Tibet

Gao Shi was ashamed and stood up to salute, "Gao Shi was short-sighted and misunderstood His Highness. I beg Your Highness to forgive me!"

Li Ye nodded and took a few letters on the table, "I originally prepared a book to give to Gao Shijun, as well as Wei Zhi, Lai Ai, Li Xiyan and other senior officials to state my own position. Now that Gao Shijun is here, I will Please bring it to them too! I came to Jiangnan only to purchase food. I will not support King Yong, nor will I participate in the battle to encircle and suppress King Yong."

Gao Shi took the declaration and his heart dropped secretly. He took the risk to test Li Ye. Although his words were rude and made Li Ye a little annoyed, he achieved his goal. Li Ye was not here to annex Jiangdong.

Gao Shi stood up and said goodbye. Li Ye sent him out of the cabin and said calmly: "Prince Yong is obviously the brother of the emperor, but in fact he is the adopted son of the emperor. He has not declared independence. In essence, it is still a household matter belonging to the emperor. I remind Gao Shijun to careful!"

Gao Shi disagreed in his heart. He was just following the emperor's order to destroy King Yong. He knew the emperor's thoughts very well. In front of the imperial power, not to mention brotherly love, not even father-son love was nothing.

But he still said politely on the surface: "Thank you, Your Highness, for reminding me!"

Gao Shi said goodbye and left. Li Ye shook his head and returned to the cabin. At this time, the soldiers came forward and said: "His Royal Highness King Yong has sent someone to deliver a message!"

"Where is he? Bring him to see me!"

The soldiers quickly brought the messenger up. The messenger knelt down, saluted, and handed over a letter, "This is a personal letter from King Yong to His Highness. Please read it!"

The soldier took the letter and handed it to Li Ye. Li Ye took the letter. The letter did not ask him why he came to Jiangning, but asked him if he had received the emperor's order?

Li Ye nodded and said to the messenger: "Wait a moment, I will write a letter, and you will take it back to His Highness King Yong!"

Li Ye immediately wrote a letter and asked the messenger to take it back to Yongwang Li Lin.

At noon the next day, Gao Shi returned to Jiangdu. As soon as he landed, Li Chengshi, the governor of Yangzhou who was waiting here, came forward and said: "I just got the news. Huang Runsheng, Wang Hu, and Shi Xingguo rushed to Jiangning County together."

Gao Shi frowned. The three people Li Chengshi mentioned were all famous businessmen in Yangzhou. They were as rich as anyone in the country. They had all been received by the Supreme Emperor. When they went to Jiangning County, they must be related to Li Ye. Could it be that Li Ye was really here? business man?

"Who else but them?"

There must be others, but I only pay attention to the three of them.

"Then do you know what they went to Jiangning for?" Gao Shi asked again.

"Bizong only knows that there will be a big trade fair in Jiangning, but I don't know the specific situation."

Gao Shi nodded. If Li Ye came to do business, it wouldn't matter to him, as long as he didn't support King Yong.

Gao Shi took out three more letters of declaration, handed them to Li Chengshi and said: "This is Li Ye's letter of declaration. Send someone to give it to the three envoys, and then tell them that I have visited His Highness King Lu. From the current situation, It seems that his coming to Jiangnan has nothing to do with King Yong, but I can’t be sure.”

"I'll send someone to deliver the message right now!"

In the afternoon, Zhang Ping brought his adoptive father Wang Xuanhai to visit Li Ye, and Liu Yan also came together. During this period, Liu Yan and Zhang Ping have been active in the Jiangnan area, not only selling treasures, but also making connections and Buy food.

Liu Yan brought a batch of jade and bronze items to Jiangnan before, but they had all been sold out. This time Li Ye came to Jiangnan with more valuable treasures, which naturally aroused great interest among the wealthy businessmen in Jiangnan, such as jade items, jewelry, gold, and precious medicinal materials. and timber were generally enjoyed by the emperor and the powerful. Although the wealthy merchants in Jiangnan were rich, they did not have access to such precious treasures. Therefore, Li Ye's coming to Jiangnan to betray his country this time was a once-in-a-century opportunity for the wealthy Jiangnan families, and it had already attracted everyone's attention.

Li Ye invited the three of them to sit down in the conference room, and said to Wang Xuanhai with a smile: "Proprietor Wang taught Yang Hui a lesson for me back then. I will always remember this kindness in my heart."

Wang Xuanhai was very impressed. The polo boy from Yonghefang turned into the world-famous King Lu in just seven years. It was simply legendary.

Wang Xuanhai hurriedly leaned forward and said, "It's just a trivial matter, and your Highness still remembers it, which shows that Your Highness is a person who values ​​affection and justice."

"Does Boss Wang still have business in Chang'an?"

Wang Xuanhai nodded, "There is also a trading house and dozens of shops. The martial arts halls have been temporarily closed, and the business has basically moved to Jiangnan."

Zhang Ping, who was standing next to him, said with a smile: "The largest Yuanfuji Trading Company in the south of the Yangtze River is now opened by my adoptive father. He has been running it since the early years of Tianbao. It has fifty ships and is unrivaled in the south of the Yangtze River!"

It was too late for Wang Xuanhai to stop him. Zhang Ping had already said this quickly. He had to smile bitterly and said: "Zhang Ping is too exaggerated. There are so many hidden dragons and crouching tigers in the south of the Yangtze River. We are nothing at all?"

Li Ye was very interested in overseas trade and quickly asked: "Where can we trade overseas?"

"They are all there, Nanyang, Japan and Silla. Guangzhou is the place where overseas trade flourishes, and Jiangnan is far behind."

"I heard that going to Japan is dangerous?"

Wang Xuanhai smiled and said: "The danger is only the middle line and the south line. The middle line starts from Yangzhou and goes across the ocean to Japan. The south line starts from Mingzhou and also goes across the ocean to Japan. It is indeed very dangerous. If there is a storm, the ship will be destroyed. Men lost, we have destroyed twenty ships.

Now we switch to the northern route, first to Dengzhou, across the Bohai Strait to the Liaodong Peninsula, then southward along the Andong Protectorate and the Silla Peninsula, and then around the Silla Peninsula to Japan. Basically, it is offshore. The journey is a little longer, but very safe. Basically, the envoys sent to Tang Dynasty also took this route. "

"I see!"

Li Ye asked no more questions, and returned to practical issues, "How many people will come to participate in this Jiangning sale?"

"More than 300 big businessmen from the south of the Yangtze River will come to participate. Your Highness mainly wants copper coins, cloth and food, right?"

Li Ye nodded, "It's mainly these three things. In fact, I still have a lot of gold and silver to sell."

Wang Xuanhai said happily: "Now gold and silver are the most popular. The gold and silver of the Tang Dynasty are mainly concentrated in Chang'an, and most of them are collected and stored by the powerful. There is very little gold and silver in Jiangnan. The current price of silver is one to four, and the price of gold is It’s one to forty, the key is that you can’t exchange it for gold or silver even if you have money.”

"I can give you a profit of one to three, and gold to one to thirty."

Li Ye also wanted to take advantage of the current high gold and silver prices to replace all the gold and silver in his hands, as well as copperware, especially copper bells. There are many temples in the south of the Yangtze River, and copper bells are very popular. It is better to use them directly to make money. Much more cost effective. "

"Your Highness doesn't need to give up profits. It's hard to get gold and silver. They don't care about the small profits."

Li Ye said happily: "Then it's one to four. I wonder if proprietor Wang has any ideas?"

Zhang Ping said with a smile: "My foster father wants to invite a white jade Bodhisattva."

"There are quite a few. I will save the best quality one for the proprietor."

On the morning of the next day, Tang Jun set up hundreds of large tents on the dock and moved all kinds of treasures and materials there for display and sale. The tents were divided into three categories: jade area, gold and silver jewelry area, and other treasure area. Finally, There is a trading area, but the trading area is on the ship, one-to-one trading.

One after another, big businessmen began to come to Jiangning to pick out treasures. The richest people in Jiangnan were mainly businessmen. Many of them were very low-key and could be said to be as wealthy as anyone in the country. However, because of the relatively low status of businessmen, the precious treasures of the Tang Dynasty all flowed to Chang'an and Luoyang. , collected by the palace and dignitaries, not the merchants.

But the giant businessmen do have a strong desire to inherit treasures for their families. This time Li Ye sells the treasures he has accumulated over the years, which can be regarded as killing two birds with one stone.

Liu Yan and Zhang Ping came to Jiangnan in advance to make contacts. With the help of Wang Yuanbao brothers, they sent out nearly 500 invitations, inviting giant businessmen from all over Jiangnan and Huainan to Jiangning to participate in the trade fair.

In order to keep everyone confidential, only merchants who have received invitations can enter the camp. Each person can bring a palm keeper, and each treasure has a number. After taking a fancy, it can be traded on the big ship, and then the delivery is at another designated place. Zhang Ping and the Wang family's Yuanfu Trading Company were in charge, and they were protected by the army.

In this way, businessmen don't have to worry about revealing their wealth. This is Wang Xuanhai's suggestion. He understands the safety-first mentality of wealthy businessmen all too well.