The Thirty-Seventh Chapter: The Frenzied Great Tang Merchants

  Li Yuanxing is not good at drinking and likes this wine. There's only one reason: it's light and has a low alcohol content.

  "Zheng He!" Li Yuanxing whispered, and Zheng He immediately understood. He gave a hand signal to the little eunuch, who was holding a tray with a bottle of liquor that Li Yuanxing had brought from modern times - authentic 15-year-old Moutai in a white porcelain bottle.

  "This wine was brought by Wang this time, only four bottles. My brother may not have drunk yet. Let's taste it today and then talk about the main topic." Li Yuanxing said, nodding his head.

  Zheng He personally took a small wine cup worth two coins from the tray and poured it for Gao Zhi.

  As for the merchants, they were not even qualified, and when the eunuch poured them a drink, they knelt down in gratitude.

  The wine is not much, just one bottle. Many merchants came, and those with high status such as the village head or elder would naturally have a taste, while those of lower status could consider themselves lucky to get half a cup.

  The second floor hall of Yan Guo Lou is quite spacious, but the wine fragrance is extremely rich.

  All merchants kneel down in gratitude!

  Gao Jiong said in a low voice: "The Holy One has not drunk yet, it is not proper for us to drink first!"

  "It's alright, your own brother won't mind these things. He has already been sent to the palace, and by now, your elder brother is probably still in court, he will be drinking at noon, so drink with a peace of mind." Li Yuanxing comforted Gao Jian.

  Gao Jian hadn't drunk yet, but noticed the merchant's strange expression. He sniffed the wine in front of him again, bowed towards the imperial palace and then took a sip, exclaiming it was an immortal wine.

  Many merchants heard Gao Lin's evaluation and shouted in unison: "Xian wine!"

  Li Yuanxing stood up at this time, but waved his hand to signal the merchants: "All sit well, this king has gathered you here. It is also a blessing from the sage, this king said a word in Zhuangzi, this king takes the name of Qin Wang as a guarantee, wants to let those craftsmen come out with a title, scholars, farmers, workers and merchants, merchants are inferior to workers, but you have money in your hands, better than the life of craftsmen. So the craftsmen are actually counted, one level lower than you."

  Many of the merchants began to sweat, they had no idea what Li Yuanxing was going to do, and were extremely nervous.

  Li Yuanxing said again: "I also promise today, you will have a chance to compete for the title!"

  The businessmen were even more frightened, this wouldn't be asking them for donations, would it?!

  "You have a trade association, let's talk about silk first. During the Han Dynasty, silk was sold to foreign countries. You merchants know that in the Roman Empire, which is tens of thousands of miles away, what is the price of silk? If anyone knows, please speak boldly!"

  Now there really is a businessman coming out.

  "As for the price at which silk is sold to foreign merchants, the best ordinary silk costs two to four guan per bolt. It seems that foreign merchants make a profit of ten or even a hundred times after traveling thousands of miles."

  "Ten times, haha! A hundred times, haha!" Li Yuanxing burst out laughing, making the merchants even more nervous.

  Li Yuanxing slammed the wine cup in his hand to the ground: "I'm telling you, it's twice the price. In weight, two times heavier gold for one piece of silk. I don't know how many bolts of silk are in a catty, you calculate it yourself, how much is two catties of gold worth?! Calculate! Now calculate it clearly for me!"

  Each piece of silk actually weighed about 8-10 kilograms according to Li Yuanxing's description.

  Exchanged for copper coins with gold, the price at the beginning of the Tang Dynasty was about 20 guan qian (coins) per two liang (tael) of gold, which is about 200,000 copper coins. Even if calculated less, it would be around 150,000 copper coins.

  At this rate of exchange, a Roman pound would be worth several hundred million coppers.

  The merchant of the Tang Dynasty was frightened after calculating in his heart, this amount is too huge, the other party is not just a hundred times the profit.

  "I killed a few foreign merchants a few days ago. You know why. I'm telling you, the king is very angry!"

  Li Yuanxing said he killed someone, but in fact he didn't have time to kill anyone. Even if he had the time, he wouldn't have had the guts.

  At this one sentence, all the businessmen were frightened and knelt down on the ground.

  "Do you know why the king killed people? Because those foreign merchants' staffs were hollow, with silkworm eggs inside. The king was angry and asked who let such things be obtained by foreign merchants, and he wanted to kill people. The king's guard said that they would kill his whole family." Li Yuanxing had a furious expression, scaring all the merchants into trembling.

  Gao Jue also stood up at this time: "This official thinks that the Qin Wang is still too kind, and should be executed along with his entire clan!"

  The merchant is trembling with fear because of Gao Jue's sentence "to exterminate nine tribes", which is really too frightening!

  "Get up!" Li Yuanxing roared.

  The merchants were shocked, and several timid ones even urinated in their pants.

  Li Yuanxing's tone eased a bit: "This king is not here to interrogate this time, you don't have to be overly afraid. Those who need to change clothes go immediately, Zheng He, bring this king a cup of tea and also one for Lord Gao."

  Zheng He didn't just go to make tea, he also had people drag away those who needed to change clothes, these few businessmen were truly scared out of their wits.

  "It's calculated that a piece of silk placed in Rome is worth three thousand yuan. Of course, foreign merchants have also worked hard, after all, it takes more than a year to travel thousands of miles back and forth, earning some money is justified."

  "We'd rather die!" Li Quandao, the head of the silk merchants' guild, also fell to his knees in front of Li Yuanxing, and all the other silk merchants followed suit.

  "Alright, I've called you all here to discuss how we can put this money into our own pockets. By 'we', of course, I mean the Emperor, the Tang Dynasty, and also you hardworking merchants. We'll naturally have to give some of that hard-earned cash to the farmers as well. Do you understand my good intentions?" Li Yuanxing had just been wildly brandishing his stick, scaring the merchants half to death, so now when he spoke about making money, it was only natural that they would be extremely enthusiastic.

  The merchants who had been doing business for many years were not very afraid, because Li Yuanxing gave everyone a drink of immortal wine. If they really wanted to kill them, there would be no need to give them the immortal wine.

  Li Hui said first: "Your Highness is wise, this money will naturally stay in the Great Tang."

  Merchants are going crazy, ten times the profit can make them take risks, a hundred times the profit can make them desperate, and a thousand times the profit can make them dare to rebel. Now this is a thousand times the profit that is there, the fear in the hearts of merchants has completely disappeared, and next only madness remains.

  Li Yuanxing sat back down: "The first command of this king is that the silkworms are a top secret of the Great Tang. You must guard them as if they were your own treasury. If I find out that those foreign merchants have obtained this secret again, even if it's stolen, I won't show mercy."

  "Your Majesty King Qin can rest assured, we common people will keep this secret even if it means death."

  "Alright, very good!" Li Yuanxing nodded his head.

  After taking a sip of tea, Li Yuanxing's expression relaxed a lot: "This king will petition the Holy One to establish the Great Tang Foreign Trade Bureau. From now on, the prices of goods sold to foreign merchants will be set by the Trade Bureau, and this Trade Bureau will leave two positions for each of your trade associations, without rank, to assist the Trade Bureau in making money."

  "Long live King Qin!"

  "The first commodity is silk, with standardized specifications and unified prices. Unified tariffs for foreign merchants. Among the merchant associations, the top three silk producers will be awarded the title of 'Imperial Silk'! Just like your Li Huishou's Qingyuan Silk Workshop in Huzhou, it can be named as the Great Tang Imperial Qingyuan Silk. However, Li Huishou should not get too excited, this qualification needs to be competed for, there is no privilege, and this title will be re-evaluated every three years!"

  "Long live King Qin!"

  "There are seven more, selling a lot of good goods to foreign merchants, with high commercial taxes. Named as the Great Tang Imperial Court. A major evaluation every three years. The first place can get a county baron title, and those who get the top three places for three consecutive years can inherit and upgrade their titles."

  Li Yuanxing finished speaking, and the crowd shouted again: "The King of Qin is wise!"

  "After careful consideration and discussion among the Chamber of Commerce, I will make a final decision. My principle is that the silk of the Great Tang Dynasty should be the only one in the world, the silk of the Great Tang Dynasty is gold, and the silk of the Great Tang Dynasty must be used to exchange for precious things from foreign countries, including gold, silver, copper coins, and anything valuable."

  "Long live King Qin!"

  Li Yuanxing was very satisfied with this result. Gao Jian had already stayed, and Qin Wang was not only wise, but also a heavenly talent.

  Li Yuanxing sat down and leaned in close to Gao Jian: "Lord Gao, you should plan carefully. In my opinion, one million guan per year is just the starting point, we must earn more."

  "Yes! It must be over a million strings!" Gao Jianxin said, it seems that Qin Wang still underestimates the enthusiasm of these businessmen for money. Such profits, such opportunities, as long as they are well managed. The fact that the Tang Dynasty's annual revenue is only one hundred million strings is indeed a small amount, Qin Wang must not know how many bolts of silk the Tang Dynasty sells every year.

  Gao Jiong's goal was that the Tang Dynasty would sell silk to foreign countries alone and earn an annual income of 30 million guan.

  As for keeping the secret of silk, as long as one dares to pick up a knife and merchants understand the importance of secrecy, it's absolutely not a problem.

  The merchants of the Jinshang Commercial Association have gone crazy.

  Li Yuanxing stood up again, it was time for him to leave, and next was Gao Jian's negotiation with the merchant. After getting up, Li Yuanxing said: "Cotton is the first, who is the second? Is it porcelain, tea leaves, or something else? This king is looking forward to it!"

  The King of Qin is wise and enlightened!

  Amidst a chorus of cheers, Li Yuanxing walked away with small, square steps.

  As Li Yuanxing returned to the Qin Wang Fu to taste tea and ordered the kitchen to make a few more small dishes, the shock he brought to the Tang Dynasty had just begun.

  The first shock is fire prevention, theft prevention and prevention of foreign invasion.

  Even the young waiters at the wine house know that matters of the Great Tang should not be casually discussed with foreigners. If you take a little bribe, it's like losing face for the Great Tang. Seriously, if you accidentally reveal some secret, it's a matter of killing your whole family. This kind of talk is impossible for ordinary people to say, but when it comes out of the mouth of the Qin King of the Great Tang, it must be true.

  Not to mention ordinary civilians, even the aristocratic families who received the news attached great importance to it and issued strict orders. If a servant of the family violated Qin Wang's rules, he would be beaten to death with sticks. Ordinary tribesmen were given poisonous wine, and even important tribesmen would be severely punished.

  Li Yuanxing did not expect that this order would shock even the aristocratic families!

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