Liu Zhao refused to explain what he was doing at sea no matter how hard he was beaten.
Gu Jiu used all 108 tricks, but failed to make Liu Zhao speak.
She is tired.
The body is tired, and the mind is even more tired.
She pointed a finger at Liu Zhao and said through gritted teeth, "You're so arrogant! You dare to refuse to confess even if I kill you?"
He moved closer and held her.
She pushed him away.
He hugged her again.
After repeating this over and over again, Gu Jiu was completely tired and didn't want to move.
Forget it, just let him hold it.
Liu Zhao took a deep breath, it was all Gu Jiu's scent, it smelled so good.
He said, "Don't worry about the one million. I can pay it back for you. Outside the South City Gate, if you want to build a house, just build one. Don't be afraid to spend money. The money will come back."
Why does this sound wrong?
Gu Jiu turned his head and stared at him suspiciously.
At this moment, her mind was spinning rapidly.
Eliminate all possibilities and the one that remains, no matter how incredible it is, is the truth.
"You, you will pay me back one million?"
Liu Zhao smiled and said, "I support you in doing whatever you want to do. You don't have to worry about anything. This is my responsibility."
"Wait, what you said sounds a little wrong to me."
Liu Zhao knew that Gu Jiu was sharp, so he simply stood up and said, "I'll tell the servants to prepare dinner. Eat a little before going to sleep."
After saying that, he ran away.
He ran so fast as if a wolf was chasing him.
Damn it!
Gu Jiu blinked.
She must have heard it right. Liu Zhao actually said that he would pay back one million taels of silver for her.
That's one million, not ten thousand or one hundred thousand.
In his entire life, Liu Zhao had never earned even ten thousand taels, let alone one million.
The Northern Liberation Army incident doesn't count. That was political coordination with the military, not money.
Although what he did at the Taipei Rong Rong was worth millions or tens of millions, it was not real money after all, so the accounts could not be calculated in this way.
Where would Liu Zhao get the one million to pay off his debts?
Suddenly he asked for 20,000 taels, saying he wanted to recruit navy.
It can't be what he thinks.
When it was time for dinner, she caught Liu Zhao off guard.
"You don't want to go out to sea to do maritime trade, do you?"
puff!
Liu Zhao calmed down and said calmly, "I have this idea."
There's a ghost!
It’s definitely not for maritime trade.
Immediately afterwards, the most incredible answer appeared in Gu Jiu's mind.
"Do you want to be a pirate?"
puff!
Liu Zhao almost couldn't hold it in.
My wife is too sensitive, what should I do?
At this moment, he felt a strong desire to survive and was ready to run away, even thinking of an excuse.
"Don't talk nonsense. I'm the grandson of the emperor. How could I do such a sneaky thing? Enjoy your meal. I'll go back to the study first. I have some official business to attend to."
"Don't leave!"
Gu Jiu reached out and grabbed him immediately.
"You don't really want to be a pirate, do you?"
Liu Zhao frowned. "Your biggest problem is that you like to daydream. Well, didn't you say you were tired and wanted to sleep? Go lie down on the bed."
Hahahaha…
Gu Jiu laughed out loud without any hesitation.
"So you really plan to become a pirate and pay off my debts!"
She was deeply moved.
She really didn't expect that Liu Zhao could do this for her.
She had no doubt that if she really couldn't come up with one million to pay off her debt, Liu Zhao would really resort to piracy.
It's quick, easy and high-income, that's why Liu Zhao became a pirate.
After laughing, Gu Jiu wanted to cry again.
She suddenly threw herself into Liu Zhao's arms emotionally.
For the first time in her two lifetimes, someone other than her parents and blood relatives treated her so well.
She hugged his waist and scolded him, "You are such an idiot."
Liu Zhao frowned, dissatisfied, "How am I stupid? Don't talk nonsense."
Gu Jiu bit her lip. "You are just stupid, hopelessly stupid. I told you not to worry, it's just a mere one million, I can earn it back no matter what. But you just don't believe me. Do I look so unreliable?"
"No! Outside the South City Gate, that place is a quagmire. Even the major government offices in the capital can't solve it, so how can you solve it alone?"
Gu Jiu snorted with disdain, "They can't solve it because they haven't found the right solution. You have to know that people are lazy. When there is free food and drink, who would be willing to find a job?
Don't assume that those who are poor and destitute are not lazy. Laziness is not about wealth or poverty; it's just human nature. Do you know what kind of person is truly hardworking?
"Who is it?" Liu Zhao was led by Gu Jiu, and his thoughts were all over the place.
Gu Jiu said: "Only those who can see hope will be diligent. No one is born to like hard work, and no one is born to be diligent.
Only when he sees hope will he be willing to endure hardships and work hard. The refugees outside the South City Gate are a group of people who see no hope.
They get free relief food every day. Although they can't eat enough, they can survive. Living without hope is like a group of walking corpses. Can you expect them to be diligent?
Rather than giving them relief food and dragging their lives down, it is better to give them the hope of settling down and making a living, and a hope that can be realized quickly.
Two meals a day, plus daily wages—that's tangible hope. If you add housing, those people won't need to be driven away; they'll stand up on their own and work hard."
Liu Zhao pondered these words and thought carefully, is anyone born hardworking?
It seems I haven't seen it.
For example, he himself, such a self-disciplined person, was actually very naughty when he was young and didn't like to study.
After being beaten several times, he saw some realities clearly and chose to live a self-disciplined life.
Why do the petty officials in the yamen always like to be sneaky and deceitful?
Because it doesn't matter whether you work more or less, so why work so hard? If you can be lazy, of course you choose to be lazy.
Those who are proactive, active and hardworking naturally do so because they have something in their hearts to pursue.
Seeking fame, seeking profit, seeking a clear conscience...
No matter what you ask for, it is because you have something in your heart that you will actively choose to be diligent.
Once there is no hope in life and you can see your whole life at a glance, who would be willing to be proactive and diligent?
It's so tiring.
Unless forced to do so, I have to be diligent. Even then, I will try my best to be lazy.
Diligence and laziness have nothing to do with wealth.
There are lazy people among the poor, and there are hard-working people among the rich.
It's all human nature.
Liu Zhao hugged Gu Jiu tightly and said solemnly: "Thank you!"
Gu Ji was confused, "Why are you thanking me?"
"You have solved my years of confusion." Liu Zhao grinned.
Gu Jiu's words suddenly enlightened him and greatly inspired him.
Many things that I couldn’t understand in the past are now clear to me.
Abandon all those messy things and return everything to its essence, which is just two words: humanity.
Liu Zhao was led by Gu Jiu's ideas to run tens of thousands of miles, and then he ran back to the starting point on his own initiative.
"So you plan to use the method of paying for work to deal with those refugees?"
"And there's a house." Gu Jiu smiled proudly.
Liu Zhao frowned. "Houses are not cheap. Those people simply can't afford them. Your method will definitely not work."
Gu Jiu laughed, and the sourness of his advanced thinking was particularly obvious at this moment.
She said, "It doesn't matter if you can't afford it now, you can pay in installments. You have to remember that those who have constant property have constant perseverance.
Why were men from respectable families the preferred choice for recruiting soldiers in the past? Because they had stable assets and ties to support them. Those with ties to support them would not consider desertion on the battlefield, as that would implicate their families.
In battle, one must be willing to sacrifice one's life. Even if one dies in battle, at least one can earn merit and a pension for one's family. Prince Zhao, although you are the grandson of the emperor, it is clear that your teacher's teachings were very one-sided.
They teach you how to fight wars and how to engage in political intrigue, but they don’t teach you how to see the essence through phenomena and how to see the big picture.”
Liu Zhao laughed. Looking at her smug look, she looked like a little fox stealing some fish.
He put his arm around her waist and said, "My lady, you know so much. Why don't you teach your husband?"
"I'm teaching you now."
"Then teach me how to satisfy you."
A filthy scoundrel.
She was angry and she didn't want to pay attention to him.
Bastard, is your head filled with yellow things?
Liu Zhao likes to see Gu Jiu’s angry and arrogant look, it’s so cute.
He kissed her and said, "You are not a qualified teacher."
"I'm not a full-time teacher. I'm not in a good mood today, so I won't say anything more."
"You haven't told me yet why you returned the one million to the Shaofu."
Gu Jiu rolled his eyes at him, as if complaining: Why are you so stupid?
"After we've dealt with the refugees, we can build houses. Of course, such a large plot of land needs to be divided into multiple areas. House prices must also be clearly differentiated. As you travel around the capital, haven't you noticed a serious problem?"
Liu Zhao asked without hesitation, "What's the problem?"
There are so many problems in the capital, how could he know what problem Gu Jiu is referring to?
Gu Jiu said, "I've read the annals of the capital city in the Ministry of Personnel. The population of the capital city has increased three or four times, from 700,000 to 800,000 during the reign of Emperor Taizu to 2 to 3 million today. However, the capital city remains the same as it was then. The area of the capital city has not increased, which means that the living space of the common people in the capital city has not increased either.
I've had people do some research, and found that many of the common people in Beijing have three or even four generations of a family living in two rooms. You heard right, a family of seven or eight, or even more than ten people, living in two rooms. How can so many people live in two rooms? Don't ask me, I have no idea how it's done.
Liu Zhao frowned. In the past, he had only paid attention to the various problems brought about by the expanding population of the capital, such as food. How much grain should be stored in the imperial granaries to meet the needs of the capital's population in an emergency?
This is also a problem that the court has always been worried about.
Therefore, the imperial granary has been expanded three times over the years.
All of this is to store more food reserves just in case.
The only thing they haven’t considered is the housing problem of the common people.
After hearing what Gu Jiu said, he, the grandson of the emperor who had no shortage of houses, realized that housing was also a big problem.
Gu Jiu continued, "Living in the capital is not easy. This statement is not nonsense. If you want to buy a house with a private entrance and courtyard in the capital, with three main rooms, two side rooms, and a kitchen, it will cost more than one hundred taels in the worst location. If the location is slightly better, it will cost two or three hundred taels.
With the income of ordinary people in Beijing, even if they spent their entire lives, even if they exhausted the efforts of three or four generations, they still couldn't afford to buy even the smallest house. So what could they do? They could only rent.
Why are there so many random buildings in South City? Because everyone needs a place to live. With so many people in Beijing and so few places to live, there's no other solution except random construction."
Liu Zhao nodded. "What you're saying is indeed a problem. Random construction is most vulnerable to fire. South City has always been a key fire prevention area for the Five Cities Army. That's why my grandfather was so furious when Li Dalang sent people to burn Yuhua Lane. Once a fire starts, with the density of houses in South City, there's no way to rescue them."
"So Li Dalang is finished."
After a pause, Gu Jiu continued her business of deceiving people.
"The imperial court has never considered solving the housing problem for the common people. I guess no one has ever considered it. But I want to solve it for them.
"The location outside the South City Gate is fantastic, close to the city gate and adjacent to the South City. It's very convenient for going to work and returning home every day. You say, if there's a two-story house outside the city with five or six bedrooms, a main hall, a kitchen, a toilet, and a small courtyard, it only costs a hundred or so taels, and you can pay it in installments of three, five, or even ten years. If you were a family of eight or nine living in two rooms, wouldn't you be tempted?"
Liu Zhao said in a resounding voice: "If it were me, I would risk my life to buy a house like this."
Gu Jiu laughed, "Are you still worried that I can't pay back the Shaofu's one million taels?"
Liu Zhao had a new question: "If I buy a house and pay in installments, how long will it take for me to get the money back? And how will you repay the loan from the Minister of the Household after one year?"
Gu Jiu rolled his eyes at him, "Who said I want to lend money to Xiaomin to buy a house? You are stupid! You are in charge of the Shaofu Bank, but you don't use such a big treasury. You pay for the house payment with your own money. Am I so stupid?
Of course, I'm working with the Shaofu. If you want to buy a house in installments, you can go to the Shaofu for a loan. The Shaofu offers low interest rates. For example, if the full payment for a house is 100 taels, the three-year installment will be 120 taels, and the five-year installment will be 140 taels. Would you not borrow money?"
Liu Zhao calculated the interest rate. If a house worth one hundred taels could be purchased in three years with an installment of one hundred and twenty taels, it would be a low interest rate, an ultra-low interest rate.
Any ordinary person who doesn’t have a house will be tempted.
He said, "That's indeed a solution. But are you sure the Shaofu will agree to cooperate with you? With such a low interest rate, will the Shaofu be willing to do so?"
Gu Jiu smiled and said, "Even if the Shaofu refuses to cooperate at first, I am confident that I can convince them to agree.
You should know that Shaofu Money House is not just for making money, its more important role is to solve the difficulties of people's livelihood, which is the original intention of the establishment of the money house.
Giving ordinary people the opportunity to settle down and start a business is a good thing that truly solves people's livelihood problems. Moreover, the Shaofu Bank can also take this opportunity to establish its reputation.
Once the Nanchengmen project is completed, which private bank in the entire capital region can compete with the Shaofu's bank? The Shaofu can also use this opportunity to promote the bank to the whole country. They can even go to Beirong and Xiliang to make money from them.
Perhaps we can use this opportunity to encourage all banks across the world to reduce rents and interest rates, giving the common people a way to make a living. Because I, by setting an example, have opened up a new way for them to make money."
Liu Zhao thought about it, then sat down and wrote down everything Gu Jiu said.
He refuted each point, and Gu Jiu explained each point.
Liu Zhao recorded all the explanations that Gu Jiu said.
The couple spent the entire evening finding faults, refuting arguments, and filling in gaps, working until three in the morning.
Gu Jiu was so sleepy that he felt like he was about to ascend to heaven.
Liu Zhao, however, was in high spirits.
He said to Gu Jiu, "I've thought of something. Many people in the military haven't settled down yet. We could use the South City Gate project to help some veterans settle down and bring their families to live in new homes. This way, the veterans will feel more at ease and we can also eliminate the gambling culture in the military as much as possible."
Gu Jiu lay on the couch, "Whatever you want, whatever you say is fine."
Liu Zhao said excitedly: "If this method proves to be effective, it can be extended to the whole family."
Gu Jiu turned over and said, "You forgot the key point. Everyone has a sense of nostalgia for their hometown. Many people are not willing to settle down in the place where they served in the army, and would rather return to their hometown."
“If you can find a way out where you serve in the military, will you go back?”
"There aren't that many solutions. You can't rush things like this. You have to take your time. If you rush too much, you might end up talking nonsense."
"What?"
"Nothing." Gu Jiu quickly changed her words. She was really sleepy and her brain was slow to react.
Liu Zhao said, "You go to sleep first, I'll think about it."
Gu Jiu yawned. "You are so enthusiastic. Do you want to get rich with me?"
Liu Zhao laughed. "I'll be your thug. If anyone is blind, I'll teach him a lesson for you."
Gu Jiu said disdainfully, "Your status is sensitive. You're not as good as Aunt Huyang when it comes to being a thug. Aunt Huyang would just take action, and His Majesty would just treat it as a personal grudge and wouldn't escalate it to a court struggle. But if you take action, it's over. His Majesty would immediately think of the fight for the throne. How can I make any money? I'd better get out of here soon."
Liu Zhao was unhappy, "Do you despise your husband so much?"
Gu Jiu leaned into his arms and said, "I don't dislike you, how could I dislike you? I'm still counting on you to support me. I'm going to sleep first, you go ahead and do your work."
"I'll carry you to bed."
As soon as he touched the mattress, Gu Jiu fell asleep.
Liu Zhao laughed, covered her with the quilt, and said silently: "I will support you for the rest of my life."
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