Dragon's Origin

Chapter 281: The Royal Family Must Learn to Do Business (Part 1)

After examining the precious sword, the Emperor was absolutely enamored with it, holding it in his hands and refusing to let go.

“Is this Linglong Pavilion the work of that group of people in the Imperial Workshop who specialize in making tribute items?” However, the Emperor was, after all, the Emperor. Even though he was somewhat intoxicated by the sword, he was still able to quickly recover. After a moment's thought, he asked.

Linglong Pavilion was in the capital, especially in the Imperial Workshop. It could deceive merchants all over the world and various families, making them believe that Linglong Pavilion's shop was in the Imperial Workshop, but it could never deceive the royal family or the Emperor. Therefore, the Emperor revealed that he already knew their identity as soon as he opened his mouth.

“Yes!” Wang Sheng nodded. This was not a problem for the absolute boss of the capital. Wang Sheng didn't intend to hide anything at all. How could he possibly hide the fact that so many people lived in his mansion from the Emperor's eyes and ears?

“Then shouldn't the things they make be sent up as tribute?” The Emperor said seemingly casually, “Instead of being sent to you first.”

“Are you sick?” Wang Sheng rolled his eyes at the Emperor and unceremoniously retorted.

Steward Zhou stood by, watching his nose and minding his own business, as if he had never heard such treasonous words. He stared at a certain vegetable leaf on a plate on the table, as if staring at some supreme delicacy, almost drooling.

The Emperor also widened his eyes. It had been many years since anyone dared to say such impolite words to him. Especially sitting across from him, it was as if he was pointing at his nose. What was going on?

“I told you just now, that's someone's work after advancing to Grandmaster, and it almost didn't pass.” After Wang Sheng criticized the Emperor, he slowly began to explain, “It was me, I said that this sword could be used by the Emperor, so they later made the scabbard. Also, they had already said that sending this sword directly up might not reach your eyes, so they sold the sword to me. Didn't I explain it clearly just now? Are you sick?”

Wang Sheng had said all of this when he was telling the story earlier, but the Emperor seemed to have deliberately ignored it. Even if Wang Sheng pointed at his nose and scolded him, he would endure it. Here, he was the big businessman, not the Emperor.

The Emperor lost face. There was indeed that part just now, but he cared too much about Linglong Pavilion giving things directly to Wang Sheng instead of him, so he made this mistake. Being scolded by Wang Sheng, he had no choice but to vent his anger on others.

“Go back and check the internal treasury, are all the good things not reaching朕…” The Emperor had just said the word 朕, but Wang Sheng pointed at him, and he immediately changed his words: “Not reaching me.”

Steward Zhou nodded and kept this matter in mind. The Emperor suffered a setback here with Wang Sheng, so someone would definitely lose their head. Anyway, as long as this matter had nothing to do with him, those guys who reached out their hands were reaching too far, even reaching into the Emperor's pockets. If he didn't kill a few, how could the Emperor relieve his anger?

“Then what do you plan to do with this sword after buying it?” After instructing Steward Zhou, the Emperor turned to Wang Sheng and asked.

“Of course I'm selling it to you, could it be that I'm going to give it to you?” Wang Sheng continued unhappily: “You don't know, Meiniang just sent two million gold coins to them in real money this morning.”

“Two million gold coins to sell to me? Why don't you just rob me?” The Emperor almost jumped up and got angry with Wang Sheng. Wang Sheng would definitely not think of the Emperor in everything like his courtiers, but it couldn't be so outrageous, right? A sword for two million gold coins, what a joke?

“You want to buy it for two million gold coins? Why don't you just rob me?” The Emperor was anxious, but Wang Sheng was even more anxious, almost slamming the table at the Emperor: “I worked so hard to guide the Grandmaster to advance to Grandmaster, worked so hard to build good relationships with those Grandmasters, and worked so hard to plan Qian Sheng Yuan's business, could it be that it's just to buy in for two million and then sell it at the same price for two million, without earning anything at all? Is that how you do business?”

The Emperor's hands trembled with anger. This Emperor's sword, which only the Emperor could use, Wang Sheng dared to sell?

Logically speaking, a minister should die for the Emperor's humiliation, but at this moment, Steward Zhou became more and more at ease, even reaching out his chopsticks to pick up a mouthful of vegetables, slowly savoring them, without any intention of teaching Wang Sheng a lesson.

“Please, you are a businessman now, use a business attitude to talk.” Wang Sheng simply didn't give the Emperor any face at all. Seeing that he was about to explode, Wang Sheng blocked his anger with one sentence: “Also, even if it is the Emperor, public and private matters must be separated. Do you still want to win the hearts of the people?”

As soon as he mentioned winning the hearts of the people, the Emperor's anger disappeared in an instant. However, the Emperor still felt awkward in his heart, earning money even on his own head, and still daring to say winning the hearts of the people?

“Logically speaking, all the land in the world should be the Emperor's land. All the people in the world should be the Emperor's subjects. Under the whole heaven, there is no land that is not the king's; on the shores of the whole land, there is no subject who is not the king's!” Wang Sheng first said the pleasant words.

Sure enough, as soon as these words came out, the Emperor was immediately overjoyed, holding the sword in one hand and reluctant to let go, stroking his beard with the other, muttering in his mouth: “Under the whole heaven, there is no land that is not the king's; on the shores of the whole land, there is no subject who is not the king's. Good! Very good!”

“Sounds good, right? Theoretically, it is like this, but if you really take it seriously, the royal family will be close to the day of its demise.” Wang Sheng continued to start his mouth cannon mode, fooling the Emperor: “If you don't believe me, think about those previous dynasties in this dynasty, how were they destroyed one by one?”

As long as it is this kind of feudal dynasty, the reasons for its demise are basically all the same. The court levies exorbitant taxes, the people live in dire straits, there are internal and external troubles, and finally there is a powerful new dynasty to replace it, and then continue this cycle.

However, the situation in this dynasty is slightly different. The cause, in addition to what was said before, is that the old royal family and various families felt the powerful pressure from the Lin family. After jointly destroying the Lin family, they did not want a powerful royal family to emerge and put pressure on them, so the royal family in this dynasty was constrained to become what it is now.

The Emperor couldn't possibly not know these old things. Thinking about the past events of the previous dynasty, and then thinking about the few very pleasant words Wang Sheng said, he suddenly broke out in a cold sweat.

“Should all the good things in the world be given to the royal family for free as tribute?” Wang Sheng kept harping on this matter: “Today it is a precious sword worth several million gold coins, tomorrow it may be something else worth tens of millions, when everyone in the world feels that they may have nothing, not the whole world, just the people in the whole capital feel that way. At that time, do you think, can this Emperor still sit securely?”