Li Qin: " Let His Majesty directly ask the aristocratic families for grain. If they don't donate or donate too little, it's easy to handle. Let His Majesty bestow a Merit Monument and clearly write down how much they donated. Then, place it in front of the residence and let the commoners admire it.”
Du Ruhui grinned. What a sinister move. Wasn't this pulling his face and letting the commoners slap him?
What did the great clans care about the most? Reputation and status. If their reputation was ruined, there would be fewer people who would seek refuge under them.
That's fine, but if you have fewer people and more people from the other aristocratic families, there won't be many things you can arrange in the court.
That was why this move was sinister, but it couldn't be used.
His Majesty had tried his best to suppress the Seven Sects and Five Families ever since he ascended the throne, especially since he had been at odds with the aristocratic families recently.
However, he did not dare to openly fall out with them. There were too many implications, and it was not that easy.
This Young Master Li was still too young. After all, he was just a merchant.
A trace of disappointment flashed in Du Ruhui's eyes. He smiled bitterly and said,""Young Master Li, you must be joking.”
Li Qin smiled and said to Du Ruhui,""Actually, there are two other methods. As long as Your Majesty and you have the courage to implement them, there will naturally be more food on the market after these two methods are implemented.”
"Otherwise, you can treat it as me lying for nothing."
Du Ruhui sighed and continued drinking." What method?”
Now that things had come to this, he did not believe that Li Qin could come up with any good ideas.
He was thinking about how to make His Majesty put down his face and borrow grain from the aristocratic families.
He wondered how much more scolding he would have to endure from the Emperor.
Li Qin said," First, as far as I know, Hibiscus Garden has yet to be owned. It has been left idle and is managed by the Imperial Court. I'm afraid that just the expenses for repairing the houses, landscape, and flowers each year are not small."”
Hearing this, Du Ruhui's expression suddenly turned grave.
Indeed, Furong Garden was left behind by the Qin Dynasty and transformed by Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty. It occupied more than 30 hectares of land and was surrounded by plains and marshes. The scenery was beautiful and extremely beautiful. It was a royal forbidden garden.
It's just that His Majesty has never entered this garden to show his incorruptness and share weal and woe with the people.
However, what did this Furong Garden have to do with the current crisis?
Li Qin didn't say anything. He dipped his chopsticks into the bowl and started writing on the table.
"The palace at the head of the river is locked with a thousand doors. For whom are the fine willows and new cattails green?”
"Good poem!" Du Ruhui's pupils constricted as he exclaimed.
He could see the beauty of the poem at a glance." You're amazing, kid…"
He suddenly stopped talking.
Du Ruhui's forehead was covered in sweat. To be able to hold the position of prime minister, how could he be an ordinary person?
He had guessed Li Qin's thoughts and felt his mouth go dry. What a bold idea. No wonder he needed courage to implement it.
Seeing that Du Ruhui had guessed it, Li Qin didn't want to say anything more. Although Li Shimin was a wise ruler in history, who knew if he would anger the Dragon King by overstepping his etiquette?
So, Li Qin didn't say anything. If he really caused the emperor to blame him, then he couldn't blame me, right? I only wrote two lines of poetry and didn't say anything else.
That was all your guess.
Du Ruhui stared at the scrawling words on the table for a long time before he raised his head in disbelief." Young Master Li, what is the second method you mentioned?”
Li Qin didn't keep him in suspense. He took a sip of wine and said,"Raise the price and let the Imperial Court set the price at fifteen coins per bushel of rice.”
Du Ruhui rubbed his ears. Raising the price of grain? Moreover, it had tripled! Little Young Master Li must be crazy. Even the Seven Sects and Five Families would only dare to double the amount. What good would the fall of the Great Tang bring you?
However, Du Ruhui had already witnessed Li Qin's bold plan, so he didn't think that these words were pointless. This thought only flashed past his mind.
"Dare I ask Young Master Li, what is the meaning of this?" Du Ruhui asked.”
" Lord Du," Li Qin asked calmly," Chang 'an has many disaster victims. If you were a grain merchant, what would you do?"”
Du Ruhui replied meticulously,"We're releasing food to relieve the disaster."”
Li Qin was speechless.
"Then let me put it another way. What will the grain merchants under the Seven Sects and Five Families do?”
Du Ruhui didn't hesitate." Raise the price and wait for the right price.”
Li Qin nodded." Then what if the Imperial Court takes the initiative to raise the price?”
Du Ruhui pondered for a moment." Doing so will undoubtedly force the people to their deaths.”
Li Qin smiled and said with certainty,"Yes, if the Imperial Court only raises the price but doesn't give it to the people, or raises the price too little, it will definitely be like this."”
"But isn't there still half a month's worth of relief food in the imperial court's granary? We're only raising the price, not selling grain.”
"The price should be raised, the price should be raised, and disaster relief should be provided. You see, the imperial court wants to buy grain for disaster relief, so the grain price is high.”
"If the grain price in Chang 'an is high, what about the grain prices around Chang' an?”
" If it's only raised twice, it will at most attract some grain merchants around Chang 'an. Those further away won't be interested. The profits from transporting grain here were not even enough to cover the cost of transportation.”
"But it's different for Sanfan. Merchants pursue profits. This is an eternal principle. Wherever the profits are high, they will go.”
"The Seven Sects and Five Families control many food channels, but can they afford to pay three times the price?
"Do you think they would buy food that cost 15 coins per bushel?”
"If they don't buy it, the court doesn't buy it, and the people don't buy it, then what should we do with the grain accumulation?”
"If someone suddenly starts to lower the price at this time, what will they do with the grain in their hands?”
Du Ruhui's brows and back were sweating profusely as he stared at Li Qin as if he had encountered a ghost.
When people were nervous, they liked to drink water to calm themselves down. Du Ruhui's hand that was holding the wine bowl kept trembling and his breathing was short." If the price of grain is raised, more grain merchants will flood into Chang 'an. The grain will pile up like a mountain, but no one can afford it.”
"If we transport it back, the transportation fee will be a huge sum of money. If someone lowers the price in advance, then the grain merchants will follow suit. In this way, the price of grain on the market will return to normal! No, no, it might even be lower!”
Du Ruhui felt a chill run down his spine.
Chang 'an City was not short of food, only the imperial court.
Large quantities of grain were in the hands of the Seven Sects and Five Families. They were all waiting for the right price to be offered, waiting to choke the Imperial Court.
Fine, if you want to raise the price, I'll help you. I'll even help you raise it to the highest point.
Want to earn money by distributing grain? But you couldn't sell them. Not only could you not sell them, but you also had to watch your peers carry a large amount of grain into Chang 'an. What should you do then?
If you don't lower the price, fine.
If someone suddenly lowered the price and the food was sold out, who wouldn't be jealous?
If he wanted to make money, he had to lower the price. Although there wasn't that much profit, it was still higher than usual. What if he lowered the price now?
It was good enough that he could protect his foundation. What was the point of thinking so much?
Could the Seven Sects and Five Families control the merchants who were after profits?
At this time, did the imperial court still need to worry about buying grain in large quantities and causing the price of grain to rise?
Du Ruhui was as lifeless as a rock." An overt scheme, what an overt scheme.”
"There's more." Li Qin picked up a mouthful of food and threw it into his mouth." The matter of Furong Garden that I told you about is actually possible. Think about it, what do so many grain merchants have in their pockets? Silver."
"It's not easy to come to Chang 'an. What do you think is the most attractive?”
At this moment.
Du Ruhui's mind went blank. What was the most attractive? The imperial garden was naturally the most attractive!
"You... How did you come up with this?" Du Ruhui sucked in a breath of cold air and stuttered.
Li Qin scratched his head." I thought of it while eating and drinking.”
These two methods were actually thought of by Fan Zhongyan, Duke of Chu in the Northern Song Dynasty, but Li Qin could not say it.
Moreover, he was right. It popped out of his head as he ate, drank, and chatted.
Du Ruhui swallowed his saliva and remembered it as he ate and drank.
There were no words to describe it.
This man is a man of heaven.
This…Could this be the natural talent of the Dragon Son?
However, the current Emperor didn't even think of a fart.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。