Ding Shang glanced at the banknotes. It was a hundred taels of banknotes, and his heart beat faster.
"What are you talking about? We are family, no need to be so polite."
Ding Shang suddenly felt that the son-in-law the eldest lady had found was indeed not bad, he just had a better sense of humor.
"Yes, yes, we are family, no need to be polite." Ding Wu also agreed.
But since the silver was stuffed in front of Yuchi Ziling, Ding Shang and Ding Wu were still a little hesitant about whether they could take the money.
Jiang Hai saw it and said to Yuchi Ziling,
"Madam, I'm treating my two brothers to a drink, are you okay with that?"
"Tsk." Yuchi Ziling turned her head away and didn't look at them.
Ding Shang and Ding Wu quickly put away the banknotes. They had made a lot of money today.
Not long after, Wenzhi led two horses out of the general's mansion.
"My dear, I'm leaving now. Where are you going to take me tomorrow?"
"I won't see you anymore. I can't see you before we get married." Yuchi Ziling said.
When Jiang Hai heard this, he thought that this was not possible. He would be bored to death if he stayed in this capital for a month.
"Your idea is wrong. We don't need to be so rigid. At worst, you can just transform into Brother Su again. I don't mind."
In fact, Yuchi Ziling was not the type of lady who followed the rules. She smiled slyly, waved her hand and said, "It depends on my mood. Let's go, I'm going in."
"I'll come see you tomorrow." Jiang Hai shouted at her back.
Yuchi Ziling waved her hand and walked into the general's mansion without looking back.
…
When Jiang Hai returned to Jiang's house, Hao Bo came up to him and handed him a note.
"Master, someone from the Third Prince's residence left this behind."
Jiang Hai was puzzled and took a look.
"Oh, this is quite an honor! It's only our first day in the capital, and the Third Prince is already treating us to a drink, haha."
Jiang Hai put away the invitation and thought about it, but he still didn't know what Yang Hongye wanted to do. However, since he had come this far, he had to go and meet him.
No words were spoken that night.
The next day at noon, when it was almost time for lunch, Jiang Hai asked Wenzhi and Qin Bai to follow him to Wangjiang Tower to keep the appointment.
This Wangjiang Tower is Yang Hongye's property. He is used to meeting guests here. The scenery is unique and beautiful. It is located on the bank of Rongjiang River, ten miles east of Rong'an City.
The building was seven stories high, and Yang Hongye had set up a banquet on the fifth floor. It was considered quite a grand occasion, with several maids serving him.
Jiang Hai was a bit surprised when he arrived at the banquet. It was so grand, it couldn't be some kind of Hongmen Banquet. But he didn't panic. He bowed naturally, took his seat, and waited for Yang Hongye to speak.
Yang Hongye was also dressed casually today. He was quite impressed with Jiang Hai's performance. Most people would be flattered by an invitation, but Jiang Hai's performance was much better than others, as if he had simply been invited by a friend for dinner.
Yang Hongye never imagined that Jiang Hai didn't have much respect for the imperial power in his mind. No modern person would play this trick on you.
After a few dishes were served, Yang Hongye started talking, starting with the topic of Jiang Hai's origin.
"I heard that Master Jiang came to the capital to marry the eldest daughter of General Yuchi's family."
"Well, the Third Prince is indeed well-informed. We have already been engaged, and now we are of the right age to get married, so why not come and arrange the marriage?"
Yang Hongye nodded, exchanged a few more pleasantries, and then got down to business, talking about the Jiang family's current business problems.
Jiang Hai finally understood that Yang Hongye wanted Jiang Hai to make money for him. Jiang Hai thought about it and decided that it wasn't impossible for him to help him. Doing business in the capital was incredibly troublesome anyway, and with Yang Hongye's endorsement, it would be much easier to start a business.
Jiang Hai did not refuse, but he wanted to know what Yang Hongye's plan was, so he asked,
"I don't know what the Third Prince is planning. Our family business is basically managed by my stepmother, and our steward is watching over this part of the capital."
Jiang Hai pushed the blame onto Siqin, but in fact Siqin was only responsible for being beautiful, and all these things were done by Wu Gong.
"My subordinates said that the goods sold by your Jiang family's businesses are quite scarce. I want the Jinshui Chamber of Commerce to cooperate with you and expand our business in this capital and some surrounding cities."
When he heard about the Jinshui Chamber of Commerce, he thought of Prince Xuan's Mansion. When he thought of Prince Xuan's Mansion, he brought Yang Zhe into the picture. Jiang Hai was a little unhappy.
"Can we change to another one? The Jinshui Chamber of Commerce belongs to Prince Xuan's Mansion, right?"
Yang Hongye understood Jiang Hai's intention, which was to stop dealing with Prince Xuan's Mansion. That wasn't difficult. Although the Jinshui Chamber of Commerce was one of his main sources of income, it wasn't his only one.
"Oh, of course. Just tell me which company you want to deal with."
"As long as they're not from Prince Xuan's Mansion, it's fine. Let's not mince words. The Crown Prince has already set his sights on my wife, so I'm naturally not willing to have anything to do with him."
Jiang Hai spread his hands, indicating that he also had his reasons.
Yang Hongye smiled faintly. It seemed that the young master of the Jiang family was a man of temperament. He liked people like him. They couldn't hide their thoughts and were easy to control.
"Okay, then I'll have my people come and negotiate with you. How much revenue do you estimate you can make in a year if you expand your business?"
"It depends on the situation. In the capital, if we can make a million taels, it shouldn't be a problem to make a profit of 200,000 or 300,000 taels. In other places, it depends on the consumption level."
Jiang Hai was talking while eating, totally losing his composure. He was really hungry, but Yang Hongye was busy talking and he didn't eat much.
Yang Hongye was delighted to hear that the capital city could generate such a large income. He hadn't held much hope for Jiang Hai, a man from southern Xinjiang, and thought he would be happy if he could earn tens of thousands of taels a year.
However, Jiang Hai reported a profit several times higher than he expected, which made him very pleased. With this income, he could support more soldiers. If the old emperor still refused to step down, it would not be impossible to pull him down.
The annual cost of a soldier in this era, including military pay, was only about 20 taels. In other words, the income from the capital alone was enough for Yang Hongye to support more than 10,000 soldiers. Adding the surrounding cities together, he could conservatively add at least 30,000 soldiers.
Yang Hongye was very satisfied and his attitude towards Jiang Hai improved a bit. Jiang Hai was also very satisfied that Yang Hongye did not interrupt him to eat and drink while he was mentally raising troops.
Yang Hongye said straight to the point,
"If you can achieve the benefits you mentioned, I can guarantee you a successful career."
When Jiang Hai heard this, he realized that whoever wanted a successful official career wanted to be a local emperor peacefully, and he didn't want to work hard in the court.
"No, no, it's fine now. Your Highness, don't worry about me."
Yang Hongye was very surprised that there were people who didn't like being an official. This was rare. After thinking about it, he realized that most of these people either wanted money, power, or beauty.
Since Jiang Hai doesn't like power, then there are only the other two left, and since he doesn't seem to be short of money, then the only thing left is beauty. Yang Hongye nodded in understanding.
"Okay, then I'll arrange some beauties for you."
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