28: Chapter 28 The merchant said he wasn't making any money.

"Salt and iron—these are the lifeblood of the nation."

Yang Fan looked over the situation; the most critical things controlled by the Aristocratic Families were salt and iron.

They are both strategic war materials; everything else can wait.

"First, strip the weapons from their hands, then significantly increase commercial taxes."

Yang Fan had originally studied finance, and relative to the economy of the Tang Dynasty, this was practically a dimensional reduction strike.

Emperor Taizong of Tang nodded.

"Significantly increasing commercial taxes probably won't be easy to implement."

"Also, I'm afraid they will hoard large amounts of grain, causing panic among the populace."

Yang Fan looked at Emperor Taizong of Tang as if looking at an idiot. How could this guy act like such a goody-two-shoes? Whenever it came to the Aristocratic Families, he was so timid and hesitant.

"If commercial taxes are hard to implement, just see who is jumping around the most, enter their industry directly, and launch a large volume of high-quality, low-priced products. We'll just bankrupt the industries they operate."

"As for the Aristocratic Families hoarding grain, you can have your subordinates play the part of bandits to stir up trouble. Isn't that exactly what Cheng Yaojin's background is?"

"I can also provide you with some grain that yields 30 shi per mu. Combined with what the commoners have at home, and with me selling you some more, won't everything be fine once the high-yield grain is ready for harvest?"

The corners of Emperor Taizong of Tang's mouth twitched.

Ever since he became the Prince of Qin, everything he did followed the Kingly Way, all upright and aboveboard.

This guy Yang Fan, on the other hand, practiced nothing but the Hegemonic Way.

However, upon hearing about the 30 shi yield per mu, he felt more assured. As long as the commoners had grain to eat, he wasn't all that afraid of the Aristocratic Families alone.

After all, ever since he had known Yang Fan, the man had never spoken without purpose.

"30 shi per mu, is that true?"

"Naturally."

"I'm leaving. I'll come back tomorrow, and I'll bring the salt and iron technology with me tomorrow as well."

Yang Fan waved his hand and vanished instantly.

Emperor Taizong of Tang had intended to say that he would see him back, but he didn't expect that this guy Yang Fan could travel freely now. He hurried back to the Trading Space, but there was no sign of Yang Fan anywhere.

Upon returning to the palace, Emperor Taizong of Tang reminded Li Junxian that the next time they encountered Yang Fan in the palace, the palace guards should not stab him to death, but simply bring him to see him.

Yang Fan returned to the hotel directly from the Tang Dynasty.

Ever since Emperor Taizong of Tang brought him to the Tang Dynasty, it was like he had unlocked a new map; the places he had visited were all lit up, and he could travel there at any time.

There was no need to go through Emperor Taizong of Tang as an intermediary anymore.

Upon returning, Yang Fan felt a bit unaccustomed to the modern architecture; after all, the palace held higher value.

He turned his head and saw that Jiang Lan was sleeping on the bed.

Yang Fan stepped forward and just as he placed his hand on her shoulder, Jiang Lan sat up in shock.

Seeing it was Yang Fan, she let out a sigh of relief.

"B-boss!"

"I felt a bit tired, so I went to sleep!"

"It's fine. Make yourself at home when I'm not here. Have you recovered?"

Yang Fan hadn't expected this girl's reaction to be so intense; he had been startled himself.

"Yes, Boss, do you have any instructions?"

"Go and type out the methods for refining sea salt and mineral salt, the methods for smelting steel, and the papermaking process using traditional Chinese characters."

"Also, buy ten tons of potato seeds and ten tons of sweet potato seedlings, and have them shipped to our warehouse."

Salt was relatively simple, and as for iron, with the technology and detailed explanations, it wouldn't be particularly difficult.

"Alright, Boss, I'll go right now."

Jiang Lan got out of bed and rushed out in a flurry.

Yang Fan made a call to Li Yang; he needed to sell some gold, as that should be relatively quick.

Yang Fan wanted to get some more cash; he wanted to buy a larger manor.

After all, Princess Xiangcheng certainly wouldn't be coming alone; what if she brought a couple of maids or something?

Besides, he figured she wouldn't be accustomed to high-rise buildings, so a manor would be just right.

"Brother Yang, I want to sell some gold."

"Hmm? From which dynasty?"

As soon as Li Yang heard Yang Fan's words, he knew it wasn't ordinary gold; otherwise, he wouldn't have come to him.

"Ten-tael zhenguan gold ingots."

Yang Fan had sold them once before and roughly knew the price.

"That's fine. How many do you have?"

Li Yang didn't even consider the authenticity of the items; after all, given those few paintings and calligraphy works Yang Fan had produced, this gold couldn't be fake.

"How many can you accept?"

"These items don't exist in large quantities; I'll take as many as you have."

Li Yang was quite knowledgeable about these items; many collectors liked them.

"Wait for me."

After saying that, Yang Fan hung up the phone.

Yang Fan took out all his gold, a total of 809 pieces of Tang Dynasty 10-tael gold, weighing about 124 kilograms.

Emperor Taizong of Tang still owed him 100,000 taels of gold.

That meant there were still 10,000 pieces of 10-tael gold.

It seemed that in the future, the price of the 10-tael zhenguan gold ingots would be driven down by more than half by him!

However, these weren't the main event; after all, even if he sold them all, they probably wouldn't be worth as much as a few good calligraphy works.

But with the money from these sales, plus the money he already had, he was definitely a wealthy man now.

Yang Fan took a taxi directly to Jiahe Auction House. While moving the items, the driver was still complaining about what kind of stuff it was, a small box being so heavy!

Li Yang was already waiting for him at the entrance.

Seeing Yang Fan step out of the taxi, his mouth twitched as well. Brother, you're carrying tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions worth of valuables with you.

You don't even talk about bringing a few Bodyguards.

At least drive yourself here!

"Mr. Yang, if you don't have a driver next time, just say the word, and we can send a car to pick you up."

"It's fine, I don't like waiting for people. Have your men carry the things from the trunk."

As Yang Fan said this, he walked directly toward the VIP room, and Li Yang gave an instruction and followed him.

Yang Fan pointed to the box placed on the table and said:

"It's all in here; go ahead and appraise it."

Li Yang was puzzled; how much was in there? He had just seen two servers moving it with great difficulty.

Li Yang opened the box and was stunned.

The box was completely filled with neatly stacked gold ingots.

What was surprising wasn't that it was all gold; after all, he had seen more gold than this.

It was just that he had never seen so many Tang Dynasty gold ingots.

Li Yang took out a few to look at and gasped.

Good heavens, where did this come from? If all of these were dumped onto the market at once, it would drive the price down by how much!

Li Yang checked them one by one, and there were no issues at all. To be able to obtain so many zhenguan gold ingots, had he raided some prince's tomb?

But looking at these items, they didn't look like they had come out of the dirt.

"Mr. Yang, do you want to sell all of these at once? The value might be significantly discounted."

"I'm selling them directly to your auction house. How much will you pay?"

Yang Fan mainly wanted to get some more cash.

Li Yang thought about it for a moment. If they handled the operation, the price wouldn't drop much, as they would control the speed of the release.

"4 million per piece. Although one piece is worth 5 million, with such a large quantity, the price will be discounted. You also know that the value of an item depends on its scarcity. What do you think?"

Yang Fan opened his mouth, wanting to say something. He remembered that his first zhenguan gold ingot sold for 3.9 million, and that was after he had haggled repeatedly.

He didn't expect that this time, selling over 800 pieces, he would actually get 100,000 more per piece.

Damn it, a merchant is a merchant. Although the person in front of him offered 4 million, he was likely still making a profit.