The ministers begged me to ascend the throne

In the Han Palace, Zhao Yao was eating hot pot with He Lianfang, Liang Run, Wen Daoji, Zheng Cheng and Zheng Qian.

The hot pot we had today was mushroom pot, and it tasted very delicious. Zhao Yao and the others were speechless while eating.

"Your Highness, you still know how to eat." Wen Daoji gave a thumbs up to Zhao Yao with admiration on his face, "I didn't expect these mushrooms to make hot pot so delicious. You are really talented."

The two brothers Zheng Cheng and Zheng Qian nodded in agreement: "It's really delicious!"

Zhao Yao said proudly: "No one can compare to me when it comes to food."

Liang Run said with a smile: "Your Highness is an expert when it comes to food."

"Yes, I'm a well-known gourmet. There are countless wine shops and restaurants in Beijing asking me to review them." Zhao Yao's face was full of embarrassment, "If you can get me to say "good", this wine shop's Business is definitely going to be booming.”

Seeing that Zhao Yao's tail was about to rise to the sky, He Lianfang couldn't help but pour cold water on him: "You are not doing your job properly."

"Second uncle, why am I not doing my job properly? What I do is extremely serious." Zhao Yao put down his chopsticks and began to talk, "Food is the most important thing for people. Eating is a big thing, and eating well is important. The most important thing. Besides, second uncle, don’t you like to eat delicious food? If you don’t like to eat, I won’t call you delicious food in the future. "

Hearing this, He Lianfang immediately frowned and said with a cold face, "How dare you!"

"Second uncle, you see that you also like to eat delicious food, so don't say that delicious food is not a real career again." In terms of food, Zhao Yao does not allow anyone to slander him, "Also, food is not only delicious, it is also cultural. . This food culture is the representative of a country."

When it comes to food culture, Zhao Yao speaks clearly and logically, which makes He Lianfang and others stunned for a moment.

He Lianfang quickly interrupted Zhao Yao, otherwise he would talk endlessly.

"Here's the wine you promised to make for me."

Hearing the word "making wine", Wen Daoji and Liang Run's eyes lit up, and then they stared at Zhao Yao.

"Yao Yao, you can also make wine. Why haven't I heard you say that before?"

"Your Highness, what kind of wine do you know how to brew?" Wen Daoji felt that Zhao Yao could make so many delicious things, so the wine he brewed must also be very delicious.

Brothers Zheng Cheng and Zheng Qian were not interested in wine, but they still looked at Zhao Yao.

Facing He Lianfang's condemning eyes, Zhao Yao smiled guiltily: "Second uncle, I'm busy right now. I plan to start brewing wine after a while when I'm busy."

He Lianfang felt that Zhao Yao had forgotten about it, but she did not expose him.

"You're not busy these days, you can make wine."

"Okay, I'll ask Tongxi to find some masters who know how to make wine tomorrow."

He Lianfang was very satisfied with Zhao Yao's attitude and said nothing more.

"Second uncle, even if I start looking for someone to make wine tomorrow, you won't be able to drink it this year or next year."

The corners of He Lianfang's raised lips immediately dropped: "You won't be able to make good wine until next year?"

"No, wine can be brewed very quickly, but if you drink it right after it is brewed, the taste will be much worse. It must be stored for at least a year." Zhao Yao said seriously, "Second uncle, you also know that wine needs For fermented wine, the longer it is stored, the better it tastes. If you want to drink good wine, you have to wait at least a year."

That's the truth, but He Lianfang is greedy for wine and can't wait more than a year.

"You let me taste the wine you made first. Didn't you say you can make strong liquor?"

"Okay, when the brewing is done, you can drink it. I will let you taste what strong liquor is then."

Hearing what Zhao Yao said, Wen Daoji and Liang Run were looking forward to it even more.

"By the way, Second Uncle, what kind of fruits are there in Lingnan now?" Lingnan is good here. There are a lot of fruits to eat, and they are not found inland. "I will brew some fruit wine then and sell it to women. It will definitely be very popular." Just after he finished speaking, he thought of red wine again. In Zhao Yao's world in his dream, red wine was very popular. "Second uncle, there are a lot of grapes in the Western Regions. You can arrange for people to harvest more grapes from the Western Regions next year. I want to make red wine."

"Red wine?" Liang Run heard the word "red wine" for the first time, "Your Highness, what kind of wine is red wine?" Liang Run felt that Zhao Yao has been crowned king now, so it would be inappropriate to call him "Yao Yao" again.

"It's just wine, but it's different from wine." Zhao Yao glanced at Liang Run and He Lianfang and smiled mysteriously, "I'm telling you, red wine is very delicious and has great staying power."

He Lianfang heard this but didn't take it seriously: "Wine made from grapes is not just fruit wine, what's so good about it?"

Zhao Yao shook his index finger and said, "Second uncle, you don't understand. When you drink it, you will understand what I say."

"I'm not interested in your red wine. You'd better make strong liquor quickly." He Lianfang waited to drink.

"Don't drink it then." After Zhao Yao finished talking about the red wine, he thought of medicinal wine again, "By the way, second uncle, you will send someone to collect some medicinal materials tomorrow. I will make medicinal wine."

"Your Highness, there are many people making medicinal wine in Lingnan, basically every household has one, and there are many types of medicinal wine in Lingnan, which can cure various diseases." Liang Run added, "You forgot, I bought a lot of it before. Take the medicinal wine back to your grandmother, and her cold hands and feet have improved a lot."

Zhao Yao remembered this incident, "That would be better, we can collect the medicinal wine made by the common people and sell it inland." As he said, he raised his eyebrows ambiguously, "Especially we need to collect more medicinal wine that aphrodisiacs .”

Everyone present understood what Zhao Yao meant, and everyone laughed very "obscenely". Only Zheng Qian looked indifferent.

He Lianfang teased Zhao Yao: "You, a boy who doesn't even have a princess, still know the benefits of aphrodisiac wine."

Zhao Yao felt that he was being looked down upon, and said unconvincedly: "Second uncle, you are telling me this. I have never eaten pork and I have never seen a pig run away."

Liang suppressed a smile and said, "Okay, I will send someone to collect the medicinal wine tomorrow."

"If someone makes the best medicinal wine, we can ask them to help us brew medicinal wine, preferably some medicinal wine for beauty and beauty, so that we can sell it to the ladies in the capital and the ladies in the palace. "Speaking of this, Zhao Yao suddenly smiled very cunningly, "The ladies in the palace are very willing to spend money in order to stay young forever." Wait, can he give the cosmetics from Zhao Yao's world in his dream? Get it out. "The noble ladies in Yangzhou also like it, no, the whole Zhou Dynasty, and even the noble ladies from foreign countries also love it." Liang Run's brain started to spin rapidly after hearing what Zhao Yao said, "As long as it can make a woman beautiful, Women are willing to spend money.”

"Men are willing to spend money to strengthen themselves." Zhao Yao deliberately emphasized the word "strong", which made Wen Daoji and Liang Run laugh ambiguously again. "By the way, second uncle, we are about to start serious business."

"Your Highness, what do you mean?" Liang Run didn't quite understand what Zhao Yao meant by serious business. After all, they did too much business.

"Restaurant, didn't I tell you before that when I get to Marsh Mansion, I will build a big restaurant next to the dock." Marsh Mansion will soon become the busiest dock in the Great Zhou Dynasty. There will be more and more ships and merchants.If a restaurant is built next to the pier, business will definitely be booming. "You have to arrange for people to build a restaurant."

Liang Run has been thinking about this matter, "Your Highness, people in Marsh Mansion are busy building roads now, and there are no extra people to help us build restaurants." Even if he wanted to build a restaurant, there is no one.

"Find people from other places to build the restaurant." Zhao Yao tapped the table with his index finger. "There are many villages under the Marsh Mansion. You go directly to these villages to recruit people to build the restaurant. The Chinese New Year is coming soon. You recruit workers to pay The people in the nearby villages will definitely be willing to work for the money. As long as the money is given, they will be very active."

Liang Run didn't think about the nearby villages. Hearing what Zhao Yao said, he immediately became energetic.

"Yes, I will send someone to recruit them tomorrow."

"It's best to build the restaurant before May next year." Zhao Yao said, "Second uncle, after the New Year, you have to take people to Annan and Siam. You have to tell your business partners and let them In the future, when you grow up brightly and come to Marsh Mansion to do business, you don’t need to be as sneaky as before.”

"Okay." After Liang Runchang finished speaking, he remembered something where opinions are very important, "Your Highness, those dog officials used to do smuggling business with the people in Annan, but they collected six or seven layers of so-called tariffs. How much tariff do you plan to charge them? "

"We will charge them according to the regulations of the Great Zhou Dynasty. However, starting from next year, we will only charge them one level of tariff, and the normal tariff will return to them after half a year."

Wen Daoji and Liang Run were shocked by the one-tier tariff proposed by Zhao Yao, "Your Highness, is the first-tier tariff too low?"

"The first level of tariff is a preferential treatment for them. It prevents them from smuggling secretly. The most important thing is to attract more foreign merchants to do business in the Marsh Mansion." Lingnan now belongs to Zhao Yao's fiefdom, and he has complete management Quan, that is to say, he is now equal to the emperor of Lingnan. He has the final say on how much tariffs are set, and the court will not interfere. "In order to be able to smuggle, they were bullied by the officials in Lingnan. Now that I, the King of Han, have come, I have to let them know that I am the real master of Lingnan. I also have to let them understand that doing business through the official route is not only cheaper in tariffs. , and very safe. In this way, they will definitely not be willing to smuggle anymore for the sake of gain."

After hearing this, Liang Run had a look of surprise on his face.

"Your Highness is very thoughtful."

He Lianfang said in her heart that this brat Xiao Shi really knows how to do business.

"In addition, second uncle, you have to tell them that Dazhou will also give them discounts on things here." Zhao Yao remembered an important thing that he almost ignored, "You also have to tell them that Dazhou has been selling to them I have made the best tea and porcelain. Now, when I come to Lingnan, I will still make new tea and new porcelain every year, and I will also give them discounts."

Liang Run nodded when he heard this, but he quickly thought that the imperial court had been selling tea and porcelain to foreign countries such as Luzon.If Zhao Yao sold these two things cheaply to foreign countries, wouldn't he be going against the imperial court? He was so frightened that his face changed and he hurriedly said: "Your Highness, if the imperial court knew that you sold tea and porcelain to foreign countries cheaply, The imperial court will definitely be dissatisfied."

"What does the imperial court's dissatisfaction have to do with me?" Zhao Yao didn't care about the imperial court at all. "Besides, I only give them temporary discounts, and they won't be cheap forever."

"Your Highness, what will happen if the court blames you?" Liang Run knew very well that he had temporarily given preferential treatment to the foreign merchants in Luzon. After normal tariffs were restored, the foreign merchants would continue to do business with them. , it will definitely affect the imperial court.

"Lang Nang, don't worry about the court." Zhao Yao was not so confident because of the emperor's favor, but because he was doing business with foreign countries legally.Besides, Marsh Mansion is close to foreign countries, so it makes sense that foreign merchants would like to do business with them. "Wen Daoji, sort out all the tariffs and leave them to me."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"By the way, we not only have to do business with the foreign countries across the sea, but also with the inland merchants." The potential of the inland merchants is no less than that of the foreign merchants. "The inland side is also temporarily closed." Charge a layer of tariffs.”

Wen Daoji was shocked by Zhao Yao's words.He was startled for a moment, and then said hurriedly: "Your Highness, this is not good. If you really charge inland merchants a layer of tariffs, it will definitely cause dissatisfaction in other places. Furthermore, the tariffs are all set by the imperial court. , even if Lingnan is your fiefdom, you will not change the tariffs at will."

"If I charge five levels of tariffs from inland merchants, but only one level of tariff from foreign merchants, I am not only treating them differently, but I am also deliberately bullying inland merchants. How can inland merchants be willing to come to Lingnan to invest and do business?" In business, the most taboo thing is to treat everyone differently. Since you want to give discounts, of course you should treat everyone equally. "Besides, since I can charge one-level tariffs from foreign merchants, I can also charge one-level tariffs from inland merchants."

"Your Highness, do you mean that the Emperor agrees to your discretionary decision on tariffs?"

"Of course I can fully decide the tariffs in Lingnan, but I don't have the ability to decide the tariffs in other places." Before Zhao Yao came to Lingnan, he "forced" his emperor to agree to many things. First of all, he asked The emperor promised him that all matters in Lingnan would be decided by him, even if some laws and regulations of the court were changed, the emperor agreed to him. "Didn't I say before that I can make the decision on everything in Lingnan?"

Wen Daoji smiled coquettishly: "I believe that tariffs cannot be changed at will."

"I can decide the tariffs in Lingnan however I want, and no one can comment."

Wen Daoji was shocked: The emperor actually asked His Highness to decide all matters in Lingnan. Didn't Lingnan become His Highness's country?Hasn’t His Highness become the emperor of Lingnan?
According to the laws of the Zhou Dynasty, the prince had the right to manage the fiefdom independently, but there were some things that the prince could not change at will, such as tariffs.

Tariffs are set by the imperial court, and all places must abide by the imperial regulations and cannot be changed arbitrarily.If you are found to have increased or reduced tariffs, you will be severely punished.

"Of course, I am only temporarily reducing tariffs. When the six-month preferential period is over, the tariffs will return to the original level." How could those shady businesses be willing to come to Lingnan without giving them some sweeteners first? "As for other places being dissatisfied, let them be dissatisfied."

"Your Highness, aren't you afraid of being impeached?"

Zhao Yao said nonchalantly: "Just play, I'm not in the capital anyway."

He added: "It will be announced tomorrow that the people of Marsh Mansion can do business freely without any restrictions. Of course, the prerequisite is that they must abide by the laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty and cannot do illegal business."

When Wen Daoji heard the word "freedom", his heart skipped a beat and he hurriedly asked: "Your Highness, do you mean that those sinners can also do business?"

"Of course not. People whose crimes have not been completed cannot do business, but they have no descendants of criminals who can do business. There are also those criminals who were exiled to Lingnan in the previous dynasty." Zhao Yao suddenly felt that this matter could be slowed down for a while. The matter is rather urgent. "In this case, let's wait for this matter. Tomorrow we will let the people of Marsh Mansion re-register their household registers."

"Re-register the household register?"

"Yes, re-register. For the descendants of the sinners who were exiled to Lingnan in the previous dynasty, as long as they did not commit crimes in the Great Zhou Dynasty, they will be given the status of good citizens. For the sinners who committed crimes and were exiled to Lingnan after the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty, The grandchildren will give them the status of good citizens." The disaster will not affect three generations.

Wen Daoji reminded Zhao Yao: "Your Highness, a good citizen can take the imperial examination and become an official in the court."

"I know, that's why I want to give them the status of good citizens." After Zhao Yao said this, he sighed slightly, "Alas, there are really too few good people in Lingnan." It is estimated that only two of the ten Lingnan people are good people. , the others are either descendants of criminals or barbarians from the tribe. "By the way, people who don't re-register their household registers are black households. Black households are not people of Dazhou, nor are they from Lingnan. If they are found to be black households, they will be kicked out of Lingnan and Dazhou."

Wen Daoji understood what Zhao Yao meant by "black household", "Yes, Your Highness, I will arrange it tomorrow." (End of Chapter)