Xie Zhaozhao's eyebrows curved into a smile.
This was the first time she hadn't hidden it from him; the couple had teamed up to scam someone.
She was really looking forward to it.
Lord Wei, whose lineage spanned five generations and produced over three hundred descendants, including two empresses, was destined for a grand funeral, as Wei Chuchu was poised to become the third empress.
While taking advantage of his mother's funeral, the Duke of Chengen secretly plotted to have the Crown Prince ascend the throne as soon as possible.
The Crown Prince's health is deteriorating, and he is as thin as a skeleton. He may not live to see Emperor Hui die peacefully.
Duke Cheng'en had no interest in what Duke Roudan was doing.
Princess Meatball didn't want him to know either. As a royal princess, how could she be controlled by the Duke of Cheng'en?
The matter of opening the Silk Road must not be told to my father, the emperor. He has never liked me, and if he knew, he would definitely try his best to stop it.
Princess Meatball was never one to follow etiquette, so she made a brief appearance at the old lord's funeral.
He negotiated and inspected the fleet with Lao Wu every day, keeping it a secret from the Wei family and the imperial court.
Old Wu said that the fleet didn't belong to him alone, and it was impossible for Princess Meatball to get the goods for free; they didn't even have enough to sell themselves.
Therefore, Princess Meatball wanted to join forces to build their Maritime Silk Road, so she had to provide everything herself: ships, cargo, boatmen, and guards.
Even so, they still charged 300,000 taels as a guide fee, since every sea route was explored at the cost of lives and property.
Three hundred thousand taels for the guide fee is no problem, and Princess Meatball isn't short of that amount of money either; it's just that the ship is a hassle.
Buying a ship is not the same as buying a carriage. Although Da Gan had sixteen shipyards, the imperial canal transport and private canal transport were developing rapidly, and the shipbuilding speed could not keep up.
They wanted to buy a boat but couldn't.
They could only watch helplessly as the trade route was disrupted.
But then Old Wu delivered another piece of bad news: "Several merchant houses have also approached us for cooperation through various connections. Princess, if you don't have a ship, we'll have no choice but to..."
I'm sorry!
Shen Su was very unhappy: "You have to give the princess some time. Isn't Sihai Pavilion going to auction off ships? My princess is preparing to bid on them."
"Ah, those two Shenzhou spacecraft? To be honest, someone wants to bid on them and immediately wants to cooperate with us. We'll be setting sail again next month." - Old Wu.
"The Divine Ship that the Four Seas Pavilion is auctioning," Princess Meatball said arrogantly, "I'll just go and bid for it. Do they dare to compete with me for profit?"
“Princess, you don’t frequent auction houses often, do you? These two ships have been on the radar for a long time, and people are very well prepared. Your Highness…”
"Don't worry, I have plenty of money!"
"Those two large ships are very famous, and they are the most coveted ships among the six kingdoms. I heard that the Nanzhao Kingdom is determined to get them, and the one who came is a Tusi (chieftain), who is quite wealthy."
Princess Meatball scoffed, "The Nanzhao Kingdom dares to contend with me? Humph, they overestimate themselves!"
"Everyone in the world is driven by profit, and even Tibet wants a share of the overseas trade routes," Old Wu said quietly. "I heard that the one from Tibet is also a princess, and she is quite familiar with Madam Gu."
"Ha, Xie Zhaozhao actually wants to do business this way!" Princess Meatball was immediately annoyed.
Xie Zhaozhao, you just wait, I'll crush you into dust.
She was determined to seize both ships at all costs.
He immediately told Shen Su to sign up.
As soon as Shen Su got off her carriage at the registration point of Sihai Pavilion, she saw a maid and a lady wearing a veil alighting from a carriage next to her.
Although the lady wearing the veil could not see her face, Shen Su recognized the maidservant; she was Yuan Yuan, the maidservant of the old lady Gu.
The maidservant was still acting suspiciously. After getting off the carriage, she hurriedly covered her face with a veil.
"Tch, still covering your face? I saw it a long time ago!" Shen Su remained calm and quickly followed them.
They overheard them asking about the auctioned ship at Sihai Pavilion.
Those who can participate in the ship auction are all industry insiders, and they are all extremely wealthy and influential.
Not only was the registration kept secret, but on the day of the auction, everyone also avoided seeing each other.
Bidders have a private entrance to a secluded room on the second floor. The room is covered with a blinding screen, and only the room number is called out to avoid revealing the bidders' personal information.
Shen Su felt she had discovered a big secret, and upon returning to the princess's residence, she immediately embellished the story and told it to Princess Rou Dan.
Princess Meatball yelled, "You, Xie Zhaozhao, saying you don't understand the Silk Road and don't want to do business... Bah!"
Princess Meatball originally didn't want to go to the auction in person, but she has now changed her mind.
Not only must he completely defeat Xie Zhaozhao, but he must also expose on the spot the true nature of Xie Zhaozhao's official family members engaging in business, so that the censors can impeach Gu Shaoyu.
Shen Su said, "Your Highness, those two ships are very large and advanced. I went to the Ministry of Works today to inquire about them. Those two Shenzhou took ten years to build, and the people from the Ministry of Works have all visited them. They are very sturdy."
Both Shenzhou spacecraft were built by the Minnesota Shipyard, a shipbuilding facility with the highest level of expertise in the world today.
One ship was called the Anji Divine Ship, and the other was called the Kangji Divine Ship. Each ship had 180 sailors, a carrying capacity of 30,000 hu (over 1,500 tons), and a construction cost of over 4 million taels of silver.
The deposit for registration is 200,000 yuan.
Shen Su said to Princess Rou Dan, "The starting bid for these two ships is 100,000 taels of silver, and I think it will definitely exceed 5 million taels of silver."
Princess Meatball asked him to call Old Wu over and ask him about the market for ship leasing and sales.
Old Wu, an expert, said, "This is a brand-new, large ship. The competitors are of considerable stature, and the price could easily exceed ten million. If the princess is determined to bid for it, then we should prepare more silver notes."
Jin Feng asked Lao Wu, "If this ship is fully loaded with goods, how much do you estimate you can earn?"
Old Wu said very honestly, "I have my own boat with sixty crew members, which is already quite large. Each time I bring back goods, I can earn about ten million strings of cash. The Shenzhou ship is much larger than mine, and it can earn at least thirty million taels of silver per ship, right?"
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