From a freeloader to a world leader

Chapter 348 Signing a Contract with the Imperial Court

With the women firing on all cylinders, Sun Shan not only lost the 10000 taels of silver he had earned from betting in the morning, but also lost several thousand taels.

In the end, it was Emperor Yuanfeng and Lu Jinxi who asked him to discuss the details of horse racing, which finally got rid of the crazy shopping of several women.

In fact, there are many cases like Sun Shan.

Especially those wealthy outsiders, after coming to Hengzhou, faced with a scene that was hundreds of years ahead of them, faced with a dazzling array of goods that they had never seen before, faced with the bustling crowds of people frantically shopping everywhere, they would unconsciously join the purchasing team.

Moreover, Sun Shan wants to ensure the healthy development of Hengzhou and create a good shopping environment.

The Datong Chamber of Commerce worked together with the Hengzhou government to adopt an absolutely high-pressure policy against any misconduct by merchants.

Once reported or caught by law enforcement, the offender may be fined ten times the amount at the least, or all assets may be confiscated directly, and the offender will be directly kicked out of the market and never be allowed to engage in the same industry again.

At the beginning of last year, there were still some unscrupulous merchants who habitually cheated and deceived people.

However, after Qiuyue carried out three or four targeted and powerful strikes, no one dared to commit crimes again.

In this way, the commercial atmosphere on the street becomes more active.

The high-ranking officials of the imperial court who came to Hengzhou to make large purchases and conduct secret investigations had a deep understanding of this point.

Because, no matter whether they are ordinary tourists or high-ranking officials of the court, the price of the products they purchase is the same.

In fact, many merchants clearly mark prices in their stores without cheating anyone.

"Zhongshan, please sit down-----"

When Emperor Yuanfeng saw Sun Shan walking in at a brisk pace, he greeted him with a smile and asked, "I heard that the Queen spent a lot of money on you today. Did you have a good time?"

Sun Shan's heart shrank when he heard this.

Thinking back, during the four or five hours that he had been with the Queen, apart from that extremely brief sudden attack, there seemed to be no physical contact.

Of course, sometimes when you secretly look at someone when they aren't paying attention, or when two people make eye contact intentionally or unintentionally, that doesn't count.

He waved his hands guiltily, sat down and thanked her, jokingly saying, "This is a blessing for me. I can spend some money on the queen, but it's something that others can't even ask for."

"Hahahaha, you're good at talking."

Emperor Yuanfeng became more satisfied with Sun Shan after hearing the explanations from the Empress and his daughter these days.

As for the little ambiguity between Sun Shan and his daughter, he turned a blind eye to it.

If it weren't for Yang Kexin's big light bulb blocking his way, Emperor Yuanfeng would really have the urge to recruit Sun Shan as his son-in-law.

After all, this kid just casually threw out an idea, which was just tens of thousands of taels of silver, and could solve the famine of military pay.

For example, this morning's dragon boat race brought the Ministry of Revenue more than 200,000 taels of silver.

There was no way out. This time there was a tie for second place, which caused some gamblers who bet on third place to lose their money. After paying compensation, Lu Jinxi withheld this part of the funds.

This made Lu Jinxi and other high-ranking officials who came to Hengzhou feel that they had successfully completed their mission in Hengzhou.

The current Emperor Yuanfeng and high-ranking officials in the court attached great importance to Sun Shan's suggestion and believed that the horse racing sport he proposed would be a golden goose that would lay eggs.

After a few jokes, Lu Jinxi, on behalf of the Ministry of Revenue and the imperial court, announced the decision of Emperor Yuanfeng to Sun Shan and Zhang Pingan, who had been there for a while: "The emperor believes in the organizational ability of Hengzhou and the planning ability of Baron Zhongshan, so he decided to start the horse racing in Hengzhou in advance. I hope Baron Zhongshan can cooperate with the Hengzhou government and seriously organize this grand event that benefits the country and the people!"

Hearing this, Zhang Pingan and Sun Shan, who had not received the news yet, were overjoyed.

Although, they also thought about holding it in Hengzhou.

But unexpectedly, Emperor Yuanfeng decided on this event so quickly.

"Okay, thank you, Your Majesty, and the court for your trust in our Hengzhou Prefecture. I will do my job conscientiously and actively cooperate with the Datong Chamber of Commerce to promote horse racing as quickly as possible."

After seeing several people express their opinions, Li Shimin made a request in a serious tone: "This horse racing can be handed over to the Datong Chamber of Commerce to set up. All the initial investment and handling expenses will be borne by them, but our court will take 30% of the net profit, and we will send people to supervise the whole process."

These words made Sun Shan and Zhang Pingan look at each other.

I rely on!

These people in the court are so evil, they are not willing to give a penny but just ask for 30% of the profits.

So, how much is appropriate locally?

"Prime Minister Li, your request is a bit high. If you want to build a racecourse that can accommodate 500 people and various supporting facilities, you can't get it without million silver. And this doesn't include top-notch horses."

"Baron Zhongshan, this is the decision of the imperial court. You and your Datong Chamber of Commerce cannot bargain with it."

Seeing Sun Shan's bitter face, Li Shimin appeared to be extremely serious on the surface, but he was secretly laughing in his heart: Who let you, kid, take all the limelight?

If the imperial court doesn't kill the big fat sheep like you, the Datong Chamber of Commerce, who else will it kill?

In fact, Li Shimin was not the only one who thought so. When he heard Sun Shan propose to build a racecourse that could accommodate tens of thousands of people and proposed an investment plan of 500 million.

All the high-ranking officials present and Emperor Yuanfeng felt their hearts skip a beat.

Fortunately, the horse racing was chosen in Hengzhou and handed over to the Datong Chamber of Commerce.

Otherwise, even if it was held in the imperial capital, how many companies could come up with such a large sum of money and have such courage?

"Li Xiang, what you said is a bit unreasonable!"

Sun Shan sighed bitterly, and then made a request: "Since the court has decided this, the Datong Chamber of Commerce must take it on, no matter if it is for the empire's tax revenue or for the empire's breeding of high-quality horses, we will swallow our pride and bear it-----"

As he spoke, Sun Shan patted his chest with a painful and heroic look on his face: "Then our Datong Chamber of Commerce will accept it!"

Hearing these words, Emperor Yuanfeng and his companions all smiled with joy.

Without spending a penny, being able to make a net profit of 500% on an investment of million taels, isn't that a godsend?

"But I have a few requests, and I hope the court can do it and sign a contract with Datong!"

"What? Sign a contract with the court?"

Li Shimin touched his head in confusion, feeling that his knowledge was not enough.

How does a private chamber of commerce sign a contract with the imperial court?

"Yes, we signed with the imperial court. To some extent, the imperial court is also a huge enterprise. Since we are going to sign with Datong Chamber of Commerce, we must have obligations and rights on both sides. You can't just say whatever you want. How can we guarantee the profits of Datong Chamber of Commerce in the future? How can we guarantee the long-term development of cooperation?"

This seems to make some sense.

Without it written in black and white, who can believe what the official says?

Besides, for example, the deputy prime minister Li Shimin who made this request died or stepped down.

What should I do?

If a prime minister comes up who refuses to acknowledge his obligations or has ill will towards Datong Chamber of Commerce, such as Wang Deqiang from the Wang family.

On behalf of the imperial court, he wanted to unconditionally remove the Datong Chamber of Commerce from horse racing events.

Without a contract, how can we restrain him?

After figuring this out, the Royal Trust Fund, which already held nearly 20% of the shares of Datong Chamber of Commerce, and Emperor Yuanfeng, who had almost regarded Datong Chamber of Commerce as his own golden egg-laying house, spoke up: "Zhongshan, then you tell me first. If the treaty is suitable, I will let Prime Minister Li sign a contract with you on behalf of the court to ensure long-term cooperation and healthy development of both parties."