Great Wei Overlord

Chapter 600
Chapter 605

"Your Majesty is worried. You have been living a good life. Look at the flesh on your stomach. Life has been so nourishing during this time." Wang Meng said disapprovingly, patted his shriveled belly, and the hairy clothes on his body. A robe with a pungent smell.Shangbei is no better than Guannei. Winter here comes early and goes late.Although hundreds of flowers are in full bloom in the pass now, there is still a strong sense of winter here.

Ran Ming didn't point out Wang Meng's insincere words, and said: "These dishes and wine have already been reheated three times, and now they are still warm, so it's time to eat them!"

"Thank you, Your Highness, for the reward!" Wang Meng was not polite, he picked up his chopsticks, and started to eat and drink quickly. After he was full, Wang Meng said with a chuckle, "It turns out that Your Highness still remembers your preferences."

"Sir, you have suffered!" Ran Ming saw Wang Meng eating like a starving ghost, and knew that he had not passed his time well, otherwise, with Wang Meng's character, he would definitely not be like this.

"What the hell!" Wang Meng said with a wry smile, "It's not that your highness doesn't know the details of this minister, but this minister is a hard-working person. For so many years, he hasn't experienced any kind of hardship."

Ran Ming drank a glass of wine, and then said with a murderous look: "I just want to know who is so blind that he dares to kidnap Mr."

"Forget it." Wang Meng said softly: "Anyway, it's over, isn't the minister fine now?"

"No." Ran Ming said: "I can't swallow this breath alone, I must find this place!"

Wang Meng said: "Actually, this is just a coincidence."

It turned out that after Huang Shengjian kidnapped Wang Meng by accident and coincidence, he proposed to release Wang Meng.At this time, Wang Meng got the news that Ran Ming had led the Qilin Guards to make a big disturbance in the East Palace. It seemed that all the evidence showed that it was extremely unfavorable to the East Palace.At this time, if Wang Meng appeared, he would turn Ran Ming into passive.

Therefore, Wang Meng did not show up, neither contacted his family nor notified Ran Ming. When Wang Meng knew that Ran Ming had blamed Ran Zhi for the kidnapping, Wang Meng wanted to confirm these things.But he didn't have any manpower in his hands, so he couldn't get rid of Huang Shengjian and others secretly. At this moment, Wang Meng thought of killing people with a knife.

Taking advantage of Huang Shengjian's eagerness to join Huo Qi, Wang Meng told Huang Shengjian: "If you want to join Huo Daxia, brother can make peace with him, but brother, although I have a bit of face with Huo Daxia, I can't guarantee that this matter will be 100% successful." However, Huo Daxia doesn't deal with one person very much, if Brother Huang can give this person's head to Huo Daxia, Huo Daxia will be very happy."

This nomination certificate is nothing else, Zhang San, the invisible overlord of Yecheng's underground.This Zhang San was originally the confidant of Zuo Pushe Zhang Li, the Minister of Five Soldiers (Shangshu of the Ministry of War) in the post-Zhao Shihu period.After Zhang Li's death, Zhang San lost his support, so he took some of Zhang Li's former personal soldiers with him, and bought and sold without money.Since Zhang Li is also a brave and famous general in the begging army, Zhang San's subordinates are not weak in combat effectiveness, and they are no match for these ordinary hooligans.Based on his own powerful power, Zhang San gradually became famous near Yecheng.However, he is also notorious for being cruel and unscrupulous.But this Zhang San is very cunning, he can do all kinds of evil for the sake of profit.

After having money, Zhang San, like Ran Ming in later generations, began to slowly fade away.He no longer directly takes care of those jobs that are extremely popular but thankless.For example, collecting protection fees, kidnapping, blackmailing, forcing a good man into prostitution, etc.Instead, they use cronies to contact other hooligans in a single line, find people to do things from them, and earn profits from them.Just like Huang Shengjian's kidnapping of those lonely young men and selling them to mine owners as slaves, Zhang San took the lead and negotiated peace.Even if this matter is exposed, it will not be found on Zhang San.

Through Huang Shengjian's words, Wang Meng knew that Zhang San, Huang Shengjian's upline, was not only a wicked villain with sores on his head and pus on the soles of his feet, even if he died ten thousand times, he would not lose to Zhang San, so Wang Meng provoked Huang Shengjian There is no psychological burden in the fight with Zhang San.

Huang Shengjian is not stupid. Although he wants to have a big backer, he will not do stupid things like throwing an egg against a rock.However, the temptation to join Huo Qi is not too small for Huang Shengjian.In this way, Huang Shengjian quietly sent someone to inquire about Zhang San's reality.Wang Meng knew that once Huang Shengjian knew Zhang San's strength, not to mention that he would attack Zhang San, whether he would sell him to Zhang San would be a problem.Wang Meng deliberately revealed to Zhang San that Huang Shengjian wanted to deal with him.

Zhang San was furious when he got the news, and brought people to find Huang Shengjian's bad luck.When Huang Shengjian learned that Zhang San had brought someone to find him, he was so frightened that his face changed.Huang Shengjian didn't even think about it, so he softened to Zhang San.How could Wang Meng let Huang Shengjian get what he wanted, so he secretly shot Zhang San with a cold arrow.Seeing that Huang Shengjian dared to ambush him, Zhang San didn't listen to Huang Shengjian's explanation, and directly ordered Huang Shengjian and his gang to be strangled.

Not surprisingly, Huang Shengjian and his group were not Zhang San's opponents at all. A dozen of his confidants were hacked to death by Zhang San's subordinates, while Wang Meng escaped in the chaos.Since Wang Meng didn't have any money, he worked part-time and begged along the way, and it was very difficult for him to come here.

When Ran Ming heard this, he was completely moved.What a good little brother this is, to be so devoted to him.Ran Ming was so excited that he couldn't speak, "Mister treats Gu so...so...how can Gu repay him?"

"I'm not doing this for my own selfish desires." Wang Meng said sternly: "Your Highness has the image of a wise master, and the community is in His Highness's hands. It is the luck of the common people, the luck of all the people in the world."

With Wang Meng's help, Ran Ming, who was originally at a loss, became much more relaxed.In just a few days, Qin's airs were set up.Wang Meng appointed Jiang Xie, a native of Shangyu, named Meng Yi, to join the army as the general of the Qin State Commanding Army and the governor of the Qin Palace.Jiang Xie is the sixth grandson of Jiang Wei, and the Jiang family is a noble family in Shangbei.With Ran Ming's appointment of Jiang Xie, the hostility of the local wealthy clan in Shangyu gradually decreased. Although the Jiang clan did not really return their hearts with one move, it was a good start.

Immediately afterwards, Wang Meng asked Ran Ming to use Li Xian, a native of Longxi, whose name was Yuanda, as Shi Ling, the head of Qin Wangfu.Li Xian and Li Yuanda are the rising stars of the Li family in Longyou. Although they were young, they were talented and famous.At this time, the Li family of Longyou, like the Xie family, had not yet reached the peak period in history, so when Ran Ming showed favor to Longyou, the Li family of Longyou gave Ran Ming a huge reward.Not only in terms of giving political affairs, but also letting the children of the clan take refuge in Ran Ming.Even Li Jun, who was the head of the Longyou Li family in the internal history of the Fu family at that time, and Li Si, who was in charge of Hezhou, also wrote letters to contact Ran Ming.

Then, Wang Meng asked Ran Ming to use Zhang Lun from the Zhang family in Jincheng, Zhao Xun from Fuqiang and other celebrities as the internal history of the Qin Palace.

With the filling of these talents, Ran Ming also avoided the embarrassing situation where no one was available.Wang Meng knew that the people of Qinzhou were actually very xenophobic, so he had no choice but to win over the local gentry of Qin State first, and take it easy.

As Qin's government affairs entered the normal track, Ran Ming also launched his development plan.

Although Qinzhou is located in an important place on the Silk Road, the local output is very scarce. Apart from horses and furs, there are also some special products such as beef tendon and horns.The farming tools here are still primitive plows, and steel is extremely scarce, and some people can't even afford kitchen knives.

The first factory that Ran Ming opened in Qin State was to develop the abundant limestone here. A large amount of calcined limestone began to be used for road construction. Although the road surface compacted after mixing soil and lime was not as good as reinforced concrete, it was better than the original The official road is much easier.

When Ran Ming vigorously developed the limestone in Luoyugou on the north bank of the Ji River, he accidentally discovered an iron mine with not too small reserves.Ran Ming was overjoyed that his smelting plant also settled in Luoyugou.

The smelting technology used by Ran Ming is actually the original steel pouring method, that is, the pig iron smelted from iron ore is mixed with raw steel and calcined with coke, so that steel can be obtained.The steel made in this way is not only highly efficient, but also has a remarkable feature, that is, the cost is greatly reduced.The calcined molten steel is directly poured into the mold to obtain the desired utensils.Such as sickle, axe, shovel, etc.The utensils cooled from the mold, as long as they are slightly polished, the quality of steel knife utensils no less than that of hand forging can be obtained.

The price of a kitchen knife made of stainless steel is simply outrageous, only ninety yuan.A shovel only costs 160 renminbi, and an ax that can cut trees and firewood is not too expensive, only [-] renminbi.

Not to mention just finished steel knives and utensils, even the same weight of pig iron is more than this price.Everyone who got the news felt that Ran Ming was not doing business, but doing good deeds.Some people also think that Ran Ming is a lunatic, a prodigal son.The merchants and common people who got the news were so happy that they were going crazy.

They were afraid that Ran Ming would sell out, and they would have no advantage to take advantage of, so as long as they got the news, they rushed to Shangyu quickly.

From the start of production of Ranming's Luoyugou smelter and the sale of finished products, in just a dozen days, a large number of merchants came to Shangbi without hesitation.

Ran Ming looked at the crowds pouring in in front of the city gate, and said proudly: "This place has changed due to loneliness, and in the future there will be ten-thousand-foot tall buildings rising from the ground.

Because of Ran Ming's arrival, Shangyu City has become full of vitality.In fact, Ran Ming adopted one of the most common methods in the commercial struggles of later generations, and fought a price war.Even if Ran Ming only sells a kitchen knife for 150 yuan.The shovel was only sold for [-] renminbi, and the ax was only sold for [-] renminbi. In fact, Ran Ming was still making money, though not as much as before.

The cost price of steel smelted through the steel pouring method has dropped by more than ten times than before. A furnace of molten steel is about [-] catties, and it is enough to cast about [-] kitchen knives. A skilled smelting technician and two apprentices, Four or five furnaces of molten steel can be easily smelted in one day, two thousand kitchen knives can be cast, and a water flow grinder can polish a kitchen knife in an average time of each stick of incense. From smelting to Ran Ming only used more than [-] craftsmen to produce the finished kitchen knife.Among them, there is only one third-level craftsman, and there are only two fourth-level craftsmen.

These 18 people can create a benefit of [-] yuan for Ran Ming just by making [-] kitchen knives every day, and the salary that Ran Ming needs to pay is only about [-] yuan.Excluding various costs and tax expenses, Ran Ming's net profit was nearly [-] yuan.If you make shovels and axes, the profits are similar.

Because of adopting the method of assembly line operation, Ran Ming not only improved the production efficiency, but also reduced the production cost.In this way, the prices of various items made by Ran Ming are ridiculously low.Unlike the cheap and poor quality of later generations, the quality of all Ran Ming's products is also impeccable.

It is the nature of merchants to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages. Because a large number of high-quality and cheap items appear in Shangyu City, this place will soon become the source of a large number of merchants' purchases, and Shangyu City will gradually become a distribution center for radiating surrounding commodities. and transit.

Although those merchants are lowly people, they are people with a lot of wealth, and they are also an important group of consumers in this era.Ran Ming didn't need to worry about it at all. The original adobe thatched houses in Shangyu City gradually changed into large houses with blue bricks and red tiles, and then high-rise buildings.

Because these merchants came to Shangyu City to buy cheap ironware, of course they couldn't go back empty-handed, and they had to buy some oil, salt, sauce and vinegar, or silk, porcelain and tea.Merchants naturally couldn’t come here alone, they had many entourages and buddies, and they naturally needed to eat, drink, live, and meet their physical needs when they came to Shangyu City.With the passage of time, a large number of high, medium and low-end brothels, teahouses, and wine shops have sprung up in Shangyu City.

There were bustling shouts from the streets, some restaurant staff were soliciting customers, and there were also those prostitutes in red and green who were soliciting customers in order to earn a living.

Although the Huaxia Business Alliance is Ran Ming's hard-core ally, all of these merchants are human beings, and all of them are masters who don't see rabbits and don't scatter eagles.Although Ran Ming had already painted a huge picture at the beginning, and even though Ran Ming described the future prospects extremely beautifully, those merchants were still waiting and watching.

In fact, Ran Ming also understood the thoughts of these merchants, don't look at them following Ran Ming to the Qin country.However, none of these merchant representatives had any significant members.Even old partners Zhang Xun, Wang Cheng and others didn't come in person, they just sent a steward.

Now, great business opportunities are in front of the merchants, and they have already made up their minds.Although doing business in the mainland of the Central Plains requires less risk, correspondingly, the profits are squeezed very little by the increasingly competitive peers.After a year of hard work and exhaustion, the money they can earn is pitifully small. Apart from managing up and down and paying taxes, there is not much left in their hands.

But it is different in Qin State. Because of Ran Ming's existence, the government here will not exploit merchants layer by layer like in other places, nor will they just find excuses and yell at them to kill them.The county magistrate of copying the house, the governor of the Miemen prefect was not called for nothing.

(End of this chapter)