What is this place? There are still some barren mountains and ridges, which are obviously the market.
"What's going on here?"
Ying Zheng said "this" three times in a row, with a look of disbelief on his face.
These days, although I have been staying in the secret palace, I know the surroundings of Shanglinyuan very well. It turns out that this place is definitely not a market. Although there is a cement road passing through this place, it is just a place for idlers and passers-by to stay.
But what I saw at this moment was completely different.
Shang Xin quickly explained: "Your Majesty, this is a newly opened market in Shanglin Garden, specially for the founders of Afang Palace."
"Used by civilians?"
It was noon at this moment, and the sun was scorching but not hot. It was a little soft, reflecting the lively market. This is the time for the people to have lunch.
A few years ago, due to limited food in Daqin, people generally had two meals a day, that is, morning food and feast food. Even the two meals depended on the person. However, since the popularization of Shanglinyuan rice, corn, sweet potatoes, etc., people have sufficient food. of food gradually turned into three meals.
When lunch arrived, all the citizens of Afang Palace gathered, almost crowding the entire market.
"Exactly!"
"Look, there must be 200,000 civilians!" Ying Zheng estimated with a slight click of his tongue. There are just too many people.
"To be precise, it's three hundred thousand civilians." Shang Xin corrected.
"Three hundred thousand?"
Ying Zheng was surprised again! At that time, he only asked Li Zhao to be responsible for the construction of Afang Palace, and did not limit the number of civilians he would hire. Now 300,000 seems to be too much.
Even in the past when corvee labor was required, there were not so many people.
"How much will it cost?"
Ying Zheng began to think. He had heard before that Li Zhao hired civilian laborers and paid them a monthly salary. It seemed that the monthly salary for each person was how much, but he couldn't remember exactly. It seemed to be several hundred dollars.
A few hundred dollars per person per month, what about 300,000 people? He found that he couldn't calculate how much it cost per month.
"Ten thousand dollars a month!"
Shang Xin helped him calculate it.
Tens of millions of money, this amount is difficult to come by, people only make rough calculations, it may be infinite, or it may exceed 100 million, which is an astronomical number.
This shows the huge cost.
"Ten million dollars?" Ying Zheng couldn't help but feel heartbroken after hearing this. Ten million dollars is completely incomparable to the treasury income. "It's hard for Li Zhao. I'm afraid I spent everything for my Afang Palace! I'm so ashamed! "
I felt infinite emotion in my heart and blamed myself very much.
Hearing this, Shang Xin showed a strange look in his eyes again. This time he couldn't hide it anymore, otherwise His Majesty would find out and he would be punished with deception.
"Your Majesty, in fact, although Shanglin Garden costs so much money, its income is also high."
"High income?" Ying Zheng glanced at Shang Xin, full of displeasure.
They can say that anyone has a high income, but they cannot say that Li Zhao has a high income. Even if Shanglinyuan earns ten thousand dollars a month, in the end he still cannot make ends meet.
Tens of thousands of dollars is not comparable to tens of thousands of gold.
"Your Majesty, if you don't believe me, just look at the market." Shang Xin took the courage to point to the market, "That's a restaurant. Three hundred thousand people eat here. How much does your Majesty say you can earn per day?"
"This?" The emperor shook his head. He couldn't estimate it at the moment.
"You can make millions of dollars a day, but what about a month?" Shang Xin asked.
Ying Zheng muttered, "One month is tens of millions of dollars, which is indeed a lot."
"Your Majesty, take a look again. In addition to restaurants, there are also various businesses there, including clothes sellers, hotels, etc. There are endless people stepping into them. How much income does your Majesty think there is?"
Ying Zheng scanned the huge market and was speechless. In addition to restaurants, what he saw were also many people selling clothes and living in hotels. These also had income! I don’t know how many there are, there must be quite a few!
"There are also trains. Does your Majesty know how many people take them every day?"
Ying Zheng thought along the lines of Shang Xin's explanation, and then scanned the sea of people, including many non-citizens. Some of these people were coming to Shanglin Garden by train!
If this is the case, the train will be full every day, which will also be a lot of income.
The more I look at it, the more I can't react. After saying this, it seems that this market has a huge income.
"Think about it again, Your Majesty, the 300,000 civilians are actually only 300,000 people?"
Ying Zheng was confused by Shang Xin's question. Originally, Shang Xin was just a slave beside him, and he only needed to answer, but now he was being led by the nose.
"It should be more than that."
"That's right, the civilian husband has his family, and the arrival of the civilian husband will also bring his family to the market. There are definitely more than 300,000 people. Then they also have to eat, wear and live. This all costs money. This is another sum of money. Big income.”
"And this market belongs to Shanglinyuan. Even if he spends tens of millions of his monthly salary, his income will make up for it by several percent. In this way, it is not a big expense."
Ying Zheng nodded slightly when he heard this. Indeed, it does not cost much to say this. He couldn't help but smile bitterly and said: "I know that boy has worked hard for me, but I never thought that there was such a trick. I couldn't think of it!"
"Your Majesty." Seeing that the emperor accepted his statement, Shang Xin bowed slightly and said boldly, "I think that although General Li has paid so much, the rewards are also very generous."
"Why do you think so?" Ying Zheng wanted to hear Shang Xin's explanation.
Shang Xin did not respond directly, but pointed to the other side, on the other side of the Dian River. At this moment, tens of thousands of people were walking out of it, filing in like a procession, and were about to enter the restaurant.
"Does Your Majesty know who they are?"
Ying Zheng narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at the other group of people intently. He couldn't help but wonder, who are they? Tie Ying seemed to have disappeared during this period and did not report the situation in Linyuan in time. As a result, his eyes were dark and he had no idea who this person was.
Shang Xin saw the emperor's doubts and said: "It's the Shanglinyuan labor team."
"Shanglinyuan labor team? Not a citizen of Afang Palace?" The emperor was surprised.
"No, this belongs to Shanglin Garden, and it is specially built for Shanglin Garden."
"What is a villa?"
The emperor heard another new term.
"I don't know, I just heard Li Jinong talk about it being a house for people to live in."
"The villa turned out to be a house, so it must be that kid's new gadget." Ying Zheng suddenly realized, but Shang Xin didn't answer his question, so he glared at Shang Xin.
Shang Xin was frightened and quickly made a long story short: "Li Jinong said he would sell these villas to noble people, and the prices are high. Wouldn't this be a big return?"
Ying Zheng asked: "Why is the price so expensive?"
"Li Jinong said it's a hundred gold for a villa."
"What?" Ying Zheng's eyes widened when he heard this, full of disbelief. After a moment, he shook his head and even sneered, "A hundred gold? It's so expensive, will anyone buy it?"
"This isn't a reward at all, it's just adding to the chaos, huh! That guy seems to be doing things in a down-to-earth way, but he's just arrogant."
Originally, Shang Xin said this to make the emperor feel less guilty about Li Zhao, but he did not know that it was self-defeating. Not only did he make his majesty angry, but he also caused disaster to General Li. He never expected it.
He knew the emperor well, so he quickly kept silent and stood aside respectfully.
"You, you, you just don't understand Li Zhao's heart for me. This is loyalty, not reporting. In order to make me feel at ease, he spent huge sums of money to rebuild the Afang Palace for me, and built a villa on the other side. He must be afraid of my loneliness. That’s why I came up with such a strategy to retain people.”
"Good intentions! But, alas! Care leads to chaos. Who is willing to buy it for a hundred gold? It just increases the cost."
"Of course, of course!" Shang Xin quickly nodded in agreement, feeling that his thoughts were still immature, and His Majesty could see clearly and caught them with one glance.
"Hey! Although this place can bring some income to Li Zhao, it is far less than the monthly salary of a common man. This trip and this move are really a righteous man of our country, the Qin Dynasty, and should be remembered as meritorious."
"Also, you also need to share the burden for Li Zhao. By the way, when Meng Yi's 20,000 troops return, let them eat and drink here for ten days, so as to increase Li Zhao's income."
"Promise, I will take care of it."
After doing this, Emperor Cai felt better and wanted to visit Epang Palace.
"Let's go! Come with me to the Epang Palace. It's been more than ten days. I guess the old building should be renovated!"
(End of chapter)
