Chapter 676: Guilt by Association

The Ministry of Commerce's business hasn't yet reached as far as Wusun, right?

Having received an affirmative reply, the King began arranging a caravan to go to Wusun.

This time he has to send someone to deliver the five thousand knives, and also prepare a letter ordering Tang Qian to lead the cavalry over; he won't be sending people from Youzhou anymore, it's expensive.

Thus the caravan's safety is also guaranteed, allowing him to go all out. This fellow both wants to make a fortune in Wusun and, by the way, intimidate the Western Regions.

The Western Regions' jade mines, carpets, and spices, when transported back, are all profitable ventures. Even if Great Jin's economy is temporarily sluggish, he still has a fallback estate. As for his caravan, on the first trip he just needs to bring some snow-white sea salt and some inexpensive trinkets from Myriad Phenomena City. Since he obtained the salt fields of Liaodong Commandery, Great Jin's salt prices have been driven down by him; this business is sure to be a sure profit no matter how you look at it.

The King rubbed his palms together, "If civilians have caravans wanting to go, they can also come along; I'll have the cavalry look after them, taking them ahead of time on a trip along the Silk Road."

The steward, hearing him mention the Silk Road, asked whether they should bring some textiles; the King immediately waved his hand: "Don't sell useful things first!" How many people in Great Jin still lack clothing? What an outrage!

After the steward left, the King remained immersed in the excitement of impending wealth. The cold wave—he had just thrown away a sum of silver, urgently needing to recoup; he was happily enjoying himself when he heard a buzzing sound he hadn't heard in a long time.

The King hurried into the inner hall, opened the light panel, and saw a new task pop up on the homepage.

【Congratulations, my lord, for actively unlocking trade activities with neighboring countries~now releasing a new side quest.】

Side Quest Three: Earn 500,000 taels of silver from multilateral trade activities with neighboring countries (excluding military equipment; the 500,000 taels of silver refers to net profit, which the cost pricing system will evaluate automatically);

Quest Reward: A continuous one-kilometer comprehensive commercial pedestrian street ×1;

Quest Penalty: 500,000 taels of silver;

Quest Time Limit: 365 days.】

A one-kilometer comprehensive commercial pedestrian street? Seeing this, the King couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth. One kilometer—isn't that the same length as Vermilion Bird Avenue? "I've struck it rich! I've struck it rich again hahaha~ Indeed, a person can't always be unlucky; bad times will pass. The cold wave has come, and the commercial street is beckoning, and I can also recruit the common folk to come earn wages~hahaha~"

The King stood with arms akimbo, laughing wildly; after laughing enough, he hurried back to continue reading, and after figuring out how many zeros the penalty had, the corner of his mouth leveled.

"The Vermilion Bird Avenue back then... well, it was also the same amount for earnings and penalty. But back then it was ten thousand taels, and I made enough just from the second brother alone; now it's five hundred thousand and I'm still demanding it from the neighboring countries...' Only a year has passed, the road is so far—isn't the time a bit short?"

Bai Ze drawled, "Back then, ten thousand taels was a huge sum for you and Youzhou as well." Times change.

The King thought about it and grew indignant: "It's different now from before! How come everything I handle is hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, yet my pockets are still empty?"

Bai Ze remained silent; the King began to circle around it, his mind clear as a mirror, yet he insisted that it speak. He went round and round, an endless entanglement.

Finally Bai Ze could bear it no longer and sincerely advised: "You're not always good at finding causes in others, are you? The money wasn't even spent by you, so this obviously isn't your fault."

The King stopped, stroked his chin in thought for a moment, and said, "So, cursing my father would resolve it."

Bai Ze: ……

"My father's dead and gone, but... there are still his two cheap sons in the palace. Zhao Bao—" the filial son quickly came up with an idea.

Zhao Bao, hearing the little eunuch shout that it was a ten-thousand-urgent matter, hurriedly set aside his tasks and rushed over; the result was the King saying, "Cut the daily allowances of the fourth and seventh brothers in half."

Bai Ze: ……

Zhao Bao: ……

"... What did the two highnesses do... or is there some other reason? I should also remind the two highnesses to pay attention in the future."

"No. Just thinking of the former emperor, it's purely a matter of association."

Zhao Bao: ……