When the two heard about the opportunity to make a fortune, they immediately focused their attention on their sworn brother.
"This cement is of high quality and low price, don't you deny it?" the merchant asked the strong man and the short man.
The two nodded. They had already made a comparison and the conclusion was certain.
"Moreover, have you two brothers noticed that this house is afraid of fire?" the merchant asked.
The two of them thought that a house made of sand and iron rods would be more fire-resistant than a wooden house. So they both shook their heads.[
"Brother, I can say that this cement will be sold all over the world, and houses all over the world will use this cement in the future." The merchant directly stated the value of cement based on his vision.
The strong man and the short man were just looking at the cement in front of them and watching the excitement. They were far from having the keen awareness like the merchants to think about what benefits they could get from it.
Now after hearing what the merchant said, the two of them hurriedly asked: "Brother, how can we make a fortune from this?"
"Sell, sell, water and mud!" the merchant said word by word.
The two looked at each other, and then the short one asked: "Brother, we have no idea how to sell it!"
"Brother Wei thought that this thing should be sold by the government just like table salt. Therefore, Brother Wei's idea was to ask Brother Wei to find out the situation first, and then the three of us would pool money to buy cement certificates and sell them. Brother Wei made the right calculation.
"This cement will be in short supply for a long time, and selling it will definitely make a huge profit." The merchant's own eyes were already sparkling.
The strong man and the short man looked at each other and said to the merchant without hesitation: "Everything depends on my brother."
After the three people discussed it, they looked at the big house again. The more they looked at it, the more beautiful it looked. Just because of the sunlight, it seemed that the house was glowing with golden light. Suddenly, the strong man asked: "Brother, second brother, what do you think?"
Why did the imperial court build this house?"
"Living there? Definitely not. Meeting? Impossible. What would it be used for?" The short man answered first and then asked another question. He really couldn't find the answer and asked another question.
"Is it a new government office?" the merchant guessed. None of the three people had a definite answer, but this was not their concern.
After watching for a long time, the three of them went to a restaurant to have a drink and discuss some details of their plan to make a fortune.
Zhong Jinwei was currently resting in the cement court room he had built at the Meridian Gate. From time to time, people dressed as ordinary people came in and out to report to him.
These people were sent by Zhong Jinwei to promote cement. The businessman who always heard what others said was actually the person sent by Zhong Jinwei. These people promoted the propaganda while collecting people's reactions and came back to report to Zhong Jinwei.
Among the messages returned, there were many people who had similar thoughts to that of the merchant.
Zhong Jinwei was very satisfied with what he heard. After the bank is built, and some time later, the publicity effect of cement will be better, and then the cement can be listed on the market, but the specific details of the cement purchase and sale have not been figured out yet.
Zhong Jinwei was sitting here, taking a rest while thinking about this matter. He was thinking about the business methods of later generations to see what would be more suitable for current needs.
Suddenly, a chamberlain came and summoned Zhong Jinwei to go and see him.
The Forbidden City was right in front of us, and Zhong Jinwei appeared in front of Emperor Chongzhen in a short time.
Still in the Wenhua Hall, there were more people in the hall, including Wen Tiren, the chief minister of the cabinet, Sun Chengzong, the cabinet minister who commanded King Qin's army, and Bi Ziyan, the minister of household affairs.[
As soon as Zhong Jinwei saw this formation, he knew that something important was going on.
Emperor Chongzhen spoke: "Bi Qing, tell Master Zhong how much atonement money you received in total."
When Zhong Jinwei heard this, it turned out that the atonement silver had finally been collected.
Bi Ziyan was slightly embarrassed, because the atonement silver also included his contribution, and his attitude towards people was obviously much more respectful than before: "Marquis Zhongxing, the household department received a total of two hundred and thirty-five atonement properties, which can be converted into silver.
Sixteen thousand four hundred and fifty-six taels."
When Zhong Jinwei heard this, he thought to himself that the emperor had made a fortune. However, it was not much. Later, when Li Zicheng tortured hundreds of civil and military officials in Beijing, he got tens of millions of taels of silver.
After Emperor Chongzhen finished Bi Ziyan's report, he said to Zhong Jinwei: "With this tael of silver, I have decided to allocate one million taels to make up for the arrears of pay for the border troops."
Zhong Jinwei nodded, of course, the frontier army's salary could not be delayed. However, what Emperor Chongzhen meant when he told him this, he did not understand.
After Emperor Chongzhen finished speaking, he looked at his chief minister. Wen Tiren understood and said to Zhong Jinwei: "Marquis Zhongxing, what the emperor and the cabinet mean is that you will escort this large sum of silver to the border and distribute it to the border troops."
When Zhong Jinwei heard this, he didn't understand what it meant at first. How could he be appointed to escort him? He had no such experience.
"Your Majesty, I have never done this before and have no experience." Zhong Jinwei explained the situation to Emperor Chongzhen truthfully.
"Master Zhong, you can go, don't worry." Emperor Chongzhen could only point out.
"Marquis Zhongxing, it doesn't matter if you have no experience. There are officials who are familiar with the process. You only need to supervise its distribution." Wen Tiren also added.
Zhong Jinwei looked at Emperor Chongzhen and then at Wen Tiren, and suddenly realized that they did not trust the civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty, and were afraid that they would try to manipulate them, so they sent him there. It is estimated that they will wait until the new supervision system proves to be effective.
I will feel relieved.
However, how could they calmly hand over such a large sum of money to themselves? Although their character must be fine, others probably don't understand it as well as they do.
He looked at Emperor Chongzhen doubtfully and said, "Since the emperor trusts me, I am willing to go."
"Master Zhong, you have dedicated your cement formula, high-temperature glass burning and other unique ways of making money to the court. Who would suspect that Master Zhong is greedy for money!" Emperor Chongzhen saw the doubts in Zhong Jinwei's eyes, so he went straight to the point.
The reason why everyone in Wenhua Hall believed in Zhong Jinwei.
Zhong Jinwei suddenly realized that this was the reason. No matter what, Zhong Jinwei was very happy that Emperor Chongzhen and others could trust him. He asked Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, are the important ministers going to leave immediately?"
"No, wait until the war in the capital subsides before escorting him, otherwise it will be too unsafe." Emperor Chongzhen shook his head and said.
"What about the life of the army over there?" Zhong Jinwei asked.
It is not an option if the payment of funds is delayed all the time. The war in Gyeonggi Province has not yet ended at an exact time. However, Zhong Jinwei is also convinced that he has changed history, and the war will definitely end earlier than in history.
"I am going to send an envoy to the border to deliver a message. The silver coins have been prepared and can be escorted as soon as the war is over. Let them persist for a while. If they really can't persist, the local government can misappropriate part of the silver coins or the generals can go to the rich gentry.
Temporarily borrowing it." Emperor Chongzhen told Zhong Jinwei the results of his discussions with the people in the palace.
After hearing this, Zhong Jinwei felt that there was no other way, so he nodded to express his understanding.[
When Emperor Chongzhen saw that the matter was almost finished, he started to talk about the next topic. He said to Sun Chengzong: "Master Sun, please tell Master Zhong the situation first."
"In the past few days, the Mongol Tatars have withdrawn from the pass and returned to the grasslands without receiving any returns." Sun Chengzong's voice never stopped, so loud that Zhong Jinwei thought he was shouting all the time.
As soon as Zhong Jinwei heard Sun Chengzong's words, he immediately said to Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, Jianlu is probably going to run away too."
Emperor Chongzhen nodded. He had discussed it with Sun Chengzong beforehand and reached the same conclusion.
He asked Zhong Jinwei: "Master Zhong, do you think all the Jianlu will withdraw from the pass or will they do something else?"
The movements of the Jianlu were not yet clear, and the conclusion that they were going to leave was uncertain, so Emperor Chongzhen wanted to ask Zhong Jinwei for his opinion. After all, Zhong Jinwei came from later generations, and he had some reference value.
Zhong Jinwei thought for a moment, and it seemed that what he had done so far had not changed history too much. When he was about to speak, the chamberlain suddenly came to report: "Your Majesty, the family of Zhongxing Hou asked Gu Baichuan, the commander of the East Factory, to convey urgent military information."