The weather was getting hotter, and the people were getting more and more agitated.
The third floor of Changfeng Pavilion once again welcomed a distinguished guest. Li Dong, who had previously contacted the members of the imperial clan, came over today to gather more merchants from Xinluo. They gathered on the third floor of Changfeng Pavilion to discuss important matters.
"Everyone, the matter of the road repair has been settled. Let's see how much money you have left. Gather one million strings of coins as soon as possible and repair the road. The higher-ups will give us some benefits."
Li Dong saw that everyone's eyes were on him, so he took out a piece of paper and pushed it in front of a person beside him. When he passed it around, he said to the group of people.
There were not many words on the paper. One could read it from the beginning to the end with just a few glances. The room immediately fell silent. For the time being, no one answered Li Dong's words. They passed it around. After a quarter of an hour, everyone finished reading it. When they raised their heads again, there was a trace of worry between their brows.
The person who first read the words on the paper hesitated for a moment before asking, "Mr. Li, one million strings of coins is not a small amount for us. The higher-ups only said that there would be a reward in the future, but we don't know when it will be or how much the reward will be. It's worrying. "
The others also thought of this and nodded. They looked at Li Dong again, wanting to get a specific time and amount from him.
Li Dong looked around, a sense of helplessness welling up in his heart. One million strings of string of cash was enough to make them feel so distressed. From the various reports he had received from the Great Tang, let alone the mountainous wealth of the Zhang and Wang Clans, even a merchant with some ability could gather one million strings of cash when in need.
This was the difference. How could the merchants of the Tang Dynasty have such ability in ten years? Ten years, if one said it was long, it was like the sun rising and setting all day long. If one said it was short, it was like the colorful clouds in the wind. When one looked back, it suddenly flowed away.
When he met with the members of the imperial clan, he had also mentioned this matter. In ten years, the children who had entered school at the age of ten had grown up. In ten years, the grain output of the Tang Dynasty had more than quadrupled.
Ten years had passed. Perhaps the mountains had not changed their color, and the water had not weakened, but the Tang Dynasty had become stronger and stronger. Ten years ago, Li Longji could only be gentle with Xinluo. Ten years later, Li Longji gave the order and the gunships surrounded.
"Sigh ~!" Thinking of this, Li Dong couldn't help but sigh. Looking at the people who were still scheming, he said, "Everyone, now that the Tang Empire has mountains of grain and forests of people, all kinds of advanced technologies are emerging one after another. If you still think about that little bit of personal gain, perhaps in another ten years, there won't be Xinluo. At that time, you and I will both be sinners, and perhaps we won't even have the qualifications to be sinners."
When they heard Li Dong's words, they were stunned at first, but when they thought about it carefully, they realized that it was true. Once Xinluo was annexed by the Great Tang, their positions would definitely be at risk.
Even though they knew this, they still felt uncomfortable. One of the people sitting across from Li Dong moved and asked, "Since you know, why don't the Imperial Clan take out the money to repair the road? Why do you insist on making things difficult for us merchants?"
"It's all because of the Great Tang. In the past, when Xinluo went to the Great Tang to pay tribute, the Great Tang would accept more things and give more things. There was money, technology, cloth, and leather as a reward. Later on, for some reason, when Xinluo sent a lot of things, Li Longji's rewards changed.
There were those gorgeous glass products, beautiful and exquisite furniture, and there were even vouchers to eat at Savant's Restaurant and Joy House. For every 100 copper coins spent, one could use 20 copper coins as a voucher. Recently, it started to include Between the Clouds and the Water and Blue Sea Silver Sand. The rewards were indeed quite a lot, one million strings of coins.
"But what's the use of that? The glass and furniture can't be eaten or drunk. If you really want to use up the one million strings of coins with the vouchers, you have to take out four million strings of coins to eat and drink.
"In addition, some people in the Imperial Clan like to enjoy themselves. If we use Xinluo's money to exchange for luxury goods from the Great Tang, how can the Imperial Clan have money? A knowledgeable person discovered this matter and was very worried. That's why he found us to temporarily tide over this difficult situation. "
Li Dong was angry at the mention of this. He was angry at Li Longji's shrewdness and angry at the disappointing people in the Imperial Clan.
The others fell silent for a moment, not knowing what to say.
After a long while, someone asked in a soft voice, "Boss Li, even if we gather enough money, will it be of any benefit to Xinluo?"
This was a crucial question, and the silent people also wanted to know. Even if it wasn't for their own benefit, taking out money to pave a good path to the Great Tang for Xinluo, it had to be of some use.
Li Dong nodded. "That's the reason. When I went to see the higher-ups, I also thought about it. The higher-ups said that the Great Tang's ships coming to Xinluo aren't a good thing. They want to let them familiarize themselves with Xinluo's waters. If they send troops to attack us from the sea, Xinluo won't be able to defend against them.
Thus, in the future, they are not allowed to enter Xinluo's land from any place on the sea. They are only allowed to dock at two designated docks. Naturally, land transportation is of the utmost importance.
Compared to the Great Tang, Xinluo produces fewer goods. With the existence of tariffs, we can sell less goods to the Great Tang, or even not sell goods to the Great Tang at all. As long as goods from the Great Tang enter, they have to pay a twenty percent tariff. The imperial clan will use this money to forge weapons and protect the people.
This money is free. The more goods they send over, the greater the advantage we get. There are other benefits as well. For example, the ordinary people of Xinluo can't afford to eat meat, but the Great Tang's meat is cheap. Everyone knows that in the current Great Tang, as long as the people are hardworking, they don't need to be too capable to eat meat every day.
If the Great Tang ships it over, the price won't be too high. At the very least, it'll be cheaper than what we get. There's also cloth and other things, especially food. The higher-ups said that if there's a disaster, we can use the twenty percent tariff to buy food from the Great Tang. "
Everyone's eyes brightened, realizing that this was indeed a good plan. Just as they were about to agree, someone raised a new question. "If that's the case, then our Xinluo will always be at an advantage. Isn't that Zhang Xiaobao a fool? I'd rather believe that the sun rises from the west than that he has such good intentions. "
"That's right," several people said at the same time.
"This … Perhaps it's because Jili Province produces too much and he can't sell it, so he wants to sell it to our Xinluo. Or perhaps he wants to get the good things of our Xinluo to the Great Tang faster. Even if it's neither of the two, he's just preparing to build roads to make it easier for the Great Tang army to come. That's just a little faster. Without good roads, who can stop the Great Tang army if they want to come?"
Even Li Dong himself did not have confidence in his words. He understood that Zhang Xiaobao could not be treated as an ordinary person.
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