hsntnovel Chapter 1664 I am such a loser
Chapter 1664 I am such a loser
"What? I spent three hundred thousand strings of cash?"
When Li Shen heard this number, he was so shocked that he couldn't even describe it. It was completely unbelievable.
How is it possible? I spent 300,000 strings of cash a year, which is equivalent to 300 million copper coins.
I actually spent a year to achieve three small goals.
"Impossible, I didn't buy anything."
Li Shen shook his head in denial.
I'm not a spendthrift, how could I spend so much money?
Not to mention Li Shen who didn't believe it, even Wang Hongfu and Wang Xuance, who had already defined Li Shen as a prodigal son, found it unbelievable.
The expenses of Prince Ji’s mansion can actually be listed separately for Prince Ji, which shows how much Prince Ji spent this year.
Three hundred thousand strings of cash. The annual tax revenue of a superior state.
The expenses of Prince Ji alone could actually support 100,000 people, and they still had to pay for it for a year.
This is such a waste.
Wu Mei Niang then explained:
"Your Majesty, the ice and snow city you built before the Lantern Festival cost more than 60,000 strings of cash.
Although Bingxue did not cost any money, it did mobilize a lot of manpower and material resources.
These 60,000 strings of cash can only allow the prince to play for about a month, and then he can no longer play because the ice and snow will melt as the weather gets warmer.
There are also so many Western carpets and some special products in the Jiwang Mansion's storehouse, all of which are very valuable."
"That shouldn't be the case. Things from the Western Regions are not worth much." Li Shen argued weakly.
"My dear, this is just one of them. There are also various rare treasures, famous paintings and calligraphy, and precious medicinal materials.
My dear, you buy everything you see this year and the warehouse is almost full.
We can’t use up all the gold and silver accessories.
My dear, please don't spend money like this this year."
Lu Dingniang also joined in the condemnation of Li Shen, saying that her husband never cared about money when buying things.
As long as the product is good, it doesn't matter if it's a little more expensive.
In the words of Li Shen, don't buy the best, only buy the most expensive.
There are more than 100,000 carpets from the Western Regions in the mansion alone.
The last time he celebrated his coming of age, tens of thousands of carpets were laid from Prince Ji’s mansion to the Imperial Palace. Li Shen generously gave them away as rewards to the people who came to watch the fun.
The carpets used by children to play in the palace were never washed; they were all disposable.
And there were gold and silver jewellery, some of which they had purchased and some of which they had made themselves, which they simply could not use up all.
“Ahem…um…um, I will pay attention to that in the future.
But isn't the purpose of earning money to spend? This money is just a pile of copper if it stays in the warehouse.
It is money only when it is spent.
My lady, money itself cannot bring us happiness. Only spending money can make us happy.
If you make money but don't spend it, doesn't that go against the original meaning of copper coins?"
Li Shen began to talk about some of his twisted ideas with some embarrassment.
This made Lu Dingniang and Wu Meiniang feel helpless, but they had nothing to say.
"Old Prince, this means that I will have to borrow money this year, and at least two million strings of cash?"
Li Shen began to change the subject.
"Your Majesty, I mean if it's the same as last year, I'm afraid I'll have to borrow more than three million strings of cash this year."
Wang Hongfu didn't dare to say that the money that Li Shen had cheated should be included in the budget in advance.
Because he didn't know whether Li Shen could still cheat money this year.
"Three million strings of cash." Li Shen himself felt a little worried. Even his sister, Princess Linchuan, couldn't come up with three million strings of cash now.
There are only two places in Chang'an City that can take out three million strings of cash. One is the national treasury controlled by Tang Jian, and the other is his father's small treasury... the internal treasury.
But these two places are not easy to cheat.
If he cheated the treasury, he would be beaten, but if he cheated the national treasury, the ministers would eat him up.
"What a headache!!" Li Shen suddenly had a headache.
"Your Highness, I mean that the wages of the workers should be cut in half this year. We can't go on like this."
Seeing that Li Shen was so worried, Wang Hongfu gave his own suggestions.
"Yes, Your Majesty, I think what Manager Wang said is right. For the common people of the Tang Dynasty, being able to earn six strings of cash a year is already a very high salary.
A clerk in Chang'an City only makes between 100 and 200 coins a month, and a shopkeeper only makes 400 to 500 coins. "
Wang Xuance was also trying to persuade him.
But Li Shen still shook his head:
“Last year, I said that the people who built the road could not change their minds. Now that we have already agreed, we cannot go back on our word.
If I go back on my word and break my promise, do you know what these 400,000 people will do?"
"Your Highness, are you afraid that these people will cause trouble?" Wang Hongfu asked immediately.
“Yes, you should know the story of gratitude for a little bit of rice and resentment for a big bit of rice. They will definitely think that I took their money.
By then, not only will they not be grateful to me, but they will also hate me to the core.
Being provoked to cause trouble when there are more than 400,000 people is no small matter."
This is one of the reasons why Li Shen is unwilling to reduce his salary.
Li Shen has seen too many cases of gratitude and resentment.
The two men were silent. What Prince Ji said made sense. They still remembered what happened in Henan Province.
“Alright, I will find a way to deal with the money issue, building the road is the main point.
The progress and quality of the road construction must be guaranteed. I do not want the road to fail to meet my requirements."
Li Shen sighed inwardly, it seemed that he would have to go back to his old job.
I am a good person but I was forced to be so.
"Your Majesty, we actually have another place where we have money."
Suddenly Wang Hongfu's eyes lit up and he said.
"Where?" Li Shen asked.
"Your Majesty, we still have a bank. There are tens of millions of deposits in the bank now.
When we are short of money, we can take some out, and then we won’t have to go in during the day.”
Wang Hongfu thought of the money shop.
"Bullshit, that is the people's money, how can we move it at will? What if it is redeemed?
What if the news leaks out? Do you know how much impact it will have on the reputation of the bank and Prince Ji’s Mansion?
I have already told you that the money house is very important to the future of our Ji Palace and no mistakes can be made.
Put away your foolish thoughts from now on. If anything happens to the bank, I will dig up your ancestors' graves."
Wang Hongfu originally thought that he had come up with a good plan, but he did not expect to be scolded by King Ji.
"Yes, yes, I know I was wrong. I will never have such thoughts again."
Although Li Shen was not a banker or economist, he knew that it was wrong to embezzle money from the bank without permission.
If it is possible, why would banks in later generations identify illegal behavior?
However, Li Shen was reminded by Wang Hongfu that although he could not embezzle the money, he could borrow it and just pay some interest when the time comes.
Even interest-free loans are possible. Thinking of this, Li Shen said:
"But... although I cannot embezzle the money in the bank, I can borrow it.
When the time comes, we can use the Jiwang Mansion's industrial zone loan to solve the urgent problem."
(Swinging a sword to slay demons, this kind of paper has been processed beforehand. First, use a pen to dip lye water on the paper and draw the shape of a bleeding demon. After drying, the demon disappears and there is no trace on the paper.
The water sprayed by the caster was turmeric water prepared in advance. The turmeric water reacted with the alkaline water to produce red, which revealed the bloody corpse.)