Taifu, Zhongshu Ling, and Li Ji, the three products of the same Zhongshu Men, personally came to inspect the corn prison, and saw that the corn prison was eating up and down.

Snorting his nose, Li Ji turned to the officials next to him and said, "The meal of the corn supervisor is estimated to be the first one in the Yamen of the Baisi in Beijing." ”

"Yes, it smells fragrant, not only chili pepper and sesame oil, but also pepper and pepper. Good guys, enough for Ben. One official laughed.

The pepper in Chang'an City is extremely expensive, and ordinary people can't afford it, and even many Beijing officials with ordinary backgrounds can't afford to eat it, but the working meal in the corn prison can smell the pepper from a distance.

"Who wants people to have money in the corn prison, the watermelons and peppers planted in Shayuan this year are not less profitable."

Several officials in crimson green robes said a word, revealing a sense of envy and even jealousy towards the corn supervisor.

In fact, the corn supervisor not only has the income from the field rent of the public house, but also the loan income of the public office, and they also grow watermelons and peppers to sell, these two things are very popular in Chang'an this year, and they have sold a lot of money, and all of them have gone into the public office treasury of the corn supervisor.

happened to meet Li Xiao, a chief who didn't take money.

Li Ji smiled, he knew in his heart that the corn supervisor's income was not only this, but also the most secret and largest source of income for the corn supervisor was that they secretly sold corn seedlings.

A grain of corn seed can be sold for one or two, and not everyone can buy it if they want to, only those high-ranking officials have the opportunity to buy it.

Originally, it was obviously illegal to sell corn seeds privately.

But since the people who bought it are all those with status, naturally no one will take this thing out.

Corn is auspicious or spiritual. The officials and relatives all wanted to have one or two, not because of the high yield of corn, but because they wanted to get their hands on this auspicious aura.

Even Li Ji's family planted several plants, two of which were given by the emperor, and the other few were given by Li Xiao and bought from the British government.

He felt in his heart that Li Xiao was too good at doing business to make money, and the corn was sold by the grain, and it cost thousands of dollars a piece. It's all limited, you can only buy it if you have status, not to mention expensive, you can buy a few at most if you have money.

A corn cob has six or seven hundred corn kernels, and Li Xiao can earn thousands of dollars by selling one or two corn cobs. For the imperial court, more than 8,000 corn cobs have been harvested this year, and it is normal to have fewer than 1,000 grains, after all, how many grains are on each corn cob is not an accurate number.

Even if the knot is the same, can't it be a little lost or something?

Fortunately, Li Xiao made money, and he didn't put it in his pocket, and the money was all in the corn prison mansion to build plows and rakes and tillage tools, buy ploughing cattle, dig wells and build water wheels to repair canals, and the rest was used to reward the officials and craftsmen in the prison to improve the level of food, but it was nothing.

Li Ji is not the kind of rigid person, on the contrary, he likes Li Xiao very much like people who can be flexible and can do things.

However, the more he admired Li Xiao, the more he had to oppose the sudden promotion of Li Xiao in front of the emperor. He's still so young, and it's not a good thing to be promoted too quickly.

"The food is good, the oil is splashed, the color is gorgeous, the taste is fragrant, and the technique is authentic." Li Ji came in with a group of officials.

In the courtyard, a group of sweaty officials saw a large group of crimson green officials coming in, and there was even a purple robe in front of them, but if they looked closely, it was a Chinese book order, so they all stood up in shock.

Li Xiao didn't panic at all, just ate some noodles. Although this noodle is a little luxurious, it is also used with public money, and it is not stolen or robbed.

"It just so happens that I haven't had lunch yet, so I'll have a bowl too, and they haven't eaten it yet, so I'll eat it at your place at noon today." Li Ji was very polite.

When the group of officials heard about it, they also had a happy expression on their faces.

Li Xiao was holding the bowl of noodles, and he didn't plan to put down the bowl, although it was the officials led by the prime minister who came, but Li Xiao just turned his head and ordered the cook in the prison to let him go down.

"Just follow what I just did, add more noodles, more oil and spicy seeds."

Soon, bowls of noodles are cooked, and then the hot oil is boiled spoonful by spoon to sprinkle on the noodles with chili noodles and minced garlic, which is spicy and fragrant.

Li Ji picked up the big bowl, squatted directly next to Li Xiao, picked up the chopsticks and stirred it a few times, and then picked up a large chopstick noodle and sent it to his mouth.

I ate several large chopsticks in one go, and then sweat beads immediately appeared on my forehead, but the old man ate very happily.

"Since you got this South China Sea chili, I am now addicted to it, and if I don't eat spicy food, I feel that the food is not fragrant. It's often spicy and sweaty, but it just feels refreshing. ”

Nowadays, chili peppers are very popular in Chang'an City, and the people of Chang'an have become more and more fond of this spicy feeling, many people are not spicy, and they put chili peppers in steamed cakes, chili peppers in soup cakes, and even the flax cakes fried by people in the Western Regions.

There are many people who like to eat spicy food, and this pepper is naturally not cheap, it is planted less, the supply exceeds demand, and the price is rising, although it is far less than the price of pepper than gold, but it is indeed not cheap.

Li Xiao believes that Li Ji came over, it is impossible for him to really come to eat a meal, although the chili pepper is expensive, but the dignified Li Ji, with a family fortune of hundreds of millions, must be able to rank in the top 100 of the Datang Wealth List.

Yang Guozhong is a prime minister, with a family fortune of tens of millions, and Li Ji is also the prime minister, and he used to be a big landlord, and his family background is certainly not bad.

"Your Majesty was going to confer on you as a member of the branch, but I gave it to you." Li Ji said while continuing to pull the noodles.

Li Xiao sighed, "It's expected." ”

"There's no resentment, is there?"

"How can it, actually, it doesn't matter if you are not a foreigner, I also know that I have a few catties and a few taels, and now I have been given the county, which is enough to be satisfied."

"It's good to think like this, I'm afraid you're too young and drilling. Dujiro doesn't let you do it, it's also for your good. But then again, although you can't be this time, you can't shake off the matter of how to issue bonds. ”

The bond issuance was finally handed over to the Ministry of Households, and the degree branch member Wailang was in charge, but this Wailang was not Li Xiao.

But Li Ji, as the prime minister, is still very concerned about this matter.

No one had ever issued bonds before, and in the event of a major war or famine, they were basically apportioned by wealthy households or even officials.

Those wealthy businessmen who have no background backing have become fat pigs raised and slaughtered by the imperial court at this time.

"It's just a million yuan, in fact, there is no need to be so troublesome, and there is no need to even alarm the merchants and people of Chang'an, and the internal digestion in the aristocratic circle is over. Tie the bonds to Baekje's land and slaves, and the land and slaves are cheaper, and those nobles will rush to the top and subscribe for the million in an instant. Li Xiao felt that a mere million yuan was really not worth the trouble.

"You can, you can come." Li Ji snorted.

More than a million, for ordinary people, a lot, but for Chang'an City, there is really not much, the most important thing here is the nobles, all of whom are rich. It can be said that one-third of the world's wealth is concentrated in Chang'an.

"Let's hold an auction, invite the nobles of Chang'an to come, and directly link the bonds to the land of Baekje to auction*** For example, one million pieces of land can be divided into three or five hundred parts, the big one is two or three thousand mu, and the small one is seven or eight hundred mu, and each piece of land is packed with some slaves, dozens or hundreds of packs. The price of land and slaves does not need to be high, if you convert it, the fertile rice field is only one or two acres, and a slave is only one or two dollars, and it is a piece of fertile land, Yinggong, you say you don't want to? ”

Land is always the best asset of this era, and it is also the first choice of the aristocratic and powerful to buy a home.

And if it is a piece of land, it is more attractive, a piece of land, easier to manage, this is a fact that everyone knows, but the Tang Dynasty has been established for decades, after three emperors, such as the Guanzhong Plain, Henan Plain on the fertile land, in fact, there are already owners, not to mention the difficult trade, but also expensive, especially in these places of land, the fields bought are also broken land, it is difficult to have a large land transaction.

There are still some lands in border areas like Lingnan and Hexi, but the land in these places is not so attractive.

Although Baekje is located in the east of the sea, the land there is as fertile and fine as that of Jianghuai, not to mention that Li Xiao also proposed to sell the land in pieces, and also supported a large number of slaves.

With a lot of fertile land and a large number of slaves for sale, such a field is definitely worth buying, and Li Xiao also proposed such a cheap price.

"Won't the price be too low?" You must know that although in Shannan and other mountainous areas, some mountainous land is only four or five hundred yuan per acre, but on the banks of the Weishui River in Chang'an, some good watered land has been sold for more than ten guan per acre.

"What's low, if Baekje's land is put there, it's worthless, and it's only profitable if it's sold. It doesn't matter how much land is sold, the key is that someone will plant it. Only when the field is planted will there be food output, and if someone is willing to plant, there will be someone over there. Li Xiao said the key point.

What is Baekje? After all, it is an overseas enemy country, and it is still under attack, and it has not yet been defeated, and even if it is defeated, it is impossible for the imperial court to distribute all the land to those Baekje people. The fields are in the hands of the imperial court, and the military and the people can't keep up with the planting, so the people must still go over to plant.

But someone has to take the lead, especially the nobles who have the strength to go, and they have the ability to take the lead.

In the long run, even if the imperial court gives 10,000 or 20,000 hectares of land to these people who are in front of the station, it is actually worth it.

Of course, it's not good to give it away for free, but it's good to sell it cheaply. One acre of fertile and fertile land, sell him one or two through one acre. A Baekje slave can be worth at least five or six guan in the Central Plains, or even seven or eight guan, and he will only sell one or two guan, although the value of the slave in Baekje and Chang'an is definitely different, but one or two guan is definitely half bought and half given.

The purpose was to attract the nobles to take the lead in Baekje for the imperial court.

Since the imperial court has obtained a million guan, why not have people to take the lead in developing Baekje?

Although the nobles seem to take a little risk, the benefits are also extremely high.

It's a win-win-win situation.

"Anyway, I think this plan is good, I am planning to buy two or three thousand acres of fertile land in Baekje, this is a good opportunity, I have missed it now, where will I find it in the future? Ying Gong, as a courtier, you should also take the lead, why do you have to buy him three or five thousand acres! Li Xiao said.