Previously, Yun Ye had thought the so-called loneliness of masters was pure nonsense. Now he had personally experienced it. When everyone else’s concept of money had gone astray, he was undoubtedly that lonely master—except it was damn lonely.
The Sword Contest at Mount Hua at least had five or six masters worthy of battle. All he faced were merchants who only knew to seek profit from capital. In the field of buying and selling air, he alone was rolling around raising hell, playing however he wanted.
Building a palace for the imperial family! And it was the main议政 building no less. How was there no one in this world who recognized this as an opportunity to make big money? Even building it for free would be an enormous benefit.
If the Zhang Family’s bricks were used, wouldn’t the Li Family, who also made bricks, go mad? Before long, Zhang Family bricks would sell throughout all of Chang’an, while Li Family bricks would have no buyers.
By the same logic, for sand, stone, and lumber—whichever family’s materials were used would enjoy supreme glory. If they were permitted to stamp their family name on the bricks and stones, the merchants of Chang’an—this pitiful group—would certainly have eyes red enough to be frightening.
As for the cost of building a palace for the imperial family, aside from manpower being indispensable, did such a thing even exist?
The imperial family treated this matter as a burden and entrusted it entirely to Yun Ye. Building one structure required one hundred fifty thousand strings of cash? Zhangsun’s thirty thousand strings would be enough to build it, and it would still be a magnificently grand building.
Zhangsun’s damned intuition was always so keen. Even when Yun Ye put on a sorrowful act, she saw through it. A pregnant woman not resting properly—what business was she meddling in? Just hand the palace construction over to the Yun Family and wait to move your belongings in. You’re spending thirty thousand strings to live in a luxury mansion—what’s there to be dissatisfied about? Afraid I’ll earn all the money? What kind of logic was this?
She always used a basin of water to analogize the economy, saying if he scooped out a big ladle, the court would have one ladle less. Those wealthy magnates of later generations used water pumps to extract wealth, yet no one saw all the wealth get pumped dry.
Zhangsun looked at Yun Ye expectantly. She hoped Yun Ye would understand her earnest efforts and not put the court in an awkward position. The court was currently in a situation where everything needed revival, with money needed everywhere to support construction.
Newly conquered territories needed to be consolidated with cities built and roads constructed. Water conservancy projects throughout Guanzhong needed to be repaired. Soldiers returning from expeditions needed rewards and comfort. After years of war and chaos, ruined cities also needed reconstruction. But the court’s annual income of two million strings of cash truly wasn’t enough. Through repeated frugality, she had saved thirty thousand strings, and more than half of this thirty thousand had been squeezed from Yun Ye himself.
“Your Majesty, the money earned from building the palace, this subject will hand over to you. As for the money earned from establishing Xinghua Ward, this subject needs to distribute dividends to the elders who care for this subject. As for money to build the academy, this subject will think of other methods. Also, Your Majesty, the more money this subject earns, the more the court benefits. It’s not as you think—that when this subject earns more, the court’s money decreases.”
“Will it really be like this? Can you tell this Empress exactly how you plan to earn money and how much you’ll earn?” Zhangsun looked full of gossip.
“At minimum, the thirty thousand strings Your Majesty provided will return to your hands intact.”
“Then what will you use to build the structures? Do you know magic?”
“Your Majesty, this subject has nothing to hide from you. This subject has no interest in court politics and no desire to compete for power and profit with them. This subject would rather properly teach a few disciples at the academy. You haven’t yet seen the academy’s importance. In less than ten years, you’ll discover that for our Great Tang to remain unchanging for ten thousand generations, the academy will be a very important place.”
“Self-aggrandizing boasting. A teenage child isn’t afraid his big talk will twist his tongue. If you’re capable, demonstrate your money-grabbing skills before this Empress and make her genuinely convinced.” After speaking, she even had someone bring copper coins and told Yun Ye to earn money in front of her so she could see.
Was there any reason left? Could money be earned this way? Yun Ye was out of options. This woman with obsessive tendencies wouldn’t let him off unless she witnessed it herself. So be it—he’d present a little math problem to let them see, then make his escape. Li Chengqian had somehow slipped in and was hiding behind a pillar eavesdropping. Seeing there was a good show to watch, he emerged from behind the pillar. The Li Family all had this habit of eavesdropping on others’ conversations.
After counting the coins, Yun Ye picked up thirty, gave ten to Zhangsun, ten to Li Chengqian, and gave ten to Zhangsun’s personal maidservant. He called over a eunuch—this way the number of people was complete.
“Your Majesty, now you three people with money in hand are preparing to stay at an inn. The lodging fee is ten coins per person. Please give your money to this inner servant—he is the innkeeper.” The three of them—Zhangsun and the others—smilingly gave their money to the eunuch, waiting to see the show.
Yun Ye then said to the eunuch, “You’re the innkeeper. Today the inn has a happy occasion, so you decide to charge the three guests only twenty-five coins total. I’m the inn’s assistant. You have me return five coins to the three guests. Give me five coins and you can leave. Consider those twenty-five coins a reward from Her Majesty.”
The eunuch obediently took the twenty-five coins and left.
Before everyone’s eyes, Yun Ye pocketed two coins and gave the remaining three coins back—one to each of the three people.
“This is your money-earning skill? You’re killing this Empress with laughter. Embezzling two coins, and right before everyone’s eyes—what kind of skill is that?” Zhangsun thought Yun Ye was toying with them.
“I’ve been discovered, so this lowly one can only return the embezzled two coins to you. Only, Your Majesty, please calculate your accounts and see if they’re correct.” Yun Ye said smilingly to Zhangsun.
“What’s so difficult about this? We each gave the innkeeper ten coins. The innkeeper returned one coin, plus the two coins you embezzled makes the total. What’s wrong with that?” As soon as Zhangsun’s words left her mouth, her expression changed.
Li Chengqian was also puzzled. After thinking for a while, he said to Yun Ye, “Yezi, we gave the innkeeper ten coins and got back one coin, which means we each spent only nine coins. Adding the two coins you took away, that’s only twenty-nine coins. Where did the other coin go?”
Yun Ye didn’t answer. He just bowed to Zhangsun, then left with his hands behind his back. You’re allowed to torment me but I’m not allowed to torment you? Think about it slowly. Anyway, Zhangsun had already agreed to allow the river channels to be dug. The greatest objective had been achieved—now he should go find those wealthy magnates in Chang’an City.
When entering the palace he carried several large boxes of blueprints; when leaving the palace his hands were behind his back. Very fulfilling. Let Zhangsun and them search for that non-existent one coin. Before long, Li Er would probably also know. Better for their family to study mathematics than study human lives. Whenever they studied human lives, Yun Ye was afraid—regardless of whose life it was, Yun Ye didn’t want it to just be studied away like that.
The Yun Family mansion in Chang’an was very lively, practically shoulder-to-shoulder crowded. All of Chang’an knew that the Yun Family fool had been swindled by the Empress and needed to pay money to save his life. Building a palace! Something that hadn’t happened since the Great Tang’s founding. The sage Emperor didn’t want to make the common people pay, so he devised ways to make landlords and wealthy merchants pay. Not long ago, the Yun Family had made quite a bit of money building houses.
A dilapidated house in a mountain valley actually sold for an astronomical price—was there any justice left? How were people like them who had already built good houses supposed to live? This time the Yun Family should be bankrupted. They at least needed to buy back all those good shop fronts and good things from the Yun Family before this wastrel fool went begging.
Money was nothing—they had plenty of money. As long as they could buy back the Yun Family’s perfume formula, it would be worth thousands upon thousands. Anyway, that fool currently needed a lot of ready cash—several hundred thousand strings! They weren’t afraid he wouldn’t come begging to them. Then they’d lower the price—but not kill him completely. The Yun Family still had elderly, weak, women, and children to feed. When the time came to give them a bowl of rice, who wouldn’t praise that as righteous?
The Yun Family gatekeepers were nearly in tears. These people had no good intentions. One by one they entered the household and wandered east and west, saying they were looking carefully so they could make a good offer later. Looking at one’s own house—what rules and regulations were there? In the past, anyone who dared do this would be beaten to death by Yun Family guards, dying without anywhere to seek justice. But this time they were Yun Ye’s guests, so the guards forcibly restrained their tempers and didn’t strike.
Seeing Yun Ye return, this crowd surged forward with a roar.
“Marquis Yun, did you summon us merchants this time to liquidate your family assets? This humble one quite fancies your family’s old mansion. How about five hundred strings? This humble one has already brought the money.”
“Marquis Yun, don’t pay attention to those petty people. They’re all planning to kick you when you’re down. Knowing you lack money, as long as you speak up, ten thousand strings of silver are prepared at home. As long as you bring out the perfume formula for our two families to study together, you won’t need to repay this money.”
With great difficulty escaping from the siege and blockade of these despicable people, Yun Ye sat in his reception hall drinking tea and catching his breath. Seeing the somewhat panicked servants in his household, Yun Ye said, “What’s there to panic about? The sky won’t fall. Do whatever you should be doing. The Yun Family won’t collapse. First let those who specifically sell bricks and stones come in.”
The Yun Family servants all regarded Yun Ye as their anchor. Seeing their master so calm and unconcerned, they naturally felt at ease. They really didn’t want to leave the Yun Family. Having such a master household was something they had accumulated virtue in their previous life to obtain.
In Chang’an City, there were only three main businesses dealing in bricks and stones. For Yun Ye to build a palace, he couldn’t avoid these three families no matter what. The Yun Family’s own brick and stone production wasn’t sufficient to supply this project’s needs.
These three families were all very calm. The brick and stone prices they presented had risen by twenty percent over previous prices. It seemed they were determined to carve out a piece of flesh from the Yun Family, and they had formed an offensive-defensive alliance—one could tell from the identical terms that the three families were colluding.
“The Yun Family originally didn’t want to take things to extremes. Who knew you would actually want to take advantage of the Yun Family? A matter that should have been good for you, good for me, good for everyone has been completely ruined by you people. It seems only the Yun Family itself can be the imperial brick and stone supplier.”
“Marquis Yun, in business we speak of business. Since we’ve already thrown away our dignity to become merchants, we naturally seek profit from capital. Though Marquis Yun’s status is noble, currently you’re like a dragon stranded in shallow water. You need bricks and stones, and we few families haven’t taken things to extremes—we’re just following the highest price. What is Marquis Yun still dissatisfied about?”
It was rare to see merchants dare speak so righteously before a national marquis. Looking at the brocade on their bodies, the leather boots on their feet, the pearl-encrusted hats, Yun Ye smiled faintly and said to them, “Who permitted you to speak this way to a national marquis?”