The Leisurely Life of the Prince of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 82: Rob or Buy
There is a city marked on the map, which is Gaochang, and the area surrounding Gaochang is Gaochang's territory.

I don’t know what happened?
After hearing what his son said, Li Shimin looked at the land of Gaochang and found it more and more eye-catching, and he was very unhappy.

This son's mind is becoming increasingly difficult to guess. Sometimes his father doesn't even know what his son is thinking. Do emperors all like to build houses?

Li Shimin walked out of the Wude Hall with his hands behind his back, whispering, "How do I know how the emperors in the past were appointed?"

Hearing this, the eunuchs who were accompanying him were terrified.

The Emperor's thoughts are hard to guess, especially after His Majesty finished talking with the Crown Prince, I always felt that there was something more in His Majesty's words.

Two eunuchs were left to close the door of Wude Hall, and the rest followed behind His Majesty, trembling with fear.

No matter how fierce the feud in Mobei is, the ministers will not take it too seriously until Your Majesty takes it seriously.

That night, His Majesty summoned Prime Minister Fang again.

Li Chengqian was not surprised to hear this news, and whispered: "Father will never bribe the teacher to support the idea of ​​building a palace."

Li Lizhi helped her brother grind the stone and said, "Father probably won't do that."

Li Chengqian sighed, "Sister, what you said makes sense. If Father really wants to win people's hearts, he might as well win me over."

Li Lizhi smiled and said, "That's right."

Ning Er walked over quickly and said, "Your Highness, Jingyang sent some silver cakes."

Hearing this, Li Chengqian nodded and said, "I didn't ask them to send anything."

Ning Er handed over a letter and said, "There is another letter."

Then a small box was placed in front of him, and inside the wooden box were neatly stacked silver cakes.

Li Lizhi picked up a piece and looked at it carefully, then weighed it in her hand. From time to time, she picked up two more pieces and listened to the sound of collision.

Li Chengqian read the contents of the letter, which was nothing more than how Du He had been making money these days. Recently, with the help of Ying Gong and his connections, his soap sales had been better.

As a result, Du He made another large sum of money, and the amount of money he had saved in Jingyang was already 50,000 strings of cash.

In fact, since the construction of the workshop in Jingyang, the business model has always been production-oriented. A piece of soap is sold at the price of twenty cents, and perfumed soap may be sold for sixty cents a piece.

Because Guanzhong had seized the market first, there was no profit in selling soap in Guanzhong. Generally speaking, the price of soap in the market was 30 coins per piece, and some were even lower.

There are also those who are in worse conditions. Several families each contribute some money to buy a bar of soap, and then some families cut it into pieces and several families divide it equally.

After a series of simple operations, and because the consumption of soap was not very significant and it was the off-season in winter, Guanzhong's business hit a bottleneck in less than a year.

Ying Gong's connections were mostly in Bingzhou or Taiyuan, so merchants from all over the country bought soap in large quantities in Jingyang and sold it to various places by transportation. Taking into account the transportation costs, the price of soap increased several times in Shuzhong, Taiyuan and other places except Guanzhong.

It's just that this is the normal relationship between cost and profit.

Jingyang only produced and traded in large quantities with merchants. Du He began to stop using copper coins for transactions and instead chose silver cakes.

Due to the private minting of copper coins during the Northern and Southern Dynasties and the early Sui Dynasty, there were too many old copper coins left.

So much so that there have been financial disasters in the past.

Jingyang is now about to face the signs of a money disaster. There are too many copper coins, which can neither be spent nor saved. Du He can only recruit more labor to offset the pressure and convert the copper coins into more labor, which becomes another kind of labor asset.

What was mentioned in the letter were all Du He's arrangements and recent plans. If you look closely, there aren't many problems.

Li Chengqian put down the letter, held the tea bowl and looked at the night sky outside the window. Ever since Xu Jingzong negotiated with Ashina She'er, the Eastern Palace had not contacted Jingyang for two months.

If we really have to talk about contact, it might be half a month ago, when I went to visit Jingyang with Fang Xiang and my uncle, but I didn't see Xu Jingzong or Du He.

This is not surprising. Maybe Du He felt that the Eastern Palace didn't want them anymore? Did he do a bad job?
In fact, for a long time, the Eastern Palace no longer had a shortage of food and clothing. At least now the Eastern Palace’s surplus has not been spent yet.

At least after the Eastern Palace received these silver cakes and this letter, Du He should be relieved, knowing that the prince has not forgotten him and that the prince is the biggest behind-the-scenes figure in Jingyang.

Du He's trepidation was not without reason. Li Chengqian wrote a sentence as a reply, "From now on, pay one tenth of Jingyang's monthly surplus to the East Palace every month."

This one tenth is neither more nor less.

After leaving aside Jingyang’s own expenses and costs, the 10% from the East Palace is not excessive, and it must be paid in cash.

Li Chengqian handed the reply letter to Ning'er.

Ning'er would give the letter to the eunuch waiting outside the East Palace, and the eunuch would give the letter to the person waiting outside the Suzaku Gate, and the reply letter would be handed to Du He.

Not long after, Ning Er came back and said, "Your Highness, Prime Minister Fang has gone back."

Li Chengqian looked at the night sky and asked, "What time is it?"

"Just after the hour of Xu."

"Father is worried about state affairs and has been discussing this with Prime Minister Fang until this late."

Li Lizhi came over with a stack of papers and said, "Brother, this is their homework."

Li Chengqian nodded and said, "Wash up and go to bed early."

Today's homework is to let younger brothers and sisters write a review of the Calabash Brothers story. The original purpose of telling this story was to hope that younger brothers and sisters could also unite like the gifted Calabash Brothers with their own abilities.

No matter how great the difficulties or how tough the situation is, as long as we unite as one, we can overcome them.

Children are naive. They just think they want to be the second child, or the third child, or the fourth child, and they don’t understand the deeper meaning.

So the articles they wrote generally contain content like this.

Li Chengqian read very quickly, basically just glancing at the articles before moving on to the next one. He felt very upset because most of these articles were failing.

After reading it, I sat down discouraged. Sometimes, it’s better not to expect younger brothers and sisters to become successful, but it would be better if they were a little more sensible.

It started with my grandfather's generation, who pacified the country, and now it is my father's generation who governs the country. So what should the Li family do if there is no one who has any potential after three generations?

Comforting himself in his heart, Li Chengqian sighed, maybe they are still young and their talents have not been discovered yet. It shouldn't be too late to seize the opportunity when they reach the age of Li Zhi, right?

The next day, after morning exercises, Li Chengqian came to the Secretariat, where things were already busy.

As the rest season passed, the weather became colder and fewer officials were busy here.

There are fewer officials here today than in the past.

There is a small table and a small stool in the Secretariat, which is the seat of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

Li Chengqian sat down at his seat. He saw several people busy checking files. Prime Minister Fang had not arrived yet.

I don’t know what my father and Prime Minister Fang talked about last night. I haven’t even arrived at the Secretariat today.

My uncle was still talking to the clerk beside him.

Li Chengqian beckoned over a relatively idle civil servant named Cen Wenben, who was currently the Vice Minister of the Secretariat.

"What are your plans, Your Highness?" In order not to disturb others' work, Li Chengqian spoke in a low voice, "I said before that I would ask more people from the Ministry of Agriculture to go to Jingyang to take a look. Have they gone there?"

Cen Wenben replied: "I have been there."

Li Chengqian asked again: "Then why haven't you received any reply yet?"

Cen Wenben thought for a moment and said, "The court is on holiday now."

“It’s rare for everyone to take a break.”

Li Chengqian nodded slightly.

Seeing that His Highness had no other instructions, Cen Wenben was about to turn around and leave.

Li Chengqian asked again: "Minister Cen?"

Cen Wenben turned back and asked, "Your Highness, do you have any other instructions?"

Li Chengqian said with emotion: "Minister Cen has worked hard. I wonder if we can ask the Sino-Agricultural Ministry to arrange one or two people to stay in Jingyang and guide the farming in Jingyang?"

"Yes, I will arrange it."

"Before the spring ploughing next year? I also want them to write down their experiences in growing crops."

After a moment's thought, Cen Wenben nodded and said, "I'll arrange it right away."

Li Chengqian nodded and said, "Thank you for your help."

Ever since His Royal Highness the Crown Prince participated in state affairs, he first made requests to the Ministry of Rites and the Honglu Temple, and now he is making requests to the Sinong Temple.

It was just a simple order.

When Cen Wenben returned to his seat, he saw someone walking towards him.

The visitor was Chu Suiliang from the Ministry of Personnel. He asked in a low voice, "What did the Crown Prince say to you?"

Cen Wenben wrote as he took up his pen: "Nothing, just asking some common questions."

After all, he is the crown prince of the Eastern Palace, and his every word and action here is worthy of attention.

Cen Wenben did not want to associate with people like Chu Suiliang who were opportunistic and flattering, and he hoped that the prince would not associate with such people either, even though Chu Suiliang had superb attainments in running script.

Not long after, Fang Xiang came back, and with him came Wei Zheng and others.

After the three core figures of the Secretariat sat down, the place became quiet.

Fang Xuanling spoke first, "Last night, your majesty discussed with me about sending a troop of soldiers into Tuyuhun and building a protectorate to guard against any changes in the Western Regions. We should be prepared and guard against the Gaochang people."

Several people in the Secretariat discussed in a low voice.

Fang Xuanling asked again: "Have the Gaochang envoys arrived?"

Chang Sun Wuji said, "The person who came is here. He is the son of Gaochang King Ju Wentai."

Fang Xuanling nodded and said, "Do you have any objections?"

Everyone was silent and had no opinion. There were already signs of war. Since they were fighting among themselves on the grassland, the Tang Dynasty must be prepared.

Wei Zheng took out a memorial and said, "Give it to the Minister of War Hou Junji. The imperial edict is a military order, ordering the Ministry of War to reorganize the troops. Liang Jianfang will be the commander of the vanguard army and will leave tomorrow to Tuyuhun."

"Here!" Someone took the memorial and left quickly.

Fang Xuanling took out another file and continued, "Last night, Your Majesty, I discussed with you the idea of ​​mutual trade proposed by Duke Zhao. Do you have any objections?"

Wei Zheng looked solemn. He stroked his beard and said, "Prime Minister Fang and I have discussed that if we want to open a trade market, we should choose the territory of Tuyuhun."

Many people present remained silent. When it comes to things that are not conducive to judging whether a matter is good or bad based on past experience, it is often difficult to make a decision, and the majority of people present remained silent.

Fang Xuanling asked again: "Besides salt and iron, are there any other goods that need attention?"

Cen Wenben said: "Historically, most of the wars on the grasslands were caused by plunder. It is not appropriate to expect a group of people who are good at and accustomed to plunder to barter in the market or trade with gold and silver."

Wei Zheng said: "What Minister Cen said is not without reason. It is not a good thing for a group of people who are used to robbing to trade like the people in the Central Plains. If the market is built on a large scale, it is very likely that it will be the first place for them to plunder. So should we defend it or abandon it?"

Transactions have always been about fair exchange, and people in the Central Plains have become accustomed to this trading model.

But for the people of the Western Regions or the grasslands, they are not adapted to this model. If the goods are right in front of them, such as the Turks, they will consider whether to rob or not. They will not consider whether to buy or not.

Changsun Wuji cleared his throat and did not express his opinion.

Cen Wenben said: "If we want to increase the number of troops, the food and fodder consumed will only be more. In this way, we will not get any profit from the trade, but the food and fodder consumed will be a huge loss, and..."

Having said this, Cen Wenben shook his head and said nothing.

Most people tended to oppose the mutual trade. Changsun Wuji patted the files beside him, lowered his head and remained silent.

In the cold winter, the wind in Guanzhong is still very cold.

Li Chengqian followed his uncle out of the Secretariat.

He suddenly stopped in front of Chengtian Gate. There was no one around, so Changsun Wuji turned around and looked at his nephew.

"Today, the Secretariat is discussing the trade policy. Why didn't Your Highness say a word?"

Li Chengqian whispered, "Uncle, what do you want me to say?"

Zhang Sun Wuji continued, "Initially, you told Xu Xiaode that people from the Western Regions earned countless silver from Guanzhong just by selling grapes. Is there such a thing in the world?"

"Yes, I did."

"Has Your Highness given up this idea?"

"Uncle, you're joking. I haven't given up." Li Chengqian nodded and said, "After their discussion, the pros and cons are clear. There's no need for me to continue to argue. What's more, they are right. For the Turks who are used to looting, they really don't consider whether to buy or not, but whether to rob or not."

Li Chengqian put his hands in his pockets.

"Uncle, I am not someone who won't listen to advice. I should learn from my father."

"Like Your Majesty, can you accept others' advice and open up the channels for people to express their opinions?"

"Sometimes listening to advice is not a bad thing." Li Chengqian looked calm.

This prince is growing up. He has been growing all the time, whether he was supervising the government or participating in the government now.

Changsun Wuji had a feeling about his nephew. It was hard to say whether this feeling was good or bad. He just felt that his nephew was growing very fast. After a period of inattention, his cognition, words and deeds had become more mature.

If the prince can listen to the advice of others now, then he can definitely listen to the advice of his uncle?
Changsun Wuji's mouth twitched, and he couldn't say anything at this moment.

What is hidden in this prince's heart?
(End of this chapter)