Just when they were wondering, Emperor Chongzhen's decree arrived again.
Those cabinet members and the six ministers rushed to the Wenhua Palace, but unexpectedly, something happened that surprised them again.
Emperor Chongzhen told them that he had mastered the glass-making method, so he collected the five hundred thousand taels of silver and prepared to set up glass factories across the country to produce glass.
As for the specific content, Emperor Chongzhen announced that 500,000 taels of silver would account for 10% of the shares, and dividends would be distributed every year; however, as compensation, according to the size of the shares, glass products could be purchased from the glass factory first. It is temporarily expected that the glass
The ex-factory price of the product will be one-third of the normal price, or even lower.
This means that if shareholders are the first to purchase glass products from the glass factory and resell them, they will still make a lot of money, even if they are cheaper than before.
All the cabinet members and the six ministers were stunned when they heard this.
Originally, they thought that the money that Emperor Chongzhen had forcibly collected in the morning must have been wasted, but they didn't expect that there would be returns!
And this return may be very generous. It’s not about dividends, but the profits from reselling it will be very generous!
Emperor Chongzhen would actually do this?
Is this still the Emperor Chongzhen they knew?
For a moment, these learned men, the leaders in the party struggle, were stunned and did not respond for a long time.
After a while, Chen Yan, the Minister of Household Affairs and the Grand Scholar of Wuyingdian, coughed and went out to report: "Your Majesty, do you think this matter is inappropriate?"
When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he frowned and immediately asked: "What's wrong?"
I heard Chen Yan immediately make an impassioned speech: "Your Majesty is already rich all over the world, and now you want to run this glass factory to compete with the people for profit. What will the people of the world think? For the sake of your Majesty's reputation, I kindly ask your Majesty to withdraw this proposal!"
Emperor Chongzhen became angry when he heard this. He stared at Chen Yan and asked sternly: "I am rich all over the world? What a joke! How can someone be rich all over the world? Come on, come on, tell me? Will you still talk about my great concubine?"
I have tens of millions of taels of silver hidden away. I am very rich, right?"
He remembered that someone in later generations had arranged it. He said that of the 70 million taels of silver earned by thieves in pursuit of stolen goods, more than half of it came from the palace. It might have been arranged by Chen Yan and his ilk.
Thinking of this, he was so angry that it went straight to his head!
"That's not what Wei Chen means!" Chen Yan was a little frightened, but he still managed to calmly say, "Wei Chen is just asking for orders for the people, and also for His Majesty's reputation. He has no other intentions!"
When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he immediately laughed angrily and said: "Do you really think that I don't know? Do you think that I am so easy to bully? You just donated a mere five taels of silver. In terms of dividends, you can't get much;
When it comes to the right to purchase, you are ranked last. If you don't get any benefit from it, you don't want others to benefit from it, so you object and gain fame for yourself, right?"
"Wei Chen has absolutely no such intention!" After hearing this, Chen Yan quickly knelt down and played loudly.
The other civil servants listened and did not interrupt. On this matter, their interests were really inconsistent.
This is not to say that they donated a lot of money, but if they objected, they would offend civil and military officials, as well as the royal family and nobles.
Everyone has different allies. Some people have allies who donate more money.
Finally, the emperor suddenly became kind-hearted, and the money he originally donated was actually returned!
Anyone who dares to stop them from getting rich will definitely be resented by them.
Moreover, they did not want to be a free man like Chen Yan, but only donated a mere five taels of silver.
The most important thing is that if the emperor is not angry, they might even get some reputation capital for themselves; but now, with Emperor Chongzhen furious, no one wants to touch this bad luck.
Emperor Chongzhen turned to look at Wang Dehua, the eunuch in charge of the ceremonial department, and shouted sternly: "I want Dongchang to investigate Chen Yan's family fortune immediately. I want to know if he really has the best of both worlds! If Dongchang dares to deceive me, I will let Xi
Let’s go to Dongchang to arrest people!”
When Wang Dehua heard this, he did not dare to be negligent and quickly accepted the order and said: "I obey the order!"
He had never expected that Wang Chengen would suddenly become the admiral of the West Factory. Wang Dehua knew that he and Wang Chengen had a bad relationship.
As a fellow Taoist who is poor but not immortal, Chen Yan is probably going to be unlucky now.
The officials in the Wenhua Palace looked at Chen Yan and couldn't help but gloat over his misfortune. Fortunately, Chen Yan went into the water first. Now they can only congratulate him. Seeking benevolence will lead to benevolence!
Emperor Chongzhen glared down and shouted sternly: "The reason why I opened the glass factory is because of the emptiness of the national treasury. I thought that you all would understand this truth, but in the end, some people dare to doubt me and think that I am doing this for personal gain? I
If the national treasury has enough money to provide disaster relief and military pay, how about I find a way to raise the money myself?"
In the emperor's rage, no one dared to raise their heads, and everyone lowered their heads, only to be scolded.
Emperor Chongzhen glanced at them, looked very displeased, and said coldly: "With your help and assistance, I have issued several edicts to sin against myself, but do I still have a reputation? I can tell you, as long as I can revive the Ming Dynasty,
I can do anything!"
"snort!"
After a cold snort, Emperor Chongzhen stood up with his sleeves rolled up and drove away, leaving behind a group of people covered in sweat!
As the proceedings ended, the content of the meeting also spread.
All the civil and military officials, as well as the royal family and nobles, could not help but be very surprised when they heard this.
The first surprise was, of course, the money they donated and the glass factory!
The second surprise was that during the discussion in the Wenhua Palace, Emperor Chongzhen seemed to reveal that the West Factory was specifically targeting Jin Yiwei and the East Factory.
No, the West Factory arrested the commander of the Jinyi Guards, and then sternly warned the East Factory that if they didn't do things well, they would let the West Factory go to the East Factory to arrest people.
If this is the case, their worries about the establishment of the West Factory will be much less.
Based on this incident, the group of civil and military officials and royal family members began to divide.
Some people even took pleasure in Chen Yan's misfortune.
Of course, there are still some people who are still thinking about opposing the establishment of the West Factory, but their voices have become much quieter.
At this time, Emperor Chongzhen asked Xichang to inquire about the outside news, while he personally visited the Royal Craftsman's Workshop, summoned the craftsmen from the entire capital, and began to explain to them about the firing of glass.
No one expected that Emperor Chongzhen would have such ability. He could speak eloquently about the method of making glass, including the method of glass kiln, the regenerator, etc., which was better than any craftsman!
For a moment, all these craftsmen were stunned!
Not only that, the accompanying maids, chamberlains, and Han generals were all shocked when they saw this scene!