The Strongest Lu Bu's Sweeping Thousands of Armies

Chapter 359
Lu Bu and Zhou Yu were dealing with the excessive wear and tear of the fan, and a guard reported that it was Zhang Shiping who asked to see him.

He ordered the guards to bring Zhang Shiping to him.

Not long after, Zhang Shiping was brought by the guards.

After seeing the ceremony, before he could explain why he came, Lu Bu asked, "Did you come here to sell the coal to the Yuan family?"

"Exactly." Zhang Shiping replied: "It turns out that Marquis Chu knew about this matter.

"I told you this matter, of course I know." Lu Bu said, "This is not a place to talk, I will find a room later, and I will talk to you about it."

Lu Bu didn't want to talk about it here, so of course Zhang Shiping didn't dare to ask more questions.

He followed Lu Bu and walked around the coal mine again.

After looking around, Lu Bu said: "I thought there would be many unsatisfactory places here. Now it seems that it is not as bad as I thought. It's just that the craftsmen are underground. You should be more careful. Now the coal is barely Enough, and don't let the artisans mine too fast."

Several stewards of the coal mine quickly agreed.

Lu Bu greeted Zhang Shiping, come with me.

Instructing the steward to prepare a room for him, Lu Bu took Zhang Shiping and Zhou Yu into the room.

After entering the room, he told Zhang Shiping: "Shut the doors."

Zhang Shiping closed the door, lowered his head and faced Lu Bu.

"Is it because most of the coal is taken over by Yuan's family, so you feel unhappy and think that you earn too little profit?" Lu Bu asked Zhang Shiping straight to the point.

"What Chu Hou said is exactly." Zhang Shiping replied: "In the past, the coal was transferred out through me, but now it is suddenly not handed over to me. It is indeed a lot of benefits..."

"Coal will replace firewood in the future and become the basic raw material for burning. If you control coal, you will control the lifeblood of the locality in the future." Lu Bu asked, "Are you planning to control the lifeblood of Xuzhou?"

Zhang Shiping was shocked when he heard the words, and hurriedly said to Lu Bu: "Master Chu Mingjian, I definitely didn't mean that..."

"I allow you to intervene in coal, but I actually want you to accumulate some capital." Lu Bu said, "Wherever the coal is sold, I will take it back completely sooner or later. Is it possible that when I want to take it back, I will completely cut off your money?" The source? Now that I only sell some of the coal to the Yuan family, you feel that the income has decreased, so you came to me specially. When I collect all the coal in the future, how will you feel?"

Zhang Shiping lowered his head when asked by Lu Bu and dared not make a sound.

Lu Bu said: "You and I have known each other for a long time. I'm afraid you can't even count the benefits you got from Xuzhou. Now I haven't taken back all the coal transactions. Taking advantage of this time, you can still benefit from it." Seeking profit. I sold the coal to the Yuan family, but I actually wanted you to know that if you just keep your eyes on the coal mine, one day you will end up forgetting all your other livelihoods. At that time, you will really be called Tian Tian It shouldn't, it's called the earth and the earth is not working."

Zhang Shiping originally planned to ask Lu Bu why he sold so much coal directly to the Yuan family.

He also thought that this matter was the coal mine's own idea, so he wanted to ask clearly, and it was also a blow to the coal mine stewards.

Unexpectedly, this matter was actually facilitated by Lu Bu.

Since it was Lu Bu's order, of course Zhang Shiping didn't dare to ask any more questions.

"How long have you been a merchant?" Lu Bu suddenly asked Zhang Shiping.

Zhang Shiping replied: "I have been a businessman for at least 20 years..."

"In 20 years, how many days are you at home?" Lu Bu asked again.

Not understanding why he asked such a question at all, Zhang Shiping replied honestly: "In the past 20 years, the days I have been at home are only a handful."

"For the sake of money, it's really worth it to run around all day and neglect your family members?" Lu Bu smiled slightly and patted Zhang Shiping's shoulder lightly: "I can give you a way of making money, but I want you Instead of running around, open a restaurant in Pengcheng."

As a merchant, Zhang Shiping also opened restaurants in the past.

The restaurant belongs to the diligent line, which requires the four bodies to be diligent, and they will be busy every day.

So in the end, the restaurant was not operated because Zhang Shiping felt that not only was he busy in that line of work, but the benefits he gained were pitifully small compared to those of a businessman.

When Lu Bu mentioned that he wanted to open a restaurant in Pengcheng, Zhang Shiping asked in astonishment: "Is Chu Hou serious?"

"Of course I'm telling the truth." Lu Bu said, "Since the establishment of the Han Dynasty, there have been constant exchanges and commerce with the Western Regions and other places, and the spices sent from the Western Regions have also been favored by the Han people. However, among these spices, there are many It can be used in dishes. And today’s dishes are cooked in pots or urns, and the taste is extremely bad.”

Zhang Shiping grew up, the dishes he ate were either steamed or boiled, and he didn't think the taste of the dishes was bad.

But Lu Bu said so, so he couldn't help but not believe that there are other ways to cook dishes.

"I don't know how to cook, but I know there is something called a pot." Lu Bu said: "Using it to cook is not only not as heavy as a cauldron, but also the dishes can be more colorful and taste better. It will be even better. All the dishes in the world are monotonous, if you open a restaurant and enrich the dishes, don’t you worry about no customers coming?”

"What Chu Hou said is correct, but the dishes are either cooked or boiled. Is there any other way to cook them?" Zhang Shiping replied: "Some people will use oil to fry them, but unfortunately they are not very tasty..."

"Who says deep-fried food is bad?" Lu Bu said, "It's bad because the ingredients are too simple. Come to my place tomorrow, and I'll bring you the method of making the pot and the things you need and can get. The spices are all ready. With these, you don’t have to worry about no business coming to the restaurant.”

"The Marquis of Chu doesn't know that restaurants are hardworking among all kinds of businesses." Zhang Shiping replied: "If you want to run a restaurant, you have to be busy every day. I opened it before, but I was busy and didn't make much profit... ..."

"If the restaurant can sell coal or other things, do you think it can make more profits?" Lu Bu interrupted him and asked suddenly.

Zhang Shiping was taken aback. After selling coal for so long, he certainly knew that coal was very profitable.

He licked his lips and asked Lu Bu, "Dare to ask Marquis Chu, how does the restaurant sell coal?"

"Make a coal ticket and sell it from the restaurant." Lu Bu said: "With the coal ticket, people will come to the mine to collect coal, and then the mine will share the net profit with the restaurant. What do you think?"

Zhang Shiping nodded and said, "If this is possible, I can give it a try."

"Not only that, but I'm still asking the restaurant to open an auction hall." Lu Bu said, "In the future, more and more good things will be sold somewhere. What I worry about is not that the restaurant will not make any profit, but that you will earn too Too much, and won’t give it to me.”

"The Marquis of Chu will spend a lot of money leading the battle." Zhang Shiping replied, "I only want [-]% of the benefits, and the rest will be given to Marquis Chu."

"You only need [-]%, and give me the rest?" Lu Bu asked with a smile, "Will it hurt?"

"If it weren't for the opportunity of the Marquis of Chu to earn profits, I would still be selling horses in the north." Zhang Shiping replied: "Although I have earned a lot, I can't keep up with the current year in three to five years. The benefits are all from the Marquis of Chu. Yes, of course I can't be too greedy."

"Sure enough, you have the demeanor of a great merchant." Lu Bu nodded: "No wonder there are so many merchants who come to Xuzhou, and you are the only one who really makes a lot of money."

"It's not all relying on the support of the Marquis of Chu." Zhang Shiping replied: "If it weren't for the Marquis of Chu, I would not be able to make a living to this level in my life. The Marquis of Chu spent a lot of money in conquering the world. The money is also used by my family. Compared with the whole world, I only need [-]% of it, which is too much."

"There are interests in front of you, and you are not greedy. You are really different." Lu Bu patted Zhang Shiping's arm lightly, and Lu Bu said: "Don't forget to find me tomorrow. Remember, it must be tomorrow. In two more days The Heavenly Army may be going on an expedition, and if you are late looking for me, you can only wait for my return to prepare the restaurant. The longer you delay, the more money you will lose."

"I will remember what the Marquis of Chu told me," Zhang Shiping replied.

Lu Bu greeted Zhou Yu: "Gong Jin and I will return to Pengcheng."

Zhou Yu agreed and followed Lu Bu out of the room.

Zhang Shiping sent them to the door and bowed to watch Lu Bu leave.

When Lu Bu walked away, he straightened up and let out a long breath.

The steward of the coal mine came over: "How about Mr. Zhang? Did I talk nonsense to you? It was Chuhou's order to sell the coal to the Yuan family in Hebei."

"I know it's the order of the Marquis of Chu." Zhang Shiping said: "But you people are also looking forward to selling coal to Hebei. I heard that the Yuan family in Hebei gave the price [-]% of the market price. Compared with me The [-]% received from you is much higher."

"Mr. Zhang is still protected by the Marquis of Chu." The steward said, "For the price given by Mr. Zhang, we really can't make much profit here. After removing the losses required by the mine and the wages received by the craftsmen, we can pay the price every year." There are not many for Chu Hou."

"Even if you can't pay a single copper coin, the Marquis of Chu will not be short of money." Zhang Shiping replied: "As long as I am here, Xuzhou will be a place of prosperity. Take money from your family to support the Marquis of Chu."

"No wonder Marquis Chu is so dependent on Duke Zhang." Knowing that Lu Bu is relying on Zhang Shiping to make money, the steward still pretended to be completely ignorant and said: "It is difficult to share the worries of Marquis Chu and not be relied on by him. "

"Of course." Zhang Shiping said without humility: "You and I are sharing the worries of Chu Hou, but you haven't done enough. Looking at such a large coal mine, it only produces two taels of coal every year. With so little production, how can we support the Chuhou army's expenses?"

"What Zhang Gong said is true." The steward followed him and replied, "It's just that the Marquis of Chu told us that we should pick more slowly and not produce so much..."

"Why?" Zhang Shiping asked in bewilderment when Lv Bu asked coal mines to slow down when coal was selling well.

The steward shook his head: "I don't know what Chu Hou meant, but we can only follow his orders."

Zhang Shiping was completely messed up.

If he had just met Lu Bu, he would have thought that the Marquis of Chu didn't know how to run a business at all.

Looking at such a good piece of treasure land, the craftsmen are not allowed to mine more coal, but the production is slowed down...

Even if a few more catties of coal are mined every day, in this era when coal is sold by the catty, you can still earn more profits...

Like Zhang Shiping, Zhou Yu was also puzzled by Lu Bu's instructions not to mine too fast.

Accompanying Lu Bu to leave the coal mine, Zhou Yu said: "Coal is in short supply. I heard that the price has increased several times everywhere. It used to be affordable for ordinary people to use for home use, but now it is rare in the market. Some blacksmiths Using coal to extract tar to forge utensils, even go to the black market to collect high prices."

"Gongjin is wondering why I want the mine to cut down on coal mining?" Lu Bu asked Zhou Yu.

Zhou Yu nodded: "If the Marquis of Chu is willing to let the mine produce more, the army doesn't need to worry about the cost at all. Just one coal mine can feed all the soldiers and horses under the Marquis of Chu."

"That is based on the current market price." Lu Bu said: "The price of anything will not be low when it is in short supply. There are actually two reasons why I let the coal mine produce less coal. One is that there will be gas under the mine. Gather together and light it with an open flame, sooner or later it will cause a mine disaster, and all the craftsmen in the mine will be buried in it."

Lu Bu said the same thing more than once.

After listening to his explanation, Zhou Yu could not fully understand it.

In this era when human life is not precious, if a group of craftsmen die, it is enough to recruit another batch. There is no need to worry that too many craftsmen will die, so that no one will work in the coal mine.

Although he didn't quite agree with Lu Bu's explanation, Zhou Yu didn't dare to say it.

Having been with Lu Bu for so long, he has already figured out the temper of this Marquis of Chu.

In a high position, he didn't take anyone's life as nothing.

Even the people at the bottom, as long as they live in Xuzhou, Lu Bu will consider their survival...

But when it came to the battlefield, Lu Bu would not even blink his eyes when he killed someone.

As soon as the painting halberd is drawn, anyone who dares to stand in front of him will be picked and killed by him on the battlefield.

For the people under his rule, Lu Bu showed too much benevolence and righteousness. He actually ordered the progress of coal mining to be slowed down because he didn't want the craftsmen to use open fire to work underground...

Although Zhou Yu didn't say anything, Lu Bu could still see that he was puzzled by this: "Actually, there is another reason. What I negotiated with Yuan Benchu ​​was to give him Xuzhou coal at [-]% of the market price. Now that there is too little coal, he has to spend More money to buy. If there is too much coal produced in Xuzhou, the price will definitely drop, and when Yuan Benchu ​​pays the money, there will be more coal to buy back.”

He then whispered to Zhou Yu: "Gong Jin also told me earlier that when Yuan Benchu ​​got the coal, Hebei would forge more weapons. Is it possible that I will use the coal produced in Xuzhou to help him forge more weapons?" weapons, will you be our enemy again in the future?"

(End of this chapter)