Zheng Tongquan smiled and nodded, "The day after tomorrow, the third day of the twelfth lunar month, please tell my nephew to the Lu Mansion that at exactly the right time in the morning, I will go to the Lu Mansion to deliver the betrothal gift, and we can discuss the financial gift and the wedding date together."
"Uncle, as for financial gifts, I can give you up to 20,000 bolts of silk."
Zheng Tongquan smiled and waved his hand, "It's too many. There is no need to provide 20,000 pieces of silk. You are the Duke of the country. Let's follow the rules of the Duke's marriage. Five thousand pieces of silk are enough. This is 5,000 pieces of money!"
"My nephew doesn't know much about it. I'll let my uncle make the final decision."
........
Zheng Ping saw Chen Qing out of the door. He hesitated and said, "There is a business, are you interested?"
The Song Dynasty was the most tolerant dynasty towards business. Almost all relatives of the emperor and court ministers were involved in business. Even the emperor and concubines were doing business.
Chen Qing is not averse to doing business at all. If he hadn't needed money before, he would have invested in Huyan's restaurant.
"Tell me, what's the business?"
"You know our family is in the medicinal materials business, and then my eldest brother inherited the medicinal materials business, and then my family started a liquor business. The court gave me a liquor license and my second brother ran it. My father has always felt ashamed of me and kept saying
If you want to give me a business that can be inherited by my children and grandchildren, I was unwilling before, but after I had my son, my mentality changed a bit, and I think it would be good to have a business..."
"Wait a minute!"
Chen Qing quickly interrupted him, widened his eyes and asked, "Is it possible that you don't want to join the army anymore?"
"No! I don't have to worry about the specific business. The same goes for my eldest brother and second brother. There are more than a dozen big stewards in our family, and they are usually run by the big stewards. There is a special accounting room for supervision. I just invest the money and distribute the profits.
, after all, my father now has an identity and can no longer hang out in shopping malls like before."
Chen Qing understood that this was a professional manager model, with the big manager responsible for the operation, and the Zheng family just hiding behind the scenes as investors. It is estimated that other royal relatives did this.
"What kind of business does your father want you to do?"
“The spice business!”
Chen Qing's eyes lit up. This was a huge profit. He had to go overseas to Nanyang to buy spices! But the investment was not small.
"Why did you think of letting me participate?" Chen Qingxiao asked.
"The main reason is that I don't have enough capital!"
Zheng Ping said frankly: "When you mentioned 20,000 bolts of silk just now, I suddenly thought of it."
"Your father doesn't give you enough money?"
Zheng Ping shook his head: "My father treated the three brothers equally, and only gave them 20,000 gu in capital, but that was not enough for the spice business. They usually started with 50,000 guan. They had to buy ships, warehouses, hire people, and join the maritime industry.
The Chamber of Commerce then purchases goods and pays taxes, which costs a lot of money, but the profits are also huge."
Chen Qing asked curiously: "What is the Maritime Chamber of Commerce?"
"It is a chamber of commerce organized voluntarily by merchants. The chamber of commerce has warships and hundreds of warriors with high martial arts skills who specialize in dealing with pirates. Then everyone goes to sea at a time and is protected by the warriors of the Maritime Chamber of Commerce. It costs 2,000 yuan to join the maritime chamber of commerce. Every time you go to sea,
You also need to pay an additional amount of protection money, which is about a thousand guan."
Chen Qing nodded, "I understand, how much do I need to pay?"
"If you can contribute twenty-five thousand dollars, each of us will gain half the profit and share the risks. Of course, the premise is that you must trust me."
"How could I not trust you? It just so happened that the government also rewarded me with five thousand taels of silver. I will give you these five thousand taels of silver, even if I take advantage of you."
Chen Qing knew well that it was not only capital that could make money, but the most important thing was channels. Where to buy spices and who to sell them to, all depended on the Zheng family's connections. He took advantage of this.
Zheng Ping chuckled, "Trust is trust, we still have to settle the accounts openly as brothers. You give me the money, we write a contract, and then form a trading company. I have already thought of the name of the trading company, each taking one word from our names.
, how about calling it Qingping Trading Company?"
"Call Pingqing!"
"No! If you think of a good name for my son, I'll give it to you."
Chen Qing still shook his head. He had already taken advantage of it. Even if Zheng Ping didn't care about the name of this business, his father would definitely care about it and he must hand over the naming rights to him.
"Let's do this! If your son is really called Zheng Cheng, then the business firm will be called Cheng Qing Hang."
Putting his son's name first, Zheng Ping of course stopped being modest, "Okay! I will listen to you. No matter what, my son's name will be Zheng Cheng!"
...........
After getting on the carriage, Chen Qing returned to the mansion. At this time, he finally came to his senses. Even if Zheng Ping didn't have enough capital, he could borrow it from his father and brother! With the wealth of the Zheng family, there was no need to invest by himself.
More importantly, it is not Zheng Ping's decision to involve himself in the major events of the Zheng family's business empire. Even if Zheng Ping is hot-headed, he must get his father's consent. How could he make a hasty decision in a short period of time?
Chen Qing understood that this must be what Zheng Ping's father meant. By letting him join the Zheng family's business empire, he was deeply tied to himself. It could also be said that the Zheng family was investing in his future.
The backstage of the Zheng family was Empress Dowager Zheng, but Empress Dowager Zheng's biological brother was dead. Zheng Tongquan was only kind to Empress Dowager Zheng, not his brother. In addition, Empress Dowager Zheng was already in a semi-monastic state in order to avoid Empress Dowager Wei's jealousy.
He lives deep in Guanyin Temple.
Apart from being rich, Zheng Tongquan, the nominal uncle of the state, actually does not have a high status in Lin'an. As a businessman, it is normal to seek asylum, but does Zheng Tongquan think too highly of himself?
Thinking of this, Chen Qing couldn't help but laugh secretly.
.........
In Qin Hui's Prime Minister's Mansion, the housekeeper sent a man in black to a passenger ship at the Qin Mansion's dedicated pier, and watched the ship go away.
The housekeeper hurried to the yard of Qin Hui's study, bowed and said, "Master, I have already left."
"I understand, thank you for your hard work, please step back!"
The butler bowed and withdrew.
Qin Hui returned to the study, opened the letter sent to him by the man in black, and hurriedly read it again, feeling disturbed in the letter.
The man in black was Wan Yanchang's messenger and was ordered to deliver a letter written by Wan Yanchang to Qin Hui. Although Wan Yanchang did not come to Lin'an this time, his ghost still lingered and he followed Chen Qing back.
"master!"
Qin Hui's wife, Wang, appeared at the door of the study, holding a cup of ginseng tea in her hand.
She walked into the room, put the ginseng tea on the table, and said with a faint smile: "I wonder who wrote the letter to the master?"
Wang received the report from the maid, and the master brought a messenger to the study and sent the butler to secretly send him away.
This made Ms. Wang suspicious. She suspected that her husband's ex-wife, Ms. Lin, sent someone to deliver the letter, otherwise her husband would not be so sneaky.
There has always been a thorn in Wang's heart, that is, her husband's ex-wife and two sons. Before Qin Hui won the first prize in the exam, he was married and had a wife and two sons.
After passing the imperial examination, he was favored by the former Prime Minister Wang Gui and betrothed his granddaughter to him. Qin Hui divorced his ex-wife and married his current wife Wang. With the Wang family's connections and financial support, Qin Hui was able to prosper in officialdom.
Step by step he entered the imperial court.
But the problem is that the Wang family is infertile, so they have to adopt the illegitimate son of their elder brother Wang Huan as their adopted son, named Qin Xi, who is only thirteen years old this year.
Of course Mrs. Wang knew that her adopted son could never be as good as her biological son. She had been watching every move of her husband. As long as she was still the mistress, her husband would never bring her two sons home.
Qin Hui didn't know what his wife was thinking. He sighed, "Talan sent someone to deliver a letter to me again."
Wang's slender eyebrows raised, "Is it because of Chen Qing?"
Qin Hui was startled, "How do you know?"
"Hmph! The dignified Imperial Guard Army doesn't care about world affairs, so what's the point of paying attention to a young general of the Song Dynasty all day long?"
"Things are not as simple as you think, but tell me first, how do you know that the content of the letter is about Chen Qing?"
Wang said after a while: "The Queen Mother also received a letter."
Qin Hui's eyes widened, "The Queen Mother still has contact with the Kingdom of Jin?"
Mrs. Wang didn't take her husband's surprise seriously and said coldly: "Husband, please don't make such a fuss. She gave birth to two sons in the Kingdom of Jin. How could she not care?"
Qin Hui shook his head secretly. These women were just stupid and could not see the seriousness of the matter. Moreover, his wife did not tell him such an important thing.
Qin Hui said after a while: "Next time she receives a letter, you have to tell me immediately."
Mrs. Wang said impatiently: "I understand, husband, what else do you want to ask?"
Qin Hui then asked her, "I want to know who wrote the letter the Queen Mother received and what did it say?"