Datang: What's wrong with my fief being a billion points larger?

Chapter 188 Extreme price disparity, price increases and currency depreciation

Although he didn't know the specific reason, it did not affect Li Yuanji's happiness at all. Now everything he did here was finally starting to get better.

Cen Wenben listened to this and then spoke again.

"Your Majesty, there is one more thing. After these people came here to do business, the prices of their goods, such as grain, cloth, and ironware, were higher than what we originally sold here, ranging from ten to thirty coins higher.

For example, grain was originally sold for ten cents here, and it was all new grain, but those people used old grain to sell it, and the price was initially sold for thirty cents, but now it has dropped to twenty cents.

But the good thing is that none of our people go to these shops to buy things. Instead, other people from the Tang Dynasty are buying them. They probably buy low-priced grain here and then take it to the Tang Dynasty to sell it at a high price.

Our original grain supply was limited, and although the price was low, it had to be purchased with household registration, which resulted in many people buying grain from the common people at a price of fifteen to twenty coins. A small number of people chose to sell it, but most of them knew what they were doing and did not sell it. "

Li Yuanji frowned when he heard this. Because of the development here and the fact that most of the materials were supplied by him, the prices were set after Cen Wenben reported to him. It can be said that the prices here are the cheapest in the entire Tang Dynasty.

Li Yuanji took into consideration that people from outside would come here to buy at low prices and sell them at high prices in the Tang Dynasty, so he decided that only those with household registration cards could enjoy the prices here. As for outsiders, they could also buy, but the restrictions were more stringent.

In addition, the amount of goods provided daily will not be large. For example, the daily amount of food is fixed. Once it is sold out, you have to wait until tomorrow. The same goes for other goods.

Li Yuanji thought for a while before speaking slowly.

"You need to pay attention to this matter. The limit policy must be implemented well. At the same time, you can let people know that if there are outsiders who buy from them, they should pay them a high price. For example, grain may cost ten coins here, but in the Tang Dynasty, even in Chang'an, the price of grain will not be less than thirty coins, and it may have reached fifty coins.

But they were also told not to be too ruthless. Those who could buy from them were mostly small households, not big households or aristocratic families. They should take this opportunity to let the people here make a fortune, and leave some money for the small households.

As for those who sell at high prices, there is no need to worry too much about them. As long as the prices here remain normal, no one will buy from them. Besides, their products, except for food, are not advantageous in other aspects here.

However, you should also pay attention that no merchants are allowed to charge more than twice the price. Once discovered, the shop will be forced to close and fined. You should sort out the specific amount and then inform all shops.

The prices here are low now. After leaving here, the prices in other places, especially in Datang, are high. So there will definitely be people who take advantage of this period to stock up, so that they can go to Datang to sell and make money. Therefore, we must control the limited quantity policy well and not let others take advantage of loopholes. "

Li Yuanji had no other choice. This place was poor before, and prices could not be high. Once prices were high, the economy here would collapse directly. He had to maintain low prices.

It is completely different now. He doesn't want to earn hard-earned money himself and let these people make big money. The prices in the Tang Dynasty are several times higher than here, at least doubled. If he takes the low-priced goods here to the Tang Dynasty, even if there are transportation costs, port terminal fees, and labor costs in the middle, he can still make a lot of money.

Li Yuanji doesn't want to work for these people. He is the only one who can make big money. These people want to make big money, but he can't let them do it so easily.

As for collecting the money from the people, he doesn't care. As long as Cen Wenben promotes it, the people will start to have money. Adding a limit will not affect the overall situation and will also make the people rich. Why not do it?

Cen Wenben on the side frowned and responded. As for the business, it was a bit of a test for him, but he was a top talent after all and understood things very quickly. Suddenly, Cen Wenben thought of something and looked at Li Yuanji solemnly.

"Your Majesty, what if these people buy goods here at low prices, then hoard them and sell them in the future? I have seen many things about prices since the Qin Dynasty, and in the end, prices always go up.

If prices rise at that time, once these people hoard goods and sell them in the future, the profit will probably be considerable.

My king, should we be on guard against this?"

Li Yuanji looked at Cen Wenben and smiled.

"Jingren, I'm glad you thought of this problem, but it's not as simple as you think. I can tell you directly that prices will definitely rise in the future. The low prices here now are limited by the poverty here before.

Therefore, prices must be low, otherwise people will not be able to afford consumption. However, as development proceeds, price increases are an inevitable trend. Now ten coins can buy food, and in the future twenty coins can buy the same amount of food. Do you really think you have made a profit?

The rise in prices will inevitably lead to another problem, which is the depreciation of currency. Twenty coins at that time were actually equivalent to ten coins today.

Take grain for example, the price of grain will definitely not rise as fast as other commodities. Grain is the foundation and the price must be controlled by us. Now with the reclamation of wasteland, there are more and more arable land, and Liu Rengui is about to take over a granary.

What else can they hoard now? Food is the primary need of the people. As long as the food supply is not disordered, other things will not be disordered, because even for other commodities, our own production has an absolute advantage, and the price is determined by ourselves.

We will have more grain in the future, and those wealthy families and grain merchants will not be able to raise the price of grain. Coupled with the rising prices, they may not make any profit.

If someone likes to hoard goods now, let them do so. The more they hoard, the harder it will be to sell in the future. I want to see how many people can bear it.

Jingren, the most important thing for you is to make a good limited policy. With this policy in place, these things will not cause any big waves. Only small households can take the opportunity to make a small profit. The price relationship here will only make these people transfer their wealth here.

The same goes for those aristocratic families. As long as we become completely strong, those people will gradually transfer their wealth here, because here, their wealth will not depreciate.

If someone wants to make a lot of money, they can only cooperate with us. If they cooperate with us, the price will be completely different. Although they can also make money, we also make a lot.

Jingren, business is not that simple. If you have any questions, feel free to come to me. Now you should go and implement this matter first."

At this time, the price gap between the two sides makes this place seem like a paradise. You can make money by selling the goods here. The more goods you have, the more you can make, and the less goods you have, the less you can make.

Now after hearing what Cen Wenben said, Li Yuanji already knew that there would be so many merchants from all over the place here. Now when they come here, as long as they take the goods out, they will go out to collect money. With the goods here, he doesn't have to worry about sales at all, and he doesn't have to worry about profits.

It can be said that getting the goods is equivalent to getting money, huge amounts of money. Who can resist this temptation?
Li Yuanji could already imagine that those small households who collected those bulk goods from the public, those big households and aristocratic families, as well as merchants from other countries, would definitely reach direct cooperation with him. After all, if they wanted large quantities of goods, he was the only one who had them.

Such people don't lack small fortunes, because even if they don't come here, it's very easy to make such small fortunes. Now they come all the way here, they must be greedy for big fortunes. Cen Wenben, who didn't understand at first, suddenly understood after listening to Li Yuanji. Just as he was about to go down, Li Yuanji's voice came again.

"Jingren, you have to keep an eye on those people who come to discuss cooperation. You can make the decision on your own. If you are undecided, come and ask me. Since there is a principle, that is to give them a price that allows them to make a profit, but we must be able to make a lot of money.

As for payment for goods, we will temporarily also use both money and grain as payment. As for those who try to be clever by using grain as payment, we will have to raise the price of our goods to them again.

Don't worry about what to do if no one wants it. We have our own trading channels, so it doesn't matter even if these people don't want it.

And those people definitely can't be so decisive. No one would refuse such an opportunity to make money. We are the active party. Just ask them, instead of asking them to buy goods."

Li Yuanji was really worried that Cen Wenben would not be able to grasp the right balance. Now he had a lot of various goods stockpiled here, plus he had to develop himself and was fighting in several places, so the gap in money and food was indeed not small.

His only shortcoming now is food. Money is secondary. Once there is a problem with food, everything here will be in trouble.

But as long as the food problem of the past two years, especially this year, can be overcome, the food pressure next year will be very small. Starting from the year after next, food will hardly put pressure on the development of Lingnan.

He was really afraid that Cen Wenben would lose the initiative because of the pressure. Now if these people want to make money, they must stand by him. Otherwise, whoever they want to lead to make money depends on his mood.

After hearing this, Cen Wenben immediately agreed.

"Your Majesty, although I didn't know much before, I think I understood it quickly. Your Majesty, rest assured, I know what to do."

Even without Li Yuanji's reminder, Cen Wenben knew what to do. In Cen Wenben's eyes, the trade exchanges that were about to begin were also an exchange of interests between Li Yuanji and those people. In his eyes, if Li Yuanji returned to Chang'an in the future, all these current relationships would be useful.

It was not for any other reason, but because what Li Yuanji could give them now could not be given by anyone else, neither Li Jiancheng nor Li Shimin.

Li Yuanji nodded. After Cen Wenben left, Li Yuanji could no longer hold back and went to the back to call Yang Qingwan and Wei Gui.

"Ma'am, let's change our clothes and go for a walk."

Hearing Li Yuanji's active invitation, Yang Qingwan and the other person immediately accepted it, and Wu Mei on the other side also spoke.

"My lord, we want to go too. Can you take us with you?"

Wu Mei pulled Wu Shun to Li Yuanji. Seeing this, Li Yuanji had no choice but to agree.

"Okay, okay, everyone, go, everyone, quickly change your clothes."

After Li Yuanji finished speaking, he went into the house to change his clothes. After a while, several people went out wearing not-so-luxurious clothes.

Coming to the street outside, in this inner city, it is the most prosperous place. Most of the shops on both sides of the street have started business. Coming to the street, Wu Mei is the most lively, looking here and there.

Not long after they walked away, they bought a lot of food and small items. Not only Wu Mei, but also Yang Qingwan and Wei Gui were smiling. In fact, the number of times Li Yuanji took them out shopping was very limited.

Although they often come out, the meaning is completely different.

"Your Majesty, look, there seems to be a quarrel going on in that rice shop."

Li Yuanji looked over and saw that there were indeed a few people arguing outside the shop. Li Yuanji immediately took a few people and walked over.

Li Yuanji did not walk too close because he had met many people here, including Yang Qingwan, and he did not want to be recognized directly because several people had recognized him along the way.

Someone was sent to inquire about it, and soon found out that the price of rice in this rice shop was 50 cents per dou, and corn was 25 cents per dou. The people who came to buy were immediately unwilling, and then an argument began.

Li Yuanji was also helpless after hearing this. In his place, the price of rice was between fifteen and twenty cents, and the price of corn was only ten cents. The difference existed because corn was the mainstream food in the Tang Dynasty.

The proportion of wheat and rice is relatively small, especially rice, which leads to the relatively high price of rice today.

As for the changes, I have already mentioned them before.

Not long after Li Yuanji arrived, the minor official in charge of public security arrived. After only an incense stick of time, the mediation was completed and the people around dispersed one after another.

"Your Majesty, the clerk directly told the rice shop owner that the price of rice sold must not exceed the stipulated price. Otherwise, he will be fined at least one thousand strings of cash and ordered to close the shop, with the highest penalty being beheading.

At the same time, we informed the buyers that if they felt the price was too high, they could choose not to buy and wait for tomorrow’s food restriction.”

After hearing this, Li Yuanji laughed even more widely. He really didn't expect that Cen Wenben would act so quickly and had already formulated the standards. It seemed that they could be implemented in the next few days.

After the situation calmed down, Li Yuanji looked at the women.

"Wait here for a moment. I'll go check out the rice shop."

Li Yuanji also wanted to know what these people were thinking.

(End of this chapter)