My Immortal Brother-in-law

Chapter 195 Li Shiying looks forward to Sun Chenglong

Among Fei Zhong and other young lower-level officials who had just been promoted by Emperor Xin.

Only Fei Zhong can be considered to have a family behind him.

Although the Fei family is not very famous in the Shang Dynasty, it has been passed down for hundreds of years.

Apart from his Fei family, the rest are Fei Lian, Zuo Jiang, or E Lai.

They're even all ordinary people!

Zuo Jiang was even a prisoner who was demoted to a slave. It was only after he was sent by the nobles to fight with lions and tigers and killed several of them that Emperor Xin appreciated his bravery and promoted him to an official and a soldier.

After being appreciated by Emperor Xin, these young people of humble status showed unspeakable loyalty to him.

At the same time, people like them who have struggled at the bottom, suffered enough, and been tired enough.

When they get the opportunity, they are very good at seizing it.

Therefore, after Emperor Xin told them the core purpose of making money.

They got into the game very quickly.

Fei Zhong was the first to leave Chaoge and go to Jiaoge, where he established the largest fish and salt distribution center in Da Shang and controlled more than 50% of the world's fish and salt.

Officials who were born as slaves, such as Zuo Jiang, made full use of the power of slaves and built several cities in succession near Chaoge, including Shaqiu City and Qiongli City, and led the slaves to vigorously open up new land.

In this way, as time passed, Emperor Xin's ambition to make money finally came to fruition.

In just two years, Da Shang's grain production increased by more than two-tenths, and even its tax revenue increased by two times!
After Emperor Xin easily earned such a huge amount of money.

Emperor Xin’s confidence grew stronger and stronger.

So, looking at the money piling up in the treasury, the emperor thought hard and decided that he would... continue to make money!
But today, the two largest markets, fish and salt, have long been controlled by Emperor Xin's men.

Apart from fish salt, it’s hard to make so much money from other things in a short period of time.

But how could Emperor Xin, who had long been obsessed with the growth of the Shang Dynasty's GDP, listen to Bigan's persuasion? In Emperor Xin's eyes, making money was the best way to prove his political achievements.

So, after continuous communication with Fei Zhong and others, Emperor Xin successfully found a few more...more profitable businesses!

Emperor Xin wants to brew wine!
He wanted to vigorously promote wine culture within Da Shang, and then monopolize the entire Da Shang wine-making industry to make money, and use wine to reap the wealth of the eight hundred vassal states.

At the same time, alcohol was used to make the people of the vassal states lose their motivation to produce, further reducing their national strength!

The reason why Emperor Xin thought of brewing wine was because... the Shang Dynasty now had too much grain!
The grain and grass that Emperor Yi accumulated in the past have been there for several years now. If they are not used, the oldest batch of grain will soon rot.

In addition, with the vigorous efforts of Zuo Jiang and others to reclaim wasteland, the seasonal grain supply of the Shang Dynasty increased. Therefore, in the eyes of Emperor Xin, it was time for the Shang Dynasty to realize the value of grain and fodder.

In this way, Da Shang officially entered the era of large-scale winemaking.

Of course, Emperor Xin has not yet gone crazy. After investing a large part of the old grain into the brewing industry, he also gave more grain and grass to Wen Zhong.

After obtaining food and grass, Wen Zhong started to turn from defense to offense without saying a word, showing off his military power to the four barbarians and eight hundred princes.

Soon another two years passed. During these two years, with the booming development of the wine-making industry, the wealth piled up in the Dashang treasury had become countless!
Even though the Shang Dynasty had fought many wars in the four years since Emperor Xin ascended the throne, it tried to spend all the money and grain.

But the Shang Dynasty was so rich that it had more money than it could spend, and it could not be spent just by fighting wars!
In fact, because Wen Zhong and Huang Feihu became more and more skilled in fighting, the Shang Dynasty actually became richer and richer!
As a result, officials and people at all levels of the Shang Dynasty finally began to be grateful to Emperor Xin, and Emperor Xin's achievements gradually became comparable to those of his father, and he became the undisputed leader of the revival in the eyes of officials at all levels!

However, Emperor Xin, the so-called leader of the revival of the Shang Dynasty, is now sitting in the hall, thinking hard about how to use the money he has earned to further enhance his reputation.

I have too much money in my hand and I can't spend it all. I can't spend it all even if I spend it normally.

The generals under his command were all very capable of fighting. There were Wen Zhong and Huang Feihu at the top, and a number of veteran families such as the Li and Deng families below, and even young generals such as E Lai who were newly promoted by Emperor Xin.

When Emperor Xin saw this, he was shocked!
Our Great Shang is now capable of both civil and military affairs!
So, after much deliberation, Emperor Xin finally decided...

"Under my leadership, my Great Shang has prospered to this point, so I am determined to lead everyone together to create wonders!"

In this way, Emperor Xin, who had many soldiers and generals and plenty of money, officially opened the era of great wonders of the Shang Dynasty.

He first built a complex of towers named Qiongshi and Yumen in Shaqiu and Qiongli. The scale of their construction was extremely large. He was going to collect rare birds and beasts from all over the world, and place countless beautiful women and handsome men in them.

But what Emperor Xin didn't expect was.

The saying that wonders can ruin a country is not just talk.

Emperor Xin seemed to have countless money and grain in his hands. Although those money and grain seemed a lot when he had not built the wonders, once the wonders were launched, something bad would happen.

In particular, Emperor Xin's steps were a bit too big. He was building two wonders at the same time!
As a result, in just half a year, he had spent almost all the money he had saved.

According to the speed at which he made money, his income was not enough to support the construction of these two wonders...

This fact made Emperor Xin angry and humiliated, so he quickly summoned Fei Zhong and others back to his side and asked them to come up with some strategies to make more money.

What strategies can everyone use in the face of Emperor Xin’s request?
There are rules for making money, and as for methods, there are only so many.

So, after everyone discussed it, Da Shang further cut military spending, took out more food and started brewing and selling more wine.

Expanding production and increasing sales was Emperor Xin’s first approach.

In order to achieve this goal, even Emperor Xin began to take action personally, inviting princes from all over the world to gather in Chaoge to watch Emperor Xin advertise his wine.

So in the fourth year of Emperor Xin's reign, the Shang Dynasty held the largest sacrificial activity in its history.

Eight hundred princes, including Ji Chang, all participated in this sacrificial activity.

The verbal purpose of Emperor Xin's sacrifice this time was to commemorate his deceased father Emperor Yi.

The sacrifice lasted for a full thirty days, and the entire city of Chaoge, together with the eight hundred princes, feasted and got drunk for a full thirty days.

Emperor Xin took the lead and led 800 princes to drink to their heart's content, in order to further promote the wine culture of the Shang Dynasty.

As for something like alcohol, especially the liquor industry that is monopolized by big merchants...

No one knows whether the princes in the other three directions are interested.

Anyway, those princes in the north really fell in love with wine.

This sacrifice and banquet of the Shang Dynasty completely stimulated the eight hundred princes.

Especially the northern princes, led by Yuan Futong, were deeply impressed by the wealth and heroism of the big merchants.

The most important thing is that Yuan Futong and his people love strong liquor very much. The climate in the north is relatively cold and harsh, and strong liquor is just what they like.

In this way, the first batch of northern princes signed a considerable number of wine orders with Dashang, and the northern princes who purchased more wine gradually began to learn from Dashang at this moment.

Now that there is enough wine at home, the northern princes will have to hold more banquets and sacrifices to consume the wine.

As a result, the national strength of the 200 princes in the north declined rapidly. The princes in the north were only the ones whose strength declined the most. Compared with the north, the princes in the other three directions bought less wine than the north, but they also left a considerable number of wine orders.

For a time, the wine culture spread from the Shang Dynasty to the eight hundred princes and became completely popular in the human world of the entire Dongsheng Shenzhou.

Now that alcohol is so popular, hey!

The money problem is easily solved.

In just a few months, the money Emperor Xin earned from selling wine exceeded the total of his business in the past few years.

Not only could the construction of the palace wonders in Shaqiu and Qiongli continue in an orderly manner, but this time, Emperor Xin even had some surplus in his hands.

Look, Emperor Xin is simply the man destined to make money.

For a time, Emperor Xin became more and more confident, and new ministers like Fei Zhong, who had become prominent because of Emperor Xin, also became more and more respectful to him.

In the winter of the fourth year of Emperor Xin's reign, there was a heavy snow.

People say that auspicious snow means a good harvest. Although there is no such saying in the Shang Dynasty today, the merchants also know that snowfall is a good thing.

Standing in the heavy snow in Chaoge, Wen Zhong looked at Deng Jiugong beside him, chuckled and patted his shoulder.

"Jiu Gong, look at our Great Shang now, haha.

Emperor Xin is a good king. Our Shang Dynasty has become more prosperous in recent years. It's a pity that your master, my elder brother, was unable to come in person for this year's grand sacrifice."

Having said that, Wen Zhong gently stroked his beard and looked towards the direction of Zhongshan with nostalgia.

Time flies, in just a blink of an eye, Wen Zhong is almost sixty years old, so old!
Although he had the opportunity to become an immortal in this life, just as his teacher said, he had the fate to become an immortal but not the heart to do so.

When he returned to Da Shang that year, two of his three flowers had bloomed. So until now, only two of his three flowers have bloomed. He has never been able to gather the three flowers at the top of his head to achieve immortality.

But what if I can’t live forever?
Looking at the current Shang Dynasty, Wen Zhong is already satisfied.

But it would be nice if the brothers from back then could still be around.

Although he still has old brothers such as Bigan and Shang Rong around him.

But the one he played best back then was Zhong Suli.

Since Brother Zhong Su was not around, he wanted to find someone to show off his daily life to, but he couldn't find a suitable person.

Hey……

On the side, seeing Grand Master Wen sighing deeply, Deng Jiugong, who has now become a middle-aged man, nodded with emotion.

"What the Grand Master said is absolutely right. After hearing what the Grand Master said, I also felt that... I really haven't seen my master for some time.

Coincidentally, a daughter was finally born in my family. This is my fifth child.

In the past, Xibo Chang had told me that my daughter would achieve great things in the future. So, when I returned to Chaoge, I wanted to ask the Grand Tutor and the King for leave to allow me to leave Sanshan Pass for a while and bring my daughter back to my master's temple in Zhongshan to pay homage to my master and ask him to give my daughter a name.

By then, I will tell him how much the Grand Master misses my master.

I don’t know, after hearing my story, my master is willing to come back to Chaoge to have a drink with you, Grand Master.”

"Ha ha, alright!"

Hearing Deng Jiugong's words, Wen Zhong was overjoyed and patted Deng Jiugong's shoulder heavily.

"There just happened to be no major wars in recent years. We have Wucheng King Huang Feihu in the front. He is enough to face many barbarians by himself. We can take a good rest in the back.

Let me think about it. It's not just you. In Chaoge, there's also General Kong Xuan who has a good relationship with my elder brother.

How about this, you don’t have to go see the king, I can make the decision alone and ask for leave for both you and Kong Xuan.

No, not just you, I'm going to take a leave this time too. The three of us will go to Zhongshan together to have a good drink with your master and my elder brother.

The last time I met your master was four years ago. At that time, the Shang Dynasty was not as prosperous as it is today. King Di Xin was very capable.

After meeting your master this time, I must tell him in detail about the changes that Da Shang has undergone over the years, haha!

Let’s go, let’s do it today. Let’s go find General Kong Xuan now, and then set off to Zhongshan immediately!
I haven't shown off anything to my brother for so many years, and I feel like I've grown nothing in my heart, haha.

It’s great, it’s great. I don’t know how long I can live.

I really want to see more of the current prosperity of our Great Shang, and watch it continue to prosper!"

At this point, Wen Zhong became excited and immediately brought Deng Jiugong to Kong Xuan.

After hearing Wen Zhong's words, Kong Xuan was overjoyed.

"It's a good feeling!"

Kong Xuan clapped his hands happily.

"Over the years, our king has taken the lead in brewing a lot of strong liquors. These new liquors are all delicious. I have long wanted to bring a batch for Ah Su to taste.

Come on, let's go together now. First, we will go back to Sanshan Pass to pick up Xiaojiu's daughter, and then we will rush to Zhongshan and get drunk for a few days!"

At this point, Kong Xuan and the other two did not bring any soldiers or horses with them, but instead rode their mounts and rushed towards Sanshan Pass.

When they passed through Chentang Pass, Li Shiying, who heard the purpose of the three people, actually dragged his sick body and went with them to Zhongshan to pay a visit to Zhong Su.

Li Shiying is now very old, and it is really Li Jing who... makes Li Shiying exhausted.

In the past, Li Shiying treated Li Jing as his own son.

But now, his good son Li Jing seems to have hurt Zhongyong...

Although Li Jing was fortunate enough to be accepted as a disciple by the wandering Xi Kunlun Du'e Zhenren, it turned out that Li Jing did not have a very good talent for cultivating immortals and practicing qi.

He had practiced with Master Du'e for more than ten years, but he had only learned one of the Five Elements Escape Techniques. Apart from that, he had not mastered any other techniques, and his level of Taoism was also pitifully low.

It was really because Li Shiying wanted his son to become successful, so he took great care of Li Jing at home.

Once this kind of child, who is pampered by his family, gets the chance to go out into the wild, he can become as naughty as a demon, and even Lord Du'e can't control him.

Just like that, in the fourteenth year of Li Jing's cultivation, the twenty-year-old Li Jing was expelled from school by Du'e Zhenjun...

From that day on, Li Shiying began to grow old. Now, Li Shiying himself knows that he doesn't have much time left.

But the more this happens, the more Li Shiying will struggle, because human nature will not change.

Back then, he hoped his son would become a successful person. Now, he hopes his grandson will become a successful person!
Now that he already has a grandson named Jin Zha, he wants to take his grandson with him to Zhongshan to save his reputation and even his life and find a reliable future for his grandson!

(End of this chapter)