A Meeting on the Road

For cultivators, traveling by carriage day and night is a trivial matter; many cultivators can ride horses for days and nights.

But for ordinary people, this is a very difficult thing.

The bumpy carriage ride caused severe stomach upset, and many people suffered from motion sickness.

Zhang Xuezhou and Rong Tianding were unaffected, Rong Li was barely holding on, while Jia Zhiyuan was curled up in a ball, even the prospect of fighting made him listless and unable to muster any energy.

"Father, you should be thankful that we were traveling in the imperial carriage, a high-class vehicle, and on the official road. If we had taken those rough, winding paths, we would have had to replace the wheels countless times, and it would have taken us at least half a year to reach Chang'an City!"

"Son, I'm enjoying a life of luxury thanks to you!"

Rong Tianding kept urging Jia Zhiyuan to stay strong, and Jia Zhiyuan nodded repeatedly.

Unlike Zhang Xuezhou, who spoke in a sarcastic tone, Jia Zhiyuan genuinely believed that once they arrived in Chang'an City, they would begin to enjoy a life of luxury.

This yearning for a better life kept Jia Zhiyuan going, even if he had to eat and sleep in the carriage, he persevered through it all.

He endured the days and nights, and then the nights and days again. After the initial excitement, the rest of Jia Zhiyuan's journey was all about enduring.

Fortunately, he has basically made it through the tough times.

Two days and two nights later, Zhang Xuezhou and his men had already exchanged horses at the post station outside Luoyang.

"Brother Dongfang?"

"Brother Hongyang!"

While Rong Tianding went to prepare supplies, Zhang Xuezhou also looked around.

He spotted Sang Hongyang leaving the city, and Sang Hongyang, who was peeking out to look around, also spotted Zhang Xuezhou and even gave him a heads-up in disbelief.

"Brother Dongfang, where have you been for the past six months?"

After the new emperor paid homage to his ancestors, Zhang Xuezhou left the caravan in Luoyang. Sang Hongyang never expected that this separation would last for half a year.

For most people, being caught in this situation is basically equivalent to being exiled, making it extremely difficult to win the favor of the new emperor again.

Zhang Xuezhou performed exceptionally well during the new emperor's ancestral worship ceremony, and his divination skills greatly enhanced the emperor's prestige. Sang Hongyang had expected Zhang Xuezhou to frequently visit the palace, but unexpectedly, Zhang Xuezhou was sent out to do chores.

Now it depends on how well Zhang Xuezhou performs and whether he can keep up with the new emperor's needs.

For the new emperor, the other party's status and strength are in a period of rapid growth, and if things are done too slowly, they will not be able to keep up with the new emperor's pace.

As someone close to the new emperor, Sang Hongyang understood this point deeply.

These companions who accompanied the readers changed batch after batch around the new emperor. If their knowledge, martial arts skills, and other abilities did not keep up with the new emperor, all that awaited them was to be replaced.

Sang Hongyang's arithmetic skills also lagged behind; the new emperor's arithmetic had surpassed his level, and he no longer needed Sang Hongyang's tutoring.

However, Sang Hongyang was also glad that the new emperor's study of arithmetic was a sign of understanding, rather than a focus on business. This meant that Sang Hongyang, who was knowledgeable in arithmetic but even more knowledgeable in business, did not remove the young core team.

He greeted Zhang Xuezhou warmly, also pondering whether Zhang Xuezhou could return to Chang'an City and secure a position by the new emperor's side.

"I've basically gone in a big circle around our Great Han Dynasty over the past six months," Zhang Xuezhou said with a smile.

"Have you taken care of things?"

"Good!"

Zhang Xuezhou nodded.

Aside from Li Shaojun being of little use, his recruitment work is essentially done.

"Brother Hongyang, how did you get into business?" Zhang Xuezhou asked, looking at the convoy behind Sang Hongyang.

"His Majesty gave me a large sum of money to transport goods for business, and my mission on this trip is to transport goods to Chang'an City," Sang Hongyang said.

"Congratulations!"

Zhang Xuezhou did not inquire further about the details of Sang Hongyang's involvement. Sang Hongyang was backed by the Luoyang Merchant Guild, and the guild knew very well what goods were expensive in Chang'an City but cheap in Luoyang.

Having established a connection with the royal family, Sang Hongyang had no trouble selling his goods.

Sang Hongyang's caravan consisted of nearly a hundred horse-drawn carriages. After deducting the expenses for personnel and the loss of the caravan, a considerable profit was inevitably generated.

These profits will also become money controlled by the new emperor.

As long as enough profits are generated, the new emperor will be pleased, and Sang Hongyang's position will be very secure thanks to the Luoyang merchant group.

This is also why Zhang Xuezhou offered his congratulations.

"Things are complicated," Sang Hongyang shook his head. "Right now, I'm only limiting myself to Luoyang Chang'an. But in the future, I'm afraid I'll expand the scope, and His Majesty's needs will only grow!"

"What does His Majesty want to do with so much money?" Zhang Xuezhou asked curiously.

"His Majesty said there are some problems with the national treasury, and it needs to be replenished as soon as possible to put his mind at ease!"

Sang Hongyang got off the carriage, looked around, and then whispered a reply to Zhang Xuezhou.

"Keeping wealth in the national treasury is not a good thing," Zhang Xuezhou whispered, "Money is only useful when it's put into circulation."

"I share your view," Sang Hongyang said in a low voice, "But His Majesty's mind is unfathomable, beyond my comprehension. For now, I can only act according to His Majesty's requests!"

"It seems His Majesty has a very important use for the money!"

Zhang Xuezhou bowed his head and responded, and Sang Hongyang nodded repeatedly.

It is not a good thing to compete with the people for profit by relying on one's own power and channels.

The birth of a behemoth inevitably involves many parties who suffer losses.

Zhang Xuezhou didn't know much at the time, and he couldn't criticize it. He just waited to see how the new emperor would use and distribute the wealth.

When wealth is redistributed properly, it benefits the country and its people; when wealth is distributed unequally, this is the outcome for the Jiangdu Kingdom.

"Brother Dongfang, would you like to go to the palace with me to meet the Emperor?"

"No problem!"

Sang Hongyang extended an invitation, Zhang Xuezhou readily accepted.

The two had not seen each other for a long time. Zhang Xuezhou was no longer familiar with Chang'an City and had been out of touch with court affairs for a long time. He needed Sang Hongyang to provide information.

Sang Hongyang didn't have many friends in Chang'an City. Perhaps it was because he had previously participated in buying low and selling high with Zhang Xuezhou and others. Zhang Xuezhou was also good at arithmetic and pointed out Sang Hongyang's shortcomings in making money for the new emperor in just a few words. It was rare for him to have like-minded people to discuss related matters.

The two hit it off immediately, and after explaining the situation, their carriage joined Sang Hongyang's caravan.

The journey from Luoyang to Chang'an City was quite long, but it was also the best road built by the Great Han Dynasty, so that even horse-drawn carriages could travel on it.

If a merchant caravan departs from Luoyang at dawn, it can reach Chang'an City by evening. However, caravans that depart at noon usually travel at night, hoping to enter the city by the next morning.

"Brother Hongyang, you're still reading and studying on your journey; you're truly a diligent person!"

"Just some miscellaneous books!"

Zhang Xuezhou boarded Sang Hongyang's private carriage. The business-style carriage was extremely spacious, and in addition to blankets and other items for shock absorption, there were also many silk books and bamboo slips piled up inside.

The jolts and bumps from the carriage traveling at high speed were so minimal that they did not interfere with reading.

This amazed Zhang Xuezhou, who felt that Sang Hongyang didn't seem so tired traveling around in this kind of carriage to do business.

Sang Hongyang's books cover algorithms, the internal pricing of various commodities by the Luoyang merchant group, the approximate consumption of each commodity, and the selling price of goods in Chang'an City.

By simply comparing the two sets of data, business opportunities become readily apparent.

If you can build a caravan, that will be a steady stream of money coming in.

Even though Zhang Xuezhou had made a considerable fortune, seeing Sang Hongyang's kind of business manipulation, he couldn't help but marvel at the enormous profits that class monopolizes information.

Under this model, many small and medium-sized merchants who do not engage in production but rely solely on reselling goods will inevitably go bankrupt.

Zhang Xuezhou couldn't help but think about his own Liesi. In the end, he felt that it wouldn't have a big impact, since they were too small to have any problems even if they produced and sold their own seeds.

The industries involved with Sang Hongyang were not as fortunate as those of the seed merchants. If they could intervene at the right time, they might be able to take over some industries at a low price, thus moving into Chang'an City without needing to purchase a house.