us. But we have heard that the reason why the Great Yu army is so invincible is related to those new-style firearms..."

"I wonder if Father-in-law can let us observe them?"

"Want to see firearms?"

Liu Chengen's eyes suddenly lit up, and he said, "Hahaha, no problem!"

You are all loyal and righteous men; follow me to the military camp right now to observe the new-style firearms!

"With these firearms here, Great Yu can pass down its Legacy for ten thousand years and overawe the world!"

"Everyone, please!"

"Father-in-law, please..."

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