"Cui He, don't listen to that Li Zhi's nonsense. He talks nonsense, how can he raise so much money?"
Cui He glared at Xiao Guangwei: "You know again? I think Li Zhi is much smarter these days than before. Maybe there is a way to raise money!"
"That's his bragging!"
Hearing Xiao Guangwei's words, Cui He stamped his feet angrily and said loudly: "Xiao Guangwei! Don't chase me all the time. What will others think if they see it? I'm going home, so hurry up and leave!"
Xiao Guangwei rolled his eyes in anger, but he did not dare to offend Cui He, so he could only walk away with a smile on his face.
Li Zhi walked out of Dongcheng Jingbianfang and walked casually on Dongcheng Heng Street. Although the hygiene on the street was very poor and most of the pedestrians were thin and short, there were also many merchants wearing Chinese clothes and carriages carrying goods on the road. Tianjin, in this
At that time, it was considered a prosperous commercial city.
Tianjin Acropolis is the gateway to Beijing and an important town for north-south transportation. If goods from the north and south are transported by sea, the Haihe River to the north of Tianjin Acropolis is the only way for sea transportation to Beijing. If it is transported by water, northwest of Tianjin Acropolis, there is the Beijing-Hangzhou University connecting the north and south of China.
Canal. The grain and rice needed for military supplies in Kyoto and the north all depended on the south-to-north grain transfer. Whether transported by canal or by sea, they had to set sail on the Haihe River or make overnight stops in Tianjin.
The Ming Dynasty would naturally send troops to protect such an important trading area. In the second year of Yongle, the Ming Dynasty built a garrison city at the mouth of the Grand Canal, diverted river water around the city, and built forts to protect the city. The Tianjin Acropolis spans nine miles and has high walls.
It is about three feet and five feet wide and two feet and five feet wide, with doors open on all sides.
By the end of the Ming Dynasty, Tianjin had transformed from a military center into a commercial center.
Walking on Dongcheng Heng Street, Li Zhi saw that there were shops on both sides of the road. In the middle of Dongcheng Heng Street, there was a large market that specialized in trading silk and cotton from the south.
Seeing the textile market, Li Zhi thought of shuttles and spinning machines. Li Zhi could make these simple textile machines, but the return on investment in the textile industry was slow, which obviously could not solve the current urgent needs of Li Zhi's family. Li Zhi walked along the street.
After going back and forth, I didn't find any inspiration for getting rich, so I walked back to Jingbianfang.
Walking to Jingbianfang, Li Zhi saw a noodle shop on the street. Seeing the snowflake buns piled high at the door of the noodle shop, Li Zhi stopped.
Seeing these steamed buns, Li Zhi felt happy and secretly wondered why he hadn't paid attention to these white steamed buns these days.
It’s not that Li Zhi wants to eat steamed buns, but that making steamed buns requires soda ash to make dough, and soda ash is the key raw material for saponification reaction. In other words, since there were steamed buns in the late Ming Dynasty, it means that there was soda ash in the Ming Dynasty, and Li Zhi had the skills to make soap.
Important materials.
Li Zhi was overjoyed and secretly thought that his first pot of gold would be earned from this soda ash.
Li Zhi walked into the steamed bun shop and shouted: "Little Er!"
"coming!"
Hearing someone calling, a waiter wearing a melon-skin hat came out to welcome him. When he saw who it was, his face lit up with joy: "Master Li Zhi, do you want to buy steamed buns or noodles? You can't buy credit in this small shop!"
"
The waiter at the shop recognized Li Zhi and knew that the Li family owed a large sum of money and was in financial difficulties. He was a snob. When he saw Li Zhi entering the noodle shop, he thought that Li Zhi wanted to eat and drink outside regardless of his family's conditions, so he became sarcastic.
Shensi called Li Zhi Mr. Li. The last sentence was about not being able to pay on credit, which was a naked irony that Li Zhi had to enter the store even if he had no money.
It is said that when a wall falls, everyone pushes, and when a drum breaks, Li Zhi is in trouble at home. Naturally, these snobs will not let go of the opportunity to add insult to injury. Li Zhi did not care about him, wiped his hand on his face, and said:
"Chen Deyu, don't talk nonsense. I'm not here to eat! Where do you buy the soda ash in your store? Please take me to buy some."
The waiter in the shop originally thought that the stupid Li Zhi would be dumbfounded by his sarcasm, but unexpectedly he was scolded by Li Zhi and couldn't help being stunned. After a long while, he said loudly: "What soda ash, we don't have this thing!"
Li Zhi pointed to the steamed buns and asked: "You don't have soda ash, how can you make steamed buns?"
The waiter curled his lips and said, "That's called alkaline noodles. Mr. Li, why are you asking about this? Do you also want to open a steamed bun shop?"
"So you call it alkaline noodles. I don't open a steamed bun shop. I want this alkaline noodles to be useful, so just tell me where you bought it."
“Bought from North Street!”
"Where is North Street? Take me there!"
The waiter rolled his eyes and said disdainfully: "I'm busy and I don't have time to play with you. Li Zhi, if you don't want to eat noodles, don't stand in the store blocking the road. The other customers can't walk!"
There was only one customer eating steamed buns in the noodle shop. Where was anyone walking around? Li Zhi knew the waiter's habit of not being able to get up early without any profit, so he took out thirty coins from his pocket and said with a smile:
"You take me to buy alkaline noodles, and I'll give you thirty coins!"
Chen Deyu only earned thirty cents in a busy day. When he saw the copper coin in Li Zhi's hand, his glasses shone with light. He took the copper coin and said with a smile: "Li Zhi, what are you doing today?"
Don’t stay still! Seeing that you sincerely want to buy it, my brother will help you and take you there."
There was nothing going on in the store, so Chen Deyu spoke to the shopkeeper and took Li Zhi to North Street.
Tianjin Acropolis is prosperous in commerce, and even the houses in the alleys have alley-side shops. Moreover, the shops in a neighborhood often all sell the same kind of things. For example, all the shops in Zhenshi Street sell needles, and all the Guodian Street sells pots. Li Zhijia
Jingbianfang, where it is located, sells all Nanyang products.
Chen Deyu walked with Li Zhi for a quarter of an hour and found a neighbor selling north-south groceries on North Street. He found an inconspicuous shop in the neighborhood. Chen Deyu pointed to it and said, "That's the shop. I
Go back and buy it yourself!"
Chen Deyu didn't know what Li Zhi wanted to buy alkaline noodles for, but he estimated that Li Zhi's family would go bankrupt sooner or later, and they would be homeless. Chen Deyu would not befriend such a person! So he didn't bother to say a word to Li Zhi.
After pointing out the location of the store, Li Zhi walked into the store without leaving Chen Deyu behind. When he saw an old man sitting in the store and taking a nap, he said loudly: "I'll buy four kilograms of alkaline noodles!"
Hearing Li Zhi's words, the half-asleep old man was startled. However, although he woke up from his dream, he was unambiguous in his actions and immediately agreed: "What I sell is the high-quality alkali mined from the Xiangyang mines."
Noodles cost seventy-six cents for four kilograms!”
Nineteen cents per pound of soda ash is not expensive. The price of soda ash is not expensive, so the cost of making soap will not be high. Li Zhi was happy and smiled and said: "Shopkeeper, I bought so much, you give me a cheaper price"
some!"
"That would cost at least seventy-two cents."
Li Zhi then took out seventy-two coins from his arms and handed it to the old man. The old man slowly stood up from his chair, scooped out a few spoonfuls of white powder from a large vat, and weighed it on the scale.
The tall scale weighed exactly four pounds at the end. The old man wrapped the soda ash with a piece of Fujian thick paper, tied it with a rope, and packaged it like traditional Chinese medicine before giving it to Li Zhi.
Li Zhi was so happy that he bought soda ash easily and walked out of the neighborhood carrying four kilograms of soda ash.
