Zhu Di nervously met with envoys from various countries, either beating them or comforting them, using both soft and hard tactics. Needless to say, his methods were clever.
In fact, even if it were not Zhu Di, but a mediocre emperor, with so many cards in hand, he might not be able to play well. So Xu Jingchang just played perfunctory, that's all.
His main focus now is on how to guide Beiping's industry.
With so many businesses, it is not easy to sell them at a good price, and it is even more difficult to run them properly after they are sold.
"Dong Guogong, I feel a little regretful now." Xia Yuanji muttered. He took out a list. This is the land at Tianjin Port. According to the previous estimate, the total price was 500,000 taels and sold to King Qi.
Zhu Shu.
But after getting this guy, he actually opened a casino, recruited people, and placed bets... It happened that Tianjin was going to hold a riding and archery competition for warriors from various countries, which was the most ready-made event.
Zhu Shu directly used this to attract bets.
"I just read the newspaper. There is a Mongol warrior who has won seventeen games in a row and swept all the countries. The money bet on him alone is as much as seventy or eighty thousand taels. This is the first time I know. It turns out that
There are so many rich people in the world!"
Xia Yuanji sighed. It turned out that he could see that this casino alone had more than five hundred thousand taels.
Not to mention the goods coming and going at the wharf, there are so many restaurants and inns, freight yards and residences... In a word, Xia Yuanji made a loss on the sale.
Even though he repeatedly warned himself to be careful, he still neglected it.
"Mr. Dingguo, I now doubt your Strategic Consulting Society. How did you evaluate it? Could it be that you colluded with the King of Qi to take advantage of the imperial court?"
Xu Jingchang gave him a big eye roll, "Am I out of my mind and destroying my own sign? Don't be so petty. We have to put a long line to catch big fish and don't let the leeks grow first. What's wrong with the leeks?"
Xia Yuanji chuckled: "Do you think all the kings are leeks?"
"Isn't it?"
Xia Yuanji hummed: "I have never seen such fat leeks in my life! Their whole bodies are covered with oil and water!"
Xu Jingchang asked curiously: "Is this really true?"
Xia Yuanji took out several more lists for Xu Jingchang to look at.
In addition to the port and wharf allocated to the King of Qi, the King of Liao received 30% of the Liaodong gold mine, and also got the timber business. The court sold it to him for 350,000 taels. Fortunately, Xia Yuanji kept a hand. This is not permanent.
The contract only lasts for seven years.
But even so, Xia Yuanji felt that he had suffered a big loss.
Because the first batch of pinewood from Liaodong had just been delivered, the King of Liao made a profit of eighteen thousand taels.
Is that wood?
It’s just gold and silver!
Compared to these two princes, the really powerful one was Chu King Zhu Zhen. He did not rob anything, but invested 200,000 taels in setting up a kiln in Kaipingwei to bake porcelain.
Kaipingwei is located near Tangshan in later generations. There is an amazing amount of kaolin here, which is very suitable for firing porcelain. Most of the high-end porcelain in later generations came from Jingdezhen and other places, but Tangshan shipped a large amount of ordinary porcelain.
Chu King Zhu Zhen took a fancy to this and set up a kiln factory in Kaipingwei... The first batch of porcelain was sold out before it even left the factory.
Some people even directly put down deposits and asked to purchase the next batch of goods.
There is no way, the gap is too big.
On the grassland, apart from cattle, sheep and horses, the most lacking thing is ordinary daily necessities. In addition to tea and salt, they are pots, bowls and pans.
They invaded and robbed, and often plundered these household items.
Thinking about a group of people going through a lot of effort to rush into a city and fortress just to carry a big pot back, the scene is simply not too beautiful.
What's even more fun is that after this person goes back, he will be envied by countless people. It seems that this is not just funny.
This is the market, this is wealth!
I have to say that Zhu Zhen caught it very accurately.
He established a kiln factory in the north, and the Jurchens, Mongols, and even the Semu people... all coveted it and purchased it one after another.
Zhu Zhen knew very well that the things he burned were naturally inferior to those in Jingdezhen, so the price was slightly lower.
But Mongolians don’t pay too much attention to things. They just want things to be practical, high-quality and cheap.
What's even better is that the travel expenses for transporting porcelain from the south to the north are higher than the cost.
Producing nearby in the north saves travel expenses. Even if the selling price is lower, the profit margin is more than 30% higher than shipping porcelain from the south!
"Everyone, please work harder. Within three years, everyone on the grassland will be able to use Kaiping porcelain!"
Zhu Zhen was full of pride... Among many vassal kings, he was both talented and honest. King Zhu Zhen of Zhou unceremoniously entrusted his share of money to him and asked his sixth brother to help make money.
.
"I said, Lao Liu, do you have any plans?" Zhu Ru asked curiously.
Zhu Zhen hummed: "Fifth brother, let me say that we have all been deceived by Xu Jingchang."
"Lied? What did he lie to? I think he is quite honest."
"Humph!" Zhu Zhen snorted: "He was selected from honest people! What he said at the beginning was that we should set up a bank, a dock, some inns and restaurants, and a fleet of ships. That's all.
It’s all about giving up the basics, and you can only drink soup and not eat meat!”
"Then what is meat?" Zhu Ru asked curiously.
Zhu Zhen said loudly: "This meat is a real thing. For example, in the kiln I opened, the porcelain fired is just waiting to be counted. I plan to spend another 200,000 taels to expand the kiln... By the way
Take away the work of burning bricks and tiles, and you see, Tianjin City will be built and Peking will be expanded, I guarantee that I can make a fortune."
Zhu Tie thought for a moment and nodded vigorously, "Well done. I fully support it. Sixth brother goes ahead and does it."
Zhu Zhen said again: "Fifth brother, I have considered it. In fact, we can be more generous and accept the Mongolians' direct exchange for livestock."
Zhu Rui was startled, "Is that okay? Don't lose money!"
Zhu Zhen laughed loudly, "What's the loss? I exchange ten bowls for a sheep, and twenty plates for a cow. With the livestock, I will open up farmland and grow food. It just so happens that I have so many craftsmen under me, and they want to eat
I want to drink. I will build a farm to produce my own grain and raise my own livestock. Fifth brother, do you know that according to the rules of the court, if you transport grain from the south, you still have to pay taxes. But if you produce it around Peking, you can produce it yourself.
Selling by myself, there is no tax at all. This alone has saved me a lot of money."
Zhu Zhen sighed: "Now I can see more and more clearly that the King of Han relied on this method to accumulate huge wealth. As long as you give me some time, I can compete with him."
Zhu Xi was horrified.
Everyone knew that Zhu Gaoxu was as wealthy as his country. Unexpectedly, Zhu Zhen had the confidence to surpass him. He was really ambitious.
"Sixth brother, fifth brother is not as capable as you, I only know how to spend money."
Zhu Zhen smiled and said, "Fifth Brother, you don't have to worry about this. As long as my little brother gets rich, you can spend it however you want. I'm not a stingy person. As long as Fifth Brother can reward me and provide convenience, that's fine."
Zhu Ju was puzzled, "What kind of convenience do you want me to provide?"
Zhu Zhen smiled and said, "You are in medical school. If you publish any more books, can you put your younger brother's name on it?"
Zhu Shu was stunned for a while, then smiled and said: "So you are greedy for fame?"
Zhu Zhen said calmly: "With the word fame and fortune, who can stay out of it?"
Zhu Xi nodded, "Okay, Fifth Brother has taken note of it and will give you a editor-in-chief when the time comes."
"Then I'll thank Fifth Brother in advance."
…
"At present, the properties of the kings are spreading one after another, and the imperial court has successively obtained as much as eight million taels of money from them. In addition, a lot of money was sold to merchants, which also amounted to five million taels. This adds up to
There are thirteen million taels." Xia Yuanji calculated happily, "If we add in the Changlu Saltworks, the land tax from those farms, and other taxes, the annual income in Peiping this year can exceed 20 million taels."
Xu Jingchang still listened, but Xia Yuanji could no longer hold back, "Do you understand? Twenty million taels! This is already more than Yingtian's annual income. When I first arrived in Peking, I made such great achievements. I really manage money.
Master, I'm just waiting to see Jian Yi, I will make him ashamed."
Xu Jingchang chuckled, is this your credit?
It's obviously me who laid the foundation for you, okay?
But who told me to be more generous and not argue with you.
"Then I would like to congratulate Xia Shangshu in advance. This time you are better than Jian Tianguan!"
Xia Yuanji frowned slightly, then smiled and said: "I know that this matter is inseparable from Duke Ding's full help. Tell me, what are your requests? I will help you to the end and I will never break my promise."
Xu Jingchang thought about it seriously, and it seemed that he really had nothing to say.
"Okay, I'll keep this favor in mind, and I'll come back to you, Brother Xia, when I need it later."
Xu Jingchang was really relieved. Everything in Peiping was on the right track, and there were not many places where he really needed to be busy... Over in Tianjin, the competitions between various departments were in full swing, and he was not very interested.
Xu Jingchang looked around and suddenly found that he was very busy, but he didn't really like being busy, but he was afraid that if he stopped, he would become idle.
That way, he wouldn't feel his own existence... After all, he still had a little bit of the loneliness of a time traveler.
But all these things become different as a little life grows up day by day.
The daughter-in-law's belly is getting bigger and bigger, and the naughty little thing is becoming more and more active, constantly tossing in the mother's belly.
At first glance, he looks naughty.
Xu Jingchang counted and looked forward to it, and the day of his birth was getting closer and closer.
On this day, as soon as he came back from outside, he found Queen Xu waiting here.
"Auntie, why are you here?"
Empress Xu laughed and said, "You asked me why I came here? Can't I come here and be my aunt?"
Xu Jingchang was a little surprised and couldn't help but said: "You, the old man, came to deliver the baby in person? I'm afraid it's inappropriate!"
Empress Xu hummed: "There is nothing wrong. Our Xu family finally has a new member of the family. I have given birth to children and know what to do."
As he was talking, the maid suddenly ran over and the lady felt abdominal pain.
Queen Xu stood up hurriedly, and Xu Jingchang subconsciously stood up and followed him out...
