The first thousand one hundred and eighty-seven chapters are worth an army of millions
The reason why Qi Lingshang appeared here today was because he received an order from the head of the family, Viscount Song. His empress' birthday was approaching, and he was asked to find a tribute that could reflect the status of their Song family and let the people in the palace
Concubine Kang has face, but at the same time, she cannot be too ostentatious and give tributes that will have a negative impact on the empress.
Such requirements are actually very high. First of all, this thing cannot be too cheap. If it is too cheap, it will lose the face of the Song family and the empress. After all, even if the Song family does not have the status of relatives, they are still from Suzhou.
A century-old wealthy and official family, this dignity must be maintained.
The empress is the concubine of the Holy Emperor, so if she receives a gift that is too cheap, she will naturally lose face.
However, it shouldn’t be too expensive!
Concubine Kang is the biological mother of the third prince Li Fang. With this status, many things need to be considered for political impact, especially since the Holy Emperor has not yet established a prince, and even the ministers do not know whether the Holy Emperor will establish a virtuous or a legitimate son.
Under such circumstances, the third prince still has a chance to compete for the position of crown prince and future heir apparent of the empire.
Therefore, the political impact must be considered and must not bring any negative impact.
If you send a treasure worth hundreds of thousands taels of silver, you don't have to think about it. It will definitely arouse a lot of public opinion. In the end, I am afraid it will spread to the ears of the Holy Emperor. No matter what the Holy Emperor thinks, it will not be
What a good thing.
Secondly, the gifts you give must not be too vulgar. It does not mean that traditional treasures cannot be used, but they are not novel at all. Otherwise, just give money. There is no need to give any gifts.
After the task of finding birthday gifts was given to Qi Lingshang, he also spent a lot of effort searching for them. He also found a few items. Although the overall situation was pretty good, he always felt that something was missing.
After seeing the crescent moon lady's mirror in the morning newspaper a few days ago, he had an idea, wouldn't this thing be quite suitable?
The price is only a few thousand taels of silver, which is more than 10,000 taels of silver. It is not expensive but also too cheap.
Moreover, this thing also has strong high-tech attributes. Although mirrors are very common in the eyes of later generations and are just daily necessities, nowadays, mirrors are actually serious high-tech products. If you want to create
To create a perfect large-area full-length mirror, the technical content is quite high.
What is the use of high-tech attributes?
The Holy Emperor likes it!
Everyone in the world today knows that the Holy Emperor likes all kinds of high-tech things the most!
For example, Emperor Sheng paid close attention to steam engines every day. Especially in the past two years, he went to the Royal Institute of Technology in person many times to inspect the development of steam engines.
Last year, which was the tenth year of Xuanping, Lin Hui, the head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Royal Institute of Technology who had been supporting the steam engine research and development project for many years, this young man of only 26 years old became the biggest winner in the entire Xuanping decade.
, because he was awarded the title of earl by the Holy Emperor!
Although there were many barons and viscounts in the Tang Dynasty, hundreds of them, the number of nobles above earl was very small, and most of them were awarded for military merit.
Lin Hui became the first scientist to be awarded the title of earl!
And what is very important is that Lin Hui's title of earl is hereditary after being reduced to baron, and he will retire with the country!
Many people have the title of earl, but few people have the title of earl, which is hereditary and independent of the country. This shows how important Lin Hui is in the mind of the Holy Emperor.
Last year, the steam engine project led by Lin Hui made a great breakthrough. Although they have not been able to develop a high-pressure steam engine over the years, they have not been able to miniaturize the steam engine to meet the needs of ships and trains, but in the low-pressure steam engine
In this field, great breakthroughs have been continuously made.
The continuously improved low-pressure steam engine has greatly improved its power and stability, and has initially met the needs of industrial applications. This is why many factories this year, such as Yang Cheng's Jiujiang Glass Company Shanghai Branch and Geng Youhua's Shanghai Branch, are
Reasons for the large-scale adoption of steam engines.
Although the price of steam engines is still relatively expensive and the operating costs are relatively high, the most important power and operational stability have made great breakthroughs. They can already meet industrial needs and far exceed hydropower.
Starting from this year, as the only domestic steam engine manufacturer, Zhaoqing Machinery Company has received explosive growth in steam engine orders. The factory cannot meet the demand even with full production, forcing Zhaoqing Machinery Company to build a branch factory and expand production.
.
At the same time, the Royal Institute of Technology has also slightly liberalized the patent authorization of steam engines, and also granted patent authorization to Dangtu Machinery Company, a state-owned enterprise specializing in the production of water-powered machinery. The purpose is to let more domestic manufacturers
Companies can quickly use steam engines, but steam engine patent authorization is still limited to companies affiliated with the Ministry of State-owned Enterprises, and even companies affiliated with the Royal Assets Division have not been authorized.
However, although the authorization is available, the technology required for the production of steam engines is not small. Although Dangtu Machinery Company has a patent authorization, it is not easy to successfully build it. Therefore, currently only Zhaoqing Machinery Company can produce steam engines in China.
And it is expected that it will monopolize the market for many years, and even occupy most of the market in the future.
Lin Hui, who built the steam engine, was directly awarded the title of earl by Li Xuan who was in a good mood. He also commented that the steam engine is of great benefit to the state and its value is worth millions of troops!
Such treatment and evaluation are not excessive at all in Li Xuan's opinion. No one knows better than him how powerful a mature and stable steam engine can be widely used in industry!
Such a steam engine is enough to completely set off a wave of industrialization in the empire, bringing an industrial storm to China and even the world. Its effect is far greater than a million-strong army!
The attention paid by the Holy Emperor and the title and status obtained by Lin Hui were also the direct reasons why many talented students studied hard and wanted to be admitted to the Royal Institute of Technology.
Everyone wants to be the second Lin Hui!
Becoming a noble means not only yourself, but also your children and grandchildren!
In Lin Hui's case, the matter of steam engines is enough to prove Sheng Tianzi's love for high technology. In addition to steam engines, Sheng Tianzi's emphasis on technology can also be seen in many other aspects.
As for the birthday gift given to Concubine Kang by the Song family, if it had high-tech attributes, at least it would not offend the Holy Emperor, and maybe it would also make him happy.
Out of this consideration, Qi Lingshang became interested in this crescent moon lady mirror!
As for when this crescent-moon lady's mirror later became a charity auction item, he became even more interested!
Charity is a good thing. In this case, Qi Lingshang would not even mind paying a few thousand taels more for his next bid, raising the price higher so that more money could be used for charity.
You can spend tens of millions of silver to buy something suitable as Concubine Kang’s birthday gift. It’s not expensive at all, not to mention the added bonus of being a philanthropist. This is very valuable to the Song family and even to Concubine Kang.
is beneficial.
Now, he could even imagine that once the Holy Emperor knew that the gift given to Concubine Kang by the Song family was a charity item, even if he was not overjoyed, he would at least feel some relief.
Thinking of this, he was already determined to get this crescent moon lady's mirror!
After the auctioneer's introduction, he finally started the bidding process and called out the starting price, which was two thousand five hundred taels of silver. Each increase in price must not be less than one hundred taels.
After the words fell, no one bid for a while, which made the auctioneer on the stage a little anxious. Even Yang Cheng, the person in charge of Fuhe Auction House and the general manager of the Shanghai Branch of Jiujiang Glass Company in the audience,
He frowned involuntarily.
Could it be that this is going to be aborted?
Damn, this is not possible. They have put in so much effort and this situation must not happen. At this time, Yang Cheng and the person in charge of Fuhe Auction House looked at each other. Although it was just a look at each other, basically
Everyone knows what to do.
If there is really no one bidding, then the people arranged by Yang Cheng and the people arranged by Fuhe Auction House will bid. Of course, the final successful bidder must be the people arranged by Yang Cheng. Fuhe Auction House is not like this
The big ones spend thousands of taels of silver on charity.
Just when Yang Cheng was about to ask his men to bid to avoid a failed auction, he suddenly saw the auctioneer shouting excitedly: "Two thousand six hundred taels, distinguished guest No. 35 bids two thousand six hundred taels!"
This seemed to be the beginning. Soon, many people were seen raising signs and bidding. Most of them were agents of various wealthy families. Of course, there were also many wealthy people who came in person to bid.
Some people want to really buy it, whether it is to show off or actually use it, while some people simply realize some of the benefits it brings, such as reputation.
Many people have already imagined that by the time today's auction is over, the whole upper class society in Shanghai will probably spread the news about today's auction, if not for anything else, just for the proceeds from the sale of this crescent-moon lady's mirror.
They were all donated. Regardless of whether they called Yang Cheng stupid or said Yang Cheng was a good person after being shocked, what does this have to do with them?
If word spreads that these buyers will only be people who spend huge sums of money for charity, their reputation will definitely become much better. With a reputation, it will be inconvenient in the future whether it is business or anything else.
Is there much?
Besides, this crescent moon lady's mirror is really good, it can be called a treasure. Real rich people don't care about so many thousand taels of silver.
However, Qi Lingshang did not bid, he was waiting!