Daming: My boss Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 189
There is a process called Kraft pulping, which uses the interaction of caustic soda and stinky alkali to remove acidic lignin in the pulp.

Caustic alkali is easy to say, and this is what is used in making soap nowadays, but stink alkali is more troublesome. It needs to be reduced by burning with Glauber's salt and pulverized coal at high temperature, and then treated with a dilute alkali solution.

After Li Wei arrived at the new paper mill established by the Ordnance Bureau, he asked the craftsmen to prepare the things and start working on them.

After personally operating it several times and verifying that this method was feasible, Li Weicai taught the production steps in detail to several trusted craftsmen.

Li Wei pointed to some white powder that had just been prepared and smelled like rotten eggs and said: "These are called rotten alkali. From now on, you guys will be responsible for making this stuff. Remember not to get it on your skin!"

This thing will burn the skin if it touches the skin. In order to make this thing, Li Wei specially asked the pottery kiln to make protective glasses and leather gloves. He also distributed these things to these craftsmen. .

"Good lord."

Several craftsmen endured the stench, took the gloves and glasses distributed by Li Wei, and bowed to answer.

Li Wei nodded slightly, handed over the work to them, and turned around to leave.

With these two things, acid-free paper is ready and can be produced on a large scale.

And he doesn't just plan to produce acid-free paper. In this era, paper is also a very valuable thing. He can completely improve the papermaking process and make money by selling paper.

The huge amount of commodities produced by huge productivity is the fundamental support for the value of currency. No other temporary manipulation can truly solve the problem of currency depreciation.

In this era, it is impossible for him to go to the Middle East to grab oil. He can only try his best to develop manufacturing while printing new money.

After leaving the paper mill, he went to visit the painters who were making engravings. Now he was just making some sample templates and simply designed several banknotes similar to those of later generations, and let these painters follow the engravings.

In order to improve the fineness of the engravings, he specially provided these painters with magnifying glasses and carving knives made of quenched high-carbon steel. The engravings were made of low-carbon steel that was soft and easy to process.

The engraving does not need to be as high-precision as that of later generations, as long as it is far ahead of the current process conditions.

After these metal engravings are completed, they will be installed on water-driven rollers, brushed with ink, and large sheets of banknotes will roll through the middle, and the gravure printing will be completed.

In addition to gravure printing, there are also watermarks pressed out during the manufacturing process of banknote paper.

Acid-free paper, ink, gravure printing and watermarking. These technologies alone are enough to make people in this era despair. It is impossible to imitate counterfeit banknotes.

And the most important thing is that this kind of banknote is more wear-resistant, more resistant to folding, and not easy to be damaged.

Li Wei inspected all the processes required for printing banknotes to make sure there were no problems, and then he breathed a sigh of relief.

Now that you are ready, you can take the next step.

After leaving the Arms Bureau, he went to the Minghuang Chamber of Commerce and found Jiang Fu and Shen Jing.

"How many goods are there in the Chamber of Commerce now?"

Li Wei asked directly.

"Master, I have already stocked up 50 yuan of various goods here!"

Laifu reported the report with a beaming face.

In recent times, due to the depreciation of treasure notes, prices have skyrocketed. These various goods, which originally cost 30 guan, have now increased to more than 60 guan in price. If they were sold now, a net profit of 30 guan would be made. That’s as much as last year’s profits.

Of course, now that the value of treasure money has depreciated, even if you earn these 30 yuan, it will only be equivalent to less than 20 yuan last year. However, most of these goods are obtained on credit from Shen Bin’s Wanshan Chamber of Commerce through the shopkeepers, which is equivalent to a blank wolf. , even if you give some benefits to the shopkeepers, you can still make a net profit of 10,000+ yuan.

Li Wei nodded slightly after hearing Laifu's words, and then looked at Shen Jing.

"I have also stocked up a lot of materials and our own goods here. If we sell them now, we will have about 40 yuan."

Shen Jing also looked relaxed and happy. Since Li Wei drove away the eunuchs arranged by Wu Qi, his workshop has become better now. Although the secret recipe is leaked, the profit is not as much as before, but it is still better than before. It's much better to feed all the profits to those eunuchs.

At this time, both of them looked at Li Wei with joy and admiration.

This time, due to Li Wei's advance arrangements, they were lucky enough to avoid the depreciation of treasure notes and exchanged most of the cash for physical items, which have now nearly doubled.Without Li Wei's arrangements, the cash in the hands of their chamber of commerce would have lost nearly half its value.

Li Wei took a big gamble this time. Not only did he spend almost all the working capital of the Minghuang Chamber of Commerce to hoard various production raw materials and goods, he also owed an additional 30 yuan to the shopkeepers on credit.

Of course, these shopkeepers were just passing by. Li Wei actually owed Shen Bin payment for the goods.However, as the person in charge of the shop, if Li Wei can't pay back the money, they won't be able to escape. Shen Bin will look for them instead of Li Wei.

If they knew that Minghuang Chamber of Commerce's liquidity had bottomed out, they would immediately come to collect debts.

Fortunately, they have always felt that the Minghuang Chamber of Commerce has a great business and have not noticed this yet.

Li Wei pondered for a moment and felt that it was almost done now. The Minghuang Chamber of Commerce's capabilities were also limited and could only go as far as this. If he continued to hoard, he would have to borrow loan sharks.

"In this way, we will slowly start shipping from today, and collect some treasure first." Li Wei said softly.

"Ok."

Laifu immediately nodded in response. To be honest, he was already a little flustered at this point. In two days, even if Li Wei didn't tell him, he couldn't help but take the initiative to ask for instructions.

Compared to Laifu, Shen Jing seemed to be indifferent, because he felt that the value of treasure notes would continue to depreciate, and there was even a tendency to never look back.

But since Li Wei gave the order, he didn't force it and agreed.

"Remember when collecting money, try to collect old banknotes. It's better to press down when the discount is needed. In addition, take all the old banknotes in our hands to the bank's warehouse to exchange for new banknotes. The old banknotes received will be shipped immediately. Go switch!”

"Good sir!"

Li Wei repeatedly asked and unfolded his plans one by one.

The Minghuang Chamber of Commerce changed its image of Pixiu who only ate without vomiting, and began to export goods on a large scale. The shopkeepers who originally secretly purchased goods from Shen Bin according to his instructions also immediately changed their doors and purchased goods from him. A large number of goods were purchased from him. The treasure money quickly returned to the market, and the Minghuang Chamber of Commerce's business immediately became prosperous. Laifu, Shen Jing and other people who knew about it all had smiles on their faces.

However, if some people are happy, others will naturally be worried.

In the Zhongcheng District of the capital, Shen Bin was in his mansion, listening to the report from his shopkeeper, with a mixture of joy and sorrow on his face.

Since his father Shen Rong and his eldest brother passed away one after another, as the third generation of the Shen family, he relied on his elder advantage to steal most of the family property from Shen Jing, the fourth generation direct descendant, and replaced him in one fell swoop, becoming the Shen family's largest wealth. The main line of three generations.

Originally, his nephew Shen Jing had been suppressed by him and could only hold on to the remaining family property. It wouldn't take long for him to annex the remaining shops and take over all the Shen family's business. .

However, just when he was about to succeed, Li Wei's accident happened. Shen Jing approached Li Wei and cooperated with the Minghuang Chamber of Commerce. The stores in his hands that were almost unviable quickly came back to life, and as time went by , business is getting more and more prosperous.

This incident made him extremely uncomfortable, and he immediately sent someone to inquire about the situation of the Minghuang Chamber of Commerce.

As a descendant of Shen Wansan, Shen Bin is quite visionary in business. After finding out the origin and business model of Minghuang Chamber of Commerce, he was immediately moved!

This kind of business model for selling goods has huge potential. Even if it wasn't to deal with his little nephew, he still had to get involved!So he immediately followed the model of the Minghuang Chamber of Commerce and established the Wanshan Chamber of Commerce.

It's just that Li Wei holds a high position and the Minghuang Chamber of Commerce has a royal brand. He has never dared to make any big moves. He can only follow behind and eat some clear soup and water until Li Wei is demoted.

During that time, he gave Wu Qi a lot of bribes. Not only did he get the secret recipe for soap, perfume and other things through Wu Qi, but he also used another branch of the Shen family, Shen Jie, a cousin of Wai Lang who was a member of the Ministry of Household Affairs. relations, and curry favor with some North Korean and Chinese officials.

With the support of Wu Qi and these officials, he finally gained the confidence to quickly seize a lot of business.

However, this situation changed again after Li Wei became the consort. Wu Qi directly cut off all contact with him, and many of the officials began to have unclear attitudes.

But he has already reached this point in his business, and he cannot give up easily. He can only grit his teeth and persevere.

However, what surprised him was that after Li Wei returned, not only did he not use his power to suppress him, but many stores that had previously cooperated with the Minghuang Chamber of Commerce also switched to his side, which made him feel happy and worried at the same time.

"Master, the debts owed by those stores have reached more than 50 yuan. Do you think we should stop for a while and collect the money before supplying them with goods?"

A shopkeeper said worriedly.

Recently, the value of treasure money has continued to depreciate, and prices have skyrocketed. Even if the outstanding debts can be recovered in full now, it will still have to be a lot of compensation. He is a little worried that something big will happen if this continues.

Shen Bin frowned after hearing this. He invested heavily in the Wanshan Chamber of Commerce. In order to grab some shops, he gave a longer debt limit and account period. However, with the depreciation of the treasure banknotes, these debts became There is a big problem. When the money is collected from the goods sold, the money is no longer worth it, and you will lose a lot of money every time you enter and exit.

But now that the stalls are open, he is a little reluctant to give up like this.

His current situation is the same as those Internet companies in later generations that burned money to grab the market. The money has been burned. The market that was finally captured is reluctant to give up, but if it wants to hold on, it must continue to burn, otherwise the Minghuang Chamber of Commerce will definitely snatch it back immediately. .

　Sorry, I posted this so late and kept everyone waiting. Friends who haven't slept yet, please go to bed early after watching this. Good night.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)