In the main hall of the birthday banquet in the royal banquet palace of the Furong Garden.
Kong Yan stood at the foot of the stairs, very close to Li Shiming and Empress Zhangsun. Wang De's voice was very low, but it still reached his ears clearly.
Up until now, Kong Yan had not seen what kind of birthday gift Li Erlang had prepared for him. He only knew that it was a golden phoenix and it was very big. As for how big it was, he had not seen it.
This was enough to show how much Kong Yan did not care about Empress Zhangsun's birthday banquet. He would at least take a look at the birthday gifts given by ordinary people.
In fact, ever since he met Empress Zhangsun, Kong Yan had started to regret it.
Fortunately, there was still the Crown Prince who took the initiative to act as a green leaf to complement him.
"You can't carry it in from the side door?" Li Shi Min looked at the right door, which was nearly ten feet wide, and his eyelids twitched.
"It's a golden phoenix. It's very big." Wang De said in a low voice. A strange look flashed in his eyes. Every birthday gift that was qualified to be sent to the palace would go through a heavy inspection. Just now, he already knew what the birthday gift Kong Yan gave was.
"Golden Phoenix?" Li Shiming was stunned and subconsciously looked at his eldest son, Li Chengqian.
Empress Zhangsun coughed lightly and said softly,""Why don't we forget about it?"
Li Shiming frowned. To be honest, he wanted to see Kong Yan's gift the most at this birthday banquet. Although he could see it later, he couldn't help but slap Kong Yan's handsome face.
Even if he couldn't deal physical damage, it was still good to ridicule mentally.
"Our Tang Empire's richest man has just donated five million taels of silver to the disaster area. If we don't personally take a look at her birthday gift, wouldn't it chill his heart?”Li Shi Min snorted.
Then, Li Shiming stood up and said,"Since you can't move it in, zhen and the empress will go out and take a look!”
"I also want to take a look!" Cheng Yaojin shouted and stood up from his seat.
"Cough cough, this subject would also like to see the birthday gift from the richest man in the Great Tang!”
Li Jing said with a smile as he followed Cheng Yaojin.
Immediately after, the ministers stood up one after another, and the entire hall became lively.
"Hmph, your son also wants to take a look." Princess Chang Le also stood up and snorted as she walked past Kong Yan.
The other princesses also stood up curiously and followed Princess Chang Le out of the side door.
Li Chengqian stood up with a gloomy expression. With him leading the way, the other princes also revealed curious expressions.
In the end, only a dozen ministers remained in the main hall. Only Kong Yan and Li Tai were left in the front.
Li Tai's situation was a little awkward. He stood up twice, but he still couldn't get up.
Too fat!
In the end, he only stood up with the help of a eunuch with good eyesight.
"Brother Kong, aren't you going to take a look?" Li Tai asked curiously.
"I want to hear it first," said Kong Yan with a smile.”
"What?" Li Tai frowned.
Kong Yan smiled and said nothing.
At this moment, a burst of exclamations came from outside the hall.
"F * ck!"
"F * ck!"
"This is too f * cking exaggerated…"
“……”
Kong Yan nodded in satisfaction and slowly followed behind Li Tai.
Under the night sky, in the open space, a huge golden phoenix spread its wings and was about to fly. It was dazzling.
Under the illumination of the moonlight, the golden light flowed with a dazzling luster, making people feel inexplicably shocked.
Most importantly, it was too big!
It was twenty feet tall!
The pearl embedded in the phoenix's eyes was the size of a head. It was crystal clear and emitted a bright luster.
"F * ck!" Li Tai had just left the hall when he was dumbfounded.
Kong Yan took a look, and his eyelids couldn't help twitching.
He had thought that the golden phoenix would be very big, but he did not expect it to be this big!
"You're really willing!" Kong Yan was considering whether he should castrate Li Erlang into the palace and use him as a spy in the palace.
This bastard really doesn't treat gold as gold!
Although Kong Yan had three large gold mines in Jiaodong.
"Zhen has been fighting for so many years, but I have never seen such a big piece of gold.”Li Shi Min sighed coldly, his eyes were as red as a monkey's butt due to jealousy.
Empress Zhangsun was also shocked and speechless.
Originally, she still felt that the golden phoenix that her crown prince had given her was extravagant, but now that she saw the golden phoenix in front of her, she suddenly felt that she might have been too harsh on her son.
In comparison, the Golden Phoenix that Li Chengqian gave was really too frugal!
Naturally, after the shock in Li Chengqian's heart disappeared, his entire face flushed red. It was boiling hot. He felt inferior as he imagined that everyone was mocking him at this moment.
Kong Yingda's shock was no less than the others. At the same time, he felt a heartache.
"This prodigal, how can he give gifts like this?”
Thinking about his birthday, his nephew had only given him some fine wine, some fine cloth, inkstones, brushes, and famous paintings…
In the past, he was a little embarrassed to accept it, but now he only felt that his nephew was not filial enough!
Princess Changle was so shocked that she could not close her mouth." Just how rich is this bastard?”
In the past few days, she had heard many rumors about Kong Yan. She knew that he was very rich, but she did not expect that a birthday gift would be so exaggerated.
After seeing such a huge golden phoenix with their own eyes, many people had a new understanding of Kong Yan.
Everyone knew that Kong Yan had donated five million taels of silver with a wave of his hand.
However, not many people had seen it. The shock it gave was far less than the shock of the golden phoenix in front of them.
After the shock, some people's eyes turned red, and their thoughts popped up one by one.
"This traitor of Confucius is comparable to Shi Chong.”An official of the Imperial Censorate said casually.
"There are no merchants without traitors. The food in the Wild Goose Restaurant is several times more expensive than other hotels. Hehe, where did so much gold come from?”
"Be careful with your words. He is Lord Kong's nephew.”
"He's just a lowly merchant who was expelled from the Confucius Sect. Why can't he say it?”
"That's right. We all read the books of the sages. His Majesty also said that merchants are not allowed to stand side by side with us scholars and eat at the same table! He was just a small merchant, what was there to say?”
“……”
In the beginning, they were still whispering. After a while, some of the officials raised their voices, as if they were deliberately trying to let others hear them.
Hearing this, Kong Yingda's heart sank.
"Is it coming already?" Kong Yingda sighed secretly. He understood the mentality of those officials too well.
In fact, if he didn't know how his nephew did business, he would also look down on merchants like everyone else.
Crown Prince Li Chengqian's brows relaxed. He secretly glanced at the few officials who spoke the loudest and secretly remembered them, thinking that he could recruit them in the future.
"Your Majesty, let's go back first." Empress Zhangsun said softly. She had also heard the discussions of some officials and was slightly unhappy.
She had a very good impression of Kong Yan. After all, he had taken out five million taels of silver to relieve the disaster and solved the urgent needs of the imperial court.
And now, the huge golden phoenix in front of him was a birthday gift for him!
Li Shi Min hummed in agreement, but his expression was so secretive that no one could tell whether he was happy or angry.
.................
[PS: I saw that some readers in the comments section said that kneeling was not popular in the Tang Dynasty. Here's a little bit of popular science.]
First of all, the ceremony of kneeling had existed since ancient times. However, the meaning of the previous ceremony was completely different from that of the Qing Dynasty.
Those who liked to read historical novels should know that before the Tang and Song Dynasties, there were no chairs in China. Under normal circumstances, people would sit on the ground. At that time, the only thing that could be used was a seat called the " Hu bed ", which was a luxury item used by nobles.
Although chairs had appeared in the Tang Dynasty, they were not widely used and were only limited to noble and scholar-bureaucrat families.
This led to…during that period, China had a custom of kneeling. It was natural to kneel because the proper sitting posture was to kneel on both knees. The kneeling ceremony was just to straighten the upper body, coupled with the movements of the hands and head, such as bowing, kowtowing, and kowtowing to show respect to the other party. The other party had to return the bow in return.
Only the difference between monarch and subject was reflected in etiquette. When a subject bowed to the monarch, the monarch would not bow back. Generally, a wise monarch would stand up to thank him.
Then, after the chair appeared and was widely used, the Chinese people's habit of sitting on the ground changed. At this time, the action of kneeling was even more respectful... From the chair to the ground, it clearly revealed the feeling of being inferior to the superior.
In fact, the Song Dynasty, which most people looked down on, was the most lenient in this aspect. Unless it was some important occasion, under normal circumstances, the daily etiquette of the monarch and his subjects would be a bow!
In the Yuan Dynasty, the humiliating and lowly kneeling ceremony was implemented. As for the well-known Qing Dynasty, it was even more severe. Not only did the ministers have to kneel down to report, but the emperor also had to kneel down to listen to the lecture.
At this point, the original intention of the kneeling ceremony to express respect and respect to the other party had faded, and the intention of the kneeling person to show his inferiority and inferiority became increasingly prominent.
In the author's opinion, the Qing Dynasty's ministers were no longer considered scholar-bureaucrats. This was probably one of the reasons why everyone hated the Qing Dynasty.
The above can be considered a popular science.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。