Datang: Longevity for Thousands of Years, Exposed by Xiao Sizi

Chapter 114 The little thief!
Wei Zheng also nodded and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, I share the same idea as Zhangsun Pushe."

Li Shimin smiled and said, "I will. Let's not talk about this for now. As for the ice cubes at hand, I want to open up sales channels for a small number of people to cool down, occupy some of the market, and also increase the national treasury silver. Who of the two beloved ministers can do it?"

This is why Li Shimin summoned the two men, he wanted to sell ice.

Now that the Tang Dynasty is in the process of rebuilding, money is needed everywhere. However, those wealthy families are holding on to their money like stingy misers and are unwilling to spend a single cent.

The Tang Dynasty's treasury was almost empty, so Li Shimin had to find a way to raise money.

It is not possible to print directly because gold and silver are too precious and all the gold and silver that can be printed have already been printed.

So, the only way left is to make money.

Before, a large number of books were taken out from the Chu Palace for sale. Because the price was half of the market price, countless scholars came to buy them. It seemed to be very prosperous and occupied 90% of the book market in Chang'an City. But in fact... those books did not make any money.

Currently.

The raw material, rice paper, is expensive, so the original prices of all kinds of books are already high. Major bookstores make about 10% profit from selling books, which is hard-earned money.

He sold them at half the market price. Although all the money came from the Chu Palace and he made no capital investment, Li Shimin understood the principle of making steady profits, so he invested the money from the sales in printing books.

No matter how many books there are in the Prince Chu's Palace, they will all be sold out one day, so this channel must be opened up.

This leads to.

All the money earned was spent on printing books.

They sold them at a price half lower than the market price, and used the money to invest in printing. It has been said before that major bookstores make a 10% profit. Now that all the money has been invested, it is possible to produce one book by selling two books from the Chu Palace, so it is actually still in a loss-making state.

If the officials who printed books didn't come to Li Shimin to ask for money, he would have already burned incense and prayed to Buddha.

How can we expect to subsidize the national treasury by selling books?

And now.

Ice cubes are different.

The main materials for making ice are water and saltpeter, which are readily available and can be made at no cost.

The current market price of ice is extremely high. Once they put the ice on the market and then reduce the price by half, which will ruin the market price, they will definitely be able to snatch most of the customers who buy ice.

It's a business with no capital, but you can make a lot of money.

This is a very profitable way to make money.

Wei Zheng and Zhangsun Wuji were both able to see the pros and cons clearly.

Wei Zheng immediately stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, I am willing to take responsibility for this matter."

Zhang Sun Wuji was unwilling to be left behind, so he also stood up and said, "Your Majesty, please let me take charge. Wei Zhongshu has made too many enemies in the court, and he has no way of playing both sides. I am not like that."

Li Shimin's eyes flickered when he heard this.

It seems... that's indeed the case.

Wei Zheng is a big troll. He doesn't care who it is when he trolls. How can a person with such low emotional intelligence do business?
Wei Zheng was not convinced and said, "Your Majesty, don't listen to what Changsun Pushe says. I am qualified for this position."

"I am not good at pleasing others, so I just need to be the decision maker who issues orders."

Zhang Sun Wuji raised his eyebrows and said, "Wei Zhongshu, I have the support of the entire Zhang Sun family behind me. There are countless capable people, and they are even more trustworthy. They are all my confidants. It is best to leave it to me. It is most appropriate to leave it to me."

Wei Zheng snorted coldly and said, "It is precisely because you want to hand over the sale to someone from your Changsun family that I, Wei Zheng, am even more worried."

"When Her Highness Xiao Sizi was attacked by an assassin, who could have thought that the guards around her would rebel? But... they did rebel."

"The Changsun family is a well-known name, and a big tree attracts the wind. Maybe there are some people in your family who are interested."

"For example, a frustrated bastard would seek refuge with a noble family? Or a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law who were treated unfairly would seek refuge with a noble family? These are all uncertain factors, and the Changsun family cannot handle this responsibility."

Upon hearing this, Changsun Wuji sighed and said, "Wei Zhongshu, speaking of this, my niece is really pitiful. She was almost assassinated. If she hadn't been so lucky, she wouldn't have been able to see her mother."

As he spoke, tears welled up in the corners of his eyes.

Looks sad and miserable.

Wei Zheng's eyes widened, the corners of his mouth twitched as he said, "Changsun Pushe, are you starting to play the emotional card with His Majesty?!"

Changsun Wuji was about to speak when he was interrupted by Li Shimin.

"Alright, alright, my two beloved ones."

"I have already made a decision on who should handle this matter now."

Li Shimin laughed. In fact, he had decided who would do it before the two of them came.

The reason why he asked two people to come was because they were all his trusted ones. No matter who took over the ice sales business, the other party needed to know so as not to be confused.

"Your Majesty, who is that?"

"who is it!"

Changsun Wuji and Wei Zheng's hearts were pounding in their throats.

One of them is fighting for the continued expansion of the family.

The ice cube business is very profitable and requires no capital.

His Majesty shouldn't mind if we keep a little bit of the gold and silver we get back from selling them and keep it for the family, right?

The other person, on the other hand, didn't have so many evil thoughts.

We have seen that even His Highness Xiao Sizi has a traitor by his side. How many traitors from noble families must be accomplices in this palace?

If the ice cube business is leaked and the methods are discovered by the noble families, then this business will be ruined, right? !

Leave it to him, he has a good eye and can judge people.

That's it.

"I want to give it to Wei Zheng."

Li Shimin looked at Wei Zheng.

Wei Zheng was slightly stunned when he heard this, then he burst into laughter: "Hahaha! Thank you, Your Majesty, for recognizing me!"

"I will definitely arrange this place for your majesty and bring back the wealth."

Compared to the excited Wei Zheng, Changsun Wuji seemed a little lonely.

This is how the ice business works. It was taken over by Wei.

never mind,

Just rob it if you can.

Changsun Wuji soon put it aside. Given Wei Zheng's personality, he knew that Wei Zheng would not be corrupt. If that were the case, Wei Zheng and his wife would not have lived in a thatched house.

that's it.

Wei Zheng received an ice business.

Li Shimin arranged everything for him. He let Wei Zheng employ only Jinwu Guards, and gave Wei Zheng the right to sell, giving Wei Zheng a lot of power to make his own judgments.

If Changsun Wuji is arranged, then even if Li Shimin arranges the Jinwu Guards, Changsun Wuji will probably arrange a few people from the Changsun family to come in later.

Wei Zheng did not have this concern. He had no family to rely on, and he hated evil and was upright, making him worthy of being entrusted with such a big task.

After handing over everything, Li Shimin often breathed a sigh of relief: "Huh, just waiting for the results."

“Look at what these seemingly insignificant pieces of ice can bring.”

………………

Vertical sun.

It's just dawn.

Little Sizi tiptoed into the imperial kitchen.

"I heard that Father has some delicious water this time. If you don't give it to Sizi, don't blame Sizi's men for being ruthless."

Xiao Sizi kept hypnotizing himself.

Find a very suitable reason for your petty theft.

This time, what she wanted to steal was the delicious drink that Li Shimin had just obtained. She heard Li Shimin and Empress Zhangsun mention it when the family of three were having dinner in Lizheng Hall last night.

Little Sizi said greedily that she wanted it on the spot, but Li Shimin gave her a perfunctory response, saying that this drink had just been discovered and he didn't know whether it tasted good or not, or whether it was poisonous or not, so how could he let her take the risk?

It's caring.

But in the eyes of the cute little Sizi, that means he is not drinking it himself!

Ask around.

Finally, Xiao Sizi learned that the drink was in the imperial kitchen.

"Your Highness, Xiao Sizi, why are you here?"

A royal chef discovered little Sizi and was extremely surprised.

"what?"

Seeing this, Little Sizi was startled and panicked, then he pretended to be calm and said, "Yes...it was Father who asked Sizi to come!!"

The royal chef was bewildered.

Your Majesty will let His Highness Little Sizi step into the kitchen? !

Can't you?
Very confused.

But she was the princess after all, and the royal chef didn't dare to think too much.

Whatever Her Royal Highness the Princess says is what happens.

"Then... Your Highness, Xiao Sizi, what did His Majesty ask you to do? If you need to find something, I know every corner here and can help."

The royal chef spoke in an extremely humble tone.

Little Sizi was overjoyed, clasped his hands together and said with sparkling eyes: "Wow, that's great!"

Say it.

Little Sizi turned his left hand into a palm and his right hand into a fist. He hit his left palm with his right hand and said, "That's it. Sizi wants to find something to drink! It's a new drink that father just made recently."

The imperial chef heard this and said with a twitch of his mouth: "Your Highness Xiao Sizi, did His Majesty ask you to take that?"

Little Sizi nodded and said, "Yes, yes, that's right. Do you know where it is? You must know, because the emperor is in a hurry and needs Sizi to bring the drink to him."

"This..." The chef thought for a moment and said, "I do know this. Your Highness, please follow me."

"Great!"

Little Sizi jumped up excitedly, and then followed the imperial chef obediently.

After wandering around, the royal chef brought Xiao Sizi to a corner.

I saw that on the table in the corner, all other dishes had been cleared away, and only a large piece of ice was mixed in the water.

“Is this…is this a new drink?”

Xiao Sizi couldn't help but ask.

The royal chef nodded: "Yes, I don't know why yesterday. Your Majesty got a large piece of natural ice."

"Your Majesty said that he had an idea before, that is, mixing ice into water, would it make the water more refreshing and delicious? Your Majesty didn't want to do it before because natural ice was very rare and he couldn't do such a luxury. But now it's not the case. Your Majesty got such a large amount of ice, so he will splurge."

"Your Highness, this is the new drink that His Majesty ordered us to prepare. Some people have tasted it before. After natural ice is mixed with water, it is indeed refreshing and delicious, and it can reduce the heat of the whole summer."

"But this is just a preliminary situation. As for whether there will be any side effects, it is not known yet. Please use it with caution."

Hearing this, little Sizi nodded obediently: "Yes, I know! Then bring a few bowls for Sizi! Sizi will bring them to father!"

"it is good!"

The imperial chef took bowls and filled a few cups with it. He then used a knife to cut off a corner of natural ice and mixed it into the water in the bowls.

"That's enough, Your Highness Xiao Sizi."

The imperial chef finished all this busily and handed the bowls of water to Xiao Sizi.

"Thank you for your help! Thank you, thank you!"

Little Sizi bowed twice very politely. This was taught to her by her second brother. She had to be polite in doing things, only then could she be her second brother's little Sizi.

Then, without waiting for the imperial chef's answer, he trotted out of the imperial kitchen.

"This, His Highness Xiao Sizi is really..."

The royal chef smiled and shook his head. He just felt what childishness was during the chat with Xiao Sizi.

Left the imperial kitchen.

Xiao Sizi acted like a thief, calling out to the two guards from Wangyun Inn who came with him and quickly returned to Chaolu Palace.

These two guards were assigned to him by Qin Changye.

During the Hanyang Gate incident, it was Qin Changye who arranged people to rescue Xiao Sizi, so Li Shimin and Empress Changsun both agreed with Qin Changye's arrangement of people to be around Xiao Sizi.

They even hoped that Qin Changye would arrange someone to protect Xiao Sizi.

In their minds, it was obvious that the immortal behind Qin Changye and his subordinates were much better at protecting people than the imperial guards.

Now, the two guards have been protecting Xiao Sizi closely. It has been nearly half a month, and they have become familiar with each other.

"Your Highness, those bowls of water must be heavy for you to carry. Why don't you come down again?"

The guard at Hopecloud Inn couldn't help but say.

Little Sizi waved his hands and said nonchalantly, "Oh, it's okay! The treasure bag that my second brother gave me has a lot of things in it. I don't think it's a big deal."

"Hehe~ Now these are just a few bowls of water, which is incomparable to the treasure bag. Of course, it's out of the question."

Seeing Xiao Sizi say this, the two guards of Wangyun Inn had no choice but to give up.

They just watched Xiao Sizi come back with his teeth gritted.

To be honest, Xiao Sizi was so arrogant that the two guards of Wangyun Inn were quite happy to be watched.

"Huh, I'm finally back. I'm so tired!"

"It's all father's fault. If father had given Sizi this water to drink earlier, then Sizi wouldn't have to steal... oh no, run around."

Back at Chaolu Palace, Xiao Sizi put down the water and wiped the sweat off his face due to the heat.

After the things were put down, the two guards of Wangyun Inn also saw what Xiao Sizi had been covering all the way.

"Hmm? Isn't this ice water? Is this the good stuff that His Majesty has hidden?"

"That shouldn't be the case. Ice water is readily available in our Wangyun Inn. Your Majesty, why did you do this? Could it be that Your Highness Xiao Sizi took the wrong thing?"

As guards at Wangyun Inn, they often drink ice water when summer comes.

Couldn't be more familiar.

"What! Are there also these in Wangyun Inn? Then why didn't my second brother give Sizi some to drink before?"

"Okay, it turns out that my second brother is hiding something again, and Sizi is angry!"

Little Sizi pouted and stood with her hands on her hips.

That angry look actually looked cute.

It makes people feel like they can't help but want to continue to make her angry.

But the two guards of Wangyun Inn did not dare to do so. This was Her Highness's treasure, and it would be disastrous if they made her angry.

"Ice water is not suitable for children or humans to drink because it is icy cold and if you drink it and then eat hot food, it can easily upset your stomach. This is what Boss Qin said."

"So, Boss Qin, he's not hiding anything, but you're not suitable to drink this. How about we just give it away?"

The guard of Wangyun Inn pretended to take away the ice water.

But it was something that Xiao Sizi had obtained with great difficulty, how could he let them take it away?
"no!"

The little rhinoceros protected the ice water like his own calf.

(End of this chapter)