"The old lady really shouldn't have brought a few more people with her. There are so many people coming and going on the street, and if someone bumps into someone..."
Manager Cao had a resentful look on his face. He really wanted to go out with Qiao Xin, but his master liked to travel simply and was unwilling to even bring a maid!
"No need. I'll just take Erlang for a stroll. We won't leave the city."
After saying that, he rode his horse towards the palace!
.......
Imperial study.
Emperor Wu sneezed several times. Eunuch Cao was about to call the imperial physician but was stopped by him.
Even the King of Qi, who was waiting on the side, advised, "Brother, please take care of your health. Let the imperial physician come and take a look."
"No need, I know my own body. Maybe it's that minister who is cursing me behind my back again!"
As soon as Emperor Wu finished speaking, news came that Qiao Xin wanted to see him.
Emperor Wu said with a smile: "Just look, let me make it clear!"
King Qi smiled and said, "The old lady never comes to visit you for no reason, but isn't she busy escorting the blind date and preparing the betrothal gifts for Yun Ting?"
"Have you heard about this?"
"My brother and the shop in Xiaoyaohou's mansion have received a lot of orders recently, all of which were placed by the Qiao family. It's hard not to know! The old lady is really willing to spend money on her servants!"
Emperor Wu snorted in annoyance: "Humph, she is just generous because she is poor. This old lady is good at making money and spending money like water!"
The shops in Laohu Town and Yumancang made a lot of money, but it was all invested in the reconstruction of Yumancang Commercial Street, the construction of the city wall of Laohu Town, the expenses of poor students in Qingyang Academy, and the support of orphans of the Zhennan Army.
The old lady used the silver earned by the porcelain workshop in Changnan Town, Fuliang County to support the construction of Yuncheng and Anhua! These sums of money should have been managed by the local government and the court.
But the imperial court and government offices were so poor that even a mouse wouldn’t even pass through their doors.
Qiao Xin requested an imperial decree from Emperor Wu, and under the name of Emperor Wu, began large-scale infrastructure investment.
In the end, she got the job done, she paid the money, and the image of Emperor Wu as a wise ruler was established in the minds of the local people.
It's clear that they just want to do something practical and don't want to compete for people's hearts and prestige!
What could Emperor Wu be dissatisfied with with such a sensible minister?
The amount of money this old lady makes in a year is beyond the reach of others. Just look at the amount of money she puts into her private treasury every year, and you can estimate Qiao Xin's income.
But he was really willing to spend it! He spent tens of thousands of taels of silver without blinking an eye. Fortunately, he did it for the people of Dajing and for the stability of his country.
If there were more ministers like him, would he still be troubled day and night by the empty treasury like he is now?
........
Qiao Xin has been coming to the imperial study quite frequently recently!
As soon as he saw Emperor Wu and asked him how he was doing, he went straight to the point: Your Majesty, are you short of silver?
Emperor Wu: ......
King Qi:.........
If Emperor Wu was not sure that Qiao Xin did not have any spies around him, he would have wanted to kill him right now!
She gives him whatever he needs. She is really good at spying on the emperor's mind. If the emperor's thoughts are seen through by others, where is his prestige as the ruler?
Having such a person around makes him toss and turn and unable to fall asleep!
Emperor Wu asked expressionlessly, "Why do you say that, old lady?"
"I have too many things to do at home recently, and I am short of money. I want to get some money to spend."
Emperor Wu: "You are borrowing money from me?"
Qiao Xin looked up at him strangely. She didn’t say that, so what kind of comprehension ability is this?
"No, I just had an idea to make some money. I just wanted to take advantage of your majesty's power."
Emperor Wu suddenly became interested: "Tell me how to get my dragon power."
"It's a long story. Yun Ting is getting married, and our two little grandsons are worried that they will have a stepmother and a stepfather. In order to make them happy, his brothers decided to open a dim sum shop together. But after they prepared everything, they found that there were no good dim sum chefs available!"
"You want me to send you two dim sum chefs?"
"No, no, how can we ruin the chef's future just because of a child playing around!" Qiao Xin quickly refused.
"I am thinking of taking this opportunity to hold a chef competition. This will not only help us discover good chefs from the public, but also allow the people of Dajing to experience more delicious food!
Later, we decided to hold the finals on the day of the blind date banquet. It saves both energy and money. "
The King of Qi was confused: "Madam, from what I've heard, it doesn't sound like there's anything that requires Your Majesty to personally take action?"
"How can such a small competition require your Majesty to personally show up?"
"That......"
"I would like to ask Your Majesty to order the craftsman to make three kitchen knives and engrave the royal signature on them as prizes for the top three. This alone is enough to make chefs from all over the world vying for it."
"But how much money can you earn from a small cooking competition?"
"Is three hundred thousand taels enough for three kitchen knives?"
Emperor Wu: His face hurts, but he can’t say it!
King Qi: Are you crazy? Who would spend 100,000 taels of silver to buy a kitchen knife? Even they want to buy it but can't afford it!
But Qiao Xin's next words opened their eyes.
It turns out that money can be made this way.
The ancients lacked entertainment options compared to modern people and preferred to join in the fun. If Qiao Xin and His Majesty jointly launched this chef competition, there would definitely be a huge crowd of people watching.
Where people gather, there is consumption, and where there is consumption, there is taxation!
In recent years, the population of Kyoto has exceeded 600,000 or 700,000. Half of the rich and powerful people in Dajing Kingdom gather here, so their consumption power is extremely strong.
“Find a large area and divide it into several regions. Taking advantage of the Xiling envoy’s visit to Beijing, we will hold the finals on the day of the Yulan Festival.
If a chef from a wealthy family wants to participate in the competition, he must pay five taels of silver. If an individual contestant cannot afford the fee, my Qiao family will pay for the registration fee! If you don't have the money to pay it back, you can work in our shop later to pay it back.
We can ask merchants to sponsor the ingredients used in the competition, so we don’t have to spend too much money to buy them! If the audience supports someone, they only need to spend two cents to vote for him...”
Any small company in the future could plan such an event, but Dajing just didn't have such a precedent.
Qiao Xin only gave a beginning, but Emperor Wu and King Qi were able to fully comprehend the idea and draw inferences about other situations.
Qiao Xin comes up with ideas, Emperor Wu provides prizes, merchants provide money, and the government provides manpower!
In the end, Qiao Xin was able to recruit a few talented chefs, saving a lot of money. The court also received a large sum of money, which solved its temporary needs.
Merchants took advantage of this opportunity to promote their products, contestants got a chance to stand out and prove themselves, and ordinary people got to see a real excitement!
The three of them muttered to each other for a long time, and finally came to a unified conclusion: multiple parties will benefit, this plan is feasible! !
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