Sitting on the third floor of Changfeng Pavilion, Li Dong was in a very good mood. Smelling the wine in the cup, there was an indescribable satisfaction.
He had made a lot of money, and what he earned was the banknotes of the Tang Dynasty. With the banknotes of the Tang Dynasty, he could buy many good things in the Tang Dynasty that the merchants of the Tang Dynasty would not sell.
"County Magistrate Mu, the people in the county have been doing well this year, right?"
Li Dong took a sip of the wine in his cup. Through the open window, he looked at the light snow that was still drifting down from the sky and said, "Don't worry.
The county magistrate Mu, who was sitting opposite him, was a man in his forties. Hearing his voice, the cold wind blew in from the window and brushed his cheeks. He showed two yellow teeth and nodded repeatedly.
"Not bad, not only not bad. The higher-ups have proposed to promote me, but I rejected it. No matter how good it is elsewhere, it is not as good as a place close to the border. This year, there was a heavy snow, and not a single house in the county collapsed.
Speaking of the Tang Dynasty, the tools sold to Xinluo, as long as they are made of iron, the steel mouth is extraordinary, especially the long saws used to cut trees. With a few swishes, a thick tree will be cut in the blink of an eye. With wood, every house will be renovated. It is good. "
As County Magistrate Mu spoke, he seemed to think of something good. He smiled and his eyes narrowed. He also held a cup of wine and shook his head slightly.
Li Dong also smiled. His hand that was not holding the cup picked up a fresh cucumber from the table and put it in front of his eyes to look at it.
"This is technology. Like cucumbers, the Tang Dynasty has been able to plant them in winter. Xinluo just started to learn it today. It is not like the past. At that time, the Tang Dynasty was very strict. But now, almost all the places slightly north of the Tang Dynasty are planted. It is impossible to keep it a secret.
The only thing that makes people sullen is that it is easy to learn how to plant cucumbers in winter, but there is no chance to steal the method of making steel. I heard that someone came to you last month to discuss building a smelting workshop in this county. You have to send someone to take a look. If they can learn it, it will be a great merit. "
Speaking of technology, Li Dong once again felt the benefits of the Tang Dynasty's banknotes.
Ever since the Great Tang banknote had been introduced, one had to use the money of the Great Tang in order to buy good things in the Great Tang. The copper coins of the past had become useless. Medicinal herbs, high-quality clothes, exquisite glass products, and exquisite pottery had to be bought with the money of the Great Tang.
There was clearly an exchange ratio between the Great Tang's money and the Xin Luo's money, but the Great Tang did not allow them to exchange for the Great Tang's money. They could only sell the goods to obtain the Great Tang's money.
The problem was that Xinluo could only sell a few metals other than charcoal, and the Great Tang was doing its best to lower the price. Coupled with the twenty percent tariff, it was not easy to earn some money from the Great Tang.
It was only because he was more familiar with the people of the Great Tang that he knew what the Great Tang liked, and thus he was the first to find a business opportunity and make a profit. It was not so easy for other merchants.
Perhaps it was because they had a telepathic connection, County Magistrate Mu also thought of this matter. He looked at the watermelon on the table, licked his lips and said, "Boss Li, cucumbers are good, but watermelons have to be bought from the Great Tang. I heard from the people of Changfeng Pavilion that this winter, they spent a lot of money just to buy watermelons from the Great Tang.
We have to think of a way to get glass, preferably the manufacturing technology of glass. Boss Li, what do you think about finding more merchants and working together to gather money to bribe the officials in charge of manufacturing glass in the Great Tang? I don't believe that there is nothing that money can't buy. "
Li Dong fell into deep thought for a moment. Without waiting for him to speak, County Magistrate Mu continued, "The Great Tang is indeed good to our Xinluo. They sell food at a cheaper price than the local Great Tang. This is the etiquette of the Great Tang. There is also cloth and silk. But why don't they use the Great Tang's money to buy charcoal?"
Li Dong and Weiwei nodded. It was as County Magistrate Mu said. The merchants of the Great Tang came to cooperate with the Great Tang to use the land, cut down trees and burn charcoal, but they did not give the Great Tang money. They only gave a large amount of charcoal to the people who worked.
Ordinary people, even merchants who did not do much business, had never seen the Great Tang's banknotes, let alone use them.
"Boss Li, do you think we can buy the manufacturing technology of glass if we gather one million strings of cash? Once we get it, then … "County Magistrate Mu said to Li Dong as he recalled the scene of him lying on the glass mountain.
Before he could finish, Li Dong laughed, "Haha, County Magistrate Mu, wake up, stop dreaming. Glass, do you know where glass comes from? Lu Zhou, Lu Zhou, which is very far away from the Great Tang's capital.
They would rather send glass to various places in the Great Tang from afar and bear the losses caused by the instability of the ships and vehicles on the road than set up a few more places in the Great Tang to make glass. Isn't it all to keep it a secret?
If you go there with one million strings of cash, you will be caught as soon as you take it out. If it is someone else's business, maybe you can put pressure through the officials of the Great Tang, such as the Ministry of Works, to get the secret. But who dares to go to the Zhang Family and Wang Family's business? Even if you are not a spy, you will be interrogated as a spy. Besides, the current head of the Ministry of Works is Zhang Zhong, the head of the Zhang family. "
"Then what should we do?" County Magistrate Mu's hot water cooled down and asked in frustration.
"Endure and pretend. Look at Japan, they know how to endure and pretend. They are obviously farther away from the Great Tang than we are from Xinluo, but they can pretend to be subservient and deliberately curry favor with the Great Tang. Isn't it to make the Great Tang lower its guard and think that they are not a threat and easy to cheat of the technology?"
Li Dong also considered this problem. If he wanted to get good technology, he could only wait for the Great Tang to give him. He couldn't show any ambition.
County Magistrate Mu exhaled hot air through his nose, gritted his teeth, and said, "I understand. When spring comes next year, several factories of the Great Tang will be built in this county. I will choose clever people to work there. See more, listen more, think more, and ask less. Let the Great Tang people think that we are stupid and let their guard down."
"Well, that's good. Eat. In the future, go to Between the Clouds and the Water or Blue Sea Silver Sand to eat more. There are many merchants of the Great Tang there. Maybe you can get some useful information."
After saying that, Li Dong no longer mentioned this matter and lowered his head to eat and drink.
Just as the two of them had said, the houses of the people of Xinluo were well built. Countless firewood had been cut down. When the weather was cold, they didn't have to worry about freezing.
However, when the farmers lived in good houses, they were not in a good mood. This year's grain was sold, and the money they earned was less than half of last year's. If not for the Great Tang people coming to recruit workers, they probably wouldn't have been able to survive the new year.
When the work was done, would all the farmers starve to death except for those whose land was requisitioned?
Under the support of such thoughts, the farmers felt that this winter was even colder. It was cold from the inside out. They didn't know what would happen next year.
A few days passed quietly. When some people were happy and some were sad, Zhang Tie brought a person to find Li Dong and set up a banquet at the Blue Sea Silver Sand Restaurant.
In order to let Li Dong eat well, he deliberately made a double pot. One side was clear soup, and the other side was spicy. Some of the few chilies were taken out. Of course, they were all chilies without seeds. The seeds had to be planted.
At the sight of the red stuff, Li Dong was amazed. He had eaten the double pot before. It was made from a kind of material on the mountain. After more than 10 processes, it could be made spicy enough. However, he had not seen red ones.
"This is …" Li Dong raised his chopsticks and wanted to taste it. However, he didn't have the courage to do so. Therefore, he asked Zhang Tie with a dubious look.
Zhang Tie answered Li Dong with practical actions. He picked up a thin roll of mutton and lightly dipped it in the spicy pot. After a few seconds, he dipped it in the seasoning on the plate and put it into his mouth and started to chew it.
"Ah! Nice, Mr. Li, try it. This is a new dish made by the Sinongsi Temple of Tang Dynasty. It's very delicious. However, it's rare like ginseng. It's really rare. "
Zhang Tie looked sincere as if it was really made by the Sinongsi Temple.
Seeing someone testing the poison and finding that it tasted good, Li Dong also picked up a roll of mutton and dipped it in the pot. After that, he directly stuffed it into his mouth without dipping it in the seasoning.
"Hiss ~ Hoo ~! Cough, cough, cough! It's so spicy. " Li Dong had never eaten chili before. The moment he swallowed it, he accidentally choked on it and burst into tears. Although he complained, his hands didn't stop moving. He used his chopsticks to pick up three rolls of mutton and dipped them in the pot. He couldn't wait to eat it. While slurping the mutton, he treated it as an enemy and bit it as hard as he could.
"Is it OK?" Zhang Tie asked with concern.
"Yes, yes, it's indeed more delicious than ginseng. Do you have any seeds?" Li Dong was conquered by the chili. The more spicy it was, the more he wanted to eat it. He couldn't wait to pour the soup into his mouth.
"No." Zhang Tie answered straightforwardly. Seeing Li Dong's regretful look, he hurriedly changed the topic and introduced the person he had brought here.
"Boss Li, this is Huainan Cloth Company's Boss Song. He specializes in the cloth business, and his family is rich. His goods are sold all the way to Huainan, and there are even people who travel thousands of miles to buy them. His reputation is spread far and wide, and even a three year old child knows that he is a great philanthropist."
"Nice to meet you, nice to meet you. So it's the great Mr. Song." Li Dong had to stop eating and show proper etiquette.
Mr. Song, who was introduced by Zhang Tie, was a bit fat. He had a round face and always wore a smile. It seemed that he would smile even if he didn't smile. Like the Maitreya Buddha, he had a benevolent look.
Before he spoke, the flesh on his face first moved, followed by his voice, "Mr. Li, I've heard a lot about you. Seeing you today, I know that your reputation is not as good as your reputation."
"You flatter me, you flatter me. I wonder if Mr. Song is here …?" Li Dong was not that naive to judge the truth from others' appearance.
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