However, after Si Wenzhi told his father Si Chaoren what he heard from the noodle stall about the He family, Si Chaoren immediately conveyed the message to Si Denghan, the father of the Si family.
After hearing this, Si Denghan said that it was God who helped his Si family. He was so happy that he stayed up all night without saying anything. Even one day later, when he met his archrival He Wanming at the gate of Bingcao Yamen, he still had a look of uncontrollable joy.
He Wanming felt inexplicable and suspicious of the smile on Si Denghan's face. The two walked into Bingcao Yamen side by side, He Wanming chuckled, "Boss Si seems determined to get this batch of ointment orders."
"Boss He seems to be very confident." Stenghan replied with a faint smile.
The two of them said nothing more. The gatekeeper had already spoken and led the two of them to a side hall to sit down and have tea. Not long after, Cai Yingheng, the military officer, arrived in stride.
The two of them stood up to say goodbye. After Cai Yingheng asked them to sit down, he got straight to the point, "I called you two here today. Actually, I want to talk to you two face to face.
You also know that this batch of ointments is very important, and there cannot be any mistakes. Moreover, the quantity of this batch of ointments is also large, one hundred thousand orders, but you only have two months."
He Wanming raised his hand and said, "Sir, if the He family's pharmacy ranks second, then no one in Yinzhou would dare to rank first."
Intentionally or unintentionally, he glanced at Si Denghan and said: "One hundred thousand orders in two months is a piece of cake for our He family. Moreover, the He family has been responsible for the ointment for the past two years. You know this quality best.
"
Cai Yingheng looked at Si Denghan and said, "This year your Si family also submitted a surrender letter."
Steng Han groaned in his heart, they didn't submit the petition. If it weren't for that old man He Wanming who knew how to please the government, the ointment business wouldn't have been done by the He family.
Si Denghan was born into a scholarly family. He passed the Tongsheng Examination when he was young. After failing many times, he took over the family business. But at heart he was still a noble Confucian scholar and hated the idea of currying favor with the government, so he would not do it unless necessary.
How to show your face in front of the government.
In the early years, because the Si family had a big business, even if he did not actively try to get through, the government would still give the Si family a little favor. However, later when the He family started to grow, He Wanming was a typical philistine businessman.
He was very good at flattering people with his nonsense, which caused the Si family to lose some business, such as this ointment order.
Two years ago, the Si family was responsible for this military ointment.
"The Si family has been responsible for military ointments for many years, and has profound experience and foundation. The Si family's medicine stores are century-old stores and have always been the number one medicine store among the people.
Sir, I dare to guarantee with my head that the quality of the ointment is of the highest quality, and the order can definitely be completed within two months."
He Wanming laughed and said, "Boss Si, I want ointment, not a head on your neck. You use the head on your neck as a guarantee. Your head is nothing compared to hundreds of thousands of soldiers."
"You..." Si Denghan was so angry that he almost wanted to curse the old man, but then he remembered that Cai Yingheng was sitting in front of him, so he could only suppress his anger and thought to himself: Old man, you will cry soon.
Cai Yingheng knew that the relationship between the two families was not good overtly or covertly, so he pretended not to see it, but said: "One hundred thousand orders, a lot of them. I have calculated the speed of your previous work, and it is still faster.
Although I need this batch of ointments urgently, I don't want you to affect the quality of the ointments because of your rush. So in fact, I want you two to undertake 50,000 ointments each. This is why I called you both here today.
I know that both of you have this strength, so I won’t choose one over the other, so that you can put 50,000 pieces in two months and focus on the quality of the ointment.”
He Wanming and Si Denghan fell silent for a moment. They looked at each other and saw disdain and disgust in each other's eyes. Cooperation? Impossible.
He Wanming was the first to clasp his fists: "Sir, there are more than 2,000 pharmacists in the He family. Thirty ointments per person per day are more than enough. They can make 60,000 ointments in one month, and 100,000 ointments in two months are not a problem.
Not to mention that there are more than 4,000 medicine boys. There are thousands of kilograms of medicinal materials in the warehouse and various medicine shops. Even if you are responsible for it alone, you will not have any trouble.
But if the ointment is divided into two batches, the quality will be different, and you will be in trouble again."
Si Denghan also handed over his hand, "Sir, there are 2,547 pharmacists in the Si family, and the existing medicinal materials total more than 2,470 dan. The Si family is not a problem."
Cai Yingheng thought for a moment and felt embarrassed. In fact, on the premise of ensuring quality and quantity, he would prefer to choose one company. After all, if two companies work together, it is easy to cause unnecessary trouble.
As for the two companies, he has no quality concerns. After all, they have hosted both. As for the price, he has fixed the price, and there is no higher or lower price. In this case, which one should you choose?
The reason why he chose the He family in the past two years was because of his superiors' words. But this year, his superiors said that he would have to make up his own mind, but now he couldn't make up his mind.
Si Denghan saw Cai Yingheng's hesitation in his eyes. He picked up the teacup, took a sip, and then said slowly: "Boss He, there is a saying that goes well: A benevolent person should follow his own path and not pursue his own interests. He should cultivate his principles.
Don't rush to get results.
It is not easy for the He family to develop into what it is today in just ten years. Boss He should be content and kind and take good care of such a large business, but he still has to rob and plunder in order to strengthen the family business. It is really chilling.
Na."
He Wanming frowned at first, and then his face darkened, "Boss Si, you can eat randomly, but you can't talk nonsense. I can understand that you want to fight for the ointment order, but your slander is just a villain."
Si Denghan snorted and cupped his hands towards Cai Yingheng, "How dare I talk nonsense in front of your lord?"
Then he turned to Cai Yingheng and said: "Sir, the He family suppressed the landlords and bought thousands of acres of land at extremely low prices. They also allowed the villagers to bully the tenant farmers and forced them to sign an 80% lease contract. If the tenants refused to sign, the villagers would
They were beating and robbing, which can be described as lawless, but the tenant farmers were afraid of the He family's power and dared not speak out. Now they are so noisy that they want to hang themselves."
"Boss Si." He Wanming couldn't help but raise his voice, "I did buy a thousand acres of land at a low price, but I did this for the suffering tenant farmers.
Nowadays, the price of land is so high that ordinary people have to live frugally for many years if they want to buy a few acres of land. Some even cannot afford it in their lifetime and can only make a living by renting land.
I've lowered the land price, and with this as a starting point, the land price will slowly drop. Isn't this beneficial to the tenant farmers? The boss of the company has a villain's heart to judge a gentleman's belly, but you still slander me like this. You still call yourself
Scholar, you simply bring virtue to the scholars all over the world."
Stenghan made no secret of his sarcasm: "Boss He flaunts himself as being noble, but he is too high-sounding. You buy it at a low price, and you save money. The land is in your hands, and it is not up to you to determine the price.
What's the matter? How can you lose money? You still have the nerve to say it's for the tenant farmers. It's really laughable."
He Wanming didn't want to get too angry in front of Cai Yingheng, so he could only hold back his anger and said, "Okay, I won't argue with you about this matter. I didn't break the law and I have a clear conscience. But you slandered me for nothing, doesn't that make you noble?
?”
Si Denghan ignored him and continued to say to Cai Yingheng: "Sir, if you don't believe it, you can send someone to investigate. The tenant farmers in Pingpo Village were oppressed by the head of the He family to the point where they couldn't survive. The day before yesterday, the head of the He family even brought someone with him.
People went to grab the grain directly, saying that the tenants did not sign the contract, and they would pay nineteen dan of grain. The lawlessness was extreme.
Also, how many people died in the Ruzhuang plague more than a month ago? Hundreds of people died in the entire Zhuangzi and outside the village. The He family prides itself on being the number one medicine shop, but they can't even control a small plague in their own village.
Later, a barefoot doctor casually prescribed a prescription, and the plague was cured.
Sir, the He family is so unkind and unjust, can you really trust the He family to hand over 100,000 ointment orders?"