In this era, when you are an official, you pay attention to not showing off your wealth. Whether it is the Gong Gong princes in the court or the police officers walking in the market, they all try to look as poor as possible. Even the doors of their homes may be in tatters.
Only, entering their backyard might be a big difference.
Although Juxian Tower serves the children of officials and noble families, because everyone is embarrassed to expose their family wealth, there are only a few who dare to directly consume.
Sihai Tower is different, because the people who entertain it are all wealthy businessmen and Hu businessmen. These guys, even for the name of "Prince's Restaurant", are willing to spend a lot of money in Sihai Tower, and even now, businessmen are negotiating with each other. For large transactions, banquets at Sihai Tower have also become the first choice.
If a businessman is entertained by another businessman at the Sihai Tower, it will be considered the highest level of entertainment. Therefore, the probability of successful negotiation will increase a lot.
"Why is Your Highness the Crown Prince looking at me like this? But my appearance has changed?"
It wasn't until Shangguanshi spoke that Li Xian smiled and said, "You have indeed changed your appearance, Shangguanshi. The achievements that Sihailou has achieved now are inseparable from your hard work. You can continue to work first, and wait until next year. If you open a house and restaurant in Chang'an, you won't need to worry about it every day."
Hearing this, Shangguan squatted down and saluted: "I would like to thank His Highness for your kindness. However, I am able to live well now because I have inherited His Highness's kindness. How dare I ask for more? I know that Your Highness has a kind heart. However, you can’t be too spoiled to your subordinates like me, you have to be strict when it’s time to be strict.”
"If you have merit, you will be rewarded, and if you make mistakes, you will be punished. This is Gu's way of governing. Although it only has eight words, as long as it is implemented thoroughly, who dares to say that it is useless? Shangguan, since you have made merit, you deserve it. Reward, as for when you make a mistake, I will not show mercy when I punish you."
Shangguan nodded, and this time he saluted, but he accepted the reward.
Looking at Zhang Youcai, Li Xian smiled and said: "As for you, I can reward you now, but I have to give you a choice. Do you choose to accept the reward now, or save it until the disaster relief is over? "
Zhang Youcai was stunned for a moment, then he raised his hands in salute and said without hesitation: "Your Highness, please reward your subordinates after the disaster relief work is over!"
Li Xian smiled and nodded. Regarding this choice, Zhang Youcai was also courageous.
Logically speaking, you need to be wary of subordinates who are too good, but he doesn't want to. He really wants to see how capable Zhang Youcai is.
There is no need for the boss to entertain the subordinates personally. After instructing the new businessmen to go back and wait for the summons, Li Xian took Zhang Youcai and Shangguanshi to the study of Li Zhengdian.
Zhang Youcai was extremely excited from the moment he entered the study.
Different from the summons in the martial arts arena, he was now summoned alone by His Highness the Crown Prince in the study. This showed that he had fallen into the Crown Prince's eyes.
Shangguan was equally excited, because when she entered the study, she saw her daughter.
Today, Shangguan Wan'er still looks beautiful, but her face looks much rounder than before.
Just looking at her appearance, you can tell that she has not endured hardship during this time.
Shangguan's love for his only child was extraordinary.
Seeing that both mother and daughter were inexplicably excited, Li Xian sat down and said with a smile: "This is not outside, you mother and daughter can do whatever you want. Go aside, you mother and daughter will talk first, I want to ask Zhang Youcai some questions."
Shangguanshi bowed and took the excited Shangguan Wan'er to the door of the study.
Open the account books of the two restaurants and other industries over this period of time. Don’t look at the messy items on them, just look at the profits.
That adds up to a profit of 50,000 yuan!
If it were normal times, Li Xian would definitely be shocked, but now, with disaster ahead, 50,000 yuan is simply a drop in the bucket.
In any case, the East Palace also has to pay part of the money. Although the Ministry of Revenue will give the money to the East Palace, it is not a good thing if the prince does not show concern for the country and the people at this time and does not share the emperor's worries. He is suspected of being a wealthy family.
After looking at the figure of 50,000 guan for a while, Li Xian said to Li Yun: "Take out 35,000 guan and count it as disaster relief money. Afterwards, officials from the Ministry of Revenue will come to the East Palace to carry money from the treasury. You call some eunuchs and count them carefully, and there must be no discrepancies."
When it comes to matters related to the treasury, once something goes wrong, it will mean that the yellow mud falls into the crotch. Therefore, it is better to waste some time than make the slightest mistake.
"As for the money transferred from the treasury to the East Palace, it will be used to buy food from the aristocratic family. Xiao Desheng, you are responsible for contacting those people from the aristocratic family. All money must be exchanged for food."
After hearing this, Xiao Desheng hesitated for a moment, raised his hands and asked: "Your Highness, if we do this, will the family reject it? After all, we have signed a contract with the family to do business and purchase grain. If they use the contract to Making a fuss..."
Li Xian smiled and said: "No, when we signed the contract with them, there was no stipulation that the grain we purchased can only be used to make wine. Besides, there are too many excuses to use when the treasury money comes to the East Palace. They all know this."
"The people who signed the contract with Gu are all the heads of each family. Although the head of the family is just a puppet of the family, the whole family is smeared by violating the contract. Even if they depose the patriarch and default on the debt, it is still useless. The family all They are so shameless, don’t worry, they will definitely send us all the food we need.”
Xiao Desheng thought for a while and said with a wry smile: "Originally, due to the drought in the Guannei Road, the grains shipped by each family were prepared to make a lot of money. Who knew that these grains would all be intercepted by His Highness."
After drinking a cup of tea, Li Xian smiled and said: "Even if we do business with Gu, they are still profitable, but they are not as profitable as hoarding goods. Of course, we still have to be wary of them and look carefully when receiving the goods. Look, don’t let them fool you with the oldest grains.”
Xiao Desheng smiled and said: "Don't worry, Your Highness, your contract stipulates that the lowest-quality food can only be one-year-old food. They can't make a fuss about it. There are no omissions in your contract. Don’t worry.”
Li Xian nodded. That contract was originally a contract that he would imitate for future generations. He had to go over it word by word before taking it out for use. I'm afraid even the old guys from the aristocratic family were surprised by the severity of the terms they made.
However, under the temptation of strong alcohol, they could only agree.
However, I just don’t know how they would feel when they find that their way to make money has blocked another way to make a lot of money.
After laughing evilly for a while, Li Xian put away his expression and said to Zhang Youcai: "These matters in Chang'an are handled by Xiao Desheng and Li Yun. Zhang Youcai, what I want to entrust to you is to work for relief. This is an overall work. Yao Yuanchong, the guest of the Prince of the East Palace, has already gone to Yazhou to take up his post, so the only people who can be sent out are Wang Bo and the right concubine Yang Yi."
Zhang Youcai never dreamed that he would receive such a heavy appointment.
Standing up and holding his hands, Zhang Youcai said anxiously: "Your Highness, since you want to send officials from the East Palace, how can your subordinates steal high positions? It's enough for a villain to serve as an adviser to the guests and concubines."
Seeing Zhang Youcai's frightened look, Li Xian said helplessly: "On the surface, of course they are your superiors, but privately, you are still the boss. Of the two of them, one is unhappy in his official career, and the other is in trouble." Officials are officials in the capital. They really don’t understand the things going on in the marketplace.”
"Although there are ancient examples of using work for relief, it does not have much reference significance. It is almost like starting from scratch. Therefore, if you want to do it well, you must not only control the overall situation, but also pay attention to the details. The overall situation naturally has its own merits. What control allows you to do is to do the details well.”
At this point, Li Xian paused, thought for a moment, and then said to Zhang Youcai: "If you can handle this matter well, I will make the decision for you and send your eldest son into an official career."
Just one sentence made everyone in the study stunned.
Zhang Youcai, who was organizing the words and hoping that His Highness the Crown Prince would not put such an important matter entirely on him, forgot all about it.
Send your eldest son into an official career?
At this moment, Zhang Youcai suspected that there was something wrong with his ears.
Li Yun, on the other hand, jumped up as if his butt was on fire: "Your Highness, would you like to think about it again? Businessmen should not be officials for generations. This is the ancestral motto. If you do this, you will easily attract criticism. of!"
Zhang Youcai knew very well the impact of this matter. Although he wanted to refuse, from the bottom of his heart, he hoped to receive this reward. Once his ancestors started doing business, future generations of descendants would not be allowed to be officials.
Zhang Youcai prided himself on his literary talent and was familiar with scriptures, but because his father was a businessman, he could only become a businessman.
Today's saints sympathize with the poor people and give many poor people the opportunity to enter the official career.
If possible, he also hopes that he is one of the officials from a poor family.
However, his identity as a businessman has forever blocked this path.
If the eldest son in the family can become an official, then he will be worthy of his ancestors! Not to mention that the matter this time was very difficult and there was a risk of losing his head at every turn. Even if he had his head cut off now, he would never hesitate!
only....
Falling to his knees, Zhang Youcai didn't know what he should say.
Just as the chief steward said, businessmen are not allowed to be officials. This is the ancestral precept of all dynasties and cannot be changed...
Ignoring Li Yun, Li Xian just looked at Zhang Youcai and said, "Of course, there are conditions. Zhang Youcai, although your eldest son can enter the official career, the family must be separated and his name must be removed from the family tree. In this case, are you still willing? ?”
Separation and removal?
Zhang Youcai said without hesitation: "Replying to Your Highness, my subordinates are willing. If Quanzi becomes an official, my subordinates will break off all ties with him and never have any contact with him until the end of his life!"
Although it is necessary to separate the family, remove names, and cut off relatives, Zhang Youcai feels that as long as the blood of the Zhang family enters the ranks of officials, it will be enough to honor the ancestors. In comparison, dividing the family, removing names, and severing relatives is nothing. !
Seeing His Royal Highness the Prince say this, Li Yun breathed a sigh of relief.
If that's the case, maybe it's not impossible.
Looking at Zhang Youcai with a smile, Li Xian said with a smile: "Okay, that's the case, then you can leave the palace. You will replace the manpower you recruited to test their abilities. The manpower you need will naturally be sent to you. , of course, you can also recruit yourself.”
"The distance from Chang'an to Luoyang is full of mountains and rivers. There are countless things to do in the mountains and bridges. You will be busy for a while in the future. Get up and do your own research on how to do it. I will leave it alone."
If just now he felt that he was unable to take on the important task, now Zhang Youcai felt that even if he was exhausted, he would not complain. After standing up and saluting again, he left the study.
Seeing Zhang Youcai leaving, Shangguan quickly ended the conversation between mother and daughter, walked over and knelt down to salute, waiting for the prince's instructions.
"Zhang Youcai and the others naturally take care of local affairs. It is simply destructive to ask you to do these things. Therefore, Shangguan clan, in the future, Juxian Tower and Sihai Tower will be handed over to you. At the same time, you also need to temporarily Hire some people and be ready for assignment, got it?"
Shangguanshi nodded and said, "I have written it down."
"Well, I guess you will have a hard time during this period, so if you feel that you are too busy alone, you can call Wan'er out of the palace to accompany you."
"Thank you for your highness's kindness. I think I can handle these things well, so I don't need Wan'er to accompany me."
Looking at Shangguan's slightly flustered look, one could tell that she was still afraid of some kind of messy test.
Li Xian thought that he was just thinking about their mother and daughter, but...
forget it.
Perhaps, being as domineering as a real prince and occasionally offering small favors to his subordinates to win their hearts is the right approach.
All the things that need to be ordered have been given, and the rest is to wait quietly for the manpower to organize.
Since it is a large-scale disaster relief operation, delivering food to the state capital will easily overwhelm officials.
After thinking about it, Li Xian suddenly felt that waiting for work in leisure seemed to be a good idea.
As a result, after Li Xian visited Zhongshu Province, an edict was distributed to various state capitals affected by the disaster.
Yongzhou is the state capital closest to Chang'an. The messenger worked hard and delivered the edict to Yongzhou in six or seven hours.
Zhang Tao, the governor of Yongzhou, was originally a talent specifically designated by Li Zhi to serve as governor of Yongzhou. Now that King Yong has returned to Chang'an and transformed into a prince, his merits as the governor of Yongzhou can be considered complete and he can be promoted.
But it was at this stall that a drought occurred. As a result, he had to return the official documents from the Ministry of Personnel and chose to help Yongzhou survive this disaster before leaving.
The court would not ignore such a severe drought.
However, he never thought that he would receive such an edict...
