Chapter 90 Make a fortune together

"Father, Father..."

Sun Quan was stunned and came to his senses. He looked blankly at Sun Luban with a pouting mouth. Only then did he find that he was absent-minded. He smiled apologetically and motioned, "Big tiger, you say, I'm listening."

"You didn't listen." Sun Luban said angrily, "Father, you just looked outside in a daze and didn't listen to a word."

"Who said that?" Sun Quan covered up and said, "I'm listening."

"So, what did I just say?"

Sun Quanyu choked and subconsciously asked for help from Mrs. Bu. Sun Luban has not been afraid of him since he was a child. On the contrary, he is a little afraid of Mrs. Bu. Once he is at a loss, he will ask Mrs. Bu for help. Mrs. Bu lowered her face. Just as she was about to speak, Sun Luyu was happy: "Sir sister, you are miserable."

Sun Luban stared and stretched out his hand: "Gid me back the sugar!"

Sun Luyu hid his hand behind his back and shook his head repeatedly. Sun Quan found that there was a bulge in her mouth, so he asked curiously, "What kind of sugar?"

Sun Luyu moved his mouth and changed the direction of the sugar cubes. Then he said vaguely, "The candy brought back by my sister is very sweet. My sister, I'm not happy with the gift. I'm going back.

Sun Quan was amused by the two sisters. He grabbed Sun Luyu, rubbed Sun Luyu's little face with his face, and said flatteringly, "Father, can you help you. Can you let your father taste it?"

Sun Luyu looked at Sun Quan and Sun Luban. After thinking about it, he turned his back, picked up a piece from the palm of his hand, held it with his fingers, and said to Sun Quan, "Father, open your mouth."

Sun Quan obediently opened his mouth and raised his neck. Sun Luyu carefully put the sugar cubes into Sun Quan's mouth. As soon as the sugar cubes touched his tongue, he turned into a ball of sweetness. Sun Quan closed his mouth, opened his eyes and nodded repeatedly, and was as happy as a child: "Sweet! Sweet! Xiaohu, it's really sweet.

"Giggle..." Sun Luyu couldn't help laughing.

"Well, what is this? We have more than one country." Sun Luban raised his head proudly.

"Do you have a lot of candy in Vietnam?" Hearing the news, Sun Luyuan, who was busy tasting the sugar cubes, asked in a low voice.

"A lot." Sun Luban nodded and showed a surprised look: "There are many sugar cane forests in Funan, which can produce a lot of sugar every year. What, you don't know? There should be a lot of merchants who sold candy and came back.

"Yes, but it's very expensive." Sun Quan's squirming mouth stopped for a moment, straightened his waist, and put his hand on his thigh. He looked surprised: "What on earth are you talking about?"

"A lot, a large area." Sun Luban bulged his cheeks, waved his arms, and made an exaggerated gesture: "Whether it's Zhu Ya or Funan, there are many places, and large areas of sugar cane forests have been planted. It used to be artificially squeezed sugar. Now Zhuya College has made a lot of machines, and sugar factories have been built in various places. The squeezed sugar is shipped out one ship at a time. As far as I know, merchants in the State of Wu have transported more than a dozen ships out, and Jianye should have been sold long ago.

"It's sold, but it's ridiculously expensive." Sun Quan suddenly realized, and a little anger appeared on his face. Jianye has sugar from Funan, but it is very expensive, and there are some in his palace. However, these very expensive things have not been rewarded to Queen Xu and Mrs. Bu, so they don't know. Now after listening to Sun Luban's words, he knows that he has been confused by those merchants, and he can't help but be unhappy.

Sun Luban didn't know what he meant and didn't know what to say, but Mrs. Bu saw the clues in it, and his heart surged with a burst of loss. In the past, Sun Quan had something good, and most of them wanted to reward her, but now she can't think of her at all. If her daughter hadn't come back, she might not have known that there was such a good thing.

China has had sugar for a long time, The Book of Songs? There is a poem in Daya, which refers to sugar, but this kind of sugar refers to sugar, also known as malt sugar, also known as malt sugar. For a long time, it has been a good thing for the nobles of the Central Plains to enjoy. Since the Warring States Period, there has also been sucrose, Chu Ci? In the Soul, there is "the turtle cannon, there is some pulp". The pulp here refers to the sugar made of sugarcane juice, which is a sticky **, also known as sugarcane glut, but sugarcane is produced in the south and can't be seen in the Central Plains at all. Until now, sugarcane cane is only available in Jiaozhou.

And this kind of hard candy brought back by Sun Luban has never been seen before. Even if Sun Quan sees it, it is only the sugar containing certain crystals in ** at most. Even so, it is already very strange.

Jianye's precious things are everywhere in Funan, so to what extent will Funan's strength reach? Sun Quan immediately thought of the most critical problem. If a large number of goods in Funan are allowed to enter the State of Wu, the wealth of the State of Wu will flow out surprisingly quickly. The most direct problem is that the copper money of the State of Wu will be tense. Once the copper money is tight, the economy will be in crisis.

The more Sun Quan thought about it, the more he was shocked. He didn't dare to think too much. He said a few perfunctory words and hurriedly left Mrs. Bu's palace, leaving Queen Xu and Mrs. Bu looking at each other. When Sun Luban saw that Sun Quan was not good-looking, he didn't know if he had caused trouble. However, she was not a heart-hearted person. She just scratched her head and soon got into a mess with her two sisters.

In Gu's house, Prime Minister Gu Yong and Mrs. Lu sat side by side. The youngest son Gu Ji, grandson Gu Cheng and others sat together, listening to Gu Yu, who was full of red face, tell the story of the war in Funan and what happened recently. Gu Yong's face was still as heavy as water, and she could not see the joy and anger. Mrs. Lu looked at her son, who had been depressed because of his poor health, and now she couldn't help showing her joy. She looked at Sun Yuanying, who was listening attentively, and sighed secretly. The eldest son, Gu Shao, was the strongest, but it was a pity that he died early. Otherwise, the situation of the Gu family would be better now. It was right to arrange Gu Yu to be with Sun Shao at the beginning. Otherwise, he would not be so happy now.

"Zimo was supposed to come back, but now there are too many things in Funan. His new Funan Yin can't get away, so he has to ask me to say good-bye to the two elders." Gu Yu turned around and saluted Sun Yuanying: "Sister-in-law, Zi Mo brought gifts to his sister-in-law and Zizhi. He also said that he hoped that his sister-in-law would have time to go to Funan. The king's boat is in Qian Tang. If your sister-in-law wants to accompany her, she can get on the boat at any time."

Sun Yuanying smiled faintly and couldn't see a trace of excitement: "Thank you, uncle, I know."

"Fu Nan Yin, it's good." Mrs. Lu nodded with a smile: "Funan County is the seat of Taizhou and the new capital of Yue. If Funan Yin has great power. Zimo is so young that he doesn't know whether he can bear such an important burden or not. As an uncle, you should remind him more. Zimo's child is smart, but a little arrogant. Compared with his father, he is less stable.

Gu Yu nodded with a smile: "Mother, don't worry. Zimo is much more calm now. According to Shen Xuan, she has the style of A Weng."

"Is it?" Mrs. Lu looked back at Gu Yong, who frowned slightly in surprise, and couldn't help smiling: "Shen Xuan is delusional. Zi has been silent for many years. It is possible to be more stable, but it is estimated that it will take another 20 years to be like his eldest father."

"Hehe..." Everyone laughed softly.

Sun Shao asked for the establishment of Funan and Bora. As a result, the emperor made an edict and rejected Sun Shao's original plan for Funan and Boro. He set up Funan as Taizhou, Brah for Haizhou, and the meaning of Funan Antai and Brah. It is also a little authority of the emperor. Sun Shao doesn't care, and the people of Yue have been saying it smoothly and have been returning. It's called Funan Prefecture and Borneo, and only three princes like Gu Yu know the official name. More than a dozen counties near the special pastoral city are Funan County, that is, the new capital of Vietnam. The Funan Taishou is also known as Funan Yin, which is half a level higher than the ordinary Taishou. Gu Tan was in his early twenties and became such an important position. On the one hand, he was Sun Shao's nephew, and on the other hand, he was because he was indeed talented. Of course, Mrs. Lu was overjoyed when she heard such news. Sun Yuanying was also very proud when she heard it, and Mrs. Lu and her son Gu Cheng were only envious. Gu Cheng has made a salute and married Zhang Wen's sister Zhang Yuying as his wife, but if he wants to become an official, it is estimated that he will have to wait for a few years, and then follow a series of procedures such as being a man and releasing. He wants to imagine that he can become 2,000 stones at such a young age as Gu Tan. I'm afraid there is no hope in this life.

Gu Yu smiled for a while, put away his smile, and looked at Gu Yong seriously: "Zimo asked me to tell A Weng a message."

"What's the news?" Gu Yong stroked his beard, narrowed his eyes, and asked faintly.

"Zimo heard about Sun Changxu's death, and it is estimated that A Weng may also take over as prime minister. He wrote that if A Weng became the prime minister, the first problem he would face would be the shortage of money. If Aweng needs help, he can provide opportunities.

Gu Yong's eyelids jumped, and his original plain eyes suddenly flashed, and then returned to their original state. He nodded silently and said quietly, "I know."

In fact, Gu Yong felt this problem as soon as he took office. Wu's economic situation was originally good, especially after pacing Jiaozhou, a large amount of tax revenue made Sun Quan's son very comfortable for a while. However, later, there was an accident in the south, and the commercial tax was greatly affected. Later, Sun Deng rushed to the south to rebel. Most of the taxes paid by the state were transferred to the south to support the battle, while the goods transported from the state increased unabated. A large amount of copper money was earned by the merchants of Yue. The deficit that originally existed but was not serious suddenly showed its power. As soon as Yong took office, he felt that the problem was serious. If it continues to develop at the current rate, I'm afraid that there will be no copper money available in the State of Wu in a few years.

Now that Gu Tan mentioned this problem, Gu Yong had a message in his heart, but he didn't want to talk about it in front of so many people. Instead, after everyone dispersed, he called Gu Yu to the study and asked Gu Tan in detail how he could help.

Gu Yu said directly: "It's very simple. Increase the trading volume of Wu Yue, sell a large number of goods needed by Yue to Yue, maintain a balance, and avoid the outflow of copper money." Gu Yu thought for a moment and said, "In fact, not only the State of Wu, but also Wei Shu have encountered such a problem. They are also sending people to discuss this matter with me in the State of Yue. We also have the problem of money shortage in the State of Yue. The king is now considering the use of gold coins. This time, we may discuss this issue in the East China Sea Alliance."

Gu Yong frowned. He knew that Sun Quan still had doubts about whether to join the East China Sea Alliance, but if the East China Sea Alliance also included such content, and Wu Guo was absent, he might lose a great opportunity. The Han Dynasty is a parallel currency system of gold and copper coins, but gold is generally not used for circulation, but for rewards, gifts, etc. Usually, copper coins such as five baht coins are circulating in the market. With the development of the economy and the increase of trading volume, the amount of copper coins is seriously insufficient. Using gold as a circulating currency can indeed solve this problem. But the premise is to balance the gold price. If the price of gold cannot be maintained in a more appropriate range, then resale of gold will become a more convenient way to make profits than stolen casting.

This is not up to the State of Wu to decide. In terms of the amount of gold, the State of Yue has to hold the bull's ears. Everyone knows that Sun Shao not only robbed a gold mine from Yizhou, but also earned a large amount of gold from the transaction with Xiyi. If you want to stabilize the price of gold, the weight of Vietnam is self-evident.

In other words, Gu Tan asked Gu Yu to convey this sentence of great significance, which is directly related to whether Gu Yong can sit firmly in the position of Prime Minister of the State of Wu. As long as he obtains the support of Yue, even if Sun Quan has any ideas, he should also consider whether other people can maintain stable economic development like Gu Yong.

Gu Yong pondered for a moment and asked faintly, "The country of Yue is rich now. What else can we sell?"

"It's too much." Gu Yu smiled and said, "Among other things, the citrus in Changsha and Yuzhang is very promising. The citrus in Jiangling is now a large amount of money exchanged by Shu from Yue, which is not much worse than Shu Jin."

"So many?" Gu Yong frowned and felt a little incredible. Shujin is a specialty of Chengdu. Although there are a lot of citrus fruits in Jiangling, the price is far from the same. How can it be similar? Does Vietnam consume so much citrus every year?

"Yes, citrus is mainly bought by seafarers. It is said that eating one or two citrus fruits every day can cure some scurvy, so now as long as businessmen go to sea, they have to bring some. The king is planning a long voyage, and the storage of this citrus is one of the very important preparations.

Gu Yong's interest has greatly increased, and the more he talks with Gu Yu, the happier he is.

"The king is coming." The news of Sun Quan's arrival interrupted Gu Yong's father and son's conversation. They looked at each other and felt a little surprised. Gu Yong asked Gu Yu to avoid it for a while, and then put on his court clothes and prepared to go out to greet him in person. As soon as he got out of the backyard, he bumped into Sun Quan, who strode towards him.

"Gu Gong, free of gifts." Sun Quan smiled and said, "I heard that Ji Ze is back. He must have brought a lot of Funan specialties. I came here to get some money."

Gu Yong was shocked. As soon as Gu Yu got home, Sun Quan came. Isn't it too fast? He didn't dare to neglect it. He immediately welcomed Sun Quan into the main hall and sat down, and asked someone to have a tea. Then Sun Yuanying came out to see him. Sun Quan talked and laughed, and pulled Sun Yuanying to ask a few questions. In the end, only he and Gu Yong were left, and he put away his smile.

"Gu Gong, you have been the prime minister for two months, haven't you?" Sun Quan picked up a piece of cake and put it in his mouth. While chewing slowly, he said lightly, "What's the problem?"

Gu Yong didn't understand and said a few questions tentatively. Sun Quan didn't say anything. It was not until he talked about the money shortage that Sun Quan came to the spirit: "How is Gu Gong going to solve it?"

Gu Yong breathed a sigh of relief and was secretly glad that if Gu Yu hadn't told him this question, he would have been suddenly tortured by Sun Quan, and he really had no good idea.

"This is easy to do." Gu Yong said calmly, "Traders, it's easy for each other. We can't just buy it, but also want to sell it, so that we can keep the amount of money stable."

"Someone mentioned that it is going to make a lot of money. Do you think this is feasible or not?"

Gu Yong took a look at Sun Quan and was silent. Sun Quan smiled awkwardly and knew that Gu Yong was against it if he didn't speak. Of course, he also knew that this idea was a little bad, and it was not appropriate to put it forward at this time. There were many things like casting a lot of money in the past. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty also made white deer coins, and Wang Mang also minted a knife of five thousand yuan, that is, a knife money was used as 5,000 pieces of five baht money. The word "one knife" was wrong gold. In later generations, it was also known as the gold wrong knife. It was a treasure in the collection of coins in later generations, but in terms of currency reform, this was a failure. Even if it is wrong with gold, a knife money is not worth 5,000 yuan, which is profitable. Naturally, some people take risks, so the imitation of casting and stealing are repeatedly banned. Liu Bei also made a lot of money in Chengdu, but it was only a temporary measure to return the scattered coins to his hands. It was over in a short time. Now some people have proposed to Sun Quan to make a lot of money, which is just a replica of this method. It can be urgent for a while, but it can't solve the final problem. Because a coin is worth a thousand, the value of coins far exceeds the value of coins and copper materials. Someone will melt copper coins and then cast them into a thousand yuan for profit, which is much faster than making a fortune in business.

"How do you sell things then? What can I sell for money in the State of Wu? Sun Quan said in a sidly.

"There are too many things that Wu Guo can sell." Gu Yong smiled and said, "We have good materials, fruits and vegetables, big boats, copper and salt. We can not only do business with Yue, but also deal with Wei and Shu. Among other things, there are many merchant ships passing through the river every year, such as fish in the river. Just by providing the diet of these people, we can earn a lot of copper money..."

Sun Quan looked at Gu Yong, who was talking, and suddenly felt a little strange. When did Gu Yong talk about business so smoothly?

Gu Yong said that in the end, he returned to the problem of the currency system. He vaguely suggested that Sun Quan could not miss this opportunity, because even if the State of Wu did not participate, the Three Kingdoms of Yue, Wei and Shu could reach an agreement. At that time, it would be difficult for the State of Wu to squeeze in again. Now Wu Yue is one, and the king of Yue let the eldest princess come back, that is, to show his goodwill to the king. Why don't the king seize this opportunity to hold the East China Sea alliance side by side with the king of Yue? In this way, when Wei Shu sees that Wu Yue's friendship is good, they dare not move the idea of the State of Wu.

Sun Quan was silent. He had long been psychologically prepared to listen to Gu Yong's advice and Sun Shao to make up. After all, Gu Yong's sons and grandchildren all held important positions in the State of Yue. Gu Yong hoped that Wu Yue would make peace, and what he did not want was to tear his face and fight.

But he was slowly moved by Gu Yong. Although Gu Yong was selfish, the actual situation was indeed the same. It was far more beneficial to make peace with Sun Shao than Sun Shao. Among other things, Sun Shao stood behind him to support him and stabbed him in the back, which was completely opposite to the State of Wu.

"Gu Gong's words are reasonable." Sun Quan nodded reluctantly: "I want to meet Ji Ze, okay?"

Gu Yong smiled and said, "The king has an order, how dare you not obey?"

...Gu Yu hurried back to Qian Tang and reported the news that Sun Quan was willing to reconcile to Sun Shao. Sun Shao smiled and invited Yu Fan.

"Yu Gong, please go to Jianye and discuss relevant matters with Gu Gong." Sun Shao touched his nose and smiled shyly, "It is supposed to make an appointment with another place close to everyone, but the matter is very urgent. In another ten days, the emperor will arrive at the mouth of the Yangtze River. It hasn't been settled here, and the king of Shu hasn't had a shadow yet. In order to save time, I have to wrong you."

Yu Fan was indeed a little unhappy. Gu Yong was the prime minister of the State of Wu. He was the prime minister of the State of Yue. Since he wanted to meet, he should choose a place to lean against the border and let him rush to Jianye to meet Gu Yong, which was a little price drop. But Sun Shao had already said so, and it was difficult for him to refuse, so he had to respond.

"It's a waste of time back and forth." Sun Shao continued, "I'll tell you my bottom line first, and then it's up to you how to talk about it." Sun Shao thought for a thought and said, "It's like you negotiated with the Sheng family and the Zhou family at the beginning."

Yu Fan was suddenly in a good mood. At the beginning, it was he who accepted the negotiation of several families entrusted by Sun Shao and Huiji, which laid the initial foundation of the State of Yue. Now Sun Shao has given him such an opportunity, which is a great trust in him. No matter how great grievances are, he is willing to bear it.

"Don't worry, the king, I will live up to the king's mission." Yu bowed over and gave a salute. After discussing some specific conditions with Sun Shao, he immediately set out with several subordinate officials and went straight to Jianye.

Gu Yong got the news and asked Sun Quan. As soon as Sun Quan heard that it was Yu, he couldn't help but be a little worried. In the past, when Yu Fan was still his minister, he did not give him face. Now he has become the prime minister of the State of Yue, let alone give him face. In order to avoid being turned over by Yu, Sun Quan decided to let Gu Yong talk and report to him in time. After listening to this, Gu Yong couldn't help sighing secretly. Sun Quan and Sun Shao were both kings, but their temperament was much worse. Yu turned to Jianye and was the plenipotentiary representative of Sun Shao, and he was also the prime minister, but the authorization he received was far from each other. It was really more popular. He had a hunch that he would definitely be laughed at in the next negotiation.

The matter was unfortunately said by Gu Yong. In the subsequent negotiations, Yu Fan firmly held the initiative in his hands because he was confident and did not need to ask for instructions, and Gu Yong suffered a lot because of insufficient authorization. Fortunately, the purpose of Yu Fan is very clear. The State of Yue has no intention of being an enemy of the State of Wu. In the face of the King of Wu and the King of Yue, we are pulling you to make a fortune together. If you know each other, you will immediately agree to the peace talks and participate in the alliance. At the same time, send a fast horse to inform the State of Shu. If you don't know each other, it will be delayed for another two days, which will ruin my king Donghai alliance. Good thing, hey hey, then there's no need to talk about it.

Gu Yong immediately sent the news to Sun Quan. Sun Quan weighed it for a long time and finally decided to send a fast horse to inform Sun Deng, let him negotiate with Guan Yu, and invite Liu Bei, the king of Shu, to participate in the upcoming East China Sea League.

(to be continued)