Tibet

After walking less than a hundred steps, Li Ye saw a big sign, 'Quanzhou Cotton', with white characters on a red background. The two shops opposite also had the same sign, so they were obviously the same company.

When I walked into the door, I saw a bustle of people, and it was dark inside full of people rushing to buy stuffed cotton. Everyone came out carrying large and small bags.

Li Ye couldn't squeeze in at all.

"His Royal Highness the Supervisor!"

Someone next to him shouted in a low voice. Li Ye turned around and saw a middle-aged man standing not far away.

He also saw Li Ye clearly and hurriedly stepped forward to salute, "My humble position is Lin Canghai, a member of the army in Sicang, Quanzhou. I accompanied His Highness to Liuqiu in Quanzhou!"

Li Ye remembered that this person seemed to be among the officials who went to Liuqiu together.

"It turns out to be Lin Canjun!"

Li Ye pointed to the shop and asked with a smile: "Did you open this?"

"This is a shop opened by the Quanzhou government, and I am in charge of a humble job."

"Tell me what's going on inside, I'm very interested!"

"Your Highness, please! Mr. Yan, please!"

Li Ye and Yan Zhenqing entered the back door of the shop and sat down in the back hall. A maid served them hot tea.

Li Ye invited Lin Canghai to sit down and talk. Li Ye smiled and asked, "When did the cotton fiber arrive?"

"Reporting to Your Highness, just after Your Highness left last time, Governor Zhang sent a humble official to open a store in Chang'an. Then half a month ago, the first batch of 100,000 kilograms of wooden cotton was shipped to Chang'an. The business was booming, and now there are only 10,000 kilograms left in stock."

"How much capital do you have? How much can you make from three hundred coins per pound?"

"Reporting to your highness, we purchase the cotton for thirty cents per catty, and then use a cotton gin to remove the cotton seeds. The cost is about fifty cents per catty, and the cost of transporting it to Chang'an is about seventy cents per catty."

Li Ye and Yan Zhenqing looked at each other. They both said the same thing in their eyes. This cost is really low!

"It's winter now. When will you start storing kapok?"

"Reporting to Your Highness, we started to store 200,000 jins last year. In fact, Quanzhou is full of this kind of kapok trees, and 200,000 jins is only a small part. There are also Fuzhou, Jianzhou, Tingzhou, etc. There are many in Zhouzhou and Zhangzhou. If everyone responds to His Majesty’s call and transports them to Chang’an to sell them, the price will probably drop sharply again.”

Li Ye shook his head, "Don't just think about Chang'an. There are so many states and counties in the world, and your price can't be lower. Three hundred coins is the limit. You can't just think about occupying the market for yourself, regardless of the life and death of others."

"Remember your humble position!"

Li Ye stood up and left the shop. Yan Zhenqing said worriedly: "Their capital is too low, cotton can't compete with them!"

Li Ye smiled and said: "Kaomian is only suitable for filling. Weaving is not as good as cotton. Its fibers are too short and difficult to twist into threads. In the future, cotton will be used as cloth and kapok will be used as filling. Each has its own market. , I’m not worried about that.”

After a pause, Li Ye continued: "What I'm worried about is the vicious competition among their states. In order to seize the market, they are desperately lowering prices. Although Zhang Ping is the deputy envoy of Fujian Road Observation, his qualifications are still a bit shallow and he cannot suppress Li Chengzhao and Li Yi. Those old bureaucrats.”

"Then what can you do, Your Highness?"

Li Ye nodded, "The method is that the government is only responsible for the purchase and storage process, and then sells it to merchants at a unified price. The profits gained are divided equally between the court and the local government. As for how to sell, that is the business of the merchants."

"It makes sense. I suggest setting up a Mu Mian Department under the Fujian Dao Observatory to be responsible for coordinating this matter."

Li Ye nodded, this is a good suggestion.

Returning to his court room, Du You handed an express report to Li Ye, "Your Highness, this is an urgent piece of information sent by Governor Yunzhong Gao. It arrived in Chang'an at midnight last night."

Li Ye took the report and returned to his seat to sit down. The tea boy quickly brought a cup of hot tea.

Li Ye drank tea while carefully reading Gao Xiuyan's report. The three Kunjian brothers fought for the throne and were defeated by Huihe. Gained grassland dominance.

I really underestimated this Denli Khan. I thought he would disappear quietly, but I didn't expect that he would make a comeback, seize the opportunity, and defeat his mortal enemy in one fell swoop.

Without Kunjian to compete with them, Uihe is indeed the overlord on the grassland, and no tribe can resist it.

There is also Geluolu, which has been lackluster in recent years and is slowly declining.

After reading the report, Li Ye thought for a moment and then said: "Go and ask the inner guard Li Dutong to come over!"

Not long after, Li Chenghua hurried over, bowed and saluted, "See you, Your Highness!"

Li Ye smiled and said, "It's been a hard day guarding today!"

Today Li Ye and Zhengshitang officials went to various parts of the city to investigate the markets, and more than 3,000 internal guards were dispatched to protect the senior officials.

"Thank you for the compliment, Your Highness, this is the duty of the internal guard!"

At this time, Du You sent a copy of Gao Xiuyan's report. Li Ye handed the copy to Li Chenghua and said: "This is the report sent by Gao Xiuyan from Yunzhou. Regarding the situation of the grassland in the past six months, you should take a look first, and then investigate the situation in Chang'an." Merchants from the grasslands, or Uighurs, and businessmen from Liaodong, please give me a complete report before the New Year!"

"I humbly obey my orders!"

Li Chenghua took the report, bowed and hurried away.

Li Ye fell into deep thought. He asked the internal guards to continue the investigation just to improve Gao Xiuyan's report. However, Li Ye did not doubt whether the report was true or false. On the contrary, the report came very timely, leaving him three months to proceed. Deployment considerations.

But if too many resources are invested in the north, what will happen to the feudal towns in Hebei?

After thinking for a long time, Li Ye sent someone to invite Li Mi and Liu Yan.

Li Mi is currently the assistant prime minister in charge of the Ministry of Personnel. Together with Liu Yan, who is in charge of the Ministry of Household Affairs, he is known as the two most powerful ministers in the Tang Dynasty. He is in charge of personnel and financial power, and his power in implementation even exceeds that of the right minister Li Dai.

In addition, Li Mi and Liu Yan also served as Li Ye's staff and did not resign. He would listen to their opinions on many major military and state affairs.

Not long after, Li Mi and Liu Yan came to Li Ye's court room one after another. Li Ye showed the original report of Gao Xiuyan to them.

After Liu Yan finished reading, Li Ye asked, "What do you two think?"

Li Bi smiled slightly and said, "Your Highness is worried that the Huihe army will come to the border in the spring tomorrow?"

Li Ye nodded, "I am indeed a little worried that the Uighur Army will affect my plan."

Li Mi smiled again: "We discussed this issue half a year ago!"

Li Ye perked up and said, "I'd like to hear the detailed explanation!"

Li Bi said calmly: "Your Highness, I thought there was a 60% chance that the Uighur army would come after the spring. Why is it only 60%? Because I thought that the Uighurs would be restrained by Kunjian and might not be able to survive. But Now that the Kunjian tribe has fled north and the Huihe army has no worries, the possibility of them coming to the Tang Dynasty has increased to 90%. "

Li Ye pondered for a moment and said: "Which direction do you think Huihe will choose among these three places: Shuofang, Yunzhou and Youzhou?"

"Yunzhou!"

Liu Yan next to him said without hesitation: "Since Tian Shenyu has surrendered to Huihe, then Huihe is most likely to come to support Tian Shenyu, and attacking Yunzhou must be their first choice."

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[Today’s efficiency was too low, I only wrote two chapters]