Chapter 2560 Good Friends
"Princess Changyu spent her own money. Goods can only become commodities through trade," Manbao said. "Princess Changyu's meal made money for the restaurant, the chef and waiters, and the farmers who grew the vegetables and raised the chickens and ducks. These people are all citizens, so don't they benefit?"
The emperor nodded repeatedly.
Man Bao said, "Your Majesty and the Empress are right to recommend frugality and reject extravagance. What we should reject are things like charcoal-grilled bear paws, colorful silk garments, and jade belts worth thousands of gold. When the powerful obtain goods at prices below their value, they are competing with the people for profit. Meanwhile, the delicacies Princess Changyu enjoys are merely foods that ordinary wealthy people can enjoy. How can that be considered extravagance? Not to mention competing with the people for profit."
The emperor nodded repeatedly. If he hadn't had to be reserved, he would have nodded a few more times.
Many people expressed their agreement, and some people began to speak up for Princess Changyu.
Wei Zhi stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, the world is now at peace, and the people are living and working in peace. The price of a dou of rice has risen from fifteen wen to twelve wen, and then to ten wen since last autumn. Those who own land can now have enough to eat. Given this, the people of the world should be prosperous. I propose that we select some prefectures and cities and, for a fixed period of time, reduce or exempt taxes on goods entering the cities."
The emperor thought it was feasible and asked other ministers for their opinions.
After some thought, Old Master Tang said, "Yes, but the document should be issued a month in advance, and the censors in all regions should be ordered to conduct strict inspections. Officials are not allowed to make money from this. Otherwise, the national treasury will be deprived of money, and the pockets of the officials will be filled. That would not be good."
Minister of Revenue: ...Have you obtained his consent for your tax cuts?
However, after careful consideration, he stepped forward and said, "I suggest that the capital, Yongzhou, Taiyuan, Zhengzhou, Ezhou, Jingzhou, and Yizhou can all be included in this category."
Everyone looked at the Minister of Revenue and exclaimed in their hearts, "Oh my god!" They thought to themselves, you are too fast. You have directly captured all the important roads going north, east and south?
How many merchants and travelers would flock to the capital and Yongzhou?
Censor Chen's face darkened for a moment, and he retreated silently.
Manbao also quietly retreated to his seat, sat cross-legged on his small seat and listened to them arguing about the new topic. But weren't they supposed to be leaving court soon?
Because of Wei Zhi's suggestion, the court meeting was delayed for half an hour before it was officially adjourned. When Manbao stood up, he was so hungry that he didn't want to move.
Lord Tang was even hungrier, so he glanced at Zhou Man and left.
Manbao ignored him, stepped forward to help Mr. Zhuang, and whispered, "You are old, you can just ask for leave next time."
Older officials can take long vacations and not attend the grand court meetings. Since they won’t be speaking anyway, the Ministry of Personnel generally won’t force them to attend.
As for Bai Shan, he is not in the same group with them.
As the Secretary of the Central Secretariat, he was busiest at this time. He and his colleagues were distributing memorials submitted by various departments. Except for the encrypted memorials, they had to open and scan all the other memorials, and then distribute them to the emperor according to their importance.
After the memorials were sorted, they were not immediately given to the emperor. Some were sent directly to the Zhongshu Shilang, who would give their opinions before presenting them to the emperor.
So when Bai Shan learned what happened at the grand court meeting, it was already lunch time.
Today's grand court meeting lasted particularly long. When the emperor arrived in the study, he received the news, immediately stuffed a piece of dessert into his mouth, picked up the memorial to be reviewed by the emperor and went to find him.
Today it is his turn to serve before the emperor.
As a result, as soon as he arrived at the study, Bai Shan received a lunch reward from the emperor. During the meal, he learned that Manbao had quarreled with the censor at the court meeting because of Princess Changyu.
Bai Erlang soon found out about this. In the imperial city, what happened at the grand court meeting could never remain a secret.
After learning about this, his first thought was that he and Mingda must make more friends so that if they were impeached in the future, there would be someone to speak for them.
Otherwise, they convicted us in court without even giving us a chance to struggle, which is simply too much.
So Bai Erlang felt that he should make a special effort to win the friendship of Bai Shan and Zhou Man. They seemed to have been interacting less recently. Well, he should send them more game later.
Because of this incident, Princess Changyu, who was originally not very interested in their new road trip, also came eagerly the next day.
As soon as they met, Princess Changyu reached out and hugged Zhou Man, sobbing, "Zhou Man, you are worthy of the many meals I treated you to. Next time, tell me what you want to eat and I will treat you."
Manbao asked, "Princess, your cook hasn't brought your stomach back yet?"
Wei Yu on the side looked helpless. He didn't understand why Chang Yu liked to eat outside so much, even though the food cooked by the chef at home was also delicious.
Chang Yu said, "They're not bad. I've rarely eaten out lately. That Censor Chen is really too much. He only looks at the surface. Humph, he calculated that I only ate lunch out during the 21 days. Do I have to rush home for lunch after going out shopping? Of course I can find food wherever is closest."
Manbao understood this and nodded repeatedly, then asked, "Why have you been out shopping for 21 days?"
Chang Yu said, "My shop is about to open, so I naturally need to go out and see how other people's shops are doing and what they sell, so I can learn from them."
She does the right things, okay?
Wei Yu could testify to this and nodded repeatedly. In fact, Changyu was much better in the past month than in February. At least they had dinner at home every day when he came home from the office, and only occasionally went out to the street stalls for a midnight snack.
Thinking back to the first month after she and Changyu got married, she would rather take a carriage to a small stall two blocks away to eat a bowl of wide noodles than eat the breakfast carefully prepared by the servants in the princess's mansion...
It’s obvious that the one made by the Princess Mansion is more delicious and exquisite, but she just said that the wide noodles are chewier, and she can eat a bowl of it for lunch.
Then we had mutton soup with steamed buns for lunch.
Wei Yu looked at his wife and shook his head slightly.
Manbao asked her curiously, "Are all the goods in your store ready?"
Chang Yu said, "Only half. I've even talked to your niece, and she's agreed to sell the ointments and creams in my Treasure Pavilion. She won't open another store in Xincheng, or even Yongzhou City."
She said, "I've been talking to the Shu merchants recently. They will give me a batch of Shu brocade, which I will also put in the Treasure Pavilion."
She raised her chin slightly and said proudly, "In the future, the things I sell here will not only not be unique, but will also be hard to find outside. And since so many hard-to-find things in the world can be found here, isn't this the Treasure Pavilion?"
Manbao asked blankly, "Do you make money?"
"Of course," Princess Changyu said confidently, "I'll ask your niece to change the bottles of my creams and ointments. The price will be double what you sell them for in the East Market. Don't worry, you won't lose money."
Manbao: ...Who would be stupid enough to buy the same thing?
Today I read a good novel called "Being a Koi in a Survival Game". It is very good. As expected, lucky girls are envied. I hope that one day I can have the same luck as the heroine An An and our family's Man Bao.
See you tomorrow
(End of this chapter)
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