Xiao Quzhi smiled and said: "Your Majesty, in fact, the minister not only wants to open a restaurant, but also wants to do many other businesses, and he will do whatever business makes money." For example, the minister planned to establish a trading company to carry out long-distance trafficking, and organize his own people to go along the Silk Road, so as to earn the money of the people of the Nine Kingdoms of Zhaowu, as well as the money of Dashi and Fula. ”

Li Longji was puzzled, and said with a slight displeasure: "Auxiliary minister, don't forget that you are a general, the founding county marquis of the Tang Dynasty, how can you do this businessman's cheap business and lower your value?" Don't you have enough money to spend? ”

Xiao Quzhi actually wanted to do more, he wanted to establish his own business system, monopolize or control some important areas of the empire's economy. On the one hand, you can earn a lot of money for yourself, and with money, many things are simple and easy to do; On the other hand, it can also change the world in an economic way.

For example, in almost every dynasty, wealth will be more and more concentrated in a small number of people, and then the poor will get poorer, and the rich will get richer, and finally all kinds of contradictions will erupt. For example, during the Tianbao period of the Tang Dynasty, Li Longji was extremely poor and luxurious, and Wang Ji and Yang Guozhong helped him collect a lot of money. A large amount of wealth was concentrated in the hands of Li Longji and some high-ranking ministers.

Then Li Longji rewarded a lot of money and spent money indiscriminately, and finally Li Longji was free, and at the same time, he also cheapened the large and small nobles in Chang'an City. And what Xiao Qubing wanted to do was to find a way to get the money out of the hands of these large and small nobles, the rich people in Chang'an City, and make the money again. On the one hand, the money obtained can be used for one's own use, forming one's own team, and developing the army. On the other hand, it can also give back to the poor who are exploited and oppressed, such as opening factories and workshops to provide them with jobs.

Of course, the most important and most unfortunate reason for Xiao Qu's illness is that Xiao Qu's illness is not as good as Datang's army to maintain the smooth flow of the entire Silk Road, but the economic benefits obtained by Datang are only a fraction of the profits obtained by the merchants of the nine kingdoms of Zhaowu. So on the way back to Chang'an from the river, Xiao Quzhi was indignant in his heart almost every day, trying to grab business with the people of Zhaowu Jiuguo.

I just don't know how the people of the Zhaowu Nine Kingdoms, who praised Xiao Quai, helped them drive away the big cannibals, and praised and spread Xiao Quai's illness as their Suoshiyang, would feel after knowing Xiao Quai's true thoughts.

To be honest, every time I think of this, Xiao Quzhi is slightly excited!

He was looking forward to it, and although he felt that he was insidious enough, he had a clear conscience in his heart. Because Xiao Qubing is now a Tang Dynasty and a Han Chinese, and it is indeed unfair to let the Tang Dynasty work as bodyguards and coolies for the people of the Nine Kingdoms of Zhaowu to make them make a lot of money!

Of course, there is no way to talk to Li Longji about these ideas, and it is difficult for Li Longji to understand and accept the concepts of later generations. Xiao Quzhi decided to give an example, and then tempted it with benefits. Anyway, Li Longji is not interested in government politics now, except for Yang Guifei, Li Longji is only interested in three things: immortality, music and art and fun, and money!

Xiao Quzhi patiently explained: "Your Majesty, how much money can a minister use alone?" The master gave the minister the word "auxiliary", but the minister's mind was actually still in the army. The ambition of the minister is to become the Tang Dynasty, and a sharp sword in the hands of His Majesty, to sweep away all foreign enemies for the Tang Dynasty and His Majesty, and to make the whole world surrender to the heavenly authority of His Majesty the Emperor of the Heavenly Khan. Such as Tubo, Khitan, Xi, and Nanzhao, but if there are no ministers, the ministers are willing to ask for it for His Majesty.

However, this requires training and raising soldiers, and now although it is prosperous, all over the world are rich. However, on the way back to Chang'an from Anxi, Chen still saw some poor people, who were all farmers who cultivated land and raised silkworms. The minister wanted to train the army, but he didn't want to increase the burden on these poor peasant households. The minister was thinking that the profit of the merchant was ten times higher than that of the farmer, and the minister wanted to make money in business.

But the minister does not want to be a businessman, nor does he want to be a businessman, the minister's ambition is to be a general who sweeps the four seas. The meaning of the minister is to be a businessman's manager, that is, the minister organizes a group of businessmen to help the minister run a restaurant and help the minister to carry out long-distance trafficking. Well, to be precise, it can't be said to be a helper, but to help Datang make money, simply put, they are not ordinary businessmen but official businessmen. Your Majesty, you also know how rich the Hu merchants of the Zhaowu Nine Kingdoms are, since they can make money by selling goods on the Silk Road, why can't we Datang people? ”

After a pause, seeing that Li Longji didn't understand a little, Xiao Quzhi gave another example: "It's like before Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the sale of salt and iron was a self-employed businessman. Later, Sang Hongyang suggested to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty that the operation of salt and iron should be nationalized, and the income of salt and iron should be returned to the state treasury. The chain of restaurants planned by the minister and this trading company that trafficked goods on the Silk Road actually meant that it was run by the state. Except for a part of the income of the restaurants and caravanserais, which is kept for circulation and a small part is distributed to these operators as a slu, the rest of the income belongs to the state and His Majesty. The main operators of these restaurants and caravans, such as the chief shopkeeper, were not only merchants, but also Tang officials, under the supervision of the Imperial Historical Observatory and the Observation and Disposal Envoys. ”

This is actually a bit like the red-top businessmen Hu Xueyan and Sheng Xuanhuai in the late Qing Dynasty, but Xiao Quai's plan is actually to make an organization similar to the East India Company.

Li Longji finally understood that his feelings were to help Datang and make money for himself. He was immediately happy, but there were some things he still hadn't figured out, so he didn't say yes right away. However, Mrs. Qiu Guo on the side understood it and asked curiously: "If so, how much profit can be made every year?" ”

Xiao Quzhi thought for a while and said: "In the first year, it shouldn't make much money, but if the business goes well, you can make at least three million yuan in the first year, and in the second year, you think it can reach four million to five million yuan, and you can increase it by at least one million yuan every year in the next two or three years." In addition to the basic allowance issued to the operators and guards, the minister planned to set aside 10% as a reward for them, 30% as an investment in the growth of the trading company, and 30% as a training force at that time. There are also three percent, two percent dedicated to His Majesty and Niangniang, and one percent dedicated to the three ladies of the country and several noble concubines and Niangniang's brothers. If it does well in the future, it can also subsidize the state treasury. ”

Li Longji calculated, in the first year, 20% of the 3 million taels, that is, 600,000 taels, and if he can make a profit of 5 million taels in the second year, it will be 1 million taels. This is okay, it is almost worth the contribution that Wang Ji gave him in a year, and it will increase every year.

This is of course a good thing, and then he asked, "What about this principal?" ”

Xiao Quzhi said: "The original principal can be moved out of the batch of money in the immigration river first, and most of the merchants who join can contribute the principal themselves. ”

Li Longji thought about it, it's a good thing, don't pay for it yourself, you just need to open an opening for Xiao Quai's illness and allow him to conduct cross-border trade (of course, trafficking into the river is not strictly considered transnational, but in fact, in real history, Tang merchants rarely even go out of Yumen Pass, let alone reach the river), he and Datang can benefit in vain, so why not. So I agreed without even thinking about it.

At this time, Yang Guifei was a little unhappy, she basically didn't listen to the affairs outside the palace, and she was not interested in political affairs at all. Seeing that the two finally finished talking, she said coquettishly: "Okay, okay, this is a family banquet, don't talk about political affairs, and don't talk about any money." Shouchang County Hou, tell us a joke! ”

After saying that, Yan Ran smiled, his eyes flowed, and he was charming, Li Longji suddenly became distracted, patted her hand gently, and said dotingly: "According to what Concubine Ai said, don't talk about these annoying things." Li Longji stared at Yang Guifei's flowery smile for four or five seconds before turning his head and saying to Xiao Quzhi: "Fuchen, do you still tell jokes?" ”

Then Xiao Quzhi talked about Mr. Ma Sanli's classic stand-up comedy "Teasing you", which made everyone at the banquet laugh so much that they couldn't stand up straight. Soon the atmosphere on the wine table became lively, and at this time, Mrs. Yu Guo drank a few more glasses, and when she saw Xiao Qubing and their family sitting together for dinner, she suddenly thought of the big fat man An Lushan who could pretend to be stupid.

Although Xiao Qu was sick and didn't pretend to be stupid and funny, a few small jokes and jokes also made everyone laugh. Mrs. Yu Guo didn't know what to think, and suddenly looked at Xiao Quzhi and Yang Guifei and said: "Shouchang County Hou and Yuhuan's sister are so close to each other, why don't you worship Yuhuan's godson?" ”

Xiao Qu was stunned for a moment, feeling that there were 10,000 grass and mud horses whistling in his heart, didn't he want Lao Tzu to be a brother to An Lushan?

Yang Guifei was also stunned, what is this, An Lushan's guy is dead-skinned and has to be her son, in fact, Yang Guifei is not willing at all, it's just because Li Longji spoiled him and wanted to entrap An Lushan to help him guard the northeast border, so he had to agree. Do you think I'm willing to be called a godmother by a dead fat man who is more than ten years older than me, and who is ugly, rude and uneducated?

Fortunately, Xiao Quai's reaction was also fast, and he quickly glanced at everyone, and saw that Yang Guifei seemed to be unwilling, and Li Longji seemed to be indifferent, so Xiao Quzhi pretended to be very puzzled and said: "The minister also thinks that the concubine is very kind, but the concubine is very young in the eyes of the minister, is it like the minister's sister at all?" If the concubine is willing, the minister is willing to worship the concubine as the minister's sister! ”

Li Longji was also a little stunned, and said with a smile: "What do you think of Yuhuan?" ”

Yang Guifei thought about it and said with a slight smile: "If you think of it as a younger brother, the concubine is willing." ”

Xiao Quzhi quickly got up and saluted and called out to his sister, but he was ecstatic in his heart: "Haha, Fat Man, come and call uncle!" ”

More than a thousand miles away in Mo County, Mozhou, Hebei Province, An Lushan, who was heading south from Fanyang to Chang'an, was about to sleep in the post station, when he suddenly sneezed and wondered: "His grandmother's bear, who is thinking about me?" ”