Chapter 367 Guo Jias Evaluation and Comparison (2/2)
May 5th, 189 A.D.
The first tribute ambassador from Cao Cao arrived. They kept their promises, 50,000 gold nuggets, and a million tons of provision filled the palace treasury.
The leader of this tribute group was an elder scholar and an expert in guqin, a traditional zither with seven strings.
After the ambassador confirmed that he had completed his job, he sought an audience with Tong.
In the throne room, Tong allowed the convoy leader and his entourage to see him.
The ambassador and his followers kowtowed to Tong, ”Your majesty, I have finished my job, so I've come here to report you.”
Tong nodded, ”Good work. Tell Cao Mengde that I appreciate his gifts. I hope that he can maintain the order in the central plain.”
The elder bowed again, ”I will tell him that. But first, I wish to give you another gift. This is not from lord Cao Cao, but it is from me.”
Tong raised his eyebrows. The corner of his mouth curved downward as he did not have a good impression of this elder anymore.
After the coronation ceremony, many officials, scholars, merchants, and even commoners wished to see him. They offered many gifts, aka bribery, to Tong, hoping that they could obtain a noble title or an official rank in return.
Tong refused their tributes and turned down many offers so far. He only accepted gifts from merchants, who came here to ask for Tong's permission to open a shop here.
Now, the elder seemed to be one of the opportunists. As Tong did not know what the gifts were, he began inspecting the ambassador's followers to discern his purpose.
The followers were a group of female performers, mostly zither artists. As Tong inspected further, he found that they did not bring any laborer here.
From Tong's experience, he guessed that the ambassador would offer his daughter or a girl to be his concubine in exchange for an official post.
'Another pimp … I should chase him out after hearing him.'
The elder gestured his followers, and they prepared their zithers. Betraying Tong's expectation, the girls performed a song instead of showing their beauty.
The officers in the throne room relaxed, listening to the guqin performers. The string music soothed their heart, and the mood in the room became pleasant.
The song ended after 10 minutes of group performance, which Tong clapped by instinct.
Xun Yu, who was monitoring the visitor by Tong's side, was surprised by Tong's reaction. He thought that Tong liked the performers.
'Someone actually moved his majesty's heart? This is rare.'
All officials in the room followed suit, clapping for the zither band.
As the girls had not expected applause or an ovation, they blushed and flustered in embarrassment.
The ambassador was surprised as well. He directed his proud smile at one of the girls, ”Well performed, Wenji.”
”Thank you, father.”
The father turned to Tong, who had just realized that he gestured something impropriate and might lead to a misunderstanding. He should have only nodded in acknowledgment and chased them away, not clapping.
Tong coughed, ”It was a good song.”
”Thank you, your majesty. This is my gift to you.”
”You're not going to give me one of those girls, right?”
”Haha! You jest, your majesty. I only wanted them to show their skills to you. I'm not one of those crooked fathers who sell their daughters!”
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Tong was surprised once again, ”You're not offering me one of them? Ah, excuse me. Your type is rare these days. Everybody is busy trying to force concubines on me against my will.”
”Haha! I understand that very well. I served emperor Ling for years, and I've seen many greedy officials trying to sell their daughters. Well, that's another story if you desire them, though.”
Tong patted his forehead, ”Spare me. One concubine is enough for now. Now, you should be honest and tell me what you want in exchange for that song. No more façade this time.”
”Then, I'll be direct, your majesty. We wish to open an art school that teaches calligraphy, zithers, poetry, and other arts. The central plain has been in chaos recently, and we hope that you can allow us to settle here.”
”Oh, that's simple. You should have told me this earlier. Wenruo, coordinate with the cabinet officers and the city planners. Find an available land within the inner city to build an art school and rent it to this person. Oh, wait, I haven't asked your name.”
”Ah, my deepest apologies, your majesty. I've grown old that I forgot my manner. My name is Cai Yong. You can call me by my style name, Bojie.”
Tong's smiling face froze. He ran into another historical figure again.
As Tong knew about Cai Yong's name, he was also aware of his famous daughter's name, Cai Yan or Cai Wenji. Because of the sudden awareness, Tong's eyes glued at the center of the band, where Cai Wenji was.