"This is a card table, and together with the wooden cards, it is a new type of gambling equipment."
Hearing His Highness the Crown Prince mention gambling equipment, some generals who loved gambling suddenly became interested.
This time, not only Xiao Dezhao, but also Yang Yi frowned.
Open a gambling house? Unlike a restaurant, if you open a gambling house, it will definitely affect the reputation of His Highness the Crown Prince!
Before the two people could remonstrate, Li Xian took out something like an imperial edict from a drawer of the card table, unfolded it and said: "Opening a gambling house in isolation is naturally different from other gambling houses. The second floor of Juxian Building Different from other gambling houses, we only provide gambling equipment and testimonials, we do not act as a banker, and it is up to you to choose who will participate in the gambling game."
Since His Highness the Crown Prince has set up a gambling table, he must play it.
Cheng Wuting stepped forward to take the regulations from Li Xian's hand, unfolded them and read: "The first article is that no one is allowed to pay, and offenders will strip off all their clothes and parade around the streets to spread the word to all Chang'an. The second article is that it is forbidden to default on debts. Those who default on debts will be punished." Six teams were dispatched to forcibly ransack homes to pay off their debts."
Just after reading these two sentences, many people looked embarrassed. Of course, more people are happy about it.
On weekdays, even if you like to gamble, at most you can just hang out with people you are close to. As for the gambling house, you absolutely don't dare to go there. Anyone with a discerning eye knows what kind of place it is.
However, always playing with people close to you avoids the possibility of cheating, but there are always some deadbeats.
He kept going back and forth, so that he was the one who won the money, but he didn't get much money.
Now that His Highness the Prince has specially provided such a gambling venue, especially forcing gamblers to know their accounts, this can save a lot of trouble.
As for those scoundrels who come to the house asking for a bet but don't pay for it, they have the ability to come here to gamble. If you dare to default on the prince's business, you won't be afraid of having your home confiscated.
"Article 3: Anyone who wins money, no matter how much, must give 20% to donate to the victims. The invoice of the donation will be open and transparent. Those who receive the disaster relief money will also know the source of the money."
Just this one item made both Xiao Dezhao and Yang Yi shut up.
Since the prince opened a gambling house for the victims of the disaster, there was no problem. Although opening a gambling den is a bad thing, no matter how bad it is, it can't compare to a kind act of disaster relief.
As for the gambler who heard the news, he only frowned slightly and then relaxed. Since the rule is that the person who wins pays 20%, it’s nothing. After all, the money won from gambling doesn't sound so good when it comes to it, and it feels a bit like getting something for nothing, but donating some money can give your family a good reputation.
In this matter, even if the person donating money is addicted to gambling, no one will make a fuss about this matter. Because once someone takes advantage of this matter, countless people will criticize him.
Suddenly, many people who usually like to gamble had money bags in their sleeves, and they were a little bit ready to move.
His Royal Highness's intention is very obvious. If you want to participate in the gambling here, you must first have a banquet here. However, this is nothing. Since there are good wines, good food, and places to gamble, it is natural to come and visit when you have nothing to do.
The following regulations were all about "not reminding others", which was a cliché, so Cheng Wuting put down the regulations, walked to the card table and said to Li Xian: "Your Highness, I don't know how to use this gambling tool." use?"
Li Xian pointed at Zhang Youcai and said, "He will be the manager of this building from now on. Just ask him."
After saying that, Li Xian handed the scene over to Zhang Youcai, retreated and returned to the case.
After all, not everyone likes gambling. Hao Chujun and others said goodbye and left because their respective government offices still had government affairs. Those who didn't like gambling also said goodbye and went home.
In this leaving trend, dozens of young people came upstream carrying several large boxes, which seemed particularly abrupt.
Soon, the box was carried not far from Li Xian.
Zheng Wen, the head of the Zheng family, came over with a smile: "Your Highness, I have business to discuss with Your Highness. Is it convenient?"
After saying that, he waved to several members of his clan.
The Zheng family opened the box and saw that it was full of copper coins.
After all, he had seen big scenes, so Li Xian was not scared by these copper coins.
We arranged this banquet today and specially invited family members just to do business with them. However, it was Zheng Wen who took the bait, which still made him a little unhappy.
If possible, he really wanted to change to another family. It would be better if this family didn't deal with the Zheng family.
Just when Li Xian was secretly worried, another group of children from aristocratic families arrived carrying boxes.
Like the Zheng family, they also brought a large amount of copper coins.
Li Yong looked at the boxes worriedly. With so much money, he didn't know if the floor on the second floor could bear it.
The head of the Wang family in Taiyuan came over, bowed his hands to Zheng Wen, and said with a smile: "Although Brother Zheng's money came early, my Wang family's money is not slow. How can I be willing to follow others for such a good thing?"
Since people only talked after serving meat dishes, Li Xian was still willing to give them better treatment.
He waved his hand and ordered the maid to arrange two cases and serve tea. After the two old guys sat down, Li Xiancai smiled and said: "I have already guessed what you two mean. Who has the most food in the world?" , naturally it is the Chang Pingcang of the imperial court. But if we want to say which family has the most unrecorded grain, it is naturally your family."
According to Zou Hao's idea, growing fruit to make wine can only be said to be a drop in the bucket. After all, the mainstream is grain wine, and not everyone likes fruit wine.
However, as a prince, he couldn't go against the Pingquan Department and Chang Pingcang, and he couldn't compete with the people for food.
Therefore, his target was naturally set on the aristocratic family.
When it comes to land annexation, the leaders are these aristocratic families. Hundreds of years of accumulation have made them all invisible rich. No one knows how rich the family is, not even the emperor. However, there is no doubt that their background is coveted even by the emperor.
Since there is plenty of land, there is naturally plenty of food. It is no exaggeration to say that 70% to 80% of the world's grain merchants come from aristocratic families. Controlling the ration business, it is difficult not to make money.
If it is a purchase of private grain, the Procurement Department and Changpingcang will take care of it. However, if it is a purchase of grain from aristocratic families, these two departments will not interfere. By then, no matter how much wine the winery brews, no one will care.
Only by ensuring the scale of brewing can we make money.
only....
Looking at the large amount of money boxes brought by the two family owners, Li Xian knew very well that as "capitalists" of this era, they had never thought about buying fish. They just wanted to make the fishing boat their own.
After taking another sip of tea, Li Xiancai said after seeing both of them smiling and saying nothing, "However, if you want to buy Gu Jiujiu's recipe, you are overthinking it. Gu is not prepared to hand over the recipe to others. I believe that if it is you, , wouldn’t do that either.”
Zheng Wen smiled slightly, but everyone could see the disdain in his smile: "Even if your Highness holds the prescription, I'm afraid there is no way to expand the scale. After all, you have no place to provide food. And if you If you want to buy from us, aren't you afraid that we will raise the price?"
This already falls into the category of shamelessness. This is using the resources at hand to force the prince to hand over the prescription!
Wang Qiong looked at Zheng Wen and didn't know what to say for a moment. Although the five surnames and Qiwang are seven families, they have always advanced and retreated together. Since Zheng Wen still wants to force the prince, he really can't take a step back.
However, Li Xian did not take Zheng Wen's threat seriously at all.
Putting the tea cup aside, Li Xian also smiled: "One of the sources of the family's income is the sale of grain. I don't believe that you raise the price for Gu, but you won't raise it for other families. If this is the case, the reputation of your Zheng family will be ruined." No more? Besides, even if you dare to do this shamelessly, do you think the royal family is vegetarian? If you disrespect Gu, you are disrespectful to the royal family. If you target Gu, you are disrespectful to the royal family!"
Just one word made Zheng Wen's expression change. Nowadays, the relationship between the Five Surnames Qi Wang and the Royal Family can be said to be as good as the other. The Royal Family has always opened its fangs towards the Five Surnames Qi Wang. If he really offends the Royal Family, he will not be dead, but he will definitely get rid of it. Skinny.
Gritting his teeth, Zheng Wen frowned and said, "Even if we can't increase the price, this is a business, and we don't have to sell it to His Highness. Although His Highness is the crown prince, you can't buy or sell by force."
Li Xian nodded. He knew very well that if Zheng Wen called seven families for a meeting, no one from these seven families, including the noble groups they controlled, would dare to sell to him. It can even be said that even though Taizong suppressed and Gaozong suppressed, until now, the written status of the Five Surnames and Qiwang is lower than that of the royal family, but their actual status is still higher than that of the royal family.
only....
Faced with Zheng Wen's threat, Li Xian waved his hand, picked up the tea cup and stood up.
"It's not enough to talk about speculation. Since Mr. Zheng thinks that this deal can't be negotiated, and you even hope that the other seven companies can't negotiate with Gu, then let's not talk about it. Datang is very big, and you seven companies can't monopolize it. Everything. Although the Changpingcang of the imperial court cannot sell grain to orphans, if orphans want food, they can only buy it from aristocratic families. However, you are not the only seven families who are aristocratic families. "
"Shandong clan and Jiangnan gentry clan, although you are all aristocratic families, you Zheng Wen also have the ability to make the other five surnames and six families advance and retreat together with you, but you can't order them."
"Believe it or not, as long as I reveal this business, they will come to see me with heavy gifts, instead of carrying a few broken boxes just to buy prescriptions and eat up all the benefits."
"Originally, I was thinking about letting go of my previous prejudice against you and negotiating a business deal, which would make everyone happy. However, since I want to make a delicious meal, you are carrying a pile of rotten vegetable leaves and want to get involved. , then there’s no need to get involved.”
"Zheng Wen, you have tasted the taste of this strong liquor. You should know that as long as this strong liquor comes out, even if it is slightly lowered, it will not be comparable to traditional turbid liquor. Especially the merchants selling Sanlejiang in the Western Regions, they They control how big the market is in the Tang Dynasty... Oh, you don’t understand the market, just think about how much money they made from the Tang Dynasty. I can guarantee that after the advent of spirits, they will only make more money than them. many."
Hearing this, Zheng Wen's frown deepened, while Wang Qiong looked regretful.
Throwing the teacup in his hand onto the case, Li Xian said to Li Yong on the side: "See you off."
After saying that, he was ready to go to the gambling table to have a look. If possible, participate in it and deliberately lose some so that these "guests" will strengthen their confidence to come back next time. Anyway, for the opening of Juxian Building this time, all the civil and military officials gave gifts, and they were all heavy gifts. It would be okay to give some back.
As for Zheng Wen and Wang Qiong, there really is nothing to say to them. I am not a fool. Although I have never formally studied business, I still understand the principle of good driving out bad.
The price of spirits cannot be low. Although it will occupy some of the sinking market, it cannot occupy all of it, so it will have little impact on domestic brewing merchants. On the contrary, as the so-called "foreign high-quality Sanlejiang", because they deal with beards, they occupy the market. Even if their family is ruined, it doesn't matter to me.
As long as the method of distillation to increase the alcohol content is not leaked, then your emerging spirits can completely occupy all the markets in Datang. The scale of such an industry cannot be underestimated even by the emperor.
Zheng Wen had a very good idea. If this property was really sold to him, he, the future emperor, would regret it sooner or later.
Seeing that the prince had given the order to see off the guests, Zheng Wen stood up, snorted coldly, and left with his tribe.
But Wang Qiong did not move. Instead, he drank a cup of tea leisurely, then stood up and said to Li Yun, who was looking at him with a bad look on his face: "Manager, these boxes I brought this time are for the prince." Please pass on His Highness’s gift. As for me, I plan to visit His Highness the Crown Prince in the East Palace on another day. Is that okay?”
Hearing this, Li Yun glanced at the boxes carried by the children of the aristocratic families. If they were filled with copper coins, these copper coins would have to be hundreds of coins. Hundreds of coins were gifts. Well, it would be inappropriate not to accept them.
Li Yun cupped his hands and said, "His Highness is very busy on weekdays. If you want to ask for an interview, you have to do so at noon. As for when we will receive him, we will have to ask His Highness and we will inform you at your residence separately."
Wang Qiong didn't think there was anything wrong with this arrangement, so she stood up and said with a smile, "In that case, I'll take care of it."
After saying that, he also left with his children.
It is not uncommon for a dead Taoist friend to die but a poor Taoist. Although Zheng Wen let the words out, Wang Qiong felt that there was no need for him to be stupid with this old bastard. Just like the prince said, if a cooperation can really be achieved, no matter what kind of cooperation, even if it is just selling food, the Wang family will be able to make a lot of profits.
After all, not all the food in the family's granary is sold. A lot of it will accumulate and go bad. In the end, the better ones will be fed to chickens and ducks, and the completely broken ones will have to be thrown into the mountains and forests.
The matter of "pouring milk" has happened in ancient and modern times.
