Prince of Tang Dynasty

Chapter 166 Excited Chen Yu
The merchants in Datang were a very special kind of existence. Their lives were very rich, but their social status was very low. Not only were merchants not allowed to be officials, they even had very strict regulations on clothing, housing, and transportation.

In short, in Datang, as long as they are businessmen, they are inferior. This is also the main reason why Gao Ming was able to collect protection fees smoothly.

The reason why the status of merchants is so low has a lot to do with their way of doing things. Disturbing prices is only a trivial matter. Their biggest harm is to buy land after making money, and try to turn money into land. After acquiring a large amount of land, the transformation from merchant to landlord was completed.

Tang people's enthusiasm for land came from the bottom of their hearts, and this situation will not change even after another 1000 years. For many people, when the word "local tyrant" is mentioned, it is all kinds of envy and hatred.

However, for the ruler, it is not a good thing to have a large amount of land, so this is the biggest reason why merchants are suppressed.

The reason why Datang was able to successfully defeat the rebellion of the Sui Dynasty was actually relying on the landlord class. In other words, Li Shimin and the Guanlong Military Group themselves were the largest landlord class in Datang, so they worked hard to suppress merchants and prevent a large number of emerging landlord classes in order to consolidate their power.

Gao Ming is also very aware of this, so if he had a choice, he would spare no effort to suppress the businessman, but the problem is that he has no choice because he lacks money.

The cost of building and maintaining the academy requires money, and paying off Cheng Yaojin's debts also requires money. Even his cheap relative Li Shimin asked him, which requires a lot of money!
Under such circumstances, Gao Ming can only do his best to make money from all possible places to make money. Under such circumstances, Gao Ming will naturally not let go of the big cake of the business community.

Gao Ming knew very well that the businessmen in Datang were rich but not in status, as long as they were given the opportunity to exchange money for status, as long as they had a good sense of proportion, they would definitely be happy.

What's more, merchants are not like aristocratic families. Even if merchants own land in the future, Gao Ming will have a way to take back the land. Based on this alone, Gao Ming has a reason to support the development of some capable merchants.

And Chen Yu was one of Gao Ming's chosen targets.

Chen Yu owns the largest gold, silver and jade store in Chang'an City, and the daily trading volume alone is as high as hundreds of guan. Although Gao Ming doesn't know how much profit there is, he paid more than 500 guan in protection fees in a month. From this point, it can be seen that he must have earned a lot.

That's why Gao Ming specially asked someone to give him a wooden sign and allowed him to enter the Datang Royal Club, so as to fully satisfy his vanity.

This is like a beggar entering someone else's home. At this time, giving him a bowl of rice or ten yuan is not as good as giving him a word of respect.

Although the merchants in Datang were much better at mixing than beggars, their eagerness to be valued was no less than that of beggars. Gao Ming could see this from Chen Yu who had just entered the door.

After Chen Yu entered the Royal Club, it was like Grandma Liu entering the Grand View Garden. She looked left and right, looking helpless, and when she saw others greet him, she also looked submissive.

Seeing his low self-esteem, the smile on Gao Ming's face suddenly became brighter.

"It seems that I have to thank those ancestors who suppressed the merchants. If it weren't for them, how could I have the opportunity to seek gold today, hehe!"

Thinking of this, Gao Ming immediately stepped forward, then reached out and patted Chen Yu's shoulder lightly.

"Chen Yu, right? Why are you here so late?"

Chen Yu felt that someone had patted her on the shoulder, and turned around quickly. When she saw Gao Ming, she immediately showed doubts on her face.

"You are……"

Before he could say anything, a little girl ran over and tugged on Gao Ming's sleeve.

"Brother Prince, Brother Prince, Gao Yang lost all his chips, can you give me another one?"

Looking at the expectant little Lolita, Gao Ming suddenly smiled, took out two chips and put them in her hand, then patted her little head.

"I'll just give you two, both of whom have already been accused of marriage, and are still so playful!"

Hearing Gao Ming's words, Gao Yang stuck out his tongue mischievously, took the chip from Gao Ming's hand, and ran away bouncing around.

When Gao Ming turned around, he immediately found Chen Yu was looking at him dumbfounded.

"You...you are His Highness the Crown Prince... Caomin has met His Highness the Crown Prince!"

After speaking, Chen Yu was about to kneel down to salute Gao Ming, but before he knelt down, Gao Ming stretched out his hand to support him.

"Don't be so polite, let's go, let's go upstairs to drink tea and chat!"

"Yes, His Royal Highness!"

Seeing Chen Yu's nervous face, Gao Ming didn't say any more, just smiled and walked forward, while Chen Yu followed step by step.

After the two went upstairs, Gao Ming found a place to sit down, and then smiled and nodded towards Chen Yu.

"sit down!"

"Thank you, Your Royal Highness!"

Chen Yu bowed his hands to Gao Ming before sitting down.

At this time, Yun'er also made tea and brought it up, and poured a cup for Gao Ming and Chen Yu respectively. Gao Ming just smiled and nodded at her, while Chen Yu stood up flattered.

"Don't dare to bother the girl, I'll do it myself, I'll do it myself."

Seeing his nervous appearance, Yun'er, who was dressed in palace attire, suddenly burst out laughing, and now Chen Yu was even more nervous and at a loss what to do. Seeing this scene, Gao Ming couldn't help laughing immediately stand up.

"Yun'er, go down and bring me a cake."

"Yes, His Royal Highness!"

Yun'er gave Gao Mingfu a blessing and went down. After she left, Gao Ming waved at Chen Yu.

"Old Chen, you are still a wealthy businessman worth over ten thousand, calm down, sit down and drink tea!"

Hearing Gao Ming's words, Chen Yu nodded quickly.

"Yes, His Royal Highness!"

After speaking, he sat down, then took a sip of tea from his teacup.

"Ok?"

With this sip of tea, Chen Yu's eyes lit up immediately.

"This tea..."

Chen Yu's expression naturally fell into Gao Ming's eyes, seeing his surprised expression, Gao Ming suddenly laughed.

"Is this tea good?"

As soon as Gao Ming finished speaking, Chen Yu immediately nodded like a chicken pecking at rice.

"Yeah, it's delicious. It's the first time Caomin has drunk such delicious tea. Thank you, His Royal Highness, for the tea!"

As he spoke, he bowed his hands to Gao Ming again, and Gao Ming waved his hands at him with a smile.

"I said you don't need to be so polite, okay, let's talk about something else, you are also a traveler, what do you think of my small club?"

As soon as Gao Ming finished speaking, Chen Yu immediately stood up again, with an even more excited look on his face.

"His Royal Highness is too humble. Although Caomin has been to many places over the years, none of them can compare to the eventuality of the Tang Royal Club, whether it is this tea or this..."

Seeing that Chen Yu was speechless while pointing at the chair, Gao Ming couldn't help but smiled and waved to him.

"This is called a chair, why are you standing up again, sit and sit."

Seeing Gao Ming's smiling face, Chen Yu blushed suddenly, sat down a little embarrassed, then lowered his head and cupped his hands again towards Gao Ming.

"The grassroots are ignorant, and His Royal Highness laughed at him. I am really ashamed, ashamed!"

Seeing that Chen Yu was still so cautious, Gao Ming didn't withdraw immediately. At this moment, Yun'er came up with a cake, and Gao Ming reached out and took a piece and handed it over.

"Come on, Lao Chen, try this cake and see how it is different from the ones you have eaten before."

Seeing Gao Ming handing over the cake, Chen Yu hurriedly wiped his hands on his clothes, then respectfully took the golden cake from Gao Ming's hand, and after thanking him, Then carefully put the biscuit into his mouth and took a bite.

Bite down, Chen Yu's face is full of happiness.

"It turns out that this is the cake in the palace. It is much more delicious than the Daigo cake and Hongling pie I have eaten before!"

Chen Yu felt that this cake could be called the most delicious cake, but only he knew how much of it was due to his psychological factors.

After eating a piece of biscuit, Chen Yu smacked his lips unsatisfactorily, showing a look of overjoyed joy.

"Good tea, good cakes, I, Chen Yu, are worth it even if I die, to receive the hospitality of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince today."

Gao Ming couldn't help laughing out loud when he saw Chen Yu's expression of "I'll die when I heard about it in the morning".

"Hahahaha, a cup of tea and a piece of cake will get you done? That's all you've got. Well, I don't want your life either. Just pay me taxes every month. I'll wait for you to go out later. You can pack the pancakes and take away, and I will give you a couple of teas as well."

Hearing Gao Ming's words, Chen Yu stood up excitedly.

"Cao Min thanked His Highness the Crown Prince for his great kindness, and if His Highness the Crown Prince sent him, Cao Min would be willing to smash himself to pieces..."

Before he could finish speaking, Gao Ming waved to him with a wry smile.

"I said, you people, why do you always say these few words every time you express your loyalty? You are not tired of talking, I am tired of hearing it, okay, don't be too nervous, this is not a dragon's pool or a tiger's lair, you treat it as Ordinary teahouses will do.”

Having said that, Gao Ming immediately pointed to the person below who was playing mahjong, and then smiled slightly at Chen Yu.

"I saw that you have been staring at mahjong since you came in just now. If you want to play, go and play."

Hearing Gao Ming's words, Chen Yu's face showed a trace of hesitation.

"So it's called Mahjong, can I go too?"

Seeing that Chen Yu was still a little shy, Gao Ming nodded immediately.

"Of course you can go, as long as you have chips!"

As he said that, Gao Ming reached out and took out two chips from his pocket and put them on the table, then smiled at Chen Yu.

"This is the chip. With this, whether you go to them to play chess or mahjong, they will be happy to play with you."

Hearing Gao Ming's words, Chen Yu's eyes lit up immediately, and at the same time, his gaze at the two chips on the table became scorching hot.

(End of this chapter)