The next day.
"Boss Wang? What did you say? Immortal Tea is on sale? Can merchants like us buy it? "
"Of course it's true! This is the latest news I got. As long as you're a merchant in Lantian County, you can buy a catty of Immortal Tea from the Drunken Immortal Inn with the store contract! That's a catty of Immortal Tea! You can't buy a tael of it no matter how much money you have. Brother Bai, if you don't hurry up, you won't be able to buy it soon! "
"What? A catty of Immortal Tea! Brother Wang, wait for me, I'll go get the store contract. Eh! Wait! How much is a catty of Immortal Tea? "
"It's not expensive! Only 60 tang yuan! Brother, hurry up! "
"… Okay, okay, okay! I'll be right there! "
If it was in the past, if someone said that a catty of Immortal Tea was 60 strings of coins, this merchant named Bai would definitely slap that person to death. But now, although he also felt that it was expensive, a catty of Immortal Tea was 60 strings of coins. A tael of Immortal Tea was 6 strings of coins, and one tael of Immortal Tea could be used to make 10 cups. If he was stingy, he could make 12 cups. In other words, a cup of Immortal Tea was at most 300 copper coins (800 copper coins), or at least 200 copper coins!
This was a free gift!
Previously, the Drunken Immortal Inn launched a limited edition event where one could taste a cup of Immortal Tea for free after spending 10 strings of coins in the inn. This attracted countless "tycoons" who loved tea leaves to fight for it. Back then, Boss Bai also went to the Drunken Immortal Inn to taste it. Although he felt a little heartache at the time, after tasting the Immortal Tea, he felt that it was worth it and was very satisfied!
Only after tasting the Immortal Tea would one understand that the tea leaves they drank before were all rubbish!
Once one drank the Immortal Tea, it was easy to get addicted to it, especially for those who loved the tea ceremony. If they didn't drink the Immortal Tea for a day, they would feel as uncomfortable as a cat scratching their heart. Unfortunately, Mr. Bai belonged to this kind of people!
For this reason, he went to the Drunken Immortal Inn five times. In the end, he felt that if he continued drinking like this, the profits of his shop would be gone for a few months, so he could only reluctantly give up. After all, every visit to the Drunken Immortal Inn cost at least 10 strings of coins. Even if he had some money, he couldn't afford to waste!
Now that he heard that the Drunken Immortal House was going to sell Immortal Tea for only 60 strings of coins per catty, how could Boss Bai not be tempted? If he bought the tea back, he would be able to earn some money even if he sold it directly to merchants from other states and counties. If he set up a high-class teahouse to sell the brewed tea, he would be able to earn even more!
After all, with the current popularity of the Immortal Tea and its reputation as a tribute tea, as long as a teahouse released the Immortal Tea, even if it cost 500 copper coins a cup, there would definitely be many people coming to snatch it!
This was a sure-win deal!
"Shopkeeper Liu, why can't we buy it? Are you afraid that we won't pay? "
"That's right! Why could only the merchants of Lantian County buy it? Everyone is giving money. What's the difference? "
"Yes! Shopkeeper Liu! If you feel that 60 strings of coins per catty is too cheap, you can totally raise the price. Why restrict only the merchants of Lantian County to buy it? "
Outside the Drunken Immortal Restaurant branch in the county seat of Lantian County, in addition to the endless stream of diners, there was also a hubbub of merchants from all walks of life. Many of these merchants were not from Lantian County. They just happened to hear that the Drunken Immortal Restaurant was going to sell Immortal Tea when they were watching the game in Lantian County, so they immediately came over.
Obviously, there were many tea enthusiasts like Boss Bai who had tasted the Immortal Tea and were crazy about it!
But who would have thought that the Drunken Immortal Inn would actually set a rule that the tea leaves would be given priority to the local merchants of Lantian County. How could those merchants who rushed over to snatch the tea endure this? Therefore, they all started arguing with Shopkeeper Liu of the Drunken Immortal Inn!
This Shopkeeper Liu was the same Shopkeeper Liu of the Drunken Immortal Inn in Chang 'an City. Now, not only did the Drunken Immortal Inn open many branches, but Li Zexuan had also become the Marquis of Ten Thousand Households and was given the fief of Lantian County. Shopkeeper Liu, the Shopkeeper of the Drunken Immortal Inn's "main branch", voluntarily requested to be transferred to the "branch" in Lantian County. As for the Drunken Immortal Inn in Chang' an City, it was taken over by a branch shopkeeper recommended by Shopkeeper Liu!
Actually, this was where Shopkeeper Liu was smart. He knew very well that the place where Li Zexuan was could be called the main branch of the Drunken Immortal Inn. Now that Li Zexuan had been living in Lantian County for a long time, the name of the Drunken Immortal Inn in Chang 'an City basically existed in name only!
Moreover, Lantian County had now completely become Li Zexuan's territory, so Shopkeeper Liu felt more at ease staying here!
"Everyone! Be quiet! I have a few words to say! "
Faced with the siege of so many "foreign" merchants, Shopkeeper Liu had no choice but to come out and maintain order. He first shouted loudly, and when everyone quieted down, he quickly smiled and cupped his hands, saying,
"Dear guests, our Drunken Immortal Inn does not have much stock for this batch of Immortal Tea, so we will give priority to the shop owners in Lantian County. This can be considered as my Marquis taking care of the merchants in Lantian County. I know that you are unhappy, but the amount of Immortal Tea is still too little. My Marquis just wants to give some favors to the people in his fief. Whether it is the farmers, the craftsmen, or the merchants, they are all the people in my Marquis' fief. Marquis will treat them equally.
Recently, Marquis has been building canals and water wheels for the people. Now, Marquis just wants to use the Immortal Tea to bring some benefits to the merchants in his fief. I hope that you can understand! I know that all of you like Immortal Tea very much, but I ask that you wait patiently. Soon, when the production of Immortal Tea increases, the various Strange Taste Pavilions will start to provide it! When that time comes, you can buy as much as you want! "
Cough cough, Shopkeeper Liu's words contained a lot of personal information. Many of them were taught to him by Li Zexuan!
As soon as Shopkeeper Liu finished speaking, the faces of the merchants below were filled with annoyance.
"Ah? So that's how it is! Marquis treats the merchants in his fief so well. I really admire him! "
"Sigh! So there are such benefits to opening a shop in Lantian County? If I had known, I would have bought two shops in Lantian County last year! "
"Hey! Brother Sun, it's not too late for you to buy now, right? "
"Too late, too late! Now that the prices of the shops in Lantian County have risen so high, I can't afford to buy even if I want to! "
The merchants from other places sighed and were annoyed. The "native" merchants in Lantian County could not help but want to clap their hands and celebrate.
"Haha! Marquis is benevolent and righteous! Luckily, I had foresight! At the beginning of the year, I came to Lantian County to open a shop! "
"Haha! That's right, that's right! Marquis treats us the same way he treats the commoners. It's so rare! I will stay in Lantian County to do business in the future. I won't go anywhere else! "
"That's right, that's right! I can only hope that such good things will happen a few more times! "
"It will! It will! "
"It'll be best if Marquis can chase away all the hooligans in the market!"
Since Shopkeeper Liu had said so, and there were many shop owners in Lantian County supporting Shopkeeper Liu, the merchants from other places, although they were unwilling, they could not say anything. They could only silently retreat to the back of the crowd!
As for the local merchants in Lantian County, they happily lined up in a long queue, preparing for the "big red packet" that Li Zexuan would give to all the merchants in the county!
Of course, there were also many smart merchants from other places who stayed behind the queue. After the people in front had finished buying the Celestial Tea, they went up to ask for a higher price!
In other words, after the local merchants in Lantian County bought the Celestial Tea, they did not have to waste time and effort to resell it in other counties. They could just sell it to the surrounding merchants and make a small profit!
In this world, there was no easier way to earn money than this!
However, there was no free lunch in this world. Gains and losses were often balanced. With gains, there must be losses!
While the merchants in Lantian County were enjoying the "big red packet banquet," they had unknowingly fallen into the "gentle trap" that Li Zexuan had set up. When they realized it, they could not bear to come out. They would rather stay in the "trap" and be tricked than come out!
…
As Lantian County's Drunken Immortal Tower was selling large quantities of Celestial Tea, it led to many temporary teahouses in the county. The so-called temporary teahouses were in the original shops, temporarily separated into a small room, specially used to invite guests to drink tea!
There was a teahouse in the silk shop, a teahouse in the porcelain shop, and even a coffin shop. They had actually set up a temporary teahouse!
As for the price of the Celestial Tea, the bosses with a little "conscience" would generally sell a cup of tea for more than 400 coins. As for the "cruel" bosses, they would directly raise the price of the Celestial Tea to about 500 to 600 coins.
Because these people knew very well that although Drunken Immortal Tower sold a lot of Celestial Tea today, they certainly did not have the ability to sell so much in the short term! In other words, the market stock of Celestial Tea was so small. When the slightly lower priced Celestial Tea was sold out, the customers could only buy the "high-priced" Celestial Tea in their shop!
It didn't matter if it was 400 coins per cup or 500 to 600 coins per cup. In any case, it was much more direct and practical than the Drunken Immortal Tower's "spend 10 strings of coins to get a cup of Celestial Tea" activity!
Moreover, Celestial Tea was a rare imperial tribute tea. Was 400 coins per cup really expensive? Last year, a plate of chicken in Drunken Immortal Tower cost 10 strings of coins!
At least this price was completely affordable for those "petty bourgeois" families!
Therefore, on the first day, nearly a thousand diners tasted the legendary Celestial Tea!
And for those who had tasted the Celestial Tea, none of them said it was good! Through word of mouth, the reputation of the Celestial Tea exploded, and a storm of Celestial Tea quickly swept through Lantian County. Diners from Chang 'an City and the surrounding counties also came for the tea, just to taste a cup of Celestial Tea!
Because in the entire Tang Dynasty, only Lantian County had the largest stock of Celestial Tea. Even Chang 'an City was far from it!
However, no matter how much stock there was, if there were only sales and no sales, the stock would be depleted sooner or later.
Five days! Only five days had passed!
Under the crazy "consumption" of tens of thousands of diners in Chang 'an City and the surrounding counties, the Celestial Tea stock of Lantian County's merchants was completely sold out in just five days. Those Lantian County merchants who were queuing up to receive the Celestial Tea had all earned a fortune!
After consuming the Celestial Tea, they also went to Drunken Immortal Tower to look for Shopkeeper Liu, wanting to buy more Celestial Tea. However, Shopkeeper Liu had no stock at all, so naturally, he couldn't take out any extra Celestial Tea. However, Shopkeeper Liu promised them that when the next batch of Celestial Tea arrived, he would still give priority to the merchants of Lantian County!
The merchants were naturally grateful to Shopkeeper Liu and Li Zexuan. However, they didn't notice that after they left, Shopkeeper Liu's lips curled into a sweet smile!
.....
The next day.
The constables of Lantian County were all dispatched, and at the most eye-catching places in Lantian County, as well as at the city gates, they posted a notice about the establishment of the Department of Commerce in Lantian County.
"From today onwards, all merchants, farmers, and craftsmen in Lantian County will be classified as commoners, and the government will treat them equally! Within Lantian County, there will only be commoners and scholars in the future! The children of merchants can also enter the county school and enroll in Yanhuang College. In order to allow the merchants to receive fair and just treatment, Lantian County's County Yamen followed the Yong 'an Marquis' order and officially established the Department of Commerce today.
The Department of Commerce specializes in handling disputes between merchants, and its goal is to protect the merchants' private and legal property from being infringed upon, creating a good business environment for the merchants of Lantian County. When any merchant's interests are threatened by others, they can report to the Department of Commerce in Lantian County, and the officials of the Department of Commerce will handle it impartially!
In addition, the Department of Commerce will also be responsible for collecting business tax from the merchants. From next month onwards, Lantian County's business tax ratio will be changed from 1 out of 30 to 1 out of 6. All merchants in Lantian County must report their profits for the month to the Department of Commerce before the end of each month. From the total profits, 1 out of 6 will be used as business tax!
In order to prevent merchants from under-reporting or even evading taxes, the Department of Commerce will organize personnel at the beginning of each month to conduct a spot check on the accounts of the merchants in the county. Once found, they will be punished with five times the total amount of tax evaded or evaded, and will be listed as a target of focus. Any merchant who evades or evades taxes three times will be directly expelled from Lantian County, and will never be allowed to return to Lantian County to open a shop! "
"Hiss!"
After the merchants in Lantian County finished reading the County Yamen's announcement, they all sucked in a breath of cold air. Then, the merchants could not help but discuss among themselves.
"What? The business tax ratio has been changed to 1 out of 6? Such a heavy business tax is extremely rare even if you flip through the history books! Why is County Magistrate He so ruthless towards us merchants? "
"Yeah! When I saw the beginning, I thought that the County Yamen was thinking for us merchants, but when I saw the end, I realized that the County Yamen wants to suck our blood! "
"Isn't that so! 1 out of 6 of the total profits for the month as business tax, how are we going to live? "
"Hmm … You can't say that, right? At least in Lantian County, the status of us merchants has become higher, and our sons can even go to the county school! You have to know that in this county school, there will occasionally be teachers from Yanhuang College who come to give lectures! We can't get this kind of opportunity in other counties even if we beg for it! "
"Aye! That's right! But this 1 out of 6 business tax ratio is still too heavy! "
"In my opinion, it's not heavy! Didn't you see the announcement that as long as someone endangers our interests, we can report to the Department of Commerce, and the officials of the Department of Commerce will deal with it impartially! Just based on this point, it's much better than other places! In the future, if someone comes to the shops to cause trouble or collect protection fees, we can directly go to the officials of the Department of Commerce for help. This way, our monthly expenses might be less than before! "
"That's right! That's indeed the case! I just don't know if the Department of Commerce is willing to completely clean up those ruffians in the market square! "
.....
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