As Su Xigui finished speaking, Zhu Niang was in a dilemma.
As Su Xigui said, this secret recipe is not a unique craft after all. As long as others learn it, it will have no value. On the contrary, people will know that they use people who are not Zao households to dry salt. If they violate the laws of the court, they will be punished and imprisoned.
"Besides, it's not easy to do business in salt these days."
Su Xigui began to put on airs.
He clearly told Zhu Niang that in order to build the palace, and at the same time, the emperor was imposing many exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes on the world. Ordinary merchants selling official salt could hardly survive. At this time, you still want to keep a secret recipe to make a fortune.
Big fortune? Dreaming!
Zhu Hao laughed and said: "Dongzhu Su seems to have a deep understanding of it, but I don't know if he agrees to the conditions I offered?"
Su Xigui said: "Ten thousand taels is not impossible. After all, we are all acquaintances. We have not known each other for more than a day or two, so we can definitely talk. But this 10% income... it is not as good as this. After you take out the secret recipe, you can continue to use it, as long as
As long as you don’t tell others...this extra condition will be waived."
Zhu Hao thought to himself, you Su Xigui are really smart. I am going to sell the patent right to you. Do you think you can influence me by getting the patent?
"If Dongzhu Su doesn't agree, then we can definitely talk to someone else. For example, Prince Xing's Mansion is a good choice!"
Zhu Hao said, "Anyway, the suppression of us by the family is not that severe now. There is really no need to work hard to earn that hard-earned money... How tiring it is to sift salt."
Again, the argument is that buying and selling cannot be a clean break.
Su Xigui thought to himself: "Where does this kid get his confidence? Does he think I can't find out his secret recipe from the side?"
Seeing that her son didn't want to talk to her, Zhu Niang quickly got up and saluted: "Dongzhu Su, I'm leaving."
"Don't leave in a hurry yet."
Su Xigui quickly stopped him, "As for me, doing business is all about harmony and wealth. If your secret recipe can really produce salt from the ground...although I know this is unlikely, but if it is true...it is not unacceptable.
"
Zhu Niang frowned: "Then do you want to talk about it or not?"
Isn't it nonsense to say that it is acceptable but impose prerequisites? Do you think we are Taoist priests? We can make salt out of nothing by doing a method? I never thought that you, Dongzhu Su, would be unreliable sometimes!
Su Xigui found that he was a little incoherent and corrected him slightly: "Well, I will go back and prepare ten thousand taels of silver, and you will prepare the secret recipe. As for the contract to share 10% of the income, I have seen the effect of your salt production, so
If I’m satisfied, I agree in principle!”
…
…
Zhu Hao and Zhu Niang went home first to prepare.
Although it is said to be preparation, there is actually nothing to prepare. It is just Zhu Hao who came up with the specific method of drying salt.
Zhu Hao would not tell Su Xigui at once, but would give him a general method first. As for the tips on pushing the brine, rushing the brine, making crystals, etc., Zhu Hao would not tell Su Xigui first, but would make a decision after seeing the sincerity of the other party.
"Xiao Hao, why did you suddenly say that you sold the prescription? Isn't it better for us to dry the salt ourselves?"
Zhu Niang never quite understood.
Zhu Hao smiled and said: "Mom, why are you confused? To put it bluntly, our snowflake salt is private salt. Selling private salt is illegal. Boss Su is powerful. Once he targets us, we can still do business safely.
?Besides, with ten thousand taels of silver... we can return to a stable life, why should we continue to be worried?"
"this……"
Zhu Niang found that her argument with her son was pointless.
She has always been pursuing a peaceful and stable life, and she had mentioned that she would stop as soon as possible before, but this time Zhu Hao said that he would sell the secret recipe to Su Xigui, and she felt a little uneasy.
"Dongzhu Su is too shrewd, and he is an official and businessman. Will we be manipulated by him?" Zhu Niang asked worriedly.
Zhu Hao smiled and said: "It is possible, but the chance is very small. His brother-in-law Huang Fantai is not young anymore. It is estimated that if he wants to make further progress in his official career, for example, he will be transferred to two capitals and six departments, the chance will be gone.
Unless he has made outstanding contributions to the Ming Dynasty...we say we sold him a salt recipe, but it is better to say that we gave him an opportunity to help his brother-in-law advance in his career."
Zhu Niang was puzzled: "How do you say this?"
It was difficult for Zhu Hao to explain clearly to a political novice like Zhu Niang.
The top magistrates in the Ming Dynasty were basically chief envoys. Huang Zan was not young and was about to become an official. If he wanted to join the central government as a minister of the Six Ministries, or even go further to become a minister, he must have outstanding political achievements among many chief envoys.
But for Huang Zan, whose family background is not that strong and who has no backing, it is very difficult.
For others, it would be almost impossible for Zhu Hao to sell a prescription for 10,000 taels. However, with Su Xigui, the possibility of negotiating a deal was very high.
Emperor Zhengde was known to be greedy for money. If Huang Zan offered an opportunity to provide Zhu Houzhao with a steady stream of wealth, would the emperor look at him differently?
"Mom, after all, he is willing to buy and we are willing to sell, isn't it great? Ten thousand taels of silver can do so many things." Zhu Hao smiled and began to wonder how he would spend his ten thousand taels of silver.
Zhu Niang took a breath and said, "Mom, I never dared to expect ten thousand taels of silver. In the past... I could never earn it even in a lifetime."
Zhu Hao nodded: "Yes, it would be great to have ten thousand taels of silver. If Su Dongzhao talks about credit and gives us a share every month in the future, that is a lot of money. What kind of business do we want to do in the future? Can we publish it ourselves?
The risk of salt is too great. If the government investigates it, everything will be over. Let’s deal with droughts and floods to ensure the harvest.”
Originally, Zhu Niang had little confidence in drying salt, but after listening to Zhu Hao's analysis, she felt that she could just throw the pot away, and she immediately felt at ease.
…
…
Return to the shop.
When Zhu Niang mentioned the matter of selling her son, Aunt Li was puzzled at first, and then nodded: "Master is gone, Master Hao is the head of the family, and it is up to him to make the decision, isn't it good?"
Zhu Niang looked at Zhu Hao and nodded slightly, agreeing with Aunt Li's statement.
She is a womanly person and a chaste woman. If she comes out to do business in public, it is easy for her to cause trouble. If Zhu Hao supports the family business, he will be qualified to make the decision even at a young age.
"Madam, how much land can ten thousand taels of silver buy? By then... we will not have thousands of hectares of fertile land? I dare not even think about it."
Aunt Li suddenly longed for the life of a big landlord.
Half a year ago, my life was in dire straits, my shop was about to be taken back by my family, and my house was completely ruined. Now I am about to become a big landlord in the blink of an eye.
This contrast...
Zhu Niang rolled her eyes at her and said, "Sister, I'm overthinking this. Dongzhu Su is not a fool. How could he use ten thousand taels of silver to buy a prescription? It's just Xiao Hao's wishful thinking."
Zhu Hao smiled beside him and said, "Mom, just watch. I think Su Xigui is more anxious than us about buying a son. He must be raising money from everywhere now. There will be news in two days."
…
…
It was just as Zhu Hao expected.
Not only did it not pass two days, Su Xigui brought someone to the door that night.
"Dongzhu Su, it's getting late. Is there anything we can't discuss until tomorrow? It's very inconvenient at this time."
Zhu Niang didn't dare to open the door casually.
In a widow's house, if you discuss business with people at night, your reputation will be ruined if word spreads?
Su Xigui looked very anxious outside the door: "It doesn't matter. Su has invited witnesses. They are all local gentry. How can he ruin his wife's reputation?"
When she heard that the gentry was there, Madam Zhu would not even open the door.
If people know that we use secret methods to dry salt, won't it mean that people will also know about selling private salt? Wouldn't that mean we are asking for it?
I wouldn't be stupid enough to open the door!
Zhu Hao said: "Mom, please don't go out. How about I go talk to him?"
"ah!?"
Both Zhu Niang and Aunt Li looked at Zhu Hao with surprised eyes.
Su Xigui, who was outside the door, couldn't help but smile after hearing this: "The young master of the Zhu family is sensible, so please invite the young master of the Zhu family to come to the inn where I am staying to talk. You can call a few people over there... After the matter is settled, the money will be given to you."
.”
Zhu Niang was very worried and did not dare to let her son go to the meeting alone, so she had to quickly ask Xiao Bai to notify Uncle Zhong and Yu San and ask them to accompany Zhu Hao to the inn to discuss business.
…
…
Inn room.
Zhu Hao asked to discuss with Su Xigui alone. The so-called notary was meaningless to Zhu Hao.
"Master Zhu, you mean to say that you use the sun to dry the salt? Are you kidding? The method of drying salt on the beach has been around since ancient times. When has snowflake salt been produced? Don't even think about it.
Protect me."
Su Xigui was very dissatisfied, "I sincerely paid ten thousand taels of silver to do business with you. You have seen me, Su, and I will not default on my debt just for a prescription... You must give me an explanation."
Zhu Hao immediately took out a drawing and said: "This is the salt field I designed. It is night now, so I can't prove it immediately. I will take you to the salt field outside the city tomorrow morning for a walk. You will understand then."
"this……"
Su Xigui took a rough look at the drawings.
No clue.
How could he, who has been trafficking official salt for a long time, not know how to dry salt?
You can make snowflake salt using bitter brine, but he wouldn't believe it anyway.
"Dongzhu Su, if we didn't use this method, how could we have produced so much snowflake salt in the past six months?" Zhu Hao said, "If Huang Fantai reported this method to the court, let the court choose a place to test it first and achieve results.
Later, it was promoted in the salt fields of the Ming Dynasty. By then, the production of salt in the Ming Dynasty would have doubled, and the quality would have been greatly improved. Huang Fantai had made outstanding achievements, and it was more than enough to be a minister of household affairs in the capital..."
Su Xigui still said nothing.
Zhu Hao said: "Everyone else can do it, so it can't be called a secret recipe. If it is really feasible, what would Mr. Su say?"
Su Xigui slapped the table: "It's exactly what you said, let alone 10,000 taels of silver, I will also give you 10% of the share in the future."
With Su Xigui's shrewd mind in business, he was naturally aware of the advantages of this salt-drying method. He also understood how this salt-drying method would bring changes to the Ming Dynasty Salt Industry and how much help it would bring to his brother-in-law's career.
The most important thing right now is naturally to verify the authenticity of Zhu Hao's words.
…
…
Early the next morning.
Su Xigui visited Zhu's rice shop early. Then Zhu Niang took Zhu Hao in a carriage and left the city with Su Xigui's carriage. After going around many circles, they came to a salt field hidden in a ravine.
It looks unremarkable, like rice terraces.
At this time, no one was drying salt in the inland areas. Even if someone discovered it, they would not be able to figure out what it was for.
When Su Xigui arrived at the salt field, he saw the crystals in the salt field. Without even taking off his boots, he walked directly through the field built with Sanhe soil, jumped into the salt pond, leaned over and picked up a salt crystal and put it in his mouth...
"Dr. Su, when will the money be delivered to my house? If you are worried that this is my old trick, you can find someone to demonstrate it from beginning to end, but you may have to live in Anlu for a month or even longer."
Zhu Hao said.
Su Xigui's hands were trembling, and his face was full of surprise: "Does it only take about a month to produce salt in winter? Then in summer, wouldn't it be necessary to live in it, but the money will be given today, and next to it... what is that thing?
"
Zhu Hao said: "That's a waterwheel. It carries the bitter brine from the bottom of the mountain to the top, saving time and effort. These are all skills... Do you think you can make snowflakes and salt by just learning? So, even if you know how
After all, if you don’t master the tricks, it’s still difficult to succeed...I’m afraid we have to continue our long-term cooperation.”
**********
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