Hongwu Survival Guide

Chapter 321
Unlike riding a horse yesterday, Lao Zhu came out by car today.

Everyone talked in front of the No. [-] Machinery Factory, and they all sent Lao Zhu to the car first, and then everyone went to their own cars or mounts.

Li Shanchang is not young, but he is still starting out. Because his vision is too wide, he accidentally discovered some details that made him feel a little bit palatable.

Everyone sent their protagonist to the car, but they were simply polite with themselves and Chang Yuchun, and their attention was obviously turned to a certain boy Pingzhang.

Just like Kang Maocai and Song Lian who came here together today, and Zhong He and Jin Sanhu, the managers of the two major machinery factories here, they all look reluctant to part with someone.Even, Song Lian... looked eager to hold the young man Pingzhang to have a talk.

Sweet and sour.

What do you have to say now?

look at yourself...

Lao Li thought of a poem that didn't fit the occasion but seemed to fit the occasion: There are few saddle horses in front of the door.

spit!
Villains, a group of villains who are stalking people!

He muttered in his heart that Lao Li couldn't bear this anger. Seeing his lord's carriage driving, he ignored the other things and immediately patted his horse to follow.

Chang Yuchun, who was guarding beside his master's car on horseback, also noticed these details, but just smiled.

Instead, he took a few more glances at Li Shanchang.

After getting along for so many years, Chang Yuchun knew this colleague very well.

And, it's never worth it.

Under the name of his lord, whether he was the "Three Heroes" with Shao Rong and Xu Da at the beginning, or the "Shuangbi" after Shao Rong, only himself and Xu Da were left side by side, among them, Li Shanchang had no place.

Even in the early years, Li Shanchang, the lord's adviser, was not conspicuous.

It's a pity that Mao Qi, Ye Chen and others died young. A certain guy was loyal enough to his lord. After all kinds of encounters over the years, he unknowingly reached the position of the head of the civil servants of the Ming Dynasty.

However, in terms of character and ability, what great things can a person with a small heart and a small structure do?
Thinking of this, Chang Yuchun couldn't help but look back.

A certain young man Pingzhang... During the past few days of getting along, he has become more and more appetizing.If it weren't for the clan status, it would be necessary to avoid suspicion, Chang Yuchun would like to invite him to his house for a drink during the new year's day.

Gee.

I heard that Lao Xu got very close to a certain young man before, but after that "recognizing ancestors and returning to his clan", I am afraid that he will have to take the initiative to distance himself in the future.It doesn't matter in business, but in personal relationship, don't think about it any more.

Seeing that Lao Zhu's carriage started, the people who hurriedly followed did not know that some unintentional words and actions were recorded by Mr. Zuoxiang again.It's just that there are legitimate reasons for communicating with Zhu Yuan.

Just now, a fifth-grade "Green Department" has been confirmed. As the secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Kang Maocai wants to chat with Zhu Yuan. How to start it?

And Song Lian...

Zhu Yuan felt that the old man seemed hesitant to speak, and thought it must be about "Da Ming Monthly".

It's not urgent, so I don't pay much attention to it.

There are also Zhong He and Jin Sanhu, both of whom are self-proclaimed young Pingzhang disciples, of course they want to say a few more words, not to mention, there is an extra temporary errand to provide steam pumps for the plowing ceremony.

This matter, obviously, has done a great job.

Can……

If you mess up, it's not impossible to lose your head.

Therefore, I definitely hope that the young Pingzhang can give some ideas.

Just like the transmission belt, I just said a general idea, but when it comes to details, what should I do?

However, after running with Lao Zhu for a day and a half, Zhu Yuan didn't have the energy to talk about it for a while.After being perfunctory for a while, I got into the car, leaned on the spring-loaded sofa-style seat, and my head began to empty.

What's the "Green Department", what "Da Ming Monthly" and what kind of plowing ceremony, let's let it go first, let it go, let's talk about it after the holiday is over.

There may be another 'bridal chamber' tonight.

Little Dengke.

The carriage followed Lao Zhu all the way, originally to bypass Xuanwu Lake, go all the way to Taiping Gate, and then return to the mansion by land from the island.However, when he arrived at the north shore of Xuanwu Lake, Lao Zhu sent word again, saying that his 23rd generation grandchildren did not have to follow him, and they could just take a boat here and go home directly.

As an obedient junior like Zhu Yuan, of course he did.

Although I didn't take a long way, when I got home, it was almost noon.

Regarding the blank space, it was done in full accordance with the process of last month's freehand brushwork. In the inner house, the red silk lanterns during the New Year's festival were not unloaded. Today, there are more of them, which looks more festive. There are also actresses' songs and rich for lunch.

It is also the study in the front yard of the inner house.

Surrounded by many fragrances, they had a lively lunch, listened to the babbling tunes, and soon took a nap.After a full sleep, I woke up again, and it was evening.

In good spirits.

So, after a simple dinner, I took a shower and changed clothes before going to the bedroom.

Under the bright red candle, it seems that certain scenes reappear.

By the bedside of the master bedroom, Liu Bai, who was dressed in bright red, sat upright, with gorgeous decorations from head to toe, adding a girly look.

Zhu Yuan thought it was beautiful, so he stood by the bed admiring it for a long time, until Liu Bai's small face turned from pink to bright red, and then to blush under the light.I couldn't take it anymore, and finally called out in a low voice: "Officials..."

This is taught by sister Xieyi.

Said it was that night last month, the adults asked her to call 'Guanren'.

Adults like it, of course they want to shout.

Moreover, Liu Bai is self-taught. Originally, at this time, he should stand up and serve his lord, but today...it's not good. He plans to sit all the time, so that he will appear shorter than the lord.

People like adults naturally don't care about these things, but their daughter's family, of course, should think more about their own men.

You know, adults always make excuses that they are still young.

Such excuses cannot be used by adults all the time.

otherwise……

Ok.

Hearing the girl's shy voice, Zhu Yuan came closer, cupped his white and petite face, lowered his head and kissed it, and asked, "How do you feel?"

Liu Bai was very shy, but at the moment he tried his best to raise his head and look at his own adults, and said softly: "I... I am very happy... I have been, I have been thinking about this day..." After saying this, I became ashamed again in the end, and instinctively shifted Topic: "Officials... slaves, but do you like it?"

"I like it," Zhu Yuan said with a smile, "However, you are a bit out of place."

Liu Bai blinked, still a little worried.

what happened?
Zhu Yuan followed and said: "Actually, the problem is... I like it better without this body."

Liu Bai understood, but... his already extremely rosy face couldn't get any redder, so he could only hide from his lord's eyes a little.His head was also empty, and he lay down softly after feeling a little force from his lord.

……

The fourth day of the first month.

In the morning, the first reaction after waking up was to stay in bed.

Not only Zhu Yuan wants to stay in bed, but Liu Bai also wants to stay in bed.Today...if I get up and walk around, I'm afraid I will be made fun of.

It's a pity that it didn't work out.

At about the same time, Xieyi came in and saw that his lord had woken up, so he talked about things beside the bed: "My lord, Mr. Song has come to visit, and there are still some merchants... the end of Chenshi is here, and I have been waiting for more than half an hour. .”

Zhu Yuan hugged Lu Bai who hid himself under the quilt because of shyness, and didn't realize it for a while: "Who?"

"Song Lian, Mr. Song, I heard He Xuan's message that I came here for...the advertisement." As Xieyi said, after thinking about it, she added: "...in the past few days, your lord has announced that he will be there for the "Da Ming Monthly"... …Well, after the 'investment invitation', many people came to the door, it's just because of the New Year's Day, the adults haven't had time to read the visitor list for these few days."

On the morning of New Year's Eve, Zhu Yuan hurriedly browsed through the final draft of "Da Ming Monthly" in January of the second year of Hongwu. Everything else was fine. , that would be too beautiful in the woods, so the word spread.

Two words: investment promotion.

Now, what's going on?

Zhu Yuan remembered that when he met Song Lian yesterday, the other party had been hesitant to talk, and he came to the door again today, it seems that something really went wrong.

No way, get up.

After dressing and washing, thinking about how long others had waited, Zhu Yuan simply ate a steamed steamed stuffed bun and made a cushion before going to the main hall of the outer courtyard for guests.

However, for the time being, only Song Lian was called in.

It was the New Year's day, but Song Lian looked sad, and after entering the door to salute, he sent a list directly, and said: "Pingzhang, this matter...is up to you, or...if it doesn't work out, you can follow it." His Majesty Ming will deal with it."

Zhu Yuan unfolded the list in a daze, and it became clear in a blink of an eye.

The page in my hand is roughly similar to a list of quotations, among which, the top one, signed 'Yizhen Ocean Trading Company', is willing to pay 2 taels of silver to buy the two-page advertisement of this issue of "Da Ming Monthly".

Compared with Lao Zhu's limit of 1000 taels of silver per page, this is equivalent to directly increasing the quotation by 10 times.

Yi Zhen, Zhu Yuan has an impression.

At the beginning in Mingzhou, a total of 12 maritime business licenses were issued, two of which were state-owned enterprises, namely 'Jinling Ocean Trading Company' and 'Mingzhou Ocean Trading Company'.

For the other ten private companies, Zhu Yuan established a rule that private companies are not allowed to use place names, so as not to affect the reputation of a place if something happens.

Therefore, when Zhu Yuan and Huagao participated in and cooperated with Yangzhou Fujia and Suzhou Shenjia to name the maritime trade company 'Hengtai Ocean Trading Company', the other nine companies followed suit.

Basically, except for the first two words, followed by 'Ocean Trading Company'.

'Yi Zhen' on the current list is one of them.

Zhu Yuan also knew that this was one of the second batch of photos released, because it was waiting for the army to take over Guangdong, and the first batch only released seven license plates, leaving three for businessmen from all over Guangdong.

At the moment, I didn't expect that these maritime merchants would come to compete for the advertisement space of "Da Ming Monthly", and they would charge such a high price?
Crazy?
However, looking further down, their own Hengtai is also among them, not only that, but also two other companies, 'Yongchuan Ocean Trading Company' and 'Gyeongsang Ocean Trading Company'.I also have the impression that the two legal persons are Hu Qi, a sea merchant from Quanzhou, and Chi Jing, a sea merchant from Wenzhou.

Going through it again, there are less than [-] companies in this list that have made quotations, of which four are marine merchants.

At first Zhu Yuan felt a little clear, but when he saw this, he suddenly didn't understand again.

Maritime merchants snatch advertisements.

What exactly happened?
Although I don't understand it, it is conceivable that only these four companies did not mean that the other six companies did not advertise. There is a high probability...the news has not spread more.

Raising his hand and touching his forehead, he didn't think too much if he couldn't figure it out, Zhu Yuan looked at Song Lian: "My lord, what's going on?"

Song Lian sent out the list, and immediately felt a lot more relaxed. He was sipping the tea brought by the waiter, but when he heard this, he put down the cup, thinking of what happened in the past few days, and made a bitter face again: "Pingzhang, these few days... The next official has a taste of what is called 'the door is like a market'. Heh, they all came to my way to advertise, and wanted to come to Pingzhang's side... Well, it seems that Pingzhang didn't know it for a while, but also...Pingzhang these days Every day is busy.”

In fact, Lao Song wanted to say that someone's family has a relatively high threshold.

After all, it’s not me who is just a small fourth-rank living note. On Zhu Yuan’s side, the official position is from the first-rank Zhongshu Pingzhang, and he is also a member of the royal family. can not see.

The Song family can't do it.

Even for those merchants, they have no official titles, but... holding a noble handwriting in their hands, or being accompanied by a housekeeper of a big family... Lao Song can't see him.

This is basically the case these days.

Advertising space!

People don't ask for it for nothing. They said at the beginning that they can pay as much as they want.

Then, I found that there were a lot of competitors and the page was limited... I heard that there were a total of 10 pages, and the young Pingzhang’s family took up 6 pages, leaving only 4 pages to spare, so they started to raise prices to snatch it up, and it took only two or three days. , and raised the price to a high of 1 taels per page.

One million taels!
Isn't money money?

Anyway, Song Lian wanted to talk to someone yesterday, but unfortunately he didn't give time.

And this morning, even Mr. Zuo Xiang opened his mouth, and quietly sent his servants to accompany a wealthy businessman, not many, just two pages.

two pages...

Compared to someone's six pages, it's not much.

Can……

Who should give it to whom, one by one... There is no other way, Song Lian can only run to Zhu Yuan's side, and if he doesn't see the boy Pingzhang, he doesn't plan to go back today.

Because I can't go back.

To go back is to offend people.

Song Lian claims that he is not as strong as Liu Ji, who is also the "Fourth Mr. Zhedong". He doesn't want to offend anyone, and he really can't afford to offend anyone.

(End of this chapter)