The Three Kingdoms: I asked you to save Guan Yu, not to destroy Sun Quan.

Chapter 604 The Poor Ancestor

Thanks to Liu Zhao's public appeal to the emperor, the news of the robbery of the Marquis of Haihun's tomb has become widely known.

Therefore, upon learning that Jiang Wei and Xia Tong had returned with the valuables, many curious officials and commoners spontaneously rushed to the city gate, wanting to see up close just how abundant the wealth that the Marquis of Haihun had obtained in exchange for the throne truly was.

Of all these people, only the newly appointed Marquis of Haihun, Liu Zhao, didn't join in the fun, finding it annoying to watch.

Therefore, when Jiang Wei and Xia Tong entered the city, the roadsides near the city gate were already crowded with people, but they lined up in an orderly manner without rushing.

Jiang Weixia, like a triumphant general, led the long convoy of cars through the human wall with his head held high and his expression as smug as could be.

The onlookers were stunned by the enormous convoy, their mouths agape. How much wealth must such a long convoy be carrying? The Marquis of Haihun was far too rich.

Jiang Wei and Xia Tong headed straight for the palace amidst the crowd of onlookers. Liu Bei, Zhang Fei, and Zhuge Liang were already waiting at the gate, and they were equally stunned when they saw the convoy arrive.

The tomb of the Marquis of Haihun contained 120,000 strings of copper coins alone. Each string contained 1,000 coins, so 120,000 strings would amount to 120 million coins.

This number is just a string of numbers on paper, but it can pile up into a mountain when it's sent to the warehouse. If Liu Bei were even more shameless and melted down all these copper coins to make Zhibai coins, their value would increase a hundredfold, not to mention the gold, silver, and other wealth in the caravan.

Jiang Wei and Xia Tong quickly stepped forward and bowed. Liu Bei didn't mince words and went straight to the point: "Open it and take a look."

The box was opened, and strings of copper coins gleamed in the sunlight. Liu Bei was so excited that he said, "Great! With this money, many things will be much easier. Prime Minister, take 50,000 strings. I still have a use for the rest."

According to Liu Bei's distribution, he would take 60% of these copper coins, which is 72,000 strings of cash. However, it was impossible for all of these 72,000 strings of cash to go into his private pocket; most of them had to be sent to the national treasury.

After all, the imperial court is now in ruins, and every government office needs money. Without money, even the normal operation of the government offices cannot be carried out, let alone other things.

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Zhuge Liang clasped his hands in a salute, his voice trembling with excitement.

You don't know the cost of firewood and rice until you're in charge of the household; only when you're in charge do you realize the importance of money.

After Zhuge Liang joined Liu Bei, he always played the role of the chief logistics manager, running around every day to manage money and supplies. Most of the time, he was in debt, and when he was poor, he even wanted to sell himself.

After Liu Bei became emperor, his financial difficulties reached their peak. He had been robbing Peter to pay Paul. Now, with this huge sum of money injected, his work will be much easier.

It has to be said that Liu Shan and Guan Xing, those two rascals, really got things done.

Liu Bei was a man of his word, and before nightfall, the huge sum of money was divided into several portions and flowed into the pockets of different people. The excited Minister of Revenue, Mi Zhu, couldn't sleep all night.

While they were excited, Zhang Sheng was in trouble. Although Liu Shan and Guan Xing were the masterminds behind this tomb raiding, Zhang Sheng was also an indispensable and important figure. Without his technical guidance, Liu Shan and Guan Xing could not have accomplished such a great feat.

Therefore, Zhang Sheng, who returned to the city with Jiang Wei and Xia Tong, was targeted by a noble family whose ancestors had also produced dukes and marquises.

Zhang Sheng had barely sat down when he heard someone outside the door call out, "Is Master Zhang home? Liu Shen of the Liu family in Changsha requests an audience with you."

Zhang Sheng's eyelids twitched in surprise at the words "Changsha Liu family." He quickly stepped out of the tent and bowed, saying, "So it's the Liu family head. Please come in."

After inviting Liu Shen into the tent and exchanging pleasantries for a while, Zhang Sheng couldn't wait to ask his purpose. Liu Shen awkwardly smiled and said, "Master, it's like this, I want to move my ancestors' tomb to change the feng shui. I wonder if you could help me?"

He was terrified by Liu Shan and Guan Xing's tomb raiding, fearing that these two scoundrels would also rob his family's ancestral graves, since the Changsha Liu family had far more ancient tombs than the Haihun Liu family.

It should be noted that the ancestor of the Liu family of Changsha was Liu Fa, the sixth son of Emperor Jing of Han (Liu Qi) and the fifth-generation ancestor of Emperor Guangwu of Han (Liu Xiu).

In terms of seniority, Liu Fa, the Prince of Changsha, was the uncle of Liu He, the Marquis of Haihun. Unlike Liu He, who was enfeoffed as the Prince of Changyi, then made emperor, and then demoted back to the Marquis of Haihun, the title of Prince of Changsha was passed down until the time of Wang Mang's usurpation, and was even briefly restored after the restoration of the Han dynasty by Emperor Guangwu.

The title of Prince of Changsha was passed down for seven or eight generations, and each generation had its own royal tomb. Although the wealth of a single royal tomb was not as great as that of the Marquis of Haihun's tomb, the sheer number of royal tombs made up for it. If all eight tombs of the Prince of Changsha were excavated, the total amount of copper coins would definitely be more abundant than that of the Marquis of Haihun's tomb. If those three scoundrels, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei, were to steal it, the Liu family of Changsha would be heartbroken.

So Liu Shen thought that rather than letting the three idiots of the Han Dynasty steal it, he should take the initiative and do it himself, since the Liu family of Changsha was also short of money.

Although Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu restored his family's title of King of Changsha after ascending the throne, he soon demoted his ancestor, Liu Xing, the first King of Changsha after Guangwu's restoration, to Marquis of Linxiang on the grounds that the bloodline was too distant. What's worse, the title of Marquis of Linxiang was only passed down for one generation. The ancestor, who was first enfeoffed as King of Changsha and then demoted to Marquis of Linxiang, was not even qualified to enter the mausoleum area of ​​the previous Kings of Changsha.

If their ancestors were like this, their descendants are even more so. The Liu family of Changsha, like the Liu family of Haihun, has been almost forgotten in recent years.

Now Liu Bei is implementing land reform again, confiscating their family's fertile land and manors, and the Liu family of Changsha is truly going to starve.

Liu Shen had originally planned to respond to the imperial court's call to invest in building a factory, but due to a lack of funds, construction had been delayed. But now...

If the wealth from the tombs of the past Changsha kings could be extracted, the Liu family of Changsha could instantly go from being the most destitute in the Han Dynasty to the richest. Why not do it?

But it would be too shameful for word to get out that he had stolen from his own ancestral grave, so Liu Shen thought of moving the grave.

Is it wrong for me to change the feng shui of my ancestors to a better one?

Thinking of the wealth of the past Changsha kings, Zhang Sheng instantly understood Liu Shen's intention and said in astonishment, "Patriarch Liu, since there's no one else here, I'll be frank. Relocating graves isn't difficult, but your family has the royal tombs of the Changsha kings. Have you calculated how much it would cost to build a royal tomb? The wealth unearthed from the tombs probably isn't even enough to build one. This is clearly a losing proposition."

Relocating a royal tomb is different from tomb raiding. Relocating a royal tomb requires investing manpower and resources to rebuild it, which is very costly, unlike tomb raiding, which involves killing without burying the dead and is a purely risk-free business.

"This..." Liu Shen hadn't really thought about this issue in detail. He was willing to give up, but he was also unwilling to do so when he thought about the vast wealth in the tomb. After a moment of thought, he gritted his teeth and said, "Daoist Master, do you think it's possible to build a royal tomb and put the coffins of the eight generations of Changsha kings in the same royal tomb, so that the eight ancestors can keep each other company? What do you think, Daoist Master?"

The Changsha King's reign lasted eight generations, from his initial investiture to Wang Mang's usurpation and removal of his title. By placing all eight ancestors in the same tomb, wouldn't he have saved the cost of building seven separate tombs?

Zhang Sheng exclaimed in astonishment, "Damn, putting eight ancestors in the same tomb? How could you even think of that? Why don't you just switch the tombs of the eight ancestors in reverse order? Move the first Changsha King to the tomb of the second Changsha King, and then move the second Changsha King to the tomb of the third Changsha King. Wouldn't that be cheaper?"

Liu Shen excitedly slapped his thigh and said, "Master is brilliant! We'll do as you say."

Zhang Sheng: "..."

I was just kidding, are you really going to do that?

Are you taking advantage of your ancestors because they can't speak?