From 《
小说》 by Yin Yun (
殷芸) of the Liang Dynasty: a story where guests share their wishes — to be governor of Yangzhou, to be rich, to fly on a crane to heaven — until one greedy guest declares '
腰缠十万贯,
骑鹤上扬州' ('with 100,000 strings of cash on my belt, I'll fly on a crane to Yangzhou'), wishing for all three at once. A
贯 was a string of 1,000 copper coins, so
万贯 = 10 million coins.