Chapter 2: First suggestion, Emperor Qing exclaimed, "What a guy!"

Everyone in the hall was dumbfounded.

What Li Chengde said was really shocking!

Doing business with Xihu?

To put it another way, this means giving money to the Hu people!
how?

Do you think that the current strength of Xihu is too weak and want to make Xihu stronger so that it can go against Qing Kingdom?

To put it mildly, these remarks are just the result of youthful ignorance!
But to put it in a bigger context, it's treason!
"Li Chengde, what do you want to do?!"

There was an imperceptible light flashing in Emperor Qing's eyes.

"Doing business with the Hu people? You're so smart!"

It is simply insane that a prince would make such an outrageous suggestion during a court meeting!
But no one in the court dared to criticize.

After all, Li Chengde was a prince. No matter how absurd his words were, only the Emperor could scold him to his face. The officials who saw this could only scold him in secret.

However, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, who is also a prince and even has a higher status, does not have such taboos.

Li Chengqian immediately stood up and made an explanation.

"Your Majesty, Chengde is still young and knows nothing about the affairs of the court. What I just said was all unintentional. Please forgive me, Your Majesty!"

Emperor Qing seemed to have calmed down. "Li Chengde is young and ignorant, and you have made irresponsible comments on state affairs. I will punish you by confining you to your home for a month. From now on, you will be handed over to the Crown Prince for discipline."

Li Chengqian immediately said, "Please rest assured, Your Majesty, I will do my best to teach Chengde!"

At this time, Li Chengde spoke again, "Your Majesty, I haven't finished what I want to say."

Emperor Qing seemed a little impatient, "What do you want to do now? Is it not enough to do business with the Hu people? Do you want me to give all the money in the inner treasury to those Hu people?"

Li Chengde said seriously, "It's not impossible."

"..."

Emperor Qing seemed completely speechless. He waved his hand, looking helpless, "Go down."

Li Chengde didn't listen at all, but stood stubbornly in the hall, "Your Majesty, you haven't asked me what business I want to do with the Hu people."

Emperor Qing seemed to be amused by his words and asked, "So what kind of business do you want to do with the Hu people?"

Li Chengde calmly uttered two words, "Wool."

As soon as the words fell, the hall fell into silence.

In fact, it is unlikely that the Kingdom of Qing had no business dealings at all with the Hu people.

It was just that the scale was too small, so the imperial merchants did not intervene.

But even though the Fourth Prince did not say it explicitly, his status and his proposal to trade with the Hu people on such an occasion was not cooperation in the ordinary sense.

This is also the reason why Emperor Qing was angry.

If the Hu people fill the treasury of Qing State through business dealings with Qing State, Qing State will be invaded more often!

The Qing Kingdom would never do anything that would bring disaster upon itself by raising a tiger.

However, the business that the Fourth Prince proposed despite the pressure from the Emperor turned out to be just wool!

The people of Qing are no strangers to wool.

Especially the many officials present, they were wearing warm clothes made of wool.

Wool comes from sheep.

There are people raising sheep in Qing State, and most of the wool is produced and sold by themselves.

Of course, there was also wool collected from Northern Qi and Western Hu.

But what benefits would it bring to the Qing Kingdom if the scale of wool trade with the Hu people was expanded?
Both parties can make money, that's for sure.

But no one in the Qing court could be happy when seeing the Hu people making money.

The Hu people dare to invade the border repeatedly even though they have little money. What will happen if we allow them to become rich?
and many more!

That's normal business dealings.

But what if Qing Kingdom only does wool business?

"Your Majesty, the Fourth Prince's plan... is brilliant!"

The eyes of Fan Jian, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, lit up.

"If Daqing buys wool at a high price, there is no doubt that the Hu tribe will be very happy!" "After all, the reason why the Hu people went east to plunder was to steal supplies!"

"But our Daqing border troops are too strong. They basically can't get any benefits, and they will also lose their lives for nothing."

"But now there is such an opportunity to easily gain wealth without sacrificing one's life."

"You can imagine what those barbarians will choose!"

This is a natural thing.

Since wool can be exchanged for wealth, most people will choose to raise sheep rather than live on the edge of a knife.

As for the Khan on the grassland who is determined to invade the Qing Kingdom, what should we do?
It's very simple. If he really did that, the tribal leaders would probably be the first to disagree!

In this way, it is impossible for the grassland to remain in chaos!
The chaotic grassland is more beneficial to Qing Kingdom!

But still the question,
The State of Qing brought a large amount of wealth to the grassland through wool. Wasn't it afraid that the other side would become bigger and stronger?
"Your Majesty, I am the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, and I have some knowledge about livestock such as sheep."

"Sheep are different from other livestock. They eat grass roots as well!"

"What does this mean? Once the Hu people start raising sheep on a large scale, their pastures will soon be unable to support them, and they will be completely unable to support their war horses!"

"By that time, Xihu will collapse on its own!"

The more Fan Jian spoke, the brighter his eyes became.

Although he is only the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue now, in fact, the power of the Ministry of Revenue is in his hands.

When it comes to making money, Fan Jian is very proficient.

So he could see at a glance how cruel the Fourth Prince's plan was!

The high price of purchasing wool will inevitably cause the Hu tribes to raise goats on a large scale, which will lead to the depletion of pastures.

At this point, the tribes on the grassland had already formed path dependence on the Qing Kingdom.

As long as His Majesty the Emperor issues an order to stop purchasing wool, the grassland will immediately turn into a living hell!

There were mountains of wool but nowhere to sell them. Even if they found Northern Qi, it would be impossible for them to help the Hu people buy all the wool.

The flocks of sheep, which had already become a disaster, had completely eaten up the pasture.

The Hu people have no choice but to wait for death!
Heading east to plunder?

War horses have long been replaced by goats!

By then, the Hu people will no longer have any barriers, and the Kingdom of Qing will be able to easily capture the Golden Horde in one fell swoop!
"hiss!"

All the civil and military officials in the court took a deep breath.

They shuddered and were shocked to the extreme.

Even though this strategy has not yet been implemented, as long as everyone is not a fool, after Minister Fan’s explanation, everyone can understand how powerful it is!

It was hard for them to imagine that Xihu could be wiped out with just one strategy. Such a cruel strategy was actually spoken by a teenager who had not yet participated in politics!
This is really terrible!

The hall suddenly fell into an eerie silence.

It seemed as if all the ministers could hear their own heartbeats.

The looks they gave Li Chengde were very complicated, and even contained a hint of awe.

From this moment on, no one would dare to treat the Fourth Prince as a childish boy!

"Good good!"

Emperor Qing stood up excitedly.

"If this plan is implemented, the Hu people will surely die!"

"Li Chengde, you have made a great contribution this time. Just ask for any reward you want. I will satisfy you!"

Li Chengde shook his head, "Your Majesty, what Minister Fan said is indeed my idea."

"But there is a fatal problem here. According to the current situation, it is not very likely that the tribes on the grassland will sit down and trade wool with the Qing Kingdom!"

Hearing this, Emperor Qing looked at him with a smile, "Don't keep me in suspense, just tell me what you think!"

Li Chengde smiled softly, "It's very simple, just let them know it hurts."

"Oh? You mean..."

(End of this chapter)