After Gao Ruyi returned to the prime minister's mansion, she was taken to the backyard by the female family members of the Gao family.
Gao Ming found an opportunity to talk to his daughter.
"Father, the crown prince has been very kind to me. He has stayed in my palace for two consecutive days." Gao Ruyi said to Gao Ming, "He also gave me a jade handle, saying that he would make everything go well for me."
Gao Ming nodded.
Although he believed that what Xiang Nan did was mostly superficial.
But in the officialdom, in the harem, no one does superficial work.
Even the emperor, don’t you have to wear a mask to show others, when did you show your true nature.
Xiang Nan's ability to do these superficial tricks already shows that he still cares about the Gao family.
"In the future, you need to get closer to the prince and win him over. If you can become pregnant and give birth to your first dragon son, then our Gao family will have hope." Gao Ming instructed.
Since ancient times, the royal family has paid attention to establishing the heir and the elder. Although Qu Xiaofeng is a crown princess, she belongs to a foreign race after all, and has no power in the court. So her son, even if he is a legitimate son, may not be able to succeed to the throne.
And if Gao Ruyi gave birth to the eldest son, then with the power of the Gao family, it is very likely that he will be promoted to the throne.
At that time, Gao Ruyi will be the Empress Dowager, and the Gao family will not only have the merits of support, but also be connected by the blood of foreign relatives, so it is impossible not to revive it.
Gao Ruyi listened and nodded, "Daughter understands."
…
After Xiang Nan accepted Gao Ruyi, the Gao family was above the court, and the cooperation with Xiang Nan was much higher.
Originally, there was a lot of opposition, but the salt government reform, which was heavily resisted, gradually came out with support. Finally, under the leadership of Gao Kun, the new salt policy was officially implemented.
Xiang Nan’s New Salt Industry Policy emphasizes the democratic system, commercial revenue, commercial transportation, and commercial sales. Changing from the official sales system to the commercial sales system will stimulate the enthusiasm of merchants to sell salt.
Just like after the reform and opening up, the supply and marketing cooperatives changed to the free market. Working for the public is naturally different from working for yourself.
The salt merchants hold the official salt sales license, only they can sell salt, and others are not allowed. Such a monopoly will naturally generate huge profits. Therefore, in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Lianghuai salt merchants were the richest in the world.
According to statistics, during the heyday of the Lianghuai salt merchants, their assets exceeded 70 million taels, which was more than the money in the imperial treasury. Even Emperor Qianlong sighed, "The financial strength of the salt merchants is great!"
Because they were too rich, the salt merchants lived extravagantly.
There was once a salt merchant who wanted to spend ten thousand taels of gold at a time, so he asked his attendants to buy all the gold into gold leaf, and then ordered hundreds of people to carry the gold leaf to the Jinshan Pagoda, blowing it to the wind, and the ten thousand taels of gold disappeared in an instant .
After other salt merchants heard the news, they were naturally not to be outdone. In order to show off their wealth, they spent three thousand taels of gold to buy all the tumblers in the city, and then dumped them all in the water, just to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the tumblers rippling in the river. Blocked the entire river.
Huang Juntai, the head of the Eight Great Merchants of Lianghuai, uses the yolks of more than a dozen eggs to soak fragrant rice in egg fried rice, so that after the rice is fried, the outside of each grain of rice is golden and the inside is white.
And this egg is not simple. It is an egg laid by a chicken that eats ginseng and herb. It is also called "ginseng chicken". Therefore, a bowl of fried rice with eggs costs fifty taels of silver, which is higher than the monthly salary of Qipin County Magistrate.
Xiang Nan also knew about these disadvantages, so he specially made improvements. It is agreed that salt merchants will be re-elected every two years, and the ownership of the salt sales license will be determined through bidding.
As a result, salt merchants have to bid at high prices in order to obtain a salt sales license. This not only avoids the hereditary inheritance of salt merchants and collusion with the government, but also earns more taxes for the court.
…
After the introduction of the New Salt Industry Policy, Xiang Nan helped Zhang Meiniang obtain a salt selling license.
"Mother, this is what Baer helped you fight for." He smiled and said to Zhang Meiniang.
But no matter which one it is, it won't be too much money.
Salt is a monopoly commodity. For the reform of the salt industry in Feng Dynasty, only eight general merchants were recruited to manage the salt merchants all over the world. The power of the eight general merchants can be seen, they made money almost sitting down.
Therefore, such a license cannot be bought with a million taels of silver.
Xiang Nan knew that Zhang Meiniang made him the crown prince because she wanted to help her family earn more money.
Therefore, giving her this salt selling license worth a million taels of silver is guaranteed to satisfy her.
Sure enough, Zhang Meiniang was pleasantly surprised when she saw this license.
Actually, she originally just wanted to help Zhang's family to distinguish between agents. After all, there are only eight general agents in the country, and she is worried that she won't be able to grab it.
I didn't expect Xiang Nan to be so powerful and give her a general business license.
In this way, the Zhang family earned at least one million taels a year from selling salt.
"Yin'er, you really deserve to be raised by me." Zhang Meiniang said with a smile.
"Without the diligent teaching of the empress mother, how would Cheng Yin be today." Xiang Nan said with a smile, "The kindness of the empress mother is unforgettable for Cheng Yin."
"What a good boy." Zhang Meiniang nodded, and whispered again, "By the way, don't go too often to Gao Liangdi's place. The ninth princess is the crown princess, and she was born to be the legitimate son."
"Yes, Queen Mother." Xiang Nan said with a smile.
Guess Zhang Meiniang should be breaking up with Gao Mingsheng.
It's no wonder that since Gao Ming sent Gao Ruyi to the palace, Zhang Meiniang knew that her uncle had two hearts for her.
If it wasn't for the emperor Li Zhen who bestowed Gao Ruyi to his son, she and Gao Ruyi would be the most direct competitors. At that time, once Gao Ruyi is favored and blessed and gives birth to a dragon son, she and Xiang Nan will stand aside.
Therefore, she naturally stopped helping Gao Ming with all her heart.
In her opinion, it is best for Gao Ruyi to fall out of favor, so that the prince will not be coerced by the Gao family in the future, and even herself will be left out in the cold.
…
Two days later, Xiang Nan's nineteenth birthday.
Emperor Li Zhen and Empress Zhang Meiniang went to the East Palace to congratulate each other in person, and gave generous gifts to congratulate them.
Ten pairs of agate plates, ten large silver plates with gold flowers, two pairs of jade belts, ten gold-plated corner boxes, ten cups of gold beads and ten cups of silver beads were bestowed upon him by the imperial court.
"I thank my father and my mother!" Xiang Nan knelt and thanked, "This year is not my whole life, and I am so tired that my father and mother have to spend all these thoughts. My son is really sorry."
"Your father and I just took advantage of your birthday to take a walk, not tired." Zhang Meiniang laughed.
"I really want to know, what gifts did the Crown Princess, Zhao Liangdi and Gao Liangdi prepare for the Crown Prince this year?" Li Wei laughed.
"Reporting to Your Majesty, Xiao Feng specially made a belt to congratulate the crown prince on his birthday." Qu Xiaofeng explained, and then A'Du brought it up.
It is a belt woven with gold and silver threads, and it is dotted with nearly a hundred gems of various colors. It can be said to be extremely jeweled and gorgeous.
"Okay, good gift." Li Xi nodded and said.
Xiang Nan was also very happy when he saw him.
He knew that women in Xizhou would weave a belt for their lover before they got married. Now that Qu Xiaofeng gave him this belt, it obviously showed her thoughts.