in2ebook Chapter 367: God of Wealth
Chapter 367: God of Wealth
"I won't make it difficult for you. As for the fiefdom, I only want the territories of Lanzhou, Qingzhou, and Liuzhou. Give me ten years and I will make these three states brand new. I don't want these benefits from you in vain. You should master these five books on how to make money. I have to leave first."
After Lin Chu finished speaking, he casually threw a crystal clear jade talisman to the emperor and said, "If you need to find me for something important, just crush this jade talisman and I will naturally show up here."
Before she finished her words, she waved her right hand lightly, and in an instant, five thick booklets and a pile of various items appeared on the emperor's desk for no reason.
After everything was ready, Lin Chuyi flashed and disappeared from the emperor's sight in the blink of an eye. The emperor saw this scene and hurriedly grasped the jade talisman in his hand, bowed deeply towards the place where Lin Chuyi disappeared, and shouted respectfully: "Farewell, God!"
The emperor hunched over and waited for a moment. After making sure that the "Goddess of Wealth" had left, he straightened up and hurried back to the imperial desk.
He couldn't wait to reach out and pick up the booklet on top. Just a glance at the title on the cover made his heart beat like a war drum.
The booklet in his hand had three eye-catching characters on the cover: "Papermaking Method". The emperor flipped through it anxiously, and saw that the booklet detailed the methods and key points of making various types of paper.
The emperor was overjoyed and could not wait to start reading the contents of the covers of the other four booklets. The other four booklets were respectively written with large characters "Salt Making Method", "Ice Making Method", "Cement Making Method" and "Glass Making Method", and the contents of each booklet were extremely detailed.
Salt is the most important component of national tax revenue because no one can live without it. However, due to the underdeveloped salt-making technology, the costs of salt production and transportation are very high, resulting in high salt prices.
Although paper is not a necessity for the common people, it is needed by tens of millions of scholars in the world, and the demand for paper is very large throughout the entire learning career. However, the papermaking process is very complicated, the quality of the paper produced varies greatly, and the price varies greatly. Even the cheapest paper is not affordable for scholars in ordinary families.
Unlike salt, paper and other items that can be made artificially, ice can only be mined manually after it forms naturally in winter. It is then stored in ice cellars and the temperature is controlled using various means to ensure that there is ice available on hot summer days.
However, this method is not only time-consuming and labor-intensive, but also causes a large amount of ice loss during the storage process. If you are a little careless, it is very likely that there will be very little ice left. This also directly leads to a continuous increase in the price of ice in summer. Only a very small number of wealthy families can afford such consumption.
If the methods recorded in these three booklets are indeed feasible, they will surely bring endless huge benefits to the country.
The quality of road conditions directly affects the speed and quality of transportation. If the cement is really as strong as described in the booklet, as long as all pipelines across the country are paved with cement roads, the speed of information transmission, commercial transportation and military movement in the Chu State will achieve a qualitative leap.
As for the glass technology, the emperor had some knowledge about it. When many foreign countries came to pay tribute to the Great Chu, they would bring glass products as gifts to the Great Chu. However, they did not call that thing glass, but called it colored glaze.
Even in their respective countries, the production of colored glaze is still a secret, and the overall output is not high. If they, Da Chu, master this skill, they can mass-produce glass products, export them to other countries, and earn money from other countries.
The more the emperor thought about it, the more excited he became. He looked up and down at the glass bottle that Lin Chuyi left for him, grinning from ear to ear. He felt like his butt was pierced by nails and he couldn't sit still.
Finally, the emperor simply stood up and paced back and forth in the imperial study, thinking about what to do next.
The eunuchs and palace maids serving in the imperial study were all very surprised by this. After Lin Chuyi disappeared, they regained the ability to move independently.
However, they were soon surprised to find that the Emperor, who had just been sitting upright in a chair, carefully reviewing memorials, was now pacing back and forth in the imperial study like an excited old donkey.
Not only that, what about those things placed on the emperor's desk? No matter how hard they thought about it, they couldn't figure out when they appeared on the desk.
The eunuchs and palace maids were full of doubts and confusion, and the most surprised among them was the emperor's personal eunuch Zhang Sheng.
However, Zhang Sheng has always been a cautious person. After living in the palace for so many years, he knows very well which things he can ask and which things he cannot say too much about. Right now, this matter belongs to the category of things he cannot ask about.
So, he silently placed the freshly brewed tea on the imperial desk, then quietly returned to his original position, looking at his nose with his eyes and his heart with his nose, pretending to be completely unaware.
Seeing this, the other eunuchs and palace maids followed suit. After all, the emperor's mood had been fluctuating recently, making it hard to predict. They thought it would be better to pay as little attention as possible, lest they accidentally angered the emperor and bring about a fatal disaster, thus losing their lives.
The emperor paced back and forth in the palace for a full quarter of an hour before he stopped. He turned to look at Zhang Sheng, who was standing aside waiting for orders, and said, "Zhang Sheng, go and convey my order. Have the left and right prime ministers, the Duke of Zhenguo, the Duke of Qi, and the six ministers enter the palace immediately and come to the imperial study to see me."
When Zhang Sheng heard that the emperor personally called his name, he was shocked and immediately perked up. He stood with his head bowed respectfully. After the emperor gave the specific orders, Zhang Sheng did not dare to delay for even a second. He quickly responded with yes and quickly took action.
Half an hour later, the ten ministers appointed by the emperor finally gathered in the imperial study. These ministers were all important figures in the court, and they each had their own thoughts and waited for the emperor's instructions.
The emperor did not beat around the bush and went straight to the point to explain the reason for summoning everyone here: "I summoned all of you here today because my half sister has returned from traveling around the world on my behalf. She went through a lot of hardships and made great contributions to the Chu Kingdom."
"Therefore, I intend to confer her the title of Princess Shangde, with the same status as a vassal king, and to award her three prefectures as her fiefdoms, which will be hereditary. What do you think, my dear ministers?"
After hearing the emperor's words, all the ministers present had a look of confusion and doubt on their faces.
Most of these ministers had followed the emperor in his conquests, and they knew the emperor's family members very well.
Before this, they had never heard that the emperor had a half-sister, let alone seen it with their own eyes.
The emperor said that his sister had been traveling around the countries on his behalf a long time ago, so why didn't he grant her a title earlier and send a guard to accompany her? In this way, wouldn't it be more legitimate for her to travel to other countries?
The officials looked at each other, and they all keenly noticed the unreasonableness here.
In their opinion, the reason why the emperor was so abnormal was either that there was something wrong with his mental state, so he imagined such a character, or that someone with ulterior motives was plotting behind the scenes in an attempt to confuse the emperor's mind.
Otherwise, how could their wise and powerful emperor suddenly propose to confer a title on a new princess? And conferring the title would be fine, but he actually wanted to make the new princess a vassal king, a hereditary princess!
The emperor was determined to confer the title on the princess, and the ministers could only give him some advice. If they really couldn't persuade him, they could only obey the emperor's wishes.
After all, although the princess also has her own fief, usually, the princess is only responsible for managing the financial affairs of the fief, and will not involve military power. In this way, even if the princess has a fief, it will not pose too much threat to the court.
However, if the emperor's last two requests were granted, the nature of the matter would be completely different. Once the new princess obtained the same status and power as the vassal king and could inherit the throne, she would become an extremely difficult person.
Not only will it affect the stability of the court, it may also cause dissatisfaction and jealousy among other vassal kings, leading to chaos. Therefore, as ministers, they must treat the emperor's decision with caution and must not agree to it lightly.