Therefore, Lao Zhu's worries are justified. If the grain is harvested and not sold for five years, wouldn’t it be a loss to the royal family? How can you make money, let alone make money? Therefore, Lao Zhu's worries are justified. If the grain is harvested and not sold for five years, wouldn’t it be a loss to the royal family? How can we make money from this? Let alone making money, it would be good if we don’t lose the Forbidden City.
Han Du was confident about this and explained with a smile: "Your Majesty, although the old grain cannot be eaten, it can be used to make wine? As long as we make it into wine, we can not only recover the loss, but also make more money. It’s a sum.”
Lao Zhu said dissatisfiedly: "Brewing wine? As you can imagine, old grain like that can only make bad wine, and bad wine is worthless. By then, you won't even be able to earn back the money you spent on grain."
Yes, buy the best grain and let it sit for five years before making wine. No matter what kind of business you are, you can't do such a thing that is destined to lose money.
"Who said old grain can only make bad wine?" Han Du looked at Lao Zhu meaningfully and said with a smile: "Old grain can also make good wine, and it is also the best wine."
When Lao Zhu heard this, he reacted instantly, pointed at Han Du and asked in disbelief: "You, you mean to say that the wine you sent to the palace was brewed from old grains?"
Han Du smiled awkwardly and said nothing, but Lao Zhu already understood everything.
He yelled angrily: "Handu, you are so brave, you dare to give me bad wine to drink."
"Your Majesty misunderstood. Although Wei Chen made the wine with inferior alcohol, it was really good wine. Didn't I drink it too?" Han Du explained quickly. At the same time, I couldn't help but complain, what happened to the bad wine? When you, Lao Zhu, started a bowl, you didn't even have to drink bad wine. Now you have forgotten your roots?
After hearing Han Du's explanation, Lao Zhu felt better and his anger calmed down a little. If he knew that Han Du was slandering him in his heart, I'm afraid Han Du would have to suffer a lot today.
But it was obvious that Lao Zhu didn't have the ability to read minds. He pondered for a moment and asked, "Is that strong liquor really refined from bad liquor?"
"Yes." Han Du nodded.
A blush suddenly appeared on Lao Zhu's face, and he couldn't wait to ask: "How is the output? Is it complicated to refine good wine from bad wine?"
Han Du instantly understood what Lao Zhu meant. It seemed that Lao Zhu had also discovered this huge business opportunity. He smiled and nodded and said, "It's not complicated." Of course it's not complicated, but it just requires distilling the bad wine again. Anyone can do it as long as they have distilling equipment.
"As for the output, about ten pounds of bad wine can produce one pound of white wine." Han Du made an estimate and replied truthfully.
When Lao Zhu heard this, his eyes widened and he asked: "How much? Are you right? Is it true that one pound comes out of ten pounds?"
In fact, it takes less than ten kilograms to produce one kilogram of liquor.
After all, a pound of liquor cannot be all alcohol, it is still about half water.
"I can guarantee it." Han Du nodded.
When Lao Zhu heard this, he burst out laughing. A feeling of getting rich filled his whole body. How much does ten pounds of bad wine cost? Even better and inferior wine only costs thirty-five cents per catty, and even the worst can be purchased for one cent per catty. But what is the price of good wine on the market? A slightly more high-end wine would require a jar of ten ounces, each jar weighing only three kilograms. Calculated, one kilogram is almost 3,300 Wen. The cost of liquor distilled from inferior liquor is only ten coins per kilogram. This is a price difference of three hundred times, and a huge profit of three hundred times.
Lao Zhu happily looked back at Queen Ma and said, "If there is still a place for Chen Liang to be recycled and profit can be made, then the royal family made the sound of grain that this boy said."
Seeing that Lao Zhu finally let go, he agreed. Empress Ma was overjoyed and said with a smile: "The royal family does this kind of thing not to make money. If you want to make money, it's better to ask Han Du to hand over the recipe for refining the bad wine, and we can sell it directly. Wine, how quickly can you make money? As Han Du said, food is the lifeblood of the Ming Dynasty, and the royal family must hold this lifeline in their hands, not to make money, but for the stability of the people in the world."
This was said with great air.
Han Du silently praised Queen Ma in his heart. In fact, whether you are a person or a person, you should be like Queen Ma, occupying the moral high ground and holding high the banner of fairness, so that there will be no disadvantages.
"What the Queen said makes sense, and the royal family's control of grain trading is a good thing that benefits the world. It solves the problem that for thousands of years, people had to sell grain at low prices in good years and buy grain at high prices in famine years."
After hearing Han Du's words, Lao Zhu looked a little displeased, "Stop flattering me. The question now is, who should handle this matter? Let the inner court do it?"
Han Du was embarrassed when he heard this. The essence of flattery is to make the listener happy without being able to tell that he is flattering. Han Du didn't make Lao Zhu happy, but it made Lao Zhu hear that Han Du was flattering. This would almost embarrass Han Du to death.
Seeing Lao Fa's question, Han Du quickly answered and wanted to put aside this embarrassing scene, "I have an idea, I don't know whether to talk about it or not."
"Say." Lao Zhu said in a deep voice.
"I think that a Ming Dynasty Royal Grain Industry can be established to be responsible for the management of grain. The royal family can recruit professional shopkeepers to be responsible for the operation, and the eunuchs or maids of the inner court can be responsible for supervision. But the supervisors must not point fingers at the shopkeepers responsible for the operation. If If there is any disharmony, you can write a letter to report, and the palace will send someone to check it in person." Han Du suggested.
According to Han Du's idea, a separate company should be established and run by the company. But if Han Du talked about the company, Lao Zhu and Queen Ma would probably not understand what it was, so Han Du copied the company's business model and explained it to them.
Lao Zhu was still deep in thought, but Empress Ma frowned and asked: "Why do you need to find a shopkeeper to take charge of the operation? Isn't it better to let the people in the inner court run it themselves? If you do this, wouldn't it be unnecessary?"
"The Empress clearly knows that this is because the profit of grain itself is very low. If you collect six cents of silver and sell it for one tael of silver, it seems that there is a profit of four cents. In fact, in addition to the consumption of storage, drying, and transportation, there can be two cents of profit. Profit sharing is something that requires people with deep experience to do it. In fact, from Wei Chen's point of view, it is good to be able to protect capital." Han Du explained.
