The rise of the prince

Chapter 328 290 five, the businessman sees the world

Kaiyuan is an ancient capital for hundreds of years. It has been the capital of the country from the previous dynasty to the present. It has blue bricks and black tiles, houses with flowing water, multi-story pavilions, and Danying and Jue carvings. It has not changed for a hundred years.Now the south of the city has added new scenery, which is incompatible with this ancient capital.

42 Huge waterwheels are neatly arranged on the river bank, stretching for more than ten miles. There are neat and orderly square workshops beside the desk, which are simple and firm, without any aesthetic feeling. There are no carved beams and painted buildings, lintels and cornices.

On the back hill of Prince Xiao’s Mansion in the south of the city, there are rows of rammed earth walls, thick rafters and black tile huts aligned in a square, arranged on the back hill from left to right, narrow from east to west, wide from north to south, extending northward, stretching for several miles, like several The size of a well-ordered village.

The walls are not made of more convenient wood, and the roof is covered with thatch, all for the sake of fire prevention. The Houshan workshop is the main place for making grenades and black powder. If it catches fire, the consequences will be disastrous.

Every morning, a bustling crowd of nearby workers, both men and women, came to work in the palace.I left in the afternoon, during which time the vicinity of the Wangfu gradually became the favorite place for hawkers because of the large number of people. However, the Wangfu specially set aside a row of borders against the wall for them to set up their stalls. If they mess around, the Wangfu guards will clean up.

Every day at the beginning of the morning, there is steaming water vapor everywhere around the palace, black smoke from burning coke, and the water wheel keeps turning all day long.

A primitive industrial atmosphere, unified planning, square and square, practicality first.

Li Xingzhou stood in the peach orchard on the top of the back mountain, looking at his own kingdom below, feeling a little proud of himself.

Just came back from the palace, the palace was full of people coming and going the next day, there was an endless stream of people coming to visit and congratulate, the threshold was almost broken.

King Pingnan, the champion general of the third rank, and the commander of the new army, no matter what they are, they are very popular, let alone a 16-year-old young man.

Li Xingzhou held Meixue by the hand, felt the wind blowing from the top of the mountain, and listened to the ear-piercing chirping of insects and birds, he understood why the emperor did this.

There are two Southern Battle Reports, one written by him and the other by Yang Hongzhao, both of which mention the bravery of the Luzhou Army. The Shenji Battalion is indeed the main force, but without the cover of the Luzhou Army, the Shenji Battalion would not There is no room for play.

But the emperor deliberately only mentioned the Shenji Camp, just to find an excuse to hand over the new army to him. The new army has undergone several rectifications and has remained at about 5000 people. It is not under the control of the Sanya, but directly under the Privy Council.

The emperor wanted the royal children to master this armed force, but it was not easy to take it directly, because the new army was established under the strong support of the Privy Council.

Generally speaking, within the court, the Privy Council, the Political Affairs Hall, and the royal family are the three major powers. Now that the emperor is strong, the royal family is the largest, and the three rely on each other to check and balance.

Now the emperor found a reason, because the Shenji Battalion was too powerful, and only a thousand people beat the rebels to pieces. If there were tens of thousands of Shenji Battalions, wouldn't the country be prosperous and the people safe, and the world invincible?

The logic is reasonable, the order is clear, irrefutable, and the mouth of the Privy Council is blocked.

But in fact, the emperor definitely didn't believe it in his heart, and no one would believe it.

I don't believe it, but why can't I refute it? It's because Li Xingzhou has indeed played such a terrifying record. Whether it's an accident or a coincidence, the Privy Council has nothing to say and can only sit back and watch the emperor take away their hearts and minds.

The emperor meant to pave the way for his descendants, but he was afraid that his health would really fail.

After a while, chirping voices came from behind. It was Qiu'er, Yue'er, and Gillian, who were carrying peaches from the back mountain with their handkerchiefs. They reunited after a long absence, and there were endless things to talk about. If it weren't for the president of the palace If someone disturbed him, he would not want to come to the back mountain.

"My son, try this, the peaches in the back mountain are really sweet." Gillian ran over happily, Li Xingzhou took it, wiped the fur with his hands, and took a bite, it was really sweet.

Taoyuan was left by King Xiao.

He took the three little girls and laid thick leaves under the shade of the peach orchard on the top of the mountain, and then lay down and told them the bizarre stories of "Journey to the West". I couldn't help but think of what the queen told him to go out in private last night.

To sum up, let him formally marry Gillian as soon as possible, and let him establish a new palace, because he has been named king and has an official appointment, so he should open a new mansion due to emotion and reason, and can't always live in the mansion of his parents .

He also said that if the money is not enough, you can ask her for it. Where is Li Xingzhou short of money?

In the afternoon, I took the three little girls to play happily for a day. When he came back, there were a lot fewer visitors.

Yan Yan took Yan Kun, Zhao Si, Zhu Rong, Tieniu, Guan Zhong and others to the small courtyard to look for him, and reported to him the income and expenditure of the palace in the absence of two months, and what happened.

In the past two months of his absence, the Wangfu's net income was 31 taels and 320 renminbi. Li Xingzhou himself almost dropped his jaw in shock, so he took the account book and read it for himself in disbelief.

Yan Yan said with a smile on his face, it turned out that 30% of the income of the more than [-] taels came from Zhenbao Pavilion.

Of course, it is not the sales of Zhenbao Pavilion, but the wholesale of general wine and perfume. Every month, various big merchants come to pick up the goods on time, and merchants from all over the country come here especially.

This matter has always been presided over by Shiyu, and according to Li Xingzhou's instructions before leaving, they also collected a lot of business information from major businessmen.

In fact, businessmen are often the clearest about the general trend of the world. As written in the Dream of the Red Chamber, ordinary people and officials think that the Ningguo Mansion and Rongguo Mansion are in full swing, but the merchants who deal in antiques say that the two mansions have begun to decline. Not stiff.

At first I didn't understand why businessmen knew about it, but officials and ordinary people didn't know about it?
After reading it several times, I realized that later in the book, in order to maintain the operation of the mansion, Wang Xifeng began to secretly sell the things in the mansion. This kind of thing must be kept secret from outsiders and family members, but the businessman knows it.

Businessmen know best where things come from and where they go.

Who is up and who is down, where the atmosphere is, and where the money and materials are going, the businessman knows it all in his heart.

It is useless to whitewash the peace and put on a show, because people have to eat and wear, and these things cannot be created out of thin air, so the rulers don't like businessmen, because they know the bottom line.

Of course, a shrewd businessman will never be so stupid as to expose his old story, he knows what he knows, keeps it secret, and puts business first.

The Wangfu cooperates with big businessmen from all over the world, and the information that can be collected is much more.

For example, the business of perfume and general brewing is best done in Ningjiang Mansion in Jingguo, Datong Mansion on Jingxi Road, and Chengdu Mansion on Jianbei Road. This shows that these places are relatively wealthy places in Jing Dynasty and can afford high-end products.

Outside of Jingguo, it is best to do business with the Xixia imperial merchants, especially the perfume business. This shows that the Xixia royal family may be as outsiders say, the king is addicted to women, and the style of extravagance is prevalent, and one generation is not as good as the next.

Moreover, several big merchants who have business dealings with Xixia also revealed that they can quietly buy Xixia's cold-forged armor and cold-forged sword with a lot of money.

You must know that Liao's "National Saddle, Xixia Sword, and Goryeo Secret Color" are the three treasures of the world.

Xixia's cold-forged armor and cold-forged sword are not ordinary items. They are the emperor's guards. The equipment of Xixia's most powerful three thousand iron harriers is hereditary from generation to generation. It is very precious, but it is sold on the market. Corrupted.

However, in the Liao Kingdom, the general wine is better sold, but the perfume is not welcome.

It is worth noting that in Nanjing and Xijing in the south of the Liao Kingdom, where horses were raised lost by the previous dynasty, some people bought a large amount of leather, iron and stone, which may be a precursor to turmoil.

Naturally, the merchants would not talk nonsense, it is a good thing to have business, and those places are under the jurisdiction of the King of the South Court of Liao Kingdom, and the supervision is sparse, because the Liao people have never been very concerned about foreign affairs.

Xijing (Yunzhou) and Nanjing (Youzhou) are places where Khitan, Han, Jurchen, and Xixia people other than the six tribes of Khitan lived together.

As for Koryo, the price of perfume is high, and it can even be sold for 200 taels a bottle, which is double the price in Beijing, and merchants exchange perfume for Koryo secret color (porcelain), and then sell it to Jingguo.

Therefore, places like Xixia and Korea, where perfumes are very popular and the prices remain high, are temporarily reassuring.

Let go of all complicated matters.

Now, Li Xingzhou can finally show off the grand plan he had conceived before.

Dedicated to the battle for the water transportation of the great river, two large ships of the Wangfu have been put into use, and three more are under construction. If there is no accident, there will be five large ships in the Wangfu around the Mid-Autumn Festival this year!
The full load draft of these big ships is estimated to be about [-] tons. He has seen the big ships of the imperial court before. Those ships should be around [-] tons, and the full load is only about [-] tons. It is incomparable with the ships of the palace.

But now, the Wangfu not only has ships, but also has contacts with big merchants all over the country because of the general brewing and perfume business. As long as the Wangfu ships are faster and cheaper, it is almost a matter of course to get their support.

Guazhou, Suzhou, Luzhou, and Jiangzhou will all become the fulcrums for the Wangfu to dominate the waterways in the future, but if they want to build large-scale construction projects and build transit supply points, they need the support and protection of the local chief officials.

Just like the U.S. Navy in later generations, global supply and global stationing.

Li Xingzhou also has a small goal, using business as the driving force, to realize that all waterways in the country have supplies stationed there, and then control the waterways across the country and gradually expand outward.

Guazhou is grateful to him, and Shi Gong, the governor of Guazhou, regards him as a savior, so Guazhou is fine.

Luzhou has a sister-in-law, and Qifang is there, so it's not a problem.

And all the major merchants in Suzhou have their hands in his hands, no matter who is the magistrate in the future, there will be no hindrance.

Only Jiangzhou is left. Wang Tong, the magistrate of Ningjiang Prefecture, is also his father-in-law. Although he has never met, he should not be embarrassed.
Thinking of this, Li Xingzhou felt comfortable in his chest, and couldn't help but burst out with pride, and laughed to himself.

"Where's Shiyu?" Li Xingzhou put down the account book and asked, most of the money in the palace was due to her, but why didn't she see her.

Yan Yan was stunned for a moment, and then said: "The Shiyu girl said she was not feeling well, so...so she didn't come to see the prince."

Li Xingzhou felt unhappy: "Where is she?"

"It's in Zhenbao Pavilion." Yan Yan said hastily.

(End of this chapter)