Li Shimin was very surprised. Shouldn't immortals be far away from the mortal world and high above?

How could one be interested in worldly gold, silver, jewelry, jade, collectibles and antiques?

"cause and effect."

As if seeing his confusion, Su Qing explained:

"I give you food, and you give me treasures of equal value. We owe each other nothing."

"Unless you want to have a karmic relationship with me!"

"But have you ever considered what consequences that would cause?"

Li Shimin's pupils suddenly shrank. After this explanation, he understood it instantly.

As an emperor, Li Shimin naturally understood Taoism and Buddhism.

The theory of cause and effect is not exclusive to Buddhism, Taoism also talks about cause and effect.

Every cause has its effect, and every effect has its cause.

How should I resolve the karmic relationship with the immortal?

Just thinking about it makes my scalp tingle! "What the immortal said is very true, let's do as the immortal said."

Thinking of this, Li Shimin dared not say anything more, and his head kept nodding like a chicken eating rice.

Compared with the cause and effect of immortals, mere wealth and property are so insignificant.

"Brother Su, how about replacing rice with potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn?"

At this time, Li Mingda blinked and said to Su Qing.

For the same price, you can get more potatoes and sweet potatoes than rice.

It is good enough for the people to have something to eat, there is no need to be picky.

The main reason is that the imperial court is not rich!

"Yes, sure."

Upon hearing this, Su Qing quickly understood Li Mingda's meaning and agreed immediately.

“Potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn?”

Li Shimin was very confused.

"Father, you will know when Brother Su brings it over."

Li Mingda did not explain, because words are not enough.

"By the way, how much food do you need? Give me a rough number."

Su Qing asked.

"According to statistics from the Ministry of Revenue, the land was barren for thousands of miles, and as many as 500,000 people were displaced."

"It is now March, and we need to at least hold out until the summer grain harvest, which is estimated to take two or three months, and about 100 million kilograms of grain."

"However, I have already allocated a batch of food from other states for emergency use. The gap is about 40 million kilograms."

Li Shimin frowned and said seriously.

Each person needs at least two kilograms of food every day, and to sustain five hundred thousand people for three months would require at least ninety million kilograms.

He had previously allocated a batch of emergency grain from other states, but was still short of 40 million kilograms.

Converted into modern units, that would be 20,000 tons.

“That’s about 20,000 tons.”

Su Qing took out his cell phone and checked. The wholesale price of dry corn kernels was about 1.2-1.3 yuan per catty.

If it's 20,000 tons, then the payment would be nearly half a billion yuan.

If converted into gold, it would be about two thousand three hundred taels.

"Brother Su, I will pay you 20,000 taels of gold or treasures of equivalent value. What do you think?"

While Su Qing was calculating the price, Li Mingda was also silently calculating.

Gold in the Tang Dynasty was not a common currency, but a precious metal that was rarely circulated in the market.

But after some searching, it should not be a problem to collect 20,000 taels of gold.

"Twenty thousand taels? Great!"

Of course Su Qing would not refuse a business with nearly ten times the profit.

However, although it seems that the other party paid a high price, they actually did not lose anything.

Twenty thousand taels of gold could not buy twenty thousand tons of grain in the Tang Dynasty.

Su Qing did not lose anything, and even made a huge profit.

The question is, who is losing money? "Then it's settled, let's trade again in two days."

"Emperor, please prepare yourself. Hand over the money and the goods."

After the transaction was agreed upon, a task prompt popped up in front of Su Qing:

[Name]: Li Mingda's Commission 2 [Description]: Help Li Mingda purchase a batch of grain, including but not limited to potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn kernels, and the amount must not be less than 20,000 tons.

[Rewards and Punishments]: After completing the task, 50 group points will be added; if the task is not completed, there will be no punishment.

"Okay, thank you Brother Su."

Li Mingda smiled and waved his hand.

"You're welcome. Feel free to contact me if you need anything else."

Su Qing waved and ended the video call.

"Buzz"

The sky suspended in the air turned into faint golden rays of light and disappeared.

"Hey, the immortal has gone back!"

Looking at the disappearing sky, Li Shimin felt lost.

"Your Majesty, how much gold does the court have? Do you want me to give you a dowry?"

Empress Chang Sun asked with a little worry on her face.

Twenty thousand taels of gold is not a small amount. The Tang Dynasty was established not long ago and may not be able to come up with it.

"Hey, this is a matter of great importance to the imperial court. How can I use your dowry, Guanyinbi?"

Li Shimin waved his hand and comforted him.

"Father, we have no more money. We can take action against the Five Surnames and Seven Families."

Li Mingda blinked and said, "Or learn from Prime Minister Cao and dig graves!"

"Um?"

Li Shimin and Empress Changsun were both surprised.

"Father, as the ruler of the world, the Five Surnames and Seven Clans have always been resistant to discipline. Isn't it natural for you to punish them?"

Li Mingda said calmly, "As for digging graves, our ancestors from the Qin and Han dynasties brought gold underground. We are just making use of the waste. Why not?"

"If we act rashly against them, I'm afraid the world will not accept it!"

"Besides, if people knew about digging up the grave, wouldn't we be infamous forever?"

Li Shimin also wanted to take action against the aristocratic families, but he had no excuse.

And there’s grave digging, he doesn’t want to ruin his reputation.

"It's easy to find excuses. You can find hundreds or even thousands of them in a matter of minutes."

"As a superior, if you want to execute a person or a force, the key is not the excuse."

"It just depends on whether you want to do it, whether you can do it, and whether you can bear the consequences of doing so!"

Li Mingda rolled his eyes and said disdainfully: "As for the reputation of grave diggers, compared with the reputation of ordinary people, which one is more important?"

The little person said something creepy.

Upon hearing this, Li Shimin was instantly silenced.

After hanging up the video, Su Qing didn't know what happened next.

He looked up information online about the population during the Zhenguan period.

"Tongdian" records: There were 3 million households in the Zhenguan period. It was not until the end of the Tianbao period, more than 130 years later, that the number reached that of the Sui Dynasty.

This means that there were three million households in the country in the middle of the Zhenguan period, and it was not until the end of the Tianbao period 130 years later that the population recovered to the level of the Sui Dynasty.

"In the ninth year of Zhenguan, there were only three million households, which means there are about 20 million people. Is it so small?"

You should know that during the heyday of the Sui Dynasty, in the fifth year of Emperor Yangdi's Daye reign, there were more than 8.9 million households and more than 46 million people. This was the heyday of the Sui Dynasty.

This means that nearly 26 million people died in the chaotic times at the end of the Sui Dynasty, leaving only half of the population.

"It is better to be a dog in peacetime than a man in troubled times!"

Su Qing sighed and said slowly.

Unlock your phone screensaver, find the phone number of the supplier in the provincial capital and call him.

".It's still the same old rules. I'll pay you 30% of the payment first, and I'll pay the balance after acceptance."

"Yes, it's still the same place, just send it over directly."

"It will arrive tomorrow morning? Okay, it's settled."

Make full use of the advantages of the earth, and provide all kinds of materials that are sufficient, comprehensive, high-quality and cheap! There is nothing that modern society will not sell as long as you have money, except for the unexpected.

“There’s not enough money”

Looking at the balance in the bank card, Su Qing asked the chat group to convert some of the gold without saying a word.

【Ding! Do you want to convert 200 kg of gold into the selected currency? Yes/No? 】

Select 'Yes'.

Two hundred kilograms of gold were exchanged for 92.14 million yuan.

Nearly 100 million, enough to pay for this large batch of goods.

Earth.

The first ray of sunshine in the morning shines brightly on the earth.

By the time Su Qing finished the call and contacted the source of goods, it was already daybreak.

"The sun finally came out. It has been raining for four or five days."

Facing the morning light, he opened the window and saw a shining sun slowly rising from the east.

“Check in!”

The first thing to do when you wake up in the morning is to clock in.

[Ding! Check-in successful, points +1! ]

A line of light golden words appeared.

"Um, only 1 o'clock?"

The smile on Su Qing's lips froze, and he turned to go to the bathroom to wash up.

While eating breakfast, he called Uncle Xiaolong and asked his cousin not to come over.

He had to deal with Li Mingda's task and had no time to teach Su Zichen how to paint today.

Su Qing was busy until after five in the afternoon before he finally completed receiving all 20,000 tons of grain.

Of course, this much grain was not delivered in the same batch, and a warehouse of 2,000 square meters could not hold it all.

After a batch was delivered, he put them into his personal space and then received the next batch.

This repeated operation took me a whole day to complete.

“Click.”

In the afterglow of the setting sun, Su Qing put the last batch of food into his personal space.

He locked the warehouse door and drove out of the east city towards home.

When he got home, he went straight into the bathroom and washed off the dust and sweat on his body.

After changing into dry clothes, Su Qing sat down and opened the chat group.

He opened Li Mingda's private chat and said to her, "Little sister Mingda, the food has been purchased. How are your preparations going?"

"Should we wait until you are ready to trade, or should I give you the food first?"

Su Qing doesn't believe Li Shimin, but she believes Li Mingda, who is also a member of the group.

It’s just 20,000 tons of grain, so I’m not afraid that she will default on the debt.

"Ah, so fast?"

Li Mingda was very shocked when he received the private message.

How long has it been? At most one day, and 20,000 tons of food have been purchased? "That's right. You lived on Earth in your previous life, so you should know how advanced logistics are."

"Then I'd better ask Li Er. With the power of a country, it shouldn't be difficult to collect 20,000 taels of gold."

"Okay, ask him."

"Brother Su, wait a moment."

Li Mingda certainly hopes it will be as soon as possible. She can wait, but the victims cannot.

He quickly replied: "I asked him and he said that the money is almost there."

"However, the gold is a little scarce, only 10,000 taels."

"Others are beautiful jade, pearls, famous paintings and calligraphy, antiques, and the like."

Li Mingda replied somewhat embarrassedly.

"Okay, as long as the price is equal."

Su Qing didn't care. When money reached a certain level, it was just a string of numbers.

Now he has the confidence to say this.

"Okay, thank you Brother Su for taking care of me."

Li Mingda replied gratefully: "Then let's do the deal like this?"

"Okay, I'll send the food over."

After Su Qing finished speaking, he stuffed all the food into a red envelope and sent it over.

Immediately afterwards, I received a red envelope from Li Mingda.

"The deal is done, happy cooperation!"

"Thank you, Brother Su. It's a pleasure to work with you!"

After completing the transaction, the two chatted for a while and then ended the conversation.

Click to receive the red envelope, and a ton of gold will automatically enter your personal space, a total of ten thousand taels.

Including the remaining ones, Su Qing had a total of 1.4 tons of gold in his hands.

In addition to gold, there was also a box of Hetian jade, pearls and agate.

Su Qing took inventory and found hundreds of jade pieces, hundreds of pearls, and dozens of agates.

Each piece is extremely exquisite and finely carved, worthy of being a royal product with extraordinary quality.

"Not bad, this batch of jade alone is worth hundreds of millions."

"Adding the 10,000 taels of gold, I made at least 600 to 700 million on this trip."

After some calculations, Su Qing discovered that cross-border trade was truly extremely profitable.

Once upon a time, he was still working hard to earn a meager income of four thousand yuan a month.

In a blink of an eye, he made hundreds of millions from just one business deal.

I can't even imagine it! [Ding! Completed the mission 'Li Mingda's Commission 2'.]

At this time, the reminder that the task was completed finally came.

Not only can you make a lot of money, but you can also get 50 group points for completing the task, which cannot be bought with money.

Even though group points can be obtained by checking in every day, they don’t have much use at the moment.

But Su Qing is sure that it will be of great use in the future.

If you don’t save more now, it will be too late when you need it later.

Su Qing took a look at the backstage and saw that the group points had reached 816 points.

"Happy gongs and drums beat out the joy of every year, and beautiful dances bring joy to every day."

Humming "Good Days" softly, Su Qing went to the kitchen to cook.

He bought a giant Australian lobster today to celebrate his big bucks.

If you don’t hurry up and buy some seafood now, you won’t be able to eat it later. Those who understand will understand.

After having a delicious and sumptuous dinner, Su Qing burped and sat on the sofa.

Take another sip of hot tea, and life will become more enjoyable and refreshing.

"Good evening, guys. Have you all eaten?"

Open the chat group and greet the group members happily.

"Whatever you eat, you'll be full of anger."

"The work of bringing the land into public ownership is not going smoothly. There are people trying to make things difficult for us everywhere."

"Especially the Zhu family, they are very stubborn and refuse to obey the king's rule, saying that I am a hen crowing at dawn!"

Xu Huaping was so furious that she couldn't eat.

If you don't govern a country, you won't know. Building an empire is just the beginning, and there will be many troubles waiting for her later.

She was a woman, and although she was loved by the people, she had a very bad reputation among the scholars.

And wherever she went, she would rob the houses of the local tyrants and gentry without giving them any face at all.

I ask, how could any scholar in the world have a good impression of her? "Zhu family? How do you say that?"

"Which Zhu family? The descendants of Zhu Yuanzhang? I remember they were all killed by the Qing Dynasty?"

"In the 47th year of Emperor Kangxi's reign, the case of Prince Zhu San ended the imperial family of the former Ming Dynasty."

"Good fellow, barbarians are barbarians. They actually killed all the descendants of the royal family of the previous dynasty?"

"I suggest that after you unify the world, you should kill all the members of the Qing imperial family and avenge the Zhu family."

Xie Yuanshan and others came out and spoke.

"The Zhu family that the young lady is talking about, if I'm not mistaken, should be the Zhu family of the descendants of Zhu Xi, the Cheng-Zhu school of Neo-Confucianism, right?"

Su Qing checked the information on the Internet and spoke.

In our country, there are several particularly powerful families, including the Kong family of Qufu, the Meng family of Zoucheng, the Zhu family of Wuyuan, and the Zhang family of Longhushan.

The Zhu family of Wuyuan are descendants of Zhu Xi, the founder of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism.

It was not favored during the Qing Dynasty, and its status was far inferior to that of the descendants of Duke Yansheng, who were "house slaves for seventy-two generations and traitors for twenty-five dynasties."

However, their successive patriarchs, like the Confucius and Meng families, all inherited the title of Doctor of the Five Classics in the Hanlin Academy.

Although this Doctor of the Five Classics was only an eighth-rank official, he had considerable power and was very famous among the literati.

Since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty abolished all schools of thought and established the position of Doctor of the Five Classics, it has represented absolute authority! Considering Xu Huaping's occupation of Jiangnan, the only one that could make her feel difficult was Zhu Xi's Zhu family.

(End of this chapter)