Steel Dynasty - Chapter 565

[Chapter 565: Deal with the Dutch]

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Pang Yukun looked solemn.

As the chief minister of the cabinet, he was in charge of the government affairs of the feudal country, so finding money for the treasury was his first priority.

Now if money is needed somewhere, Xiao Ming will go to him first. Because of this, he always remembers the time when the peasant tax will be restored, and Xiao Ming’s mention of this official is not without purpose.

In fact, the taxation system in Dayu was quite chaotic, and there was a lot of chaos in the collection of agricultural taxes by various government offices in the feudal country three years ago. Some daring officials even collected more taxes, which aroused the anger of the people.

When the agricultural tax was restored this time, he was just as worried as Xiao Ming about taking advantage of the opportunity to engage in malpractice. After all, the agricultural tax was handed over to the local government, and based on his experience in the officialdom for so many years, there would definitely be “loss” of officials. Make a fuss about one thing.

This kind of loss has always been very popular in the country of Chongqing. To put it simply, when people hand over food, they will use a bucket to weigh it. During the weighing, it is inevitable that some food will be spilled on the ground. The government does not allow people to pick up this food. What goes back is called loss.

What’s more, some officials will step in and make the grain in the bucket fall to the ground. In this way, the people need to make up for the insufficient number of kilograms, which means the people have to pay more grain.

And these “losses” become the pockets of the officials themselves.

Xiao Ming’s mention of this matter now also reminds him of this matter. The ills in the officialdom of the Great Chongqing cannot be repeated in the officialdom of the feudal country. Otherwise, what difference will there be in the corrupt officialdom of the Great Chongqing?

After agreeing to this matter, Pang Yukun was about to go back, when Li Kaiyuan arrived at the government office under the guidance of a servant.

Seeing Pang Yukun, Li Kaiyuan said: “Pang Shoufu, Xiaguan is looking for you. Can you hand over the raw silk, porcelain and tea sent from Pengzhou this time to the Chamber of Commerce? Xiaguan will do a business with the Dutch right away. They are in urgent need now.” These goods.”

“I can give it to you, but you have to exchange it for money and put it into the treasury.” The muscles on Pang Yukun’s face trembled, with a look of reluctance.

“Hahaha, Pang Changshi Anxin, that’s for sure. No matter how much money you earn, won’t the official position be handed over to you in the end?” Li Kaiyuan said with a smile.

Pang Yukun shook his head. Li Kaiyuan was always glib. He said, “I will arrange this when I get back.”

Li Kaiyuan cupped his hands upon hearing this.

Pang Yukun turned to leave. At this time, Li Kaiyuan turned to Xiao Ming and said: “Your Highness, the Dutch merchant ship has arrived at Dengzhou port. The envoy sent by the Dutch told Xiaguan that only silver will be used in this transaction. Xiaguan can’t make up his mind. I came here to ask His Highness. “

“Go and tell the Dutch that we only need half of the silver, and let him exchange the remaining half for goods.”

For Xiao Ming, actual goods are more practical than silver, but with the fief business. To achieve prosperity, hard currency such as silver is indispensable, so based on the calculation, he gave half to each.

“So what goods does His Highness need?” Li Kaiyuan asked.

“Saltpeter, sulfur, iron ore, replace the remaining silver with these.” Xiao Ming said, now this is the strategic material he needs most.

Li Kaiyuan nodded and continued to say to Xiao Ming: “Your Highness, in addition, I am planning to send a merchant ship to the Chu Territory to sell Qingzhou’s goods to the Chu Territory. This time, in addition to the usual goods, there are also white goods. Sugar and pendulum clock.

“Oh? Do you want to sell the pendulum clock too?” Xiao Ming asked.

“Yes, Your Highness, now the clock workshop has produced a hundred pendulum clocks. The merchants in Chu District like these goods very much and ask us to transport them to Chu District. We will pay you all the money.”

Xiao Ming asked: “You How much money did each pendulum clock cost?”

Li Kaiyuan sighed and said, “If I were a low-ranking official in the past, I would have been able to buy one for fifty thousand taels. But now that the world is in turmoil, this pendulum clock is still sold for just this amount of money, even if it is extremely crafted. Okay, Xiaguan has only sold 30,000 taels now.

“That’s pretty good. In that case, you can make more money by doing more.”

Li Kaiyuan nodded, “Yes, Your Highness, this time there are buyers for a hundred units. Chu Di accounts for half of them, and the rest are all bought by locals in Qingzhou.”

“When? There are so many wealthy people in Qingzhou,” Xiao Ming said doubtfully.

“Your Highness, this is not surprising. Firstly, most of the dignitaries in Chang’an have fled to Qingzhou. Secondly, merchants from all over the Chongqing Kingdom have settled in Qingzhou these days. Naturally, there will be more people with some spare money.” Li Kaiyuan laughed. Then he said: “It’s just that the Wei Family Restaurant is now full of customers every day, and the number of businessmen joining the Chamber of Commerce is several times more than before.”

The situation described by Li Kaiyuan made Xiao Ming very satisfied. Now that the Great Yu Kingdom is in chaos, merchants They all want to find a stable place to settle down, and there is no doubt that Qingzhou is their most desired place now.

It is precisely for this reason that merchants gathered in large numbers for a time, and because of Qingzhou’s comfortable living environment and prosperous trade, some dignitaries were also keen to come here.

The arrival of these people naturally brought a lot of wealth, but now that this wealth was in the hands of these people, he had to find a way to get these people to spend a lot of money in Qingzhou.

Thinking of this, countless modern ways to make money immediately appeared in Xiao Ming’s mind. In fact, the settlement of these people in Qingzhou is the same as the contemporary immigration of rich people.

In contemporary times, every country likes rich people to settle in their own country, because it means the arrival of wealth, and now he naturally cannot waste this opportunity.

“Well, that’s very good. In that case, the Chamber of Commerce should recruit members as soon as possible during this period, and also make more luxury goods to sell to them.” Xiao Ming said with a bad smile.

“Your Highness, this is the official’s strength.” Li Kaiyuan said happily.

The two chatted for a while, and then Li Kaiyuan left.

The main thing Li Kaiyuan came to see him for this time was the trade with the Dutch. The following things were just mentioned in passing. After all, the maritime trade with the Dutch was the focus.

And just as he thought, the main goods that the Dutch want now are raw silk, porcelain and tea, and Qingzhou is in short supply of these three items, but Wei is rich in these goods.

Thinking of this, he became more determined to capture the land of Wei. As long as he captured the land of Wei, the financial resources of the feudal state would be stabilized, which would provide a solid foundation for him to seize the northern kingdom.

King Zhao is now focused on taking over Sichuan and has the same thoughts. He also wants to have a stable food supply.

In recent years, the north has become increasingly bitter and cold, and food has become less and less available. Although they do not understand what the Little Ice Age is, they know the actual food production clearly.

In Xiao Ming’s opinion, King Zhao must have felt this when he decided to take action at this time.

(End of chapter)