Zhao Tai stayed in the firearms workshop for more than ten days to verify two plans for making artillery.

The forging method was not ideal, but the casting of the bronze cannon was successful.

This made Zhao Tai quite happy. The only drawback was that the bronze cannon was too expensive.

With no copper mines on hand, Zhao Tai could only melt money, but the melted money would definitely cause a money shortage in Shandong and bring a huge crisis to the feudal government.

However, Zhao Tai can't control that much now. He can only build the cannon first, as Wang Bin said.

This means that Zhao Tai was forced to embark on the path of launching a war as soon as possible, and if Zhao Tai could not defeat the Song army in a short time, Shandong would inevitably retreat.

Lin'an City, Jubaozhai.

When Zhao Tai captured Xuzhou, he obtained a large number of antiques, calligraphy, paintings, and various treasures from the nobles of the Jin Kingdom.

These things could not be sold for a high price in Shandong, so Zhao Tai gave them to Hu Zhen and ordered him to sell them in the Southern Song Dynasty.

Lin'an was the temporary capital of the Southern Song Dynasty.

The city was filled with princes, nobles, wealthy merchants and big businessmen, and it became Zhao Tai's first choice for selling cultural relics.

Goods can only be sold at a high price if they are sold to people who are not short of money, have demand, and know the goods.

The treasures, jewelry and jades captured by Zhao Tai in recent years have all been sent to Yangzhou, while the antiques, calligraphy and paintings have been shipped to Lin'an for sale.

In the past two years, Zhao Tai has raised millions of dollars by selling antiques, calligraphy and paintings, and has also made Jubaozhai, which sells treasures, famous in Lin'an.

Hu Zhen followed Zhao Tai's suggestion and held a treasure appraisal meeting every month. Jubaozhai took out more than ten cultural relics and invited elders in Lin'an antique circles to come and taste them, and the cultural relics, calligraphy and paintings were printed into exquisite

The brochure, with commentary, is sold in the city.

At the end of the month, Jubaozhai will take out these antique calligraphy and paintings and sell them at a public auction to the highest bidder.

Originally, Jubaozhai only took out more than ten pieces every month, but since Shi Zhai provoked the Qi army and the situation on both sides of the Huaihe River became tense, Jubaozhai began to clear out the warehouse and dispose of the treasures in hand.

One hundred and eight cultural relics were included in the latest issue of Treasure Appraisal, which made the princes, nobles, literati, and wealthy businessmen in Lin'an City excited about it. They raised money one after another to prepare for the limelight at the auction.

On this day, Jubaozhai was selling treasures, and the big families in Lin'an City arrived early. They gathered in the hall, drank tea, talked, and asked about what treasures they liked.

In Jubaozhai, Hu Zhen was sitting in the study, listening to the report from his subordinates, "General manager, at this rate, we will be able to get rid of all the inventory in the warehouse in three months."

Hu Zhen said solemnly, "It's still too slow. Don't care about the price. If anyone is willing to take over, we will sell them all as soon as possible."

"General manager, it's not easy for our Jubaozhai to build up its current reputation. If we sell at a low price and disrupt the price, our regular customers will definitely be dissatisfied!" Sun Shulin, the shopkeeper of Jubaozhai, said worriedly.

"My boss is short of money now, so you just have to do what I want!" Hu Zhen didn't explain too much to him, because Sun Shulin was just a professional shopkeeper hired by Hu Zhen in Lin'an.

Sun Shulin could only nod, "Okay!"

At this time, someone came in and said, "The manager, the shopkeeper, and all the guests are almost here."

Hu Zhen waved her hand and said to Sun Shulin: "Go and host the auction!"

Sun Shulin bowed his hands, then exited the study and headed to the lobby.

At this time, he walked to the cabinet, said some words of welcome to everyone, and then went directly to the main topic, introducing the first item to be auctioned.

Hu Zhen did not show up. He stood by the window on the second floor, looking at the crowd participating in the auction below, feeling a little anxious.

The relationship between Shandong and the Southern Song Dynasty was tense. Zhao Tai was worried that the Southern Song Dynasty would take action on his property, so he ordered Hu Zhen to sell part of his property that might be seized by the Southern Song Dynasty and exchange it for grain, refined iron, cloth, tea, and copper coins to be shipped back to Shandong.

In the past two months, Hu Zhen had urgently disposed of some assets. However, Zhao Tai's properties in the Southern Song Dynasty were too big before and it was impossible to find many people to take over them in a short period of time.

At this time in the lobby, Sun Shulin introduced the first treasure, which was a calligraphy and painting by Yan Liben, a famous scholar from the Tang Dynasty.

"One thousand strings!"

"One thousand two hundred strings!"

Many buyers in the hall have long been familiar with Jubaozhai's auction process, and some people can't wait to bid.

Every time a person bids, they can attract the attention of the people around them, making many people addicted to bidding and unable to extricate themselves.

At this time, Hu Zhen lamented Zhao Tai's grasp of people's hearts. A subordinate rushed into the room in a panic and said urgently: "Manager, something bad has happened. People from the Imperial City Department have come to Jubaozhai."

Hu Zhen was shocked, and without saying a word, she walked out and said, "Get out of here!"

Several subordinates surrounded Hu Zhen and hurriedly left through the back door before taking away the treasures in the treasure house.

As soon as they left, a large group of Imperial City Secret Service agents in black robes surrounded the Jubaozhai, causing the people on the street to talk a lot.

Hu Zhen stood in the crowd and said with a dark face: "Notify others and move immediately."

When the Imperial City Division seized Jubaozhai, a group of officers and soldiers appeared at Lin'an Pier, and several cargo ships with Qi army background were all detained by the officers and soldiers.

Lin'an City, inside the imperial palace.

Zhao Yun was sitting in the royal study, and Shi Songzhi stood aside and reported, "Your Majesty, I have ordered all the Jianghuai roads to seal up all the properties of King Linyi. In addition, I have also issued a ban that no merchants are allowed to sell goods to Shandong.

Transporting grain, refined iron and other materials."

After Shi Songzhi replaced Zheng Qingzhi as prime minister, he spent half a year purging the main war faction and taking control of the Southern Song Dynasty court. Then he concentrated on studying how to reduce the threat from Zhao Tai to Zhao Yun.

Shi Songzhi was very capable, and he soon discovered that the key to Zhao Tai being able to maintain more than 100,000 elite troops in the barren Shandong Province was that Zhao Tai earned a large amount of copper coins from the Southern Song Dynasty through trade.

Shandong had been war-torn for a long time and the place was barren. Shi Songzhi always had a question about how Zhao Tai could rely on Shandong to support his troops.

Zhao Tai's business in the Southern Song Dynasty was huge, with an annual transaction volume of millions of dollars. Ships from the Southern Song Dynasty went to Haizhou for trade every day.

Because the scale of trade was too large, Zhao Tai's business in the Southern Song Dynasty could not be hidden at all. Shi Songzhi checked the account books from the Shipping Department, and then followed the clues to easily find out which companies had trade relations with Shandong.

After several months of investigation, he discovered the problem, and then thought of a way to deal with Zhao Tai.

As early as half a year ago, Shi Songzhi wanted to take action on Zhao Tai's industries. However, many of Zhao Tai's industries were owned by dignitaries of the Southern Song Dynasty, especially Concubine Jia Guifei, who was also involved, so there was great resistance.

This time Shi Zhai's provocation caused Zhao Tai to seize hundreds of warships and tens of thousands of soldiers from the Southern Song Dynasty, which frightened Zhao Yun. Shi Songzhi wrote again and finally got Zhao Yun's approval.
Chapter completed!