Ministers Begging Me to Ascend the Throne

Chapter 900: Chapter 36: Smallpox Prevention (Part 2)

He Lianfang listened, surprised, and said, "You’re trying to gather all worldly goods in your supermarket, aren’t you?"

"You could say that." Zhao Yao said with a smile, "First open a supermarket in Swamp Prefecture, then expand to the capital and Jiangnan, and eventually open supermarkets in every state of Great Zhou, and even extend to Western Regions countries, Annan, and other foreign nations overseas."

He Lianfang said, "You have quite the ambition."

"You can’t make money without ambition." When it came to making money, Zhao Yao’s whole face lit up, "First, open a nationwide chain of supermarkets in Great Zhou, then expand to other countries, and eventually become an international chain supermarket."

"International?" He Lianfang asked, puzzled.

"It’s the communication and exchange between countries." After saying this, Zhao Yao suddenly remembered something and added, "Once Uncle Gao brings back gold and silver, I plan to use silver as currency."

"You mentioned this before." He Lianfang recalled, "Didn’t you also talk about introducing silver notes?"

"Exactly, first use silver as currency, and once it circulates, introduce silver notes." Zhao Yao had another plan in mind, which was to establish a bank.

Swamp Prefecture had an underground bank, a black bank created by collusion between former officials and chieftains. However, after Zhao Yao arrived, he raided this underground black bank. Currently, there’s no bank in Swamp Prefecture.

After the trade conference concludes, many foreigners will come to Swamp Prefecture for business, and operating without a bank will be inconvenient. Besides, having a bank can attract foreigners to deposit money in Swamp Prefecture.

"Counting the days, there’s only a month left."

The thought of possessing tonnes of gold and silver in a month made Zhao Yao’s mood very excited, and he couldn’t suppress a sly laugh: "Hehehe, I’m about to become a wealthy man."

Seeing Zhao Yao’s mischievous smile, He Lianfang said disapprovingly, "You already have quite a bit of money now."

"It’s different, that’s gold and silver." Zhao Yao said with exaggerated expression, "Glistening gold, dazzling silver, not just small copper coins."

Looking at Zhao Yao’s behavior as if he’s never seen gold and silver, He Lianfang joked, "When the gold and silver arrive, do you want to roll around on them to feel the taste of wealth?"

Zhao Yao thought He Lianfang’s suggestion was very good, snapped his fingers and said, "I’ll definitely roll a few times on gold mountain and silver mountain."

Seeing Zhao Yao take his joke seriously, He Lianfang couldn’t help but laugh and cry: "Look at you, acting so unrefined."

Zhao Yao suddenly sped up his meal, "I need to quickly finish eating, and then get to work." The thought of soon having gold and silver mountains energized him, dispelling the lethargy he felt attending court over the past two days.

He Lianfang asked, "What work?"

"The trade conference is about to start, I plan to establish a Four Nations Pavilion." Zhao Yao said solemnly, "A Four Nations Pavilion is essential, otherwise when those foreigners come to Swamp Prefecture, the officials won’t know what they’re saying."

"I remember when you were in the capital, you frequently visited the Four Nations Pavilion and learned quite a few foreign languages from the people there." He Lianfang recalled that Zhao Yao could speak Xiongnu, Wusun, and several other Western Regions languages.

"Yeah, I did learn quite a lot of foreign languages at the Four Nations Pavilion." Zhao Yao grinned proudly, "Before coming to Lingnan, I made sure to learn Annanese, Siamese, Johorean, and several languages from neighboring countries at the Four Nations Pavilion." Since doing business with Annan and Johor involves communicating in their languages, not understanding them would make business dealings difficult.

"It is necessary to establish a Four Nations Pavilion."

"I’ve already started looking for people from Annan and Johor who can speak Great Zhou’s language, and once they arrive, they can teach the officials Annanese and Johorean."

"Why didn’t you bring some Annanese speakers from the capital to Swamp Prefecture at the time?"

"I wanted to bring them, but they didn’t want to come." Zhao Yao said with full resignation, "They were doing well in the capital, who would want to come to the exile land of Lingnan and endure hardships."

That’s true.

Talking about the Four Nations Pavilion, He Lianfang recalled Zhao Yao’s earlier mention of establishing free schools.

"Didn’t you say you would build free schools this year, are you planning to start?"

"I don’t have time to build free schools now, wait until the second half of the year." Just after saying this, Zhao Yao suddenly remembered something else, slapping his forehead with a look of regret and said, "Damn, I forgot the most important thing."