As the saying goes, money can make the world go round, and this rule applies everywhere.
Of course, human diversity makes this truth occasionally inaccurate.
But for a VIP emperor like Liu Hong, there are no exceptions.
As long as you pay enough, you will become his VIP user. He will really help you with things and provide good after-sales service. For high-quality customers who have cooperated many times, he will also give discounts as appropriate to make the business prosperous.
There are not many emperors who respect business rules and still abide by them. I have to thank God for giving Liu Bei one.
Therefore, if you want to achieve great things, you must first fill Liu Hong's mouth and make him flow with oil. In this way, Liu Bei will be able to play by the rules of the Han Empire.
So Liu Bei decided to satisfy Liu Hong and give him dignity.
Liu Hui slowly stated Liu Bei's conditions.
"If this happens, you will only get 40% of the profits from selling salt, of which 10% will be taken for yourself, 30% will be used for the management of Liangzhou, raising troops and conquests, and the remaining 60% will be given to your Majesty for your disposal."
"oh?"
Liu Hong looked at Zhang Rang with some surprise, and Zhang Rang was also a little surprised.
"Xuande is busy with this, and he still has this skill of making salt by hand. But he only needs 10%, and the 30% is still used to govern Liangzhou?"
"The reason why the king made salt was not to obtain more wealth, but because the country was in dire straits and it would be too expensive to manage Liangzhou well."
Liu Hui said slowly: "Your Majesty often says that as a minister, you should share the worries of the country and the king, instead of causing trouble for the king. Therefore, if you can deal with it by yourself, you should deal with it yourself. If you really have no other way, you will ask for help." The court asked for help.
Now that I have this idea, I also want to increase the financial resources of Liangzhou. If Liangzhou can solve the financial expenses by itself, it will not have to trouble the court and embarrass His Majesty.
As for the envoy personally, he said that if the salt trade was successful, the wealth would be huge, and 10% would be enough for him to enjoy, and 30% would be used to govern Liangzhou. His Majesty and Zhang Changshi spent a lot of energy to expand the sales and smoothen the relationship, and they would take 60%. It is natural to succeed. In this way, we can share your majesty's worries and relieve Liangzhou's problem of insufficient funds. "
Zhang Rang listened and looked at Liu Hong.
After hearing this, Liu Hong was silent for a moment, then let out a long sigh and repeatedly slapped the table in front of him.
"If the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty had the heart to be loyal to the emperor and the country, why would the great Han be like this? Why would it be like this? Alas..."
Faced with Liu Bei's "loyalty to the emperor and the country" and Liu Xuande, who was so loyal and unparalleled, Liu Hong had nothing to say.
Don't worry, don't want more, just let it be. Otherwise, how can you be worthy of Liu Bei's sincerity?
Speaking of which, even the greedy Liu Hong couldn't help but feel moved for Liu Bei.
So he agreed to Liu Bei's advice and decided to follow Liu Bei's plan. In the future, the profits from selling salt would be divided into 40 and 60%, with Liu Bei taking 40% and Liu Hong taking 60%.
As for how the 60% of the profits will be divided among the great eunuchs such as Liu Hong and Zhang Rang, that is their own business. Liu Bei will not interfere or care about it, and let them operate by themselves. Anyway, no matter what the eunuchs do, they will never know. He got more money than Liu Hong.
However, this matter is only a preliminary agreement, and many of the issues Liu Bei mentioned need to be considered, such as the cost issue.
Liu Hong likes business and has done some research on it. He knows that if the cost is too high, profits will be reduced accordingly. Salt is mainly made by more people buying it. If the price is too high, everyone would rather eat cheaper but taste less delicious. Even if I buy old salt from Liangzhou, I won’t buy the delicious Liangzhou fine salt.
Therefore, the price of Liangzhou fine salt cannot be too high, at least it cannot be much more expensive than the old salt currently on the market.
But this involves cost issues.
Transporting salt from Liangzhou to Luoyang requires a large amount of freight and security fees. Coupled with the checkpoints along the way and the local checkpoints, it will definitely push up the cost of Liangzhou fine salt. The price cannot be lowered.
When it comes to issues of his own interests, Liu Hong began to resent these damn tax collection gates, especially those tax collection gates set up privately by the county itself.
That's just making money from him!
His money!
It's all his money!
They were all made off by those corrupt officials, and they didn't even share the profit with him at all!
His money! ! ! ! !
Whenever Liu Hong thinks of this, his heart aches, and he is extremely angry at the layers of exploitation by the corrupt officials at the court and local level.
But he can't abolish the tax collection just for this, otherwise the ministers in the court will definitely argue with him. If the opposition is too loud, it will be very troublesome.
So what to do?
To be honest, the eunuch was still smart. Zhao Zhong, who was drawn into a small group to solve the problem, gave Liu Hong an idea.
That is to stipulate Liangzhou fine salt as a royal tribute, and then ask Liu Bei to transport the fine salt to Sanfu and Sanhe for sale in the name of tribute, so as to avoid tax collection.
Liu Hong didn't understand this.
"The tribute doesn't require so much salt, right? That's salt that needs to be sold to millions of people, so the quantity must be huge. Tribute? Will anyone believe it?"
Zhao Zhong smiled.
"It doesn't matter whether you believe it or not. What's important is that it's a royal tribute. Who dares to tax the royal tribute? As long as they know that this is a royal tribute and that it belongs to His Majesty, what else can they say? "
"What if some officials openly object?"
"That doesn't matter, just let them oppose. As long as Your Majesty ignores them, what can they do? Can they still send people to intercept or rob the royal tribute? If they really dare to do this, then they will be held accountable, Dongyuan It’s not like eating dry food.”
Zhao Zhong glanced at Zhang Rang.
Zhang Rang grinned, looking particularly cool.
Liu Hong thought for a moment and felt that it really meant that.
What matters is not the quantity, but the name of the tribute. With this name, it is a special duty-free product for the royal family. No matter how big the quantity is, regardless of whether it is for sale or not, neither the imperial court nor the local county and state can levy taxes.
Otherwise, it would be a blatant slap in the emperor’s face.
Slap the emperor in the face?
How many brains do you have?
Moreover, the tribute is mainly in name. The emperor said hello and did not allow the checkpoint to collect taxes. How dare the checkpoint disobey the order?
Although it will inevitably be controversial in the name of tribute, at least it sounds better.
As for the nonsense about competing with the people for profit, Liu Hong has heard a lot of it over the years, but he doesn't really care about it. His love of money is not something that happens every day or two. He knows that the outside world has criticized him for his love of money. Fame is just a hair away.
At the worst possible outcome, let the vicious dogs out in Dongyuan bite for a while, divert the conflict, and the problem would be solved.
When it comes to making money, Liu Hong can patiently find a solution and execute it no matter how troublesome it is. As long as he has real money, there is nothing Liu Hong cannot do.
Besides, if Liu Bei can use this money to govern Liangzhou, reduce the burden on the court, and share the worries of the king, then Liu Hong can also use this money to "govern the world," right?
So Liu Hong felt happy and praised Zhao Zhong highly.
Having figured out the matter, Liu Hong explained the matter to Liu Hui and asked Liu Hui to go back and tell Liu Bei, and then discuss some details with Liu Bei. After the discussion, he came back to Luoyang to tell him the news and implement the matter as soon as possible. .
"You went back and told Xuande that he took me into his heart and that he had not forgotten his loyalty to the emperor and the country even when he was far away in Liangzhou. I was very touched by this sentiment and I will also take him into my heart. If anything happens in the future that will be more difficult, you Let him speak, and I will help him if I can."
The king of a country was bribed with benefits. After saying these words, Liu Hui was also shocked on the outside and tender on the inside.
However, Liu Hong said so, and Liu Hui fulfilled his mission and soon returned to Liangzhou to return his orders to Liu Bei.
