Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 527: Not good at fighting, but good at doing business
Li Yuan was at a loss whether to laugh or cry, but this man was really very smart.

Of course, this was Li Yuan's intention when he sent him here. If he really sent a brave and skilled fighter and defeated the Wei army in three days, then Xia Daochang would come to challenge them in a few days.

Without Erfeng, who can stop him? Li Yuan didn't even dare to think...

But this matter is right in front of us. If we punish him, it is not justifiable. It is no different from Cao Cao borrowing someone's head. But if we don't punish him, look at what he has done...

We should still punish him, but we cannot punish him just because he is not good at fighting. If we punish him for this, wouldn't it be the same as telling the whole world that he, Li Yuan, is a fucking loser?

So we have to find another excuse to give a slight punishment and a severe warning.

Usually the excuse is military pay. They eat so well and this place is so luxurious, so the military pay must be in deficit.

So he asked Du Ruhui to check the accounts.

Du Ruhui is a divine fortune teller, the best accountant in the world, and his abacus can produce sparks.

But this time he took a particularly long time to settle the score. Li Yuan couldn't wait any longer and asked, "Why isn't it done yet?"

"Your Majesty, the account is not right..."

"No? No, that's right! How can it be right for a bastard like him to eat like this? Just tell me how much he lost! I'll give him that many military sticks based on how much he lost!"

Du Ruhui was silent for a long time before he raised his head silently: "On the books... I made 73,352 taels, 6 qian, 2 fen and 1 li."

"Ha! More than 70,000 taels, he deserves to be beaten to death!"

Li Yuan slammed the table and shouted, "Kang Desheng, do you admit your guilt?!"

Kang Desheng looked up in bewilderment: "Ah?"

"Your Majesty..." Du Ruhui lowered his voice and said, "It's a profit."

"Profit... profit?" Li Yuan's brain was not able to react for a moment: "Profit???"

"Yes, but this account needs to be recalculated."

Li Yuan pondered for a moment and said, "You're the core!"

Now Li Yuan sat on the bear skin chair and waited. He even fell asleep while waiting. It was so warm. In addition, he had eaten too many steamed buns just now and felt a little dizzy from carbohydrates. He fell asleep immediately.

Seeing that his uncle was asleep, Kang Desheng brought a mattress to cover him, then knelt obediently beside him with his head down, waiting for Du Ruhui to settle the accounts.

This wait lasted for more than an hour. Li Yuan had a good nap and when he woke up, he felt warm all over. It was much more comfortable than in the palace.

He stood up and drank a sip of water. Seeing Du Ruhui next to him still calculating, he asked, "How is it? Did you figure it out?"

"I have calculated it, but... there is still something wrong. The amount on the account is more than 70,000, but after verification, it should be around 110,000. There are more than 30,000 taels that are not recorded in the account."

After hearing this, Li Yuan slapped the table again and shouted angrily: "Where's the money?"

"The bill has not been settled yet... I just recorded the goods but didn't pay for them. I'll add it after the settlement tomorrow."

After hearing Kang Desheng's description, Li Yuan was really scratching his head. It is said that when swords clash, there will be a fortune in gold. The winner will make money and the loser will lose money, but he has never heard of making money during a war.

I had good food and lived in a good military tent. Oh, and when I looked back, I made more than 100,000 taels of silver?
"How did you make this money?"

Li Yuan came forward and asked curiously: "Can you make money from this?"

"Yes, uncle. The Wei army has good stuff, especially the canned food, which is very valuable here. We use wood, ore and stone to exchange for their military supplies, keep the soybeans and meat for ourselves, and sell the vegetables and fruits to merchants in Chang'an. In this cold winter, we can eat fruits and vegetables. Those rich people are eager to buy them. At the most expensive time, they can sell them for 500 coins per can. We basically have no capital here, so we just do some work, dig stones and chop trees. But in a few days, we will ask the Wei army to build the sentry city. They are very good at building cities, and the cost is 30% cheaper than building a city by ourselves! I have calculated it all clearly."

Li Yuan laughed out loud now: "You are still doing business, then let me ask you, why don't the Wei army sell it themselves?"

"Then we have to praise them for this. General Guo said that honesty is important in business. They said they would sell to us, so they sold to us. They don't want silver, but only materials, saying that it would be difficult to reconcile the accounts if we took the silver back."

"Oh! People know it's hard to reconcile the accounts, but you're just foolishly trying to make money?"

Kang Desheng heard Li Yuan's questioning, laughed, rubbed his hands and said: "How can it be possible? I go to Hongnong County every month to buy these silvers, and exchange them for grain, salt, iron, and canned food. I buy high and buy low, and use part of it for lending. Nine out of twelve return, one point lower than the lending rate in their own county. In this way, even the lenders will come to me to borrow silver. If they have bad debts, I will use their fields and real estate to mortgage them. I will rent these real estates to local farmers and sign contracts. I don't want their silver, but I have to take 50% of the things produced from the land every year. Your Majesty, you see, this is not exchanging silver for grain. In addition, I will rent or sell those real estates to merchants from the south. When they settle down here, I will sweep up a batch of special products from the north and sell them to them, and then take the silver to collect things from the south and turn them into military supplies. Your Majesty, you know that silver is useless in the military camp. What is needed is grain, salt, iron, and large livestock."

After hearing this, Li Yuan held his forehead with his hand and said, "Why didn't I see that you, a little bastard, have the ability to do business?"

Kang Desheng's old face turned red, and he trembled as he took out a letter from his arms and handed it forward: "The general over there gave it to me... I learned it." Li Yuan took the letter and knew the words on it even if they turned to ash. This was Xia Daosheng's handwriting! It wrote down the entire process of the silver circulation in great detail, from crops to food and even human and animal feces.

Li Yuan glanced at the letter and handed it to Du Ruhui. After reading it, Du Ruhui was dumbfounded. He held the letter and looked at Li Yuan: "Your Majesty... this..."

Li Yuan raised his head and sighed, then laughed: "Humph...hahahahahaha...damn it."

In fact, at this point, Li Yuan and Du Ruhui both knew that they had been trapped by Xia Daosheng, who was thousands of miles away.

That's right, including Emperor Li Yuan. Because at the end of the letter there is a sentence "Congratulations to His Majesty the Emperor of Tang on the New Year", which means that Xia Daosheng knew that Li Yuan would see this letter, and even calculated the time to be almost the same.

"Ah..." Li Yuan leaned softly on the cushion: "Xia Daosheng is good at literature, and Li Shimin is good at martial arts... Ah..."

Du Ruhui said nothing, but just wanted to remember the contents of the letter. This thing, in a small way, is just a thing to play tricks on the enemy, but the silver inside is a prescription for saving the world and the people, and it is a practical and effective way to save Chang'an from the current financial crisis.

To sum it up in one sentence - turn money into things, turn money into labor, and turn money into trade.

At this moment, Li Yuan actually knew that it was meaningless whether he punished Kang Desheng or not. It was really a good result at the moment. It seemed that only Xia Daosheng could do something that benefited himself and others, and he could do it successfully. He was a capable minister in governing the country, but it was a pity that he followed a dog...

After a while, Li Yuan stood up and kicked Kang Desheng's butt: "Change your clothes and take me to Hongnong County for a walk."

"Oh! All right, uncle." Kang Desheng felt relieved. He knew that he would be fine. He stood up quickly and said, "I'll go get ready. Uncle, do you want to..."

"Call me Master Li."

"okay!"

After some preparation, they headed to Hongnong County. Hangu Pass was originally the throat of the 800-li Qinchuan River. The value of this place was extremely high, but later, with the prevalence of water transport, this place gradually declined. Li Yuan had come here several times before he became emperor, and most of the people who should have withered had withered.

But this time, he was stunned for a long time when he came in. There were two armies fighting outside, and the city gate was not only not closed, but there were hawkers hawking along the city walls. Once he entered, it was even more crowded.

Silk, tea, porcelain, rice, etc. in the south are piled up like mountains, while cattle, sheep, pasture, wheat, cotton and other items in the north are also in abundance.

Merchants were bargaining there, accents from all over the place blended together, and in a trance it felt like I had arrived in Jinling City.

After passing the market, there are all kinds of food in front, shops from the south, stores from the north, barbecued meat from the Hu people, lamb from the Western Regions, the whole street is filled with delicious aromas.

After crossing the boundary between Hongnong and Yiyang, you will reach the tertiary industry zone controlled by the Tang army. This place has less sports than before but more business. There are gambling houses, teahouses, wineries, and brothels. If you want elegance, you can have it. If you want vulgarity, you can have it. These are all businesses that make a fortune.

Li Yuan had walked for about ten miles and his feet were a little sore, but the prosperity before his eyes continued. He sat down in a roadside teahouse to have a drink and found that the caravans from the southwest were passing by with their horses.

Merchants are merchants after all, they will go wherever there is profit...

Seeing this scene, he clutched the teacup for a long time without saying a word.

"Your Majesty, why are you in a trance?" Du Ruhui asked carefully.

"I'm asking you." Li Yuan came back to his senses: "How many months has the fighting been going on here?"

"Less than three months, about two months."

"Someone has accomplished in two months what I have failed to accomplish in seven years." Li Yuan said, and then he burst out laughing: "Oh... I am such a coward."

Du Ruhui pursed his lips, and for a moment he didn't even know how to persuade his own emperor.

"Don't try to persuade me. I know who did this." Li Yuan pursed his lips and said, "You say..."

"Your Majesty, you can't do that! Your Majesty. At present, our Tang Dynasty still relies heavily on the Dugu family."

Having followed Li Yuan for many years, Du Ruhui knew what Li Yuan was going to do as soon as he saw him getting ready. He just wanted to ruin his princess' marriage and give her to Xia Daosheng.

This person is really anxious.

"My dear, think of a way. I want to meet Xia Daosheng after the New Year."

"Ah?" Du Ruhui pointed at himself: "I think?"

"How about I think about it?"

(End of this chapter)