Ministers Begging Me to Ascend the Throne

Chapter 969: Chapter 71: Working with Prince Han (Part 2)

Uncle Gao listened, then clasped his fists toward Zhao Yao: "Your Highness has indeed thought this through thoroughly."

"Prince Han is willing to purchase goods from me without requiring me to assist with transportation, so why wouldn’t I be happy?" Initially, the people sent by Prince Han didn’t talk to Zhao Yao about purchasing goods but rather about opening a business together, which Zhao Yao declined. While opening a business together could make a lot of money, it also involved many complications. Zhao Yao didn’t want to get too entangled with Prince Han.

"Your Highness, you just mentioned that Prince Han wants to open a business in Swamp Prefecture, why did you agree?" Uncle Gao questioned again, "Didn’t you just say if you were to open a business in Youzhou, Prince Han might not agree, so how did you persuade him to open in Swamp Prefecture?"

"Right now, if I want to open a business in Youzhou, Prince Han would welcome it, but I don’t want to go." Zhao Yao took a freshly grilled squid from Tong Xi’s hand, eagerly taking a big bite, "If Prince Han wants to do business in Swamp Prefecture, he has to pay taxes to me, why wouldn’t I agree?"

"Aren’t you afraid Prince Han has ulterior motives, perhaps keeping an eye on you?"

"I can also keep an eye on his people, that way I can know what he really intends to do." Zhao Yao said with a meaningful expression, "Keeping people under observation is the safest way."

He knew Uncle Gao was worried about him, so he comforted him gently: "Uncle Gao, I’m aware of everything, nothing will happen." Although he wasn’t sure yet of Prince Han’s exact intentions, whatever they were, they wouldn’t succeed.

Hearing this, Uncle Gao was no longer worried and focused on eating barbecue and drinking wine.

Tonight’s barbecue included not just pork, lamb, and chicken, but also various seafood like squid, oysters, and scallops.

Ever since learning that eating oysters has aphrodisiac properties, Uncle Gao and the others have been particularly fond of them.

During his time in Japan, Uncle Gao often ate fish from the sea, but the chefs from Japan didn’t prepare it well. Also, the Japanese didn’t know how to eat scallops, oysters, and crabs.

When it comes to food, no one can match His Highness Prince Han. Scallops, oysters, and crabs have hard shells, and no one knew how to handle them, yet His Highness figured out a hundred ways to eat them, each tasting delightful.

After eating for a while, Zhao Yao was full and stopped eating, then pushed He Lianfang back to the house.

He Lianfang knew that Zhao Yao had only spoken half of what he intended to say to Uncle Gao.

"The person sent by Prince Han must have had other purposes as well."

Zhao Yao was taken aback by what He Lianfang said, then smiled slightly: "I really can’t hide anything from you, Uncle."

He Lianfang asked, "What else did the person sent by Prince Han say to you?"

Zhao Yao playfully winked at He Lianfang, "Uncle, take a guess."

He Lianfang gave Zhao Yao a cold stare without responding.

Zhao Yao chuckled awkwardly, then said, "Prince Han wants to trade with Annan, Johor, Siam, and other countries and hopes I can introduce him to the imperial merchants of these countries."

"Imperial merchants?" He Lianfang was somewhat surprised, "Not the Royal Family?"

"Prince Han wants his people to connect with the royal families of these countries, but are they qualified?" Zhao Yao said, "Only if Prince Han himself goes, will the royal families be willing to meet him."

"That’s true, it seems everything is as you expected."

Zhao Yao raised the corners of his mouth and smiled proudly: "If Prince Han is truly a fox, then eventually he will reveal his fox tail. What I need to do now is wait; I have enough patience to wait for him."

After chatting with He Lianfang for a while, Zhao Yao returned to his own courtyard. These days, he had been busy meeting foreign merchants and negotiating business with them, leaving him physically and mentally exhausted. After bathing, he quickly climbed into bed to sleep.

The next morning, after finishing breakfast, Zhao Yao asked Tong Xi to summon the Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Industry, as he had some matters to discuss with him.

"Currently, many people want to open a business in Swamp Prefecture, but there aren’t enough shops there, so more shops need to be built." Zhao Yao pointed to the map of Swamp Prefecture, "Aside from shops, we also need to build residential houses."

The Chief of Staff understood the shop-building but was puzzled about the need to build residential houses.

"Your Highness, isn’t it customary for homeowners to build their own houses?"

"We’ll construct a batch first, and naturally, there will be buyers in due time." Zhao Yao pointed to the east part of Swamp Prefecture on the map, "As I mentioned before, Swamp Prefecture will be divided into four markets — East, West, South, and North, much like the capital. We should first build a batch of luxury mansions in the East Market so that wealthy individuals will purchase them."

The Chief of Staff’s eyes lit up upon hearing this, and he became excited: "Your Highness, selling houses is another way to earn a fortune."

"Exactly, right now we’ve only developed the East Market; the other three markets haven’t been built yet." Zhao Yao continued, "In the future, we’ll also need to build shops and residential houses in the other three markets. Of course, we can also sell land plots, allowing clients to purchase the land and build their own houses."

"I understand, Your Highness."

"Let’s continue discussing the planning of the East Market." Currently, only the East Market exists, but it hasn’t been fully constructed yet, so work needs to continue.

The Chief of Staff took notes as Zhao Yao spoke.

"Once the trade fair is over, the East Market needs to be completed immediately, followed by the construction of the West Market." Zhao Yao said, stroking his chin, "Considering that Swamp Prefecture will have a large population in the future, the East and West Markets must be built large, following the standards of the capital."

"Following the standards of the capital?" The Chief of Staff exclaimed, "Your Highness, isn’t that too large? Besides, Swamp Prefecture is much smaller than the capital." Swamp Prefecture can’t possibly compare with the capital.

"Admittedly, Swamp Prefecture can’t currently compare to the capital and is indeed much smaller, but it won’t be smaller than the capital in the future." Zhao Yao said confidently, "More people will come to Swamp Prefecture in the future, so it needs to expand outward. However, there’s no rush to expand; we need to focus on completing the East Market first, building it according to the standards of the capital’s East Market."

"Yes, Your Highness." The Chief of Staff felt there was no need to build it to the size of the capital’s East Market, but since His Highness insisted, there must be a reason.

Zhao Yao gave the Chief of Staff more instructions before letting him leave. He then summoned the Minister of Rites. Since tomorrow was the Dragon Boat Festival, many events were to be held, and he needed to confirm the details once more with the Ministry of Rites.

After finishing with the Minister of Rites, Zhao Yao invited the imperial merchants from Annan, Siam, and other countries to the Han Prince Mansion and subsequently introduced them to the people sent by Prince Han.