bookrandom Chapter 99: He Became an Idiot
Chapter 99: He Became an Idiot
Upon hearing the cleaner's words, both Yelü Dongze and Yelü Huanxi fell into a brief daze.
They had never heard of terms like "cleaner" or "trash can" before.
But there was one thing that both Yelü Dongze and Yelü Huanxi felt: the pride and confidence of the people of Beining City!
Yelü Dongze was already a large man, standing 1.9 meters tall, with bulging muscles all over his body and a fierce face.
Because he had led troops in battle for many years, he naturally possessed an air of authority.
But just now Yelü Dongze discovered that the other party, a mere sweeper, showed no fear whatsoever when questioned by him, and even looked down on him like a country bumpkin.
This kind of pride, which comes from the very core of one's being, cannot be faked.
"Huanxi, I'm starting to get interested in the King of Chu you've mentioned."
Yelü Dongze looked up at the straight cement road and couldn't help but say, "As far as I know, half a year ago, Beining City was just a place that the Jurchen cavalry could trample at will. But now, look at the faces of every citizen here. The confidence of a citizen of a great nation is something that even the capital of Daqi can't match!"
"That seems to be the case."
Yelü Huanxi nodded subconsciously, then became even more excited: "Uncle, I told you that this business trip to Beining City would be very fruitful, didn't I? I didn't lie to you!"
"We'll have to wait until we see the King of Chu to discuss this matter."
Yelü Dongze remounted his horse and led the delegation to the inner city.
Horseback riding was not allowed in the inner city, so the merchant group had to dismount at the city gate. Yelü Dongze instructed his men: "You will split into five groups, enter the city first, find an inn to stay in, and then come back to meet me."
Yelü Dongze was representing the Goryeo royal family this time, so he could have simply sent someone to the Chu Prince's residence, where accommodations would have been arranged.
But what he saw upon entering the city made Yelü Dongze change his mind. He wanted to learn about the entire Beining City privately before going to see the King of Chu.
"It's only two hundred people, why do you need to split them into five groups? Just go straight along this White Horse Street, there's a newly built Honglu Hall there, you could bring five hundred people and they could all stay there."
The city guard in charge of processing entry procedures spoke to me with an air of superiority, as if I had never seen anything like this before, and his tone was somewhat arrogant.
But Yelü Dongze couldn't care less about that now, and asked in surprise, "Beining City has such a huge inn?"
Yelü Dongze joined the army in his early years and later helped Yelü Daye manage the merchant guild. He traveled all over the country and was quite knowledgeable.
Even so, he had never heard of any inn that could accommodate more than five hundred people at the same time.
"Would I lie to you? That Honglu Inn was specially built by our King of Chu for you and your foreign merchant groups. It was built with the best cement and building materials."
"Do you understand cement? This is it. This is what you've been stepping on on your way here."
The city guard, fearing that Yelü Dongze and the others might not understand, thoughtfully pointed to the ground.
"This cement can be used to build houses?"
Yelü Dongze was unsettled. As a former soldier, he immediately realized that if cement were used to build military structures, wouldn't they be impregnable?
In addition, how big would a guesthouse with 500 rooms have to be?
Does this mean that cement can make houses bigger and taller than those built with ordinary wood?
A series of questions popped into Yelü Dongze's mind, so much so that even after entering the inner city, he was still somewhat dazed.
"Imperial Uncle, we have arrived at the Court of State Ceremonies."
Yelü Dongze snapped out of his daze at Yelü Huanxi's soft call.
Before me stood a six-story building, twenty meters tall, like a colossal beast, lying quietly in front of me.
The entrance to the Honglu Hall was quite grand, with a gate twelve meters wide, something Yelü Dongze had never heard of before.
Nearby, square white lines were drawn on the ground, and many carriages were parked neatly under the guidance of staff, appearing orderly.
"Is this really Beining City in the northern lands?!"
Yelü Dongze couldn't help but doubt again, unable to believe what he was seeing.
Yelü Huanxi was also quite shocked, but being a woman, she naturally showed the appropriate expression while in shock, and even chatted with the coachman in charge of parking the carriage for a few words.
"Uncle, I heard from the coachman that this Honglu Pavilion was built only five days ago, and each floor has one hundred and twenty rooms. You see, from this end of the street to that end, it's all Honglu Pavilion."
Yelü Huanxi chattered incessantly, like an excited little bird.
Yelü Dongze became increasingly alarmed as he listened, and couldn't help but ask, "Huanxi, I remember you told the Imperial Uncle last time that you wanted to invite the Prince of Chu back to serve as the Protector General. I think this matter is worth discussing."
"Hmph, wasn't it you and Father Emperor who strongly opposed it last time? You almost prevented me from even coming to Beining City!"
Yelü Huanxi said with a wronged expression, then suddenly realized what she meant and said with a grin, "Uncle, you've also seen the extraordinary qualities of the Prince of Chu?"
This is more than just extraordinary; it's downright genius.
If Goryeo had King Qin Xuan of Chu, he would not only be a Protector of the Nation General, but he could even be appointed as a Grand Pillar of State.
"Let's go inside and settle in first, then we'll go look around."
Yelü Dongze changed the subject, ordered his men to fetch his luggage, and then walked into the inn's lobby.
"Huh, why is this inn so warm? It's like having a fireplace."
As soon as he entered, Yelü Dongze noticed something was amiss and couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.
"In order to receive merchants from various countries, the Honglu Pavilion, at the request of the King of Chu, had fire dragons installed on the ground of the entire building, which is why you feel warm, sir."
At this moment, a waiter from the Honglu Hall warmly greeted them and explained.
"A fire dragon? What is that?"
Yelü Dongze discovered that ever since he entered Beining City, he had become a fool, and there was nothing he could understand about the things he saw.
"This fire dragon is a rare find in our Beining City. I only know that with it, winter can turn into summer. As for how to do it, I'm afraid only His Highness Prince Chu or the craftsmen of the Heavenly Craft Workshop would know."
The waiter answered casually, then said, "Are you all looking for a room? Our ordinary rooms cost one qian of silver per night, medium rooms cost eight qian of silver per night, and superior rooms cost two taels of silver per night. I see there are quite a few of you, so would you like to discuss this first?"
"Wow! These house prices are really high!"
Yelü Dongze muttered to himself, "This averages out to almost one tael of silver per night. If the Honglu Pavilion is full every day, wouldn't it bring in five or six hundred taels of silver every day?"
That adds up to over 17,000 taels a month, and around 120,000 taels a year, which is almost equivalent to the annual tax revenue of a medium-sized county in Goryeo.
The profitability of Beining City is truly terrifying!
"Ebony, go and discuss it with him and arrange the rooms."
Yelü Dongze summoned his right and left hands and gave them instructions.
He then eagerly led Yelü Huanxi and several bodyguards out of the Honglu Hall. He couldn't believe that Beining City was so prosperous everywhere; surely there must be some poor and backward places.