Chapter 763 The Emperor is Cheating (Part 1)
"Yes! It's 'Shiobiki'!"
Mu Xiu was so busy that he was stretched out his legs. His handsome face had two big dark circles under his eyes.
He was extremely excited and didn't show any signs of fatigue at all.
"…With this item, you can come to my Gu family's salt field and exchange it for an equal amount of sea salt! Therefore, I call it 'Salt Voucher'!"
Mu Xiu fiddled with a bill that had been tested for primary anti-counterfeiting, showing it to Gu Qingcheng while explaining, "We have grain, but it cannot be transported to the riverside because of the temporary suspension of sea transportation."
"The frontline is in urgent need of food and fodder, but the Xin Dynasty's court won't allocate any."
Mu Xiu, a "merchant" who was not in the opposition, had some understanding of this.
In addition to the fact that the Gu family was well-informed, it was also related to the elite education that Mu Xiu received since childhood.
In the court, the new emperor Chen Jing was afraid of Chen Duan.
He himself relied on his large military force to usurp the throne, so naturally he was afraid that those under him would follow suit.
Chen Duan is his cousin and a general who is no less capable than him.
Whether in terms of military achievements, prestige, or the troops under his command, he is second only to Chen Jing.
It is only natural that Chen Jing would be afraid of Chen Duan and even expel him from Jiankang.
Even though he had already "exiled" people to Lingnan and the war on the river was tense, Chen Jing still transferred Chen Duan here.
In addition to Chen Duan's ability to defend the territory, Chen Jing also hopes that he can consume the troops of the Northern Dynasty.
When the snipe and the clam fight, only Chen Jing, the fisherman, can benefit.
Since they were "utilizing" and wanted to weaken Chen Duan's military strength, they would naturally not allocate food, fodder, and military equipment according to the rules.
Chen Duan brought his own food and fodder to guard the border for the Southern Dynasty.
However, this was not the only reason why the imperial court did not allocate food and fodder.
Another biggest reason is that the imperial court really did not have much food.
After years of war, even the land of fish and rice in the south of the Yangtze River could not bear such a loss of grain.
Furthermore, Chen Jing came to power as a rebel and had no concept of "the world" in his nature.
When the national treasury had money, he would not think of using it for disaster relief, road construction or other major livelihood projects. Instead, he would only think of building a palace for himself or simply put it into his own private treasury.
When there is grain in the government warehouse, he will give priority to supplying his own troops.
Other generals?
Humph, they are all wolf cubs and potential threats.
Gu Qingcheng: ...
It's quite speechless.
Even though he became an emperor, he still behaved like a warlord at heart.
How can such a person sit firmly on the throne?
Therefore, the fall of the Southern Dynasty was not only due to the strength of the Northern Dynasty, but also had its own reasons.
Although Mu Xiu has basic political literacy, he is more focused on the areas that concern him.
He would not say that "Chen Jing is not fit to be emperor" just because of a food issue.
He is more concerned about how to solve this problem——
"The imperial court has no food either! But the gentry and gentry in Jiangnan do!"
Mu Xiu had never been to Jiankang, but his husband was Gu Yi.
As an excellent teacher, Gu Yi not only imparts book knowledge to Mu Xiu, but also teaches him a lot of more practical common sense such as astronomy, geography, local customs and so on.
From Gu Yi, Mu Xiu learned about the vastness of the world, and also came to know about the splendor, wealth, extravagance and absurdity of Jiankang.
Furthermore, there was actually a similar problem in the Northern Dynasties - the imperial court had no money and no food, but the dignitaries and gentry were all extremely wealthy.
Mu Xiu understood this and had a solution to the problem of the ending.
"They have long coveted the Gu family's sea salt, but the Gu family is a wealthy family, so they can monopolize the sea salt business."
"At most, we will share some of the profits with the wealthy families in Lingnan and several in-laws of the Gu family—"
However, there are still many noble families in Jiankang who are unable to get a share of the sea salt pie.
No, to be precise, it is the “high-quality and affordable” sea salt.
The major families actually have salt fields along the coast.
However, they still use the most primitive method of boiling salt, which is labor-intensive, requires iron pots, and uses a lot of wood.
The cost of sea salt is high, so the price is also high.
Gu's company, on the other hand, produced high-quality sea salt with better quality and lower price.
"Recipe! Gu's must have a recipe for making salt!"
"…If we can't get the recipe, we'll have to get more cheap salt!"
The major families are aware of the value of the formula and know that their idea of seizing the formula is impossible to achieve.
They can only settle for the second best and get as much affordable sea salt as possible.
There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!
If you can't be a first-hand manufacturer, you can still make huge profits by being a middleman.
Mu Xiu had figured out the thoughts of the noble families, and made precise moves, dropping the bait.
"As long as the salt merchants of the major families can deliver grain to the military camp by the river, they can exchange the same amount of salt at Gu's Trading Company!"
"Of course, it will take time for our salt to be transported to Jiangnan, so we can't deliver it in stock. So, give us a certificate first."
And this certificate is the "salt permit".
With this certificate, the salt merchants can extract enough sea salt from Gu's Company! "This method is very good!"
Gu Qingcheng praised without reservation.
She admired sincerely: Mu Xiu is indeed a natural business genius.
Even if he is limited by the times, he can still come up with the best plan with his extraordinary talent.
"The gentry in Jiangnan already have food, and they are relatively close to the front line by the river, so they can deliver food to King Liang in a timely and effective manner."
As for the Gu family, they do not need to spend any manpower or material resources. They can perfectly solve the food problem by simply allocating some of the sea salt that is normally sold.
The gentry in Jiangnan are not at a disadvantage either.
They used their accumulated grain to exchange for sufficient low-priced high-quality salt. Even if they did not sell it in Jiangnan, they could still make a fortune by transporting it to the Northern Dynasties.
A win-win situation. Oh no, this is destined to be a "win-win-win" situation - the Gu family, the Jiangnan gentry, and Chen Duan!
It was created by the genius Mu Xiu himself! As expected, some people are born warriors, some are generals chosen by heaven, and some are business geniuses chased by God to feed them.
And all of these have been or will be recruited by Gu Qingcheng!
Huoshui: "Your Majesty is mighty! Your hegemony is just around the corner!"
"How about we do a mission to celebrate?"
The disaster rolled out in time, smiling with a flattering face, rubbing the little paws that appeared at once, and trying his best to seduce.
"This time, you can draw the heroine's script!"
"Your Majesty, don't you look forward to it?"
In order to lure Gu Qingcheng, Huoshui spent a huge amount of money.
He took the initiative to mention the "compensation" he had given to Gu Qingcheng at the end of the previous mission - a female lead role! Gu Qingcheng raised an eyebrow, "Female lead script? Haha, it's not the kind of 'former female lead' who was counterattacked."
When it comes to playing word games, a big shot like Gu Qingcheng who is in charge of government affairs is the king.
When she picked her words, it was an absolute disaster.
Trouble: ...
Secretly wiping away the non-existent cold sweat, it quickly smiled and said, "No! It's definitely not the 'former heroine'!"
At most, it's just -
Ahem, can’t say!
Gu Qingcheng glanced at Huoshui for a long time before finally nodding: "Okay, then let's do the task!"
(End of this chapter)
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