Daming Research Institute.
After Zhu Changwu experimented twice, he produced glass.
Looking at the crystal clear finished product in front of them, Chen Yuanyuan and others opened their eyes wide, showing an incredulous expression.
Zhu Changwu felt very satisfied with everyone's surprised looks.
Of course, if he knew that Queen Zhou actually wanted to make him the consort, he would probably jump right away.
What a joke, I regard you Chongzhen as my brother, but you want me to be your son-in-law, you are making trouble with us.
Zhu Changwu didn't know this at this moment. Instead, under the eyes of everyone who was looking at God, he pointed at the pure transparent glass zodiac rabbit and said to Zhang Xi, who was already waiting here: "How about this thing?"
"Okay, it's so ingenious that it's really good." Zhang Xi was not flattering, but he was indeed shocked by what he saw in front of him.
"As long as you like it, I'll put this thing in the room of Daming Department Store. Remember, the purchase limit is still the same, two hundred pieces a month. Hey, this thing took a lot of my brains, and the price can't be cheap."
Listening to Zhu Changwu's sentiments, Zhang Xi nodded with deep satisfaction, "This is natural. Don't worry, sir, this thing can definitely be sold for a big price."
Zhang Huan was indeed happy. He originally thought that with perfume and other items, he would be able to make a lot of money. Unexpectedly, besides this, there is something more powerful.
He even believed that the purchase of such a good thing should be restricted. Failure to do so would not prove its preciousness. As for the price, there’s nothing to say, it’s definitely not cheap. Anyway, those who can buy these things are rich people.
To use the young master's words, the rich are there to cheat, otherwise they will be sorry for the gold and silver in their hands.
"By the way, Young Master, I have something to report to you." When he thought of money, Zhang Xi thought of the thing that was causing him the most headache right now, and he spoke.
"Is there anything difficult?" Zhu Changwu was so smart. Just by looking at Zhang Xi's expression, he could tell that the other party was encountering a problem.
"Yes, according to the previous Young Master's instructions, our Ministry of Household Affairs has launched a series of actions in terms of people's livelihood, and the results have been remarkable. Especially the exemption from corvee service has made countless people applaud and they all applauded. They firmly support our new policy, especially after allowing all people to do business and no longer restricting merchants to do business. There are even more supporters. During this period, the number of small traders and hawkers who came to register with our Ministry of Household Affairs began to increase exponentially. But this has also aroused opposition from some big businessmen.”
"Their opposition is inevitable. I have emphasized this to you before. Businessmen are all profit-seeking. The original market is so big. If one more person comes in to share the pie, they will share their interests. They do not agree with the actual situation. It's normal." Zhu Changwu didn't look surprised when he heard this.
"Yes, we have also made some preparations, but we didn't expect that they would play such a trick and directly increase the price of food three times. Now the price of rice and noodles on the street is beyond the reach of ordinary people. If this continues If so, I'm afraid it won't be long before people starve to death in the capital."
Zhang Wei was hesitant at first, but when he realized that he had no good solution and was worried about ruining the job, he gritted his teeth and spoke out the difficulties directly.
Zhang Yi got an official position as the Minister of Household Affairs. Although there was the word "agent" in front of it, he was really serious about his work, so much so that now he only sleeps two to three hours at most every day. But sometimes, things can't be done well just because you work hard.
Especially when dealing with businessmen, they can make money, that's good for you, good for me, good for everyone. Once someone touches their interests, even the father may disown them in a minute.
The grain merchants in the city suddenly raised the price of grain, and even tripled the price. As soon as this happened, Zhang Wei was caught off guard. He really had no other choice, so he thought of coming to the young master for help.
Speaking of which, it is true that he is the Minister of Hubu, but now there are only a few people in the Hubu, and there is no influence at all. It is normal for those businessmen not to criticize him.
"Raise the price of food, or triple it?" When Zhu Changwu heard this, he looked startled at first, and then his eyes started to spit fire.
Food prices are related to people's food problems. Once food prices rise, it means that people have to pay a greater price in order to survive. This is tantamount to life-threatening for some people who have been without income for a long time. exist.
However, after being stunned, Zhu Changwu also had doubts in his heart. When the capital was besieged before, he remembered it very clearly. He was afraid that the intruders would rob the city after entering the city. Many grain stores held a big sale in order to sell the grain. Exchange it for silver.
It is not easy to hide food, but it is much easier to hide it in money.
But it has only been a short time, and the crisis in the capital has just been resolved. These grain merchants have actually started to increase the price of grain, which is still three times the normal price. Some people are really shameless.
It is understandable that grain merchants would do this. Merchants are originally driven by profit. Now that the siege of the capital has just been lifted, it will take a lot of time for new food to enter the city. This is why they want to increase prices. They must be hoping to make a big profit. Pen idea.
This is the so-called difficulty in making money for the country.
In the eyes of businessmen, they don't care whether people can afford it after food prices increase. All they care about is how much money they can make by taking this opportunity.
The businessman made a move, but Zhang Yi couldn't do anything yet. According to what Zhu Changwu said, he had just issued a new policy, one of which was to improve the status of merchants and allow freer trading of goods.
Moreover, the New Deal also stated that the pricing power of goods is entirely in the hands of merchants. As long as they think the price should be increased, they can make an appropriate price increase. They only need to report to the Ministry of Household Affairs.
But no one thought that these businessmen were so smart that they would take this opportunity to take the lead in raising the price of food. He also spent money to report to officials from the Ministry of Household Affairs. For this matter, the official who accepted the money has been dismissed by Zhang Yi and investigated.
Food prices were very low before this. Even Zhang Yi never thought that such a thing would happen. He was stuck on this issue for a while.
Now that food prices have increased threefold, the people in the entire city are in panic. Even if they want to do other things at this time, I am afraid it will be difficult to implement them.
"Yes, sir, it's three times. It's okay to say that these grain merchants are really evil. In my opinion, why don't we just send troops to raid their stores and confiscate all the grain." He said fiercely.
After following Zhu Changwu for a long time, I didn't learn anything else, but I learned a few things about using force to suppress things when things don't work.
"No." Zhu Changwu made Zhang Wei shake his head in surprise, "Just after the New Deal was issued, we used administrative means to suppress shops. Wouldn't this be a slap in the face? Who will believe us in the future? "
If it were before, Zhu Changwu might have considered using force to win. But now, since the New Deal has been announced, we can't act recklessly.
These businessmen deserve to die for bribing officials to exploit loopholes. But to deal with them, we cannot use force. Instead, we should discuss business and defeat them using business methods.
Thinking of using commercial methods to solve the problem, Zhu Changwu looked at Zhang Xi and asked, "Tell me more specifically, where did this increase in grain prices begin, and which grain store started it?"
...
Huang's Grain Shop.
Shopkeeper Huang Yuliang was sitting in the back hall of the shop, enjoying the two little maids massaging his shoulders and legs with a contented expression.
The Huang family is one of the eight imperial merchants granted by Jiannu.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, there were eight traitors whose names were recorded in history. They were Fan Yongdou, Wang Dengku, Jin Liangyu, Wang Dayu, Liang Jiabin, Tian Shenglan, Zhai Tang, and Huang Yunfa. They were known as the "Eight Imperial Merchants" in history.
The "Eight Great Families" controlled Zhangjiakou's trade activities and secretly transported military supplies and intelligence to the Qing army in the name of doing business. They provided food, weapons, and artillery to the slaves during the most difficult period of the Qing army. Some supplies of the Ming army were also transported to the Manchus by them in collusion with officials. The Ming army's strength, defense plans and other information were also sold to the Jiannu.
After the Manchus took control of the Central Plains, in the early years of Shunzhi, eight outstanding merchants from Shanxi, including Fan Yongdou, were summoned to the capital for the purpose of "producing wealth and ensuring adequate state supplies." They were granted banquet banquet halls, naturalized in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and granted the title of Imperial Merchant.
It can be said that the wealth of these eight families was all accumulated on the blood of the Han people, and they sold out the country and were unmatched by anyone. Maybe these people only have money in their hearts and nothing else.
At this time, the Huang family had not yet been named the Imperial Merchant by the Tartars, and the current Jiannu had not taken over the Central Plains, so their strength was not that strong. But even so, the Huang family still accumulated a lot of wealth, and it is not an exaggeration to say that they are rich enough to rival the country.
The capital was in danger, and intruders could attack the city at any time. Many merchants were scared away, just like the other seven families had transferred their property earlier. Huang Yuliang also received an order to leave the capital temporarily, but when he saw so many grain merchants who had to sell their grain at low prices because they wanted to escape, he suddenly had a bold idea.
Marx said: "If capital has 50% profit, it will take desperate risks; if it has 100% profit, it will dare to trample all laws in the world; if it has 300% profit, it will dare to commit any crime." crime, even at the risk of being hanged.”
Dazzled by the huge benefits, Huang Yuliang did not choose to leave. Instead, he bought all the food of the other seven families in the capital at extremely low prices. He was betting that the intruders would not be able to invade the capital so smoothly.
