After watching his eldest son board the ship, Zhu Youdong took a special train and hurried back to Beijing.

On January 20, the completion ceremony of the Dafangshan thermal power plant located in the southwest of the capital was held in Fangshan County, Shuntian Prefecture, Zhili, northern.

This was the first power plant in the Ming Dynasty. Although as a time traveler, Zhu Youdong did not like severely polluted thermal power plants. However, in this era of limited engineering construction capacity, especially without high-voltage transmission grid technology, the vast territory of the Ming Dynasty must collectively enter the power era, and setting up thermal power plants in various places is almost the only choice.

Of course, with thermal power plants, hydropower plants will naturally be considered in some places with rivers. The first hydropower plant in the Ming Dynasty, Miyun Hydropower Plant, needs to wait until the Miyun Reservoir is fully completed. The water storage depth exceeds 100 meters before the machine can be generated. According to the Ministry of Construction's estimates, it will be at least next year and next year.

According to Yuan Yingtai's calculations, with the two power plants of Dafangshan and Miyun, within five years, it will be enough to meet the life of Beijing and Tianjin and produce electricity.

After completing the ribbon cutting and giving a speech on the Ming Dynasty's entry into the power era from then on, Zhu Youdong summoned Xu Bengu, representative of the Nanzhili Chamber of Commerce, Huang Jizong, representative of the Fujian-Zhejiang Chamber of Commerce, Yang Yanming, representative of the Shanxi Chamber of Commerce, Zhu Pingzhang, representative of the Sichuan Chamber of Commerce, and others.

In the business community before the Ming Dynasty, due to geographical and transportation restrictions, there were few large chambers of commerce across the country. Basically, Shanxi merchants were in the north, and their main business model was the exchange of materials in northern China - Mongolia and Northeast China. Jiangsu and Zhejiang merchants were in the south, mainly maritime trade smuggling. Huaiyang merchants were the most powerful because they controlled the commerce on both sides of the Grand Canal and more than 70% of the country's salt sales. As for Sichuan merchants led by the King of Shu, they were basically limited to the three southwestern provinces and snow areas.

However, now, due to the emergence of Zhu Youdong, the reform of salt administration, commercial taxation and the sharp decline in the economic and trade status of the Grand Canal, the group of salt merchants in Huaiyang has become very weak. On the contrary, the four chambers of commerce in Nanzhili, Fujian, Zhejiang, Shanxi and Sichuan have become leaders in the business circles of the Ming Dynasty. Moreover, the business of these four chambers of commerce is no longer single, or limited to one place, and they actually have considerable intersections with each other. In recent years, the upper classes of the four chambers of commerce have had a lot of marriages and their relationships have become closer and closer.

Zhu Youdong saw the behavior of top domestic businessmen gathering together, but did not interfere or restrict too much: the central government of the Ming Dynasty controlled almost all heavy industries, and all advanced technology came from Fangshan - it was too easy to get these merchants' necks in production equipment and technology.

Moreover, in the past decade, with the gradual promotion of compulsory education and the regulation of the civil service system, the situation of great wealthy merchants in the past has completely reversed the situation of endorsing themselves for their officialdom.

Not to mention, the royal family has directly controlled the army. If they really want to force themselves, they can completely kill the chicken and scare the monkey.

So? Officials, army, technology, equipment?          They are all in the hands of the court. What are the things that these merchants are afraid of?

Accompanied by Cao Sanxi and Li Guojun, the seven people sat down? Zhu Youdong smiled at Xu Bengu first: "How is Lingzu's health?"

"When you go back to the emperor, my family ancestor is ninety-three years old this year, is he still sober? He is not as energetic as before, and he is drowsy after less than a few words."

"So that's it? You can make decisions about your Xu family?"

"The emperor needs my family to do anything, please give me the instructions."

"There is no order, but the court is in financial difficulties now? I need your help."

"Uh..." Xu Bengu, who was almost fifty years old this year, hesitated for a moment: "Emperor? Several companies in Caomin's family all have the shares of the emperor, and you have to send someone to check the accounts. So you know the situation at Caomin's family. Three and a half years ago, the Western thieves invaded India? Caomin had just invested more than 10 million yuan to build a few yarn mills, plastic factories, garment factories, canning processing factories, cement factories, etc., all went bankrupt because they could not find sales. In the past three years, the Indochina Peninsula has been fighting for more than two years, and the Nanyang Sea Trade has been cut off for two years. Caomin's family only has a domestic market left... It is indeed exaggerated to say that it has been struggling to survive? But it is true that it is difficult to walk.

Of course, as long as the emperor needs it, I will do my best to dispatch it. I should be able to withdraw 13 million silver dollars. This money can be used for the emperor first."

The Xu family was when Zhu Youdong was the grandson of the country. After being looted by Li Guozhu once, he quickly betrayed the Donglin Party and defected to him. Over the past 30 years, the Xu family and the royal family have been deeply involved. Zhu Youdong still knew how much Xu family had. So, after seeing Xu Bengu's statement, he nodded with satisfaction. Then he turned to Yang Yanming, the representative of the Shanxi Chamber of Commerce, the descendant of Yang Bo.

"Prince, our Shanxi Chamber of Commerce's business mainly sells goods from the mainland to the grassland and then sells the grassland things from the mainland. In the past twenty years, with the construction of various sweater factories, meat canned factories and milk powder factories on the Mongolian grasslands, our Shanxi Chamber of Commerce has gained a lot of benefits. However, in the last three years of war, on the one hand, the production of the southeast coastal provinces has been reduced. With less production, less steam engines are activated, and the production capacity of several large coal mines under the control of our Shanxi Chamber of Commerce naturally appears to be overcapacity. On the other hand, the mainland is

Consumption has been suppressed, fewer people are buying sweaters, canned meat and milk powder, and our business business has also been greatly affected. Since last year, twenty-five of the twenty-eight companies under the Chamber of Commerce have suffered losses... Of course, as Boss Xu said, we Shanxi people also know very well. If the emperor had not wiped out Mongolia and Xinjiang, our Shanxi Chamber of Commerce would not have the size of today. Therefore, Caomin dared to express his opinion on the four major shareholders of the Shanxi Chamber of Commerce. As long as the emperor needs it, 23 million silver dollars can be used by the emperor."

"Emperor." Huang Jizong, the representative of the Fujian-Zhejiang Chamber of Commerce, stood up with a wry smile: "Fujian, Zhejiang merchants mainly go for sea trade. In the past few years, the bankruptcy rate of the Chamber of Commerce managed by Caomin is the highest among the four chambers of commerce. If the emperor needs funds... Caomin roughly estimates that the Fujian-Zhejiang Chamber of Commerce can take out up to seven million."

"Emperor." Zhu Pingzhang, a son of the Shu King's branch, and the representative of the Sichuan (Southwest) Chamber of Commerce, was the last to stand up: "The main business of the Sichuan Chamber of Commerce is to travel from Yunnan to Myanmar and then directly to India. After the Western thieves invaded India, it caused the greatest damage to us. Because, even before the imperial court took over India, our Sichuan Chamber of Commerce had already relied on the Myanmar trade route to do India. Now..." He spread his hands miserably: "Ten million is the largest amount of working capital that the Sichuan Chamber of Commerce can now remit. After this money was transferred, there was a stir and he could not turn over any of it."

"Well..." After the heads of the four major chambers of commerce reported their own assets, the figure was basically the same as the figures estimated by the Royal Bank, the Ministry of Finance and the Jinyiwei. Zhu Youdong was still very satisfied.

However, you guys underestimate me too much. I am a little poor now, but I am not going to catch people and beg for alms everywhere to fight for the autumn wind.

"Today, we call you four together. In addition to letting you see the completion of the first power plant in the Ming Dynasty, we also want to discuss with you how to revive the economy of our Ming Dynasty.

In my opinion, the so-called economy is the most basic basis of production and consumption. Among them, consumption is the driving force of production. If there is no consumption, production will naturally be suppressed.

In the past, I, Daming, not only had a large market with a population of more than 100 million, but also had a strong purchasing power. I could also do business directly with Europeans in the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia. In Europe, there was a huge demand for silk porcelain tea from Daming, and I had to buy a large amount every year, which was enough to ensure that my Ming Dynasty had a sufficient trade surplus. In this way, with the consumer market guaranteed, my Ming Dynasty could produce it with all my strength. When workers had higher wages, domestic consumption was guaranteed... This was a virtuous cycle.

But now, although we drove the Western thieves out of the South China Sea and restored the sea trade in the South China Sea, the market in the South China Sea is still much worse than the India we lost. Therefore, I think that to revitalize the economy, in addition to further digging into the South China Sea market and developing the American market, the most important thing is how to expand the local domestic demand in our Ming Dynasty."

"Well, the emperor, Caomin and others also realized that in the short term, the markets in India and Europe will not be able to return. The markets in Southeast Asia, Japan, Fukuo, Gui and other places are just like that. And America is too far away. Therefore, expanding domestic demand is the only feasible way. But how can the emperor expand domestic demand?"
Chapter completed!