Chapter 4861 It’s obvious

Chapter 4861 It’s obvious
Li Shenfu sat cross-legged on a mat in front of the window. Lanterns were hung in the courtyard outside. The flowers and trees were withering after the first snow, and the teacups on the coffee table were emitting a wafting aroma.

"What do you think of Duke Yue's decision?"

Jin Renwen was stunned at first, then he smiled and said, "What kind of person is the Duke of Yue? He is a man of extraordinary talent and talent. How can a layman like me dare to guess his thoughts? I will pass on your message word for word. I will not add or subtract a single word from the Duke of Yue's reply. I dare not say anything else."

He was already terrified at the thought of being able to participate in a confrontation of this level, and the right thing to do was to withdraw immediately after it was accomplished. It would be enough to improve his status and expand his influence a little. If he went any deeper, he would be in danger of dying.

Although he is young, he is born into the royal family of Silla. In recent years, he has seen how miserable and cruel the nobles are in the process of the rise and fall of dynasties and the decline of countries. Relying on the foundation of the Jin royal family and using the banner of Fang Jun to deal with the aristocratic families is already the best situation, and he cannot ask for more.

The greed of the people is like a snake swallowing an elephant, and the death must be very miserable...

Li Shenfu's old face was as gloomy as water, and he shouted: "You were sent by them to assist me, you just do whatever I tell you to do, when will it be your turn to act on your own?"

Jin Renwen's smile remained unchanged, but he sat up straighter: "The prince may have misunderstood. I only have some business dealings with those people, so I can't be considered their person. If you must say who I belong to, I can only be Fang Jun's person."

He raised his chin and smiled at the prince in front of him who had great prestige among the royal family of the Tang Dynasty. He felt confident after saying, "I am Fang Jun's man."

When beating a dog, you have to look at the owner. I am Fang Jun’s man. Do you dare to hit me?

If you don't dare to fight, then be polite. Don't act bossy and use those methods of a superior. You can't control me.

Li Shenfu still had a gloomy expression, but surprisingly he did not lose his temper in the face of disobedience. He just looked at Jin Renwen carefully with a little surprise, then nodded and said, "I didn't expect that in addition to the very brave Jin Beommin, the Jin royal family also has a talent like you. If Queen Seondeok had been determined to fight to the death and vowed not to surrender, perhaps Silla could have been defended."

"Haha," Jin Renwen smiled with his white teeth showing, looking very amused. "Your Highness, you are too kind. I am just the most hopeless and naughty boy in my family. It is not important whether Silla can hold on or not. What is important is that the people of Silla admire the glory of the Celestial Empire and are willing to submit to it. All Silla people will become Tang people. This is the best choice to follow the trend of the times. The Jin royal family and other nobles can all be under the wings of the Tang Dynasty for thousands of years and the inheritance will continue. This is the blessing of Her Majesty the Queen. The people of Silla will always respect Her Majesty the Queen."

He actually used such a despicable method to sow discord. Does this prince really think I'm a fool?

Or are you too conceited, thinking that the world is at your fingertips?

Li Shenfu changed his previous arrogant attitude, extended his hand to signal Jin Renwen to drink tea, and asked with a smile: "This time, the government was able to recruit enough manpower in the Goguryeo iron mine, relying on your timely support, and I want to say thank you. Later, I plan to open several iron smelting plants in the country, and manpower is still in short supply. I hope you can support me more. As for the price, it is definitely not a problem."

Jin Renwen took a sip of tea and put down his teacup, looking a little surprised: "As far as I know, almost all iron factories in the Tang Dynasty are monopolized by the Foundry Bureau. Even the Fang family's iron factory was merged into the Foundry Bureau. The other private iron factories, big and small, have been suppressed by the Foundry Bureau and have no chance to survive. Are you going to face the challenge head-on?"

Everyone knows that iron factories make money, but not everyone can make that money.

Hoes and hoes made by ordinary people are cheap and scarce, so they are okay for small-scale operations, but you can't make a lot of money. If you want to make a big profit, you can only take work from the state. Among all the government departments in the country, the Ministry of War has the greatest demand for iron materials.

The Fang family sold the ironworks half-sold and half-gave it away to merge it into the Foundry. Together with the former ironworks of the Changsun family, they built the largest ironworks in the Tang Dynasty, which almost met all the needs of the Ministry of War.

If Li Shenfu wanted to open an iron factory in China, then his target of competition would definitely be the Foundry. Although the Foundry was owned by the Ministry of War, Fang Jun was behind it...

One moment you want to give someone a title of a prince to cooperate with them, and the next moment you open an iron factory to compete with them?

Li Shenfu smiled and said, "Who can compete with Duke Yue for business? The reason why Zhangsun Wuji's ironworks were all over the Tang Dynasty and made huge profits was because he used his power to merge and suppress others so that he could dominate the market. But Duke Yue didn't do that. He actually used the improved iron smelting method to cut off the foundation of Zhangsun's family from the root. With better quality and lower cost, even Zhangsun Wuji was helpless and watched Fang's ironworks emerge as a dark horse and sweep across the country... How can I dare to think that I am better than Zhangsun Wuji? So I have never had the intention to compete with Fang's ironworks. Now Fang's ironworks has been incorporated into the foundry of the Ministry of War and is nationalized, and it is even less likely to interfere with the national economy and people's livelihood. It's just that the family business is huge and the population is too large. The expenses for food and food are huge all day long, so I have to find a way to make a living to supplement the income, but..."

He looked at Jin Renwen and continued, "...regardless of how much profit the ironworks makes, since the ore is mined from the deep mountains, a large number of people are needed for transportation and smelting. Renwen, you need to pay more attention to this aspect."

Jin Renwen agreed immediately: "It is my honor that the prince has use for me. From now on, any slaves from Southeast Asia or the West will be sent to the prince's property first."

But he was thinking secretly in his heart: In fact, you can't make much money from running an iron mine. Even so, he has to keep expanding the scale of the iron factory. He also mentioned that there is an extreme shortage of manpower... What does he need so many people for?
Slaves were bought with real money, and their only purpose was to create profits far exceeding their purchase price. Therefore, even those aristocratic families who talked about benevolence and morality treated slaves extremely harshly, giving them one less bite of food, one more hour of work, or one less person to do the same job. All these accumulated were profits, but Li Shenfu's style was obviously different.

Do you want to wait until the critical moment to arm these slaves and try to use them as an army to attack cities and seize territories?
If this is true, then Li Shenfu must be blindingly thinking.

Whether slaves from Southeast Asia or the West, they were as strong as oxen and as stupid as pigs, with bad temperaments, lazy and gluttonous, and most importantly, as stupid as rocks and unteachable. They rushed to eat, whined when working, and would even hesitate when whipped... Jin Renwen didn't dare to imagine what would happen if such savages were organized into an army when the two armies confronted each other.

But what does this have to do with him? The Xiangyi County Prince's Mansion is extremely generous. He only needs to deliver the slaves, pays very quickly and never bargains. They are a very high-quality customer...

*****
There were candles burning in the imperial study, which was bright.

Li Chengqian sat behind the imperial desk, carefully reading the intelligence presented by the "Hundred Cavalry Division", his brows furrowed, his back teeth clenched, and he was filled with anger.

After a long while, he put down the information, rubbed his brows, looked at Li Junxian who was standing in front of him with his hands behind his back, and asked, "What's going on with this Jin Renwen?"

The Jin royal family was not large in number, and there were few close relatives. Despite this, he was not familiar with anyone except Jin Beom-min. Why should he care about the royal family of a country that was nominally annexed but actually destroyed?

Even the "Three Thousand Hwarang" were destroyed in the mutiny, and the fate of Silla was completely cut off...

Li Junxian said: "This man is the son of Kim Chunchu, the brother of Kim Beommin, and the nephew of Queen Seondeok. Logically, he has the same qualifications as Kim Beommin to inherit the throne of Silla... But this man is very smart. After Kim Beommin's death, he took the initiative to cut off contact with other Silla nobles. He used Queen Seondeok's connections and money to interact with those aristocratic families, and even engaged in slave trade, making a lot of money."

"You didn't act under the banner of the Duke of Yue?"

"Very rarely. As far as I know, Queen Seondeok once sternly warned us that if something really happened, we could ask Duke Yue for help, but we must not use Duke Yue's name to collect money during normal trade."

"Haha, this woman is really affectionate towards Erlang. Could it be that she is planning to marry into the Fang family as a concubine?"

Li Chengqian teased, and then asked: "How many mines and workshops does the Xiangyi County Prince's Mansion... and the entire royal family have now, and how many slaves are there?"

Although slaves from overseas did not speak the language, were not used to the climate and water, and had hard work, their survival rate was extremely low, but no matter what, when these people gathered together, they would definitely obey the orders of their masters who fed them and controlled their life and death. Even if they were a mob, once they suddenly launched an attack, the harm they could cause would be serious.

Li Junxian understood what His Majesty meant, and said in embarrassment: "Most of the mineral resources of the royal families are in Goguryeo, Wa, Luzon, and even Ceylon, Johor, Linyi and other countries. Although the Hundred Cavalry Division has eyes and ears in these places, they are more focused on monitoring the internal affairs and military affairs of these countries. There is no systematic monitoring of the Tang people's industries there, so I don't know."

Li Chengqian nodded. The "Hundred Cavalry Division" is now responsible for monitoring all officials and spying on the entire country. Its power is extremely large. If it is allowed to recruit personnel outside the region to expand its authority, it will evolve into a behemoth and be in danger of getting out of control.

"It would be fine if Jin Renwen was a broker who moved between the aristocratic families and the royal family, but he met Erlang and then rushed to the Xiangyi County Prince's Mansion. What was he doing?"

This is what Li Chengqian is most concerned about.

Li Junxian shook his head: "There were no other people present in the two places, including Queen Seondeok, Duke Yue, Jin Renwen, and Prince Xiangyi and Jin Renwen, so we don't know what they discussed specifically. But when Duke Yue left the palace from Xuanwu Gate yesterday, he met with Wang Fangyi. After he left, Wang Fangyi strengthened the security of the entire Xuanwu Gate area, which seemed to be Duke Yue's instructions."

It was obvious that Fang Jun was not confident about the security of the Xuanwu Gate's defense.