"Your Highness, the account books in Zhuangzi from last year have been settled."

"Well, read it."

"Yes, last year, our Honghe Village successively launched soaps, candles, fruit wine, new porcelain (bone china), bacon, sausages and other goods. After nearly a year of sales, after deducting various costs and labor, we actually made a profit

Two hundred and thirty thousand taels."

"That's all?"

Seeing the dissatisfied expression of Zhu Youdong who was sitting at the top, Cao Sanxi suddenly broke out in a cold sweat: Oh, my dear, it’s quite good to have so many. Money is so valuable these days.

!

"Your Highness, these 230,000 taels are what is left after the dividends are distributed to the Emperor, the Crown Prince and all gentlemen, the British Duke, and Uncle Ning Yuan's Mansion."

"Oh, you told me earlier. But it's still too little."

"Your Highness! This year, my subordinates and the guys in the shop..."

"I know you are working very hard. I didn't mean to blame you when I said less."

It should be said that Cao Sanxi's performance in the past few months has impressed not only Zhu Youdong, but also several adults in his shogunate, such as Wei Zhongxian, Li Shizhong, etc.

After he took office, he first optimized the production process of Honghe Village and saved a lot of waste of materials. The second was waste utilization. Honghe Village slaughtered no less than a hundred pigs every day. In addition to the meat being made into bacon and the bristles being collected, all the pigs were collected.

The pig bones were sold to various large and small restaurants in the capital. The bones were first turned into bone meal for feed or fertilizer. After the porcelain workers in Zhuangzi produced bone china according to Zhu Youdong's instructions, the pig bones were effectively used.

Externally, he increased the management of seven stores in the city and required the store clerks not to wait for customers to come to their doors, but to visit door-to-door with products. For dealers in other provinces, he further improved

Various contracts have clear provisions on dealers' annual sales, number of complaints, etc...

However, again, on the one hand, silver is very valuable these days. On the other hand, Honghe Village only has so much land and a small population, and its production capacity is limited. Therefore, after a year of hard work, Zhu Youdong only saw 20

More than ten thousand taels of silver.

What is the concept of more than two hundred thousand taels of silver?

The central government of the Ming Dynasty collected taxes every year. In addition to physical taxes such as food, there was also currency tax. During the Wanli period, it generally received more than 5 million taels of silver directly. During the Tianqi period, it was more than 4 million taels, and during the Chongzhen period, it was 2.

More than one million taels.

Yan Song and his son during the Jiajing period were considered shameless officials in making money. When their house was confiscated, they only had more than 30,000 taels of gold and more than 2 million taels of silver.

Therefore, the net profit that Honghe Village earned for Zhu Youdong in a year was more than 200,000 taels, which is quite impressive.

"I remember that a lot of money was collected from the auction of the exclusive rights to various commodities, right?"

"Yes, Your Highness. From various auctions last year, Zhuangzi received a total of more than 300,000 taels of silver. Among them, he gave 100,000 taels to Ouchi, 50,000 taels to Ciqing Palace, and 50,000 taels to Cining Palace.

"

"In other words, what I can use now is about three hundred thousand taels of silver?"

"Your Highness, the total amount of silver currently available in Zhuangzi is 367,320 taels."

"Hey~~" Looking up at the sky, Zhu Youdong sighed desolately: "I left a round number. In fact, the more than 60,000 taels will be divided among everyone, right?"

"Your Highness, I don't agree with this. The bonus at the end of the year...according to His Highness, what is called the year-end bonus has already been paid. I know that His Highness always treats his subordinates kindly, but it really can't be too generous, otherwise it will make people feel uncomfortable."

People have unreasonable thoughts."

"Well... you are right. Well, Sanxi, what are your thoughts on this year's production?"

"Your Highness, there is still a lot of open space in Zhuangzi. However, the manpower has reached its limit. Therefore, I think we should send manpower to buy people in some places in Ming Dynasty that have been affected by the disaster."

"Can't we hire landless tenants from nearby Zhuangzi?"

"Your Highness, I would like to say something disrespectful. Our Zhuangzi can earn hundreds of thousands of taels of silver a year because these things are produced exclusively by us. But the technology of these things is actually not too difficult to imitate. Once produced,

If the technology is leaked, the profit will be reduced by at least 70%! This Honghe Village belongs to His Highness. The people in Zhuangzi have been using it for a year and have basically returned to His Highness. But if you hire locals from outside Zhuangzi, it is inevitable that some people with ulterior motives will sneak in.

"

Zhu Youdong believes in Cao Sanxi's words. After all, money and silk touch people's hearts. There are so many powerful people in Beijing. With such huge benefits, Zhu Youdong cannot let everyone share the profits. And those powerful people who cannot enter the venue will definitely have them.

The boldest covet it.

In recent months, as Honghe Village's output has increased in variety, more and more strangers have appeared around Zhuangzi. Li Shizhong, who is responsible for security, has been forced to repeatedly extract people from Ningyuan Bo's house, and Zhang Shize has also repeatedly

The British government transferred people. But even so, because the people who came to inquire were getting better and better, Li Shizhong was finally forced to write a letter to Liaodong, and Li Chengliang sent another hundred servants to guard it. This was embarrassing.

This ensured Zhuangzi's safety.

Now, except for the old, weak, sick and disabled, the original farmers in Honghe Village have stopped farming at all. More than 370 laborers have all worked in various workshops.

.

And what about the manpower protecting the village outside? There are nearly three hundred people.

Of course, on the surface, it seems that there are too many guards, but Zhu Youdong knows that these three hundred people are basically enough to protect him. In the future, even if Zhuangzi increases the number of workers to a thousand, the guards will still only need these three hundred people. Therefore, now Honghe

Although Zhuang said that a large amount of profits were consumed by labor costs, Zhu Youdong still thought it was acceptable.

However, as Cao Sanxi said, if you want to increase profits, you must expand production. And if you want to expand production, you must bring in manpower. And for safety reasons, locals cannot be used.

But buying disaster victims?

Zhu Youdong is not a holy mother, and he has no ideological burden at all when engaging in human trafficking in this era. The reason why he is entangled is because he feels that on the one hand, it will take too long to train a peasant who cannot read a word into a skilled industrial worker. On the other hand, it takes too long.

On the one hand, he still feels unsafe: Honghe Village is now the target of public criticism.

"Shi Zhong."

"I'm here."

"You will go to Liaodong personally in the near future to discuss something with your grandfather on my behalf."

"I wonder if your highness has anything to tell my grandfather?"

"I can't tell you what the instructions are. What I mean is that in addition to your family's dividend, I will give your family thirty thousand taels of silver and ask Uncle Ning Yuan to contact the powerful officials in North Korea and ask them to sell it to our three hundred skilled royal craftsmen."

"Your Highness, this is a good idea! Those North Koreans who come to our place are unfamiliar with the place and cannot understand the language. They will definitely be able to keep the secret. But buying three hundred people with 30,000 taels of silver is still too much."

"Haha, tell Uncle Ning Yuan that if you want to buy it, just buy it. The rest will be treated as my filial piety to my elders."

"I'm scared! I must handle this matter as soon as possible."

"Yes, my dear companion."
Chapter completed!