Qujiang Lake is located in the southeast corner of Chang'an City, and is slightly extended from the east and south city walls. The most famous place there is naturally the Furong Garden.
Naturally, there is also a place specifically belonging to the royal forbidden garden, where buildings such as the Ziyun Tower, Caixia Pavilion, Linshui Pavilion, Water Palace, Mountain Tower, and Hall are built. Their main function is naturally for viewing.
If Li Hong and his companions wanted to go to Qujiang Lake, they had to go through Chang'an City vertically from south to north.
This was a carriage that belonged exclusively to the crown prince, but Li Hong almost never used it except for royal events. He always went out in a two-horse carriage, which was much larger than an ordinary carriage.
An ordinary appearance does not mean that the interior is also ordinary. Li Hong has always paid attention to the interior, so the interior of the carriage is naturally extremely luxurious. He even laid the Persian carpet that he secretly stole from Wu Mei on it.
The finest nanmu desk was placed in the middle, and several cotton-filled cushions and seat cushions were randomly placed in the car. The three sides of the carriage are completely different from other carriages. They have three large windows that can be closed and opened. The windows are naturally made of bright glass, with two layers of gauze curtains hung to provide privacy.
The carriage had already been prepared by Hua Meng and the others. Li Hong looked at Xia Zhi and the others, tilted his head and said, "It's rare. We haven't been together in the past few years, but today we are all here."
If Bai Chun had a stern face, she really looked like a fairy who was out of touch with the world. But as soon as she smiled and moved, her charming temperament and graceful figure naturally brought out a rhythmic beauty, which made people see two completely different beauties in her: movement and stillness.
"Yes, Cheetah and the others are back, and I don't have to go to Taiyi City anymore. As long as you stop making trouble, we can serve you every day." Bai Chun's voice was as clear as pearls.
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"You are the only one who talks too much. If I don't make trouble for you, how can I support those people in the Eastern Palace? I'm not saying anything bad about you, but you wear a white cotton shirt and skirt every day, acting as if I, the prince, am mistreating you. Is there no silk or cloth in the mansion that you like? Can't you just give me some face?" Li Hong was used to bickering with Bai Chun since he was a child.
Bai Chun is now like a dead pig that is not afraid of boiling water. The Kingdom of Kucha is now in name only. Sometimes it is classified as the Protectorate of the Tang Dynasty, and sometimes it is occupied by other countries.
"Please get in the car." Bai Chun bowed and said, too lazy to argue with him. If they continued, who knows what unpleasant words would come out of his mouth.
Xia Zhi, Xiao Xue, Xiao Han, and Bai Lu covered their mouths and laughed. They followed Bai Chun and bowed, saying, "Please get in the car, my lord."
"I can't control it. They are so uneducated. Bai Lu, I'm warning you, don't always follow them, especially Bai Chun. Foreign women have vicious minds. Be careful that they will take care of you sooner or later... Don't push me, I can get in the car by myself." Li Hong shook his head and shook off Bai Chun's jade hand on his head.
Liebao, Jingzhe, Hua Meng and Mangzhong were already accustomed to the fighting between the prince and the other six people. They opened the carriage door calmly and let the six people in one after another.
After the six of them were loaded into the carriage, there was still plenty of space inside. Bai Chun sat opposite Li Hong and began to perform with her deft hands the Tang Dynasty tea art that she had worked hard to learn over the years. No, it was a very elegant tea art that the prince taught her.
Liebao and Jingzhe were at the rear, walking behind the carriage. Hua Meng and Mangzhong were in the front, but they did not sit on the shafts of the carriage. They also stood on both sides to guard.
These two horses were stolen by the prince... They are two fine horses that he asked Your Majesty for. They are not very old, just reached adulthood, only four years old this year. They are very smart and steady, their bodies are as black as ink without any other colors, and they look extremely majestic.
Since having these two horses, driving has become much easier for Mangzhong and Huameng. Most of the time, they don't need to pull the reins too much. The two good horses can fully understand what they mean and can turn and run calmly. They will automatically slow down when there are many people.
Because of these two horses, the prince was beaten a lot when he stole them two years ago. He was severely punished by His Majesty and the Queen for several days. When he returned to the Eastern Palace, I remember that he was carried back by Bai Chun and Xia Zhi. His buttocks were so swollen that the two men couldn't hold or carry him, so they could only carry him back to the Eastern Palace from front to back.
Many shops in the East Market were specially opened by people hired by the royal family. Li Hong drew aside the curtains and looked at the outermost row of shops in the East Market. The location here was prominent, so the prices were naturally much higher. However, even so, Chang'an merchants still fought hard to own one.
On the wide, bustling street, two horses were pulling a carriage slowly forward. The pedestrians on the road looked at the two horses, which were obviously distinguished horses, and moved to the sides of the road. They stopped from time to time to admire the two horses, praising them with admiration and love in their eyes.
"How many shops are there in the East Market now? We will sell them to other Chang'an merchants according to the plan after a while. The shops can no longer satisfy us. We only need to focus on Taiyi City. With good management and a complete system, we will be able to control the market rules no matter it is the East Market or the West Market." Li Hong looked outside and said to Bai Chun opposite him.
"Well, now we have entered the substantive stage. We need to carefully screen the merchants, whether it is porcelain or glass. We hope that these merchants can obtain the greatest profits for them." Bai Chun glanced at a shop he had just passed by. The name given by the prince was: "Good! Come again!" It couldn't be more vulgar.
"There are many foreign merchants in West Market, and most of the large transactions are done in West Market. Regarding the tariffs on foreign merchants that I mentioned, what percentage do you think is appropriate?" Li Hong curled up in Xia Zhi's arms, his head resting comfortably on Xia Zhi's towering head, and asked lazily while looking at the roof of the car.
There was also a famous painting on the roof of the carriage. Well, it was also stolen from his father's study. This famous painting was pasted on the carriage by him, which was actually the biggest reason why he got beaten.
"According to your percentage, I think 5% is enough. At least this way they won't be scared into running to the Ministry of Revenue to impeach you." Bai Chun tilted her head and thought about it, her beautiful eyes full of caution.
"I call you stupid, but you're unwilling to admit it. Who has the final say in the Ministry of Revenue now? Five percent tax is too low. Besides, these things are all monopolized by Taiyi City. Look at the transaction volume you gave me. The transaction volume on the embargo list accounts for less than 10% every month. It's only been a month since the ban was lifted, and the transaction volume of embargoed items has reached 30%. It will be even higher in the future."
Bai Chun rolled his eyes at him angrily and said, "What's wrong with being stupid? If you're stupid, ask someone else to do it. They're not as good as me." You are now the Minister of Revenue, and you have the power to cover the sky with one hand. But you can only cover the sky of the Ministry of Revenue. Foreign merchants can submit reports to the Honglu Temple, the Menxia Province, and the Zhongshu Province. You will be in trouble when the time comes.
"Still not convinced? Are you complaining for those foreign merchants in your heart? I'll tell you one thing and remember it: a merciful army cannot be commanded, and a righteous merchant cannot be a businessman. Merchants live for profit and run for profit. You only see their hard work after traveling thousands of miles, but never see the efforts of our Tang Dynasty craftsmen in Taiyi City. Think about it, from the output of Taiyi City you gave me to the sales volume in the Western Regions, this does not include the items shipped to several regions in the south, our production capacity has reached a bottleneck, and it is difficult to make any progress."
Li Hong snatched the tea from Bai Chun's hand, took a sip and handed it to her, continuing: "Today I said that I would expand the scale and provide Chang'an merchants with technical methods, but these things take time. In a year or so, it would be fast for merchants to achieve the same level of craftsmanship as Taiyi City. What should we do during this period of time? Do you want to tire Taiyi City's craftsmen to death?"
Bai Chun obviously hadn't figured out how to beat around the bush, and argued angrily, "Even if we increase taxes, it still won't solve the problem you mentioned, right? You can't just ban it for one month and release it for the next." Bai Chun's sexy red lips were pouted high, with a look of dissatisfaction on her face.
"If you open it and then ban it, you're breaking your word. The reputation of the Crown Prince's Mansion still needs to be protected. So you need to increase taxes to slow down foreign trade. What's wrong with increasing the original ten coins for a bucket of rice to twenty or thirty coins? Scarcity makes things valuable. As long as you spread the news that Taiyi City's production capacity is too slow, and then leak some news of the ban through the mouths of merchants in the East and West Markets, I guarantee that your tax increase will convince them. They may even raise prices on their own because they need to meet the trading volume. At this time, you can take a step back and take two steps forward, reduce the price by 10%, and then increase the tax by 30% in the name of humanity, on the grounds that you need to pay the craftsmen more to speed up the work."
Bai Chun felt a chill run down his spine when he heard this, his expression filled with fear of the prince. He was simply a devil, a devil who specialized in sucking money from foreign businessmen.
According to his method, merchants from the Western Regions would sing his praises. I'm afraid that as long as he is willing to erect a memorial archway for him in Taiyi City, the merchants would be happy to work for him.
"In this way, the Tang Dynasty will only have money left. At least your Taiyi City can use the money to build a palace." Bai Chun snorted and said sarcastically.
"Do you think this is for me? If a money shop wants to establish a large scale, can it afford it without money? Without a large amount of money, what can you give guarantee and trust to the merchants? Besides, my principle for foreign merchants has always been to leave the money and take the goods away." Li Hong said as a matter of course.
Bai Chun nodded thoughtfully. Yes, money is more valuable than a pile of sand after all. Poor merchants from various countries in the Western Regions, just for these worthless sands, they obediently sent real gold and silver to the Tang Dynasty, and happily and carefully pulled away cartloads of sand.
After all, money is limited, and sand is everywhere, even in the river at the foot of Mount Zhongnan. Any shovel of sand can probably be sold for money in the prince's hands.
"Got it. I'll follow your instructions when we get back to Taiyi City."
"Don't rush back. I'll go with you in a few days. The Chamber of Commerce matter is also urgent." Li Hong sighed while looking at a familiar shop.
If his guess was correct, this shop with an excellent location was sold out of the palace, and the current owner was his aunt.
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