travel through the past to be emperor

Chapter 167 Southern Maritime Merchants
"That's right, Caomin does want to take a stake."

Facing Zhao Fei's question, Wang Yuanbao nodded generously.

Zhao Fei's eyes flickered a little. After all, according to what Wang Yuanbao said before, he had donated all the assets under his name to Zhao Fei.

That being the case, where does Wang Yuanbao still have the money to invest?
Seemingly aware of Zhao Fei's doubts, Wang Yuanbao said, "Your Majesty knows that Caomin has a son besides Concubine Rong."

Now that he is the husband of his younger sister, Zhao Fei will naturally inquire about Wanrong Guniang's family background, and naturally know that Wanrong has an older brother.

It's just that Zhao Fei knew that Wanrong's elder brother had a serious illness when he was a child, and now his mind is not very bright. To be honest, he is a fool.

This is not a pretense, after all, this is the story before Wang Yuanbao developed.

So according to the normal understanding, Wang Wanrong is actually Wang Yuanbao's only heir. If Wanrong Junniang hadn't married Zhao Fei, then she would inherit Wang Yuanbao's family business and become the local tyrant of Chang'an City a hundred years later.

As for Wanrong's idiot brother, Wang Yuanbao had already separated the family for the two brothers and sisters many years ago. In the future, Wanrong will inherit most of Wang Yuanbao's property, while the idiot brother will live the life of a rich man.

This is also the difference between businessmen and ordinary people. In the Song Dynasty, except for businessmen, other people are usually absolutely dominated by male heirs.

Businessmen are different, they pay attention to the law of the jungle, the strong get stronger and the weak get weaker, whoever can lead everyone to earn more money will be the next leader.

Compared with Wang Wanrong's silly brother, there is no doubt that Wang Wanrong, who is a strong lady in the shopping mall, is more in line with the Wang's consortium's requirements for an heir.

But now that Wanrong Junniang has become an imperial concubine, she must not be able to continue to be a businessman.

As Wang Wanrong's father, Wang Yuanbao, he had to get out of the merchant class quickly, and it was best to become a nobleman through a certain method.

Only the status of a noble family is in line with Wang Yuanbao's current status.

Everyone in the world knows that businessmen are greedy for money and lustful, but as a successful businessman, the image of Wang Yuanbao's greed for money is deeply rooted in the hearts of the common people.

To get rid of this concept, Wang Yuanbao must have the spirit of abandoning everything and withdraw from businessmen.

From a historical point of view, most of the people in history who successfully got rid of their status as big businessmen and became a big hero admired by everyone have done one thing.

That is to disperse the family wealth.

That's right, it is to distribute all the money on the body to ordinary people, and use money to buy people's hearts.

As the saying goes, having money can make ghosts turn the millstone, and it can also make others praise you.

If Wang Yuanbao gave away all the money in his hands to the people of Chang'an, then for at least a few decades, Wang Yuanbao would definitely be the ten thousand family Buddha in the hearts of the people in Chang'an City.

Before, Zhao Fei also guessed that Wang Yuanbao would go on the road of dissipating his wealth.

What Zhao Fei didn't expect was that now Wang Yuanbao did walk this way, but his way of walking was different from others.

He actually came to him directly and wanted to spend money to buy an official position.

Or to put it more practically, it is to become an imperial merchant. Although the imperial merchant sounds like a merchant, it is not a merchant, but a kind of official position in the Song Dynasty. To a certain extent, it is a strange flower of the gentry.

Although it is a wonderful work, it is next to the gentry.

Wang Yuanbao's meaning was very simple, he gave all his money to Zhao Fei, and Zhao Fei only needed to give him a share, making him an imperial merchant of the imperial court.

As for the money for buying shares, you must have guessed it if you are smart. That's right, it is the money of that idiot brother Wang Wanrong.

That's why Wang Yuanbao said: I still have a son.

Why is this happening?

According to Zhao Fei's guess, the reason for this is because Wang Wanrong became Concubine Rong.

The so-called butterfly effect is nothing more than that.

It turns out that Wang Yuanbao's plan should be for Wang Wanrong to inherit his family business, and the idiot will eat and wait to die.

Now that Wanrong Junniang has become the imperial concubine, it is impossible for her to inherit his family business, and the fool has so much money out of thin air, it seems that there is no other way but to die faster.

And the Wang family, with no legal heir, seemed destined to end in dismay.

So Wang Yuanbao had other ideas.

That is to become an imperial merchant and hold a part of the shares of the royal industry.

At least in the next few decades, with the backing of the royal family, although he lost the throne of the richest man in Chang'an City, his life will be more peaceful than before.

And his stupid son can also have a good treatment after his death.

Of course, Wang Yuanbao actually thought more. For example, if he gave so much dowry at once, Wang Wanrong's treatment in the palace would probably improve. At the same time, if Wanrong Guniang gave birth to Zhao Fei's son, even if she couldn't become the crown prince, she could also become the crown prince. A prince, decades later, the Wang family also has a backer with thick thighs.

But these are off-topic and will not affect the current relationship between Zhao Fei and Wang Yuanbao.

In the eye contact with Wang Yuanbao, Zhao Fei somewhat understood what Wang Yuanbao was thinking.

If it were another emperor, he might be scruples about the influence, but Zhao Fei, as a descendant, didn't have too many thoughts.

What Zhao Fei thought more was that now he had no money and needed money. Wang Yuanbao sent the money, so as long as Wang Yuanbao didn't ask too much, it wasn't that he couldn't agree to him.

As for becoming an imperial merchant and getting involved in the lottery, Zhao Fei didn't think it was too much.

Anyway, the shareholding system reform must be implemented. Good things are given to everyone, and the father who gives his wife seems to be even more profitable.

Moreover, Zhao Fei feels that this move seems to be a bit of an introduction and a benchmark.

What is a benchmark?Wang Yuanbao's behavior is the benchmark and the representative of the industry.

In the future, if there are big businessmen who want to cooperate with Zhao Fei's court, then see if there is any, Wang Yuanbao is an example of cooperation.

Thinking about it this way, Zhao Fei and Wang Yuanbao were like a thunderbolt, flirting with each other, and they hit it off immediately.

Of course, Zhao Fei was able to agree to this matter so easily, more because Wang Yuanbao's son is a fool, and his daughter is his wife.

Zhao Fei, who agreed, was very generous, and directly issued an imperial decree, giving Wang Yuanbao [-]% of the lottery shares, and gave him a loose official uniform, ranking third.

In this way, when Wang Yuanbao saw Zhao Fei again in the future, he would be able to call him a minister instead of a grassroots man.

As for your question, why it is so easy for Zhao Fei to become an official.

Let me explain here, one is naturally because Zhao Fei is the emperor, and the second is because although scattered officials have rank, they do not have real positions.

This is like the chief clerk and the official department of later generations. They seem to be of the same level, but the former may just be a small clerk for cleaning, while the latter may be the head of a village in charge of the lives of tens of thousands of people.

Therefore, Wang Yuanbao's so-called official position is only a status, and does not have any other substantial benefits.

After some chatting, both the host and the guest were happy.

What is rare is that Wang Yuanbao has a better understanding of the situation in many countries in the Song Dynasty.

Through Wang Yuanbao, Zhao Fei made up for the geography of the Song Dynasty.

Within thousands of miles around Da Song, there are indeed only three behemoths, Da Song, Da Qing, and the Grassland Alliance, but among these three countries, there are some messy small countries.

In addition to these countries on land, Wang Yuanbao also had a certain understanding of the countries on the sea. For example, through Wang Yuanbao, Zhao Fei knew that the Ministry of Rites seemed to have made a mistake.

That is the so-called envoy of the island country in the East China Sea last time.

According to Wang Yuanbao, there are tens of thousands of island countries in the sea to the east of the Song Dynasty. As for the so-called envoys of the island countries in the East China Sea, it sounds a bit nonsense.

Hearing what Wang Yuanbao said, Zhao Fei thought of his own spice business, and couldn't help but feel a little unreliable.

Wang Yuanbao's ability to read words and expressions was really good, just looking at Zhao Fei's face, he seemed to understand what Zhao Fei was thinking.

Wang Yuanbao said: "Is Your Majesty thinking about the spices?"

Zhao Fei frowned, but couldn't help but glance at Wang Wanrong.

The matter of spices is still a secret to the current imperial court. Zhao Fei has issued a strict order long ago that no information about spices is allowed to leak out.

Now that this matter was brought up by Wang Yuanbao, Zhao Fei couldn't help but wonder if Wanrong Guniang had leaked the secret.

Wanrong Guniang was a bit ugly in front of her, but Wang Yuanbao said to himself: "Your Majesty, this matter was not told to me by Concubine Rong."

"Oh?" Zhao Fei smiled noncommittally, thinking that if you want to use this to excuse Wanrong, it seems too childish.

"Your Majesty, in the previous conversation with you, I can see that you are quite an open-minded person. You may know that businessmen always have a keen eye." Wang Yuanbao said.

Zhao Fei was taken aback for a moment, and then his expression became serious.

What Wang Yuanbao said is right. With the continuous development of the commodity economy between people, all exchanges gradually need to go through the market.

As the real kings in the market, businessmen, they are in it, understand all the trends of the market, and do everything possible to inquire about all the news that can make money, so they are naturally more keen-sighted.

Zhao Fei looked at Wang Yuanbao sternly and said, "Before you were in private contact with the envoys from the island countries in the East China Sea?"

Since Wang Yuanbao claimed that he knew that the spices passed through the market, he probably knew that someone had contacted the East China Sea envoy in private to discuss the spice trading.

Sure enough, Zhao Fei confirmed his guess through Wang Yuanbao's expression.

Wang Yuanbao's complexion froze, and he said with a wry smile: "Where did your majesty think, why would you do such a thing? To tell you the truth, some big merchants have already seen the benefits of spices, but most of them are in the south. It’s a small fight, after all, the promotion of a novelty must be done through aboveboard means, and these means are not available to those maritime merchants.”

"Maritime merchants in the south?" Zhao Fei met another group through Wang Yuanbao.

"That's right, the maritime merchants in the south." Wang Yuanbao said, "Actually, they are smuggling groups. Your Majesty doesn't need to care about them."

"You mean, the last person who came into contact with the Donghai people was a southerner?" Zhao Fei frowned.

(End of this chapter)