Chastity Layman

The ship enters Taiping Port.

Qin Yong had already led countless people to greet him at the pier. Changle was used to the prosperity of the two capitals, but it was not without admiration for the bustling and prosperous Taiping Port that lived up to its name.

Taiping Port is now one of the top ten ports in the Tang Dynasty, and it is the third largest port in Lingnan after Canton. Some people even say that Taiping Port is actually above Jiaozhou.

Guangyi Yang, Erdeng, Sanjiao, Four, Taiping and Five, Taiping Port can be ranked fifth in the coastal ports, even ahead of Hangzhou, Mingzhou, Fuzhou, etc., we can see how attractive this port with a history of only 15 years is.

In the distance, we can see Wei Gongbao in the north of Taiping City.

Princess Changle had already heard about this tall castle when she was in Chang'an. It was said that Qin Lang designed it by himself, and it took millions of dollars to build it. It took a total of ten years to complete it. Known as the first castle in the southeast, this castle has finally ushered in a mistress.

It's just a pity that Qin Sanlang was not among the people who came to greet him.

Just half a year after the wedding, the couple went south and parted ways in Xiangyang. Qin Lang went to Jingzhou, and the princess went to Jiangzhou. Qin Lang entered Sichuan from Jingzhou, and then transferred to the middle of Guizhou. However, the princess in Jiangzhou did not go up the Ganjiang River and cross Wuling to enter Guangdong. The big treasure ship went south along the coast to Taiping.

The journey has been smooth.

The river and the sea are connected, so there is no pain of bumps. It is the first time to take a treasure ship to go to sea, and I don’t feel any discomfort. Moreover, there are several sisters accompanying me along the way, and there are clever concubines such as Yu Xiao and Yu Xuanji. More than one trip to and from the fiefdom, but along the way, you can act as a guide, introducing them to the scenery and people along the way.

In Jiang, Yang, Hangzhou, and Guangzhou, I also deliberately went ashore to rest and play for a while. All the way to Taiping, I stopped and walked, but I didn’t feel tired. Instead, it opened the eyes of the princess.

When she was in the two capitals, the princess had already heard about how Qin Lang conquered this wild land, and then established a rule for the Tang Dynasty here, and gradually managed this fiefdom from scratch to prosper day by day.

But only when you see Taiping Harbor with your own eyes, can you understand how difficult it is.

Datang's largest sugar production trading port is also the largest sugar port in the world. In addition, it is also Datang's largest whale oil and candle processing trade port. It also has the country's largest perfume and glass processing industries, porcelain, wine, paper, The production and processing of salt, gold and silver, etc. also reached a large scale.

Shipbuilding here is also famous.

Although the Qin family no longer controls the military, government and financial power of Wu'an Mansion, just looking at the people who came to greet them on the pier, one can see that the Qin family's prestige here is still incomparable.

The thousands of knights entrusted by the Qin family at the beginning are still the honorable nobles rooted in the entire Wu'an Dudu's five prefectures, counties and townships.

Not to mention the seven hundred and twenty lines in Taiping Port, all the actions are followed by the Qin family, which is a prestige that the officials of Wu'an Prefecture appointed by the imperial court cannot have.

Li Shimin once said to his daughter about the Wu'an Governor's Mansion that although Qin Lang happily handed over the governance, military, and financial rights of the Wu'an Mansion, on the three-acre land of the Wu'an Mansion, Qin Lang only Still the one who speaks the most.

He said that regardless of Qin Lang's thousands of knight retainers, they have now accepted the conferment of the imperial court and become honorary officials of the imperial court, and their armed forces have become the local regiments of the imperial court.

However, he had no doubt that Qin Lang would still be able to move this team with an order. Although the emperor also believed that it was impossible for Qin Lang to oppose the imperial court, the influence of the Qin family in Wu'an cannot be doubted.

Today, the five prefectures of Wu'an Prefecture, which have a population of nearly one million, can mobilize tens of thousands of Malays at any time.

The imperial court stationed the Taiping Army and the Zhennan Army in Wu'an, not only to deter the barbarians, but also to deter the vassals of the Qin family.

When she first heard her father talk about these things, she was shocked. She felt that Qin Lang was the most loyal and capable courtier of the Tang Dynasty, and it was impossible for him to be disloyal to the court. But after the rebellion of his brother Qi Wangyou, the princess Also understand that things are not that simple.

After getting off the boat, Qin Yong led a group of respectable people from Wu'an Mansion to greet him.

Officials appointed by the imperial court, such as the governor of Wu'an Prefecture and the inspector of Wu'an prefecture, were placed in the back position.

Qin Yong, Qin Qiong's former adopted son and family general, has guarded Wu'an for Qin Lang for many years. In the past few years, he has only stayed in Wu'an as a family order of Duke Wei's mansion. Officials, all have to be courteous.

This young man with a sledgehammer with a false Marquis title on his body has already turned gray on his temples, and he is approaching the year of knowing his destiny. When he followed Qin Qiong in the southern and northern wars, his silver hammer was also known as mighty and incomparable. Now he is calm and introverted , the edge is no longer.

Such a strong general with ability and background, in fact, as long as he wants to, it is more than enough to be a general of twelve guards now.

"Your servant welcomes your wife, you have worked hard all the way."

Changle is very aware of the status of Qin Yong and Qin Yong behind him in the Qin family, and knows that her husband is very dependent on Qin Yong, especially when Qin Qiong abandoned Zheng to Tang, it was Qin Lang who was saved by Qin Yong and Ah Huang. Therefore, Qin Lang's trust in this father's family general is not ordinary.

Instead, he really treats him as an elder brother. The silver-faced Wei Tuo Qin Yong also won Qin Lang's trust.

As for the woman who stands out among the men, Changle has already guessed her identity, she must be the concubine Qin Lang accepted when he went south to the fiefdom, the former wife of Jinjidong in Zhennanguan, Mrs. Anong up.

"Is Saburo not at home?"

"My servant picked up Wei Gongxin before. After he quelled the chaos in central Guizhou, he went down to Guangzhou along the Xijiang River, and then went to visit Fujian and travel to various places. He hasn't returned yet."

"Where are you now?"

"It should be to inspect Treasure Island in the East China Sea?"

"Is there really Treasure Island?"

"Well, that is a wild island discovered by our Qin family in the East China Sea in recent years. Gold mines have been found on it. Now we have invested a lot of manpower and financial resources in mining there. Sanlang will take a look at it."

When the princess went south, she had heard many legends about Treasure Island. Anyway, in various versions, Treasure Island seemed to be a mountain of gold and silver in the sea.

As for the location of Treasure Island, there are different opinions, and no one knows the specifics. Some say it is in the south of the South China Sea, and some say it is at the southern end of the South China Sea and then go east to the end. Anyway, it is not sure.

"Why does Saburo need to go to the depths of the sea to inspect it himself?"

"Ma'am, don't worry, our Qin family's ships are the most advanced, and the captain and sailors are also the most experienced."

In front of everyone, the princess didn't say anything more.

"Thank you, everyone, welcome."

"The servant sent the lady back to Wei Gongbao to rest, and I will bring everyone to pay my respects some other day!"

The princess nodded.

Then he waved to Anong, "This is sister Anong, please come and drive with me."

Although Anong is a native of Wu'an, and his son has also been awarded the title of Wulong Prefecture, but for this princess lady, he still lowered his posture, and came up very obediently to ask An to see him, showing full etiquette.

In front of everyone, Chang Le accepted her salutation calmly first, and then helped Anong up politely and affectionately, holding her hand, and boarded the carriage prepared by Qin Yong with her.

"The maidservant has already had someone clean the inside and outside of Duke Wei's Castle, and also specially prepared the main courtyard, just because she is afraid of the savage women around, who are ignorant and ill-prepared. Please forgive me, princess."

The princess took her hand and said with a smile, "Sister, you are joking. You have been with Saburo for more than ten years, and you have given birth to a son and a daughter for Saburo. Wulang was also named the governor of Wulong Prefecture by the sage Tween, and you have also been ordered by Mrs. Guo." Now, the majestic Mrs. Tang, how can you be so reckless in belittling yourself."

Arrived at Wei Gongbao.

The gate of the castle was opened, and all the servants in charge of the castle came to the gate to welcome the real headed lady.

From today on, the castle also has a mistress.

Everyone was curious about this mistress. After all, she was a royal princess of golden branches and jade leaves, and she was also the first princess of the royal family. She was not ordinary.

Changle was surrounded by Anong, Yuxiao and other wives and concubines into the castle like stars holding the moon. To the people in the mansion who greeted them, Changle nodded kindly, and then ordered the female officials who followed.

"reward!"

One reward, each person has a golden melon seed.

The female official waved her hand, so a maidservant took a silver box, opened it, and took out yellow and golden melon seeds from it. The gold was beaten into the shape of melon seeds, each weighing a penny.

Even though it only weighs one penny, gold is precious. A tael of gold is worth tens of thousands of pennies. Therefore, although a golden melon seed only weighs one penny, it is also worth thousands of copper coins.

And the most important point is that the law of Zhenguan now stipulates that people can buy and sell with gold coins minted and issued by the imperial court, but it is forbidden to directly use gold and silver for trading, and utensils made of gold have strict grade regulations. Ordinary common people's women are only allowed to own one or two gold hairpins and rings.

Even if ordinary landlords and local tyrants have money, golden melon seeds cannot be used to reward people directly. This is a privilege only available to the royal family.

The princess used golden melon seeds to reward the people in the mansion who met for the first time, which not only showed her generosity, but also showed her dignity as a royal princess.

Each person presents a golden melon seed, which is worth a thousand dollars, and a small yellow grain is more grand than giving a bunch of copper coins.

Holding the golden melon seeds in both hands, the people in the mansion thanked them one after another.

Qin Yong and others who were sent to the fort looked at the scene, and couldn't help being dumbfounded. Yang Jizhen of Langshan sighed, "Sure enough, you are worthy of being a royal princess. This is a generous move."

The silver-faced Wei Tuo laughed, "This is the emperor's favorite eldest princess. Although the sage set the dowry at 800,000 yuan to avoid criticism, do you know how much the princess's private property is?"

The princess's fief is indeed only six hundred households, but the queen gave the princess a large sum of money, and then gave the money to Qin Lang early on, saying that it would be Qin Lang's sooner or later, so he directly let him manage it manage. Then, as the God of Wealth, in Qin Lang's hands, this money is naturally money and profit, and it has been over ten years since I don't know how much it has been rolled over.

Qin Lang kept this money alone and sent people to manage it, so the wealth under the name of the princess is quite astonishing, not to mention rewarding each person with a golden melon seed, as long as the princess is not afraid of being too criticized, each person will be rewarded with a handful, A can of golden melon seeds is fine, even if you are like the emperor, who directly rewards you with one or two golden barley seeds, there is no pressure at all.

Princess Changle is not only the royal golden branch and jade leaf, but also has a real wealth.

"How much property does the princess have?" Lao Yang couldn't help asking.

"Guess!" Qin Yong laughed.

"Millions?"

Qin Yong laughed, "One million guan? Today, there are so many rich people in Tang Dynasty. Those with 10,000 guan can only be called small rich, and those with 100,000 guan can only be called middle-class rich. He and Guangyang joined Wuhang Jingyi and other big counties in Kyoto, and even those with tens of millions of dollars cannot be called the richest man."

"Could it be that the princess is worth tens of millions?"

"Hahaha, if you think about Wei Gong's net worth, you will know a thing or two."

Lao Yang really didn't know how much wealth Qin Lang had. Anyway, according to various folk rumors, some said that Qin Lang was now the richest man in the Tang Dynasty, and some said that a bolt of silk was tied to a tree in Zhongnan Mountain. There is still a surplus of silk.

Anyway, it is not an exaggeration to call it billions.

It is also said that Qin Lang's wealth is incomparable to a country, but how much is Datang's fiscal and taxation in a year? The unit is exactly 100 million. The salt tax alone is 30 million yuan a year, plus special taxes such as sugar, wine and tea, and mining taxes, as well as loom money, city ship tariffs and other industrial and commercial taxes, plus two Land tax, household tax, etc., the annual tax plus the income from monopoly, government-run, and buying, etc. add up to more than 100 million yuan.

It can be called the strongest tax revenue in history.

And Qin Lang is known as a rich country, some people say that Qin Lang's property is the country's annual income, some say that it is ten years of the country's annual income, and some say that it is twenty years of annual income.

But even if it is only equivalent to the country's fiscal revenue for one year, it is over 100 million.

Lao Yang was secretly startled, "If the princess really has tens of millions or even more property, the sage really asked the princess to bring all these properties here?"

"Is the sage short of money? Don't forget, the sage's internal treasury is very rich. The Zhenguan Bank is a golden rooster that lays golden eggs, and there are quite a few such golden roosters in the hands of the sage. The income of the internal treasury is tens of millions every year. The saint's poor money?"

The emperor is not afraid of people saying that he competes with the people for profit. The industries operated by the royal treasury are the most profitable industries, such as salt, wine, tea, sugar, horses, silk, porcelain, etc., and they also operate banks and sea trade. What makes money? As far as what is involved, although taxes are paid according to the regulations, this is the most profitable industry, especially in the mining industry. The royal family manages the most of all kinds of minerals and occupies all kinds of advantages.

Of course, the emperor's expenses are actually quite large, rewarding the harem, officials, soldiers, and vassals, etc., but the imperial treasury has a large income. Although the expenses of raising soldiers and wars are huge every year, and the activities cost tens of millions, they can basically be maintained. A better balance of expenses, and even some savings every year, this is a good policy formulated by Qin Lang when he was in charge of the finance, to live within his means, formulate the financial budget for the next year in the first year, allocate the money reasonably, and try to save as much as possible I'm ready.

In this way, although the imperial court has not stopped fighting abroad in recent years, its finances have always been non-stop. It has expanded its financial resources, budgeted reasonably, and accumulated surpluses every year. Today, the imperial treasury still has a surplus of 200 million yuan, so the emperor's internal treasury is It is relatively loose and can always have a surplus.

But for the people of the Tang Dynasty, Zhenguan can be called a real peaceful and prosperous age in these years, and the imperial court has an annual income of over 100 million, but the burden of the people is much lighter than that of Wude, even compared to the so-called Kaihuang prosperity. The middle and late period of Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty and the early period of Yang Guang were also light. The most important thing was the tax policy of the Tang Dynasty, which was to lighten the agricultural tax and distribute the per capita tax to the fields. The increase in fiscal revenue mainly came from industrial and commercial taxes and salt, tea and wine. Sugar and other monopoly taxes, as well as tariffs on foreign trade in the city and ships, and the imperial court's official handicraft workshops, official mines, Changping warehouses and buying methods, these have little impact on ordinary people.

Lao Yang sighed, "I always feel that with the arrival of this princess, our Taiping Port will not be peaceful in the future."

Qin Yong and Qin Yong looked at each other, then were speechless.