Ji Tang

After walking out of the palace, Ji Song's mind was still replaying Li Shimin's words before leaving.

"I don't have much time!" Li Shimin looked at the prosperity and felt reluctant to give up, but in the end he could only sigh.

Are you sighing that the sky will never holiday, or are you sighing at the impermanence of things in the world, or are you regretting that you pushed the Guanlong nobles too far?

He didn't know any of this, but the only thing he knew was that the emperor who single-handedly pushed the Tang Dynasty to the top was about to reach the end of his life. No one in this world is immortal, no matter you are a prince, general or ordinary citizen, you come naked and leave naked, there are no exceptions!

"Let's go to the West Market!"

Ji Song had a sudden thought. It seemed that he hadn't been to the market for a long time. He was either busy with official duties or scheming with everyone all day long. For some reason, he started to get further and further away from the market.

This is not good. It just so happens that it’s still early today. Let’s go to the West Market and see what’s different between now and before!

The West Market is the most prosperous market in Chang'an, where merchants and goods from countless countries around the world gather. Since the opening of the Western Region Harmony, it used to take more than half a year to reach Chang'an, but now it only takes one-third of the time before.

Safety has been guaranteed. There are no more soldiers and bandits, no exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes. More and more foreign merchants are traveling between the East and the West along this new road.

This is sometimes the case. As long as there is good order, even if nothing is done, poor areas can become prosperous day by day. The Central Plains has been so prejudiced against merchants since ancient times that they could only rely on powerful officials and officials from aristocratic families in the development of the Central Plains dynasty.

With their protection, suppressing dissidents, collusion between officials and businessmen, and deceiving the superiors and concealing the truth have become the mainstream.

And businessmen have become synonymous with treachery and are reviled by the world.

It is undeniable that some businessmen are like this, but they cannot be killed at once. To put it bluntly, it is still a problem of the system. There is no effective regulatory mechanism, let alone effective tax collection methods, which results in businessmen developing wildly.

This needs to be learned from the Song Dynasty of later generations. Although they were groveling externally, internally, especially the management of merchants and tax collection, they reached the pinnacle of the feudal dynasty.

Even if you are beaten to Jiangnan, you can still collect extremely astonishing commercial taxes. For a period of time, commercial taxes even reached 80% of the national tax revenue. What is this concept? It shows that the commercial tax at that time was enough to feed the entire country.

Of course, this was because the Silk Road was cut off by the Ottoman Empire at that time, and Xixia, a country with which it had a feud, was at a key node, so the Silk Road was completely useless.

But how crazy are businessmen in their pursuit of profits? If the Silk Road cannot be walked, then we can walk by sea, around the Cape of Good Hope, through the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, and arrive at Guangzhou and Quanzhou in China.

And this is not one-way. Western merchants came to the Central Plains, and merchants from the Central Plains also went as far as the Red Sea coast, which basically coincided with the route taken by Zheng He in the Ming Dynasty.

When Zheng He went to the West, he may not have inherited the legacy of the Song Dynasty.

But unfortunately, the limitations of Lu Quan's thinking led the Ming Dynasty, which could have surpassed the Song Dynasty, to turn to the road of isolation.

Soon, Daniel pushed Ji Song to the West Market. As soon as he entered, he was touched by the prosperity inside. Is this still the West Market back then?

"Why has it changed so much?" Ji Song asked in surprise.

No wonder, when you see buildings in Chang'an that are very different from those in the Central Plains, especially when they are connected one after another, can you not be surprised?

"This noble man is so polite!"

At this moment, a man who looked very shrewd came to Ji Song and stopped Da Niu from driving him away. Ji Song looked up and down and said with a smile: "Who are you? Stop me. What's the matter?"

The old man looked at Daniel with his eyes, and instinctively felt frightened. He looked at Ji Song and said more respectfully: "My lord, please forgive me. My surname is He. I only have a fortune in your name. I used to make a living in this West City. See The noble man is not familiar with this place, so he came to recommend himself!"

"Please treat me to a meal!"

The original broker, Ji Song didn't want to talk to him, so he was about to leave!

Seeing Ji Song's expression, the other party became anxious and said quickly: "Wait a minute!"

"Huh?" Daniel then looked at He Qian with an extremely dangerous look, but Ji Song waved his hand and signaled the other party to continue talking!

"My lord, please forgive me. I have been living in Yuxi Market for more than several years. I am very familiar with this place. Whatever you want to buy, I will definitely be able to find the cheapest and good quality goods."

"Only ten copper coins, noble sir, look at it"

Ten copper coins? Is it new money?

But he didn't bring any copper coins. He looked at Daniel, but Daniel also shook his head. How could he have anything?

"Well, I was in a hurry when I came here. I wonder if there is a place to exchange copper coins here?"

He Qian was stunned, he didn't expect it to be like this? But he was just stunned for a moment and said quickly: "Yes, yes, it's not far away. The little man will lead you there, but look."

Seeing that he was overjoyed at first, and then looked embarrassed, he immediately smiled and said: "You can lead the way, but I won't miss your money!"

"Thank you very much, noble man. I guarantee that your trip today will be worthwhile!"

"My lord, please follow me!" After saying that, he led the way!

Ji Song was confident and motioned for Da Niu to follow. Needless to say, this guy is indeed familiar with this place. There are stalls everywhere in the West Market, and many of the shop signs are familiar to him. This guy walked for less than a quarter of an hour before arriving at a very impressive shop!

"Datang Bank?"

"That's right!" Perhaps because he saw that Ji Song was not familiar with this place, he quickly introduced: "Your honor may not know that the Tang Dynasty Bank was established by the imperial court a few months ago, and all new coins need to be exchanged in the bank. So. , I brought you here!"

Ji Song was noncommittal and looked at the familiar words again. If nothing else happened, it should be the handiwork of that guy Li Chengqian. Changsun Wuji did have some tricks.

However, if he couldn't reach this point with his own plans and plans, then he would not be his eldest son Wuji.

Soon, they came to the store, and as soon as they walked in, they saw someone coming to greet them.

"Lao He, are you here for business today?" The visitor greeted with a smile.

"The shopkeeper is laughing, let's exchange the coins first!" He Qian obviously knew the shopkeeper, but he didn't dare to joke with him, and was even a little in awe!

"Well! I just have nothing to do right now, so let me do it!"

Stopping the work of coming forward, the shopkeeper Chao Jisong made a gesture of inviting him!

It was an ordinary action, but in He Qian's eyes it became extremely frightening. Who is the bank manager? Even those dignitaries were very polite when they came. Unexpectedly, they seemed a little humble to today's guests!

Yes, it is humble!

But Ji Song didn't care about this. He looked at the store furnishings and was pushed inside by Daniel.

The shopkeeper, who deliberately took a few steps slowly, saw that Ji Song was not paying attention and said solemnly to He Qian: "Where did you find the person? Did you not offend me?"

He Qian was stunned and said blankly: "No, this person is either rich or noble at first glance. The guard almost scared me to death when he looked at me. How dare I offend him!" The shopkeeper was obviously relieved and glared at him. One glance and just said: "Wait!"

Ji Song was led by the waiter to a small room, which was extremely simple, with only a table and two chairs. There are teapots and teacups on the table.

"Guest, please drink tea!!" The shopkeeper greeted Ji Song to drink tea as soon as he came in, looking extremely attentive!

At this time, even a fool knew that Ji Song knew that the other party had probably guessed his identity or had seen him before! But since the other party didn't intend to explain clearly, he just gasped and pretended to be confused.

"Okay, I'm not here to drink tea. Please pay me back as soon as possible!"

Bang~

I saw a jade pendant appearing on the table. When the shopkeeper saw the thing clearly, his eyes narrowed and his heart trembled. But he still suppressed his fear and carefully picked up the jade pendant!

"What a jade!"

"What a beautiful piece of blue field jade, I never thought I could see such a beautiful jade."

"The color is transparent, just like mutton fat, and it's warm and moist in the hand. It's actually a piece of warm jade!"

After saying this, he showed regret on his face, offered it up with both hands, and said, "Your Majesty, please take it back!"

Ji Song was stunned for a moment and asked in confusion: "Can't I change?"

"I can, but I don't dare!"

After saying that, he stood up and said respectfully: "I'll let someone get the money right now. If it's not enough, just let someone get it!"

Ji Song silently took back the jade pendant and said in a deep voice: "Do you recognize me?"

The shopkeeper gave a wry smile. If he wasn't sure before, but after the other party took out the piece of jade, he would be blind if he didn't know. Because that piece of beautiful jade belonged to me back then, but it was sold. Thinking about the other person sitting in a wheelchair, if I still don't know who the other person is, then all these years have been in vain.

"I'm Sun De, pay your respects to Mr. Xi!"

Ji Song looked at the other party and knew that the other party was sweating. Then he smiled and said: "Okay, take a hundred copper coins, a hundred silver coins, and ten gold coins, and then our guild will have someone bring them to you." Priced in copper coins.”

"feasible?"

"Of course. If you find it troublesome, I'll go get it myself!" Sun De said quickly.

As for giving it for free? Haha, who is this in front of you? That was the recognized God of Wealth in the Tang Dynasty. Giving money to the God of Wealth? That's crazy!

Soon, a worker came in with a money bag, and Daniel took it away without saying a word, without counting. As for worrying about being short of weight? Humph, even if you give him ten courages!

"Sorry for bothering you!" Ji Song thanked him.

Sun De smiled bitterly: "This is the blessing of a villain!"

Ji Song smiled and prepared to leave.

When he walked out of the room, he saw He Qian still waiting, and Ji Song hurriedly came up to greet him: "Is your work done, sir?"

Ji Song nodded: "Let's go and take a walk!"

While walking on the street, Ji Song asked for a copper coin, a silver coin, and a gold coin to play with in his hand. He Qian was frightened by such a revealing move.

This copper coin can be exchanged for silver coins. It takes one hundred copper coins to exchange for one silver coin. It takes ten silver coins to exchange for one gold coin. Normally, between one and five mouths, one silver coin would not be needed in three months.

You must know that copper coins are divided into large coins and small coins. It takes ten small coins to exchange for one large coin. In other words, one silver coin can be exchanged for a thousand small coins. And one gold coin is ten thousand small coins. It’s equivalent to ten copper coins from before!

If a thief sees this, that's okay. This is the West Market, and it is also the most chaotic place in Chang'an. If something happens, thinking about the warning given to him by the shopkeeper just now, he is sweating.

Ji Song didn't know that his actions frightened He Qian. He was comparing the differences between gold, silver and copper coins!

Small coins are okay. They are not much different from the previous copper coins. They also have square holes. In the past, it was also considered that the most commonly used coins in ordinary people's homes were small coins. In order to facilitate portability, there were no changes.

There are some changes in specifications, but not major. As for the big coin, it was originally designed as a Hunyuan coin, about one or two weights, and its copper content was basically the same as ten small coins, just a little less. But the level of sophistication is completely different!

What is depicted above is Lao Tzu's surrender, in order to explain to the world that Prince Li is the successor of Lao Tzu Li Er. There are about one tael of silver coins, and there is a profile portrait of Li Chengqian on it. As for the gold coins, it can only be that person.

The principle of convenient counting and basic equivalence is basically followed in coin exchange. Ten small coins are exchanged for one large coin, ten large coins are exchanged for one silver coin, and ten silver coins are exchanged for one gold coin.

After putting away the coins, he looked at He Qian who was looking carefully and suddenly smiled in his heart. The moment he walked out of the palace, there were at least ten soldiers of the Ji family guarding him around. He must have dealt with a lot of unscrupulous people at this time!

After gloating over my misfortune, I saw a familiar shop, said hello and walked in1

"Hello, sir, what kind of perfume do you want to buy?" A young woman came to greet her. Ji Song was not surprised, because it was prescribed by Ji's family.

"Go and bring you the most expensive perfume here!" Ji Song said proudly.

The woman was stunned for a moment, but she returned to the counter and carefully placed a transparent glass bottle that was only half the size of a palm on the table.

Ji Song opened it and smelled it. Well, it smelled like osmanthus.

"How much does this bottle cost?"

The woman smiled and extended her palm.

"Five silver coins? Not bad!" Ji Song said clearly.

But what the woman said next almost made him break his guard. He only heard the other party laugh and say: "The guest is joking. This bottle of perfume is the best product in our store. It costs five gold coins!"

"Cough cough cough~"

Ji Songmeng coughed and said in disbelief: "Five? Give me back the gold coins? Why don't you grab them!"

He was indeed shocked, five gold coins? Fifty thousand dollars, which is the previous fifty thousand dollars. Why didn't he know that his own perfume was so expensive? What's more, this is not the best, it's just leftover materials for making fine perfumes!

It must have been the movement outside that alerted the people inside. A middle-aged man came out. When he saw the person in the wheelchair, he was stunned and quickly stepped forward and said, "Master, why are you here?"

Homeowner?

The woman was stunned for a moment, then her face turned pale, and she didn't know what to do. He Qian and He Qian on the side were dumbfounded. Whose store did this secret fragrance come from? How could he not know it after being in the West Market for so many years?

Thinking of Shopkeeper Sun's warning and the name just now, I felt a little unsteady on my feet!

He actually acted as a broker for Duke Tan? (End of chapter)