The enthusiasm of the people for this first welfare lottery sale exceeded Emperor Chongzhen's expectations, which made him very happy.
He originally estimated that there were more than one million people in the capital. Based on the fact that 100,000 people would buy lottery tickets, if one person paid five cents, that would be a sales volume of 500 taels. The profit after excluding costs would be at least 100 taels.
Above. For the first time, I can buy a large house and convert it into a school.
The income from the second sale of lottery tickets can be used to pay teachers' salaries, provide free books and meals to school-age children, etc.
The subsequent income will be able to radiate to the Gyeonggi area and slowly build up.
As long as this method is effective, then the provincial governments of the two capitals and thirteen provinces can follow suit and sell welfare lottery tickets so that school-age children in their respective provincial capitals can read. Then slowly spread to
Funding for schools in other parts of the province, including at the state and county levels, is also available.
However, this time the lottery sales were reported by Ni Yuanlu, the Minister of Household Affairs, the number of people was less than expected, but basically no one just bought a welfare lottery ticket. The total amount of lottery tickets sold unexpectedly reached 5,000 taels.
Regarding the probability of winning the welfare lottery, he did not tell Ni Yuanlu, but this data has long been available.
The third prize requires two red numbers and one blue number. The probability of winning is 1 in 648. If you calculate that you must win one out of 648, the amount is 3240 Wen, and the prize is one tael of silver.
, that is, 1,000 Wen; that is three times the difference.
The second prize requires three red numbers and one blue number. The probability of winning is 1 in 4536. If you calculate that one of the 4536 numbers must be won, the amount is 22680 Wen, and the prize is twelve taels of silver.
, which is 10,000 Wen; that is more than twice the difference.
The first prize requires four red numbers and one blue number. The probability of winning is 1 in 27,216. If calculated based on the probability of winning one out of 27,216, the amount is 136,080 yuan, and the prize is fifty taels.
Silver, that is, 50,000 wen; that is more than twice the difference.
As for the special prize, if you have to win five red numbers and one blue number, the probability of winning is 1 in 136,080. If you calculate that one of 136,080 copies must be won, the amount is 680,400 yuan, and the prize is one hundred taels.
Silver, that is, 100,000 wen; that is a gap of more than six times.
Judging from the probability, selling this welfare lottery, excluding costs, can earn at least half. If the sales volume is 5,000 taels, then it can earn 2,500 taels, which far exceeds Emperor Chongzhen's estimate.
Don't listen to it that two thousand five hundred taels seems like a lot. In fact, compared to the prices at this time, you can really buy a lot of things.
When I had a video chat with Liu Weichao before, I heard Liu Weichao say that they were filming a TV movie about ancient times, and just for a meal or something, he just took a piece of silver and shouted to the boss, "Let's have a plate of beef or something"
The plot made Emperor Chongzhen laugh out loud.
First of all, one tael of silver can buy a lot of things. For example, a goose is worth more than 500 yuan; a duck is worth more than 200 yuan; a chicken is worth more than 200 yuan; pork is worth more than 40 yuan per catty; mutton is worth more than 40 yuan per catty.
Yu Wen and so on.
Secondly, beef cannot be seen everywhere, because cattle are protected by the court, and cattle that have to be killed can only be sold unless confirmed by the government.
Then again, if I have an income of 2,500 taels this time, I will most likely be able to solve the problem of school-age children studying in the capital at once.
Therefore, how could Emperor Chongzhen not be happy and actively do this?
At this time, he was glad that he had chosen this plan. Because Liu Weichao also mentioned at that time that there is another way to sell welfare lottery tickets, which is a sure profit. That is, you can directly take out the amount of the proceeds from the sale of lottery tickets and leave the rest.
The cost will be deducted from the bets and calculated as bonuses. If there are more bets, the bets will be greater, if there are less bets, the bets will be paid less.
If this method was adopted, Emperor Chongzhen felt at that time that if it were him and heard this method, he probably would not pay the money. If no one buys, or if there are fewer people buying, the bonus will be only a little.
, it’s strange that it can arouse interest!
Of course, it is okay to wait until the concept of welfare lottery is deeply rooted in people's hearts before adopting this second method. Because as long as the sales can increase, the bonus may be very high.
At this time, Emperor Chongzhen faced the cold wind and appeared on the Meridian Gate Tower. All the civil and military officials below, including the common people who came to see the lottery, all shouted: Long live our emperor, long live, long live, long live!
With the advent of peace in the world, these days are getting better and better day by day. Most people sincerely hope that like the slogan, if today is long live, the Ming Dynasty will be better and better.
As a result, the sound of this mountain calling for long live is particularly loud.
Emperor Chongzhen was in high spirits and did not talk nonsense. He immediately ordered Ni Yuanlu, the Secretary of the Ministry of Household Affairs: "Let the lottery ceremony begin!"
"Wei Chen accepts the order!" Ni Yuanlu responded with expectation and a little uneasiness after hearing this.
Later, two officials from the Ministry of Revenue moved a glass jar to the downstairs of the Meridian Gate, close to the outside, and watched the people in front.
You can see that this glass jar is divided into two, with a blue number ball on one side and a red number ball on the other side.
In addition, except for the side that is transparent to the people watching, the other sides of this glass jar are all covered with paper. You cannot see the inside of the glass jar. There is a hole in it, just big enough for one hand to reach in.
Touching the ball.
As soon as the onlookers saw this posture, they knew which ball was taken out and what number it was!
For this first lottery draw, Ni Yuanlu, as the Minister of Household Affairs, naturally took charge of the lottery in person. After all, Emperor Chongzhen was watching.
After the glass jar was placed, one person each from the Ministry of Revenue, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, Dongchang, Xichang, Jinyiwei and the palace eunuch walked behind the glass jar.
The people watching all know that according to the prior announcement, each of these people from different yamen will draw a ball, which is a number, and finally combine the numbers for this lottery draw.
At the Ministry of Household Affairs, a yamen servant was assigned to play the gong.
Under Ni Yuanlu's instruction, the yamen servant struck the gong hard and made a loud sound: "Dang!"
When the gong finished ringing, he shouted with excitement: "Representative of the Household Department, come forward and draw a red ball!"
After all, it was an activity on the Hubu Yamen side, so the opening was given to the Hubu Yamen.
The person from the Hubu Yamen was a principal. According to the rules explained in advance, he immediately stepped forward, walked to the glass vat and stood there, then turned around and turned his back to the glass vat.
Another yamen servant standing next to the glass jar went up to the front, picked up the glass jar, and shook it vigorously, causing the balls inside to roll around.
The people watching, whether they could see clearly or not, were all staring at the glass jar.
After shaking it for a while, the household officer put down the glass jar according to its original placement.
Then the yamen servant holding the gong struck the gong again and shouted: "Get the ball!"
Following this shout, the head of the household department who was preparing reached back and reached into the glass jar to get the ball.
He didn't waste any time and took out the first ball he touched. The whole process could be seen by the people watching.
As soon as the ball was taken out, he stretched out his hand and raised it high to show the numbers on the ball. People close by could see it clearly, but if they were far away, they would naturally not be able to see clearly.
But it doesn't matter. The Hubu Yamen official who was beating the gong sounded the gong again, and then shouted loudly: "Red ball, number 3."
After he shouted, the Meridian Gate Square immediately began to buzz.
Those who circled the red 3 were all elated, as if they had won the special prize; while those who did not circle the red 3, all said "Alas", the special prize is gone!
However, there was still a first prize waiting, so they were not too frustrated and quickly stared at the lottery, waiting for the next number to be announced.
Upstairs at the Meridian Gate, Emperor Chongzhen was actually nervous!
It doesn't mean that he bought lottery tickets, let alone that he cares about whether he will win the special prize or something. One hundred taels of silver will definitely not be a joy to him.
The reason why he is nervous is that he is afraid that there will be many special prizes in the lottery result. But what is even more nervous is that he is afraid that not many people will win in the lottery result.
Not to mention the special prize, even the first prize, the result of the first lottery draw will definitely affect the subsequent lottery sales.
Therefore, if he had to choose, he would rather have a few more special prizes awarded than no special prizes at all.
For this reason, he planned to cheat.
How to cheat?
Being an emperor is very simple. Just take a blank lottery ticket and wait for the result.
If there was no special prize in the lottery result, he would immediately ask someone to circle the special prize on the spot. As for the base tickets, the base tickets for the first period were kept by Emperor Chongzhen himself, and would not be given to the Ministry of Household Affairs until the beginning of the second period.
The procuratorate and factory guards jointly keep it.
Of course, if he had a choice, he still wouldn't want to do it.
He even thought about how to prevent such cheating from happening after the welfare lottery arrived.
At this time, under the Meridian Gate, with the sound of gongs, the representatives of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, Dongchang, Xichang, and Jinyiwei all drew red numbers, which were 5, 6, 8, and 1 respectively; so far,
The numbers on the red ball are all revealed.
The common people in the officialdom were busy verifying the numbers they had circled after seeing and hearing them. As each number was announced, some were happy, some were frustrated, whatever.
"Haha, okay, okay, I won two red balls, at least there is hope for the third prize!"
"Blessed by my ancestors, I hit four red balls, haha!"
"It's over, it's over. The twenty cents were thrown into the water. Why are my hands carrying them like this!"
"..."
Emperor Chongzhen has a dedicated person reporting to him. Because based on the statistics left behind, he can immediately know how many people have won and how many balls he has.