Li Mu showed hesitation, but in fact he had already made a plan in his heart. Even if he provided perfume and soap to everyone in the palace, it would not be enough to burden him. But if he really did this, he would give the perfume to everyone.
The "rank" of soap is lowered, because no one will cherish something that is given away too easily.
Seeing Li Mu's hesitation, Queen Changsun guessed what he was thinking and said with a smile: "I don't want you to give it away for free. I just want to discuss with you whether it can be cheaper if the palace needs a large quantity.
.You are His Majesty's personal confidant. You know how much the internal funds are. If you want every concubine to provide perfume and soap, it is really a big expense."
Li Mu hurriedly said: "I'm scared. I've paid for the internal funds, but I haven't added much income to the palace. I really can't live up to the expectations of your majesty and the queen... That's it. I'll give it to the queen every month."
Ten bottles of perfume and a hundred pieces of soap are considered my filial piety to you. Now that I have joined the clan, I am considered a junior of His Majesty and the Queen, so I should be filial to you. I hope the Queen will not refuse. As for the other items, I will calculate them at cost price and conclude.
I don’t dare to earn a penny from the palace, so please don’t worry, Queen.”
"In this case, I will be disrespectful." Queen Changsun is a smart woman. She wants to leave money for the palace, but she doesn't want to owe Li Mu any favors. Li Mu also understood what she meant, so she bought half of it and half of it.
It was just what she wanted as a gift.
Now that we have talked about internal funds, Li Mu has to say something about the internal funds.
"I would like to report to the Queen that I have come up with a good way to raise internal funds. I was about to report it to Your Majesty when I heard that Your Majesty mentioned that the Queen is known as the 'hidden minister in the palace'. I would like to tell you this idea. Please
The Queen checked to see if it was appropriate, so as not to make a joke in front of His Majesty."
Empress Changsun smiled and said: "I am the empress, and I only care about the affairs in the palace. It is not appropriate for me to interfere with the important affairs of the court. You should wait until His Majesty comes down from the court and go to Taiji Hall to talk to His Majesty. The so-called 'hidden phase'
If you are like that, please don’t mention it again, I am just a queen and will not participate in court matters."
Li Mu hurriedly said: "The Queen has misunderstood what I meant. What I meant...is not to fight against the Queen, but to ask my aunt to give me advice."
In fact, Li Mu's father is several years older than Li Shimin. Although Li Mu has almost no impression of his father in his memory, we can infer from the age of Li Mu's mother Sun. Sun is thirty this year.
At the age of six, Li Mu's father is older than Sun, at least thirty-six years old. Li Shimin is only thirty-two years old this year, so he should be called uncle and aunt, but the rules of the royal family do not apply this way. Li Mu entered the clan, but Li Mu
From him onwards, an individual is considered to be a member of the Li family in Longxi. Before him, it depends on whether he has declined the favor. If he has declined the favor, it would be another way of calling him the ancestor of Li Mu. Nowadays, he can only
Call uncle and aunt.
"Do you think so..." Empress Changsun hesitated for a moment and said, "If so, fine, you can tell me and listen."
"A few days ago, my nephew collected two million yuan in subscription money for the company's shares. Now it is stored in the ice cellar of the Ministry of Industry. He has set up a department called "Bank" to take charge of the money. The money is stored in the ice cellar.
, is also useless. But if it is misappropriated, I am afraid those shareholders will not agree. So my nephew thought of a way to use the money and add a lot of income to the internal funds. "
Empress Changsun had heard Li Shimin talk about these things. Two million dollars, even as an emperor, was still coveted. Li Shimin has been a poor emperor since he came to the throne, and there are many places to spend money.
No amount of money was enough. If Li Mu hadn't been promised to give him full authority to handle it, Li Shimin would have spent all the two million dollars when he saw it.
I heard from Li Mu that there was a best-of-both-worlds method to solve this problem. Empress Changsun was also curious about the method and asked: "I wonder if you have any good ideas?"
Li Mu smiled and said: "Lend money."
"Lending?" Queen Changsun couldn't help but be a little disappointed when she heard these two words. She thought that with Li Mu's magic, she could really come up with a good idea. But she didn't expect it to be lending. She was a little unhappy in her heart, but she didn't say it directly.
He said tactfully: "Although this lending strategy can be profitable, it is extremely harmful to the people. If you ask me what I mean, I disagree."
The reason why Empress Changsun said this is related to the social environment in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. There was such a poem in the Tang Dynasty, which described borrowing and lending.
In February, new silk is sold, in May, new grain is sold. The sores in front of the eyes are cured, but the flesh in the heart is cut out.
As we all know, in February, silkworms are not born yet, where can the new silk come from? In May, the grain is not yet ripe, so where can the new grain come from. But there is no way, who makes you owe money?
Although the silkworms have not grown yet, the new silk they will receive has been mortgaged. Although the millet has not yet been harvested, it has become something for others. So this is called curing the sores in front of the eyes, but cutting out the flesh in the heart.
. There are also those black-hearted loan sharks who specialize in lending money during this lean period. The borrowers are forced to repay the loan with silkworms and rice seedlings at half price. If these are not enough, they have to pay higher prices from other places.
Interest-based loans are used to meet urgent needs. As the saying goes, those who sell in a hurry will spend half of their money, while those who don't want to take a break will spend twice as much money.
This will form a vicious cycle, making the poor even poorer, until they sell themselves into slavery or even commit suicide.
The reason for such extreme consequences is that the interest rate on loans is too high. Lending as a form of business has been around since ancient times. According to legend, the person who invented this method married the great beauty Xi Shi during the Spring and Autumn Period and helped King Gou Jian of Yue to revenge.
"Shang Sage" Fan Li. Loans can be divided into two types: normal loans and usury. Fan Li was engaged in normal loans. The so-called 10% profit is one-tenth of the annual interest rate. If it exceeds this standard, it is a usury. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, whether it was
Both the private sector and the government engage in usury.
There were two types of loan sharking in the Tang Dynasty: fractional loans and pledge loans. Fen loan was a credit loan in later generations, which did not need to be mortgaged, but required a guarantor with the ability to repay the loan. Pledge loan was a mortgage loan, which required the borrower's real estate or physical objects as a guarantee.
mortgage.
Compared with the Tang Dynasty, people who took out loans in later generations were happy. For later generations, the maximum annual interest rate for bank loans was only five or six percent. But in the Tang Dynasty, the interest rates for loans were horribly high.
In order to deal with the loan, Li Mu went to the Ministry of Civil Affairs to check the files.
There have been official loans in all dynasties. Although the imperial court was very poor in the early Tang Dynasty, there was also an official loan institution, called Gongse. When Li Yuan ascended the throne as emperor, the interest rate for Gongse was 100%. This is
What is the concept? If you take a loan of 10,000 guan and pay it off after one year, you will have to pay back 20,000 guan! What is the difference between this and robbing money?
However, this is already the lowest interest rate for loans. Because private loans have higher interest rates! At least three times! That is, 300% interest!
When Li Mu saw these files, he thought there were errors in the records, so he asked someone specifically to find out that it was really 300% interest. The evidence for this was a murder case. There was a poor man named Peng who reported to May.
A rich man named Gao borrowed two shi of wheat and paid back four shi in September. The rich man surnamed Gao also said that he owed money and wanted to capture his daughter to pay off the debt, so he was stabbed to death by a poor man named Peng.
In four months, the interest was double the principal, and the annual interest rate was as high as 300%, which was not enough. This shows how exaggerated the interest rates of private loans are. The reason why private loans have such high interest rates is because
The government has no money to lend. The Ministry of Civil Affairs cannot make ends meet every year, so how can it lend money out?
The irony is that in the Tang Dynasty, the people who took out loans were basically poor people. Who would take out a loan unless they could no longer maintain their lives?
In the Tang Dynasty, once people borrowed money, they were basically unable to recover forever. Apart from selling their sons, daughters, land and slavery, the only way to escape was to escape.
When Queen Changsun heard that Li Mu said he wanted to lend money, she thought that he was targeting the poor people, so she was naturally unhappy.
Li Mu had done his homework and guessed that Queen Changsun would react like this, so he calmly explained: "The Queen misunderstood what I meant. The loans I mentioned were not loans to poor people, but loans to wealthy families.
At least you have to be a big business owner."
"Lend to them?" Empress Changsun frowned and said, "These people are not short of money, how can they borrow money?"
"Because they can't do anything with the little money they have, they have to borrow money." Facing Queen Changsun, Li Mu did not dare to be too appetizing, and quickly explained: "A few days ago, Datang Salt Industry and Datang Salt Industry were established.
During the mining industry, I saw the enthusiasm of various aristocratic families. Many people even offered their heads to grab land because they were unable to buy shares, and begged me for accommodation. However, the shares were limited, and I was unable to accommodate, so I wondered if I could come up with a way.
, help them."
"One day, when I was drowsy, I suddenly thought of a way. The emergence of Datang Salt Industry and Datang Mining Industry will give birth to many industries. For example, coal mines, the coal dug out will be transported to big cities for sale.
, this transportation requires carriages and horses, there may be dangers on the road, and it also needs to be organized and protected. These industries have to be done by people. So the problem arises. People who want to do this business may not have that much money to work with.
Even if you have the intention, you can only miss it. At this time, I came out to help them. I lent them money from the bank and asked them to start their business. When they made profits, they would pay the money back. Mingtou Chen
I have already thought about it, Your Majesty is the Emperor, and as His Majesty’s internal fund manager, I am the Emperor’s envoy. I come to invest on Your Majesty’s behalf, so it is appropriate to call it ‘angel investment’.”
Empress Changsun shook her head and said: "Li Mu, do you think things are simple? The interest rate on loans is so high, how can you make money from this business? I feel that you may have made a mistake this time."
"No, no, no, I think that angel investment will definitely become popular, because the interest rate on my loan is only between one cent and three cents! Such a low interest rate can be said to be a loan of love. Aren't they still flocking to it?"