Fighting crickets originated in the Tang Dynasty, flourished in the Song Dynasty, and in the Yuan and Ming dynasties, it was already a game that was extremely enthusiastic about the children of the anointing and the scoundrels in the market. It is said that in Shandong and other high-quality cricket production areas, as soon as autumn comes, every household catches crickets in the fields, in front of the house and behind the house, and after catching it, there will be cricket dealers who come to collect insects at regular times.

The money that the people exchange for crickets is often higher than the harvest of a year's hard work, and they are naturally satisfied, and they are grateful to those dealers, but they don't know that people sell them to the capital, Suzhou and Hangzhou, which is ten times more than ten times the profit, and if it is the best goods, it is not uncommon to make a profit of thousands of times.

When the crickets brought to the capital from other places are familiar with the environment and have raised enough jīng gods, the players' carnival begins. Especially in Jingshi City, which gathers the most rich, idlers and gamblers in the world, every ** month, the gambling door is wide open, and the city is crazy. In the streets and alleys, there are thousands of weaving arenas at the same time, and fierce battles are being carried out.

For this reason, those imperial historians and officials went to the emperor several times, asking for a ban on fighting crickets and other games. Zhu Di didn't think so, he knew that people's gambling was in the bones, rather than strictly controlling it and forcing it to go underground and let the court lose taxes, it was better to acquiesce and sit on the ground to collect taxes...... This is actually the same as his father's idea of opening an official camp by the Qinhuai River.

The emperor didn't care, and the princes and nobles had no scruples at all, so they naturally played around. Big players like King Zhao, Dingguo Gong, and Yongkang Hou even directly set up a weaving arena and a night start in the house, both sitting and ending, and turning cricket fighting into a career.

What Wang Xian and Zhu Zhanji are going to is the Qingliang Farewell Industry of King Zhao located at the foot of Qingliang Mountain in the west corner of the capital, of course, at this time, this Farewell Industry is called another name - Qiukui Arena

When the carriage drove to the front of the house, Wang Xian saw that the sedan chair was parked outside the gate, "This is all going in to fight insects?" ”

"Otherwise, what did it come from?" Zhu Zhanji was not very interested.

"It looks like you're either rich or expensive." Wang Xian exclaimed like a hillbilly. In this era, there were carriages to sit in, which was a grade higher than that of BMWs in later generations, and those who could sit in sedan chairs would be directly Rolls-Royce......

"Of course." Zhu Zhanji said: "If you are not rich or expensive, you will not be able to enter." As he spoke, his carriage drove straight into the house. The sedan chair drivers waiting outside looked sideways and whispered to ask, which noble person is this...... Just having money, you can't get into King Zhao's mansion.

When the carriage stopped, he saw several young men in Chinese costumes come out, and smiled at Zhu Zhanji, who got off the car: "Looking forward to the stars and the moon, I finally hope for His Highness" "Yes, today I can finally see the demeanor of the red-robed general"

Zhu Zhanji's face stiffened instantly, and he smiled forcefully: "I'm here to see today." ”

Several young people were stunned, and then suddenly said: "That's right, only by knowing yourself and knowing your opponent can you survive a hundred battles." ”

Zhu Zhanji's face was so hot that he couldn't see it because of his black skin.

"Who is this?" Looking at Wang Xian who was following him, everyone asked with a smile.

"My buddy, Wang Xian." Zhu Zhanji pulled Wang Xian over and introduced them to him, all of whom were the sons of Wang Gongzi, and Zhu Yong, the Duke of Chengguo, was the leader...... His father is the famous martyr Zhu Neng, Yongle died of illness on the road to the south in the fourth year, Zhu Yong took the title, and he is only in his twenties.

Wang Xian couldn't help but sigh secretly, people really can't compare with people, people are not yet twenty years old, they are the grandfather of the country, and they are twenty years old, and they are still without grade or rank.

"Scared, it turns out that you are Wang Xian," but Zhu Neng and the others were also very interested in him, patted him on the shoulder and said: "Young Master Yao's high feet are really famous."

These bastards said it nicely, but they used ruthless strength in their hands, Rao is Wang Xian every time he boiled his muscles and bones, or the pain made him secretly inhale, but he still forced himself to smile.

Zhu Zhanji blocked the hands of several people and said with a smile: "They are like this, they have to weigh themselves when they meet, and they don't play with weak scholars." ”

Wang Xianqiang smiled: "Fortunately, I can't do anything." ”

The sons of Ha Lu Ha Da laughed: "That's the best, just like us." After speaking, he ignored Wang Xian and hugged his grandson towards Qiukuitang. The so-called Qiukui Hall is the main arena of the Wuying Hall, in which there are more than a dozen low-legged sandalwood square tables, three chairs on the side of each table, the masters of the two sides of the main fight sit opposite each other, and the middle is the seat of arbitration. The periphery was filled with spectators and gamblers.

Because the cricket is the size of the little finger, fighting in a cricket basin, you can't see it clearly from a distance, so it doesn't matter if you are a prince and a nobleman or a scoundrel in the market, when you look at it, you are head to head, shoulder to shoulder, and your face is covered with spitting stars, but you are still enjoying it, so intoxicated that you have forgotten what etiquette and dignity there is.

At this time, the hall was crowded, and almost every table was full of people, but the table in the center, covered with yellow silk, was empty. Several people told Zhu Zhanji that the champion of this table was the Golden Winged King of His Royal Highness King Zhao, and he had won 18 games in a row. Many masters who did not believe in evil inside and outside the capital were not spared defeat, and now no one dares to come to the battle.

"I am one of those who do not believe in evil, and I feel that this year's purple-robed marshal is also a master of winning all battles. He had a gambling battle with King Zhao, and agreed that whoever lost would close his own arena. As a result, the purple-robed marshal was bitten into a bare rod ......" Zhu Yong said with a sad face: "I live here every day now, and I hope that someone will avenge me." "He's really sad, opening a season of fighting, just relying on sitting in the village to pump water, to say the least, there are 350,000 taels of silver, which is enough for the regular expenses of the mansion of other countries.

"Yes, we too..."Several noble sons cried one after another, and when they got up, they were all defeated by King Zhao's subordinates, and they lost at least 10,000 taels of silver, and they were in a hurry to smoke and want to turn over. And His Royal Highness Taisun is their hope - the insects raised by Zhu Zhanji last year were also invincible all over the capital, and it was not until the end of autumn, when he was old and weak, that he was defeated by Zhu Gaosui's insects. However, everyone feels that His Royal Highness Taisun has fought too much before, and it is already the end of the strong crossbow, if it is at its peak, it is not necessarily who loses and who wins. So everyone is looking forward to their showdown this year. Zhu Yong knew about Zhu Zhanji's gambling contract with King Zhao, and they also guessed that he would come today, so they were waiting here early in the morning.

At this time, the gamblers also saw Zhu Zhanji, and they came over to salute him, and the words were indispensable: "His Royal Highness lost last year, presumably he will be able to go to the next level this year, and it depends on His Highness whether he can lose the Golden Winged King."

Zhu Zhanji wanted to say that my red-robed general was eaten by chickens, but he is a face-saving man, and he can't talk about this situation. I can't help but feel like a fire, and I can't wait to find a crack in the ground to get into. At this time, Zhu Yong saw the clue and asked in a low voice, "Isn't Your Highness confident?" ”

"How come" Zhu Zhanji hurriedly disguised himself and laughed loudly: "I am definitely the winner......

Before the words fell, he heard a "good talk" Dressed in a decent robe, wearing a jade belt around his waist, and holding an ivory folding fan, His Royal Highness King Zhao, surrounded by a group of servants, Shi Shiran appeared in the hall. Wang Xian had heard that the emperor had three sons, the eldest was like a Buddha, the second was like a father, and the third was like a mother. Now looking at this Zhao Wang Gao Sui, there is a three-point resemblance to Xu Miaojin between his eyebrows, and he is already a rare beautiful man.

"Third uncle." Zhu Zhanji arched his fist.

"Virtuous nephews are exempt." Zhu Gaosui smiled: "You can tell the third uncle to wait, I thought you were going to miss the appointment." After listening to your words just now, I was completely relieved. ”

"Hehe......" Zhu Zhanji said with a smile: "How can my nephew be a man of his word." ”

"That is, His Royal Highness, if you miss the appointment, won't it make people laugh?" Zhu Gaosui smiled and said: "My worm can end at any time, it's better to hit Rì than to hit Rì, just today?" ”

"I'm afraid I won't be able to do it today." Zhu Yong said for Zhu Zhanji: "His Royal Highness Taisun didn't bring his red-robed general

"How?" Zhu Gaosui opened the folding fan in a dashing manner, shook it lightly, and said, "The affectionate nephew is here to spy on the military situation?" ”

"I'm just here to take a look," Zhu Zhanji felt a little soft halfway through speaking, so he said stiffly: "Come and make an appointment with the third uncle by the way."

"You can decide whatever you want." Zhu Gaosui said magnanimously: "Save people to say that I bully juniors"

"Then the day after tomorrow, the day after tomorrow," Zhu Zhanji said.

Wang Xianxin said, okay, there are three days off in total, you can delay it if you can......

"No problem" Zhu Gaosui agreed, and said magnanimously: "Since the virtuous nephew is here to see, I can't let you run for nothing." He said to a gambler in his thirties: "Since today's grandson is not comparable, cousin, you don't have to wait for tomorrow." ”

The one who was called his cousin was Xu Jingchang, the Duke of Dingguo, and his father was Xu Zengshou, the younger brother of Empress Xu. At that time, Xu Zengshou had been ventilating for Zhu Di, and the broken city of Jinling was stabbed by Emperor Jianwen on the Golden Palace, and Zhu Di entered the city after the corpse mourned, and was posthumously crowned as the hereditary Duke of Dingguo, inherited by his eldest son Xu Jingchang. This Dingguo Grandpa has reached the pole of the Ming Dynasty with a different surname at a young age, what else can he pursue? It's just a different way to play.

His house also had a field before, but like Zhu Yong, he was dropped by Zhu Gaosui's golden-winged king, but he was not convinced, looking for crickets everywhere that could take revenge, and this time he spent a sky-high price of 10,000 taels of silver to buy a worm king from Shandong, and rushed to Zhu Gaosui to take revenge.

It is said that the crickets that Dingguo Gong found for revenge must be extremely strong, but Zhu Gaosui dared to agree to his challenge before fighting Zhu Zhanji, obviously having full confidence in the Golden Winged King.

Xu Jingchang nodded solemnly, he knew that he couldn't retreat, because the insect followed the person, if the master was not confident, the insect would not be able to win.