Peng Zaozhu rushed out and saw Zhang Shicheng on the steps. The two looked at each other. After a long time, Peng Zaozhu was the first to hold his hands and laugh, leaning forward and back, tears streaming down his face.
Zhang Shicheng's face turned dark and he said angrily: "Are you smiling? Your father is not as good as me!"
Peng Zaozhu smiled even more happily, "My father is just a reckless man. Naturally, he is not as elegant and noble as King Huai, and he is outstanding!"
Zhang Shicheng was stunned for a moment and became even more angry. The veins on his temples were stretched!
"Young Marshal Peng, I have been ordered to serve as your advisor. Don't humiliate me!"
Peng Zaozhu nodded with a smile, stretched out his hand, grabbed Zhang Shicheng's arm, and dragged him inside.
"Don't be angry, don't be angry. From now on, we will serve as ministers in the same palace, eat from the same pot, and help each other!" Peng Zaozhu pulled Zhang Shicheng in, asked him to sit down, poured him tea, and served him attentively.
Zhang Shicheng gradually breathed a sigh of relief, and then said: "Young Marshal Peng, you just said that we will become ministers in the same palace, which is also wrong. Although I have joined the Ming Dynasty, I do not want a salary. I am here to do things for the people!"
"You don't want money? You're going to work for nothing! I've never seen such a request, that's great!" Peng Zaozhu said in surprise.
Zhang Shicheng's old face became even more ugly, and he could only cough and say: "I, I don't want the salary, but, I still want the wages from the business, I, I still have a family to support."
Peng Zaozhu was stunned for a moment, feeling amused.
This Zhang Shicheng, just pretend!
You have surrendered, why are you still receiving wages but not salary... That's right, my salt trading company is indeed not a court official, but the problem is that Changlu Salt Field belongs to the Ming Dynasty!
You, Zhang Shicheng, are just a consultant to a commercial bank?
Peng Zaozhu couldn't figure it out for a while, and he probably had to ask Zhang Ximeng for advice again. But it doesn't matter, let's set up the business first and sell the salt. This is our ability.
"King Huai, you can say whatever you want. I will listen to you. Just tell me how to make this salt. I really don't know anything about it!"
Peng Zaozhu showed Liu Bei's attitude towards Zhuge Liang and served Zhang Shicheng.
Zhang Shicheng pondered for a long time, and felt more at ease. He sighed very much: "This salt! It's not easy! The people want to eat salt, the court wants taxes, and the merchants want to make a fortune. Half of the Yuan Dynasty will collapse."
On the salt...the other half is the Yellow River!"
Zhang Shicheng talked eloquently, and Peng Zaozhu listened patiently. The two of them really hit it off, and they had a great time talking.
On the other side, Zhang Ximeng cooked a bucket of milk tea and sent it to his wife.
In a few months, the Zhang family will have another new member of their family.
Zhang Ximeng really hopes to get a girl. If they get together like this, it will be good, and he will be satisfied.
After talking to his wife for a while, he came out and found Zhu Biao already waiting here.
After recommending Peng Zaozhu, Empress Ma wrote back to Zhu Biao, asking him to ask for more advice, especially regarding employment issues, and she must get advice from Prime Minister Zhang.
Zhu Biao is different from Zhu Yuanzhang. He cannot start from scratch and build a team by himself. He must use the people already under Zhu Yuanzhang.
This is not to say that Zhu Biao cannot cultivate his own confidants, but that he must move around within the framework that Lao Zhu left for him, and be careful not to smash all the porcelain in the room.
This is a common problem faced by almost all non-founding kings.
Moreover, most of the successors could not handle this aspect well. Either they were manipulated by the old ministers, or the two sides fought to the death, causing chaos in the world.
The use of Peng Zaozhu is definitely a clever move. Zhang Ximeng is even more powerful than Zhu Yuanzhang in employing people. After all, Lao Zhu is too rough in doing things, and Zhang Ximeng is better at delicate operations.
No, Empress Ma asked Zhu Biao to learn this unique skill from her husband.
"Sir, Zhang Shicheng is considered a tycoon. If he is put in charge of the salt administration, will there really be no problems?"
Zhang Ximeng laughed loudly, "Your Highness, can you tell me who will be responsible for the salt administration? You can rest assured? That is a mountain of gold and silver. Civil servants and generals, who would not be tempted!"
"Then, why did you choose Zhang Shicheng?" Zhu Biao was confused.
"Just because he is Zhang Shicheng!" Zhang Ximeng said with a smile: "Whoever sits on that chair will have problems. The only difference is the size of the problem. I asked Peng Zao to be the admiral and Zhang Shicheng to be the consultant... I calculated them correctly.
There is no one in the court. Not only is there no one, there are many eyes staring at them, hoping that they will cause problems so that they can be replaced."
Zhu Biao was stunned for a while, and then he understood.
Then he suddenly realized, "Good advice, sir! Even if these two people want to be greedy, will they control their own hands and feet because so many people are watching them?"
Zhu Biao was so happy that he clapped his hands, but then he said: "Sir, with this arrangement, are you a little unkind to these two people? Also, are they willing to do their best?"
Zhang Ximeng chuckled, "Are you using people? Of course, you can't avoid calculations. Although Peng Zaozhu surrendered very early, he still has some people under him. These people are the seniors of the Red Scarf Army. They need a place to go. They are not His Majesty.
The direct descendants are not Xungui's subordinates. In short, their situation is very embarrassing. I will give them the salt farm this time. Peng Zaozhu will work hard to settle down his old subordinates. And the salt farm is also a good place for them. "
"As for Zhang Shicheng... he was indeed a hero in the past, but today he is nothing more than a joke. Managing the salt farm is the last step in his life. And salt is related to the people of the world and the common people. He can do it well and make a name for himself.
It’s also a good way to restore your reputation and accumulate some virtue.”
Zhang Ximeng said with a smile: "These two people may have other thoughts and some small calculations, but they have nothing to do with the overall situation. If nothing goes wrong, we can just sit back and wait for the good news."
Zhu Biao nodded quickly, his little face full of admiration... Zhang Ximeng does have a calm and leisurely rhythm in doing things.
It is said that reforming the Salt Law and establishing a trading house is obviously not something that can be done in one sentence, nor can it be easily solved by sending a few capable subordinates.
Things are never that simple.
Similarly, if we really want to do this, starting from the most basic rules, I'm afraid I won't be able to explain it in ten days and ten nights... Zhang Ximeng just determined some basic rules.
For example, using the salt-drying method, abolishing the kitchen households and replacing them with salt workers, opening up the supply, etc.
With these basic things in place, Zhang Ximeng then hired Peng Zaozhu and Zhang Shicheng to set up the personnel framework.
Basically, the main problems have been solved, and then it depends on how it works... If there are problems, just adjust them immediately.
If you stare at it for a while and there are no serious problems, then you can move on to the next thing.
Zhang Ximeng's working style is very different from Zhu Yuanzhang's hands-on approach to everything.
If you ask Zhu Biao, he undoubtedly prefers Zhang Ximeng's method. Without him, it saves effort!
If he was really like his father, he felt that he might not be able to outlive his father!
It’s really a lot of hard work!
Zhu Biao learned his skills from Zhang Ximeng every day and wrote a letter to Ying Tian... Time flies, only half a month later, Peng Zou came to stay, his face was still full of spring breeze, and he came with a smile.
Great news!
What a happy event!
The salt trading company made money!
If he had earned less, Peng Zaozhu would not have been so happy. After calculation, it was a full two million yuan, and it was only the first batch of income. Needless to say, there would be more in the future.
"Xiang Zhang, Your Highness, you say that Zhang Shicheng is simply amazing."
Zhang Ximeng smiled and said, "He is an old private salt dealer, so he naturally knows the key here. It is normal that those salt dealers can't compete with him."
"Not only can't I fight, I'm acting like a grandson."
Peng Zaozhu talked about it vividly, saying that salt is a necessity for the people. In the Song Dynasty, a pound of salt cost almost forty coins, and it was even more expensive in Bashu, ranging from fifty to seventy coins.
For a strong laborer, ten kilograms of salt a year costs 400 yuan, which is really a lot of pressure.
In the Ming Dynasty, how much did a pound of salt cost?
In the history of the Ming Dynasty, the cheapest salt price appeared during the Jingtai period, which was less than two cents. Normally, it was only five or seven cents, and rarely exceeded ten cents.
Compared with me, Song Dynasty, it is definitely a conscience.
The price of salt in the Yuan Dynasty, especially at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, had skyrocketed.
Even after the founding of the Ming Dynasty, it was still not cheap.
This time, Zhang Shicheng took charge of the salt affairs at the Changlu Salt Farm, and the first step was to reduce prices!
The price Zhang Shicheng gave for the salt field was two cents per catty. As for the sales price, the maximum price could not exceed five cents.
After the price was announced, those salt merchants went crazy!
Several of them got up immediately and were about to leave.
"King Huai, you are acting recklessly! Do you want me to pay for my death?"
"Yes, we need real money, silver, and various supplies to supply Peiping, and then we can exchange them for salt. You have lowered the price so low that we have no money to supply military supplies."
"Yes, the beacon tower was delayed and the soldiers were deprived of food and clothing. Can you, King Huai, bear the blame?"
…
This group of salt merchants didn't seem to be afraid of Zhang Shicheng, they were all talking and talking like crazy.
"Shut up, everyone!"
Zhang Shicheng slapped the table and sneered: "You think I don't know? Two cents per catty, one stone two hundred and forty cents, you can sell it for six hundred cents, which is more than double the profit, which is much more than transporting grain."
!”
"If you don't like the hard work, I'm not afraid! It's just right. There are boats on the canals and on the sea. Food, cloth, silk, and porcelain from the south of the Yangtze River are often shipped back empty! At most, you can bring some specialties and wood. Now it's good
It’s just right for holding salt!”
"The most expensive part of the price of salt is the freight... I did the math at the salt farm. Changlu can produce five kilograms of salt for one penny! You can also call grain ships. If you are not willing to negotiate and accept this price, then we will have a hard time.
Soon, he would transport the salt to various places and sell it for two cents a pound!"
Zhang Shicheng chuckled and said: "By the way, I have another idea here... You said that His Majesty uses grain captains to transport food. If we send salt to Taicang, each grain captain can get some salt back after delivering food.
What do you think will happen if we distribute it to the people in this grain area?"
The salt merchant's eyes widened and he said in horror: "King Huai, you, you want to kill every fish and destroy the salt law?"
Zhang Shicheng chuckled and said: "Instead of making you rich, it is better to provide benefits to the common people... My proposal is probably only 50 to 50, and your Majesty may not agree to it. Can you bet on it!"
The salt merchants immediately knelt down, Mr. Zhang, we can’t afford to bet on a 10% chance!