Tianliangyuan

Chapter 375 A few times over with ease

Xu Zhaozhao had been waiting for this opportunity.

Only when the imperial court's appraisal office is officially put into use will the business opportunities for Yunqi Town truly arrive.

More than 80% of the jade mines in Daxing are controlled by a few aristocratic families.

Emperor Yong'an had considered doing something about it, but he couldn't find an opportunity. Moreover, since these were private or ancestral properties, the court couldn't forcibly nationalize them, otherwise it would be criticized.

But now that there's this concept of grading, that's interesting.

The imperial court can then intervene in this area.

To put it bluntly, if handled properly, the imperial court could impose price controls on jade.

For example, after the imperial court classifies jade into grades, it can explicitly stipulate the price range for jade of the corresponding grade, or its maximum value.

As a result, the wealth that those aristocratic families used to make from this jade mine will naturally decrease.

It doesn't mean they can ask for exorbitant prices.

In the past, if a piece of jade was unearthed, the owner would naturally raise the price to the highest possible level so that he could maximize his profits.

But with this grading system, things are different.

Although these jade mines are still controlled by those aristocratic families, their profits will decline significantly, while the imperial court can gain an additional source of revenue through this measure.

Therefore, although it may seem that the imperial court did not interfere with their private property, in reality, it began to intervene in the entire jade and jewelry industry.

In the past, the imperial court had almost no say in these luxuries, but now things are different.

Once this law was enacted, the imperial court became the true decision-maker in this industry.

This is right!

We can't let those people ask for exorbitant prices.

Xu Zhaozhao knew that the reason why Xie Zheng and Xu Han were so insistent on bringing back jade and jewelry from outside the Great Wall was because the jewelry in Daxing was too expensive.

And what they gained on the battlefield could be openly pocketed.

Even without spoils of war, they could trade with the Hu people outside the pass, which was much cheaper than buying from gold and silver shops inside the pass.

To put it bluntly, with the same amount of money, Xie Zheng could bring back a whole box of gems from beyond the Great Wall, but in the gold and silver shops of the capital, he might only be able to buy a small box of gems, or one or two pieces of finely crafted jewelry.

The price difference is just too obvious!

This move by the imperial court will clearly break the monopoly of a few aristocratic families on jade and jewelry.

More importantly, for some jade merchants, it's no longer easy to underreport these taxes...

For the imperial court, it is entirely beneficial and without any harm!

For Emperor Yong'an, this was another great achievement. Once it was accomplished, he would feel a great sense of accomplishment, and it would surely be recorded in history!

The proposal submitted by Xu Zhaozhao only outlined the feasibility and some potential problems. She wrote down the general direction for the problems that could be solved, but she didn't care about the specifics of how to implement them.

In other words, Xu Zhaozhao did not provide detailed implementation rules.

It's just a rough outline, and some parts are even vague.

The more this is the case, the more people will believe that this was just something Xu Zhaozhao did on a whim.

If all the details are written out clearly, wouldn't that be tantamount to telling His Majesty how extraordinary Xu Zhaozhao is?

This matter had troubled the late emperor and the Yong'an emperor for many years, and they had no solution.

It's been resolved so easily by a woman; isn't this going against the natural order?

Therefore, Xu Zhaozhao cannot be written too clearly.

In this way, even if His Majesty remembers this matter in the future, he will not pay too much attention to her, the one who made the initial suggestion. The greater credit will be given to Minister Gu, Fu Pei, and others.

Not bad, I can now become perfectly invisible.

Xu Zhaozhao has sent someone to test the waters, and so far, no one knows that she was the one who proposed this plan.

So, after a while, will His Majesty still look at that proposal?

Xu Zhaozhao smiled slyly; she was always cautious and thorough in keeping a backup plan for herself.

If His Majesty finds his signature gone from it after a few years, I wonder if he'll be angry.

Let me be angry, since I can't take the blame anyway.

Even before submitting this proposal, Xu Zhaozhao had already approached the Lantian County government and acquired more than 200 acres of wasteland.

It is right next to the Yunqi Town, which has already been built to a considerable scale.

This is the perfect place to build an appraisal office and set up a jade processing workshop for my family. Hmm, not bad. If anyone else wants it, I can just resell it. It's just a piece of empty land; I can make several times the profit just by reselling it.

Sure enough, when word got out that the court had this idea, people from both the Zhao and Qu families came to visit.

It's just a piece of land in Lantian County, not worth the trouble of the two parties in charge getting involved.

Those who handle affairs are all subordinate managers.

Xu Chuan naturally represented Xu Zhaozhao.

He is Xu Zhaozhao's cousin, which is enough in terms of status.

Following Xu Zhaozhao's instructions and with Xu Chuan's silver tongue, the forty acres of wasteland were left untouched. They were sold for four times the original price in less than a month.

Making money is that easy!

Xu Chuan himself was also confused.

What is this thing called?

If he hadn't followed Xu Zhaozhao, how would he have known that business could be done this way?

Xu Chuan wasn't stupid either. Back when he was developing this town, he brought all his family's belongings and bought a small shop here. Now he's starting to prepare to open a tea shop.

Of course, Xu Chuan himself wouldn't run the place; he simply handed it over to his brother-in-law, who was honest and trustworthy.

Besides, with him here, and the county magistrate's spies everywhere, I believe no one would dare to cause trouble here.

Xu Zhaozhao flipped through the ledger, then looked at the dozen or so large boxes in front of her and nodded slightly.

"Thank you for your hard work, brother."

"I don't deserve it, it's all I should do. As you instructed, I allocated twenty mu of land each to the Zhao and Qu families, at a price that quadrupled. They've already started measuring the land and are preparing to build houses."

Xu Zhaozhao nodded: "They're all old foxes, why are they playing tricks on me? They think I don't know such big news. Hehe, I'm afraid if you sell it to them at a high price, they'll still be there happily praising you as a good person."

Xu Chuan's expression stiffened slightly, then he nodded: "That's really true."

Xu Chuan didn't know anything about jade appraisal, but he sensed something was wrong. Seeing Xu Zhaozhao's reaction, he knew that everything was under her control.

"Did the county princess anticipate this?"

Xu Zhaozhao smiled and said, "I'm afraid this year will be a bit tough for you, brother. Now that the jade mine has started mining, we'll also be setting up a jade workshop. You can train a few more young people, and most importantly, their character must be reliable."