The hall is grand and spacious, but this is not the focus. The focus is bright, natural light.
The three merchants felt that they were not indoors, but in an open-air courtyard.
The three of them looked up along the bright light and discovered the mystery.
I saw that there was a large piece of glass paved at every other section on the roof, and the light illuminated the entire hall through these glasses.
They had seen some houses with glazed tiles on their roofs, but the light was too dark compared to the one in front of them.
The merchant's eyes were sharp, and he found that the glass on the roof was different from the glass he had just seen at the door, mainly in transparency. The glass on the roof looked blurry, and obviously the transparency was not very good. But after passing through the roof
The bright light shining behind the glass does not feel the sun's rays, it is like it has been filtered through and the heat in the sun has been filtered out.
There is a table in front of the hall. There are tables and stools only on the side of the table. There seem to be four treasures of the study on the table.
There were rows of chairs under the table, and between each chair was a small square coffee table. There was something on the coffee table, but because of the distance, they couldn't see clearly what it was.
The merchant counted and found that it could seat about thirty or forty people. At this time, many people were sitting there, whispering and talking to each other.[
While the three of them were still looking at it, an official came over and said to them, "Please take a look at the invitation."
After the merchant showed it to him, he was led to his seat, and his two followers, his two sworn brothers, were arranged to wait by the wall.
Not long after, the seats were filled with people, and the time stated on the invitation arrived.
An official came out from the background and sang: "Eunuch An is here." Then he walked to the table, sat down and prepared the bidding records.
All the people in the audience immediately stopped talking, stood up from their chairs, and looked towards the stage.
After An Guiyi walked to the center of the stage with official steps, the businessmen all greeted him.
The scholars, farmers, industry and merchants of the feudal dynasty had turned into scholars, merchants, farmers and merchants by the end of the Ming Dynasty, and the status of merchants had improved a lot.
Moreover, most of these businessmen were backed by civil servants and generals from the capital, honoring the royal family. The most important thing was that before leaving, Marquis Zhongxing had promised to treat them like God and let them pay.
An Guiyi knew what Zhongxing Hou meant, so he clasped his fists and raised his hands on the stage, returned the gift, asked them to sit down, and then said straight to the point: "We will not repeat what has been written on the invitation. Our family
There are many things to do, so let’s get started.”
The businessmen all looked at An Guiyi quietly, waiting for him to continue.
An Guiyi clapped his hands, and a group of people came out from the backstage carrying various glass products and placed them in front of the stage. These glass products were placed on a special shelf, and there was a number marked under each glass.
After the people carrying glass products went down, An Guiyi walked to the stage, looked at the businessmen below and said: "The glassware produced by the glass factory run by the imperial court was originally a tribute to the emperor. But now the imperial court is in need of it.
On the occasion of raising money, the emperor specially approved a certain output of glass to be sold every month to replenish the national treasury."
An Guiyi opened his mouth and told them that these things were high-end products and tributes used by the emperor, implying that the market price of these glassware would not be too low.
An Guiyi pointed to the numbers on the side of the glass products and said: "These are the output sold this month, and there are only so many in total. Now our family will let someone introduce these tributes to you."
After finishing speaking, An Guiyi clapped his hands again, and a man came out from the backstage. He bowed to An Guiyi first, and then began to introduce various glass products to the businessmen in the audience.[
Although the merchants below could probably guess what they were for by looking at their shapes, after introductions from professionals, they discovered that many glass products actually have more uses.
There are actually not many types of glass products, and it didn't take long to introduce them. The man bowed to An Guiyi again and returned to the backstage.
An Guiyi cleared his throat to attract the attention of the merchants, and then continued: "All these glass products, within a month, will be auctioned at once. The rule is free bidding, and the highest bidder will win."
When the businessman below heard this, he quickly opened his eyes to look at the numbers, calculating in his mind how much the monthly output would be.
After An Guiyi finished speaking, he was not prepared to take any more care according to the prior plan, and wanted to walk backstage. However, he immediately remembered one more thing and almost forgot about it. So, An Guiyi turned around and continued to explain: "If you use
If the Ming Dynasty Jiusi Baoqian comes for delivery, the court will give a 1% discount."
At this time, there was a "buzz" down there. I didn't expect that the imperial court would support the Jiusi Baobao so much, and would even let everyone use the Jiusi Baobao.
After An Guiyi entered the backstage, another person came out to the front desk and started presiding over the auction, and the previous official began to record it.
The base price is three times the cost, but the glass is made of the least valuable and most common materials, and the highest cost is just labor.
These businessmen can be sent to bid, so they are naturally the ones who have the ability to win the appreciation of their masters. Therefore, after making some calculations in their minds, they began to bid against each other.
After about two quarters of an hour, the bidding ended and the merchants began to leave one after another.
The short man and the strong man received the merchant. They wanted to ask about the situation, but seeing that there were too many people, they had to endure it. After sitting back in the car, the strong man couldn't help but ask: "Brother, how are you?"
The merchant looked at the two sworn brothers, sighed, and then said: "This time is so unexpected. I didn't expect An Gong's public price to be so low. In the end, the deal was only ten times the reserve price."
"Ten times? Isn't that less?" the short man asked in confusion.
"Of course it's less. Don't think about it. This is something that the emperor uses. Many dignitaries in the capital don't use it. If you put this thing out for sale, don't say that these things are real, such as the big glass. Renovate the study room.
, that’s so bright; just say that the identity of a person who uses this thing will become extraordinary. Do you think rich people will buy it with such little money?"
When the merchant said this, he sighed again: "It's a pity that my boss hesitated and only asked me to come over and have a look. But I can also see that my boss is not the only one who has this idea."
"Brother, there will be a next time, it's okay." The strong man saw the merchant sighing twice and comforted him.
"You don't understand. Even if many people took action this time, it was because the quota given by the owner was insufficient and they were unable to bid. Next time, you will understand that the profits here will be fiercely competitive." The merchant looked at the strong man and replied.
.
When the strong man heard this, he scratched his head and was speechless.
"By the way, second brother and third brother, you don't have to exchange the Jiusi Bao banknotes every day in the future. The imperial court is determined to sell these Jiusi Bao banknotes, and they should not depreciate in value." The merchant remembered what Gong An said at the auction.
Just remind the two sworn brothers.
The short man and the strong man were naturally puzzled, but after the merchant's explanation, they understood the reason. The strong man laughed and said: "It's not so troublesome every day in the future. It's really good!"
Unexpectedly, the merchant smiled and said to the strong man and the short man: "This is not the best thing. Brother, I saw an opportunity to make a fortune."
When the short man and the strong man heard this, they stared at the merchant and asked in unison: "What opportunity?"
Merchants had previously talked about the opportunity to make money from cement, but in the end it came to nothing. They also talked about getting Ming Dynasty Tongxingbao Banknotes, but they both sold them after the price rose a little, and didn't make much money. Although they later saw the price rise,
Lao Gao regretted it, but in the end he was glad that the Tongxing Baobao banknotes fell below their selling price and they did not lose it. As for the future market trend, they did not care.
Now that the businessman said there was another opportunity, the two people, who wanted to make a fortune, quickly consulted.
"Have you seen that big glass? It is excellent when made into doors or households, but it also has flaws." The merchant said with a mysterious look.
"What flaw?" His two adopted brothers asked together again.
"You can see the outside from the inside, and you can see the inside from the outside. Sometimes it's inconvenient inside, right? At this time, you need something to cover it." The merchant did not hide his secrets in front of the two sworn brothers, and said in one breath
Said it out.
"curtain?"
"Yes, it's the curtain. It needs to be a grand and classy curtain that matches the glass. What do you think, are you interested in making it with your brother?" The merchant made up his mind to do it.
The strong man and the short man looked at each other, then nodded together and said, "Okay, let's do it together with the big brother."
After finishing speaking, the three of them laughed together, happy to have found a profitable business.
They didn't know that there was a person in the Forbidden City who was happier than them.