The Prodigal Son of Zhenguan

Running a manor is like doing business, you have to sacrifice to gain.

After listening to Li Fu's words, Li Yuan was also thinking.

From the small details, we can know the big picture. This is true for a manor and the entire Tang Dynasty. What is important? It is the population.

Since the war at the end of the Sui Dynasty to the unification of the world, only one in ten people in the Central Plains survived, and the population dropped sharply. After the unification of the Tang Dynasty, it stopped fighting and cultivated culture, and has been resting and recuperating in order to restore the population and production.

When Li Yuan looked at Li Fu again, his eyes had a different look.

Some exploration, some doubt, and some appreciation.

"Young man, do you have a master?" Li Yuan asked curiously.

Li Fu is so young, but he has such insights into people's livelihood, which is not worse than the officials in the court.

Li Fu smiled and waved his hand: "I once went to school with a teacher for a few years."

When the original owner was a child, his family hired a private school teacher to teach him to read and write for a few years. Later, the original owner's mother died and the family fell into poverty. In order to allow Li Fu to continue studying, Lao Zhao spent a lot of money to buy a lot of books from outside.

All the remaining money in the family was used for this, which made the family very poor.

Nowadays, books are very valuable, and ordinary families cannot afford to support their children to study.

But Lao Zhao thought that if the young man studied, he would have a promising future and enter the official career, and he could also revive the family.

"Then did you figure out all these principles of running a farm yourself?" Li Yuan asked again.

"Not really." Li Fu smiled and said, "Practice makes perfect."

Li Yuan smacked this sentence.

What a practice makes perfect.

"Good, good." Li Yuan praised, and looked at Li Fu with even more appreciation.

"Young man, I have another question." Li Yuan said.

"Please speak, old man." Li Fu said.

These two old men had nothing to do with the Pei family. Li Fu was in a good mood and could chat with them for a few more words.

"I see that you don't seem to have much money now. How do you plan to raise such a large amount of money for repairing the canal?" Li Yuan asked curiously.

He really wanted to know this question.

In fact, he also understood that this kind of thing should be led by local officials and funded by the government.

However, what should be done and what can actually be done are two different things. Now, the government has no spare money.

The court is short of money, and it has always been short of money.

Li Fu's eyes fell on the plate of changed eggs on the table.

"Old man, is this dish delicious?" Li Fu asked.

Li Yuan nodded.

"It's really delicious."

"Tell me, if I sell the recipe of this dish to a restaurant in Chang'an City, and then I supply the raw materials of the dish, can I make money?" Li Fu said with a smile.

Li Yuan was stunned, and then laughed.

"Hahahaha, so that's how it is, so that's how it is." Li Yuan said: "Young Master, I dare to say that if these dishes enter Chang'an City, the diners in Chang'an City will definitely flock to them and make money."

After Li Yuan finished speaking, he changed his mind and thought that in this way, the money would be earned, but Li Fu would become a businessman.

Thinking of this, Li Yuan frowned slightly.

"Young Master, you are going to do business." Li Yuan expressed his thoughts: "I think you are quite talented, and you may be able to serve as an official in the court in the future. If you do business now, it will be more trouble than gain."

Merchants have a low status, and businessmen in the Tang Dynasty cannot serve as officials.

"Let's talk about the future later." Li Fu said with a smile: "Besides, if the nobles in the court only rely on salaries, how can they support so many servants in the house? Not to mention other things, which family of the five surnames and seven families does not have industry and which family does not do business? It is said that the people under their hands are doing business and management, but in fact, they are not the master behind them, and the money earned is not in their hands. In essence, they are all doing business."

"If you really say it, I am not doing business either. Everything is done by the people in the house. I have never intervened. I just came up with an idea." Li Fu said with a smile.

Li Yuan was speechless after Li Fu said this. After all, this is the fact.

In the pre-Sui Dynasty, their Li family was also a noble in Guanlong, and they also had industry under their hands, just as Li Fu said.

Strictly speaking, their Li family is also doing business.

Otherwise, where does the money come from? Relying on the rewards and kindness left by their ancestors, they live off their land?

"Supporting a new emperor" also requires a lot of money. If you don't have soldiers under your command, what's the point of supporting one?

At the end of the Sui Dynasty, other families rebelled under the banner of revenge for Emperor Yang of Sui.

But Li Yuan directly supported Yang Guang's grandson as the new emperor, and then let him abdicate.

What he wanted was a legitimate reason.

Li Yuan breathed a sigh of relief, then smiled, and helplessly praised: "Young man, you are smart."

"Thank you very muchThe old man praised. "Li Fu smiled and said, "Old man, I also have a question."

"You ask first."

"What does the old man do in Chang'an City?" Li Fu asked.

This time, Li Yuan was stunned by the question. He had not made up this question carefully... He had to make up for it now.

Fortunately, Li Xiaogong next to him reacted quickly.

"My uncle is an official in the court." Li Xiaogong said.

Li Yuan nodded: "That's right."

"I knew that, seeing that you are extraordinary, this official must be a big one." Li Fu smiled.

Li Yuan smiled: "Well, it should be considered a big official."

After all, it was difficult for him to make up what kind of official he was in a short time, so he just went ahead.

"If the old man was an official in Chang'an City, I wonder if you are interested in my business. "Li Fu said with a smile.

He now needs a "flag" to ensure that no one will miss the things after they arrive in Chang'an City.

If the old man in front of him is a high-ranking official, with his reputation, even if someone wants to take advantage of this idea, they have to think twice.

The relationship network in Chang'an City is complicated, even if there are more powerful than the old man, it doesn't matter.

Cutting off someone's financial resources is like killing their parents.

Since the old man is an official in Chang'an City, he must not be alone.

Which official in the court doesn't have a family behind him?

The name Li Ji also made Li Fu think more...

Li Ji... Li Ji?

Could it be that the old man in front of him, Li Ji is not him real name?

After thinking it over, he had never heard of a senior official named Li Ji in the court.

Li Fu felt that he had discovered something...

But then he thought again, the age didn't match.

Li Ji was now in high spirits, and the old man in front of him was a little too old.

However, Li Fu thought about it and realized that the officials he knew were mostly those who were among the twenty-four heroes during the Zhenguan period.

As for the officials in the court, there were quite a few of them, and he didn't ask too much. The people in the court at this time were not the ones he had heard of. Most of them were still in the Qin Wang Mansion.

Li Shimin was still fighting with the crown prince Li Jiancheng, and now Li Yuan was still in charge of the Tang Dynasty.