"Shishu of the Ministry of Finance, what you are making is simply shady money. Doesn't your conscience hurt?"
Various officials began to curse and treat Muchuan as a black businessman among the people.
But what can Muchuan do?
Muchuan was not afraid to express his praise clearly. Currently, the beer stored in the household department is limited, and the total amount is not much. If you want to drink it, you have to pay for it.
As for those who want to drink but find it too expensive?
Okay, let’s give it one more month! When the beer production increases within one month, we will be able to meet everyone’s needs.
After what Muchuan said, a lot of people were driven back, but there were still fifty people left in the venue. These people were all noble and well-off people, but they only had ten taels of silver and one tael of wine?
It is a small problem to them, and they are not willing to waste time waiting.
"I am the prince of the country offering wine. I heard that the Ministry of Finance has such fine wine, so naturally the more the better! Money is not the problem, the problem is whether you have enough wine!"
"Bring me a hundred catties of wine! I'm not short of money, general, so bring it all up!"
"What are you shouting about?
I am the Crown Prince Zhan Shi, do you still want to compete with me?"
All the civil and military officials came out to grab it. These people were not short of money at all, and they were all high-ranking officials of the third rank or above. They were all so arrogant that they would probably use up all the beer stored in the household department in one fell swoop.
This gave Muchuan a headache. He originally thought that after raising the price of wine, he would be able to drive away many people, but he didn't expect that the demand for purchases was still so strong.
If this is the case, the only option is to "raise the price" and continue to raise the price until the existing beer can just meet the demand.
However, when Muchuan raised the price of beer to twenty taels of silver, he attracted a lot of criticism from the civil servants and military generals.
"Shang Shu, are you going too far?
Didn’t you just pay back ten taels of silver?
Now it has doubled, do you really think we are fools?"
"I'm so angry. A scholar can't be killed. You're humiliating us like this! General I won't drink this beer!"
"Hmph! Even if it's heaven's nectar, I can't imagine Ning's subordinates bending their backs. Why don't I just leave?"
In one fell swoop, half of the fifty officials left, apparently repelled by the price.
Although everyone was cursing, in Muchuan's view, they were nothing more than fish and meat on chopping boards. Want to drink?
Then you have to listen to Muchuan.
As for what happened next, things became much smoother. All the officials staying in the Hubu courtyard were wealthy owners. Muchuan ordered the record keeping officials of the Hubu to register, and then he started selling wine to them.
At this time, Ouyang Yifan came over and said with a smile: "Mr. Muchuan, you are really clever! You actually thought of such a way to sell wine! In this way, our household department will make a lot of money!"
"It's okay, it's okay. I don't earn much. I estimate I have tens of thousands of taels of silver."
Muchuan responded with a smirk on his face.
In order to sell wine to senior officials, Muchuanke prepared nearly a thousand jars of beer.
Although Qiantan beer sounds like a lot of beer, the cost is actually not high. After all, the main raw materials are grains such as wheat malt and barley malt. After fermentation, the malt liquid is obtained, and the cost is only a penny.
If the time cost, labor cost, equipment, land and other expenses are taken into account, the comprehensive gross profit rate has reached nearly 1028%, which can be called a profitable business!
Just as Muchuan and Ouyang Yifan were laughing and watching the money go into their bags, a loud voice came over.
"Shang Shu of the Ministry of Finance, this servant pays my respects."
Muchuan heard the sound and took a look and found that it was Liu Gui wearing eunuch uniform!
Liu Gui appeared next to Muchuan mysteriously like a ghost, followed by four eunuchs and four palace ladies.
Seeing that it was Liu Gui who was coming, Muchuan returned the favor and said, "It turns out to be Eunuch Liu. What's the matter?"
"It's like this. The Holy One was very happy after tasting the 'beer' and wanted his slaves to come and ask for some."
"So that's what it's like."
Muchuan had expected this. After all, no one had tasted beer before. They must have found it interesting after tasting it for the first time. Even Li Shimin couldn't resist the novelty.
So Muchuan made a move and ordered a small official from the Ministry of Revenue to bring over a jug of wine.
After Liu Gui took the wine bottle, he was obviously stunned for a moment, and then said awkwardly: "Master Muchuan... this wine seems to be only three taels?"
"It's four taels! Haha, you don't need to say thank you to me. It's my duty to serve your majesty with fine wines as part of your salary."
"No, no... what I mean is that a mere three ounces of wine will definitely not satisfy His Majesty."
"Isn't it enough?"
Muchuan frowned and asked Li Shimin how much beer he wanted.
Muchuan was shocked when he asked, Li Shimin actually wanted a hundred jars of beer?
It’s too confusing!
Calculated based on the current price of 20 taels of silver for every tael of wine, one hundred jars of wine cost almost 100,000 taels of silver! This much money can almost feed the people of a county!
The key is that Muchuan can come up with beer, but can Li Shimin come up with money?
If the other party takes out money, it means taking money from the treasury. In other words, it is using money from the Ministry of Household Affairs to buy things from the Ministry of Household Affairs!
"No, no, our household department doesn't have that much wine!"
Muchuan refused directly. Even if there was really so much wine, he would say that there was not so much wine, because he didn't want to give it to Li Shimin at all. After all, beer is very precious nowadays.
Liu Gui was not an idiot. Looking at the officials coming and going in the Ministry of Revenue's official residence, each of them carrying a jar of beer, it was definitely impossible to say that there was no beer.
"Lord Muchuan, I hope you don't put this servant in trouble. This is what His Majesty specifically wants. I believe you can still get it together after thinking about it, right?"
"No, no! Really not!"
Muchuan began to shake his head three times in succession.
"Then how do you explain the beer being sold?"
"Those were booked by other officials long ago, and they came to buy them with real money. Our household department is so big that we can't break the promise!"
Muchuan explained with a smile and said that if the emperor wanted to drink it, he would have to wait for a month! By then he would have endless supplies and he would not even notice it!
As for now?
But no, beer is very expensive nowadays, and it’s all booked!
After speaking, Muchuan also looked pitiful, saying that as the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, he had the responsibility to manage the profit and loss of the treasury. Now that the beer could redistribute wealth, it was natural that Li Shimin could not enjoy it so luxuriously.
"I hope Eunuch Liu will send a message for me. I believe His Majesty the Emperor will understand my painstaking efforts."
"Lord Muchuan...if the emperor gets angry, the consequences will surely be unbearable for you and me."
Muchuan naturally understood what Liu Gui said. Liu Gui was mainly afraid that if something happened, he would be implicated.
