Chapter 48 Gathering at the Flower House
It is true. Lu Yunyang was still young at that time, but he understood everything.
He was smart and clever since childhood, and was very much loved by the late emperor. There was even a rumor that the late emperor would give the throne to him.
But my eldest brother has been the crown prince for more than ten years, how can he be content with that?
So when the late emperor was seriously ill, Lu Yunyang began to pretend to be sick. When the late emperor passed away, he used his illness as an excuse to escape the emperor's suspicion.
The emperor had just ascended the throne and was implementing benevolent policies. He would not easily kill him openly. Not only did he confer the title of King of Qi on him, he also gave him a fiefdom, but he also launched assassination attempts on him in secret.
He finally escaped from the capital, but he did not dare to live in Prince Qi's palace. He had several substitutes, all of whom were his trained assassins.
It was rumored that the Ninth Prince was frail and sickly, and sought medical treatment everywhere, but in reality he was hiding everywhere.
He had to hide from the court's assassins and take Su Cheng's money, because Lu Yunyang knew that hiding all the time was not a solution and he couldn't hide forever. He had to fight back and gather troops to defend himself.
However, it takes money to stockpile troops for self-defense. In the Lu family of Xiang County, Old Madam Lu was once a maidservant of Lu Yunyang's mother. She was released from the palace because of her age.
Xiang County doesn't look big, but it actually has an unknown mountain and a basin, where Lu Yunyang established a military camp.
The prince of the fiefdom has the right to own the land, levy taxes, conscript troops, and appoint and dismiss officials.
But when he arrived in Lu Yunyang, the emperor confiscated his power to appoint and dismiss officials on the grounds that he was young and weak, and only allowed conscription of no more than 1,000 soldiers.
As for taxes, 30% must be paid every year.
The land is dead, and the emperor cannot take it away even if he wants to.
The ninth prince, Prince Qi, became the most aggrieved prince in the Kingdom of Li.
The Jiang family, a merchant family in Sucheng, saw this point and helped Lu Yunyang collect a lot more fees. The only requirement was to ensure that the Jiang family could become the president of the Sucheng Chamber of Commerce.
Therefore, Jiang Jiu’s analysis, although not completely correct, is almost correct.
Lu Yunyang's eyebrows skipped a beat. "So what are your plans? Are you going to join the Chamber of Commerce, or are you going to go against it?"
Since the source of everything is the Ninth Prince, Jiang Jiu really cannot confront the Chamber of Commerce head-on.
"Let's use courtesy first and force later. The Chamber of Commerce will definitely help. As for fighting back, the Chamber of Commerce is backed by the Ninth Prince... Isn't the owner of Yiye Pianzhou also surnamed Jiang?"
Lu Yunyang changed into a comfortable posture and said nonchalantly: "Why do you think that Yiye Xiaozhou has been suppressed by the Jiang family for so many years, but it is still strong?"
"Although the owner of the boat is a girl from the Jiang family, the fact that she has been missing for many years and the Jiang family has not taken the boat under their wing is enough to make people admire her."
"Many of Yiye Pianzhou's skills are unique, and they have a set of procedures to prevent the skills from being stolen, and a group of loyal shopkeepers, all of whom are stubborn..."
Jiang Jiu was silent, touching the ring in his sleeve pocket, and fell into deep thought.
The head of the Jiang family is a man, so naturally he doesn't want to be suppressed by the woman of the Jiang family. Although the owner of Yiye Pianzhou's family is surnamed Jiang, she knows that she can actually be independent.
As the heir of Yiye Pianzhou, she was unwilling to damage the Chamber of Commerce left by that man, nor was she willing to use Yiye Pianzhou to deal with the Jiang family. It was indeed a difficult situation.
The carriage arrived at Huamanlou, and Lu Yunyang's test ended.
The Huamanlou in Sucheng is much larger than the one in Xiangxian and is also beautifully built. When they saw their carriage approaching, it was Gu Chengyan from the Prince of Qi's Palace who came up to greet them.
Lu Yunyang needed too much money to recruit soldiers and buy horses. The taxes in Sucheng alone were not enough, so he asked his men to do business.
As soon as Jiang Jiu saw Gu Chengyan, he knew that this brothel was the same as the one in Xiang County, and was probably opened by Lu Yunyang and the Ninth Prince together.
In Lu Yunyang's opinion, he was mainly doing this for money.
But in Jiang Jiu's view, Hua Man Lou is the business of the Ninth Prince to support Lu Yunyang. Lu Yunyang is a playboy and he needs money to eat, drink and have fun.
Just as Jiang Jiu was about to get off the carriage, she suddenly asked, "Husband, do you think Hua Man Lou should join the Chamber of Commerce?"
Before Lu Yunyang could even speak, Jiang Jiu said to himself, "Probably not..."
Don't you see who Lu Yunyang and Gu Chengyan belong to?
Although my own business is a bit difficult, I can still do business with Lu Yunyang and make some money.
Jiang Jiu came to Hua Man Lou. Since everyone had experience in group performances before, this time was much easier than the last time. They just walked around the stage and rehearsed, and in the blink of an eye, it was evening.
Before daybreak, guests began to arrive at Hua Man Lou. The seats in every brothel were divided into different levels, and the same was true for Hua Man Lou.
The madam of the building was very good at judging people. She had four mamas and six waiters under her, who would lead the customers inside.
"Sir, the private room you reserved is on the second floor. I will take you there."
The best position is directly opposite
The second floor with a stage is designed in a circular shape. The price of the entire second floor is not low, and the price of a private room is one hundred taels per night.
There were two staircases on both sides. After four mothers led the guests in, the girls serving on the second floor began to bring drinks inside.
The price of a private room is similar to the modern minimum consumption, which is one hundred taels, with no upper limit. The one hundred taels includes tea, snacks, melon seeds, peanuts, and a pot of wine.
If you don't like it and want good wine, I'm sorry, you have to pay extra.
"The management of Sucheng is much stricter than that of Xiangxian, and your subordinates are very well-behaved."
Jiang Jiu used to be a bank clerk. He naturally knew these rules when he dined with clients. After he came to the ancient times and started doing business, he found that the consumption of modern people was what was left over from the ancient people.
Seeing that although there were many customers, everyone was orderly, I couldn't help but praise Gu Chengyan.
Gu Chengyan nodded confidently: "Miss, you are right. The girls you trained are much more confident than us girls."
Jiang Jiu treats Chu Yu and the others like sisters, colleagues, and partners, and no one looks down on anyone.
In Gu Chengyan's Hua Man Lou, the relationship is one of superiors and subordinates. Except for Nishang, everyone else is trembling with fear and acting cautiously.
People in ancient times already had various consumption registrations and consumption traps.
If brothels were open, they would be similar to modern bars. Although there would be girls to accompany you, you would have to give them extra tips for drinking, which was called a reward in ancient times.
If you want to listen to some ditties, the prices are clearly marked.
Knowing that Jiang Jiu would come tonight, Gu Chengyan reserved a private room for Jiang Jiu, Xiao Yimo, Lu Yunyang, the two girls Chu Yu and Nishang, and him.
Sitting together, on Jiang Jiu's side, Gu Chengyan discovered that she had no concept of hierarchy and treated everyone equally, treating him the same as she treated Nichang.
Xiao Yimo also admired Gu Chengyan very much: "Master Gu is the most powerful aide to the King of Qi. Even though I am far away in Xiang County, I have long heard of his great name."
Gu Chengyan said politely, "I also heard that there is a Ninth Brother in Xiang County who does very good business. I didn't expect it to be you."
Jiang Jiu is still a woman.
Jiang Jiu listened to what they said, took a sip of tea, and murmured: "Alas, the ways of the world, no matter where you go, you can't avoid commercial flattery."
"What is commercial flattery?" Jiang Jiu sometimes blurted out the word, which Lu Yunyang didn't quite understand. Then, he laughed a little. It was too straightforward. It was just mutual flattery.