Great Tang Southern Emperor

"I don't know, but it shouldn't be too little." This Li Zhen really didn't know. The incident of that time was spread among the high-level people, but everyone only knew that Hou Junji had corrupted a lot of money, surpassing the Tuyuhun treasury. half of that, but the exact number is still unclear.Li Zhen has the ability to know, but he doesn't have that kind of spare time, so he didn't study it carefully.

Gaochang is one of the most powerful countries on the Silk Road. Relying on the Silk Road, they have an annual income of at least 300 million yuan. Gaochang has been established for 200 years, and the wealth accumulated over the years is definitely an astronomical figure.

"800 sticks."

"What? 800 million?" Li Zhen was shocked: "In other words, in a small Gaochang, the treasury has more than 600 million treasures?"

"Yeah, I didn't expect that a small country in the Western Regions would have so much money." Li Shimin took a deep breath: "It was precisely because of that time that I was deeply stimulated. I never thought that I could make so much money through business."

"No wonder..." Li Zhen finally understood. No wonder after Gaochang was destroyed, Li Shimin never cared about his business reform plan, but now fully supports it.You must know that although Li Zhen also made a lot of money before, he himself was under tremendous pressure. Those businessmen who were squeezed out by him, or the forces behind them, were all kinds of envious of him. Hate.

Those few years were quite difficult for Li Zhen. Not only did she suffer a lot of rejection in business, but she was also played by many people in court. Although Li Shimin didn't reprimand him for this, he didn't give him much help either.

In the end, it was Li Zhen who became ruthless and launched a price war with the outside world, which fundamentally squeezed the living space of those businessmen, and finally completely squeezed them out of the business world, forcing many people to even jump off the building.Internally, he bribed all the nobles in the palace, especially those concubines with titles, and offered a lot of property every year to let them blow the pillow wind for him, and finally persuaded Li Shimin. After paying a certain price, Li Zhen got his support, which greatly relieved her pressure.

However, until Gaochang was destroyed, Li Shimin suddenly changed his attitude and turned to support him vigorously. Originally, Li Zhen thought that Li Shimin was fed by his own price, but now it seems that it is purely commercial taxes that have completely stimulated him. ——A small Gaochang, relying on the Silk Road, can actually earn so much money. Datang has a bigger territory, more merchants, and a good business environment. Isn't the little money going to pile up into a mountain?

Since then, Li Shimin has changed his previous indifference to Li Zhen's business behavior, and has now become a strong supporter. It is precisely because Li Shimin helped Li Zhen withstand the pressure from the court behind the scenes that Li Zhen has More free time to play with those opponents in the mall, and slowly force the older generation of businessmen out of the business circle or force them to change their business models, and then change the business status of Datang, thus driving the entire Datang business to complete It was upgraded once, and the court got more small money because of it.

"So, it's not that Hou Junji is timid, but that he doesn't like the small amount of military pay in the hands of soldiers." Li Shimin turned the topic back to Hou Junji: "In other words, if someone pays him Enough benefits, let alone selling arms, even if it makes him rebel, he will do it without hesitation—provided that he can get enough benefits from it.”

"My son understands a little bit." Li Zhen whispered, no wonder he dared to rebel in history, not only because he was too close to Li Chengqian, but more importantly, he thought that if the rebellion was successful, maybe he could go further It is not impossible to become the ruler of the three provinces, but after all, he underestimated Li Shimin, and the so-called rebellion failed before it even started.

This is another shortcoming of Hou Junji - he has enough ambition but not enough foresight, let alone enough ability. It is flawless, but it is full of loopholes in the eyes of others.

For example, in the matter of Gaochang treasure, Hou Junji was greedy for so much money, and because others didn't know about it, he had already fallen into Li Shimin's eyes. Furthermore, it's a pity that he was too greedy. In the end, not only did he not get a reward, but he was reprimanded, and he was sent to prison (in history) for this.

"What's more important is this..." Li Shimin's voice passed over a stack of notebooks in vain, with a total of more than a dozen volumes.

"What is this?" Li Zhen didn't take it, because he knew that Li Shimin would explain it to him.

"This is Hou Junji's request for the allocation of ordnance in the past few months. There are two copies per month on average. The reason is the same. The climate in Nanyang is humid, and the ordnance is not durable. He asked the court to replace it with new equipment. More importantly, As early as three months ago, I had already replied once, and allocated a batch of ordnance to him, but his booklets have not been cut off, especially the quantity of guns and ammunition, which is even more amazing. Nanyang has basically Ping Ding, where do you need so many arms? This has to make me suspicious."

"..." Li Zhen looked at Li Shimin speechlessly, if you have evidence, just show it and it's over?Why do you have to say so much nonsense before?And Hou Junji, you are also a waste, do you really think that others can't see your problem?It's been half a month since the last memorial, you wrote the words 'I have a problem' on your head, isn't this actively attracting the court to investigate you?How could there be such a stupid person in this world?You can eat as much food as you can. You obviously have no brains, and you still want to crush people with your IQ. Are you looking for abuse?

"But I still don't understand why Hou Junji sold this gun." Li Zhen held up the revolver and asked very strangely: "The bullets of the revolver and the bullets of ordinary pistols are not compatible. There is no place to add it when it’s over, who would buy this thing if they have nothing to do? And there are not many revolvers of this type, once the people in the court know about it, won’t the smuggling of ordnance be exposed?”

"Guns are so in short supply nowadays, it's good to have a gun, and others care whether your bullets are worthy or not?" Li Shimin speculated: "I guess, the people who bought arms from him should not be ordinary slave hunting teams, but enemies of the Tang Dynasty." Guys, they should store their firearms and wait until they reach a certain base before going to war with Datang, so it is impossible for this revolver to be leaked in a short period of time. Hou Junji probably thought so too, but he didn't Unexpectedly, the professional ethics of the Green Snake Gang is so bad that they secretly hid part of it when helping them transport ammunition. This revolver even fell into the hands of the second leader of the Green Snake Gang, and we finally found it..."

"That should be the case." Li Zhen's face suddenly became solemn: "It's just that, if this is the case, Hou Junji will probably get the news of the leak of the guns. Father, we must prevent him from jumping over the wall in a hurry."

"I am very pleased that Zhen'er can think of this." Li Shimin nodded in satisfaction, and then said: "You can rest assured that since I came to Lingnan, Hou Junji has been rushing back, counting the time , it should be here soon, leave the next matter to me, you don’t have to worry.”

"Then please leave it to my father." Li Zhen's heart finally fell. Nanyang seems to be stable now, but in fact it has always been at a critical point. This stability is very fragile. If it really stimulates Hou Junji in Nanyang Raising the flag to rebel will definitely bring unpredictable losses to Datang. To stabilize the situation in Nanyang again, Datang will have to invest a lot of manpower and material resources again, and the consumption will definitely be no less than fighting another Nanyang conquest war.

But now it's all right, Hou Junji returned to Lingnan, and then I will hand it over to Li Shimin. With Li Shimin's wrist, it is not too easy to solve Hou Junji's military power silently - anyway, Hou Junji didn't want to After working in Nanyang, there are a lot of papers for the battle. If Li Shimin uses this reason, it should be able to make him lose his vigilance.

"By the way, father, there is one more thing that I forgot to report to you." After discussing Hou Junji, Li Zhen suddenly remembered one thing, that is Yuwen Wenlong, this old man followed him back to Lingnan , I have been waiting for Li Zhen's introduction, but just after Li Zhen came back, the stool was not warm, so Li Shimin beat him with a board. After discussing Hou Junji, Li Zhen remembered the old man again.

"whats the matter?"

"It's like this, the first stop I went to sea this time was not Borneo, but the Spice Islands, where I met an overseas survivor..." Li Zhen shared what she saw on the Spice Islands Wen Suowei said it again: "That's it, this Yuhualong followed us back to Datang, and now lives in the inn below Wuzhuang Temple, waiting for your summoning, Father."

"People from the Yuwen family..." Li Shimin was a little disgusted: "It's really troublesome, the people from the Yuwen family I hate the most..."

"However, Yu Wenhualong is an overseas survivor after all. He has been alone overseas for 30 years, but his heart is devoted to the motherland, and he spreads the culture of the Central Plains to other races... This is a good example of propaganda, whether it is for the stability of the Tang Dynasty, or to take care of a The wishes of the widowed and lonely old man, this man's father must be seen." Li Zhen persuaded: "Besides, the Mut that Liu Rengui brought back from Luzon, didn't you just meet him? You also rewarded so many Caihuo, publish his deeds in newspapers and publicize them throughout the Tang Dynasty... Now Yuhualong's deeds are more typical and far-reaching than Mutt's, Father, you must meet this person even more."

"But……"

Chapter 896 The Function of Spice Island

Chapter 256 The Role of Spice Island

"Father and emperor know all these truths, but..." Li Shimin said a little anxiously: "Zhen'er, you don't know that this Yuwen family was a deadly enemy with our Li family in the former Sui Dynasty. They have made things difficult for our family many times. Even father The emperor himself has suffered at the hands of Yu Wenhuaji, so for the Yuwen family, I don't want to see the father, I don't want to see him, even Yu Wenshiji, the father rarely summons him."

"These ministers are also aware of it, but Yuwenhualong is different." Of course Li Zhen knew how much Li Shimin hated the Yuwen family. In fact, anyone who came from that era did not have a good impression of the Yuwen family.

But Yuwenhualong is different. In fact, he has a lot to do with Yuwenshi: "First, Yuwenhualong is over 70 this year and has not lived for many years. Secondly, Yuwenhualong is a side branch of Yuwenshi. He even went out to sea during the Daye years and never returned, and has little to do with the Yuwen clan who murdered his master. His only hope now is to find his old family...Father, this is a more typical example of falling leaves returning to their roots. It would be a pity to give up like this.”

"What you said makes sense..." Li Shimin pondered for a moment, and then said: "Forget it, I will see him once, and I have the right to grant him a wish before he dies."

"Thank you, Father." Li Zhen said gratefully, and finally finished what she promised Yu Wenwenlong.

"By the way..." Li Shimin suddenly changed his previous disgust and showed an expression of interest: "But compared to Yuwenhualong, I am more interested in... what happened to that spice island? Zhen'er, you don't seem to have any It was mentioned in your report, can you introduce it?"

"Eh... Actually, there is nothing you can't say." Li Zhen saw Li Shimin's expression, how could he not understand what he was thinking?

"Since the name of the Spice Islands contains spices, as the name suggests, they are naturally rich in spices. There are all kinds of spices on the ground, such as cloves, nutmeg, cardamom, cinnamon, pepper, etc., everything you expect... Father, what's wrong with you? What's wrong? Has all the hysteria come out?" Li Zhen just opened her head, but when she looked up, Li Shimin's face was full of expressions of "I really want to see" and "I really want to", what's more exaggerated is that I don't know What did he think of, his saliva actually flowed out, and fortunately there were only two of him in the room, otherwise Li Shimin's reputation as an emperor would be lost if the image of Li Shimin spread.

"Oh..." Li Shimin came to his senses, wiped off the transparent liquid from the corner of his mouth as if nothing had happened, then looked at Li Zhen with a 'smiling' look, and asked, "Zhen'er, what did you see?"

"Eh..." Sweat dripped from the forehead of Li Zhen who was snickering. The murderous intent implied in Li Shimin's words was too strong. Li Zhen didn't dare to offend her, and immediately shook her head like a rattle: , My son was taking a nap just now, and didn't see anything just now, so don't worry, Father."

"Very good." Only then was Li Shimin satisfied: "Go on, how big is the Spice Islands, and how many spices can it produce every year?"

"To be honest, this minister doesn't know either." Li Zhen shook her head helplessly and said, "The Spice Islands are huge. There are more than 1000 islands recorded on the sea chart alone, and they rank among the top [-] islands in the world by area. There are as many as three of them... With such a large island area, the spices produced on it are absolutely astonishing. I am ashamed that I only stayed on Dingxiang Island for ten days. Even Dingxiang Island only explored a corner, that’s all. To thoroughly explore the entire Spice Islands also requires the power of the court, and it is impossible to complete it alone."

Li Zhen's answer is logically unsatisfactory, but in Li Shimin's ears, it seems to hear the sound of nature: "Okay, great, it's good if you haven't finished the investigation, it's better to investigate a corner ah……"

"Hehe..." Li Zhen could only express her contempt for Li Shimin who had fallen into fantasy.

What Li Shimin was thinking Li Zhen couldn't be more clear. I said before that the price of spices in Datang is very expensive. If all of them are developed, Datang will never be short of money in the future—note, After the Spice Island is developed, there will be no shortage of money.

In fact, Datang is very short of money now, very short of money, and its finances are already in deficit.

This is something that can’t be helped. Datang has undergone commercial reforms, although tax revenues have increased a lot, but it hasn’t been many years since the commercial reforms were completed, and the annual tax revenue is only 3000 to [-] million. After excluding the annual expenditure, there is not much left in the treasury. money.

However, Datang is now at war with Tianzhu, which requires a lot of money. In addition, the development of Nanyang requires a lot of manpower and material resources, and the annual consumption of the local area is also counted. For the entire Datang, it is still stretched.

Without Li Zhen's own investigation, he would know that the Tang court is going to be driven crazy by money and urgently needs a lot of money, otherwise the Tang court will definitely consume its savings before the next tax collection.And if there is no supplement at that time, the Tang Dynasty will usher in the first bankruptcy in its history.

Bankruptcy of a country...

Thinking about it is a very terrible thing, and it will definitely lead to terrible consequences. First of all, social turmoil is inevitable, and the quality of life of the people will definitely decline. , it is absolutely fatal to the future of Datang. If there are people with a heart to stir up troubles and stir up troubles among the people, then the entire Datang may collapse.

This is also the reason why the civil and military officials rushed to immigrate to Borneo as soon as they heard the news - apart from the fact that the imperial court was unable to complete the Borneo immigration through official means, the more important reason was that they hoped Using this method to transfer part of the domestic pressure can also be regarded as an explanation to the domestic people, to enhance their confidence in the country, to save what happens to the country in the future, and to lose confidence in the country...

The same is true for the Spice Islands, and compared to Borneo, the Spice Islands will come in faster. After all, this is an archipelago that produces spices, and there is no need for development. You just need to send a fleet to collect more spices and ship them back. Datang is a considerable amount of money, as long as you run a few more times, you can definitely give Datang finances that are already on the verge of depletion, give them a sip, and replenish their vitality.

Chapter 897

Chapter 257 Serious Illness

Of course Li Zhen knew what Li Shimin was planning, because it was his own idea, and this was one of the reasons why he left Zhang Jianzhi to build the Lilac Wharf. In addition, the more important thing is to rely on the Spice Islands to give Datang a good blood supply, so that Datang can tide over this difficulty.

Of course, Datang’s financial loopholes are huge, and relying on the Spice Islands alone is not enough, but the interests of the Spice Islands are enough to save Datang for a while. As for the future, Li Zhen already has a good solution—for example, After Nantianzhu is wiped out, there will be a lot of spoils...

For another example, the imperial court can seek a bank loan...