Originally, we planned to have dinner together in the evening and discuss raising funds to build a fleet to go to sea.
However, something happened in the middle, so the meal was put on hold.
All the nobles and nobles were busy going to Lijiazhuang to buy seeds. How could they still be in the mood to sit down and have a drink and a meal?
Lijiazhuang has now developed into a prosperous village and town in Lantian County. People from all over the country come here to buy things, and merchants from Chang'an City come to buy goods.
At night, rows of kerosene lamps were lit up, shrouding the entire village in a bright halo.
Li Er, who was strolling with his hands behind his back, raised his head and looked at the rows of kerosene lamps hanging on the wooden poles, his eyes full of satisfaction. "Build the kerosene lamps on Zhuque Street as soon as possible."
"no problem."
Li Yunze, who was wandering around with Li Er, smiled and looked at the nobles who were noisy and almost fighting not far away, "Your Majesty, you can consider installing kerosene lamps in the palace."
Of course Li Er also thought about it. After all, the brightness was not even brighter than that of a lantern.
But
Li Er looked at Wei Zheng, who was not far away and was sneering at the ugly behavior of the honorable nobles. "That's hard."
It's okay to build kerosene lamps on Zhuque Street, but if they are used in the palace, Wei Zheng will definitely use full firepower to spray them on the spot.
Li Er has a good reputation and good reputation, but he really doesn't want to encounter Wei Zheng's verbal attacks just because he wants to live a more comfortable life.
"His Majesty."
Li Yunze understood Li Er's thoughts very well. He took a step closer and lowered his voice a little, "I can donate a complete set of kerosene lamps to the palace for free. I can install thousands of them without any problem."
As soon as he said this, Li Er's face suddenly became alert, "What do you want?"
He knew very clearly that Li Yunze was a complete profiteer. The more he gave for free, the more he wanted to get in the end.
"The matter of going to sea to find the Spice Islands." Li Yunze smiled slightly, "Your Majesty, just give up 10% of your share."
Li Er immediately shook his head: "It's necessary, not even a little bit less."
Spices were very expensive and valuable in the Tang Dynasty in this era. It is not an exaggeration to say that they were worth the same weight of gold.
If he gave up 10% of his profits just for a few thousand kerosene lamps, and if Li Er accepted the offer, Wei Zheng would probably be able to scold him for half an hour.
"Look, Your Majesty." Li Yunze pointed at the bright kerosene lamp in front of him and said, "How bright it is. Don't you want the entire palace to be bright and dazzling like a fairyland on earth?"
Of course I thought about it, but I can't do it now.
Swallowing, Li Er shook his head hard, "No, absolutely not."
After a pause, he said aloud, "Although I don't contribute any money, I use tax-free shares to buy shares in the fleet. It's only 50%, which is not much."
After all, he was the emperor, so he said it would be fine if he wanted them all, but in that case there wouldn't be any fleets going out to sea in search of spices.
We are not idiots, and no one will use their own money to make money for the emperor.
"Is it really not possible to reduce the number by one or two?"
"Nothing less."
"Can't we discuss it further?"
"We can discuss whatever we want, but it cannot be less."
While talking, Fang Xuanling came over and said with a smile, "It's almost a fight."
The number of seeds given by Li Yunze was limited, and the nobles felt that they wanted everything, so the competition was naturally fierce.
Li Er also laughed, "I think the people of Chang'an City will be able to eat cheaper fruits and vegetables next year."
"It's not that easy."
Li Yunze chuckled, "First of all, these things need to have a greenhouse. It costs a lot of money to build this thing. Secondly, they need to take good care of it. They also have to spend money to buy enough fertilizers and pesticides to kill insects and weeds. Let's do the calculation at the end.
The cost cannot be much cheaper. If it is sold cheaply, they will definitely lose money, but if it is sold expensively, it is better to buy it in the big market. In the end, most of it will be lost in their own hands."
"This" Fang Xuanling looked shocked, "No matter how large the population is, each family can eat as much as they want. These things cannot be kept for a long time. Wouldn't it be a pity if they break?"
"Don't worry." Li Yunze, who smiled kindly, looked sincerely like a god coming down. "When they can't sell, I will buy them and fill the big market."
Fang Xuanling just breathed a sigh of relief when Li Er asked, "If you buy it, how much are you willing to pay?"
"Let's give it a 20% or 30% discount." Li Yunze shrugged, "Either they watch it rot, or sell it to me to recover some of the capital. It's up to them to choose. Don't worry, as long as they are willing to sell to me, they will never lose money. They are just busy.
One game will only make a few big bucks in the end."
Fang Xuanling stared blankly at the nobles still fighting in the distance, her heart filled with sadness.
'A bunch of idiots have been arranged properly. If we can just collect money and rent out the land, it will be over, so why bother.'
In fact, there are many things that Li Yunze did not say, such as that seeds will degrade and it would be a dream to rely on breeding to gain business.
They don't have scientific and reasonable modern agricultural breeding technology, nor do they have a complete storage system, nor do they have scientific and reasonable land cross-cultivation and fallow fields.
These noble people will not realize how cruel reality is until they suffer enough losses.
When the honorable nobles finally distributed their respective portions and everyone ate together in the open air on the threshing floor, it was already a midnight snack.
Fortunately, Li Yunze was generous, with an ample supply of beef, mutton and various aquatic products, and barrels of wine and drinks were brought to the table, which somewhat made up for everyone's anger and dissatisfaction because of the extra money.
After three rounds of wine, five flavors of food.
Li Yunze, who was holding the wine glass, stood up and greeted loudly, "Your Majesty said that the tax-free shareholding in the fleet looking for spices should account for 50%."
The nobles must be very dissatisfied, but no one dares to speak out.
"As for me, I am also willing to give up some profits." Li Yunze continued, "I will invest in technology, including technology for fleet construction, including technology for finding the location of the Spice Islands. I will take 30%."
As soon as these words came out, the anger of the distinguished nobles could no longer be suppressed, and everyone shouted that it was unfair.
They contribute money and effort, and so many people only get 20% of it?
I'm sending out beggars!
After everyone vented their emotions, Li Yunze said leisurely, "This trip to the sea to collect spices, I can't guarantee anything else, but at least it will be no problem to get back a million kilograms. Everyone, think about it, how much is a million kilograms of spices worth?
.How much is 20% of such a sum of money?"
Spices are expensive, almost as valuable as gold, millions of pounds of gold.
Looking at the nobles who were deep in thought, Li Yunze's smile remained unchanged, but he did not tell them that the sudden influx of such a huge amount of goods into the market would inevitably suppress the price wildly.
Moreover, there are not many rich and distinguished people who can consume spices at high prices. If they want to digest so many spices, the price must be reduced to a level that ordinary people can afford.
In that case, let alone millions of catties of gold, millions of catties of copper coins would be dangerous.
Changsun Wuji, who looked embarrassed, said aloud, "But with so many people, I can only give 20%. It's really too little. Let's give in to more."
Li Yunze's response was very straightforward, "If Your Majesty is willing to give in, I will give in too. I will give in as much as Your Majesty gives. If Your Majesty is willing to give in more than 30%, I can do this trip for you in vain!"
In an instant, everyone's eyes fell on Li Er.
Li Er, who was holding a wine glass and sipping his drink, had no intention of paying attention to him.
He is the emperor, and he is born to take the lion's share.
If he couldn't get a big share, he would rather not do this business.
Seeing that the matter had reached a deadlock, Fang Xuanling changed the subject by saying, "I wonder how much money this trip will cost?"
"The existing sea-going ships are not good enough. We must build brand-new sea-going ships. I will handle the construction. Ten ships will be enough. I won't make any money from you by building the ships. The cost price will be 200,000 guan per ship."
‘Pfft~~~’
After hearing this price, many nobles sprayed their drinks on the spot.
"How much? Two hundred thousand yuan?! Why don't you go and grab it!"
"What kind of ship can cost two hundred thousand gold? Is it made of gold or is it entirely made of copper?"
"Repay the cost price? This is obviously a shady price!"
"The imperial court only receives more than two million guan of copper coins, gold and silver a year, which is only enough for you to build ten ships."
"I'm old and my ears are hard to hear clearly. How much can you say?"
"."
The nobles were very excited, and they were obviously very angry.
My heart is so dark that I dare to speak.
"If you want to go to the Spice Islands, you have to go on a deep sea voyage. The existing ships can't go there, so you have to use a suitable new ship. And you won't suffer any loss. You will make a lot of money by getting the spices. This ship is also yours."
During the quarrel, Qin Qiong raised a practical question: "Unless we don't want to, we really don't have so much money. Even if we sell all our belongings, we still can't get two million yuan."
After all, it was in front of the emperor, and no one dared to admit that they could provide a large amount of wealth.
In fact, the nobles in the early years of Zhenguan did not have that much wealth. That is to say, only aristocratic families like Wu Xing Qi Wang, who had accumulated and plundered for hundreds of years, could have such wealth.
"Don't have money? If you don't have money, just tell me earlier." Li Yunze, who smiled kindly, said, "I can lend it to you. Once the spices are shipped back and sold, you can make money, and then you can pay them back to me, but you have to use these ships as collateral."
I don't know what others were thinking, but Fang Xuanling couldn't help but smile bitterly when she looked at Li Yunze with a warm smile.
This is clearly a trap, and those ships will definitely fall into the hands of this person.
He was thinking before about whether to take out his old skills and join this spice tour. Now that he thinks about it, he still has to join in.
Fang Xuanling finally understood that it was impossible for Li Yunze to allow the nobles to earn wealth that could rival the country through this business, but they would definitely make some money, even if they would not be much.
How can you miss this kind of reasonable extra income?
Thinking of this, Fang Xuanling looked at Li Er who was eating vegetables and drinking silently. His Majesty must have seen this a long time ago. Not only can he have a lot of income, he can expel those Hu merchants who made too much money from the Tang Dynasty by relying on spices.
, and can also find something for the honorable nobles to do.'
For Li Er, spices are dispensable.
The common people can still live well without eating spices, and those who can afford spices are from noble and wealthy families.
As for making money from spices, if millions of kilograms of spices could be shipped back, how long would the wealthy families of the Tang Dynasty have to eat them?
Fang Xuanling could see this, and so could Li Er of course.
The reason for acquiescing or secretly promoting support is more to divert the attention of the nobles and not to cause trouble for themselves at this important moment of the decisive battle with the Turks.
Li Yunze could know from the history books that Datang won the battle, and won very easily.
But people in the Tang Dynasty didn't know that in their eyes, the Turks were extremely powerful beings, and Jieli Khan was even blown up to the sky. It was inevitable that someone would have other thoughts.
It’s good to focus on making money now.
After some intense discussion and debate, everyone finally reached an agreement.
Dozens of noble families contributed money together to purchase ten new large-scale ships from Li Yunze in the form of loans, using the ships and spices as collateral.
Everyone agreed that in the end, the emperor would get 50%, Li Yunze would get 30%, and everyone else would get 20%.
The nobles are not stupid, they also have their own plans.
Li Yunze only got out of the boat, and they were the ones who got out of the boat.
As long as you go there, you will know the location of the Spice Islands, and from now on it will all be yours.
It was no problem for the emperor and Li Yunze to make some money in the first round of harvest. From now on, they would just follow the example of Hu merchants and only pay taxes. The rest would be theirs, which would be an inexhaustible mountain of gold.
Everyone had their own plans, and after reaching an agreement, they all raised their glasses and drank.
Everyone thinks they can have the last laugh, but only time will tell what the actual situation will be.