The Prodigal Son of Zhenguan

"Stingy?" Li Shimin glared: "You said I was stingy?"

"Ah?" Li Fu was stunned for a moment.

"Thirteen thousand strings of cash! Do you know how much thirty thousand strings of cash is? If you pile it up, it will become a mountain. If you take these thirty thousand strings of cash, there will be a space in the warehouse." Li Shimin said: "If I were stingy, I would not give you this money."

"No, no, no, second brother is not stingy, second brother is very generous." Li Fu hurriedly tried to make amends.

Now the money has not been put into the pocket and can't be floated.

It's better to coax this emperor.

It is estimated that the expenses of Da'an Palace really stimulated him.

"Second brother, do you feel bad about spending this money?" Li Fu asked.

"Nonsense." Li Shimin said unhappily: "That's all real money, how can I not feel sorry for it? If this money is saved and used as soldiers' food and wages, used to make weapons and armor, how much help can it add to the future fight against the Turks?"

"Second brother, it's useless to feel sorry for this matter. Whether it's the national treasury or the inner treasury, if you want to get rich, it's nothing more than four words, increase revenue and reduce expenditure." Li Fu smiled.

"Increase revenue and reduce expenditure? What you said is simple." Li Shimin said: "How to increase revenue? How to reduce expenditure? The inner court dismissed the palace maids and reduced the food and clothing expenses, which is already the biggest reduction.

Also, during the Wude period, I also demoted those nobles who were generously rewarded by the emperor. Because of this matter, there was a lot of noise in the court and offended many people.

Things are not as simple as you think!"

Li Shimin waved his hand helplessly.

Everyone can say it, everyone knows what's going on, and there are ways, but what about actual action? That is a lot of difficulties.

The interests of all parties are intertwined, and if you are not careful, it is easy to trigger a chain reaction.

The court has not yet completely settled down. No matter what he does, he will think twice and act cautiously.

At the beginning, the matter of dismissing palace maids was a fuss for several days. The ministers were making a fuss, the emperor put pressure on him, and even the concubines around the emperor went to the queen to talk about this matter.

Not to mention starting from other places to do these things.

These things made Li Shimin irritable.

However, he is now poor and has no temper.

"In terms of saving money, you have done a good job." Li Fu said: "Or, you think about increasing revenue?"

"Increasing revenue?" Li Shimin was puzzled: "The income of the court is nothing more than taxes from the people. What good way to increase revenue is there?"

"That's not necessarily the case. Why don't you take a look at this?" Li Fu showed a fox-like smile on his face.

Li Shimin looked at the smile on Li Fu's face and felt that the boy in front of him did not look like a good person.

Even if the court officials he dealt with had some thoughts in their hearts, they still looked calm, calm and stable on the surface.

But Li Fu was different. At this moment, he did not hide the light in his eyes at all.

Cunning light.

"What is it?" Li Shimin asked, "The eggs you sent to the palace before are all in the Shangshi Bureau. There is no need to send me a separate one."

Li Shimin thought that the jar in Li Fu's arms contained eggs.

"This is not an egg, take a look." Li Fu signaled the eunuch beside Li Shimin with his eyes, asking him to come over and show the thing to Li Shimin.

When this thing entered the palace, the Qianniu Guards in the palace had already checked it and there was no problem.

If there was any problem, they would not let Li Fu in.

The eunuch came to Li Fu, took the small jar from his hand, held it, came to Li Shimin, carefully placed it on the table, and then opened it.

The jar was filled with white fine salt.

"What is this?" Li Shimin asked in surprise.

"Salt." Li Fu answered truthfully: "Fine salt, refined salt, finer than the most expensive salt on the market."

Li Shimin reached in and dipped a little, and then put it in his mouth to taste it.

"Your Majesty." The eunuch beside him hurriedly reminded him.

"It's okay." Li Shimin stopped him, and then tasted a little salt.

It was indeed salt, and the taste was not like other salts, with bitterness and hard to swallow.

Li Fu was right. The salt in this jar, let alone the fine salt on the market, was not as good as the salt from the Shangshi Bureau in the palace.

"Where did you get this?" Li Shimin's face became serious.

"Second brother, you should know that I don't have many hobbies. I usually eat and sleep, and eat when I wake up. Occasionally, I am busy with things on the farm. I am quite picky about food. The salt I buy from the market is too unpalatable to use in cooking."

Li FujieShi said: "So, after the salt was bought back by my family, it was processed again. Only after it was made into such refined salt can it be used in my meals."

"Oh? Did you make this yourself?" Li Shimin asked.

Li Fu nodded.

"That's right."

"Then you came today..."

Li Shimin understood that Li Fu had a new way to make salt.

"I came today to discuss the matter of salt making with my second brother." Li Fu smiled and said: "Isn't my second brother short of money? The second brother has already done the cost-saving thing. As for the matter of increasing revenue, I will help my second brother with some ideas. As for whether my second brother wants to do it and how he wants to do it, he can discuss it with the adults around you.

The new method of making salt should bring a lot of income to the court."

Li Fu knew that if he could participate in it, he could get a lot of money every year just from the salt industry.

However, salt is related to the people of the entire Tang Dynasty and is a matter of people's livelihood.

There are some things that he can't force, nor can he rely on monopoly to make all the money into his own pocket.

Even if he is a noble of the Tang Dynasty, or a relative of the emperor, it won't work.

This deal is enough to make everyone in the court jealous.

Deadly jealous.

Therefore, he can get some benefits from this matter, but the power must be in the hands of the emperor.

If the nobles dare to touch a relative of the emperor, they may not take a prince seriously and try to trip him up.

But what about an emperor who holds military power and is good at fighting? Do they dare to stand up in front of such an emperor? If those people want to forcibly encroach on the interests of the Tang Dynasty because of salt, Li Shimin, with his violent temper, can twist their heads off and kick them like a ball.

There is no need for the salt industry, but the derivative industries affected by the salt industry reform are enough for Li Fu to make a lot of money.

Why bother to focus on such a dangerous piece of meat?

What should be caught and what should be let go, Li Fu knows in his heart.

He would not be blinded by interests and dare to ask for everything.