Li Shimin stroked his short beard and nodded with satisfaction. Then the conversation changed, he patted Qin Ming on the shoulder and asked with a smile:
"My dear nephew, I heard that you made a big deal with the Shandong nobles yesterday? Did you make a lot of profit from it?"
What was supposed to come came.
Fortunately, Qin Ming was prepared for this question. He sighed and smiled bitterly at Li Shimin:
"Hey, Your Majesty! Wei Chen has no choice but to do this! If Wei Chen had other methods, Wei Chen would never sell the formula cheaply!"
When Li Shimin heard this, his mouth twitched.
[That’s 300,000 yuan? Is this considered a bargain? If you have the ability, let me see if you can sell your business cheaply at this price! 】
But as the king of a country, Li Shimin must not put these inner thoughts on the table, otherwise he will appear to be petty.
But this is not the point. The point is the meaning expressed by Qin Ming's words. It seems that he himself is not willing to sell this formula.
Thinking of this, Li Shimin raised his eyebrows and asked in a bad tone:
"What do you mean by my nephew's words? Could it be that you were coerced by the Shandong nobles? Were they forced to sell the formula?"
As soon as these words came out, needles could be heard in the hall. Queen Changsun, Li Chengqian, Princess Jinyang, and Baili Zhi all turned their attention to Qin Ming.
Qin Ming looked at Li Shimin with angry eyes, shook his head and sighed:
"It's not that the Shandong nobles forced Wei Chen. The main reason why Wei Chen sells the formula is to adapt to the future development of the Tang Dynasty."
Li Shimin became even more confused when he heard this. He glanced at Qin Ming, his words full of doubts and disbelief.
"For the development of the Tang Dynasty? Where do you start talking about this? Is it possible that you want to create a clever name to fool me?"
When Qin Ming heard this, he stamped his feet and said sadly:
"Your Majesty, you must speak with your conscience! Ever since I entered the imperial court, I have always put the interests of the Tang Dynasty first. For this reason, I don't even care about the damage to my own interests!"
"Aren't you afraid of chilling the hearts of all the soldiers when you say this?"
Li Shimin's eyes twitched, and he said with a sharp expression:
"You kid, how dare you criticize me? I have never treated a meritorious official badly in my life! If you don't make this clear today, I will never forgive you!"
"I want to hear it. Why are you selling cement formulas related to the development of Datang?"
Qin Ming explained calmly after hearing this:
"Now that the Changlan Cement Road is about to be completed, many nobles and nobles in Chang'an City have gone to Zhuangzi to talk to Wei Chen about contracting the cement road. Your Majesty must have heard about it, right?"
Li Shimin nodded slightly, then stretched out his palm to signal Qin Ming to continue.
"This means that the bidding plan previously proposed by Wei Chen and His Majesty can be implemented immediately."
Li Shimin nodded again. These days, the reason why he was in the court and blocked the impeachments for Qin Ming from the Yushitai was because before the construction of Changlan Cement Road started.
Qin Ming once went to the palace city to find him. At that time, Qin Ming not only asked him to make Ma Zhou the deputy director of the Road and Bridge Department, but also discussed with him in detail the bidding plan for the cement road.
Moreover, Qin Ming also vowed at that time that within three months of the completion of Changlan Road, it would bring at least 500,000,000 yuan in revenue to the court.
So these days, Li Shimin pays close attention to the progress of the Changlan Cement Road project every day.
In order for the imperial court to obtain the 500,000 yuan as soon as possible, he hoped that the Changlan cement road could be built as soon as possible than anyone else.
Qin Ming saw Li Shimin nodding, so he continued:
"So, as long as the Department of Roads and Bridges completes the bidding for the Changluo Cement Road, the Changluo Cement Road can start construction. Your Majesty, think about it, the Changluo Cement Road is more than 800 miles long."
"In order to quickly build the entire section of the road, we must build multiple cement workshops along the line from Chang'an to Luoyang. In this way, it will not only boost the economy along Chang'an and Luoyang, but also increase the income of the local people. "
Li Shimin nodded slightly.
"My nephew is right, but what does this have to do with you selling formulas?"
Qin Ming sighed and said:
"Of course it does matter, because the more cement workshops there are in the future, the faster Chen's formula will be leaked."
"After all, money moves people's hearts! I can't lock up all those craftsmen, and I can't not open those new workshops for personal gain."
"There is nothing I can do. Since the formula will be leaked sooner or later, I might as well sell it to a famous family and make a profit first! Hey, let's just stop the loss in advance!"
Li Shimin chewed these words carefully, and then suddenly realized, and all the resentment in his heart was wiped away.
At this moment, he felt that Qin Ming had done a good job, because this deal had changed its direction and defrauded the Shandong nobles.
After thinking about all this, a trace of shame flashed across Li Shimin's eyes.
He patted Qin Ming's shoulder and said in a gentle tone:
"My good nephew, you are indeed the pillar of our Tang Dynasty. I am very pleased that the Tang Dynasty has such a loyal minister like you!"
Qin Ming bowed and said:
"The humble minister is just living off the emperor's salary and is loyal to the emperor! He did what he should do. Your Majesty, this is ridiculous."
Li Shimin laughed loudly when he heard this, patted Qin Ming on the shoulder and said:
"Okay, okay, a person who eats the emperor's salary and is loyal to the emperor is a good thing. My nephew said it well. For your words, let's have a drink together."
Upon hearing this, Empress Changsun glanced at Yuechan beside her.
Yuechan understood and immediately walked up to Qin Ming and Li Shimin with the tray.
Li Shimin and Qin Ming picked up the wine bowls, bumped them lightly, and drank them all in one gulp.
Li Shimin wiped his mouth and said with a smile:
"My dear nephew, please continue to eat."
After speaking, Li Shimin returned to his seat.
Qin Ming looked at Li Shimin's background and let out a long breath.
Qin Ming had just sat down when Li Chengqian, who was diagonally across from him, picked up his wine bowl and said to Qin Ming with a smile:
"Brother Ming, I'll give you a toast."
Qin Ming nodded and was about to reach for the wine bottle when Si Zi across from him jumped over.
"Brother Ming, Sizi will pour you some wine."
Qin Ming raised his head and saw the lively and cute little Princess Sizi running towards him. Qin Ming patted the futon next to him and said with a smile:
"Sizi, sit here."
Princess Jinyang nodded with a smile, knelt down next to Qin Ming, then held the wine flask with both hands and poured a bowl of wine for Qin Ming.
Qin Ming reached out and rubbed Si Zi's little head and said thank you.
Then he picked up the wine bowl and started drinking with Li Chengqian.
Li Shimin, who was originally in a happy mood, suddenly became unhappy when he saw this scene.
Queen Changsun on the side couldn't help laughing when she saw this scene.
After thinking about it, she picked up the wine pot, poured a bowl of wine for Li Shimin, then picked up the tea cup and said softly:
"I would like to offer you tea instead of wine. Congratulations to Erlang for meeting a good minister."
...
