In the Southern Song Dynasty, I competed with Mongolia for the world

Chapter 617 Cigarette Factory

Zhao Yurui sat in the office with a big sword and a golden horse, Chang Yuchun and Zhang Youcheng stood behind him.

Wu Li recognized Zhao Yurui at a glance. Although he had never met Zhao Yurui before, he could still tell that Zhao Yurui was a different kind of person.

"Zhao Xiaoqi."

"Boss Wu, please take a seat."

Wu Liken's coming here means he is willing to surrender, but the fact that he hired someone to kill Zhao Yurui is too bad.

If Zhao Yurui had not been vigilant and prepared, he would have been killed by Wang Baobao and his men.

When Wu Li came in, he brought in two people as well. Both of them had their hands on their waists, looking cautious and alert.

Zhao Yurui looked at Wu Li for a few times and felt that he was quite young. "Boss Wu, is he 25?"

"Twenty-six." Wu Li said in a deep voice.

"We are in our youth now, and there will be plenty of good days ahead." Zhao Yurui said with a smile.

Wu Li's mouth twitched slightly.

"Boss Wu is so young, but he's quite ruthless."

Wu Li smiled bitterly and was about to speak.

"I only burned your shop, and didn't burn your people to death. You came here and asked the Liao people to kill me. You are so cruel at such a young age. No wonder you can stand in Dinghai."

"I did it for face." Wu Li said at this time: "I am also young and hot-tempered. Zhao Xiaoqi burned down my shop, so naturally I want to avenge him."

This statement also implies surrender.

But what Zhao Yurui wanted was not words of submission, even if he could say them.

If the opponent is strong enough, he can also bow his head and admit defeat.

He is not the emperor now, so he has to be timid when he needs to be.

"Then Boss Wu, how do you think we can solve this problem?"

Zhao Yurui kicked the ball to him.

Wu Li should have thought it through before coming here, and he immediately said, "I will give Zhao Xiaoqi 100,000 yuan, and Wang Baobao and the others will not pursue the matter, and this matter ends here."

"One million." Zhao Yurui raised the price directly.

"Kaka" There was a clicking sound in the room. The people behind Wu Li and Shang Yuchun all put their hands behind their waists.

The atmosphere changed in an instant and the scene became extremely hot.

Wu Li's face turned red. He didn't expect Zhao Yurui to ask for such a high price.

What does one million mean?
Nowadays, it is considered good if an ordinary person in Dayuan has a savings of 10,000 yuan at home. How dare you ask for 1 million?

The number of people with a monthly income of 10,000 yuan in the Yuan Dynasty was not as exaggerated as in later generations, but it still took several years for ordinary people to save 10,000 yuan.

Zhao Yurui and his son served as Jinyiwei for generations, and their family also owned hundreds of acres of land, which is how they saved up more than 10,000 yuan.

Of course, his expenses were also high, and he had to pay tribute to his superiors.

Ordinary people's expenses are not as high as his, and their income is also less than his. If you are not a farmer and work normally, if you want to save 10,000 yuan, you will need at least three to five years of frugality in Dayuan.

If you are a farmer and your only income comes from farming, it may take five years or more.

Zhao Yurui offered one million, which was indeed a bit scary.

"Zhao Xiaoqi, I am willing to come here today with sincerity." Wu Li stretched out his hand to signal his men not to be impulsive.

This is a small flag post, and we definitely cannot use guns here.

If they use guns here, even if Zhao Yurui is killed, his Wu family will be finished.

"I am also very sincere. After all, you almost killed me. If someone wants to kill Boss Wu, I believe Boss Wu would be willing to buy back his life for one million."

Your worthless life cannot be compared with mine, Wu Li was secretly annoyed in his heart, but he still held back on the surface.

"Zhao Xiaoqi, you are not sincere. One million is nothing. My Wu family can't afford it."

Wu Li has a large family and a lot of money, so it would be painful for him to take out one million in cash at once.

"Then let's fight and see who dies first." Zhao Yurui said directly.

"You" Wu Li stared at Zhao Yurui fiercely.

Zhao Yurui, in turn, looked at him coldly.

The scene became quiet again, both sides stared at each other, and the subordinates behind them were nervously touching their waists.

I have a big family and a big business, why should I fight with this kind of thugs?

Wu Li was secretly annoyed. With his delicate body, it was obviously not suitable for him to have a gunfight with Zhao Yurui in this situation.

But he was unwilling to give one million.

"Nothing to talk about?" he asked again.

"I asked someone about Boss Wu's family." Zhao Yurui said with a smile, "When white sugar was first put on the market, the Wu family connected with Emperor Zhao Yurui and started out by planting and selling white sugar. They became a wealthy family in Dinghai County very early on."

"After so many years, the Wu family has become wealthy and powerful, and they have a lot of money."

"Of course, your grandfather and father have spent a lot of money over the years, and the imperial court is also deliberately suppressing local tycoons like you."

"Sugar is not as good as it used to be, but after you took over the family, you started overseas trade and made a lot of money. I heard that a round trip to Japan or Korea would take less than half a month and you could make tens of thousands."

"Places like Nanyang and Nansong are more profitable."

"Roughly speaking, your family has a cash flow of at least 10 million, and fixed assets of at least tens of millions."

In Dinghai, the Wu family is definitely in the top five, if not the top three.

As the place where Zhao Yurui started his business, the first batch of businessmen who cooperated with Zhao Yurui at that time all made a lot of money.

Not to mention in Dinghai, even in Zhejiang, it ranks among the best.

Dinghai is a place where Zhao Yurui started his business, so there are many businessmen who cooperate with Zhao Yurui.

Therefore, the number of wealthy people here exceeds that in other places in Zhejiang.

The wealthy people in Zhejiang are now concentrated in two places: Lin'an, the former capital, and Dinghai, where Zhao Yurui started his fortune.

If Emperor Wu had not suppressed the wealthy in recent years and his grandfather's generation had not been good at spending money, their Wu family would have been even richer.

Wu Li was very annoyed when he heard this. What does it have to do with you if my family has 10 million? How dare you ask for one million?

"Two hundred thousand." He gave another number, and then said, "It's up to you whether you want it or not. The maximum I'll give is two hundred thousand."

Zhao Yurui smiled. As long as Wu Li opened his mouth, there would be no most or least, and everything could be bargained.

The two of them bargained for a while and finally settled on 350,000.

Wu Li paid 350,000 yuan in one lump sum, and the two of them canceled the payment.

Of course, judging from their expressions and tones, both sides were a little unwilling.

Wu Li was reluctant to pay such a large sum of money, but if he failed to get rid of Zhao Yurui, he would be in danger as well.

Zhao Yurui also wanted to teach Wu Li a lesson, but their strength was not enough now, so both sides could only compromise temporarily.

As for what will happen in the future, it is hard to say. Both sides will definitely continue to be on guard.

"Wang Baobao and the others will be mine from now on. I hope Boss Wu won't cause them any trouble." Zhao Yurui said finally.

"Don't worry, they are just a few Liao people. I'm not interested." Wu Li was extremely annoyed. The Liao people were useless and yet he had to pay a large sum of money.

Little did they know that at this time, Wang Baobao and three others were listening in the next room.

Zhao Yurui had made several preparations.

If Wu Li is unwilling to pay, or if the money offered does not satisfy him, he may take action directly in Xiaoqi Station and then put the blame on Wang Baobao and the other two.

Fortunately, Wu Liken compromised and the matter came to an end.

After Wu Li left, the dock immediately returned to calm and the tense atmosphere between the two sides disappeared.

Zhao Yurui did not plan to continue purchasing houses after receiving the money this time. In the early stage, they appeased Lao Zhu and Lao Zhang, and provided a place for a few confidants to live. The houses for others would come later. Now they had to make money from money.

It is now the ninth year of Emperor Wu's reign (1349). When Zhao Yurui first came here last year, he discovered a problem.

The Yuan people smoked, but they only smoked opium.

The one used is a smoking gun.

Dayuan already had tobacco leaves and businesses that specialized in producing them, but it did not have cigarettes.

This is a great opportunity to make money.

In later generations, this was government-run. The Yuan Dynasty court had not yet discovered that this was profitable, and had not started to build a cigarette factory. What if he did?
That day, Zhao Yurui bought some tobacco leaves from a tobacco shop, and then bought some thin paper and rolled them himself.

Then he called Lao Zhu, Lao Zhang and others into the room and gave each of them one.

"What is this?" Several people were puzzled.

"Tobacco leaves?" Some people recognized it, but most people don't smoke opium on a regular basis, so they couldn't recognize it.

Zhao Yurui helped them light the cigarette and took the lead in smoking it.

Cough, cough, cough! The room was soon filled with smoke and someone was choked.

At first, no one took it seriously and thought it was not good to smoke, but after a while, they began to smell the flavor.

The quality of cigarettes and cigarette paper at that time was poor, and indeed could not be compared with that of later generations.

But this thing is addictive. Zhao Yurui carried a box with him, and every time he saw them, he would give each of them a cigarette. After smoking for a few days, some people got used to it.

A few days later, Lao Zhu met Zhao Yurui and subconsciously reached out: "Do you have a cigarette?"

"Gone."

"Ah." Old Zhu said with a bitter face: "Why is it gone? Is there a place to buy it?"

"Addicted?" Zhao Yurui asked deliberately.

"If I don't smoke, I feel empty inside, as if something is missing."

"Hahaha." Zhao Yurui had been experimenting on the people around him during this period. After being drugged by Zhao Yurui for a few days, almost all of them became addicted. Whenever they saw Zhao Yurui again, they would subconsciously wait for him to smoke.

"Do you think there is a market for this thing?" Zhao Yurui asked.

Everyone nodded: "There is a market, a big market."

Zhao Yurui immediately decided to invest in a cigarette factory.

First, you need to make a machine that can make cigarettes, then you need a source of tobacco leaves, and finally you need a source of cigarette paper.

None of these three things are easy.

The machine was not available in Dayuan, and it was all invented by Zhao Yurui together with the manufacturer.

It is best to purchase tobacco leaves from Yunnan and Guizhou.

Before cigarette paper was invented in later generations, people usually tore it up and used it when doing homework.

Later, bleached hemp pulp, straw pulp or wood pulp was mainly used.

Some of these things are relatively simple, like the manufacture of cigarette paper. Zhao Yurui handed it over to Lao Zhu, who was asked to buy a paper mill and then use bleached hemp pulp, straw pulp, etc. to make cigarette paper, requiring a whiteness of more than 82%.

Purchasing good tobacco leaves in Yunnan and Guizhou is relatively simple. The key is to find someone who understands tobacco leaves.

After much deliberation, Zhao and Rui finally decided to ask the Wang Baobao brothers to bring someone who knew about tobacco leaves.

Wang Baobao himself also knows about tobacco leaves because they also smoke opium on the grasslands of their hometown.

After finding a place, they asked to build a factory there and then find someone to specialize in growing good varieties of tobacco. Of course, the prerequisite was to bring back several types of tobacco for Zhao and Rui to choose from.

Finally, Zhao Yurui went to handle the machine matter personally.

At that time, the best machine processing factory in the world was not in Dayuan, but in Dongyan (i.e. Japan).

Dong Yan was a new country founded by King Zhao Xie of Yan. When he learned that things had changed, he first sent a large army to capture Jeju Island.

Jeju Island is where Zhao Yurui started, and it has Zhao Yurui's earliest factory.

Afterwards, Zhao Chen moved a large number of factories on the island to Dongyan, and gradually developed it into the world's largest factory.

In this case, Zhao Yurui may have to go to Dongyan in person.

He immediately found the captain and asked for a long vacation in the name of capturing a criminal. He then instructed someone in the flag to take over his post temporarily.

Then he brought Chang Yuchun, Zhao Yusheng, and Zhang Youcheng. The four of them brought three guns, which were the guns that Wang Baobao and his men had taken.

Let’s go to Dongyan together.

It is very convenient to travel from Dayuan to Dongyan. There are private and official boats going there.

Zhao Yurui chose a civilian merchant ship and disguised themselves as merchants to go to Dongyan.

In early March, Zhao Yurui and three others boarded the ship. Most of the people on the ship were businessmen, and there were also a small number of immigrants.

In the past ten years, the Yuan Dynasty has become increasingly weak, and many Han people have begun to migrate to Dongyan with their families.

Because Eastern Yan was also founded by the Han people, the original Japanese there are now called Yan people. After decades of development by Zhao Zhen, the local national language is Chinese, which is the same as that spoken in the Yuan Dynasty.

According to the information Zhao Yurui obtained, Dong Yan has had three wise rulers in succession in the past few decades, and the national strength is growing, just like when Zhao Yurui was in the Song Dynasty.

In terms of economy, industry, agriculture and other aspects, it has surpassed the Yuan Dynasty.

The Yuan Dynasty still has a large size and is currently considered the world's largest country. Based on per capita population and development in all aspects alone, Dong Yan has surpassed the Yuan Dynasty.

In addition, since the locals all speak Chinese, many people along the coastal areas began to move their families to Dongyan.

Dongyan also welcomed their immigration, obviously wanting to drain the human resources of Yuan Dynasty.

In recent years, an average of at least 50,000 households have secretly fled to Dongyan every year.

The Yuan Dynasty court didn't care. If things continued like this, the population of Dong Yan would explode in less than a hundred years.

Moreover, Eastern Yan was much larger than later Japan. It included Goryeo and the Far East. Eastern Yan developed quite well in the Far East, but it was seriously short of population, so it tried desperately to lure immigrants from the Yuan Dynasty.

There are rewards in their local area. Whoever brings people from the same village to immigrate to Dongyan will be rewarded with 5,000 yuan for each household that moves. If you are willing to go to the Far East, you will be given land.

These tricks were used by Zhao Yurui in the past.

Therefore, Zhao Yurui's grandchildren did a good job, and the national strength was firmly superior to that of the Yuan Dynasty.

After hearing the news, Zhao Yurui quickly came to the cabin on the second floor.

After entering, there was a lot of smoke and various smells.

There were about a dozen immigrant families temporarily living there. Each of them paid 2,000 yuan to the bow of the ship as a ticket, and some families spent all their wealth to come here.

Zhao Yurui knew that, under normal circumstances, ordinary people would not easily immigrate unless they could not survive.

He really wanted to know why these people immigrated.

He found an excuse and quickly became friends with these people and started chatting.

"Uncle Liu, why are you immigrating? It seems your family is well off." This makes immigration seem like smuggling, and usually only poor families would see it that way.

But Zhao Yurui saw a man named Liu, whose whole family was well-dressed and obviously came from a wealthy family.

"Bah! The Yuan Dynasty is doomed because it's so corrupt." Uncle Liu cursed loudly and went on to say why he wanted to emigrate.

His family was a small wealthy family in Qingyuan Prefecture. They ran a restaurant and had dozens of acres of land.

As a result, various departments of the local county government always came to eat, but although they ate, they always owed debts, and always said they would settle them at the end of the year.

In the past few years, the Yuan Dynasty's economy was good, and the various government offices could still settle their accounts at the end of the year. However, in the past three years, the Yuan Dynasty's economy has been getting worse and worse, and the government offices have been delaying the payment of their debts.

Last year, his restaurant was robbed of more than 100,000 yuan, but he didn't get a penny back.

The imperial court still wants to come to eat, which is a way to force him to close down.

Uncle Liu had no choice but to decide to immigrate to Dongyan, thinking that he could cook and run a restaurant, and he would be able to do that too.

And before immigrating, you have to cheat the local government and get your money back.

(End of this chapter)