"What is this?" Mr. Ma looked at the thing handed over by Li Xiu, and asked for a moment. Li Xiu held something very much like a token in his hand, with a large "pao" written on it. The entire token was made of brass, half the size of a palm, and there were some small patterns around it, which looked very delicate.

"This is the token of the auction house. Only those who hold the token can enter the auction house under our financial management supervisor to purchase items. However, your token is not ordinary, because the token is also your name and title behind the token. This is the exclusive customer of the auction house. You can sit in the front position!" Li Xiu explained with a smile.

When Ma Ye heard this, he took the token curiously. After turning it over, he found that his name and title were engraved on the back. However, it was the first time he heard about this auction house. He asked again: "When did your financial management supervisor open another auction house? What is this auction house doing? Are you planning to sell things?"

"It is indeed to sell things. Uncle Ma, you should also know about the bank. Many people go to the bank to mortgage things to get loans, but some are dead and do not intend to redeem them at all. Some are not redeemable until the deadline. Our bank cannot keep these things forever, so I thought of such an auction method..." Li Xiu said and explained the auction form again.

The new trading model of auction may have appeared in history, but it has never been formed in scale, so many people have no concept of this aspect at all. After hearing this, Ma Ye felt very novel. However, what he was most interested in was the auction items. He couldn't help but ask: "What are you auctioning? If it's just ordinary gold, silver and jade, then I'm not interested."

"Uncle Ma, don't worry, the auction house auctions are all kinds of things, almost everything is available. For example, Uncle Ma, you like to collect weapons and armor. Among the items auctioned this time, there is a Wuzi sword with iron-cutting like mud, and there is also a treasure armor worn by Emperor Wen of Sui. I believe that Uncle Ma must be very interested in these two things!" Li Xiu said with a smile.

Although Li Xiu has not gone to the financial management supervision department these days, he has been preparing for the auction house. In order to gain the reputation of the auction house, he carefully selected the items for the first auction, and each item is very expensive and rare. In addition, the invited guests also choose. If you want to participate in the auction, you must hold a bronze medal issued by the auction house. This bronze medal is not qualified for anyone.

"Uz Sword! Are you sure?" When Ma Ye heard the name of Uz Sword, he couldn't help but shouted. The so-called Uz Sword is actually the Damascus sword of later generations. The surface of this sword has special exquisite patterns and is extremely sharp. It can be said to be a very rare treasure sword. The Tang Dynasty's martial style is strong, and the generals also love the extremely sharp Uz Sword. However, the number of Uz Swords is rare and you may not be able to buy it if you have money. This also makes many generals dream of getting an Uz Sword.

"Of course, this treasure sword was originally a sword matched by a general of the former Sui Dynasty. Unfortunately, his children and grandchildren were unfilial and failed to revitalize their families. Instead, they had to rely on pawning their property to make a living. This sword was mortgaged to the bank by his unfilial descendants, and they had to die and had no intention of redeem. This time, it was the final product of our auction house, just waiting for generals like Uncle Ma to buy it home for collection!" Li Xiu introduced with a smile.

"Boy, if you have such a good thing, why don't you just sell it to me directly? If you auction it like now, how many people will snatch it with me?" Ma Ye said angrily when he heard this. It's not been a day or two for him to want the Uzi sword. Li Xiu must also know that with his position, he can sell the Uzi sword to him privately, and of course he won't let the bank suffer any losses.

"Uncle Ma, I'm wronged. During this period, I'm almost dazed to the financial management and supervision matters. Although I personally took charge of the auction house, it's impossible to do everything myself. For example, I just left the auction items to specialists to choose. I didn't have time to read the auction list until two days ago. However, the auction items had been promoted at that time, and there was no way to change them." Li Xiu hurriedly shouted injustice. Of course, he couldn't tell the truth. After all, this Wuzi sword was the finale of this auction and was fatally attractive to generals like Ma Ye, so he could only let him down.

"Hmph, I don't know your little bit of fun?" Mr. Ma saw through Li Xiu's thoughts at first sight, and he couldn't help but roll his eyes. However, he was not angry. After all, Li Xiu was just for business, and he couldn't let Li Xiu abandon his official position because of his own.

Li Xiu knew that he could not hide it from Master Ma, but he was thick-skinned. He smiled and said, "But Uncle Ma, don't worry, although there were many people invited this time, there were not many generals. After all, many generals were stationed outside, and even the generals in Chang'an were definitely not as rich as you, so this treasure sword is already in your pocket!"

Ma originally claimed to be the slave of Princess Pingyang, and he could not have children and had no descendants at home, so he did not intend to keep any private property. However, he later recognized Hen'er and then left his slavery. Later, he got married with Princess Guanghua, and Princess Pingyang distributed the family business to Ma Ye 50%. After all, many businesses were done by Ma Ye, such as canned workshops. However, Ma Ye felt that it was too much. At first, he was only willing to accept 30%, but later, under Li Xiu's persuasion, he accepted 40%.

However, even 40% of the Li Xiu family's business is enough to make Ma Ye a rich man in the Tang Dynasty. Not to mention anything else, the two major industries of tea and canned food are making money every day, so Ma Ye is not short of money at all. As long as he is willing, there are really few people in Chang'an City who can compete with him for the Wuzi sword.

When Ma Ye heard Li Xiu's words, he felt that it was the reason. He couldn't help but feel relieved. Then he picked up the token in his hand and looked at it. Then he smiled again: "Boy, you didn't give a token to everyone who was going to participate in the auction, right?"

"Of course, this token is a threshold. Those who can get the token are either rich or noble. There may be nothing now, but in the future, this token will definitely become a symbol of identity. Only those with wealth and power in Chang'an City are qualified to have such a token!" Li Xiu nodded immediately.

"I'm not a little ambitious, but aren't you saying that I'm an exclusive customer? This token is too chilling, and I have to use gold no matter what, right?" Ma Ye was in a good mood when he thought that the Wuz sword was about to become his own pocket, but he began to pick up all the tricks of Li Xiu.

"I want to use gold, but there are so many powerful people in Chang'an City, and every household will be sent to you in the future. How much gold will it cost? Although the bank has money, it cannot be too luxurious!" Li Xiu explained helplessly at this time.

"I thought your exclusive customer was rare. It turned out that he was an official and sent it there. Then your token is not very valuable!" Master Ma couldn't help but feel disgusted when he heard this. When he said this, the mutton stewed by Li Xiu was almost the same. He immediately served a bowl of him, but it didn't matter how hot it was. In the blink of an eye, he swallowed a bowl of mutton.

"That's different. You will definitely give more in the future. However, there are not many people in the first batch. Those who can get exclusive tokens must at least have the title of founding country masters, and officials are even above the fourth rank. Otherwise, they can only get ordinary tokens. This token is black iron, with only the front and nothing on the back." Li Xiu explained with a smile.

However, Li Xiu did not say anything completely. For example, in his vision, the auction house will definitely have private rooms in the future, and some more advanced tokens will be issued. At that time, these tokens may be made of more expensive gold, silver, or even white jade. Of course, these cannot be launched from the beginning. Instead, customers must be allowed to consume a certain amount in the auction house to get these more expensive tokens, so that customers can feel the pleasure of upgrading and also form competition.

"Okay, it seems that your appetite is really big. When will your auction house open? Then I can buy my sword back?" Mr. Ma nodded immediately and then asked again.

"It's the late tenth day of this month, and officials will have to rest at that time, and they can just participate in this auction!" Li Xiu immediately said. Although there were no Sundays in the Tang Dynasty, there was one tenth day every ten days, and officials did not have to work. However, this is just a welfare for officials. Other industries do not have the habit of quitting for ten days.

"Okay, I will definitely go in person then!" Mr. Ma immediately patted his chest and promised that just for the Wuz sword, he would never miss the auction.

Seeing that Ma Ye agreed to attend the auction, Li Xiu was not surprised, but was very happy. After eating mutton, he stood up and said goodbye, because the auction house still had a lot of things to deal with.

In the next few days, in addition to preparing for the auction house, Li Xiu also personally visited some important powerful people in Chang'an City, such as Qin Qiong who had just returned, Li Xiaogong and others who were spending time at home. Unfortunately, Pei Ji had already returned to his hometown, otherwise Li Xiu would definitely invite the other party. Originally, Li Xiu wanted to invite Li Shimin, but considering that the auction was a commercial act after all, and the Tang Dynasty also despised the business, if he invited the emperor Li Shimin to participate in the auction, it would probably attract some criticism, so he finally gave up this idea.
Chapter completed!