As November approaches, the weather is getting colder and colder.

Xiangyang is warmer than Chang'an, but it is still in the north after all. Cui Yingying is more afraid of the cold and the kang has already burned in the house.

The autumn wind brought a bit of bleakness to Xiangyang. Last time the emperor was angry and confiscated more than 100 large households in Xiangfan, the daytime in Xiangyang City was still noisy and lively, but at night, it was very quiet. The official curfew order became more and more strict. At night, everyone stayed at home honestly, and even in the yard, they rarely went out.

As soon as dusk comes, everyone hurried home, and some shops in each shop have changed their habit of closing early. Now, even in the shops, there is no shop that can be opened at night.

There is nothing important, and everyone will not visit relatives and friends at will, especially those local wealthy households, who are scared. If they are suspected of being accused of conspiring for chaos at that time, they will be killed by mistake, but there is no place to cry and be wrongly accused of being wronged.

Li Chao likes autumn very much. The red leaves in autumn, the yellow grass in autumn, and the bleakness in autumn also have a different kind of beauty. However, this year's autumn is definitely not beautiful. Everyone is worried about what they eat all day long, digging wild vegetables, kura roots, and loaches to catch voles and even snakes and geckos.

The Li family did not lack food, but Li Chao, as the prime minister and a rank of Shandong Dongdao, had to worry about the treacherous 8 million people.

There is no banquet or poetry singing at night.

Li Chao occasionally teaches students, and often spends time with his wives and concubines and teasing his children.

Therefore, his relationship with his wives and concubines became closer, and even his children became more familiar with him. Now that his wives and concubines are in Xiangyang, Li Chao still takes turns to accompany his wives and concubines like when he was in Chang'an.

As a big wife, Cui Yingying spends more time here.

There were candles in the house, which were made of good whale oil, and were mixed with sperm whale ambergris. The candles were smokeless, bright and emitted an excellent smell.

Such candles are tributes from the southeast coast and were specially given to Li Chao by Li Shimin.

It is said that ambergris is condensed by the saliva flowing down by the dragon king in the sea when he sleeps. In fact, this thing is not so magical. Li Chao knew very clearly that ambergris is a product of indigestion in the whales of whales that like to eat octopus and squid. Sperm whales like to eat octopus and squid, but they cannot digest their cobalms. These hard cobalms will be fixed in the intestines of squids and whales, and will be spit out after a certain period of time.

The ambergris that just spit out is actually black and soft, and it is very unpleasant.

Only after the sun, air and sea water are washed for years will it become harder and lighter, with a special fragrance. If fishermen are lucky enough to pick up a piece, they will be really rich and more expensive than gold.

Cui Yingying sat in front of the dressing mirror at the head of the bed to remove her makeup. She couldn't help but chuckled when she heard Li Chao's origin of ambergris so mysterious.

"I don't believe what you are talking nonsense. This ambergris is actually the feces of whales?"

Li Chao held a banknote in his hand, lying on the bed, watching casually.

"You really don't have to doubt this. If you don't believe it, you have the chance to kill sperm whales and have a great chance to get ambergris. However, the ones taken out by killing whales are smelly and cannot be used. After a long period of rinsing, the lighter the color, the better the ambergris, but the longer it takes. The best white ambergris often takes hundreds of years."

Cui Yingying heard it half-believing and half-doubting.

Ambergris has always been so expensive, not tight because it is very fragrant. It also has the word "Dragon" and is said to be the Dragon King's ambergris, which is so expensive. If it is just feces from the stools in the whale's intestines, then can this be valuable?

But she immediately thought of another question.

"If ambergris is really a condensation in the whale's intestines, then we can make countless profits by sending people to hunt these whales at sea and then picking them up?"

Ambergris is more expensive than gold. After the coastal people obtain ambergris, they will be collected at a high price. After processing them into ambergris, they will be tributed to the emperor as tribute. The emperor uses it in the palace and rewards it to ministers and relatives. Most people not only cannot afford it but are not qualified to use it.

"You forgot that ambergris must be rinsed for decades or even hundreds of years before they can become fragrant. It is not possible to kill whales and take them out of their stomachs."

"But it will become a precious thing in a few decades. Besides, there should be some ways to speed it up. Even if it doesn't work, it will be more expensive than gold after decades. Isn't this the same as planting gold?" Cui Ying became more and more excited as she thought about it. She took off her earrings, twisted her bed, leaned against Li Chao and said.

"What you said is indeed a good idea, but whaling is not that easy."

"What's the hard way? You don't need me to catch it. We just need to choose a reliable manager, and then take the money to the coast to recruit experienced fishermen, buy and build a good whaling ship, and then chase and hunt whales."

Whaling ship, whaling team.

Cui Yingying's words surprised Li Chao a little. This is indeed a good way. In some ways, the value of ambergris is expensive, comparable to diamonds, and not easy to depreciate. Even if the ambergris obtained from the newly hunted whales cannot be used immediately, its value is there, so this thing can not only retain its value, but also resell it. This is like a very strong stock, and there are always people who are willing to acquire it.

Take a step back.

Not to mention the value of ambergris, whaling itself makes money as well.

The oil of whales is a good material for making lamp oil and candles. The lamp oil produced is of good quality and high quality, and has good market sales. Furthermore, whale bone, whale, baleen, whale skin is also a very valuable material.

Li Chao thought about it, if the whale meat was used and made into canned whales and brought back, it would be even more perfect.

As long as you can really organize an experienced whaling team and go out to sea to catch whales, you will only make money but not lose money no matter how you look at it. No one knows the secret of ambergris, which is more and more valuable.

"We can find our adoptive father and Cheng Bo and others to get more whaling ships and get a large whaling team."

Cui Yingying is used to everything her husband does, and she likes to bring a large group of people. In fact, the Li family can do many things by themselves.

However, Cui Yingying didn't say anything. She got used to it and understood her husband better. If she was in someone else's house, she might regard her as a treasure. But in the eyes of her husband, these are nothing, and they are not as good as her connections.

That's right, the Li family has made good connections everywhere in recent years and has established excellent connections and has led everyone to make money. How can we still say bad things about the Li family? We will definitely help when we can help, and we will definitely say good things when we should say good things.

"Whaling ship, oil refining workshop and canning workshop, I think whaling has great potential." Li Chao smiled and proposed the most professional method of whaling ships to Cui Yingying.

Build a large whaling ship and build a workshop for whale oil refining on the ship, so that the caught whales can be directly refined on the ship, making them easier to preserve and can be left outside for a longer time.

In the 16th and 7th century, European whaling ships often went to sea for one or two years or even two or three years before returning to the port. They had to load all the whale oil on the ship before returning. After a full trip, they could make a fortune. Many whaling ships went to sea in fact, in which the merchants and people of the port shared their shares to buy fishing boat tools, etc. The captain and crew were the ones they invited, but they also took the share as a reward.

This business form made the whaling industry extremely prosperous at that time.

Li Chao planned to bring in a group of nobles, such as Qin Qiongcheng Yaojin Luo Shixin Niu Jinda Shan Xiongxin, and other people, all of which are family friends. They work together to contribute money and work together, and hire fishermen and sailors to build whaling ships, and then go out to sea to catch whales.

Whaling and refining oil, making canned food, bringing back whale skin, whale bones, whale baleen.

Well, you can also invest in the construction of shipyards and whale oil processing plants by yourself. This is done well, but it is a big industry. Especially for now, if whale meat can be made into canned food and brought back, it will also be very valuable and popular.

"How come you always think of so many ways to make money in your mind!" Cui Yingying admired her husband very much.

Just like that disaster relief lottery.

This is actually the husband's idea.

"By the way, we have established a charity relief association. I am the chairman. All the wives are directors. Now they are preparing to recruit new members. Everyone also said that they would like to invite you to be an honorary president!"

Li Chao covered the book, put it aside, and lie down in a more comfortable position.

"What are you guys who have done the relief party? What are my masters involved in?"

"Everyone knows that you have the idea of ​​this lottery, and they all say that you want to be the president and give us advice."

"Give me aside, I won't get involved in your affairs. In fact, this president has a more suitable person. You can invite the Queen to be the honorary president. If you invite this great Buddha to come out, your relief club will definitely achieve great things in the future."

It is also good to ask Cui Yingying and the others to do this relief club. It is much better than burning incense and worshiping Buddha. Originally, Cui Yingying was preparing to serve porridge, but serving porridge was too simple. Since she wanted to do something, Li Chao would give her a plan and just make it bigger.

"The idea of ​​lottery is quite good, why doesn't the court use it?" Cui Yingying asked.

Li Chao smiled, stretched out his hand and stroked his wife's tight thighs, "The lottery has obvious gambling elements. Of course, the imperial court cannot openly promote this kind of lottery. Wouldn't it be that the people around the world are gambling so that everyone can get it for nothing? Furthermore, issuing lottery tickets is actually mainly to those rich people, so they have money. If the imperial court issues lottery tickets to the rich people, these people will probably think it is a levy, and there are definitely few who are willing to buy it. If it weren't for the official work, these people wouldn't have this concern."

"Madam, it's getting late, so let's not talk about this anymore. Let's go to bed early." Li Chao moved his hand up and blew out the light with a smile!
Chapter completed!