novelhk Chapter 83: The Plan is Complete
Chapter 83: The Plan is Complete
No one expected that Zhao Qixuan and Yuan Huai would ultimately choose to stay in Beining City to teach.
This news quickly spread throughout Beining City and also rapidly spread to the entire Daqi.
In the palace, Emperor Qin Tian of the Great Qi Dynasty was inquiring about the coal stove.
Recently, coal stoves have been difficult to sell, which has greatly affected the Ministry of Revenue's income.
“Father, the Beining Trading Company is too shameless. They gave away coal stoves for free, which is why all coal stove merchants have to go out of business.”
"However, no matter how wealthy the Beining Trading Company is, it cannot continue to do so indefinitely. As long as we persevere, the market will surely recover one day."
The fourth prince, Qin Yu, analyzed with a confident expression.
Qin Tian nodded slightly: "What has Qin Zhen been doing lately? Why haven't I seen him attending court for several days?"
Qin Zhen is currently busy negotiating the price of honeycomb briquettes with the Goryeo merchant group, and at the same time, he has secretly ordered people to research and develop whether it is possible to produce honeycomb briquettes.
Qin Yu had people secretly monitoring all of this, so he was well aware of it, but he would never tell Qin Tian.
"Third Brother has been getting quite close to the Goryeo merchant group lately, but as for what exactly they're doing, I don't know."
Qin Yu had deliberately set a trap here. If he couldn't get the secret recipe for honeycomb briquettes later, he would expose Qin Zhen's intention to sell them privately.
"Yes, continue to manage the coal stove, and at the same time, you should also keep an eye on the Beining paper matter."
"The Ministry of Revenue reported that since the emergence of Beining paper, all paper merchants have been greatly impacted. If this continues, the world will become the world of Beining paper."
Qin Tian gave a slightly headache-inducing reminder.
Paper is essential for scholars, and behind the major paper merchants of the Great Qi Dynasty were actually the shadows of royalty and powerful figures.
Now that Beining paper has suddenly appeared, even continuous price reductions by major paper merchants cannot stop the decline. After all, the price of one sheet of ordinary paper is enough to buy twenty sheets of Beining paper, and the quality is even better.
"I wonder what the background of this Beining Trading Company is, that it can produce such cheap and high-quality paper. You must hurry up and find out the truth about all this."
Qin Tian sighed deeply. If he could not care much about things like honeycomb briquettes before, then this Beining paper had already attracted his serious attention.
After all, those things, even extremely profitable soaps, are ultimately not necessities.
Paper, on the other hand, is something that all scholars can never avoid; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that it could shake the very foundation of the nation.
"Your subject knows the gravity of this matter and has already dispatched a large number of spies to Beining City to investigate."
Qin Yu immediately nodded: "Father, do you think Qin Xuan did these things?"
Honeycomb briquettes, coal stoves, refined salt, soap, and now Beining paper—all of these originated in Beining City.
However, all of these items were supplied by the four major chambers of commerce, with no trace of the official Beining City government involved.
"The product may not have been developed by Qin Xuan, but Beining City must have provided the necessary support, otherwise Beining City would not have accumulated so much wealth in such a short time."
In Qin Tian's view, these new things should have been developed by the four major chambers of commerce, but they benefited Qin Xuan.
Sometimes he couldn't help but think that he shouldn't have suppressed the four major merchant guilds so much in the first place. If he had kept them in Kyoto, all that enormous wealth would have been Daqi's.
"Your Majesty, I am overthinking this. No matter how intelligent a person is, it is impossible for them to develop so many new things at the same time."
"However, now that all four major merchant guilds have gathered in Beining City, it will be difficult to obtain the secret formula by relying solely on spies. But if the imperial court is willing to send troops..."
Qin Yu made the suggestion cautiously, constantly watching Qin Tian's expression, afraid of being scolded for it.
"Your thoughts are exactly the same as mine!"
Qin Tian suddenly smiled, and Qin Yu breathed a sigh of relief. His suggestion was a bit risky, but fortunately Qin Tian also had the same idea.
"I have already sent envoys to the Jurchen, Goryeo and Liaodong kingdoms. I want to see how Beining City will be defended then."
A hint of murderous intent and greed flashed in Qin Tian's eyes, as if he could already see the exhilarating scene of Beining City falling, Qin Xuan dying, and countless riches falling into his hands.
Beining City, the Chu King's Palace.
"Your Highness, the Beining Academy has already chosen a location in the most prosperous eastern district of the inner city."
Zhuge Xuan enthusiastically described the academy's plans, with Qin Xuan occasionally offering suggestions. Soon, the plan to establish Beining Academy was finalized.
"Mobilize the bricklayers and build Beining College first."
Previously, Qin Xuan had focused his attention on the Northern Wilderness, as the 200,000 refugees could not be left unattended.
Now, with the implementation of the Soil Fertilizer Law, a large number of barren lands have been transformed into fertile fields. Although they cannot yet be compared with truly fertile fields, they are at least cultivable.
Secondly, due to the increase in cement production, tenement buildings in the northern wasteland are springing up at an unprecedented speed.
Qin Xuan plans to transform the Beihuang District into a modern new urban area, with all buildings featuring residential buildings upstairs and shops downstairs.
Only in this way can the Beihuang District quickly accumulate popularity, and at the same time, the Wangfu can quickly earn funds after renting or selling the ground floor shops.
"The Lieyang Chamber of Commerce has sent word that Qin Zhen has taken the bait. This is a personal letter from the head of the Chamber, Hua Mingyue."
Zhuge Xuan smiled and handed Hua Mingyue's handwritten letter to Qin Xuan, his tone carrying a deeper meaning.
Qin Xuan glanced at him, guessing that the old guy was just gossiping again, so he simply didn't respond and started reading carefully.
In the letter, Hua Mingyue first greeted him, and then recounted in detail how she set up the trap and how she lured Qin Xuan into it.
"Qin Zhen is stubborn and extremely arrogant, and his advisor Yang Ziyan is greedy and insatiable. Although he is intelligent, he is very easy to bribe."
"I originally intended to use 500,000 catties of honeycomb briquettes as bait, but I didn't expect that Yang Ziyan would persuade Qin Zhen to increase the total to one million catties in order to profit from it. If this scheme succeeds, Mingyue can send the prince one million taels of silver."
"As expected, the fourth prince, Qin Yu, has taken the bait. Your Highness is truly a divine strategist of our time."
The reason Qin Yu was able to obtain information about the leak of honeycomb briquettes was naturally due to Qin Xuan's arrangement.
All of these arrangements are based on information provided by Liu Hongmei.
From this information, Qin Xuan clearly understood the organizational structure of all the people around Qin Zhen, which allowed him to know himself and his enemy and thus successfully plan his strategy.
"Qin Yu is naturally suspicious, so I should remind Mingyue to be extra careful, especially regarding the secret formula transaction. She must make it seem as difficult as possible."
Qin Xuan muttered to himself, and he had the Lieyang Chamber of Commerce send someone to impersonate the steward of Qin Zhen's residence. Then, he cleverly devised a plan to first make contact with Yang Li's capable assistant, and finally contact Yang Li himself, so that Qin Yu would know that Qin Zhen had obtained the secret recipe for honeycomb briquettes.
Meanwhile, to make the situation more realistic, Qin Xuan also conducted a three-day city-wide search in Beining City.
This action was undoubtedly intended to corroborate the fact that the secret formula had been stolen; otherwise, if Beining City had not reacted at all, Qin Zhen and Qin Yu might not have believed it.
"The Flower Fair Leader has sent a letter saying that the plan in Kyoto has been successful. Please reply to her immediately and tell her to be careful in everything she does."
"If the plan changes midway, as long as it doesn't affect the overall situation, let her make her own decision."
Qin Xuan asked Zhuge Xuan, who was taken aback, then smiled and asked in return, "Your Highness, why didn't you write this letter yourself?"
"Stop talking so much nonsense, just write what I tell you to write."
Qin Xuan glared at Zhuge Xuan with annoyance.
Zhuge Xuan wasn't angry at all. Instead, he smiled and said, "Is Your Highness afraid that the Princess will be jealous? In my opinion, the Princess still approves of Hua Hui Shou quite a bit."
"roll!"
Qin Xuan was both amused and exasperated.