Wang Pu arrived in Lantian County only one day later than Li Mu. In fact, he could have arrived earlier, because he was lightly dressed and only brought one constant attendant. Compared with Li Mu's large army, he was naturally much lighter. But he
He couldn't arrive earlier than Li Mu, because he had no way to explain it. He could only say that after returning to Chang'an, he learned that Li Mu had gone to Lantian to pursue him. He couldn't say that he had already investigated Li Mu and got there first. Even this couldn't be hidden from Li Mu.
, but if he said that, wouldn't it be a slap in Li Mu's face? He has always known Li Mu's temperament, and why he wouldn't hide away if he was prone to thunder?
After arriving in Lantian, he did not show up directly. Instead, he first found a shop owned by the Wang family in Taiyuan and stayed in Lantian. Lantian was such an inconspicuous place before that everyone knew very little about Lantian.
In order not to cause embarrassment, Wang Pu must first investigate and understand the situation before talking.
He originally thought that Li Mu came to Lantian County in a hurry because he had something important to do. But the truth of the matter seemed not to be the case. Li Mu came to Lantian for three days and did not move at all. He only did one thing every day.
Taking his woman on a sightseeing tour. A four-wheeled carriage with "lavish decoration" was strolling slowly, followed by three cars, fully loaded with necessities for Li Mu to eat, drink and have fun. Accompanied by more than a dozen servants, it looked like
There are as many dandies as there are dandies.
Wang Pu has also seen it before, and he doesn't think Li Mu's extravagant and wasteful methods are novel at all. He has done this before, but it's just not as exaggerated as Li Mu. And he also feels that with Li Mu's status and wealth,
This level of enjoyment is nothing at all.
After staying for three days, Wang Pu couldn't stand it any longer and found Li Mu.
When Li Mu saw him, he was not surprised. He just pointed to the chair next to him and motioned for him to sit down.
"That old guy Wang Gui came to Chang'an?"
One sentence almost frightened Wang Pu out of his body. In the flash of lightning, his mind changed rapidly, and he knelt down.
He doesn't have to be like this, but he has to be like this. In the tenth and one second just now, he didn't think about denying it. But he quickly figured it out. Since Li Mu can tell this, it means that Li Mu has mastery of the information.
, to the point where he can't deny it at all. If you think about it carefully, it's the same. Li Mu now represents the court, and the bad guys and Dongchang's gossip can be used by him. Li Mu has already known his mother, Mrs. Lu, and the inheritance hall
His news channels must also be controlled by Li Mu. In this world, what news can be hidden from him?
Therefore, it was easy for Wang Pu to make a choice. He knelt down directly, eliminating the need to go around and avoid Li Mu being upset.
Li Mu laughed, raised his hand, and said, "There's no need for that. It's normal for everyone to have their own thoughts. If you don't have any, you'd be a fool." He paused and said, "Let me guess, that old guy Wang Gui
I asked you to come here for the cement?"
Wang Pu banged his head on the ground and said, "Master Hou predicts things like a god, it's true. The villain will die, all will die——"
"Get up when I ask you to." Li Mu signaled again, and Wang Pu stood up and sat down gingerly, with only half of his buttocks touching.
"Life is not easy." Li Mu sighed. Wang Pu was stunned and almost cried. Li Mu explained the difficulties of the aristocratic family. In fact, what is the difference between the so-called aristocratic family and the common people?
The differences between families are just small. Who doesn’t want to live a good life? Who doesn’t want to maintain this good life?
The aristocratic families have already lived their best life. If they take another step forward, they can only rebel. But throughout history, why do so few people from aristocratic families rebel? It is not because they have no strength, but because
They don't have that kind of ambition at all. A person who already has 100 billion, will he risk his life for more money? But if he is a poor man, he may get 100 billion if he works hard.
This person is really not too weak to hold on to the wall, so he will definitely choose to give it a try.
Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, there have been few founding emperors and no Taiping emperors. Almost all of them were killed and shed blood. How could they achieve a lifetime of hegemony? Because they dared to fight and fight. And for aristocratic families, the first iron rule is always
It is inheritance and capital preservation forever.
"I really want to find some capable partners to join the cement factory. However, the condition for joining the shareholding is not money, but -" Li Mu was thinking of the right words, and Wang Pu answered: "Master Hou wants to
Say, resources?”
"Ah, yes, that's right, resources!" Li Mu asked curiously: "How do you know this word?"
"I heard the Marquis mention it once, and I remembered it in my heart." Wang Pu hurriedly said: "I can understand what the Marquis means, but I don't know what the Wang family in Taiyuan has. It's the Marquis that you like."
of?"
Wang Pu's words were not modest, but genuine doubts. Li Mu now enjoyed so many resources that Wang Pu didn't even know. What other resources could the Wang family in Taiyuan have that Li Mu couldn't even get?
"There is definitely yes, but you can make the decision." Li Mu said quietly: "Or you should ask that old man Wang Gui to talk to me, he is a person who can make the decision."
Wang Pu knew in his heart that Li Mu had taken issue with this, and hurriedly said: "Master Hou, my brother knows that coming to Beijing without authorization is a serious crime, so after giving instructions to the villain, he has already set off back to Luoyang. If he stops him now, he is afraid that he will have to go back and forth.
For a few days, the Marquis' affairs have been delayed. Don't worry, the Marquis. My brother said that as long as the Marquis can show mercy to the Wang family, the Wang family will never show any shame. As long as the Marquis is around, no matter who is in charge of the Wang family in Taiyuan, they will be the only one.
The Marquis is following your lead!"
Li Mu laughed and said: "I'm afraid he wants to borrow my power and let you take the helm! Old guy, the older you get, the more thieves you get!"
Wang Pu's back was soaked with cold sweat. He was really frightened to lie in front of Li Mu. If he didn't know Li Mu's personality and wouldn't take someone like him seriously, he would have felt that Li Mu was preparing for today's conversation.
I have been doing homework for several days.
"Let's not talk about the details. Now that you are here, I will show you around Lantian County."
With that said, Li Mu stood up, and Wang Pu followed Li Mu step by step. The two of them got on the carriage and spiraled up the mountain road until they reached the highest point in Lantian County, a mountain top called "Jinri Peak".
Looking down at the entire county, Li Mu asked Wang Pu, "What do you think when you look at this county?"
Wang Pu looked far away and saw that the several low city walls and the curling smoke from cooking stoves were no different from all the barren counties in the Tang Dynasty.
Wang Pu was puzzled, shook his head, and said respectfully to Li Mu: "Master Marquis, I am stupid, I really can't see anything special about you."
Li Mu kicked the stone under his feet and said, "Specially on this stone, this gray stone is called limestone."
Wang Pu bowed slightly, as if he was humbly asking for advice.
Li Mu continued: "There is something associated with limestone, called gypsum." Li Mu kicked the stone a few times and found a small piece of gypsum. He showed it to Wang Pu and taught him how to identify it.
"The gray soil on the mountain over there can be used to make pottery."
This Wang Pu still understood, and finally someone understood it, so he quickly said: "The little pottery man understands a little bit, a little bit."
"Cement, the most important thing, is these three materials."
Hearing this, Wang Pu was stunned. He never thought that Li Mu would tell him the formula of cement. He couldn't help but feel the cold wind on the back of his neck. He couldn't kill someone in this wilderness, right?
Li Mu saw his expression, smiled, and said, "Are you scared?"
"No, no!" Wang Pu smiled awkwardly, cursing himself in his mind for being such an old man, and the mood swings were still written on his face. How is this possible? How can a magical thing like cement be made just by knowing the ingredients?
There must be a specific formula! He hurriedly adjusted his expression and said respectfully: "I'm so grateful that I'm so grateful. I didn't expect that the Marquis would trust this villain so much."
"Don't say too much flattery." Li Mu waved his hand and continued: "In addition to these three things, Lantian also has a considerable amount of coal - using coal instead of wood as the main fuel for calcining cement can greatly
Reduce calcination time."
"You can make cement without leaving the county. Now you understand why I built the cement factory in Lantian?"
Wang Pu suddenly realized, but at the same time, an idea came to his mind: Taiyuan can also meet these conditions!
Limestone is available in Taiyuan, and clay that can be used to make pottery is also available in Taiyuan. Not to mention coal, if you dig a few shovels and break the soil, you will find coal. He had heard Li Mu say before that when it comes to the storage capacity of coal, there is no shortage of coal in the world.
The area near Taiyuan is respected.
But just thinking about it in his head, he didn't dare to ask Li Mu why.
Li Mu seemed to have seen what he was thinking, and said slowly: "In fact, it is not difficult to produce cement. Although there are not many places that can meet the conditions, there are definitely many places in the Tang Dynasty due to its vast territory. As for my choice of Lantian
County, there is only one reason, guess what it is?"
Wang Pu thought to himself, I don't know where to go, but he still said: "I don't know, the villain must have made arrangements."
Li Mu bared his teeth and smiled and said: "There are no arrangements, just because we are close."
Immediately, Li Mu started laughing, then stopped and said, "You probably know the uses of cement. In the future, there will definitely be more and more places where cement is used, so the demand for cement will inevitably increase.
The more. It is inconvenient to transport this thing. It has to travel a long distance and you can’t even pay for it. It must bloom everywhere to be able to play its role.”
Wang Pu's heart was pounding, and he suppressed his excitement and said: "Then what the Marquis means-"
"To do something, it's natural to find some like-minded people and make money together." Li Mu looked into Wang Pu's eyes and said, "For example, the area near Taiyuan, I think, is very suitable for making cement!"
At this point, Wang Pu still didn't know that his thoughts had been completely read by Li Mu. He opened his mouth, then closed it dejectedly, pursed his lips hesitantly, sighed, and said: "Master Hou.
You can draw a path, as long as the Wang family of Taiyuan can enter the game, we will accept it."
"Refreshing." Li Mu patted Wang Pu on the shoulder and said: "Since you are so sincere, I won't make it too difficult for you. If you want to join the game, there is only one condition. From now on, the Taiyuan Wang family will deal with all parties.
It needs to be settled through Datang Bank."
"All taxes paid to the government must first be deposited into Datang Bank, and then Datang Bank will issue coupons. Large transactions can only use coupons issued by Datang Bank... Such a small request can be done
Are you there?"
Is this a small request? Wang Pu almost lost his temper and cooperated with everyone to give you real money and silver, and then use the tickets you gave as money?
Wang Pu was confused: "Master Hou, I'm afraid -"
Li Mu chuckled and said, "I just said that I would always agree to follow my lead and turn my back." He sighed and said, "The sincerity of the family is really just like this. Okay, there is no need to explain.
No need to talk more, just think of it as a walk here and go back tomorrow."
After that, Li Mu turned around and walked down the mountain. Wang Pu hurriedly caught up and said: "Master Hou, please calm down. I just want to say, alas! To be honest, I am worried! I will give this real money and silver away and exchange it for a bunch of coupons."
, who can rest assured!"
"So you're worried about this." Li Mu stopped and said to Wang Pu, "Have you ever used the glass chips from Sihai Casino?"
Wang Pu nodded and said: "It is really convenient to use Qianguan's chips."
"Then what else do you have to worry about?"
"This is not the same thing, Lord Marquis!" Wang Pu said helplessly: "Only you can make the glazed chips, and no one else can imitate them. But this coupon can be imitated. If someone does it,
What should I do if I exchange real money for a pile of waste paper?"
Li Mu understood what Wang Pu meant. According to later generations, what Wang Pu meant was called "turn on the money printing press." When the money printing press is turned on, the currency will definitely depreciate.
Li Mu clearly remembers that during the year of his college entrance examination, the box lunch at the school entrance cost three and a half yuan. However, by the time he graduated from college, there was no box lunch for less than ten yuan near the school.
In just a few years, the price of lunch boxes has doubled, and housing prices have almost doubled. In developed cities, the price has more than tripled to five times.
This is the consequence of currency depreciation, but until he traveled through time, the extent of depreciation was still controllable. There are also uncontrollable examples. For example, there is a place called Zimbabwe. Tens of billions of banknotes cannot buy a roll of toilet paper, such as
The currencies of 'Tiandi Bank' have become more devalued.
There are many such examples in history. The treasure banknotes issued during the Ming Dynasty and Hongwu years were worthless by the middle of the Ming Dynasty. The people could not control the behavior of the country, but they had a simple way, that is, I can’t afford to offend them.
If you can afford to hide, you issue treasure banknotes and I won’t use them, because the country’s credit is completely bankrupt. No one will be fooled again.
Why does this happen? Because the issuance of currency itself is the country "borrowing" the surplus value of the people. Even the most conscientious government does this.