With the cooperation of the imperial court, the tasting meeting for Fan Shang was held as scheduled.
Among the rewards given back by the Ming Dynasty, silk and tea were greatly reduced, and envoys from various countries dared not speak out about this.
After all, it all depends on the wishes of the Emperor of Ming Dynasty as to how the Ming Dynasty wants to reward him.
Is it possible that they dare to force silk tea leaves？
At this time, the auction at Lou Jiangnan Pavilion began.
Based on the needs of the royal family and the huge profits from silk tea, envoys from various countries have issued instructions to bid with all their strength to buy some silk tea, otherwise they will not be able to deliver business after returning home.
As a result, the bidding became extremely popular on the first day, and the silk tea leaves that Zhu Gaoxu collected from the wealthy businessman were quickly sold out.
After learning the news, Emperor Yongle, who was not a human being, simply ordered the Ministry of Household Affairs to raise funds and hand over all the silk tea leaves from the treasury and even internal funds to the tasting meeting for auction.
The tasting event was held for three consecutive days. Not only did the poor merchant not get the five million payment, he even paid a lot of money himself.
…
The Prince’s Mansion in the East Palace.
Da Pang Pang looked at his son curled up on the bed, with a worried look on his fat face.
Ever since Zhu Di angrily reprimanded him and ordered him to be grounded that day, Zhu Zhanji contracted the cold due to fear and has been bedridden.
The prince also tried to enlighten his son, but there was no improvement.
‘Son, do you know how powerful it is now？ I won’t let you squeeze in the middle, but you have to squeeze in!’
‘Can’t you finish serving your grandfather in front of the emperor？ Hey, you have to take over those things, are you okay now？’
Zhu Zhanji looked gloomy and languid. He mocked himself bitterly, ‘Dad, I will never laugh at you again.’
Big Fatty raised his eyelids and smiled, ‘I am a simple and honest prince, I don’t fight for anything, I don’t rob for anything, and I am often scolded by the emperor, so I deserve to be laughed at by the world.’
‘But you have to remember that your grandfather is an emperor, a wise and mighty emperor, and one of the smartest people in the world!’
‘Do you think your grandpa won’t be able to tell if you are being clever or using tricks？’
Zhu Zhanhe turned his face away and did not refute.
He was really frightened out of his wits by that emperor grandpa this time!
Upon seeing this, Big Fatty shook his head and sighed, ‘Son, our family has conquered the world through rebellion, so your grandfather’s biggest hope now is that the family will be harmonious and there will be no tragedy of brothers fighting against each other. This is also the case for your father and me.’ hope.’
‘Put away your self-righteous little cleverness and obey your grandfather’s wishes honestly. Then nothing you do will be wrong. Do you understand？’
Zhu Zhanji turned his head, his eyes a little moist.
‘Dad, my son understands.’
At this moment, a sharp voice sounded.
‘Prince!’
When he looked back, he saw that the person coming was none other than the eunuch Little Nose.
Big Fatty stood up in a hurry and asked with a smile, ‘Father-in-law, are you here to announce the decree？’
‘Well, the emperor’s oral instructions to His Highness the Grand Sun.’
For me？
Zhu Zhanji was stunned, quickly got up from the bed, and knelt on the ground.
Seeing this, Little Nose hurriedly helped him up, ‘No need to kneel, just listen.’
‘The emperor has orally ordered his grandson Zhu Zhanji to accompany me to Lingshan Temple tomorrow. There must be no mistake!’
Going to Lingshan Temple with the Holy Master？
Big Fatty froze on the spot, his expression suddenly turned ugly.
Zhu Zhanji was a little secretly happy. After Little Nose left, he hurriedly said, ‘Dad, grandpa has lifted my ban？ He also asked me to accompany him to Lingshan Temple…’
‘Silly son, what do you know!’
The prince was rarely angry, and Zhu Zhanji shrank in fear.
‘Your grandfather will meet with Jianwen tomorrow. What do you think he will take you to do？’
Although Zhu Gaochi stayed behind closed doors, he had many eyes and ears in the court, so no news could be hidden from him.
Zhu Zhanji was stunned after hearing this and had not yet reacted.
Big Fatty sighed when he saw this, thought for a moment and ordered, ‘Come into the palace with me now to meet the Holy Spirit!’
…
Qianqing Palace, Imperial Study Room.
Zhu Di looked at Zhu Gaoxu eagerly, waiting quietly for him to speak.
Xia Yuanji was sitting on the ground beside him, but his tense expression betrayed his inner thoughts.
Zhu Gaoxu spread out the transaction records, and under the gaze of the two men, he slowly said, ‘Dad, the transaction volume of this tasting meeting is not ideal.’
not ideal？
When they heard this, their hearts suddenly became cold.
In order to support you in organizing the tasting party, I even gave you the silk tea leaves in my bank account, but now you say it’s not ideal？
Zhu Di was angry, his eyes widened, and he was about to get angry, but he heard a number that instantly turned his anger into joy.
‘The transaction volume of this tasting is only 5.32 million taels. After all, those merchants who traveled all the way to the Ming Dynasty didn’t bring much money with them…’
‘Tai-tai-tai, you mean, those silk tea leaves were sold for 5.32 million taels？’
Zhu Di quickly stopped him from speaking and asked in disbelief.
Five million three hundred and twenty thousand taels!
Not only did it exceed the expenditure of 5 million taels, but it also cost an additional 320,000 taels!
Xia Yuanji was shocked and accidentally tore off a few more beards.
This means that all the more than ten million taels of silver belong to the imperial court？
‘Your Highness, King of Han, where is the silver now？’
Xia Yuanji asked the question he was most concerned about and couldn’t wait to collect the money into the treasury.
There was a severe drought in Henan, a severe drought in Shandong, the new capital of Shuntian, the Grand Canal…the imperial court was almost too poor to take the blame, and he, the Minister of Household Affairs, had a particularly difficult life.
Zhu Gaoxu explained with a smile, ‘In the past, merchants used silk tea leaves for cash, so the total transaction volume barely exceeded nine million taels. The silver was temporarily delivered to the Lou Jiangxi Pavilion, where Zhou Chen watched.’
‘I have been working so hard for so many days, but I haven’t even reached the small goal of 10 million. This tasting is really not ideal…’
After hearing this, Zhu Di and Xia Yuanji looked at each other, feeling a little hot on their faces.
This bastard King of Han, he said this on purpose to slap them in the face!
However, the problem of cashing out the goods was solved in a few days, and it was successfully sold for a sky-high price of nearly 10 million taels. You bastard, are you still not satisfied？
Why do you have to take off all the underwear of overseas envoys to be satisfied？
Zhu Di coughed twice with a weird expression, pinched his nose and praised, ‘Second brother, you did a good job on this job.’
‘Xia Yuanji, stop sitting there and go collect the cash. You are taking advantage of the second child this time!’
There is nothing wrong with that!
Shangshu Xia nodded with a smile and praised with a smile, ‘His Royal Highness the King of Han is a business genius. On behalf of the suffering people in the disaster area, I would like to thank His Highness the King of Han for surviving.’
‘Master Xia is serious. I am just sharing your worries.’
After a few words of hypocritical politeness, Xia Yuanji immediately stood up and left, rushing to the Lou Jiangxi Pavilion in a hurry.
After he left, Zhu Di looked at Zhu Gaoxu with a smile, obviously in a good mood.
‘Second brother, you did a good job on this job. What reward do you want？’
‘Dad, my son wants to become a feudal lord in Yunnan…’
Zhu Di ‘？？？’
Your mother!
Do you like disgusting me so much？