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Life in Chang'an Chapter 14 Making Money

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    I'm in good condition today. This is a big chapter with more than 5,000 words. I'm too lazy to share it and upload it directly.

    With Li Min's instructions and Gao Zhong's ability in doing things, a large amount of money was quickly raised.  As for the tea workshop, things have changed, because Liu Hu suggested to Li Min: This method of frying tea is very simple and can be learned by ordinary people. If you want to keep it secret, you might as well use servants in the palace. These people have no personal identity.  Freedom and even life belong to the master Li Min. As long as others are not allowed to approach the tea workshop, there is no need to worry about the risk of leaking secrets.  Of course, Li Min would immediately adopt any good suggestions.  Afterwards, he asked two girls, Wen'er and Hua'er, about the servants. As a result, Wen'er explained for a long time, and Li Min finally figured it out.  It turns out that in the Tang Dynasty, in addition to the strict hierarchical system, there were also good and bad people. The so-called good people included royal nobles, officials, monks and ordinary people, while the bad people referred to untouchables, among which slaves were untouchables.  Moreover, slaves were divided into official slaves and private slaves. Official slaves were mainly expropriated criminals, while private slaves were mainly civilians who were forced to sell themselves into slavery due to life constraints.

    The servants in Prince Li Min's palace are all official slaves, and all of them are Li Min, the King of Liang. Most of these servants are assigned by Sinong Temple, and some of the maids are from Yeting Palace.  Without Li Min's permission, these slaves would not be able to leave Prince Liang's Mansion for the rest of their lives, and even marriages would have to be approved by Li Min. It can be said that there would be no life safety or personal freedom.

    Wen'er and Hua'er couldn't help but shed tears until the end of their story. Although their status in the palace was relatively high, they were still considered slaves.  Both of them were the daughters of prisoners. Because of their good looks, they were selected to study music and dance in the Jiaofang Division. Later, they were taken by Concubine Yang and were taken to her. They were not given to Li Min until some time ago.

    Although Li Min sympathized with what happened to the two women, he was helpless. After all, the overall social environment was like this, and he alone could not change it.  In order to make the two girls happy, Li Min tore up the contract between the two girls in person and asked someone to help them re-register their household registrations, thus restoring the two girls' freedom.  This made the two girls grateful to Li Min. After getting along with each other for this period of time, they also had a good impression of Li Min, the kind-hearted prince. They had been in the palace for almost half a month, but they still had not touched Li Min.  Their bodies have never lost their temper with their servants, and privately they are often glad to have such a good master. Now that Li Min has restored their freedom, he has won the loyalty of the two women, and is determined to  Follow Li Min wholeheartedly.

    In just a few days, Gao Zhong sent people to purchase a lot of tea. Liu Hu's tea workshop had already started work, but the location of the workshop was moved from the tea garden to Li Min's Liang Prince's Mansion. The Liang Prince's Mansion was very large.  Occupying nearly half of Anxingfang, in the northeast corner of the palace, that area is the workshop area of ??the palace. There are many workshops such as clothing workshops, wineries, paper mills, etc. Li Min previously designed chairs, coffee tables and other furniture.  It was built by one of the carpentry workshops, and now there is a tea workshop.  This was thanks to Gao Zhong's reminder, otherwise Li Min really didn't know that his palace had so many workshops.  Unfortunately, these workshops were not large in scale, and the products they produced could only be supplied to the palace, and were generally not sold to the outside world. The tea workshop set a precedent.

    "Your Majesty, the three-pot connected tea stove you mentioned has been built. Now the efficiency has increased several times. Sixty workers can produce about 120 kilograms of tea leaves every day, of which 4 kilograms of raw tea can produce one kilogram of tea leaves.  The output of the tea garden plus the purchased tea leaves is approximately 10,000 kilograms. Calculating this, it will take more than a month to finish all the tea leaves." Liu Hu reported the current situation of the tea workshop to Li Min with a look of joy on his face.  When Li Min demonstrated before, he used one pot to fry tea, and he had to adjust the temperature in the pot from time to time. However, when frying tea on a large scale, this method is inefficient, so Li Min introduced the method of frying tea in three pots.  After Liu Hu implemented it, the efficiency increased several times.

    "Well, that's right. The reward system for workers must be implemented to the letter. For every kilogram of tea made, they will be given five cents as wages. Only in this way can they fully mobilize their enthusiasm!" Li Min was very satisfied, but still  Don't forget to remind Liu Hu not to withhold rewards from workers.

    The craftsmen in Prince Li Min¡¯s palace are also official slaves. Theoretically, the slaves do not receive any compensation for their work, and all their food, clothing, housing and transportation are provided by their masters.  But in fact, in order to motivate the slaves to work, the master usually pays them a certain amount of monthly money. Of course, the amount of monthly money depends on the master's wishes. If the servant is more generous, he will give more.  Those masters who were harsh on their servants would receive very little or even no monthly payment.

    In the past, Li Min was extremely harsh on his servants. In addition, the finances of Prince Liang's palace were not good, so except for the stewards and above, other low-level servants had no monthly money.  Li Min discovered this situation when he opened a tea workshop. The picking period of tea leaves was very short. In order to increase the amount of fried tea as much as possible and prevent the workers in the workshop from being passive and slacking off, Li Min decided to implement rewards at that time.At this time, workers were given five cents for every kilogram of tea made, and those who worked harder would get more.  This immediately fully mobilized the enthusiasm of many people. After all, slaves are also human beings, and they also have places to spend money. In the past, they did not have a penny, but now they can get at least 10 penny if they work hard every day, and 300 penny in a month.  , which is considered a good income in this era.

    "Your Majesty is generous to his servants, and I admire him very much. He will never deduct wages from workers. Please rest assured, Your Majesty!" Liu Hu said with determination. As the head of the workshop, Li Min also gave him every prescription.  He was in charge of the tea plantation and had a regular monthly salary of two guans per month. Now adding the two guans per month from the workshop, it worked out to three guans per month, which was almost the same as Gao Zhong's salary.

    Liu Hu¡¯s performance made Li Min very satisfied, and after a few more explanations, he asked him to leave.  After tasting the new tea roasted by the tea shop, Li Min found that it was much better than the tea roasted by himself, which made Li Min even more satisfied.  Before he could rest for a while, Gao Zhong asked to see him again.

    "Your Highness, the old slave who sells new tea has been found. I have brought him here to see you today!" Gao Zhong came in and bowed to Li Min. The status of merchants in the Tang Dynasty was extremely low.  'At the bottom of the list, commerce is regarded as a lowly industry. With Li Min's status, it is impossible to sell tea under the brand name of Prince Liang's Mansion, so he can only find trusted merchants to sell tea on a consignment basis.

    "Oh, you can make the decision on such a small matter. You don't need to bring anyone to see me!" Li Min was a little strange. Logically speaking, a businessman does not need to be visited in person anyway. As the steward of the palace, Gao Zhong should not commit such a crime.  Is this a mistake?

    "Your Highness, the Wang family is the only merchant affiliated with the Wang Palace, and and the Wang Palace has been unable to deal with him in some ways, so I would like to ask Your Highness to meet him in person!" Gao Chong looked a little embarrassed on his face, and he was hesitant to speak.

    "Holy crap! Is this the same bastard thing I did before?" Li Min slapped his head in pain. Seeing Gao Zhong's expression, he guessed something. He really didn't know if he owed that bastard Li  Shocked, I have to bear the blame for all the bad things in the past.

    As expected, Gao Zhong nodded in embarrassment. Now that the fat eunuch had understood Li Min's temper, he became much more courageous. He now had the courage to say things he didn't dare to say before.

    After Gao Zhong¡¯s narration, Li Min finally understood the grudges between the Wang family and ¡®himself¡¯.  As mentioned before, the status of merchants in the Tang Dynasty was extremely low. Not to mention the princes and nobles, even ordinary people were unwilling to engage in business. However, the huge profits generated by business made people jealous, so wealthy businessmen were very important in society.  They are in a position of being exploited and are often made things difficult or blackmailed by others.  In order to get rid of this exploited status, various businesses have looked for backers, and named their properties under the names of wealthy and prosperous families. They send large sums of money as tribute every year, and the wealthy and prosperous families provide them with protection.  In this way, the wealthy and prosperous people get the money they need, and the merchants can develop their business safely by leveraging the reputation of the wealthy and prosperous people. It is a win-win situation.  The Wang family who came to see Li Min this time was the only business affiliated to his name in Prince Liang's Mansion.

    The Wang family was originally one of the top ten wealthy businessmen in Chang'an City, and the family's business was also one of the best in Chang'an City. It was originally affiliated with Ying Guogong, Warrior Yi, who was originally one of Li Yuan's most trusted ministers, but after Li Shimin ascended the throne,  , Ying Guogong's power was declining day by day, and the Wang family's business was also affected. Until a few years ago, the Wang family found a way to be affiliated with Li Min, and offered thousands of coins every year for Li Min's squandering. Originally, they were living in peace.  .

    But just last year, Li Min attended the banquet of Zhang Sun Chong, the eldest son of Zhao Guogong Zhang Sun Wuji. After the banquet, everyone gathered for gambling. Li Min was originally a good gambler but was very unlucky. In the end, he lost the bet with Zhang Sun Chong and even hung up the Wang family.  The restaurant and shop in his name were used as mortgage.  Businessmen pay to affiliate their properties to wealthy families, and wealthy families provide protection but do not touch these properties. This has become the default rule between businessmen and wealthy families, but Li Min doesn't care about this with his two hundred and fifty. Anyway, he has it in his name.  Quan dealt with them, but they all lost to Changsun Chong.  Later, the eldest son's family took the contract signed by Li Min and went to the Wang family to ask for the property. Although the Wang family was angry, they did not dare to offend the eldest son's family, so they had no choice but to surrender most of the property.

    The direct consequence of this incident was that Li Min¡¯s Prince Liang¡¯s residence was discredited, and no businessman dared to rely on his residence anymore.  The Wang family suffered heavy losses, and all major industries were transferred to the Changsun family. The Wang family was left with only a few small workshops and stores to survive. From one of the top ten wealthy businessmen in Chang'an, they suddenly fell to a small businessman who could barely make ends meet.  The butler of Prince Liang's Mansion at the time felt sorry for him, and kept letting the Wang family stay in Prince Liang's Mansion without requiring them to pay money every year, which was a little compensation for them.

    "Bastard!" Li Min cursed in a low voice. He was not only scolding the previous Li Min, but also scolding the Changsun family. It was obvious that this idiot Li Min had been tricked by the Changsun family. Not only did he lose his reputation, but also the Changsun family.  He gave the other party a large amount of property, which was a loss.The people lost their troops again.  Recalling that Changsun Wuji tricked him last time in elementary school, Li Min couldn't help but feel wary. It seemed that he would have to be more careful about this insidious Changsun Wuji in the future.

    "Let him come in!" Li Min weakly ordered Gao Zhong. He understood Gao Zhong's deep intention of asking him to meet the Wang family. If he wanted to solve the financial problems of Prince Liang's house, he must start from the business side, and this inevitably required a person.  As the agent of Prince Liang's Mansion, after all, he couldn't do business directly.  But Prince Liang¡¯s Mansion has a bad reputation in the business world, and no businessman dares to cooperate with them. The only choice left is the Wang family, which is still attached to the Prince¡¯s Mansion. However, they lost most of their family property last time. Although the Wang family did not dare to say anything openly,  What, but secretly he probably already hates him, Prince Liang.  Therefore, it is necessary to meet and communicate now. It is best to let the Wang family eliminate their resentment, so that they can cooperate better.  But this is not an easy task. After all, it is a family property that has been worked hard for generations. If Li Min loses everything in one day, no one can easily forgive him.

    "The villain Wang Zihao, join His Royal Highness Prince Liang!" The visitor followed Gao Zhong as soon as he came in, and immediately knelt down on the ground and saluted.  Li Min looked at the person in charge of the Wang family and found that he was about thirty years old. He had a square face and a long beard and looked very elegant. He didn't look like a businessman at all, but rather like a scholar who came to Chang'an to take the exam.  Although this Wang Zihao was respectful, his expression was always calm. He stared at the ground and never looked at Li Min, making it impossible for anyone to know what he was thinking.

    "Haha, Mr. Wang is so polite, please get up quickly! Wen'er, serve tea to Mr. Wang quickly!" Li Min, with a smile on his face, quickly helped him up and served him freshly brewed tea.

    Wang Zihao was obviously taken aback by Li Min's enthusiastic attitude. He sat down at a loss and didn't dare to move. He didn't know what tricks Li Min was going to play.  Li Min always felt that he owed the other party a little and couldn't think of what to say. The situation was awkward for a while.

    "Mr. Wang, Gao Zhong must have told you the reason why he invited you here, right?" Li Min took a sip of tea and thought for a while before speaking.

    "Your Majesty has killed a villain. I don't deserve the word sir. This is how the prince calls a certain Zihao!" Upon hearing Li Min's question, Wang Zihao immediately stood up and bowed and replied, "The senior manager has already told this villain before I came here."  , saying that the palace has made a batch of new tea, and wants to hand it over to the villain for sale!"

    "Well, that's right. The tea next to you is the newly made tea. Can you try it and see how it tastes?" Li Min raised his hand to signal him to sit down, and then he started to speak.

    Wang Zihao sat down obediently, picked up the tea cup and looked at the color of the tea, then put it to his nose and smelled it, then tasted it in a small sip, then closed his eyes and savored it, suddenly opened his eyes and shouted loudly  He praised: "Good tea! Your Highness, the color of this tea soup is green and transparent, and the tea aroma is deep and pleasant. It tastes slightly bitter at first and then sweet. It is a rare good tea!"

    "Haha, Zihao is indeed a person who knows tea. Based on your understanding of the market, how should this tea be priced?" Li Min has never decided on the price of tea. First, he is not familiar with the Tang Dynasty tea industry.  I don¡¯t know, but I don¡¯t know how big the demand is in the market. If it is not appropriate to set it high or low.

    "This~?" Wang Zihao pondered for a moment, "I dare to ask the prince, what is the production of this tea?"

    "Huh? Does this have anything to do with output?" Li Min asked curiously.

    "Yes, if the output of this tea is very small, then go for the high-end route, and the price of one tael per hundred is not an exaggeration. But if the output is large, I suggest that the price should be lower to avoid not being able to sell all the tea!" Expert  Even an expert thinks more carefully than a layman like Li Min.

    "Well, this year's spring tea is not well prepared, so the output is only two thousand kilograms. If the sales this time are good, I will expand the scale of the workshop when the summer tea comes. It is estimated that the output will increase several times." Li Min thought for a while and replied  , tea can be harvested all year round, and can be divided into spring tea, summer tea, autumn tea and winter tea according to the season.

    "It seems that the output of this tea is not small, so it is not suitable for high-end sales. The best tea now is only 800 Wen per catty. This tea is better than the tea on the market. The price is best set at 1,000 to 1,500 Wen."  The time must not exceed twice the highest price." Wang Zihao replied respectfully.

    "Well, okay, if I wholesale it to you at a price of 900 Wen per catty, are you willing to take over this business?" Li Min laughed in his heart. He didn't expect that Wang Zihao would set such a high price.  The material cost of tea is about 250 Wen. Even if the labor and site costs are excluded, the cost per catty is only 300 Wen. It is sold at a price of 900 Wen, making a net profit of 600 Wen. Two thousand catties is 1,200 Wen, and this is still  In the first season, if the output doubles in the next season, it will be three to four thousand guan, and the income will be at least 10,000 guan a year. This is simply incredible!

    Hearing that Li Min had wholesaled tea leaves to him for 900 Wen, Wang Zihao was shocked and his face was filled with disbelief.He looked at Li Min with a dissatisfied expression. This was the first time he had carefully looked at His Highness Prince Liang.  If he wholesales to himself at such a low price, then he can make at least a difference of two to three hundred cash. Calculating based on the output Li Min said, his annual income of four to five thousand cash is not as good as the Wang family's heyday.  income, but there are not many businesses in Chang'an with such income.

    "This this, thank you Prince Liang for your kindness, but" Even though he was used to big scenes in shopping malls, Wang Zihao was at a loss now. If he accepted this business, although his Wang family would not be able to recover in a short time,  But it can get out of the current predicament and accumulate capital for a comeback.  But he was worried that there was some conspiracy in it. After all, he was the King of Liang. Even if he was asked to sell on behalf of others without making any money, he had nothing to say. But now that such a large profit was given to him, he had to doubt it.  .

    "Zihao, you don't have to doubt this. I used to act recklessly and did a lot of wrong things. I owe you a lot to the Wang family. This tea business can be considered as some compensation for you!" Li Min stepped forward to take pictures.  He sighed, leaning on Wang Zihao's shoulder.

    "But this is just the beginning. As long as you follow me and work hard, there will be more and more businesses like this in the future. I will compensate you a thousand times for the property your Wang family has lost!" Li Min looked at Wang Zihao's return.  In a daze, he continued to pat his shoulder and said.

    "It's a pity that Wang Zihao is completely stupid now. The majestic Prince of Liang actually humbled himself and promised himself that he would return the lost property of their Wang family a thousand times.  Isn't this a dream?  Until Wang Zihao left Prince Liang's Mansion, he did not wake up from that sluggish state.

    Just when Li Min was making money in the palace, his name had already caused a sensation in the entire city of Chang'an. The two poems were spread through Li Yong and others, especially the song "Wine will enter".  It has been widely recited and has become a must-recite at banquets for scholars. For a time, Li Liulang's reputation as a poet spread throughout Chang'an.

    Some good people revealed the story of how Li Min was completely different before and after he lost his memory, which added a lot of legend to Li Min. Even half of the Three Character Classic he recited in elementary school was sung by interested people, which further strengthened Li Min's reputation.  Even the married women who stayed in the boudoir heard about King Liang's talent and reputation.

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