Guo Kang and Wu Han obviously had hidden purposes for displaying these devices. Sun Shiwan's family is rich and he has contacts with wealthy businessmen from many countries. If he can be persuaded to invest money, he will definitely be able to obtain more abundant funds.

But Sun Shiwan is also a shrewd person. After so many years in business, Sun Shiwan can easily see what they are thinking. With emotion, he still refused to invest in the steam shrine, and tactfully told Guo Kang that unless

He can clearly find an application area where the benefits exceed the costs, otherwise businessmen will not be interested in this thing.

Moreover, a little higher is not enough, it must be at least several times higher to ensure that after covering costs and various expenses, it can still provide a high enough profit rate so that everyone is willing to spend money and energy to replace the equipment.

"You don't know how difficult it is to do business." Sun Shiwan sighed with emotion: "Everyone knows that we are rich, but they don't know how risky our business is. On the sea, anything is possible, and these dangers should not require me.

Let me go into details. Even the workshops on land are not much better."

"To be honest, with Java and Borneo, we feel guilty if we want to compete with the Ming Dynasty. We can persist until now because the Ming Dynasty has no strength, or cannot use its full strength." He shook his head and said.

: "You should also know their bulk trade methods."

"When they are trading with other foreign businessmen, the prices and quotas of imported and exported goods are all rigidly designated by the court. Now the smuggling control is getting stricter and stricter, and the scale is no longer comparable to before. Let's go buy goods.

, they all have to rely on small puppet countries in the name of paying tribute."

"If this idea can fully realize the ideal state, it will probably build a... worldwide command and trade system." Guo Kang thought for a while and said.

"This word is quite appropriate." Sun Shiwan was stunned for a moment, then nodded: "In this environment, we have no chance to compete with the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Tianping moved his fingers and priced the silk exported during tribute.

, cut it in half, and it will crush us to death."

"Of course, no one has done this yet. In my opinion, it is also because the Ming Dynasty is too big. The huge size increases their strength, but it also increases the number of forces within them."

"In order to lower the bid, this part of the cost must be shared by someone. It is unrealistic to rely on the emperor's internal treasury to pay it all. But if it is allocated to the household department or to the local government, no matter where it is allocated, some people will not be happy. According to past experience, in the end, either

Water is pumped out layer by layer, putting multiple times of pressure on the craftsmen, or the merchants have to pay for it themselves."

"There is actually something important about which merchant pays the money. Anyway, in the end, it is basically not shared equally among the merchants, but a few unlucky ones are ruined. Not only are the others fine, but they can also take the opportunity to carve up their property." Sun

Shiwan sneered and said: "As for who the government will bankrupt and who it will make rich, it depends on how the bosses at different levels play out the game."

"I said that governing a big country is like cooking small fish, which means that the bigger the country is, the more it is like frying small fish. It cannot be tossed over and over frequently. If the court can disturb the people as little as possible, it should try not to toss it. When the country was big, it was like frying small fish.

This is how the Han Dynasty prospered. On the contrary, if a policy comes out of nowhere, or even is inconsistent, the people will definitely be disturbed. At least it will tire the officials and the people, but at worst it will make people unclear about the court's ability to implement the policy, and even question the court's ability to implement the policy.

Credibility.”

"You know, even if you want to implement good governance, you have to pay great attention to methods and strategies. In the Northern Song Dynasty, don't everyone know the outcome of Wang Xianggong's New Deal?" He gave an example.

"It's too difficult to achieve 'doing nothing without doing anything'. Since the Song and Yuan Dynasties, most officials have not even reached the threshold of understanding it, and they don't even know what should be done and what should not be done." Guo Kang shook his head and said.

: "Master Sun's request is too high."

"Hi. Back then, the old man in my family advised me not to delay my studies while running a business. So I found a husband to follow me every day and tell me historical stories of past dynasties every day." Sun Shiwan said with a smile: "I still remember it now.

, Mr. When talking about the Jin Dynasty, he first said that Emperor Hui of Jin was a fool; but later he said that ten years before he came to power, Yan Ran in China was known as the 'Yuankang Rule' in history."

"I was still very surprised at the time. I thought this old guy was talking nonsense, how could a fool govern the world. But he said that the world is not governed by the emperor, and does not need to be governed by the emperor. The emperor only needs to let the right people do the right things, and then what?

Don't mess around, that's enough."

"Although Emperor Hui of Jin was a fool, at least he was kind-hearted, and he knew who was good to him and who he should be good to. Look at those normal kings, how many of them have this kind of quality?"

He said helplessly: "A fool can surpass more than half of the kings. So what do the kings do? So, these stories are sometimes really hard to evaluate."

"You see, this thing left a really deep impression on me." He shook his head and said, "I'm not an old scholar, and I still can't remember many historical allusions. But as for this example, I still remember it to this day.

Clearly."

"From this point of view, Zhu Tianping and Hehan are also self-aware." Wu Han commented: "And having said that, there is no way to do this. Not everyone can be like his father, who always attacks opponents.

."

"That's for sure." Sun Shiwan curled his lips: "If the emperors of the Ming Dynasty had this level, we probably wouldn't be able to survive for several generations."

"In this situation, it's not easy for us anymore." He pointed to the gorgeous clothes on his body: "Why do you think I came out wearing this?"

"This is..." Wu Han didn't react for a moment.

"This is not clothes, this is a sign." Sun Shiwan explained: "I don't want to dress like a rich man who has never seen the market. This bright red and green dress is too flashy for little girls. But I myself

Wearing it when going out is the best sign. Look at those Greek nobles, their eyes are straight - this is what they want."

"Let them all know that our Javanese silk is no worse than Ming silk, so that we can open up the market." He shook his sleeves and said.

"Then your advantageous products..." Guo Kang thought for a moment and suddenly realized: "Oh, no wonder you buy so many slaves every year."

"Yes, our only advantage is that slaves are not valuable." Sun Shiwan nodded in agreement: "In other industries, to be honest, it is difficult to surpass the Ming Dynasty. Only in terms of growing Nanyang specialties, our plantations have a huge

The cost advantage. We are confident in this aspect that they will not be able to defeat us in the short term."

"That's it." Wu Han also wanted to understand.

"Hey, after seeing these exhibits today, I became a little impassioned. I said so much at once." At the end, Sun Shiwan said: "How much older is Sun than you? You two can just listen to the experience of someone who has been there."

Well. This is my compensation for not being able to help you with money."

Guo Kang and Wu Han quickly cupped their hands, saying that he was too polite.

Although the best result is that he waved his hand and said, "I, Sun Shiwan, have invested in this project!", the two of them also knew that this was actually impossible.

As a well-known big businessman, Sun Shiwan is indeed very rich, but this does not mean that he will spend it arbitrarily. On the contrary, he is very sensitive to input and output, and the two of them cannot fool him with this display.

However, although he did not invest money in Steam after all, he also expressed his opinions very frankly. The requirements he made and the directions he believed needed improvement were similar to Guo Kang's understanding of history. This is indeed a businessman, according to

The most reasonable judgment that experience can make.

As for the current toy-like device, asking others to invest in you is not very convincing after all. Whether it is the Central Plains or Europe, the government or businessmen, they will only regard it as a useless gimmick. Even in this world

, only religious organizations can persist in investing in something that seems to have no practicality.

For the time being, we can only let the Niangniang Temple continue to allocate money under the banner of religious supplies. Otherwise, the adoptive mother may think that he is too wasteful of family wealth.

——The adoptive father doesn't care about this, and will support him to play casually without hesitation. Anyway, it won't delay other things much. Unfortunately, the family money is not under his control...
Chapter completed!