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

Chapter 267 Smuggling, Next Stop

When Li Yuanji returned to the kite shop, he saw Wu Mei and Wu Shun waiting obediently after choosing their kites in the shop, and he immediately smiled knowingly.

"Mei'er, Shun'er, come on, I'll take you to eat something delicious."

Seeing Li Yuanji, Wu Mei immediately ran up to him and grabbed Li Yuanji's hand.

"Boss, you are finally here. Let's go. I am so hungry."

He touched Wu Mei's head, then pulled Wu Shun out with his right hand.

"Go tell Magistrate Xuwen to prepare something delicious, quickly. I'm hungry."

Yang Jianhe immediately took his men down there in person, while the rest of the group followed Li Yuanji as they strolled around and walked towards the county government.

Originally, Li Yuanji had no plan to go to the county government, but with the various changes in Xuwen, Li Yuanji found it necessary to go and see. He had to affirm what needed to be affirmed. After all, he needed to make his subordinates work more attentively.

When they arrived at the county government, they were greeted by the county magistrate Xuwen and the county magistrate. The rest of the people were sent away. This was Yang Jianhe's request to prevent Li Yuanji's whereabouts from being disclosed.

"Your Majesty, please forgive me for not being able to greet you in time."

Li Yuanji waved his hand to signal the two to stand up.

“Get up, this time it was the king who came here suddenly, I don’t blame you.

Let you guys prepare food, are you all ready? "

"Your Majesty, everything is ready. Please come in."

The magistrate of Xuwen County was named Ning Xuran, and the county magistrate was named Fan Zhi.

Listening to Li Yuanji's words, the two did not dare to delay at all. They still remembered that when Yang Jianhe took the order letter and asked them to be prepared, they were really scared out of their wits.

There was no news at all, and now someone tells them that their king is coming. Who would believe it?

Entering the courtyard behind the government office, a table with food had already been set out. Li Yuanji, Wu Mei and Wu Shun sat down on it.

Looking at the table full of food, Li Yuanji's appetite was also whetted. The dishes on the table were extremely rich, including things that fly in the sky, swim in the water, walk on the land, and even in the sea.

The most abundant product is seafood. After all, Xuwen is close to the sea, so there is a lot of seafood, including shrimps, crabs, some fish, and a few soups.

Originally, food in the Tang Dynasty was mainly boiled, steamed, and grilled, and because of the scarcity of oil, almost no one cooked.

The popularity of stir-frying mainly came during the Song Dynasty. Due to the advancement of oil-making technology, both state-owned and privately-owned oil mills were spread across the streets and alleys. In addition to sesame oil, soybean oil was also developed, making oil no longer so precious and affordable for ordinary people.

Like the iron pan used for cooking, it was invented in the Song Dynasty.

Now after his arrival, he improved the oil-making process, and in addition to sesame oil, soybean oil has also become popular. Now in Lingnan, in his fiefdom, stir-frying can be seen almost everywhere.

Originally, there was only sesame oil, mutton fat, beef tallow, and pig fat, and ordinary people could not afford them because of their small quantity and high price.

Sesame oil has already appeared in the Han Dynasty. It is made from sesame seeds. We have to thank Zhang Qian for bringing sesame seeds back from the Western Regions. Otherwise, it would have been introduced many years later.

Sheep fat is sheep oil, beef tallow is beef tallow, pig fat is lard, those with feet are fat, and those without feet are cream.

As for the oil-making technology, there are both government-run and privately-owned ones nowadays. Li Yuanji did not impose any restrictions. This is itself for the purpose of improving people's livelihood.

However, whether it is government-run or privately-owned, the awareness of prevention is very strong, and this technology has not been leaked to this day.

Therefore, the oil from Lingnan is now also a best-selling product abroad, and there are even merchants outside who provide raw materials.

Anyway, as long as they can make money, these businessmen have a very keen sense of smell and will almost never miss it. You make your money, I make mine, and there is no conflict.

"Mei'er, Shun'er, pick up whatever you want to eat and start eating."

After Li Yuanji started eating, Wu Mei and Wu Shun began to pick up their chopsticks. Li Yuanji also picked up food for the two women from time to time.

As for the others, they had already stood far away and did not go down. They were waiting to see if Li Yuanji had any other instructions.

After finishing the meal and feeling 70% full, Li Yuanji stopped.

"My lord, are you satisfied with the meal?"

Ning Xuran came to Li Yuanji's side with a look of worry and uneasiness on her face. They didn't know what flavor Li Yuanji liked, so they could only prepare the best and most common ones.

Li Yuanji looked at the two of them and immediately smiled.

“I am not a tiger, so don’t be so nervous, relax.

The food you prepared was delicious, not bad, besides the food was good, what you guys did here was also good.

This king went from the dock to the city and took a walk around the city. What he saw was that the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, and the city was prosperous.

All these show that you are doing very well. Keep up the good work and not only maintain it, but also try to do better. "

Ning Xuran and Fan Zhi were excited. Li Yuanji's praise made them both excited. Xu Wen's changes had indeed put them under tremendous pressure.

As Hikvision's secondary center, the higher-ups attached great importance to its development. Both of them were worried that they would not do well. Now with Li Yuanji's affirmation, both of them felt relieved and excited.

"Your Majesty, you have praised me. These are what we should do. We will work harder in the future and follow your instructions."

Seeing the two people's excited expressions, Li Yuanji was also particularly happy. This was exactly the effect he wanted. He wanted to say a few words of praise to make these people work harder and think it was a good deal no matter how he looked at it.

“Well, it’s good that you have this intention. Now that we have seen it in the city, you can take me to the countryside to have a look.

Especially the farmland, land reclamation, river courses, and the resettlement of newcomers, etc. Take me to have a look, and tell me on the way if there are any changes."

The two were stunned, but then they did not dare to delay. They prepared the carriage and took Li Yuanji out.

"Your Majesty, the arable land is mainly in the north of the city. The east and west of the city have been developed almost completely. The west of the city is close to the sea, so the only way to develop is to the north.

At the same time, developing northwards will bring it closer to Hikvision.

The roads leading to various towns have all been repaired. Now, except for the stone roads in the city, the rest are cement roads. It is not only convenient for people to travel, but also convenient for merchants to do business.

The roads to Haikang have been opened up, and the entire route is made of cement. Even the narrowest part is wide enough for three people to walk side by side. "

Walking in the countryside, Ning Xuran kept talking the whole time and gave detailed explanations on every aspect. After understanding everything, Li Yuanji was finally very satisfied.

"Very good, you have done a great job, and all matters are progressing in an orderly manner. This is very good." This inspection can be said to be a sudden arrival. Ning Xuran and Fan Zhi certainly were not prepared. What he saw now was the most real.

It is precisely for this reason that Li Yuanji is very confident in the work of Ning Xuran and Fan Zhi. What he saw were the people's yearning and desire for life, their enthusiasm for the government, and Ning Xuran's welcome by the people. These were all real, and Li Yuanji was relieved.

"I have done all these things carefully according to the king's instructions. I do not deserve the king's praise. This is what I should do."

Ning Xuran's face was solemn. He did not show any joy at all because of Li Yuanji's praise. Instead, he pushed all the credit to Li Yuanji.

Li Yuanji also laughed when he heard this. He found that Ning Xuran was a really cautious person. He would not flatter others, but he felt comfortable listening to these words.

"Okay, the credit belongs to you, just do your job well, and your promotion documents will come out around next year.

Another thing is that the red sandalwood and huanghuali wood from Tianzhu are flowing into my fiefdom. Have you noticed this situation here?"

After hearing this, Ning Xuran began to ponder. After thinking for a long time, he still found nothing.

"Your Majesty, I don't know about this situation. Perhaps only the Nanzhou Prefecture knows about this matter."

Li Yuanji nodded but didn't say anything. He could probably tell from this that there shouldn't be many red sandalwood and huanghuali wood left over from the Harsha Dynasty.

If there were too many, how could it not have attracted attention? Someone would have reported it long ago.

Now he really had to go to Nanzhou Prefecture to take a look. Although he was determined to destroy the Harsha Dynasty, it would take a lot of time. If those people messed up the prices of these woods during this period, he would lose a big and profitable business.

Li Yuanji would never tolerate such things happening if anyone dared to cut off his business.

Then he started to return, and when he got back to the county government, Yang Jianhe hurried to Li Yuanji.

"Your Majesty, the question about Lou Yan has already been answered.

When we tried to catch this man, he wanted to run away, but how could he escape?

These were revealed during the interrogation, and the person is now being held in another part of the county government."

Li Yuanji took it and read it, and then he fell into deep thought.

What he got from the interrogation was not much different from what he had imagined. This Lou Yan was indeed a Pyu, but he was also from the Harsha Dynasty. Not only Lou Yan, but also his family members were responsible for the exchanges between the Harsha Dynasty and Pyu.

This time, they wanted to help King Harsha to export the red sandalwood and huanghuali wood within the Harsha Dynasty and make money. However, due to the underdeveloped trade and the lack of large sea vessels, they set their sights on his fiefdom.

Lou Yan did bring some red sandalwood and huanghuali wood to test whether they were marketable, and was about to go back after verification.

Then they saw that he looked like a first-time businessman and thought he was easy to cheat, so they went after him.

However, there is another problem here. The Harsha Dynasty sent more than one person, Lou Yan, and Lou Yan and those people did not know each other. They only knew that there were other people.

Li Yuanji kept thinking, it would be fine if it was just Lou Yan, but now there are others, so they must have been contacting external channels, and someone will definitely be tempted.

Li Yuanji didn't even have to think about this. With such good profits, he only needed to send more ships and talk to the people over there to lower the price, and the profit margin would be even greater.

The profit of twenty taels of silver for one stick mentioned by Lou Yan was just a preliminary offer. If we really want to negotiate, maybe we can get it up to thirty taels? Or even more?
Thinking of this, Li Yuanji suddenly smiled. This scene was so much like the smuggling in those TV dramas. Others wanted to smuggle these red sandalwood and huanghuali wood on his territory.

Li Yuanji was really interested. Although he couldn't deal with the people who colluded in the trafficking, there was still a way to resolve the matter.

Li Yuanji then asked Yang Jianhe to bring pen, ink, paper and inkstone, and after finishing writing, he looked at Yang Jianhe.

"Send this letter to Cen Wenben in person and tell him to start investigating immediately after receiving it. At the same time, tell the Customs Bureau to conduct thorough screening at all ports.

Especially for large seagoing vessels, they must be properly registered wherever they come from.”

To travel from the Harsha Kingdom by sea, you must have a large ocean-going cargo ship. Otherwise, after deducting the cost from the profit made once, the actual profit would not be that much.

It's not just inspections, it also includes the manufacturing of large ocean-going cargo ships and who wants them, all of which can be traced back to the people behind the scenes.

If you want to transport it here, all operations need to be handled by him. If you want to check it, it is a bit difficult, but not that difficult.

Then Li Yuanji began to write another letter.

"Give this letter to Yuwen Bao."

If he wants to transport it here, he has to go through the Bay of Bengal and the Strait of Malacca. He also has a navy in Pyu Kingdom.

These navies can also be pirates when necessary.

After Yang Jianhe came back again, Li Yuanji said slowly: "Get ready. After we have enough fresh water, we will set off immediately to Nanzhou Prefecture."

Having basically seen everything here in Xuwen, Li Yuanji had no intention of staying any longer. The business in Nanzhou Prefecture was the most important one at the moment.

As for Lou Yan, Li Yuanji did not say what to do with him, but Yang Jianhe already knew what to do.

Two days passed, until Liu Rengui was ready, and Li Yuanji boarded the ship again, ready to go to Nanzhou Prefecture.

Ning Xuran and Fan Zhi finally breathed a sigh of relief after seeing Li Yuanji leave. When Li Yuanji was here, they were both terrified at everything they did.

They clearly didn't do anything wrong and were just doing the same things they usually do, but they still felt nervous and uneasy.

While sailing on the sea, Wu Mei couldn't wait to find Li Yuanji.

"My king, let's go fly a kite, okay?"

Li Yuanji came outside and it was a sunny and windy day, so he immediately agreed.

"Of course you can, but you must be prepared, otherwise if a strong wind comes, don't let it carry you all up into the air."

Although what Li Yuanji said was exaggerated, the risks are real and we still need to make the necessary preparations.

Both Wu Mei and Wu Shun were a little scared. Wu Shun even pulled Wu Mei, obviously no longer wanting to fly the kite.

Li Yuanji laughed when he saw this, and then began to make a pulley. He put the kite line on the pulley, then took out a rope, tied it around Wu Mei and Wu Shun's waists, and tied the other side to the boat's support.

Although it was a bit strange, Li Yuanji felt that he was just taking precautions.

"When you fly the kite later, you can't let all the line in the pulley go out. You must leave some of it on the pulley. If there is a strong wind and the line keeps coming out of the pulley, you can throw the pulley away. Do you understand?"

(End of this chapter)