The Emperor knew that Gao Li would not be easy to deal with, especially in what he was best at. But he really didn't expect that everything would be so unsmooth.

The Emperor was not afraid of smashing silver, because he had calculated how much silver he would need to spend if he wanted to go to war with Gao Li. If you think about the silver now, it's not even a corner.

But the silver must be useful.

The Hammer Emperor made it, and now it has been recalled, and the people in the workshop are correcting the problems one by one according to the feedback, of course, this is no problem, as long as it can be changed, the emperor firmly believes that it will gradually catch up. But this cotton ......

The emperor had made a trip to Lizhuang on his last trip to Yannan, and he was really shocked by the degree of mechanization of Lizhuang. Rows of looms inside the huge factory. All kinds of machinery constantly make loud noises, and workers shuttle through them, wiring leads. A skilled worker can manage several machines! No one is required to operate at all, and the efficiency of the machine is amazing.

At that time, the emperor was very envious, so when Li Zhuang started to sell any machinery, the emperor would buy it with a lot of money. He had to figure out what kind of knowledge Gao Li had brought with him from the Otherworld.

But the result is far from being as easy as it seems, and these machines are not easy to use.

Perhaps the emperor only showed the machine now, but in fact, the imitation of these machines was carried out long before Gao Li started selling this machine. The sale of machinery allowed the emperor to take a few detours, but the reliability of these machinery was far less than that of Li Zhuang.

The emperor knew that there was a thing in Lizhuang called a machine tool. And the emperor also knew that Li Zhuang destroyed all the eliminated machine tools. The wood was burned to ashes, and the metal went into the furnace.

In fact, the emperor has always wanted to ask, why did Gao Li start selling these machines, if he kept a monopoly, the outside world would never be able to imitate it, wouldn't he always be able to make money?

But now, the emperor seems to understand. It is so difficult for him to imitate Li Zhuang's machinery with the power of the whole country as the emperor, how can an ordinary workshop have that ability!

Difficult.

The cabinet in front of him was specially formed to deal with Gao Li. There are important ministers in the court, bachelors from the Gewu Academy, people in charge of imperial merchants, and intelligence officers like the Eighth Prince. These people sat together, but they were helpless against Gao Li.

Why?

Because the technology mastered by Gao Li is too advanced, so advanced that he can already ignore all kinds of means.

This time, although the emperor did not propose the purchase of cotton at double price, he also agreed.

The emperor looked at everyone and said in a deep voice: "I don't blame you for this matter, I must reflect on it, because I have always thought about problems as an emperor. I thought I could use my identity as an emperor to suppress others. But now I understand, this is a business war, a war. Gao Li, I won't give me any chance. Therefore, this matter is my responsibility, and I must re-examine the business war with Gao Li. ”

When everyone in the cabinet heard the emperor say this, their hearts immediately calmed down. said that the minister was guilty, but his heart was a lot more steady.

The cabinet left, and the emperor himself looked at what was in front of him.

Just now, these people have calculated the amount of silver needed to buy these cottons, which is not a small amount. In the past, the emperor really didn't know that the little Li Zhuang could do this. They turned cotton into cotton cloth and sold it all over the Central Plains, a business that seemed tempting, but it would not work without complete preparation.

Chu Zhongyuan has just said that Gao Li has the machinery to directly process the cotton in the production area, and it is only cotton wool and cotton seeds that are brought back to Lizhuang. This kind of ability, the emperor does not have, it is impossible for the caravan to come back with seed cotton. You have to hire someone to handle it locally, which is a lot of money, and when you bring the cotton back, it's another money, and after the cotton arrives, you need a place to dry and store it, which requires a huge warehouse. And then the cotton needs to be washed, cleaned, made into batting, and then spun and weaved. This requires the recruitment of workers, and this is all money!

It's all money!

The emperor seemed to suddenly understand why this cotton cloth was so expensive.

Ling Xue walked in and looked at the emperor.

"Isn't it going well?" Ling Xue asked.

The emperor shook his head, and a soft smile appeared on his face: "It's not smooth, you can't fight." ”

Ling Xue asked, "Shall I make a move?"

The emperor shook his head again and said, "If you make a move, it means that I admit defeat to him." ”

Ling Xue said, "But you've already lost." ”

The emperor smiled: "I lost, but I will not admit defeat, I will continue to find a way to defeat him." I am the emperor, I own the whole Central Plains, as long as I want to win, I will definitely win. ”

Ling Xue said: "So, why don't you admit some of the losses?"

The emperor asked, "You mean, I'm going to tell Gao Li that I can't eat this part of the cotton, so I don't want it?"

Ling Xue said: "Yes, Gao Li will appreciate it." ”

The emperor said: "Gao Li will definitely accept my affection, if I take it at double the price and sell it to him at the original price, he will definitely want it, I understand this stinky boy." But he will definitely not collect a tael of cotton from those cotton farmers and landlords, because this head can't be raised, can't be opened, once opened, everyone will want to make a profit like this in the future, anyway, it doesn't make a big deal to take back the original price. ”

Ling Xue nodded and said, "You're right, then, aren't you worried that he will harvest cotton from Yanan?"

The emperor said, "Although Yanan has a lot of land, there are few people, and the ability of the peasants is limited. Even if they are allowed to farm, the quality of cotton may not be able to improve in a few years. Gao Li himself started with weaving, he has occupied Yannan for so long, he must have already brought cottonseed into Yanan, but this time he would rather stop production, which can only show that Yanan's cotton is not enough, or it is not qualified. So, I don't think he'll be doing that in a few years. ”

Ling Xue snuggled up to the emperor with a smile and said, "He is worthy of the man I fancie, he calculates everything accurately and sees it through." ”

The emperor gently stroked Ling Xue's hair, sighed, and said, "Look at people, I can, but I really can't do these techniques." These old rubbish in the Gewu Academy, maybe I'm too good to them, look at all the things they make, what kind of bullshit!"

Ling Xue chuckled: "In my opinion, it's okay, I haven't been to see Lizhuang, I don't know what it's like there." ”

The emperor recalled that it was the scene when he was in Lizhuang, shook his head, and said, "That Lizhuang, in my opinion, is even farther away than the heavenly and human realms. ”

Ling Xue said, "So, don't you really need my help?"

The emperor smiled, "Can't you trust me?"

Ling Xue said: "I naturally trust you, and it may not be Miaoyin." ”

As soon as the emperor heard Chu Miaoyin, he immediately smiled and said: "Miaoyin has a lot of trust in Gao Li, and Gao Li, this kid, has never lived up to Miaoyin's trust in him. ”

"It's a pity that she doesn't like me, she thinks I'm too ruthless. Ling Xue still smiled.

The emperor said: "You are already ruthless. ”

Ling Xue said, "Your daughter trusts Gao Li more than you now, what are you going to do?"

The emperor laughed and said, "No way, let her go!"

Gao Li found that this emperor was really ruthless, and he silently ate the cotton production capacity in one bite.

Gao Li didn't feel anything yet, and the big landlords and cotton farmers were all frightened, especially those who came to pull cotton, with a clear expression of 'You dare to offend the emperor, you are finished!' in their eyes.

As a result, these landlords, who originally wanted to make double their profits, finally sold them at the original price.

In other words, not only did they lose liquidated damages, but they didn't make any money in the end. then offended Gao Li and asked the emperor to forcibly eat this batch of cotton.

Some of the big landowners have come to their senses and sense that something is wrong. In turn, they begged Gao Li, hoping that Gao Li would collect the cotton again.

But Gao Li said it clearly, if he said no, he didn't want it.

The emperor's caravan was far less fast than Wu Youcai's, and they had to organize people to deal with cotton. The big landlords faced the officials who came from Beijing every day. Although these officials did not say anything on the surface, the implication in their words was already very clear.

This is a problem between the emperor and Gao Li, the emperor is under pressure and has to accept your cotton at double the price, but do you dare to sell it to the emperor at double the price? The fact is that the emperor does not even want to pay the original price! The emperor has no intention of entering the market completely at the moment! He just wants to test the waters!

So, not long after, those big landlords immediately sent a letter to Wu Youcai, saying that those liquidated damages could be waived, as long as the original price was good!

You must know that although these landlords had previously received a deposit from Wu Youcai and given half of the cotton, they paid 30% of the liquidated damages. But now, the liquidated damages are gone, and in addition to the part eaten by the emperor, the price of the remaining cotton will be unprecedentedly cheap!

The news was transmitted to Gao Li, and Gao Li immediately said: Children only care about winning or losing, and adults only see losses! If you have money, you don't make a bastard, take it!

In fact, as the emperor expected, Gao Li has indeed opened up a new cotton planting area in Yanan, but because of the problems of water and soil and planting technology, the cotton yield and quality are average, although it has reached the cotton harvest season, but there are not many that can really meet the cotton standards of Lizhuang. If cotton can be used normally, there is naturally no need to get along with silver.

As a result, these big landlords operated as fiercely as tigers, and as a result, they lost three or five of them, and their hard work was in vain throughout the year, not to mention how many blockages there were.

And there are still a group of people, because they received the news early, they know that Lizhuang is about to limit the production of cloth. Immediately hoarded a large amount of cloth in the warehouse, waiting for the price of cotton cloth to rise in the coming year, so that he could make a profit.

As a result, before this immature operation could be tested, Wu Youcai's convoy had already entered the cotton producing area with equipment and began to process the cotton.

People are accustomed to buying cloth from Lizhuang, and once there is no shortage of cloth in Lizhuang, no one will go to other cloth villages. As a result, those who hoarded cloth had to quickly reduce the price and put the cloth in their hands out, otherwise when the new cotton came, the price of cloth would definitely fall, and then ......

"So, ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, in this world, there is no good end for Erwuzai. Gao Li summed up the matter in this way.