Outsiders don't know the detailed accounts of Jubaozhai, but they only guess that Jubaozhai may have received four to five million taels of silver, but Emperor Wanli knows the exact number! So during this period, he was crazy happy, and he was so happy every day! But there was also one day
The matter was very unhappy, and even made him feel depressed day by day. That is when Emperor Wanli learned that there were already 200,000 taels of silver in his account, he issued an order to the Ministry of Industry and asked them to start
Acquire land and build a martial arts hall. But the people from the Ministry of Industry used various reasons to shirk it and never took any action!
This reminded Emperor Wanli of what Liu Haojia said to him: "This money is not so easy to get! Your Majesty must resist it! Otherwise, not only will this silver not be kept, I'm afraid you won't even be able to keep the secret recipe of the mirror! What's more important is that
, if the civil servants succeed this time, they will be even more arrogant and will intensify their efforts to suppress His Majesty!"
When Emperor Wanli remembered these words, he was already on alert. So when he went to court, he not only began to observe the movements of courtiers, but also often sent eunuchs to the streets to inquire about some news. During this period, he also sent Zhang Jia out of the palace.
Met with Liu Haojia.
Some time ago, Zhang Jia brought back news that Liu Haojia guessed that when the sales of mirrors dropped, it would be the time for the courtiers to take action! In the past few days, although there were still people buying mirrors at Jubaozhai, the people had changed.
Very rare!
Moreover, the shopkeeper of Jubaozhai went around looking for people to negotiate and wanted to sell the mirror to other cities through other businessmen, but they were all rejected by the other parties! Emperor Wanli understood that these people were waiting to see if Gu Ningbo Mansion could keep the mirror. If they could,
They will naturally come to discuss business; if they cannot hold on, they will discuss business with the successor, and there will be no loss anyway.
Things were just as Emperor Wanli had guessed. Huge profits triggered huge greed. Many courtiers had long been salivating over the huge profits of mirrors! Both civil servants and nobles had been estimating the sales of mirrors.
It is best to decide whether to compete based on sales volume, or how much effort to compete for!
However, Zhang Juzheng and others who knew the inside story kept silent, so that everyone outside now thought that the mirror was a business of Gu Ningbo's house. So Liu Haojia told him that the civil and military officials would use him to attack Jubaozhai. As for the Jubaozhai,
Whoever the Zhai falls into depends on his or her ability! So when Emperor Wanli knew that the sales of mirrors were declining, he knew that something would happen in the court soon!
This made Emperor Wanli extremely anxious! Because he knew how tempting such a large sum of money was! You know, the Ming Dynasty's annual tax revenue was only a few million taels of silver, but Liu Haojia got 600,000 taels of silver in two months.
This was an astronomical figure at the time! So he was impatient and had to go out of the palace again to ask Liu Haojia for advice.
This time Emperor Wanli met Liu Haojia not at his Gu Ningbo's house, but at Jubaozhai. Because Emperor Wanli felt that as one of the owners of Jubaozhai, and the big owner, he had never been to the store once.
It's a pity that I naturally have to take a look around when I go out this time.
When Emperor Wanli brought Zhang Jia to Jubaozhai, Liu Haojia was already waiting in front of the door. When he saw that Emperor Wanli was dressed in casual clothes, he did not pay homage. He just cupped his hands like a normal friend and led Emperor Wanli into the gate.
After entering the gate, Emperor Wanli looked around curiously and found that there were not many types of products. He could only see a dozen products, and they were all small mirrors. Such as hand-held mirrors, round mirrors, and dressing box mirrors.
Something like that. Each type of mirror has a separate counter, which makes the hall look very empty.
After reading it, Emperor Wanli curled his lips and felt that the display on this floor was a bit shabby. Liu Haojia explained from the side: "Long live Lord, after all, this mirror is just a single object, and there are not many categories that can be developed. Especially large items.
They are all on the second floor, so the first floor seems a little thinner!”
Emperor Wanli nodded and said: "I understand, go upstairs and have a look!"
Several people went up to the second floor. Emperor Wanli saw that although there were large mirrors and large items such as dressing tables, they still did not take up much space. This made Emperor Wanli feel a little boring.
interest.
Liu Haojia knew that his mind was not on Jubaozhai, so he led him directly to the inner clean room. After he personally served tea to Emperor Wanli and the two, he said: "Long live Lord, you are here for the sake of money, right?"
Emperor Wanli said: "After Liu Aiqing talked to me last time, I was extremely upset! So when I came this time, I wanted to discuss with Liu Aiqing how to keep this money?"
Liu Haojia said: "Long live Lord, this money cannot be kept! But we can spend the money so that they can't get it!"
Emperor Wanli became a little anxious when he heard this and said, "All this money has been spent, so what should we use it for? Isn't the martial arts gym closed?"
Liu Haojia said: "Long live Lord, don't be anxious, just listen to Wei Chen and tell you slowly!"
At that moment, Liu Haojia slowly explained his plan. Emperor Wanli couldn't help but burst into tears! Finally, Emperor Wanli patted Liu Haojia's arm and said, "Brother Liu is indeed a genius. He even thought of such an idea."
You have to come out! If things are done, I will definitely reward you well!"
Liu Haojia thought to himself, when he has no idea, it is Liu Aiqing, and when he has an idea, he is Brother Liu. You are realistic enough! But he still bowed and said: "We are all working for Long Live Lord, there is no reward!"
Emperor Wanli suffered a loss once, so he did not dwell on the issue of rewards again, and said directly: "The day after tomorrow! The day after tomorrow, Brother Liu comes to the palace, and we will take care of this matter!"
Liu Haojia naturally agreed. After getting Liu Haojia's idea, Emperor Wanli was very satisfied! He stood up and said, "I felt so relieved by Brother Liu's words, and I was relieved from the boredom and inability to sleep these days.
The guide is here! I’m going back to the palace to catch up on my sleep!”
Seeing what Emperor Wanli said, Liu Haojia hurriedly led the way and sent the master and servant out. After he watched them join the guards and leave, Liu Haojia returned to the room and straightened out the plan again, and found that there were indeed no mistakes.
Then he returned to Gu Ningbo's house.
The morning after tomorrow, Liu Haojia arrived early and stood far outside the palace gate. His position was where the officials waiting to meet him were. There were a large group of officials and petty officials at all levels nearby.
In the capital, anyone who can wear an official hat must be over forty, and even fifty or sixty years old is common. Even some minor officials are younger, and they must be over thirty years old! So Liu Haojia wore a bright red robe and went there
Standing in the middle of the crowd, it is particularly eye-catching!