Qujiang Pool is located in the southeast corner of Chang'an City, slightly extending out of part of the east and south city walls. The most famous one is naturally the Furong Garden there.
Naturally, there is also a place dedicated to the Royal Forbidden Garden. There are Ziyun Tower, Caixia Pavilion, Linshui Pavilion, Water Palace, Mountain Tower, Liangtang and other buildings built in it. The main function is naturally for viewing.
If Li Hong and his party want to go to Qujiang Pool, they have to walk vertically through Chang'an City from south to north.
The carriage dedicated to the prince was almost never used by Li Hong except for royal activities. It was always a two-frame carriage when it went out. Compared with the ordinary carriage, it was just much larger overall.
Being ordinary on the outside does not mean that it is ordinary on the inside. Li Hong has always paid attention to the inside, so the inside of the carriage is naturally extremely luxurious. The Persian carpet he quietly stole from Wu Mei was spread on it.
A good nanmu table is placed in the middle, and several cotton-filled cushions and seat cushions are placed randomly in the car. The three sides of the carriage are completely different from other carriages. Instead, it has three large windows that can be closed and opened. The windows are naturally made of bright glass and hung with two layers of gauze curtains. Block privacy.
The carriage was already prepared by Hua Meng and others. Li Hong looked at Xia Zhi and the others, tilted his head and said, "It's rare that we haven't gotten together in the past few years, but we are all here today."
If Bai Chun keeps a straight face, she really looks like an otherworldly fairy, but as long as she smiles and moves, her charming temperament and graceful figure will naturally bring a kind of rhythmic temptation, which makes people look at her. There are two completely different beauty states of movement and stillness.
"Yes, Cheetah and the others are back, and I don't need to go to Taiyi City anymore. As long as you don't bother with things, we people can serve you in front of you every day." Bai Chun's light voice was as clear as pearls. .
"You talk a lot, and if I don't bother you, how can these people in the East Palace support you? I'm not talking about you. You wear a white cotton shirt and skirt every day, and you act as if my noble prince is grateful to you. There is no one like you in the palace. Can't you make me blush for the satin you like?" Li Hong has been used to bickering with Bai Chun since he was a child.
Bai Chun is still a dead pig and is not afraid of boiling water. The Qiuci Kingdom is now in name only. Sometimes it is classified as the Protectorate of the Tang Dynasty, and sometimes it is occupied by other countries.
"Please get in the car." Bai Chundun saluted and said, too lazy to argue with him. If the fight continues, I don't know what unpleasant words will come out of his mouth.
Xia Zhi, Xiao Xue, Xiao Han and Bai Lu covered their mouths and laughed. They followed Bai Chun and stood up to salute: "Prince, please get in the car."
"I can't control it anymore. You're too uneducated. Bai Lu, I'm warning you, don't follow them all the time in the future, especially Bai Chun. Foreign women can be very vicious. Be careful to get you sooner or later... Don't push me, I'll do it myself." Car." Li Hong shook his head and shook off Bai Chun's jade hand on his head.
Cheetah, Jingzhe, Hua Meng, and Mang Zhong were already used to the fights between the Crown Prince and the other six people. They opened the carriage door with calm expressions and let the six people file in.
After the six of them were loaded into the carriage, the space inside was still very rich. Bai Chun sat opposite Li Hong, and her dexterous jade hands began to perform. She had learned the Tang Dynasty tea art through many years of hard work. No, it was the prince who taught her. A very elegant tea art.
Cheetah and Jingzhe were walking behind the carriage, while Hua Meng and Mang Zhong were in front. They did not sit on the shaft of the carriage, but also stood guard on both sides.
These two horses were stolen by the prince... The two horses I asked for from your majesty are not very old. They have just grown up. They are only four years old this year. They are very smart and very calm. Their whole bodies are as black as ink, without any mottling. They look amazing. Extremely steep.
Since they had these two horses, it has become much easier for Mang Zhong and Hua Meng to drive. Most of the time, they don't need to pull the reins. The two good horses can fully understand what they mean and can turn and run calmly. It automatically slows down when there are many people.
Because of these two horses, the prince was beaten when he stole them here the year before last. His majesty and the queen gave him a severe lesson for several days. When he returned to the East Palace, he remembered that he was given a ride back by Bai Chun and Xia Zhi. His buttocks were so swollen that The two of them couldn't hold her or carry her on their backs, so they had no choice but to carry her back to the East Palace.
Many shops in the East Market were opened by the royal family. Li Hong opened the curtains and looked at the row of shops on the outside of the East Market. The location here is prominent, so the price is naturally much more expensive, but that's it. The merchants of Chang'an were still trying to grab their heads, and they all wanted to own a family.
On the broad street that was bustling with people, two horses were pulling the carriage forward leisurely. Pedestrians on the road looked at the two horses, which seemed to be well-established horses, and they avoided to both sides of the road, and from time to time He stopped to admire the two horses, and praised them one after another, and his eyes were full of envy and love.
"How many shops are there in Dongshi now? Let's sell them to other Chang'an merchants according to the plan after a while. The shops can no longer satisfy us. We only need to focus on Taiyi City. If they are well managed, there will be a complete system. Whether it is Whether it is the East Market or the West Market, the market rules will still be in our hands," Li Hong looked outside and said to Bai Chun opposite.
"Well, now we have entered the substantive stage. We need to carefully select the merchants. Whether it is porcelain or glass, we hope that these merchants can get the maximum profit for them." Bai Chun glanced at a shop he just passed by. The name given by the prince: "Hao come again!" could not be more vulgar.
"There are more foreign merchants in the West City, and most of the large share of transactions are in the West Market. As for the tariffs I mentioned for foreign merchants, how appropriate do you think they should be?" Li Hong curled up in Xia Zhi's arms next to him, his head resting comfortably on his pillow. Xia Zhi's towering figure looked lazily at the roof of the car and asked.
The roof of the carriage is also a famous painting. Well, it was also stolen from his father's study. This famous painting was pasted on the car by him, which was actually the biggest reason why he was beaten.
"Based on your percentage, I think five percent is enough. This will at least not scare them into jointly going to the Ministry of Household Affairs to impeach you." Bai Chun tilted his head and thought about it, his beautiful eyes full of tears. careful.
"You are stupid and you have been unwilling to admit it. Who has the final say in the Ministry of Household Affairs now? Five percent tax is too low. Besides, these things are monopolized by Taiyi City. Look at the transaction volume you entrusted to me. , the transaction volume on the banned list accounts for less than 10% every month. Only one month after it was released, the transaction volume of prohibited items has reached 30%, and there will be even more in the future.”
Bai Chun rolled his eyes angrily, "What's wrong with you? You let others do it, you're not as good as me." You are now the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs. You can cover the sky with one hand, but you can only cover the sky of the Ministry of Household Affairs. Foreign businessmen can come from Honglu Temple, Menxia Province, and Zhongshu Province. By then, I will see if you can’t afford it. .
"Still not convinced? Are you complaining about those foreign businessmen in your heart? Let me tell you one thing to remember: Compassion does not control soldiers, and righteousness does not lead to justice. Businessmen live for profit and run for profit. You only see them thousands of miles away. I have worked so hard, but I have never seen the efforts of the Tang craftsmen in Taiyi City. Think about it, from the output you gave me in Taiyi City to the sales volume in various countries in the Western Region, this does not include the sales to several regions in the south. Items have reached a bottleneck in our production capacity, making it difficult to make progress.”
Li Hong grabbed the tea from Bai Chun's hand, took a sip and handed it to her, and continued: "Today I said that I would expand the scale and provide Chang'an merchants with technical methods, but these will take time. Within a year and a half, the merchants will The average craftsmanship in Taiyi City is fast. What will you do during this time? Do you want to exhaust the craftsmen in Taiyi City?"
Bai Chun obviously hadn't gotten around to playing around yet, and he argued angrily: "Even if it's a tax increase, wouldn't it still be unable to solve the problem you mentioned? You can't ban it for one month and let it go for another month." Bai Chun Lao Gao's sexy red lips were pursed, and his face was full of dissatisfaction.
"If you open it and then ban it, you are breaking your promise. The credibility of the Prince's Palace still needs to be protected. So you need to increase taxes to slow down the volume of foreign trade. The original ten cents per meter has become twenty or thirty cents. What's wrong? Things are rare and valuable. As long as you let out the news that Taiyi City's production capacity is too slow, and then leak some information about the embargo through the mouths of businessmen in the east and west cities, you can ensure that your tax increase will convince them. Orally, the price may even rise because they need to meet the transaction volume. At this time, you can take one step back, two steps forward, reduce the price by 10%, and then in the name of humanity, you need to pay the craftsmen more money to rush the work. As a result, taxes will increase by 30%.”
Bai Chun felt a chill when he heard this, and his expression was full of fear of the prince. He was simply a devil, a devil who specialized in sucking money from foreign businessmen.
According to his method, the merchants from the Western Regions will also praise him. I am afraid that as long as he is willing to build an archway for him in Taiyi City, the merchants will be happy to do it for him.
"In this way, the Tang Dynasty will only have money. At least your Taiyi City can use the money to build a palace." Bai Chun snorted and said sarcastically.
"Do you think this is for me? The bank wants to build a large-scale establishment. Can you afford it without money? Without a large amount of money, how can you give businessmen guarantee and trust? Besides, for foreign businessmen, my purpose It’s always been about keeping the money and taking the goods away,” Li Hong said matter-of-factly.
Bai Chun nodded thoughtfully, yes, money is worth more than a pile of sand after all. Poor merchants from various countries in the Western Regions, just for these worthless sand, they obediently sent real gold and silver to the Tang Dynasty, happily and Carloads of sand were carefully pulled away.
After all, money is limited, and sand can be found everywhere, even in the river at the foot of Zhongnan Mountain. A shovelful of sand can probably be turned into money and sold by the prince in his hands.
"I understand. I will follow your instructions when I return to Taiyi City."
"There's no need to go back in a hurry. I'll go and have a look with you in a few days. The Chamber of Commerce is also imminent." Li Hong sighed as he looked at a familiar shop.
If what was expected was true, this shop with an excellent location was cashed out of the palace, and the current owner is his aunt.
(End of chapter)