Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 1200

After all, Hou Gongchen was still shrewd. Upon hearing Gao Yushi's words, he immediately pointed to the glass mirror and asked, "Could it be that Brother Qiuzhen meant...to make a mirror?"

Gao Wushi nodded and said, "Generally not bad."

"Probably not bad?" Hou Gongchen's heart moved, and he suddenly looked a little hesitant: "But this mirror-making technique is a way to seek truth from you, brother, even if you want to make it, it is still Jinghua's business, what does it have to do with Zongfu? "

Gao Wushi smiled slightly and said, "What if I wish to cooperate with the Tian family and even the suzerains to make mirrors?"

Hou Gongchen was really surprised when he heard the words: "Why?"

According to Hou Gongchen's thinking, this glass mirror is so precious, the profit of the mirror making business must be very high, just like what Gao Yushi said just now, that Venetian in the Far West regards glass manufacturing technology more than God It is also important, which shows its preciousness.That being the case, why should Gao Pragmatic share this profit with others?Is it really just for Daming, for the emperor?

If this is the case, Gao Gongbao is really the number one loyal minister in the world.

Of course, Gao Yushi would not directly state his purpose, but just smiled and said lightly: "Brother Hou, you also know that making money is nothing to me, and Jinghua's business is really not small, I don't care about it." Lack of money."

"That's natural. Brother Qiuzhen is the best in the world. Regardless of academics or business, no one in the world can surpass you."

Gao Wushi smiled and waved his hands: "I just want to make money to prove the effectiveness of practical learning, which is not what I want. This mirror-making technique is just for me. This thing is useful, but it can be convenient for the people when it is made, and it can even be used for the military, so it can be made.

Besides, the treasury is currently in a difficult situation, and the imperial court also needs some means of open source in order to open the ban... Of course, the imperial court should focus on the overall situation, and should not think of ideas based on these small utensils, so I thought, it is better to work with the emperor and The clansmen jointly made mirrors, and the funds for selling mirrors in the future can also make up for the lack of the court, so it is the best of both worlds. "

Hou Gongchen was overjoyed, but immediately became a little bit arrogant, and said: "Indeed, as Brother Qiuzhen said, the initial capital required for the opening of the feudal ban is probably quite huge. Even if the emperor wants to contribute, the internal funds are really stretched... ...However, I am afraid that this mirror will also require a lot of money to invest, and I am afraid that my money is also a little bit shy..."

Gao Wushi shook his head slightly: "There is no need to contribute internal funds."

Hou Gongchen was taken aback: "No need to contribute capital? Then how is it called a joint venture?"

Gao Wushi chuckled: "There are several kinds of capital contributions, one is direct contribution of money, the other is contribution of technology, and there are also contributions of land, materials, etc., all of which are contributions."

Hou Gongchen suddenly realized: "Oh, brother Qiuzhen, you mean that you donate money and technology, and your inner money... land and materials?"

Gao Wushi nodded and said, "Probably so."

Hou Gongchen knew it in his heart, and immediately asked: "But I don't know which place Brother Qiuzhen has his eyes on, and what kind of materials do we need?"

Gao Wushi said: "There is no need to find another place, just expand the ground near the three major factories in Kaiping, but it is the land of the guard, and the emperor's consent is required... Well, the land can be regarded as a Internal funds have been invested. As for the materials, they are all strange ores, but some of the larger quantities are available near Kaiping, as long as the land is in place, the materials can be handled by Jinghua.”

The main materials for making glass are nothing more than quartz sand, soda ash, limestone, feldspar, etc. Here, except for soda ash, which must be obtained from Tumed (that is, the so-called "mouth alkali" at this time, the mouth refers to "outside the mouth"), the other several kinds In later generations Tangshan has output, that is, near the three major factories in Kaiping.

Therefore, Gao Pragmatism only needs to continue to expand the scope of the mining area of ​​the three major factories in Kaiping, and these materials can be easily obtained, and there is no need to disclose the formula.

As for the problem of caustic soda, it has already been mentioned a little before. The Mongols on Tumed's side basically don't need much cost to sell these things. They just need to load them directly in the soda lake and transport them to Daming. In the special position of Tumed, Jinghua buys alkali at a very low price, and the supply of goods is also sufficiently guaranteed.

As for the manufacture of glass, Gao Yushi originally only remembered a few outlines.Over the years, I tried my best to remember and searched for glass-making craftsmen from all over the world. After two phases of verification, I finally came up with the most common method of float glass in later generations.

Originally, Gao Pragmatism thought that the difficulty of making glass might be melting. Who knows that the steelmaking furnace technology level of Jinghua Iron and Steel Works is much higher than that required for glass making. The melting step can be easily completed only by modifying the furnace accordingly. , so this point did not embarrass Jinghua at all.

However, although the glass was produced later, the rate of defective products was astonishingly high. On the one hand, the unskilled glass forming technology made it very fragile, and on the other hand, the problem of glass bubbles was still very annoying.

Of course, these two points are basically not a technical problem, but a problem of operational proficiency. Gao Pragmatism believes that as long as he is willing to invest and spend money to train skilled workers, they can be solved in a short time.

It's just that this "not long time" is not a day or two, at least several months, so he initially set the time to solve the suzerain vassal issue as three years-although the glass is good, Jinghua's logistics and sales system is strong , but it still takes time to open up the market, and if you calculate the time to pay back, at least one year has passed.

It is precisely because of this that he said before that the first year is mainly a pilot project - on the one hand, the practical school likes to carry out reforms first, and on the other hand, it is due to financial considerations.

If the feudal ban is fully lifted in the first year, and more than [-] clans apply for the initial funds together, then unless Jinghua personally pays in advance, Zhu Yijun probably won't be able to get the money even if he sells the palace.

There are more than one hundred thousand people, even if they are all calculated according to the minimum standard of 100 taels of silver, that is tens of millions of taels of silver. With Zhu Yijun's little internal money now, should he take it?
Even if Jinghua goes off in person, it may not be able to directly take out tens of millions of taels of cash in one go, and it may have to engage in equity replacement from various industries to settle it, which is too pitiful.

Therefore, time must be waited for, and the steps that should be taken must be taken, and we must not talk about it.

After listening to Gao Wushi's brief introduction, Hou Gongchen thought secretly, and found that the deal was really good.

The ground near Kaiping, although Gao Yushi asked for a lot this time, Kaipingwei has already migrated away as a whole, and the original bad land has really become bad land—some households were also affected by the three factories in Jinghua. Because of the attractiveness, they went to settle down near the three major factories, and usually sold some agricultural and sideline products to the workers of the three major factories to earn some small money.

In this way, except for the surrounding areas of the three major factories, there are almost no people in the tens of miles outside. If there is no one, it is naturally a wasteland, and the wasteland is naturally worthless, so the emperor will not care about it.If such useless wasteland can be exchanged for the settlement of the suzerain-vassal problem, it can be called a pie that fell from the sky, and whoever refuses to agree is a fool.

However, Gao Wushi only agreed to give [-]% of the net profit as a dividend, but Hou Gongchen did not dare to make decisions about this. It has to be the emperor who makes the decision, how dare he go overboard on this kind of matter?
So Hou Gongchen only agreed in principle, saying that he would ask the emperor for instructions on the specific division of shares, and Gao Pragmatic and reasonable also agreed.

Hou Gongchen then asked Gao Wushi why he mentioned the vassal's investment just now, and Gao Wushi said: "This is for the emperor's backup. In case some vassals are nervous, the emperor can use some of the glass to buy and sell. Dividends to appease."

Hou Gongchen hesitated: "Is this part of the dividend paid from the emperor?"

"Whether the emperor wants to come out or not depends on the situation. In short, I will set aside a portion of bonus for the vassals—but still the same sentence, it is reserved for certain vassals who are nervous or... special." , and whenever the emperor wants it, I will give it anytime, and before the emperor takes it away, it will still be disposed of by Jinghua."

Hou Gongchen didn't understand why Gao Wushi had to confess the last sentence, but he felt that it was not the time to think about it, so he agreed first, and then left contentedly.

As soon as Gao Wushi arrived at the Ministry of War the next morning, the Supervisor of Rituals sent someone over, saying that the emperor had summoned him, and asked Gao Gongbao to go to the palace immediately.

Gao Wushi had expected this. He estimated that Hou Gongchen might have entered the palace overnight to report the results last night, which is why the emperor's summons came so quickly.

This also shows how much Zhu Yijun attaches importance to this matter—of course it is not surprising, anyone who has the opportunity to throw away a large burden that takes up a quarter of the imperial court's annual expenditure will be as anxious as Zhu Yijun, let alone in urgent need When using money.

When he arrived in the palace, Zhu Yijun did not meet him in the Wenhua Palace this time, but instead summoned him in the West Nuan Pavilion of Qianqing Palace.Gao Wushi quietly asked the little Huangmen sent by Chen Ju to lead the way and found out that Zhu Yijun had some "leg problems" again today.

Gao Wushi couldn't help sighing when he heard this. He heard in later generations that the remains of Wanli in Dingling had bad teeth. It seems that this guy really lacks restraint in eating and drinking.

Gao Wushi knew that Zhu Yijun's so-called "foot disease" was actually caused by gout, and he had told Zhu Yijun many precautions, but the effect seemed mediocre, and this guy couldn't stop talking.

It is enough to talk about this kind of thing, every time you say it, it will definitely make the emperor unhappy, and it is not good to talk about it every time if you are highly pragmatic, so you can only pretend not to see it.

After all, things like eating and drinking have never been restricted in China. Ordinary people have pursuits, let alone an emperor?Just mentioning it when it is convenient will fulfill the obligation.

Arriving at Xinuang Pavilion, Gao Wushi found that Zhu Yijun was in good spirits, but he refused to get up, but just sat there and asked Chen Ju to show Gao Wushi his seat.

He stepped forward and saluted, and Shi Shiran sat down.

Zhu Yijun put down a book of memorials in his hand and waved to Chen Ju, only him and Gao Yushi were left in the big warm pavilion.

"How much income do you think the business of making glass mirrors can generate in a year, and can [-]% of the income support the lifting of the feudal ban?"

After all, it's not a normal relationship, Zhu Yijun went straight to the point when he opened his mouth.Of course, this is what Gao Pragmatism likes.

"If it's ten years later, I think it should be enough, but I'm afraid it's still not enough in the past two years."

There is a process required for market promotion and acceptance. Although theoretically the unit income will be higher in the first one or two years, the output will definitely not reach the peak, and the market cultivation has not yet been in place. The income is definitely not as good as the later period, so it is not surprising that it is not enough. .

Zhu Yijun said with some concern: "Is it still not enough? Then what should we do?"

Gao Wushi said: "The emperor still has other income that can be temporarily used to support the expenses of opening the feudal ban for the past three years."

"Where is it?" Zhu Yijun was taken aback.

"The Liaodong Salt Farm has already started to make a net profit this year, and the amount is not small. I received the statement a few days ago, and after a rough calculation, the emperor can get more than 70 taels."

Zhu Yijun was really overjoyed: "Is this true?"

"Your Majesty, I never joke about this kind of thing." Gao Wushi said calmly: "If it wasn't for the resignation of the minister, if the minister personally intervened in the Liaodong Salt Field, maybe the efficiency could be higher, at least 80 Ten thousand taels."

"Hey, 70 taels is already very good. To be practical, not everyone has your ability, and you shouldn't be too picky about the people below. To tell you the truth, this amount of money has far exceeded my expectation——by the way , Can the income of this saltworks reach this amount next year?"

Gao Wushi nodded: "As long as there is no interference from uncontrollable natural disasters and other factors, I think at least it will not be lower than this year's number."

"That would be great!" Zhu Yijun laughed excitedly: "The whole court almost pointed their noses at each other and scolded each other because of King Lu's incident, but in the end, your salt farm earned me more than half of King Lu's expenses. Now this money can indeed be transferred to the suzerain-vassal reform, and when we solve the suzerain-vassal problem, the money can also be used as a reward for the first battle of Chahar."

Gao Wushi smiled, but said nothing.

Zhu Yijun thought about it again, and pondered: "The income from the saltworks plus the income from the glass mirror... probably can support the restructuring?"

Gao Wushi replied: "It should be about the same. Even if there are still some small gaps, I should be able to deal with it if I think about it."

Zhu Yijun breathed a sigh of relief, nodded and said: "That's good, then I can rest assured. As long as we solve the suzerain and vassal issue... well, now there are two more incomes, then we can make up for the military pay for the first battle in Chahar It won't be difficult."

Gao Wushi asked: "So, did the emperor agree to sell the land?"

"Of course." Zhu Yijun was very appreciative of this, and waved his hand: "It's only the size of a county, and it's a deserted place. Since it can be used to solve such a big problem, why not sell it?"

After finishing speaking, he may feel that this sentence is a bit inappropriate when he thinks about it, and added: "Besides, it's not like you don't pay taxes in Jinghua, this land is worth selling."

Gao Wushi smiled: "Originally, this is related to the subject, and the subject should not interrupt. But...hehe, the emperor is wise, it is indeed the truth."
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(End of this chapter)