My father, Li Shimin, please call me Crown Prince

Chapter 126 Li Shimin wants to invest in the crown prince
"Even if I sold all my property, I still couldn't come up with that much money."

Changsun Wuji shook his head like a rattle.

I just heard it and immediately rejected it.

Li Chengqian narrated calmly, "Of course, I don't want my uncle to pay for everything. I also asked Zhao Jie, Du He, and the King of Han to join in. My uncle can also ask some people to share the burden."

"This is a business that will make a lot of money in the long run. If it really works, the profit will be no less than that of Bing Si's business. It's just that the initial investment is slightly larger."

Changsun Wuji was skeptical and asked, "Your Highness, where can you sell all the coal you have mined? In Chang'an, the people mainly rely on firewood, and coal is not widely used."

Li Chengqian asked, "What if there is no firewood in Chang'an and the people can only buy coal?"

Zhang Sun Wuji was a little surprised: "What do you mean by this, Your Highness?"

Li Chengqian did not talk to Changsun Wuji about protecting the ecological environment and absorbing hidden populations.

Instead, he said, "That's what I mean. After the coal mined in Jinzhou is delivered to Chang'an, the Gou Dun Office will directly purchase it at a price slightly lower than the market price. The firewood provided to all officials will also be changed to coal."

"In addition, as coal mining increases, the surplus after supplying the officials in Chang'an will be invested in the East and West Markets."

"As long as the amount of coal mined can steadily supply the needs of the people of Chang'an, we will order the Gou Dun Office to ban logging. Then the people of Chang'an will have no choice but to buy all the coal."

"Uncle, think about it carefully. If all the people in Chang'an City used coal, what a huge market it would be. How huge would the profit earned from it be?"

"Fifty million coins is nothing. That would be fifty million coins, a hundred million coins. If the whole Tang Dynasty uses coal, it will be a business worth hundreds of millions of coins, comparable to the profits from salt and iron."

After hearing this, Changsun Wuji took a deep breath.

Li Chengqian picked up the tea on the table and took a sip.

Li Chengqian, who has the memory of his past life, knows what kind of business is the most profitable? That is the business that follows the national policy.

He himself is the crown prince, heir to the throne of the Tang Dynasty, and one of the important policy makers.

As long as the supply of coal can be increased, directly replacing the firewood in Chang'an City with coal will bring huge profits even if the prices are similar.

Of course, the profits of today's coal industry cannot be compared with those in the future. After all, mining is difficult here. But even if the profit is less, it is still an extremely terrifying number given the huge scale.

Moreover, it will promote the development of the entire coal industry, and while increasing its scale, it will also be able to continuously deepen technological innovation.

As coal mining, transportation and other aspects mature, costs will gradually decrease.

Zhang Sun Wuji pondered for a long time, and finally gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, Your Highness, I will invest in this coal business."

"It's just that as for the money, it will take some time so that I can attract other people to join in."

Li Chengqian asked, "How much does uncle plan to invest?"

Changsun Wuji thought about it, stretched out a finger, hesitated slightly, and then stretched out another finger.

That’s 20 million.

"Okay, uncle is straightforward." Li Chengqian said with a smile.

Chang Sun Wuji asked: "The 30 million from your Highness is not a small number, but it can be made up."

The prince said that there were people like King of Han, Du He, and Zhao Jie, but if all of them were put together, they would only number a few million at most.

As for the prince himself, there is no need to mention him.

In the previous two months, Zhang Xuansu would impeach him for spending 70,000 coins. Even if Bing Shop made a lot of money, it was only a few hundred thousand coins at most, which was far from 30 million coins.

Li Chengqian said calmly: "Of course it's not enough. We'll just take whatever we can get together. I'll ask my father to invest in the rest and take out tens of millions of dollars from his private treasury. Naturally, it won't be a problem."

Although there was no such thing as the emperor's treasury in the early Tang Dynasty, the emperor did have his own private treasury, which was different from the national treasury.

There was a lot of money in Li Shimin's private treasury.

Tens of millions of dollars is still easy.

After hearing this, Changsun Wuji understood.

The reason he agreed was that the first thing he considered was the possible political impact of coal mining.

In terms of political sense, Changsun Wuji is still very sensitive.

From the prince's words, we can see that this action is very big and it goes beyond simply affecting people's livelihood.

The Crown Prince must have discussed this matter with Your Majesty and obtained Your Majesty's consent.

Without the support of Your Majesty, how could the Crown Prince be so confident to change the expenses of all officials.

Although coal is easy to use, both nobles and ordinary people prefer to use charcoal, which does not produce the odor produced by burning coal.

Officials in the Tang Dynasty were rationed with firewood and charcoal every year. If they rashly changed it to coal, they would easily be impeached by all officials.

This pressure will definitely reach Your Majesty in the end.

If we can deal with Changsun Wuji, we will be basically stable.

Just as Changsun Wuji guessed, Li Chengqian was simply planning to get it for free and he himself could not afford the money.

Even if Du He, Zhao Jie and Li Yuanchang were to put together, they might not be able to raise a million dollars.

As for Li Dejian, there is no need to mention him.

Hou Junji is indeed rich, but Li Chengqian cannot take anything from him, and he cannot be too involved in public.

If you get too close to the general who commands the troops, that would touch Er Feng's bottom line.

Now, Li Chengqian naturally got the remaining money from Erfeng.

After leaving Changsun Wuji, he went straight to Taiji Palace.

"You've emptied out all his family assets."

"He is also confused. He is not afraid of losing everything."

After listening to the prince's story, Li Shimin couldn't help but sigh.

Changsun Wuji said that he wanted to form an alliance with others, but in fact Li Shimin knew that he could really come up with 20 million yuan.

Not only 20 million, even if I grit my teeth, I can pay all 50 million.

After all, he is the representative of the Guanlong clan. Even the reward given to him by Li Shimin is tens of millions of money.

Not to mention the large amount of fertile land and the various businesses of the Changsun family.

If it is the Five Surnames and Seven Families, then there is no need to mention it.

According to Li Shimin's understanding, the possible cost of building a sea ship for the King of Wei would be 200 million coins.

Of course, Li Shimin also knew that they were building their own ships in the name of King Wei.

Li Shimin was happy to see this happen, but after defeating Goryeo, the ships might not necessarily still be named after them.

"Did the Emperor agree?"

Li Chengqian asked directly.

He still had confidence in Erfeng. Erfeng was not very interested in coal mining, but taking in hidden populations and solving employment problems for the people would obviously be of great benefit to the Tang Dynasty.

These two points alone are enough to convince Erfeng.

"Of course, I will pay you whatever you want me to pay. If it's not enough, you can just take more."

Li Shimin said very straightforwardly.

Anything that benefits the Tang Dynasty and strikes a blow to the aristocratic families is a good thing.

Besides, the prince can't gain much power from this matter.

With Erfeng joining, the coal mine issue was finally settled.
-
Qinrenfang, Cui Mansion.

The butler hurriedly paid his respects to Cui Wensheng.

"Master, those two Koreans were followed."

Cui Wensheng was immediately startled and asked, "But can we find out who followed us?"

Colluding with Goryeo would be a crime of treason. If exposed, Cui Wensheng would have no choice but to leave Chang'an overnight and return to his family to save his life.

"He should be an official from Wannian County."

Cui Wensheng analyzed: "Lu Yizhong will not do this. The other county lieutenants are all familiar with me. If there is anything, they will definitely report it to me."

"The only one left is Ji Zhao, he is the prince's man."

The housekeeper was a little worried and said, "I wonder if they have found out the identities of those two Koreans. If they do..."

Cui Wensheng shook his head and said, "If he had already found out, the prince would have sent troops to surround my place instead of inviting me to a banquet yesterday."

“I just don’t know why they were targeted.”

The housekeeper thought for a moment and said, "Master, I heard that Ji Zhao has two servants under him, who are nobles from Silla."

"Did they recognize me?"

Cui Wensheng nodded: "If that's the case, then it's not surprising." "They probably don't know the reason yet, we still have time to deal with these troubles."

The housekeeper asked tentatively, "Master, do you want to get rid of these two Koreans?"

Cui Wensheng said: "How else can we kill the people in the government office? That will only bring more trouble."

"These two Koreans were not registered in the Honglu Temple. If they died, they died. No one would know about it. It wouldn't cause any trouble."

"In Chang'an City, if a few nameless foreigners died, who would dare to ask about the cause?"

"Quickly arrange for someone to get rid of them."

The butler immediately said, "Yes, Master."
-
Pingkang Square.

This is probably the most lively place in the entire Chang'an city.

Foreigners of different countries and different skin colors were walking around the gate.

The spacious streets are lined with shops, selling a wide variety of goods.

In addition to the East and West Markets, many places here are also specially allowed to buy and sell goods.

A Persian with a high nose, deep eye sockets and curly hair.

The tall, fair-skinned Sogdians, wearing narrow sleeves and waist-binding clothes in Central Asian style, came to Chang'an from the Silk Road, some leading camels loaded with goods, others carrying bulging bags on their backs.

A Arab merchant wearing a loose white robe, a white turban and a thick beard.

The Persian jewelry shop, the Arab spice shop, and the Sogdian silk shop are the most famous businesses in Pingkangfang.

Of course, there is the more famous Hu Ji.

The singing girls from the Western Regions are good at dancing the passionate and unrestrained Hu Xuan dance. The Hu girls from Central Asia are good at singing and dancing, with melodious voices and cool clothes. The exotic customs can be seen everywhere, making people linger.

Naturally, there were also many literati and scholars from the Tang Dynasty.

Here, you can often see foreigners and local scholars chatting and sharing their insights and stories.

The unique cultural fusion and the tolerance of the Tang Dynasty are fully displayed in Pingkangfang.

Perhaps it is because of the existence of Pingkangfang that it was called Chinatown in later generations.

"Where are the people?"

"Wan Guo Tavern."

"How come these damn Koreans ran over there? It's not easy to kill them."

"The Goryeo royal family probably brought a lot of money, wait?"

"The impact during the day is too great, so we'll attack after nightfall."

"We're waiting anyway, so why don't we go in and play first?"

"it is good."

Wanguo Tavern, the largest brothel in Pingkangfang.

There is no such term as brothel now, but the content is basically the same.

Here are the most beautiful women and the best wines from all over the world.

Silla maids, Kunlun slaves, all kinds of specialties are available.

As long as you have money, you can enjoy the best service.

It is said that Wanguo Tavern has a strong background in Chang'an City. Even if high-ranking officials from the court come, they dare not cause trouble. This is a good example.

This was not Ji Zhao’s first visit, but he had not been here very often either.

Following behind were Park Yiyun and Jin Ruixuan.

A few officers could only wait outside as they couldn't handle the large crowds.

The minimum cost for three pots of ordinary wine is 300 Wen.

You can only get a seat in the lobby to watch the free Hu Ji singing and dancing.

The private rooms upstairs cost several thousand dollars.

For some wealthy people, it is common to spend ten thousand coins.

Even when the prince came, I felt that I couldn’t afford the expenses.

"Don't just drink, watch the man carefully and keep a close eye on him."

"If you leak it, you will have to pay for the drinks."

Ji Zhao said viciously, feeling extremely distressed when he saw the two of them drinking.

If it were any other tavern, 300 coins would be enough to fill your stomach.

The monthly salary of a county lieutenant was only about 3,000 coins. Three pots of wine cost him ten days' salary.

Of course, the county lieutenant can also earn a lot of extra income, but this is unstable.

"I saw it. Over there. Wow, they went to the private room on the third floor. They are really rich."

Jin Ruixuan exclaimed in a low voice.

Ji Zhao looked over quickly and saw only two backs.

"County lieutenant, they may be sleeping here, what should we do?"

Pu Yiyun asked, his tone somewhat eager to try, if it were possible to eat and drink on public funds, that would naturally be the best.

Ji Zhao was a little conflicted as he had no way of asking the county magistrate for reimbursement of the money.

This is for the prince.

But talking about money with the prince doesn't seem so good.

But if I go outside to guard, it won’t be a problem either.

The Wanguo Tavern is well connected and has several doors besides the main gate.

There might be a secret door or something.

Standing here, I can't even bear drinking.

After hesitating for a moment, Ji Zhao said to Pu Yiyun, "Go tell the brother outside and ask him to report to the East Palace as soon as possible."

"Just say...just say that the influence of the Wanguo Tavern is too great, please give your instructions, Your Highness."

Hearing this, Pu Yiyun glanced at the pot of wine on the table that belonged to him, and said to Jin Ruixuan beside him: "Don't drink mine secretly, I'll be back soon."

Having said that, he immediately went to report.

The servants outside, who had been envious for a long time, hurried to the East Palace to report the situation.

In the East Palace, after hearing the news, Li Chengqian couldn't help but ask, "Wan Guo Tavern? Is it very famous? Ji Zhao is the county lieutenant of Wannian County. Isn't Pingkangfang also under his jurisdiction?"

Li Chengqian was not familiar with these local taverns. After all, if he needed any beautiful women, he could just have someone send them over.

Going to a tavern is too low-class.

"I heard he has a powerful background." The officer replied nervously.

Li Chengqian smiled. Talking about background with him in Chang'an City?
No matter how big he is, can he be bigger than the prince?

"What is the background of Wanguo Wine Shop?" This time Li Chengqian asked the eunuch Wen Zhong.

Wen Zhong replied: "It should have something to do with your majesty's private treasury."

Well, it’s indeed more important than his background as a prince.

However, according to Li Chengqian's opinion, Erfeng's property is his own property.

"Wen Zhong, go and give a message to the owner of Wanguo Tavern, asking him to cooperate with Ji Zhao's actions."

The eunuch Wen Zhong said respectfully, "Yes, Your Highness."

When Wen Zhong and his officers arrived at Pingkangfang, it was already curfew.

There is no curfew in Pingkangfang, but people are not allowed to leave thefang after curfew.

Of course, this was nothing to the eunuch Wen Zhong.

When he was with the prince, he was just a eunuch leader.

But once you leave the East Palace, things are completely different.

ps: It’s too late to update today for the monthly ticket, I will make up for it later. I’m currently owed two updates.

(End of this chapter)