The world of film and television starts from the flow of money

In Nanshi, half a year ago, a magnificent new restaurant was built, named Yunyan Pavilion.

As soon as Yunyan Pavilion was unveiled, it quickly became famous in Xianyang City. With its fine wine and delicious food, it attracted countless diners like a tide.

The shopkeeper's surname is Zhao, and his name is Si. He is a middle-aged man in his forties. He is as tall and straight as a pine tree. Although he is not tall and mighty, he has a calm and steady aura like a mountain. He often wears a dark blue robe made of fine fabric, and a black belt tied tightly around his waist, which makes him look neat and tidy.

Zhao Si was a smart and capable person, and he had his own unique way of operating and managing the restaurant. He always greeted guests with a smile that was as warm as the spring sunshine, and his enthusiasm and thoughtfulness made people feel like they were bathed in the warm spring breeze. Whether they were poor peddlers or wealthy dignitaries, they were all distinguished guests in his eyes, and he gave them the best service without discrimination.

Yunyan Pavilion has four floors, each with a precise and clear positioning. The first floor serves peddlers and hawkers. It is bustling with people all day long, full of the strong flavor of life. Every evening, the common people, who have worked hard all day, come here and sit around the wooden table. They drink cheap but mellow wine, taste delicious and affordable dishes, and share the joys and sorrows of life while feasting.

The second floor is used to entertain wealthy businessmen. The decoration here is exquisite and gorgeous, and every carving shows the exquisite craftsmanship of the craftsmen. The comfortable seats make people feel like they are trapped in soft clouds. And the well-trained waiters, who are dressed neatly, move quickly and elegantly, all show the luxury and nobility of this floor. The wealthy businessmen negotiate business here, exchange the latest business trends, and enjoy high-quality food and thoughtful and considerate services.

The third floor is specially designed for dignitaries. The third floor is separated from the two floors below by a gorgeous curtain. The precious ornaments in the private rooms are arranged in a staggered manner. Every detail reveals dignity and elegance, and people feel an unparalleled majesty as soon as they step in. The dignitaries hold banquets here, and the power and status are fully displayed in the clinking of glasses.

The fourth floor has never been open to the public, which has aroused endless imagination among the public.

Several noblemen's descendants had tried to force their way into the fourth floor, but were thrown out without mercy. Since then, the merchants nearby have never seen those people again, and it is said that they were strictly confined by their families.

This incident has made people curious and awed about the owner of Yunyan Pavilion. There are many speculations. Some say that the owner is a royal relative, and his noble status is daunting; some say that the owner is a wealthy businessman who has endless wealth and mysterious power; others say that the owner is a hermit with extraordinary wisdom and unfathomable abilities. But the only thing that is certain is that the owner of Yunyan Pavilion is not easy to mess with.

It was the morning of Mao, which should have been a time when there were few guests, but today was very different. The carriage parking area at the entrance of Yunyan Pavilion was already full of luxurious carriages. The carriages were beautifully decorated, and the carvings on the bodies were lifelike. From time to time, people drove carriages in a hurry, and the sound of horse hooves echoed on the stone road, breaking the tranquility of the early morning.

What shocked the street vendors was that these people were all well-known wealthy merchants from Guanzhong. They were rarely seen in normal times, but today they appeared here in groups.

Although many wealthy merchants gathered on the second floor of Yunyan Pavilion, they were only talking in low voices and no one was making loud noises.

Because the people maintaining order in the restaurant today are the palace guards, who are wearing armor, holding sharp weapons, and have cold and majestic eyes.

The powerful aura made the wealthy merchants dare not act presumptuously. They could only lower their voices and talk carefully.

At this time, a man in his forties came in, surrounded by his followers. His clothes were no different from those of ordinary Qin people, but his appearance was quite unique: a high nose, high cheekbones, deep eye sockets, and a thick beard on his long face. At first glance, he looked nothing like Xia Zi, but more like a Rong person.

Ba Zhong, who was surrounded by the crowd, raised his eyes and saw this person. He quickly stood up and walked over to him with a smile on his face. He respectfully called out, "Brother Wu!"

The other wealthy businessmen also recognized this person's identity. It was Wu Shiluo, the head of the Wu family. Everyone was shocked. They didn't expect that he would come in person?

A hundred years ago, the land at the source of the Jing River was still a land of Rongdi outside the border. There was a Rong tribe called "Wushi" that had always been subject to Yiqu. Later, King Huiwen of Qin defeated Yiqu with thunder and conquered all the Rong people. In the 36th year of King Zhaoxiang of Qin, Yiqu was destroyed and Beidi County was established. Wushi County was also established in Jitou Mountain. From then on, the Wu clan submitted to Qin.

Around the time when Qin Shihuang took power, an outstanding Rong merchant emerged from Wushi County, Wu Shiluo. He relied on the mules and horses raised by his family for generations to transport goods and engage in resale trade. He first went south to Xianyang and carefully selected and purchased silk. Then he went west to the land of the Qiang people and exchanged the gorgeous silk for the Qiang Rong King's cattle and horses. Then he brought these cattle and horses back to Guanzhong and sold them to the Qin government. In this way, he made a tenfold profit. In just a few years, he accumulated a fortune of hundreds of millions.

At that time, it was a critical period for Qin Shihuang to unify the world. Whether it was the fierce war of unification or the heavy farming tasks at home, a large number of cattle and horses were urgently needed. Therefore, Qin Shihuang asked the Shaofu to contact Wu Shiluo and let him become an official merchant of Qin State, specializing in foreign trade. Over the past ten years, Wu Shiluo has exchanged countless horses and cattle for Qin State, which not only effectively guaranteed the smooth progress of the war, but also met the needs of major projects such as the Mausoleum of Mount Li. In view of his great contribution that was completely comparable to his military merits, Qin Shihuang gave him the treatment of a lord in the form of "comparison", allowing him to go to court with other ministers every year in all seasons.

This decree was announced together with the title of Widow Qing as a chaste woman. In terms of wealth, Wu Shiluo and Widow Qing were on par, both with an astonishing net worth of over 100 million yuan. But in terms of status, Wu Shiluo was even better.

However, no matter how respected his status was among the businessmen, everyone in the hall fell silent instantly as the usher shouted "Lord Zhao is here!"

Several guards pushed open the door in a dignified manner, and Yi Huawei strode in, with an aura of authority that made him intimidating without even getting angry, and a handsome young eunuch followed behind him.

"Master Zhao!" "Master Shaofu!"

Following Ba Zhong and Wu Shi Luo's grand tribute, many wealthy merchants reacted immediately. After knowing the identities of the visitors, they immediately knelt on the ground and bowed respectfully. The whole hall was filled with a tense and awe-inspiring atmosphere.

"Everyone, please stand up! Zhao Si, bring a stool over!"

Yi Huawei raised his lips slightly and waved his hand with a smile. His eyes were gentle, but with an indescribable majesty. Seeing this, Zhao Si, who was standing by, quickly ordered the waiter to take out long wooden stools and place them in the hall in order, motioning the merchants present to sit down.

Looking at Zhao Si, everyone suddenly realized that the boss behind Yunyan Pavilion was actually Zhao Gao. No wonder those noble children were beaten without any follow-up, but were instead confined to their homes.

The merchants looked at each other, hesitated for a moment, then stood up carefully and sat down slowly. Everyone's eyes were full of tension and anxiety. They looked at Yi Huawei secretly from time to time, secretly guessing his intentions. In feudal society, emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce was an extremely important policy. There were four classes in society: scholars, farmers, workers, and merchants, and merchants were at the bottom and suffered discrimination.

This was a very common behavior of emphasizing the basics and suppressing the trivialities in ancient times, because grain was the foundation of the country. The reason why this idea became more and more serious in the end was inseparable from the instigation of two emperors throughout history.

Let's not talk about Emperor Wu of Han, just during the reign of Qin Shi Huang, "he sent out fugitives, sons-in-law and merchants as soldiers, seized the land of Nanyue and Luliang, and established Guilin, Nanhai and Xiangjun." It can be seen that in Qin Shi Huang's eyes, the status of merchants was similar to that of fugitives. In Han Feizi, which Qin Shi Huang admired very much, merchants were regarded as one of the "five pests" and should be eliminated, which shows Qin Shi Huang's disgust for merchants.

In fact, it is not without reason that the ancient emperors hated merchants. In the Qin and Han dynasties, it was very easy to implement land rent, household taxes, and labor service (corvée and military service) for adults, but it was not so easy to tax merchants. They took a lot of state property, but seemed to contribute very little to the country. The emperor naturally couldn't stand it, and for Qin Shihuang, merchants were mobile wallets. Once the treasury was out of money, he would naturally look for the richest groups to collect money.

Therefore, when everyone saw the warm smile on Yi Huawei's face, they were not happy, but instead felt a deep fear in their hearts. They seemed to see an invisible big hand slowly reaching out to their wealth. The atmosphere in the hall became extremely solemn, and the merchants were all restless, not knowing what fate they would face next.

"Haha~, don't be nervous."

Yi Huawei showed a gentle smile on his face, his eyes were soothing. His voice was steady and powerful, slowly echoing in the hall: "It is a good thing to invite you all here today."

"Everyone, please be patient."

Yi Huawei paused for a moment, looked at the suspicious eyes of the crowd below, and gently waved his hand. Lang Wei, who was standing by, immediately understood, stepped forward steadily, and placed the wooden box in his arms on the table. After the wooden box was opened, a pile of things that looked like tokens made of fine iron were revealed. Under the tokens, there was also a pile of "Zhao Gao Papers" neatly placed.

Everyone looked at Yi Huawei with curiosity and anticipation in their eyes, quietly waiting for his next words.

"As you all know, this year's sea salt harvest and quality are much better than in previous years."

Yi Huawei raised the corner of his mouth slightly, revealing a warm smile, and slowly swept his eyes over the crowd, and then said: "You should have heard of the tea and soy sauce that Shaofu specializes in, right?"

Soy sauce is a magical condiment recently launched by the Shaofu. The rich and mellow aroma and unique flavor immediately won the enthusiastic love of everyone once it was launched. Whether it is added to cooking dishes to add a different flavor to the food, or directly used to dip rice, it can increase people's appetite and leave endless aftertaste. On the streets and alleys, people talked about the wonderful changes brought by soy sauce, and the sound of praise was endless.

As for tea, since Zhao Gao became the Shaofu, he has taken all tea mountains into the state and prohibited private trading. Although the price is the same as before, some wealthy merchants who rely on tea business have lost this source of income. This matter caused quite a stir at the time, but it was suppressed by Yi Huawei. Because of this matter, Yi Huawei's reputation was also affected to a certain extent.

Of course, Yi Huawei didn't care. It only harmed the interests of tea merchants, and had no impact on tea farmers and ordinary people. Yi Huawei recruited all tea farmers into the tea house and taught them how to stir-fry tea. The stir-fried tea tasted much more fragrant than the rough-picked tea before. Therefore, the sales volume and price of tea actually increased a lot.

Zhuo Wangsun frowned slightly, staring at the items on the table, thinking secretly in his heart. After a moment, he looked at Yi Huawei, his mind turned, and a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes. "Master Zhao asked us to come here today, could it be..."

"That's right!" Yi Huawei nodded slightly, confirming Zhuo Wangsun's guess. "I plan to give you tea, salt, and soy sauce to run..."

"Hoo--" Everyone was shocked when they heard this. They looked at each other, their eyes full of shock and excitement. This was an item that was exclusively sold by the Shaofu, and now it was handed over to them for operation. This was undoubtedly a huge opportunity. However, they were also full of doubts, wondering what the deep meaning of Yi Huawei's move was. Some people began to whisper to each other. Yi Huawei quietly watched the reactions of the crowd, with the corners of his mouth slightly raised, as if he had expected their performance.

"I called everyone here today to announce a few things."

Yi Huawei straightened up slightly, cleared his throat, and his voice rang out clearly in the hall: "Everyone, the country now wants to carry out a new planning and management of salt fields, tea fields, and soy sauce workshops. I plan to divide the country's salt fields, tea fields, and soy sauce workshops into several sales areas, each with a specific license. Merchants holding licenses can sell salt, tea, and soy sauce in designated areas, and must not sell across regions, otherwise they will be severely punished."

Yi Huawei paused for a moment, slowly swept his eyes over the crowd, and continued, "The application and issuance of this license, as well as the transportation and sales of salt, are all strictly supervised by the government. For example, during transportation, salt merchants need to carry salt permits as proof and accept strict inspections by the government along the way. Anyone who attempts to cheat will face heavy penalties. At the same time, the government will regularly check the business operations of salt merchants to ensure that everything is within the regulations."

He paused again, took a sip from the teacup beside him, and continued, "Of course, the license has a certain validity period, and it needs to be reapplied or replaced after it expires. In this way, we can ensure orderly competition in the market and ensure the effective control of these important materials by the state."

After a pause, Yi Huawei looked around, his eyes revealing a hint of majesty, and said: "This license adopts the auction system... As the name suggests, the highest bidder wins. You can write the price on a piece of paper, of course, you can also form a partnership and divide the profits among yourselves."

The hall was silent, and the merchants looked at each other, thinking in their hearts. Yi Huawei looked at them quietly, waiting for their reactions. After a moment, Ba Zhong was the first to break the silence. He bowed and asked, "Master Shaofu, are there any specific rules and restrictions for this auction?"

Yi Huawei smiled and replied, "Of course there is. The auction will be held in three days, and participants need to pay a certain deposit in advance. During the auction, any unfair competition is strictly prohibited. If found, the participant will be disqualified and held accountable."

Wu Shiluo also spoke up: "Master Shaofu, how long is the validity period of this license? What are the conditions for reapplying after it expires?"

Yi Huawei patiently answered: "The validity period of the license varies according to the region and materials, usually from one to three years. After the expiration, the merchant's business conditions, reputation, and contribution to the country need to be re-evaluated. Only those who meet the requirements can re-obtain the license."

Many merchants asked Yi Huawei various questions. As Yi Huawei answered them, their doubts gradually disappeared and they began to discuss enthusiastically, thinking about how to participate in this auction and strive for the sales area they desired. (End of this chapter)