I am Li Shen and Li Shimin, the free kings of the Tang Dynasty

Wang Xuance was originally an upright and serious man who was both civil and military.

After being with Li Shen for more than ten years, he has become so smooth.

Even Wang Hongfu who was standing by felt a little surprised, because these should have been his words.

Wang Xuance looked guilty and glanced at Wang Hongfu with a slightly red face.

However, as if he had seen through Wang Hongfu's thoughts, he couldn't help but wonder in his heart, this thing belongs to whoever uses it.

Having followed Prince Ji for so many years, he had long understood that Prince Ji was an eccentric prince.

He simply doesn't have the ambition to do great things.

He is just like those other princes who live off of nothing, or even like the common people. Although he has great wisdom, he has no big ambitions.

What he often talks about is his wife, children and a warm bed.

He was indifferent to the affairs of the court and was only concerned with making money and enjoying life.

Wang Xuance and his companions were also well aware of this and had almost figured out Li Shen's preferences.

Li Shen’s personality is also that he loves to be flattered by others.

For this purpose, Wang Xuance learned from Wang Hongfu and studied it carefully.

Today, if he didn't make any noise, he would have made a big splash, which surprised Li Shen.

"Xuan Ce, this is what I should do. The Ji Palace is a big family with so many people relying on it for their livelihood. If I don't work hard, how can I succeed?

The development of the palace is like sailing against the current. If you don't move forward, you will fall behind. Many people hope to see the decline of our Ji Palace.

How many people are eyeing my Ji Wang Mansion? "

Li Shen looked serious, with a solemn expression on his face.

Wang Xuance and Wang Hongfu also nodded in agreement. What Prince Ji said next was correct.

Nowadays, the Ji Wang Mansion is indeed a wealthy and powerful place. I don't know how many people want to see the Ji Wang Mansion fall into decline, and I don't know how many people are watching covetously from the sidelines.

As long as there is an opportunity, they will take action against Prince Ji and divide up the big piece of meat, Prince Ji's Mansion.

"Your Majesty is right. Then how do we deal with the Arabs?"

Wang Xuance asked.

Li Shen rubbed his chin and began to think. Daqin was too far away. It would take more than a year to go back and forth.

It is not as convenient as dealing with Goguryeo and Tubo.

"Your Highness, I think it is better to focus on the specialties of the Tang Dynasty, such as silk, porcelain, and embroidery."

Wang Hongfu suggested.

“Well, that’s possible, and we want to make silk into several grades ourselves, so that not all silk is sold at the same price.

Although silk is common in our Tang Dynasty, it is not common in the Kingdom of the Caliphate and the Western Regions. Scarcity makes things valuable. "

Li Shen nodded. He wanted to make Tang Dynasty silk into a luxury product abroad.

"Your Majesty, if this is the case, a large amount of silk will be needed. By then, I am afraid that domestic silk will be in short supply, causing the price to rise."

After hearing what Li Shen said, Wang Hongfu analyzed.

“This king has already thought about it. I have started to promote silkworm breeding in newspapers so that the people can have more income besides farming.

Especially the Shu area of ​​Jiannan Road, the mountainous area of ​​Jiangnan Road, and Henan Road.

By the way, there is also my fifth brother’s Lingnan Road. Let him encourage the local people to raise silkworms and see if it can be successful.

Those who can grow tea in these places can grow tea, and those who can raise silkworms can raise silkworms, without interfering with each other.

If it is done well, perhaps the income will be higher than that of farmers in other areas.”

In ancient times, people in mountainous areas did not live as well as people in plains. They had inconvenient transportation and less arable land.

They also have to pay various taxes every year, especially in areas like Shu that are all mountainous, where the people are tough and ferocious.

Many people would rather go into the mountains than obey the court's management.

Li Shen's move was also beneficial to the court.

Sure enough, after hearing Li Shen's words, Wang Xuance agreed and said:

"Your Highness, this is a good idea. Shu has always been a headache for the imperial court and is difficult to manage.

However, I heard that the situation has improved a lot in the past two years. This year, the tea harvest is good and the people have income. I believe that more people will join in.

This time, by raising silkworms, people's income increased again, which was of great help to the court's management.

It won’t be long before the people in the mountains come down and join us.”

“That’s right, but tell our people that Shu is very important and keep an eye on the governor and county magistrate who are going there.

If anyone sees that the people of Shu are getting rich and wants to exploit them, please report it to me immediately.

If he destroys my plan, I will make him die a miserable death, no matter what his rank or title is. "

This is what Li Shen fears the most.

There are so many officials in the Tang Dynasty that Li Shen can't handle the petty corruption. But if his plans are disturbed,

Then Li Shen will never show mercy.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty. I know what to do."

"Well, let's get down to business. Our goal is to unite with the Hashemite family to deal with their caliph named Man something.

This was an open mission, and this was how we told those Arab merchants.

But secretly, we also need to send people to contact those organizations whose countries have been destroyed and want to restore their country.

For example, the Copts.

Lao Wang, you should find some smart people who have traveled to the Western Regions and can speak the language there to do this.

We can give them goods and let them accumulate wealth. As for whether they can successfully restore their country, it depends on their ability.

All we need to do is to make wealth. I want gold, silver, and gems, especially gold and silver.

The plan of this bank is correct for gold and silver."

Li Shen plans to adopt a gold standard. The silver standard will not work in the later stages and will eventually collapse.

"Your Majesty, what about Persia..."

Wang Hongfu reminded.

"Send someone from Persia to tell them to hold on, and send someone to contact Byzantium to tell them that the Arabs have evil intentions.

After occupying Persia, they will definitely want to invade Byzantium. Don’t they know how they lost Damascus?

Let him put some pressure on the Arab border."

Li Shen thought about it and said that it was not safe to rely on the Hashim family alone. Even if the Hashim family won,

There is no guarantee that he will not be like the previous caliphs.

"Your Majesty, this plan is too big. It would be a bit difficult for our Ji Palace to deal with such a large empire alone."

Wang Xuance thought about Li Shen's plan and found that, apart from making money, it would not be easy to achieve the goal.

Unless all the wealth of Prince Ji’s Mansion is spent.

But even so, it is probably impossible to overthrow an empire.

"Xuan Ce, have you forgotten Goguryeo?

Although we are weak and cannot compare with an empire, we can serve as a starting point.

Use their domestic conflicts as a fulcrum to pry open their empire.

They expanded too fast, and that was the drawback. They hadn’t yet digested so many countries when they started expanding outwards.

They thought that the power of religious belief could make their people fearless of life and death.

But they didn't realize that there are differences in beliefs.

Power is a good thing, even a saint would be tempted by it.

Even the strongest will collapse from within, and we are just giving it a push.

This is called using a small amount to achieve a big gain.”

Li Shen had never been arrogant enough to take on a country, especially a superpower like the Tang Dynasty, such as the Arab Empire.