Great Tang princess

Chapter 423 Sales Method

These Qianniuwei wearing camouflage uniforms entered the city, entered through the east gate, and went straight to the imperial city.

The people on the road have a very friendly feeling when they see the camouflage uniforms, and they will not deliberately avoid them, but they are very clear to let them out of the way.

The soldiers did not relax their vigilance just because they entered Dongdu, they watched their surroundings vigilantly as usual.

A soldier was observing the surrounding crowd, but suddenly saw a girl on the street smiled at him, but also blinked her left eye.

He couldn't help being stunned for a moment, and almost laughed.

Immediately afterwards, he remembered that he was still on a mission, so he quickly sorted out his emotions and continued to move forward.

But I was thinking in my heart, it seems that since I served as a soldier under His Highness, I feel that my luck has improved a lot, and there are girls who hook up with him when walking on the street.

If there is an opportunity in the future, it is better to go out more during the holidays. The salary in the army is also good, so I should be able to find a wife.

While thinking about it, he came to the gate of the imperial city, and with Qianniuwei who was in charge of guarding the gate... To be precise, after the inner guard handed over the token, he brought the carriage in and sent someone to notify His Majesty.

In the Hall of Renshou, Wu Zetian and Shangguan Wan'er were sitting on chairs at the same time reviewing the memorial, exchanging a few words with each other from time to time.

Zhang Chengxin walked in suddenly: "Saint, Qianniuwei has brought the goods back under the orders of His Highness."

"Hmm..." Wu Zetian put down the brush, "Wan'er, follow me to have a look!"

"Yes!"

The two got up and came outside the Hall of Renshou, and saw soldiers in camouflage uniforms unloading the large water tank from the carriage.

A soldier came to Wu Zetian and saluted with a "snap": "Your Majesty, I have sent the first batch of refined salt by His Highness's order, as well as a letter written by His Highness."

As he spoke, he took out a letter from his coat pocket and offered it with both hands.

Wu Zetian took it and looked at it.

Shangguan Wan'er next to him asked, "Did Your Highness write to me?"

"Yes!" The soldier agreed, and took out several letters: "In addition, there are letters addressed to the other two highnesses. Your highness said that the command envoy will deliver them on your behalf."

"En!" Shangguan Wan'er took it, but she didn't open it on the spot, but put it away carefully.

After Wu Zetian read the letter, he waved to Zhang Chengxin: "Open it and have a look!"

With a promise, Zhang Chengxin and the surrounding soldiers came to a large tank and opened the lid.

The next moment, everyone present opened their eyes wide, looking at the white salt in the vat, which was crystal clear and gleaming in the sunlight, and even seemed slightly dazzling.

Not to mention the people around, even Wu Zetian himself felt a little surprised.

After being dazed in place for a few seconds, she walked down the steps, went to the tank to look inside, then reached out her hand, as if she wanted to take some to taste.

"Saint, it's better to come here as a servant!" Zhang Chengxin stretched out his hand to stop him.

"En! Try it." Wu Zetian nodded.

Zhang Chengxin dipped a little bit with his fingers, put it in his mouth and sipped it twice, then turned his head with a surprised face: "Sage, pure salty taste, not bitter at all."

"I'll try it too!" Shangguan Wan'er couldn't wait to taste it too.

It's a pity that the emperor Wu Zetian had to wait for half an hour to taste it after making sure they were all right.

Not to mention the people around, even the eunuchs and maids passing by couldn't help turning their heads to look at the salt in the jar.

Wu Zetian suddenly grinned: "What I said in my heart, in summer, more than a thousand catties of salt can be produced every day, and there will be no shortage of salt in the future!"

"Your Highness never speaks big on important matters, and it's the same in this matter." Shangguan Wan'er laughed.

After waiting for half an hour, Wu Zetian couldn't wait to dip a little salt into his mouth, sipped it carefully twice, felt the salty taste in his mouth, and couldn't help laughing.

This daughter of mine was indeed sent from heaven.

……

The next day happened to be the day of the court again, and the ministers came to the gate of the palace early to wait before the sun appeared.

After going to court, they still chatted about trivial matters as usual.

Although it is said that the emperor has now been replaced by a woman, because of the series of operations she performed before taking the throne, the current throne is now secure.

Wu Zetian sitting on the dragon chair is different from behind the bead curtain. Her eyes are much sharper and she looks more majestic.

After the ministers reported the matter, Wu Zetian waved his hand and asked Zhang Chengxin to get things, and said with a smile: "Since ancient times, eating salt has been a big deal... Recently, Taiping has developed a new way of making salt, which can make me feel better." Zhou, everyone can afford salt. Let’s try this new salt first.”

As soon as the words fell, Zhang Chengxin came out with a group of maids, each of whom was holding a tray with small teacups filled with snow-white refined salt.

The ministers were all a little curious. When they saw the snow-white refined salt, they were more or less surprised, but after dipping some of it with their fingers and tasting it, they were slightly relieved.

This kind of salt has crystal clear particles, white grains, and tastes fresh and salty... Ordinary coarse salt is no longer affordable for ordinary people these days, and the cost of this kind of salt will only be higher!
Even many family members who operate private salt are relieved. They thought that Princess Taiping was going to cut off the private salt, but they didn't expect to make this kind of salt.

But you can ask the price, if you can afford it, you can consider using this kind of salt for cooking at home in the future.

Seeing the facial expressions of the group of taxis below, Wu Zetian suddenly smiled slightly: "Dear dear friends, since ancient times, salt and iron have been run by officials. I don't know what is the appropriate price for this salt?"

As soon as this sentence came out, there was an endless stream of answers in the hall, and many ministers expressed their prices in their hearts one after another.

"Your Majesty, according to my opinion, it is better to set a price of five hundred Wen a bucket..."

"Nonsense, this bucket of salt is worth at least one bucket!"

……

The ministers began to debate how much the salt should be sold for.

Wu Zetian didn't say a word, just sat on the dragon chair and watched them discuss with a smile, and didn't care if they were about to quarrel.

On the contrary, there were quite a few smart people who stayed where they were without saying a word, intending to observe the situation.

Di Renjie was very courageous, he only observed her expression for a moment, then took a step forward, saluted and said, "May I ask Your Majesty, how much does this refined salt cost?"

Wu Zetian smiled: "Taiping didn't say anything about this matter, but he just told me that even if this salt is sold for ten coins a bucket, it won't lose money!"

"what?"

As soon as these words came out, there was a sound of surprise in the hall, and the red-faced ministers who were noisy just now raised their heads one after another, and instantly became quiet.

Di Renjie thought to himself that it was so, and immediately replied: "Your Majesty, since ancient times, eating salt has been a major event, even related to the people's livelihood and the national economy. And in recent years, private salt sales have been banned repeatedly... If this salt is really cheap, That will be the blessing of my great Zhou people!"

As soon as he said this, he immediately attracted a lot of eyes that seemed to be killing people. Many people turned their heads and swept him around with unfriendly expressions.

He was not afraid, he stared back without any fear, and looked at many of them alone.

And behind him, Wu Zetian also raised his head slowly, scanning the ministers with sharp eyes.

The majesty of the emperor is extremely terrifying, especially when the imperial power is concentrated, the aura can almost be condensed into substance.

The ministers felt the emperor's glance and lowered their heads.

Seeing that they all lowered their heads and admitted their cowardice, Di Renjie couldn't help smiling contemptuously, shook his head slightly and turned around.

The moment he turned back, Wu Zetian lowered his eyelids again, and returned to his expressionless face from the beginning.

In fact, there is no way for the ministers to publicly object to this kind of thing, because legally only the court can sell salt.

Illegal salt is rampant, but it cannot be controlled, so the court just turned a blind eye.But the salt should have been monopolized by the royal family, and they had no right to object publicly.

Wu Zetian said slowly: "The meaning of Taiping is to set up... outlets in various states and counties to sell. But I feel that this method is too laborious and wasteful of money..."

Although the word "network" does not exist in this era, the meaning can probably be guessed by combining the words before and after, and the ministers are not entangled in this issue.

Now what they are thinking about is, the emperor didn't consider Princess Taiping's proposal?Is the battle between mother and daughter not over yet?
In fact, it's normal to think about it. Now that she has successfully changed the dynasty, the kings rebelled at the beginning, and she was informed of the rebellion in advance and suppressed it with thunder.

If there is anything that can threaten her status now, only Princess Taiping is left.

I dare not directly seize the princess's military power, firstly because of her superb combat power, ordinary people can't hold her at all.Secondly, if something happened to her, I am afraid that many people who still care about Li Tang will support the princess in an instant.

At that time, if the army has troops and supporters have supporters, she will definitely not be able to sit on the throne.

So most likely they want to use this method to find a way to lower the princess's prestige... Unfortunately, the surge is not large.When this kind of salt comes out in the future, the whole country will know that its inventor is Princess Taiping!
But Shangguan Wan'er, who was listening to the court meeting in the passage, couldn't help but smile, thinking that His Majesty's move is not bad.

I don't ask if it can arouse their suspicion, as long as people don't suspect that it is Princess Taiping who helped the empress ascend to the throne, otherwise an unfilial name will not be able to escape.

In this day and age, being unfilial is equal to scum, and even committing crimes!
Wu Zetian would not allow his daughter to be charged with such a crime, so he mentioned it here, saying that the power-seizure between mother and daughter is not over yet, and the superficial mother's kindness and daughter's filial piety are all pretended.

"My idea is that this matter should be handed over to the Ministry of Accounts. Send Yanxia to the various state capitals, the Ministry of Accounts will be responsible for pricing and sales, and the royal guards will be responsible for monitoring the market..."

After saying this, many ministers' hearts sank.

It is easy to say that it is only handed over to the household department, but the problem is that it will be very troublesome once secret guards are sent to monitor the market.

The royal hidden guards never reveal their identities, and no matter what they do, they do it secretly. Even if they want to bribe them, they don't know that the person who comes in is the real hidden guard.

Especially those who have been trained by Princess Taiping have no clue at all!

In this way, it will be difficult for the following to secretly raise the price.

(End of this chapter)