Prince of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 463 Yancheng

Gao Ming's way of changing the topic is still so blunt, Li Shimin can only pretend to be distracted.

But when Li Shimin saw the bucket of ice brought by Meng Xin, his attention was really attracted.

"Ice cubes? No wonder you can keep the beef for such a long time. It turns out that you used ice cubes. But where did you get the ice cubes on such a hot day? Could it be the cellar of Goguryeo?"

Seeing Li Shimin's curious expression, Gao Ming immediately laughed.

"Of course not. I made these ice cubes with saltpeter. Fill the small basin with water first, and then throw a few pieces of saltpeter into it. The water will freeze."

"I see!"

Although Li Shimin was surprised, he did not doubt the authenticity of Gao Ming's words, because his intuition told him that it was impossible for Gao Ming to deceive himself with something so easy to debunk.

What made Li Shimin even more curious was where Gao Ming learned these weird knowledge.

"Where did you learn how to make ice with saltpeter?"

Gao Ming didn't expect Li Shimin to ask this question, so he was stunned for a moment, and then raised his eyebrows at Li Shimin with a half-smile.

"Well... guess what?"

"..."

Of course Li Shimin would not guess, so he immediately gave Gao Ming a look, and then ignored him.

Seeing that Li Shimin ignored him, Gao Ming secretly heaved a sigh of relief.

"Huh... It seems that we should stop showing off this knowledge in front of the old man in the future, so as not to make it difficult to ask questions, and he is so shrewd, it is not easy to prevaricate."

After realizing this, Gao Ming restrained himself a lot in front of Li Shimin, and usually tried not to dazzle in front of him.

As for Li Jing, his life became much easier after Li Shimin boarded the ship.

After getting up in the morning, I played chess with Li Shimin, drank tea in the afternoon, and discussed the situation in Tang Dynasty by the way. The days were full and comfortable.

The speed of the steamship was very fast, and because it was sailing at night, the ship arrived in Luoyang on the third day.

After getting off the boat, Gao Ming took Li Shimin to Tiance Mansion, and then showed him the booty brought back from Goguryeo.

"Old man, these are the goods I brought back from Goguryeo and Baekje, including those on the warships, which add up to at least 300 million guan, and are now handed over to you."

Although Li Shimin had a deep concentration, he couldn't help but gasp when he heard the number Gao Ming said.

"Hiss...there are so many?"

Seeing Li Shimin's shocked look, Gao Ming nodded with a smile.

"Yeah, I also made one at the beginning, but Goguryeo has a few hundred years of Guozuo, and there are not many places to spend money at ordinary times. It is normal to save these family assets."

Having said that, Gao Ming immediately cupped his hands towards Li Shimin again.

"Okay, no matter what, the money is yours now, whether you want to put it into the national treasury or the internal treasury, it's none of my business, so I'll resign first!"

"Well, let's go!"

Li Shimin suddenly got such a huge windfall, his eyes were shining like gold, and naturally he didn't have time to be smart, so he immediately waved to him, as if wishing him to leave quickly.

Seeing this scene, Gao Ming shrugged his shoulders helplessly, and then left with Meng Xin.

After leaving Tiance Mansion, Gao Ming did not stay in Luoyang, but went north to Jinzhou with Meng Xin.

Jinzhou is not far from Luoyang, and Gao Ming and Meng Xin rode there on horseback, so they arrived in Jinzhou before sunset.

When Gao Ming and Meng Xin arrived at Jinzhou City, they were stunned by the sight of people coming and going at the gate of the city, and the scene of carriages going back and forth.

"The sun is almost setting, and Jinzhou City is still so lively?"

Meng Xin came to Jinzhou for the first time. Originally, she thought that Jinzhou was just an inconspicuous small state, at most more lively than other Zhongzhou and Shangzhou.

But the scene in front of her completely overturned her view of Jinzhou.

Such a lively scene, not to mention Jingzhao and Taiyuan, even Chang'an and Luoyang are not so lively, right?

Thinking of this, she immediately looked at Gao Ming with some admiration.

"His Royal Highness, it turns out that this is your autonomous prefecture. It's really lively. Let's play here for two days, shall we?"

Seeing Meng Xin's pleading face, Gao Ming smiled wryly and nodded.

"Of course it's good, because I planned to rest here for two days, but why is it so lively here, in fact, I'm also wondering!"

Hearing Gao Ming's words, Meng Xin immediately grinned.

"Hee hee, it turns out that His Highness doesn't know either, so why don't you ask me to ask myself!"

Saying that, without waiting for Gao Ming to speak, she walked to the gate of the city and asked a pair of middle-aged men and women walking by with donkeys.

"Brother and sister-in-law, what are you doing out of the city so late? The city gate will be closed later!"

Hearing Meng Xin's words, the middle-aged couple immediately laughed, and the man with the donkey grabbed the donkey and laughed at Meng Xin.

"Haha, little girl, are you from another place? Let me tell you, we are not from Jinzhou City. The houses in Jinzhou City are so expensive that we can't afford them. We are from Puzhou City. Come here It's for salt."

"Buy salt?"

Hearing her words, Meng Xin's eyes widened immediately.

"Isn't this salt sold everywhere? Isn't there salt in Puzhou City?"

As soon as Meng Xin finished speaking, the man's wife also laughed.

"Hehe, this salt is indeed available everywhere, of course Puzhou City also has it, but if it is cheap, only Jinzhou City has it. Let me tell you, the salt in Puzhou costs more than 100 renminbi a catty But the salt in Jinzhou City only costs ten cents a catty. It is said that His Highness the Crown Prince is selling it, but His Highness the Crown Prince is a good person, and..."

The person Meng Xin spoke to was a typical Guanzhong woman, with a straightforward temper and a warm heart. The only shortcoming was that she couldn't stop talking once she started talking.

She dragged Meng Xin and talked for nearly an incense stick, from the price of salt to how many eggs her chickens laid, until her man pulled her several times before he pulled her away.

But precisely because of this "chatter box", Gao Ming finally figured out the whole story.

It turned out that at the beginning of the year, Tian Yi, who went to Fanyang to build a salt field, finally came back, and at the same time brought back 100 million dans of table salt.

According to Gao Ming's instructions, he planned to put this batch of salt on the market at a low price. In order to ensure that everything went smoothly, he chose Jinzhou City, where tax officials and businessmen were most concentrated.

At the beginning, Gao Ming gave Tian Yi a price of two renminbi a catty, but faced with the high price of salt which had already reached more than 100 renminbi a catty, Tian Yi raised the price of this batch of salt to ten renminbi.

However, he still underestimated the impact of low-priced salt on the market. When this batch of low-priced salt, whose price was only [-]% of the market price, appeared, Jinzhou City immediately became a sensation!
Every day, tens of thousands of merchants and common people poured into Jinzhou City, crowding the gates of the yamen in Jinzhou City that were in charge of selling salt.

Many people even lined up outside with quilts, eating and sleeping at the gate of the Yamen, just to queue up to buy salt!
And this situation has lasted for four months from the beginning of the year to now, and now many people have given Jinzhou City another name-Yancheng!
(End of this chapter)