My son is on the road of becoming a merchant and will never return.
One can imagine Zhu Yuanzhang's depression. Of course he also knew that the path of merchants was not necessarily wrong, but because of this, he had no choice but to gnash his teeth in anger.
It's just like your father wants you to take the civil service examination and become a teacher... you want to start an online business. Even if you succeed and accumulate millions of fans, your father will be angry if you mention the old thing again.
At this time, it depends on Queen Ma's role. She flipped her hands, took out a big cake from her sleeve, and stuffed it directly into Lao Zhu's mouth, "Eat it!"
Zhu Yuanzhang didn't know what it was, so he could only bite a piece obediently. It was quite hard, but not unpalatable. It was salty and had a bit of fragrance. He chewed it carefully. There were also obvious lumps, which seemed to be vegetables, but not quite like them.
"Sister, what the hell is this?"
"It's the army rations and flour cakes made by Biao'er and Mr. Zhang, added with pastry, dried seaweed and kelp, and baked in a stove. It's almost the same as the original pot helmet."
Lao Zhu hesitated slightly and took another big bite.
"It's very similar to Guokui, but it's softer and has a bit of sweetness."
Queen Ma smiled and said, "You're eating it right now! I thought your wild boar couldn't eat the fine chaff! Let me tell you, this is candy from Lingnan, and it was made with the help of that boy Zhu Ying." Mr. Zhang said
Now, there are good things, and they must be used in the army, so the cost cannot be calculated... Take this candy for example, if it were placed in Yingtian, it might be exchanged for hundreds of thousands of taels of silver!"
Lao Zhu looked stern and shook his head: "You can't settle the score like this. Both of us fought with the army. At first, we ordered one and a half kilograms of food for the soldiers... In the end, the average person did not lose less than two kilograms a day!
It also has to be paired with some vegetables, beans, and various poultry and livestock. Think about it, how many people in our army were sick at the beginning? Eye diseases, foot diseases, skin sores, ulcers... That would kill people. Later
When we are full, well fed, and no longer sick, we are all great young men. This is why we are invincible in the world! My husband has long said that if you are willing to give soldiers meat, eggs, and milk, your fighting power will come from eating them.
of!"
Ma nodded, "Who says it's not the case! I also know this, and we Biao'er also know... No, he just thought of a way to get some money to supplement the military needs! Otherwise, he just relies on transporting grain from the south to the north.
Can we afford it if we levy it from the hands of the common people?"
Zhu Yuanzhang was gradually persuaded, "Sister, what is in this bottle, and what can it be used for?"
Ma smiled, poured some out of the bottle and spread it on the cake, then handed it to Zhu Yuanzhang, "Try again."
Lao Zhu took a big bite, and this time he immediately felt a rich aroma blooming on the tip of his tongue.
“It’s delicious!”
Empress Ma smiled and said, "Finally you know? Let me tell you, this stuff can be spread directly on cakes or put in a pot for stew... Anyway, it is extremely delicious. This is also Mr. Zhang's new military ration for the soldiers."
Lao Zhu was startled, then took several bites, chewed carefully, and then showed a happy smile.
"Okay! This food is good! If we can eat this, our soldiers will be invincible!"
Although eating is not everything, the combat effectiveness of an army that can guarantee food will not be too bad. Of course, except for the Italians, after all, even if they have enough pasta and red wine, it will be difficult to defeat the African army. It is a shame for the great powers.
yes.
"Sister, is this thing expensive? How much can you get?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked curiously.
Queen Ma smiled and said, "Do you want to hear the truth or a lie?"
Lao Zhu is confused, can this matter amuse Menzi?
"Say it all!"
"Okay! This lie is that the ingredients are expensive. It requires delicacies from the mountains and seas, eighteen kinds of medicinal materials, and it takes ninety-nine and eighty-one days to brew carefully. It takes several thousand kilograms of materials to condense it into such a small bottle!"
Zhu Yuanzhang rolled his eyes, "You're making alchemy! Tell the truth!"
"To be honest, I just get some scallops, conch, and sea sausage, which are common things on the beach...dry them, grind them into powder, add some salt, sauce, and kelp powder, and cook them." Queen Ma said with a smile:
"If you want to say it's cheap, it's certainly not cheap, but it's not that scary either."
Lao Zhu had a sullen face and calculated carefully.
Just because he doesn't like merchants doesn't mean that Lao Zhu doesn't know how to settle accounts.
On the contrary, he may be better at calculating than Zhang Ximeng, but the two of them are not on the same page...
"Currently, there is no food output in Peiping, and we have to build beacon towers, build city walls, and use troops to fight wars... All we can count on is the salt tax, and now we have another thing to make money... We need to help!
"
When Queen Ma heard what Lao Zhu said, her eyes suddenly widened, "You're turning fast enough! Don't you like Biao'er messing around with these businessmen?"
Lao Zhu said with a sullen face: "We are not against it, we are worried that he has lost the dignity of a country's prince. Just take what he said, name it Prince Geng, and you can sell more money? This method is too bad.
Bar!"
Queen Ma was startled and blurted out: "Do you have any other clever ideas?"
Lao Zhu chuckled, "You are really right."
He leaned over, took out a ball of tea cake, and placed it in front of Queen Ma.
This thing is Xiaolong Tuan tea, which was popular in the Song Dynasty. It was a tribute tea in the palace and was very valuable.
It is said that only the tea core is taken, and ambergris is added. When drinking, it needs to be decocted. Anyway, the way of drinking tea in the Song Dynasty and later generations cannot be said to be completely different, or it can only be said to have nothing to do with it.
Too many spices are added, the process is complicated, and the taste of tea is lost.
Zhu Yuanzhang has long been tired of this kind of thing that wastes people and money. What kind of tribute tea is there?
Therefore, Lao Zhu plans to stop Xiaolong Group from next year.
In other words, what is in the palace now is probably an out-of-print treasure.
"Sister, do you think this is possible? We have decreed that the Xiaolong Tuan and this thing should be given away. In order to save people's power and avoid wasting money and wasting money, we will give away these two things that are wasted for no reason."
Queen Ma frowned slightly, "What then?"
"Then it was spread that after losing this thing, the food was unpalatable and unbearable, so an order was issued to restore it. But they couldn't bear to keep the delicious food to themselves, so they specially gave it to the ministers of the court to enjoy."
Empress Ma had been messing around with merchants for many years, and she immediately understood Lao Zhu's methods.
Riding on the popularity, bundled sales, and using hundreds of years of tribute tea dragon balls to wildly increase the value of oyster sauce. It creates the illusion that rare things are more expensive, and makes huge profits.
Who is going to say that Zhu Yuanzhang doesn't know how to do business? I'll just slap you in the face!
"Chongba, okay! I'm convinced. You have a lot of tricks to make money! Why are you afraid that Mr. Biao'er will be taught a bad lesson?"
Lao Zhu's eyes widened, "Aren't we afraid that he will be a bad learner?"
Empress Ma snorted: "You are not honest! I know it, and you have learned a lot from Mr. Zhang! When you got together and talked about everything, you didn't even want to go back to your room to sleep! I finally understand how to respond.
It’s over!”
Zhu Yuanzhang was simply speechless... Two days later, according to the script designed by Zhu Yuanzhang, Lao Zhu crossed out the Xiaolong Tuan and then crossed out "Baiwei Paste". It also specifically stated that Baiwei Paste was a tribute inherited from the palace.
Because the craftsmanship was complicated and costly, the emperor could not bear to waste the people's power, so he gave up ruthlessly.
Anyway, I don’t know how many kinds of tributes there are. As long as the emperor says it, His Majesty the Emperor can still tell lies!
This ordinary little thing turned upside down after a few days.
After taking away the Baiwei Cream, the emperor couldn't eat well. He found it hard to swallow when facing a table full of delicacies. He lost a lot of weight. When the queen saw that the emperor's figure had shrunk, she insisted on reinstating the Baiwei Cream. His Majesty ate it that day.
Five big bowls of rice.
This kind of news spread quickly through newspapers.
This was the first time people heard about the magical thing like Baiwei Ointment, and everyone became curious. What is it that can make the emperor so obsessed with it?
Is it really that delicious?
After a while, the heat continued to rise, and Zhu Yuanzhang finally seemed to notice it. One morning, he complained to the ministers, saying that the emperor was also a human being, with emotions and desires, and the enjoyment of food and drink. Ordinary people talked about the emperor, which was detrimental to the royal dignity.
.We have to let the people speak, but in order to clarify the misunderstanding, we specially gave some Baiwei ointment to the ministers so that everyone can try it. Is this thing so powerful?
Li Shanchang didn't believe even a word of Zhu Yuanzhang's rhetoric.
If you want to say that Zhu Yuanzhang doesn't understand good food, that would be an injustice to him, but for a person who was born as a beggar, he can stuff his stomach with any unpalatable food.
To say that Zhu Yuanzhang didn't eat for something and lost weight due to hunger is just a lie to a fool!
It's a pity that Lao Li knew it but didn't dare to say anything.
He could only thank Tian En and return home with ten bottles of Baiwei ointment that belonged to him.
He didn't think much about it and threw it directly to the kitchen.
That night, Li Shanchang didn't have much appetite. He just took a bite and found the food delicious and tasted unprecedented... Li Shanchang ate an extra bowl of rice.
After eating, he called the chef over and planned to reward him.
Unexpectedly, the chef actually told Li Shanchang that it was all the result of Baiwei Paste.
Old Li was stunned.
Darling, your majesty, this thing is really useful?
The same thing happened in the homes of other officials. Finally, someone tasted the Baiwei ointment that had been passed down for so long.
Everyone said that the taste was delicious and indescribable. No wonder the emperor was obsessed with it. We all looked forward to eating it every day! It’s a pity that this thing is only available in the palace. The few bottles in the hands of everyone are gone after eating.
Now. We can only look forward to the emperor’s reward!
After some operations, Baiwei Cream has completely gained popularity.
Zhu Yuanzhang asked Guo Ying to inquire about news every day, and it was just as he imagined. Lao Zhu was so happy!
If you dare to look down on our business skills, you will be shocked!
The time was almost up, and news was released, saying that the world was at peace, the people were well fed, and everyone was in good health. They were not as embarrassed as they were a few years ago, so a batch of seasoning soup was specially allowed to be sold. It was a simplified version of the Baiwei Cream in the palace, and it was only 30% effective.
But the advantage is that the price is much cheaper...it only costs a mere ten taels of silver a bottle!
Yes, this thing can only be bought with silver, not treasure notes. Ordinary people, don't worry, Lao Zhu's sickle will not harvest the poor.
When Zhang Ximeng got the news, the seasoning soup was already sold like crazy. Although the price was very high, there were so many wealthy businessmen who couldn't stand Yingtian! There were not enough businessmen in the Ming Dynasty, and there were also foreign businessmen from overseas, as well as Suzhou, Hangzhou, Yangzhou and other places.
.
The newspapers have long made me feel itchy, and I want to try it myself.
Although this seasoning soup is far inferior to Baiwei Paste, at least we can get a glimpse of it.
Why don’t you buy some to try!
The result was that they were out of stock for several days in a row, and everything they bought was sold out.
"A bottle of ten taels of silver! Including the bottle, it's only eight taels of silver!" Zhang Ximeng gritted his teeth and said: "Who is the best in the world... Shang! Finally we have found out."
Zhang Ximeng said directly to Zhu Biao: "Your Highness, I think you should ask His Majesty to teach you how to do business. I guarantee that you will learn more than I do here!"
Zhu Biao's face was slightly red. He scratched his head and then said: "Sir, we are doing business to supplement military expenditures. Do you think how much income can be increased by doing this? Is it useful?"