Time Travel: I am the idle king Li Shen and Li Shimin in the Tang Dynasty

At the time, Li Shen was unaware of the situation, so he asked for the reason.

Consort Wei told Li Shen that Li Mengjiang had mentioned during a conversation that she wanted Li Shen to help the Zhou family.

Li Mengjiang didn't want Zhou Daowu to feel ashamed.

Over the years, Li Mengjiang has come to know Zhou Daowu very well. Zhou Daowu is an honest and upright man, too much like a gentleman.

Li Mengjiang's dowry was so large that even selling the entire Zhou family wouldn't be enough.

All the expenses of the princess's residence have always been borne by Li Mengjiang herself; Zhou Daowu's meager salary is completely insufficient to cover the operation of the princess's residence.

Li Mengjiang was worried that if too much time passed, Zhou Daowu would feel that he owed her too much, which would affect their relationship.

When Li Shen heard this, he scoffed at Zhou Daowu, saying that a man who wouldn't even eat a woman's rice wasn't a real man.

If someone had been his sugar daddy in his past life, Li Shen would have felt an insult to himself if he had hesitated for even a second.

They would have rushed over and groveled at the first sign of trouble. What manliness and gentlemanly conduct?

Li Shen hadn't expected that Zhou Daowu was still such a chauvinist with such a strong sense of self-esteem.

Consort Wei told Li Shen that no special care was needed, just do it casually.

Consort Wei knew that with her son's current abilities, he could very well elevate the Zhou family, just like her own four cousins ​​had done.

Consort Wei does not want the Zhou family to rise in power because of Li Shen, which may not be a good thing for Li Mengjiang and Li Shen.

All that's needed is for Li Shen to lend a little help.

Li Shen, of course, would not refuse his mother's request and immediately nodded in agreement.

So today, when Li Shen was selling rice, he suddenly thought of the Zhou family.

"Your Highness, I've suddenly understood. From now on, when we sell tea, we can also sell teaware, and when we sell wine, we can give away wine cups."

Wang Hongfu has truly understood.

Li Shen nodded in satisfaction:

"That's right, that's exactly what I meant. So now you know why I asked Zhou Daowu to set up a ceramics workshop, right?"

"The prince means to buy the earthenware pots from the prince consort, and we will sell them together with the rice."

Wang Hongfu immediately understood.

"Yes, we'll price each earthenware pot at fifty coins, and ask them to make several different styles."

Even pottery must be exquisite in appearance, and look elegant and mysterious.

As for the designs, they were asked to discuss them with the Taoists, and the designs should mainly feature auspicious clouds and mythical beasts.

We need to produce different styles and patterns, and the materials must be the best; the price can be increased further.

Remember, I want to see these pottery pieces that are utterly mysterious.

Lower-grade rice is sold alongside white rice, while higher-grade rice is sold in the premium section.

The price is no less than one standard currency.

Let them research the specific materials themselves; a single piece of ceramic is fine, or even porcelain... that's acceptable too.

Li Shen nodded again and explained his thoughts one by one.

Wang Xuance and Pei Mingli listened with great interest, while Wang Hongfu was writing furiously in his notebook.

"Your Highness, selling this pottery for one string of cash is a bit too expensive. Normal folk pottery only costs between a few dozen and two hundred coins."

"A single string of cash would probably be too expensive for ordinary people to afford."

Pei Mingli's family also owns businesses, so he has a good understanding of ceramics and related products.

Ceramics were generally used by ordinary people, while high-ranking officials and nobles used porcelain.

"I never intended to sell it to the common people at this price."

Mingli, you haven't been in Prince Ji's residence for long, so you don't yet know my management philosophy.

"Old Wang, tell Mingli, what is my business philosophy?"

Li Shen gave an instruction to Wang Hongfu.

Wang Hongfu hurriedly stood up, and said in a serious and solemn manner:

Our business philosophy is to only make money from the wealthy.

"Very good." Li Shen nodded in satisfaction and said to Pei Mingli:

“Mingli, did you hear that? The Ji Prince’s Mansion only makes money from the rich, not from the common people.”

A hundred ordinary people can't squeeze as much profit as a rich businessman.

Those wealthy merchants could easily take out tens of thousands of strings of cash without any problem.

How many people would it take to earn that back?

Pei Mingli was shocked to hear this. He never expected that Prince Ji would have such thoughts. No wonder, none of the properties in Prince Ji's mansion were intended for ordinary people.

No, Pei Mingli suddenly thought of the printing plant, the paper mill, and the cotton production workshop.

"Your Highness is wise; I was narrow-minded. But how do we sell this pottery to those merchants?"

A few strings of cash aren't expensive for a merchant, but a few strings of cash for a ceramic pot is a different story.

These merchants are all shrewd men; it would be difficult to fool them with just the prince's promise of gifts.

Pei Mingli didn't not want to sell; rather, he felt that if he couldn't sell it, the price of the goods should be proportional to the value of the product.

Li Shen glanced at Pei Mingli and sighed inwardly. Pei Mingli was still too young and hadn't grasped his business acumen.

You still need to exercise.

Thinking of this, Li Shen spoke up to explain for Pei Mingli:

"Mingli, you will assist Old Wang in this matter."

You're absolutely right, pottery isn't worth much, but what if we changed the name of the pottery pot? Would it sell better?

"Change the name? Does Your Highness mean to find someone to give this earthenware pot a more elegant name?"

Pei Mingli immediately asked, "This is not a strange thing. Often, restaurants and brothels like to hire people with literary talent to name them."

However, Li Shen shook his head:

"No, no, no, I don't need an elegant name. I want something more practical. What do you think if we added the words 'health-preserving' to this earthenware pot, wouldn't it be snapped up?"

"A health-preserving ceramic pot? That sounds quite appealing." Wang Hongfu repeated the name and nodded in approval.

"Just call it a health-preserving pot. Cooking rice in this pot has health benefits, and over time it may even prolong life."

Li Shen said with a smile.

"Cultivating Pot, what a great name, concise and to the point." Even Wang Xuance joined in the praise.

"At that time, the top-grade health-preserving pot will cost ten strings of cash each, and the ordinary ones will cost more than one string of cash."

You can decide on the style, glaze, and size yourself.

This was merely an idea I came up with on the spur of the moment, to give the Zhou family a chance.

This was just something Li Shen came up with on the spur of the moment, and he didn't really care about it. How much money could he make selling pots?

As long as it's higher than Zhou Daowu's salary, I'll consider it fulfilling my mother's wish.

"Yes, Your Highness, I have noted it all down and will certainly do my best to satisfy you." Wang Hongfu quickly bowed.

"Yes, it would be best to sell earthenware pots to other regions, such as the tribes in the north, to replace iron pots as much as possible."

You should know that iron can be used as a war reserve material in critical times, and iron pots can also be used to make weapons.

Although their current smelting technology is insufficient to create any good weapons, even broken weapons can kill, especially ordinary people.

Therefore, reducing their possession of ironware is of paramount importance.