leonardwarren Chapter 149 All the world's wealth is in the jar
Chapter 149 All the world's wealth is in the jar
"Your Highness, in just one day, a total of thirteen manors and twelve hundred courtyards were sold, bringing in 6.65 billion taels of silver for the Prince's Palace." Although Cai Chong already knew this number, he still couldn't help but gasp when he read it aloud.
It's only been one day.
He now realizes that too few courtyards have been built in the south of the city; more should be built.
Lu Yuan seemed to realize the problem as well, and looked at Cai Chong, saying, "It seems we haven't built enough courtyards."
He was initially quite conservative, after all, he didn't know how many wealthy merchants there were in the world, and he didn't have much silver on hand at the time.
Looking back now, we realize we underestimated the wealthy people in the world.
There are truly many extremely wealthy people.
Therefore, he immediately said, "Send someone to the yamen first thing tomorrow morning to buy all the land that can be purchased. I will take six billion taels of silver that came into the account today to the palace."
I heard that people in the imperial court started donating silver today.
"Yes, Your Highness, the imperial family and nobles have all contributed money," Cai Chong hurriedly replied.
Lu Yuan nodded: "Prepare the silver notes, I'll go to the palace immediately."
I glanced outside at the still-falling, heavy snow.
A hint of worry flashed across his eyes.
For the northern barbarians, the arrival of winter is a disaster.
"Yes, Your Highness." Upon receiving the order, Cai Chong immediately retreated outside, clearly to collect the silver.
When Lu Yuan was ready, he walked out of the hall.
There were already guards waiting, carrying several boxes.
This place is filled with thick wads of silver notes.
Upon seeing Lu Yuan emerge, everyone immediately bowed and said, "Greetings, Your Highness."
"Come with me," Lu Yuan said calmly, then stepped through the snowdrifts and headed towards the palace.
At this moment, in the study of the Northern Barbarian Imperial Palace, several important officials were still discussing the snow disaster with Empress Xiao.
Li Qing sat in a chair, his face grim, and said, "According to the latest news, many more houses were covered by heavy snow this afternoon."
The Manku tribe seized the opportunity to gather together several small tribes, bringing their combined population to over a million. While this wasn't a huge number, it could become a serious problem if things continued this way.
The Manku tribe was an old and powerful tribe of the northern barbarians, one of the twelve vassal states, and one of the most assertive tribes in its dealings with the imperial court.
After saying that, Li Qing continued, "The most important thing now is that the amount of grain sold to us by both Dayong and Dayu has increased tenfold compared to the outside world."
Therefore, the expenses are enormous; to date, the amount of money needed for disaster relief will not be less than five billion.
His expression became much more serious.
If this matter is not resolved, the power of the regional warlords will surely increase significantly after one winter.
The imperial court, on the other hand, would be in danger of running out of money.
"Without silver, there's nothing we can do. It's over 5 billion! Even when the Northern Barbarians were at their strongest, it would have been a huge financial blow to them. Let alone now," the Grand Master said coldly.
Xiao sat at the head of the table from beginning to end, her expression aloof.
Xiao Hua was beside her, unsure how to comfort her.
The candlelight cast flickering light on everyone's faces.
At this point, the Northern Barbarian leadership had no other options.
After a brief silence, a palace guard entered and said, "Your Majesty, the Prince of Qin requests an audience."
"Ah Yuan is here. Let him come over. I don't know where that child has been all day," Madam Xiao said softly.
The palace guards immediately withdrew.
The Grand Master smiled wryly and said, "After all, they are young and have the mentality of children. Let them play as much as they want. After this winter, I'm afraid the Shengman and Guman will make a move again."
At that time, he didn't even have time to play.
Thinking of Lu Yuan, Li Qing couldn't help but smile: "Fortunately, the King of Qin deterred the barbarians before winter, otherwise, our current situation would be even more difficult."
Now that he has invested so much silver in the southern city, and the imperial court can't help, I'm afraid the Prince's mansion won't be doing well either.
All day today, the officials were in the palace, either busy with disaster relief or not, and no one paid any attention to the situation in the southern city, so they were unaware of the situation there.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have said that.
And just as everyone was talking.
"Crunch, crunch..."
The sound of boots clattering on the snow echoed outside the study.
Then Lu Yuan walked in, followed by more than a dozen guards carrying boxes, which surprised everyone, who wondered what he meant.
After Lu Yuan entered, he bowed and said, "Your Majesty, the Prince of Qin's Mansion has donated six billion taels of silver."
After he finished speaking, the box on the ground was opened.
Upon hearing this, everyone's heads went blank for a moment. They clearly hadn't expected Lu Yuan to take out so much silver, and their first reaction was disbelief.
Then, I couldn't help but look towards the box.
Then, his pupils contracted slightly.
Stacks of banknotes were piled up and neatly arranged in a box, each with a large denomination.
"Where did the King of Qin get so much silver?" Li Qing asked excitedly.
Looking at this number, it is indeed six billion, but this number is too much, making him feel like he is in a dream.
Even with his extraordinary skill, it was still unbelievable.
Grand Master Xiao Gu looked at Lu Yuan with a strange expression.
"Did this kid try to steal someone?"
However, he immediately dismissed the idea. Even if it were robbery, who would have that much silver?
Xiao's usually impassive face finally showed some emotion: "A-Yuan, where did all this money come from?"
Xiao Hua then looked at Lu Yuan.
The latter said softly, "Some of the courtyards in the south city were sold, so I earned some income. Knowing that everyone is donating money today, I naturally have to contribute as well. This is today's income."
"hiss!"
"King Qin, are you saying this is your daily income?" Li Qing sat up from his chair. Back when he was trying to sell his house in the south of the city, he couldn't sell it no matter what he tried.
This has prevented the economy of Nancheng from being revitalized to this day.
Now things are really good. Lu Yuan has sold so many items in just one day, and at such a high price.
Most importantly, the house hasn't even been built yet.
Thinking of this, the shock in his eyes turned into resentment; this was too much of a slap in the face.
However, he does hope that there will be more opportunities like this.
"Actually, we need more, but we'll keep some money to buy more land. Right now, it seems like this isn't enough; everyone is too enthusiastic."
"The number sold tomorrow should be even higher than today," Lu Yuan said, raising an eyebrow.
At this moment, everyone in the hall fell silent.
After a moment, Xiao Hua said with a face full of admiration, "Brother Wang is so amazing."
With this silver, the crisis in the Northern Barbarians can be considered resolved.
Li Qingqing cleared his throat and said, "Then I will order people to purchase grain immediately."
Lu Yuan raised his hand to block the way, saying, "I wonder from whom the Prime Minister intends to purchase this?"
"We are right next to Dayong and Dayu, and these are the only two forces that can buy from us right now. However, the price is a bit high, ten times the usual price."
Li Qing said softly.
He looked a little pale, but that was only because there was a buffer period; otherwise, the price would have been even higher.
After a moment of contemplation, Lu Yuan said, "I can send someone to purchase grain. The price may be slightly higher than usual, but with one billion taels of silver, we should be able to purchase enough provisions."
He planned to ask Tianwangzhai to help with the acquisition.
Today, Wu Han and his men control dozens of trade routes, and Tianwang Village is practically a marketplace, handling countless goods every day.
Merchant caravans from Dayong and Dayu would pass through here to do business with the Northern Barbarians.
Currently, both dynasties intend to blockade the northern barbarians, but they have no control over the trade in Tianwang Village.
Having Wu Han secretly acquire a portion should not be a problem and will not arouse suspicion from Dayong. After all, Tianwangzhai's output is too large. With these emergency supplies, people can be sent to the Southern Frontier and the Eastern Yi to continue purchasing.
At that time, the food crisis of the Northern Barbarians will be completely resolved.
"If that's really the case, then that would be wonderful. The extra silver would provide enough pay for the border troops and the imperial guards." Li Qing rubbed his hands together happily.
This northern barbarian prime minister has completely disregarded his own image.
Lu Yuan smiled and said, "The Prime Minister can send someone to contact Wei Yong, who is under my command. He will be in charge of discussing the grain issue."
"Alright, I'll send someone to find him tomorrow," Li Qing replied.
However, on this matter, Xiao asked a question: "A-Yuan, tell me honestly, are you really planning to establish an academy and teach disciples, or are you planning to deceive them?"
One or two extremely wealthy people might not be a big deal, but too many of them can be troublesome and bad for your future reputation.
After going through a series of events, Xiao Shi had gradually begun to raise Lu Yuan as her son, believing he would be of great use in the future. She didn't want him to ruin his reputation for some money.
Most importantly, he offended all the wealthiest people in the world, which is no joke.
Lu Yuan looked up and said, "Your Majesty, I really want to establish an academy. I have even trained teachers, although the academy is not yet completed."
However, the training ground is ready, and classes will officially begin tomorrow.
However, I would also appreciate it if Your Majesty would send some alchemists to assist me. After all, once the academy is completed, these disciples will all need cultivation resources. Rather than letting others benefit from these resources, it would be better for us to earn them ourselves.
"That's no problem. You can discuss this with the Prime Minister. There are quite a few alchemists in the court," Madam Xiao said with a light laugh, as long as Lu Yuan wasn't lying.
However, she still thought she would go and take a look if she had time tomorrow.
After all, this is a very big deal.
Moreover, earning so much silver in a single day was something Xiao Shi had never seen before, even after experiencing many major events.
Lu Yuan smiled and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty."
Then, as if struck by a thought, Li Qing said, "The King of Qin just said he also wants to buy land?"
As expected of the Prime Minister of the Northern Barbarians, he instantly saw a huge business opportunity within it.
If Lu Yuan wanted to buy land, he wouldn't mind raising the price a bit to earn more money for the court, since the court was too poor right now, even with the donations from Lu Yuan.
There's no need to worry about a shortage of silver for now, and no one will complain about having too little of it.
After the New Year, the Northern Barbarians will be fighting, and they will need a lot of money to bring the regional military governors under their control.
After the New Year, the Northern Barbarians will be fighting, and they will need a lot of money to bring the regional military governors under their control.
Six billion seems like a lot, but it's not enough to do all of this.
Moreover, the court cannot rely solely on Lu Yuan for its livelihood; it must have its own sources of income, and now it has its sights set on Nancheng.
Selling so many houses in a single day, Lu Yuan's land holdings might not be enough for the whole winter.
"They came as expected." Lu Yuan didn't seem to care about any of this.
He chuckled and said, "We are planning to buy some more. The steward will go to the yamen tomorrow to continue the purchases."
Upon hearing this, Li Qing immediately addressed Lady Xiao, saying, "Your Majesty, I wish to increase the price of land in the southern city tenfold."
Upon hearing this, Madam Xiao frowned. Lu Yuan had just brought over six billion taels of silver, and not only was he not going to give him any when he bought land tomorrow, but he was also demanding ten times that amount.
Although this money was earned for the imperial court, Xiao's favoritism towards Lu Yuan clearly exceeded everyone else's expectations.
He immediately said, "The Prime Minister's actions are inappropriate. Let's not talk about this anymore. As for the land in the southern city, since A Yuan needs it, just give it to him."
Xiao Hua raised an eyebrow and said, "That's right, Prime Minister Li, what you're doing is extremely unethical."
As the Grand Master of the Imperial Clan, Xiao Gu's expression also darkened. Moreover, he was not as polite as the Xiao family, and he shouted, "Li Qing, what do you mean by this? You're always so stingy with resources for the imperial clan, but now you see Lu Yuan making money."
"Are you really taking advantage of my royal family to raise prices so maliciously?"
Xiao Lie, the deputy commander of the Imperial Guards, also cast an unfriendly glance at him.
Li Qing's words offended most of the people present.
Therefore, he could only smile wryly and say, "Your Majesty, this price increase is not aimed at the King of Qin, but at increasing the value of the land, making the court's land more valuable, so that silver will flow into our Northern Barbarians in large amounts."
Moreover, this increased value of silver doesn't need to come from the King of Qin; it's paid for by the wealthiest people in the land. You can ask the King of Qin if you don't believe me.
Li Qing knew that most of the people in the room were only focused on cultivation and didn't understand these things very well.
Even he only just realized it.
Perhaps only Lu Yuan truly understands these things; he might even be hoping to raise the price.
Sure enough, Lu Yuan said with a smile, "I appreciate Your Majesty's and everyone's kindness, but what the Prime Minister said is indeed reasonable. As land prices rise, house prices will naturally rise as well, and we will earn even more then."
"So how much are you planning to raise the price?" After realizing she had wronged Li Qing, Madam Xiao chose to ignore him and instead looked at Lu Yuan to ask.
"Let's raise it tenfold. Any less wouldn't be befit the status of those incredibly wealthy people from all over the country. We weren't ruthless enough in the past; the selling price was a bit too low," Lu Yuan said softly.
"Hiss!" Everyone gasped.
They knew the prices of the houses Lu Yuan built in Nancheng. They could make a huge profit if the price increased tenfold. The main question was whether anyone would actually buy them.
It's way too expensive.
They just don't realize that when buying a house, people always buy when prices are rising, not falling; that's human nature.
The higher the housing price, the more people will buy it.
Judging from this incident, Lu Yuan indeed underestimated the immense wealth in the world.
Those who came before this time are far from being among the very first batch.
Lu Yuan's academy will reach its true peak when classes begin tomorrow.
They can systematically cultivate high-quality techniques, and for the extremely wealthy, silver is nothing at all.
Moreover, as long as the academy remains, the value of the house will only increase, not decrease. This is not a losing proposition; in fact, it might even be profitable.
Those super-rich people have all spent most of their lives in the business world, so they understand the ins and outs of it.
If people before today were thinking of having their family disciples learn cultivation techniques...
After tomorrow, what they'll be thinking about is how to buy more houses so that the value of this land will continue to rise.
From now on, Lu Yuan won't need to issue any more messages; these people will naturally spread the news about the academy to every corner of the world.
Moreover, Lu Yuan wanted to build the academy into a sacred place for scholars to cultivate themselves, so this amount of silver was not much at all.
As time goes by, this place will only become more valuable.
After a moment's hesitation, Madam Xiao asked, "Isn't this too much? Are you sure you can handle it?"
"Of course we have them," Lu Yuan said confidently.
Then Madam Xiao looked at Li Qing and said, "Let's do it your way."
"Yes, ma'am!" Li Qing replied, a look of joy on his face.
If this matter can really be accomplished, it will be an extremely good thing for the imperial court.
This is a gathering place for the world's wealthiest people; their consumption levels must be incredibly high.
This goes without saying.
The taxes levied on just one city, Nancheng, are probably more than those levied on the entire Northern Barbarian region.
From now on, I'm afraid I won't be short of money.
After the matter was settled, a bit of color finally returned to Madam Xiao's face. Looking at everyone in the study, she said, "Now that the matter is resolved, everyone should go back and rest. You've all worked hard these past few days."
"Yes, Your Majesty." The crowd responded and withdrew.
However, Lu Yuan did not leave, but was stopped by Xiao Shi.
At this moment, only he and Xiao Hua and her daughter remained in the study.
Madam Xiao said earnestly, "A-Yuan, you've made such a big deal out of this. To be honest, are you really confident? Don't let something really bad happen."
Clearly, she was still somewhat uneasy.
"Don't worry, Auntie. When have I ever done anything I wasn't sure of? Besides, this time we not only need to solve the money problem, but we also need to solve a major issue this winter," Lu Yuan said softly.
Both Xiao Shi and Xiao Hua looked over at the same time, not understanding what Lu Yuan meant.
"As far as I know, not only our Northern Barbarians have suffered this disaster, but the Raw Barbarians and Ancient Barbarians have also been affected, especially the former, which is more serious than we imagined."
They just didn't have any internal problems, so their situation is better than ours, but the number of people who froze or starved to death is certainly not small.
My idea is to wait until spring arrives, the ice and snow melt, and they are facing a food shortage, then we can launch an attack and catch them off guard.
The best-case scenario is to defeat both the Shengman and Guman tribes.
These regional military governors then knew what to do.
Lu Yuan's words made Xiao Shi fall into deep thought. After a moment, she looked up and asked, "Then what should we do if the regional military governors cause trouble during the war?"
"This is what we need to do this winter: win over some people and suppress others, so that they can't unite. Leave the Prime Minister and the Grand Master of Ceremonies in the capital to keep watch, and they won't dare to make a move."
"How exactly should we arrange it?" Madam Xiao asked softly.
It seems that she took Lu Yuan's words to heart.
"You can bestow titles upon some regional military governors, such as giving them prestigious names. Aren't some of the territories currently occupied by these regional military governors never recognized by the imperial court?"
Since it's in their hands anyway, you might as well just give it to them as a reward.
However, it is necessary to select those regional military governors who still have some affection for the imperial court to be rewarded. As for the other regional military governors, they need not be interfered with; they can be left to their own devices.
At that point, we won't even need to send troops; they'll become suspicious of each other and will certainly not be as united as before. Once a rift appears, the rest will be easier to manage.
Xiao's eyes lit up, and after careful consideration, she felt that the plan was indeed feasible.
Most importantly, it won't harm the imperial court, so it's worth a try.
Individually, none of these regional military governors posed a threat to the imperial court; the real problem was when they were all gathered together.
If we can break their unity, things will be much easier to handle.
He nodded and said, "Alright, let's handle the matter of the regional military governors like this for now. As for the Shengman and Guman, we'll have to see how much the court can accumulate after spring."
Otherwise, it might not be enough to support a large army on a campaign.
"Mm." Lu Yuan nodded.
In fact, the most important reason why he was so anxious was the threat from Dayong.
Two years are needed to completely transform the Northern Barbarians.
Otherwise, the consequences would be disastrous.
After chatting for a while longer, Lu Yuan took his leave.
As for Xiao Hua and her daughter, they finally breathed a sigh of relief after resolving the temporary crisis.
After returning to his residence, Lu Yuan did not give up his cultivation. After swallowing the pill, he entered a meditative state.
Nothing happened that night, and the next morning...
As soon as he stepped out of the courtyard, Cai Chong came up to him: "Your Highness, I went to buy land early this morning, but the government raised the price to 100,000 taels of silver per mu. I only bought 6,000 mu of land surrounding the academy, but the imperial court gave me 4,000 mu, so I actually got 10,000 mu."
"Hmm, well done. Continue to recruit more people and increase the construction efforts. Are there many people signing up today? Go and post a notice that says something like, because the land price has increased, the price of the houses in the academy will also increase tenfold."
"Just sell at the normal price today." Cai Chong opened his mouth when he heard Lu Yuan's words, wanting to persuade his prince, but after thinking of the miracle Lu Yuan had created this time, he shut his mouth.
Then he said, "There are even more people today than yesterday. A large portion of them are gathered in the training ground watching the new students learn the skills."
"The sales office is packed with people looking to buy houses. Even some wealthy businessmen in our capital city are tempted. I'll put up the signs in a bit, and I expect even more people will come," Cai Chong said hurriedly.
Lu Yuan nodded, then gestured for Cai Chong to step down.
Then, he headed out of the mansion. The Xiao mother and daughter were going to the South City today, and he would also like to go and see how Wei Yong and the others were doing with their training.
Today is the day for the transmission of skills, which is very important to the academy and cannot be taken lightly.
Then, he led a group of beast riders out of the mansion and headed towards the south city.
Meanwhile, inside the Dayong Imperial Palace, Emperor Yong had just stepped out of his bedchamber and had just gotten up.
An attendant outside reported this.
"Your Majesty, news has arrived from the Northern Barbarians."
Emperor Yong frowned. It was the Northern Barbarians again, but he still said, "Come in."
The eunuch cautiously entered the bedchamber, but dared not look at the bed, for His Majesty's favorite concubine was still resting.
"What news?"
"Just now, a scout from the Embroidered Uniform Guard stationed in the Northern Barbarians sent a message saying that houses in Lu Yuan's southern city are suddenly selling very well. Many wealthy merchants from all over the country have gone there, and yesterday alone, he probably pocketed billions of taels of silver."