manynovel Chapter 1881 Encountering Difficulties
Chapter 1881 Encountering Difficulties
The study room of Prince Ji’s mansion.
Wang Xuance, Wang Hongfu and Pei Mingli are waiting here.
After they finished their meal, Li Shen took the three of them back to Prince Ji's Mansion. He still had some things for them to do.
Li Shen returned to the back house, took off his royal robes and changed into casual clothes, then went to the study holding his two kittens.
"Please sit down, be polite and casual, don't be so reserved."
Li Shen got on the bed and leaned on the cushion, then said something to the three of them.
"Thank you, Your Highness." The three of them saluted.
Pei Mingli was somewhat reserved. After all, it was his first time in Prince Ji's Mansion, and he didn't know Prince Ji Li Shen's temper.
Seeing the two raccoons in Prince Ji's arms, Pei Mingli remembered that these were the two that Prince Ji had spent a million strings of cash to buy.
In the entire Tang Dynasty, only Prince Ji had such financial resources and courage.
When he entered Prince Ji's Mansion just now, Pei Mingli was already deeply shocked.
The grandeur of Prince Ji’s Mansion was indeed beyond his imagination. Along the way, he saw all kinds of exotic flowers and plants, most of which he had never seen before.
The lush greenery, colorful scenery and clear spring water make people feel relaxed and happy.
Even the stone paved roads are priceless.
The decoration of Prince Ji's mansion is even more unique, with gold and silver decorations hanging outside.
Prince Ji's study is simple and elegant, with exquisite furnishings, many rare treasures, and many paintings and calligraphy by famous people.
He was also considered a wealthy man, but his mansion was so different from Prince Ji's Mansion that it was not even as big as a courtyard in Prince Ji's Mansion.
"Xuan Ce, just write a memorial here and send someone to deliver it to Cuiwei Palace."
The formalities still need to be resolved first, otherwise he is afraid that his father will go back on his word.
Wang Xuance responded, then went to Li Shen's desk and began to write a memorial.
"Old Wang, how many things do you have on your hands right now?" Li Shen looked at Wang Hongfu again.
Wang Hongfu thought about it carefully, pointed his finger and said:
"Your Highness, I am currently responsible for the construction of a football field, the reconstruction of a research institute, the expansion of a nursing home, the construction of the Qinghai Road, and the establishment of a Khitan-Mohe merchant caravan.
By the way, the Liaodong Road will also be completed this year, and the Luoyang Road has already been completed.
This old servant was just about to ask Your Majesty how to charge fees.
The prince said at the beginning that these two fundraising routes would charge fees."
The two roads in Liaodong and Luoyang were built with money raised by Li Shen, and he announced in advance that he would charge a fee.
It is free for those who donate, and members receive discounts.
It’s just that the Liaodong Road is too long and it has taken several years to build, and it is only now almost completed.
As for the charging issue, Li Shen had already thought about it a long time ago.
"According to what I originally planned, checkpoints will be set up at every intersection. Special iron plates will be issued to people on the way up, and the distance to people leaving will be calculated based on the iron plates.
The road maintenance fee is ten cents per mile, but members of our Chamber of Commerce get a discount, so the fee is only two cents per mile.
This will fulfill my original promise and reflect the benefits of joining our Chamber of Commerce.
Do you understand what I said?"
What Li Shen said is the same as the highway method in later generations. No matter where you get on the highway,
You will be given a card and the mileage will be calculated when you get off the highway.
Li Shen didn't have a computer, so he had to use a crude method. He designed a special sign for each intersection so that when you get off the highway, you would know where you came from.
When the time comes, you will know how much copper coins you will be charged by calculating the mileage.
Wang Hongfu thought for a while and understood what Li Shen meant.
"Yes, I will send someone to measure the distance and make the label as soon as possible."
This work is not complicated. You just need to emboss the name of the place on the label. Ji Wangfu has such technology.
"Your Majesty, there are thousands of roads here. What if someone bypasses the checkpoint?"
Pei Mingli asked the question in his mind.
Li Shen smiled slightly:
“I have naturally thought about this, and I asked them to set up checkpoints at the main intersections.
As for those small paths, this king has no requirements.
Mingli, we mainly collect money from passing merchants, we do not charge ordinary people.
If the merchant walks alone without any goods, we don't charge him any fees.
If they are willing to take a small road with a few carts of goods and are not afraid of being targeted by bandits or being jolted and overturned, then I don’t mind.
However, the palace will also send out teams to patrol the roads, and if anyone is found trying to evade the checkpoints, they will be fined the full distance.
We can't be absolutely sure, we can only try to avoid it. I believe that most merchants won't do that."
Li Shen’s idea is to achieve the best possible results within limited conditions.
It is impossible for him to spend time and effort to install guardrails on both sides of the road, but Li Shen will not say anything if you carry so much cargo through the mountains and rugged paths just for a little money.
It’s not perfect, Li Shen knows it himself.
"Your Highness, the journey from Chang'an to Luoyang is about 800 li, which means one string of coins costs 600 coins for the whole journey. I'm afraid this price is a bit too high.
I wonder if His Royal Highness Prince Ji charges by the number of times he visits, or by the vehicle?"
Pei Mingli asked again.
"Of course the money is calculated based on the vehicle." Li Shen replied.
"Your Majesty, there are many goods that cannot be sold for less than 600 coins per cart."
"Can't sell it?" Li Shen was a little surprised. If a truckload of goods couldn't be sold for 1,600 coins, then why transport it for 800 miles?
He turned his gaze to Wang Hongfu and asked.
Wang Hongfu nodded quickly;
"Your Majesty, that's true. Some goods can only earn one or two guan per truck. They make a lot of money by running more trips.
Or you can make money by transporting several trucks of goods at a time, such as linen, ordinary pottery, etc.
You can earn one or two hundred strings of cash a month.
But if they charge by vehicle, small merchants like them won’t make any money.”
"So that's how it is." Li Shen suddenly realized. He thought these people should make a few strings of cash per trip.
I didn’t expect there are so few. This is a bit difficult to deal with.
Some people may earn dozens of strings of coins for transporting a truck, while others may only earn one string of coins. So how do they charge them?
Should I charge two things? But there is no way to set the price in between.
Li Shen's limited brain cells were constantly being consumed. It was over. Why didn't he think of this at the beginning? Li Shen felt regretful.
He originally wanted to make some money from building the road. He had spent so much money and should recover some of the costs.
But it seems a bit difficult now.
"Your Majesty, this is what I was just trying to say. These small merchants will definitely take risks to avoid paying tolls.
Take the small road to bypass the toll checkpoints, and there are many small merchants, many of whom are peddlers.
I wandered around the county town or the villages below, not in the big cities.
Many people enter the village through small roads to sell goods and earn some hard-earned money.
Therefore, I think this matter needs further consideration.”
(Brainstorm, if it were you, how much do you think you should charge?)