Yao Ruoyu, who was kicked out, was naturally extremely embarrassed, but he was about to leave, when the door of the house suddenly opened, and before he could show joy, a yellow scroll was thrown out of it, and at the same time, Xu Xuanrong said lightly in the house: "By the way, the holy decree came a few days ago, for you." ”

"Oh?" Yao Ruoyu's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he hurriedly opened the holy decree, and a few paragraphs were written on it, which roughly meant that he would be the king of Hezhou, take charge of Hezhou and Diaoyu, and be a vassal of the Song Dynasty, and he needed to pay tribute every year.

After looking at it carefully, Yao Ruoyu touched his chin unconsciously, he didn't expect Chu Yangge to be so thoughtful, not only did he agree that he occupied the two cities of Hezhou and Diaoyu, but also made himself a prince.

Just when he was complacent, Xu Xuanrong in the room said angrily: "The Song Dynasty has a lot of vassal countries overseas, and each lord is named a vassal king, what is there to be excited about this kind of miscellaneous prince?"

Yao Ruoyu, who was splashed with cold water, was not depressed, but smiled and said: "It's a prince anyway, and you have face when you say it!"

"The prince of the Three Realms, his face is so big!" sneered, and Xu Xuanrong closed the door.

Seeing Xu Xuanrong's indifferent attitude, Yao Ruoyu touched his nose in embarrassment, then put away the holy decree and turned to leave.

Wandering out of the ministry, Yao Ruoyu was about to go back to the leader's mansion, when he saw a group of people hurriedly walking from a distance, led by Bai Junru, a famous Confucian residence in Hezhou City and also the head of the city-state rite department.

Yao Ruoyu lived with his grandparents when he was a child, so he had a certain natural affection for the old man, and when he saw Bai Junru coming, he quickly bowed and said with a smile: "Mr. Bai, where is this going?"

"The leader should call the old minister Minister Bai, the name of the old gentleman is really not appropriate!" frowning white eyebrows, Bai Junru first bowed his head deeply, and then said earnestly, "The leader acts, we and other subordinates really shouldn't be presumptuous, but according to the etiquette system, our subordinates should come to the leader's mansion during the New Year, this is a proper courtesy." ”

Unexpectedly, Bai Junru came here to talk about this, Yao Ruoyu scratched his head helplessly, their group of time-travelers are from modern times, and they don't really value the New Year, and they don't have any relatives here, so the New Year has almost no meaning to them.

Thinking so, Yao Ruoyu naturally wouldn't be stupid enough to refute, so he quickly put on a look of being humbly taught, hugged his fists and said: "Yao doesn't understand etiquette, I'm tired of Mr. Bai, I must pay attention in the future." ”

Seeing Yao Ruoyu's humble expression, Bai Junru bowed slightly, and then bowed his head and said: "By the way, since the Holy Decree came, Hezhou City has resumed trade with the Song Realm, and seven merchant groups have already come and purchased some shops. ”

Yao Ruoyu was naturally not interested in this, waved his hand, and said with a smile: "You and the household department are responsible for this matter, and then you can send a report to the leader's mansion." ”

But speaking of this, Yao Ruoyu suddenly remembered something and said: "By the way, I happen to have some things about the merchant group store, let's go to the household department first and talk to Qiuyu together." ”

Bai Junru naturally obeyed the order, and then the two of them rushed to the household department with the officials of the Ministry of Rites.

At this time, Bai Qiuyu and several directors of the household department were discussing the acceptance of nearby villagers after the New Year, and when they learned that Yao Ruoyu and Bai Junru had arrived together, they thought that something big had happened, so they hurriedly ran out to greet them.

Bai Junru suddenly frowned, and said angrily: "It's good to be the master of one part, and it's more stable." ”

Faced with his father's accusation, Bai Qiuyu naturally didn't dare to refute it, and agreed with a few words with a smile.

Yao Ruoyu smiled and said: "We don't have any big things to do, mainly to talk about some policies for merchants next, if you have something, go to get busy first, we will wait for you in the side hall." ”

Bai Qiuyu wanted to excuse himself, but after thinking about it, he nodded and agreed, turned around and went back to discuss affairs, Yao Ruoyu and Bai Junru and others went to the side hall, and after several servants served tea, they all retreated.

After about a stick of incense, Bai Qiuyu took care of the affairs and came to the side hall with a smile.

After a few people sat down, Yao Ruoyu said: "There are two markets in Hezhou City, this is an advantage, you can't let it go, it's best to find a way to open a trade route with Nanban to add advantages." ”

Bai Qiuyu groaned slightly, and hesitated: "There are several Song cities between my city-state and Nanban, but I am afraid that it is not easy to trade. ”

Shaking his head, Yao Ruoyu said: "But across the two cities of Tongliang and Yongchuan, Fu Chaozan and Ren Jiasheng are the disciples of Zhao Luyan, the lord of Tongliang Iron Furnace Fort, I will ask them to write a letter when I go back, you send someone to bring some money to Iron Furnace Castle, please ask Zhao Luyan to help." ”

"If Tongliang is passed, there is no need to worry about the remaining Yongchuan," Glancing at Bai Qiuyu with a smile, Yao Ruoyu chuckled, "Besides, Brother Bai, as the head of the household department, this is your job, don't want to be confused." ”

Bai Qiuyu immediately smiled bitterly when he heard this, but he still got up and agreed.

"It's just one thing, this time I'm here to talk about the next policies for merchants," Yao Ruoyu thought for a while and asked, "What is the situation of merchants in the two cities now?"

Bai Qiuyu thought for a moment and replied: "Most of the small shops have been rented out, basically by the people in the city themselves, and the large shops have been rented out twelve times, all of which were leased by various chambers of commerce in the Song Dynasty. ”

"Twelve?" Raising his eyebrows slightly, Yao Ruoyu knew that there were fifty-one large shops in the two cities, so it seemed that the leasing situation was still not ideal.

Seeing Yao Ruoyu's expression, Bai Qiuyu also vaguely guessed his thoughts, so he explained: "Although there are two bazaars in Hezhou City, but after Yang Yiming's tossing, it has been greatly damaged, and although we now have the will of the imperial court and rightfully occupy the city, the various chambers of commerce are still worried about the future situation of Hezhou City, and they don't understand our policy attitude towards merchants, so most of them are still in a wait-and-see state. ”

"This is normal, okay, don't worry," nodded, Yao Ruoyu thought for a while, and muttered, "In the next year, all shops will be exempted from taxes, and only the cost of leasing stores will be charged." ”

Bai Qiuyu and Bai Junru were both shocked when they heard this, and then Bai Qiuyu hurriedly got up and hurriedly said: "Absolutely not! In this way, the income of the city is only afraid of a sharp drop of as much as fifty percent, and it will not be able to support the normal operation of the city-state in the future." ”

Bai Junru also frowned slightly, and said in a deep voice: "Leader, is this move too extreme? ”

Shaking his head, Yao Ruoyu raised his finger and replied: "The world is bustling, all for profit, with the current situation of the city-state, if you want to develop rapidly, you can't get rid of the support of merchants, so you must attract enough chambers of commerce to set up shops in a short period of time." ”

Bai Qiuyu frowned and hesitated: "But in a year......

"With so many merchants settled in, the city-state will inevitably prosper commercially," Yao Ruoyu continued with a faint smile, "plus we don't prohibit the surrounding people from moving to the city, the city must have a large population and such a large number of customers, how can those chambers of commerce leave?"

When Bai Qiuyu and Bai Junru heard this, they looked at each other unconsciously, and each of them groaned.

After a while, Bai Qiuyu smiled bitterly and said, "Although the leader's words seem to be imaginative, there is also a possibility of success. ”

"Haha, since that's the case, then just follow this policy," Haha smiled, Yao Ruoyu continued, "In addition, the city tax also needs to be reduced, our city-state's biggest goal now is to increase the population and attract the Chamber of Commerce, and the city tax is temporarily put aside." ”

"However, with such indulgence of merchants, I am afraid that the income of the city is far less than half of that of previous years, and it will not be able to support the normal operation of the city-state at all!" Bai Qiuyu said anxiously.

"What are the main aspects of the city-state's official spending at present?" asked Yao Ruoyu.

When Bai Qiuyu heard this, he hurriedly replied: "Mainly in terms of the army, after several expansions and recruitment, the number of regular troops in the city is now 17,000 people, and the daily expenses are very huge, in addition, the officials' salaries are also a lot of expenses. ”

Hearing this, Bai Junru couldn't help but wonder: "I see that outside the second ring road of Diaoyu City, there are people building houses every day, could it be that these constructions don't cost any money?"

"It's all a loss to the main book, oh no, it's all up to Minister Xu's strategy," patting his head, Bai Qiuyu said with a smile, "Those people who moved to Diaoyu City have been deleted, most of them are wealthy, and the construction of the residences in Diaoyu City is all paid for by themselves, and if the few people who don't have enough money can also borrow from the Leader's Mansion without interest, so the people are also extremely happy." ”

Bai Junru bowed his head lightly and exclaimed: "Minister Xu is indeed a great talent. ”

Hearing them praise Xu Xuanrong, Yao Ruoyu also felt a burst of joy inexplicably, pulled the collar of his clothes, and said with a smile: "Don't worry, I went out this time and found a treasure trove, which contains countless gold and silver treasures, we have already moved some of them back first, and some will be picked up later." ”

Bai Junru and Bai Qiuyu's eyes lit up when they heard this, and Bai Qiuyu said happily: "Treasure house?"

Nodding, Yao Ruoyu smiled and said: "Well, it can be called a sea of gold and silver, these money and wealth will be owned by the treasury of the leader's mansion, and the army loss and official income in the next year will all be spent by the leader's mansion, but it is a loan, and it will be repaid after a year, and the interest will be 10%, how about it?"

Bai Qiuyu smiled awkwardly and hesitated: "This ...... The reason why you can't make ends meet is because of these policies of the leader, so it is the responsibility of the leader to solve the financial siege!"

Rolling his eyes, Yao Ruoyu smiled and said, "Didn't I borrow this money to come to relieve the siege?"

Unexpectedly, Yao Ruoyu was so reliant, Bai Qiuyu suddenly couldn't cry or laugh, but after thinking about it carefully, he said in a deep voice: "It's okay to borrow, but the interest is at most half a city, and it will be paid in installments." ”

"No problem!" Nodding with a smile, Yao Ruoyu rubbed his hands a little excitedly, obviously already fantasizing about the matter of the household department paying back the money to him in a year.

Seeing the appearance of the leader of the city-state who was so obsessed with money, Bai Qiuyu and Bai Junru, the father and son, couldn't help but glance at each other helplessly, and they both sighed secretly.