After being divorced, my identity as a poet was exposed

Imperial Room.

Nian Chengfeng was stunned when he saw Eunuch An leisurely sitting in the kitchen!

The emperor wants to host a banquet for those merchants!

Although we are businessmen, the word "banquet" is the most important!

There was not a single cook in this huge kitchen, only an old eunuch from the former imperial palace!
He looked at the row of stoves again...

There was only a large stew pot on the stove.

The stew pot was smoking.

But the rest of the stoves didn’t even have a fire!
He turned his head in surprise and looked at Li Chenan, "Imperial Banquet...what do you want to eat?"

Li Chenan raised his hand and took the stew pot: "Drink soup!"

"..."

This guy not only shocked Nian Chengfeng, but everyone was shocked at this moment.

"How can it be possible for the imperial banquet to only have soup?"

These words were said by Li Wenhou.

He was dissatisfied.

With an indignant look on his face, he scolded, "This is the first banquet you've hosted since you ascended the throne!"

"This is the royal face!"

"Just drinking soup, what's the big deal?"

"Won't this make people think that our Ningguo is so poor that we can't even afford to eat?"

"A table of food... even if it's all delicacies from land and sea, it only costs 1,800 taels of silver. Does our Ning Kingdom need this little silver?"

"no!"

It was already noon, and it was too late to do anything even if we wanted to.

Li Wenhou waved his hand and said, "How about I go find the best restaurant and ask them to send us the best meal!"

Without further ado, Li Wenhou turned around and was about to leave, but was grabbed by Li Chenan:

“Is eating so important?”

Li Wenhou almost stumbled, and the salt jar in his arms rolled. He quickly covered it with his hands and turned to look at Li Chenan:

"Food is the most important thing for people. Do you think it is important?"

"Besides, is this about eating?"

"Even if the Li Mansion in Guangling City wants to host a banquet for someone, we would never use a pot of soup to entertain them!"

"You... you are not usually so frugal, why do you become so stingy at this important moment?"

Li Chenan was speechless, and felt that this man's waist was really supported by his wallet.

When there was a large sum of money in the Ministry of Revenue's account, even the second uncle, who had always been stingy, became generous for the first time in his life.

Wen Zhuyu thought about it and felt that what Li Wenhou said made sense. He nodded slightly:
"I think what Minister Li said is absolutely right!"

"Although I don't know what is in this pot of soup, I think the emperor's banquet still needs some appearance."

Li Chenan loosened his hand and groaned for three breaths, "Okay, go quickly and come back soon!"

Li Wenhou left the imperial kitchen.

Li Chenan and his party came to the imperial kitchen outside the imperial kitchen.

They sat down at the tea table next to the imperial kitchen. Before the pot of tea had boiled, Chang Zuoqing walked in with Chen Dingmao and a group of seven people.

Three of these seven people knew Li Chenan.

But seeing each other again at this moment, I can’t stop feeling excited.

There is fear of imperial power and admiration for the emperor.

Guo Shanyi, Cui Sangeng, Wang Qian and Liu Baiyin had never seen Li Chenan before.

After they nervously stepped into the threshold of the imperial kitchen, they took a cautious look and recognized Li Chenan at a glance!

This is easy to identify.

Although the emperor is not wearing a yellow robe, the youngest among these people must be the emperor!

Before Chang Zuoqing had the chance to introduce them, they had already lifted up their skirts and knelt on the ground with a plop.

"I...pay my respects to His Majesty!"

Li Chenan took a look, walked over happily, stretched out his hands very kindly, and helped them up one by one.

"I don't like these etiquettes!"

"Come, come, take a seat, I'll make tea for you."

Guo Shanyi and the others had never expected that the young emperor would be so friendly and easy-going. After they stood up, they were stunned for a moment before they heard Su Mingtang smile and say:

"The Emperor has always been like this. This is a great blessing for you and me. There is no need to be too reserved."

He walked over and Su Yian stood up quickly.

"father……"

Su Mingtang sat down in Su Yian's seat and ignored him. No matter how high the official was, he was still his son! He waved at Guo Shanyi and the others.

Chen Dingmao thought about it and sat down second.

After Guo Shanyi and the others took a look, they carefully sat around the tea table again.

Li Chenan asked their names one by one while making tea.

A pot of tea was brewed and he remembered these people.

As he poured the tea, he said:
"I have never been to Lingdong Road."

"But...but according to the map, Lingdong Road is also mountainous, almost the same as Shuzhou."

He handed a cup of tea to Guo Shanyi, which scared Guo Shanyi greatly.

He quickly raised his buttocks and carefully took the teacup, "I, Your Majesty, thank you for the tea!"

Li Chenan waved his hand: "I want to ask you, what is the situation in Lingdong Road?"

Guo Shanyi held the teacup and pondered for three breaths before saying:

"Your Majesty, let's go to that place in Lingdong Road... We have a saying that is quite vivid."

“The ground is not flat for three feet, and the sky is not clear for three days.”

"The mountains are high and the roads are difficult to travel. There is a lot of rain and fog, and there are few good farmlands... Growing crops in Lingdong Road is really a thankless task."

"So after cultivating the pitiful little land, the villagers in various places would mostly dig for food in the mountains."

"The mountains of Lingdong produce many precious medicinal herbs and various wild animals."

"Farmers usually go to the mountains to collect herbs or hunt during the slack season, and sell them to fur merchants and medicine dealers at market time, using the money to supplement their family income."

"I am in the tea business. Because of the unique climate of Lingdong, tea is also produced in the mountains. I will hire these people during the tea picking season."

Li Chenan handed everyone a cup of tea while listening, and then asked:
"So for businessmen, what do you think is the biggest problem that restricts business development in Lingdong Road?"

Guo Shanyi spoke without hesitation: "Transportation!"

"To be honest with you, Your Majesty, the roads in Lingdong are mostly rugged and steep. Some roads are so steep that even donkeys can't go there. We can only rely on porters to carry loads of goods across the mountain."

"Not only is the shipping cost expensive, but the delivery time is also extremely slow."

"Although the tea of ​​the common people can be stored for some time, if it is transported from Lingdong Road to Jiangnan... the freshness of the tea will still be reduced a lot, and it will not be comparable to the tea of ​​Jiangnan."

Just then, Li Wenhou returned to the imperial kitchen.

Li Chenan looked up and said, "So fast?"

"I have called Chen Xi to go."

“…He’s here too?”

Li Wenhou sat aside and waved his hand, "Ignore him!"

Li Chenan looked at Guo Shanyi again and said, "You are right. If you want to get rich, you have to build roads first."

Guo Shanyi smiled bitterly: "Your Majesty, the merchants in Lingdong Road have discussed this matter before, but... it's just that this road is really difficult to build."

"Let's do a simple calculation. If we build a donkey cart-friendly road from Dading City to Jiangnan, this... this will require billions of taels of silver!"

"I can't afford to repair it. I can't afford to repair it at all!"

Li Chenan thought for a moment and said, "This road must be repaired!"

"There's no need for you merchants to repair this road. This road... should be the responsibility of the imperial court."

When Li Wenhou heard this, his eyes widened immediately.

The Ministry of Revenue finally had 700 million taels of silver in its account, but he actually wanted to build a road, which would cost tens of billions of taels of silver...

This time he didn't act impulsively.

His mind raced, and he felt that he understood Li Chenan's intention:
"I think the method of building the road can be to use work-for-relief and build it in sections."

"Then... after the road is repaired, we can adopt a charging method for each section."

"After we get some of the funds back, we will build the next section of the road. It will take longer, but the road will eventually be built."

Li Chenan was shocked and looked at Li Wenhou.

Li Wenhou added: "After all, the court has to invest so much money to provide convenience to merchants and the people of Lingdong Road. I think it is not excessive to collect some tolls. What do you think, Your Majesty?"

Wen Zhuyu and others' eyes lit up, thinking this was a great idea.

Even Guo Shanyi himself thinks that paying tolls is natural.

Unexpectedly,
Li Chenan waved his hand and directly rejected the proposal.

"The imperial court is supported by the people's taxes!"

"This tax is collected from the people and should be used for the people!"

"The court builds roads. This is the court's responsibility!"

"Besides, the people are the people of Ningguo!"

"The people of Ningguo have to pay tolls to walk on the land of Ningguo... Any high-sounding excuse is just hooliganism!"

"I...will never allow it!" (End of this chapter)