By the time Fang Ruolan finished flipping through part of the ledger, Su Ze had already fallen asleep on the recliner.
Seeing Su Ze like this, Fang Ruolan was furious again, but now it was gradually turning from autumn to winter. Fang Ruolan took out the brocade quilt to cover Su Ze, and then continued to read the account book.
The more she looked at the accounts, the more surprised Fang Ruolan was at the property under Su Ze's name.
Fang Ruolan had already known Su Ze before Su Ze was admitted to the Juren Examination. At that time, he was just a poor scholar studying in the county school.
But now, the shops under Su Ze's name are all making more money than the other, and together they are more profitable than the Fang family's dowry business.
Su Ze was different from the ordinary squires who occupied acres of land after getting into the imperial examination. Except for a tea garden, all of his industries were commercial, and each of them was highly profitable.
Even the newspaper that seems to be the least profitable, "Paiben Surprise" has made considerable profits through advertising revenue at a low price.
This is also the reason why Paibenjingwen can continue to publish more good works with high royalties.
Fang Ruolan used the Longmen accounting method taught by Su Ze to check the books. The Longmen accounting method is actually the same as the ordinary accounting method, except that an expense must be reflected in the two systems of "in and out" and "assets and liabilities", which also makes fraud more difficult. The difficulty of accounting increases.
When auditing accounts, it is easy to detect falsified data with just a few means.
The more Fang Ruolan used this method to check the accounts, the more she felt the exquisiteness of the Longmen accounting method. The shop she planned to give her as a dowry also used this accounting method.
Of course, accounting methods are not omnipotent, and accounting technology is also constantly developing.
Auditing and falsifying accounts are rivals in the cat-and-mouse game even in modern society, and the two develop alternately step by step in a constant struggle.
When the sun was about to set, Su Ze finally woke up slowly. Seeing Fang Ruolan who was still buried in the ledger, Su Ze walked over and picked her up.
"Madam, I'm hungry."
Fang Ruolan was even more angry. If it hadn't been for the two boxes of ledgers that Su Ze had brought, she would have finished reading them, and now she was causing trouble again.
"What do you want to do with me when you're hungry?"
Su Ze looked at her disheveled hairpin and felt an itch in his heart and said, "I want to eat you!"
"Going crazy again! I haven't finished reading the account yet! Ah!"
. . .
After Fang Ruolan put on a new set of clothes while the maid smiled, Su Ze moved the food outside the house and lit a few lamps. Fang Ruolan had no intention of admiring the moonlight and just grabbed the food and ate it.
After finally filling her stomach, Fang Ruolan talked about things at home again.
"There are no problems with several shops in the city. My husband just won the election this year. These shops are managed by Chang Ningwei's relatives and brothers, and there are no problems with the accounts."
"At the end of the year, I will give this brother some more red envelopes, and the assistant will also give some. My husband is going to Nanjing after the year, and they still have to take care of the property here."
"There is no problem at the newspaper office. It's just that Mr. Chen has repeatedly said that there are not enough staff, and it would be better for my husband to come forward and recruit more editors."
Su Ze just ate vegetables and admired the moon, and acted like "my wife is right" to Fang Ruolan's suggestions.
This perfunctory attitude made Fang Ruolan feel angry again. After being tortured by Su Ze these days, she could hardly walk.
But whenever he stayed at home, Su Ze couldn't help but tease her.
Fang Ruolan rolled her eyes and said, "Will my husband have anything to do tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow? I'm going to find some skilled engravers for my mentor's books. Should you have nothing to do in the afternoon?"
Fang Ruolan immediately said: "In the afternoon, I will ask my husband to accompany me to the shops where I am getting married."
"Is there something wrong with the ledger?"
"There are always some smart guys who think I can't manage the family business and do some sneaky things."
After saying this, Fang Ruolan looked at Su Ze gently, but Su Ze had no reaction. Then Fang Ruolan said:
"Although the problems in the accounts are easy to see, it still requires the husband to deal with these guys."
"I understand, then I will go with you tomorrow."
Su Ze stared at the bowls and chopsticks that Fang Ruolan put down, smiled again and said, "Madam, have you finished eating?"
Fang Ruolan immediately said vigilantly: "What are you going to do again!"
"We just had a truce. Of course we have to continue fighting after eating!"
Fang Ruolan was picked up from the waist again, but unfortunately her struggle was ineffective and was just a waste of energy.
. . .
the next day.
Su Ze finally got down to business. He first wrote a letter to Wang Daokun in Fuzhou Prefecture in his study. On the one hand, he thanked Wang Daokun for the gift and asked about the current situation of the room master. Then Su Ze said in the letter:
"The name Huifuzhairen is too pointed. There are not many people from Huizhou who are officials in Fujian. It would be bad if someone associates it with my mentor. According to the disciple, it is better to choose a new pen name." .”
Su Ze added: "I have already found a master engraver. I think some of the illustrations in the book are more vivid. I will send them to you as soon as the sample book is printed."
"As soon as this book comes out, there will definitely be many counterfeiters and pirates. The more beautiful the books we print, the more they will prevent theft."
"Disciple wants to publish more. If he takes it to Jiangnan next year and sells it, it will definitely sell well. Please pay the royalties to the teacher first. Please don't refuse."
After writing the letter to Wang Daokun, Su Ze looked at the letter sent by Changning Wei.
On the day of Su Ze's wedding, Lin Mojun drove the New World to sea to find trouble with the Japanese pirates harassing Ryukyu.
Since the last time the Shimadzu family's envoy was killed, the Shimadzu family's fleet has appeared near Amami Oshima, constantly harassing the main island of Ryukyu.
The King of Ryukyu naturally asked Chang Ningwei for help. Lin Mojun followed Su Ze's instructions and helped Ryukyu train a group of team members to block the harassment of the Shimazu family.
The Shimazu family became angry and sent more than a dozen ships to attack Ryukyu.
After receiving the news, Lin Mojun drove the New World to sea and defeated the Japanese warships with great power.
In the battle report written by Lin Mojun, the Japanese ship technology was very backward. The sails they used could be adjusted at a very small angle, and they could not move at all when the wind direction was wrong.
Lin Mojun took advantage of the disadvantage that the Japanese ships could not seize the upper hand position, sneaked around the Japanese ships and fired with cannons. After sinking two Japanese warships, he pursued and captured one by relying on the speed of the ship.
If Lin Mojun hadn't sailed into unfamiliar waters near the shore, Lin Mojun was afraid that the New World would run aground, and he would have probably wiped out the entire Shimadzu fleet.
After this battle, Ryukyu became more respectful, and relying on the east wind that Ryukyu paid tribute to, the Ryukyu royal family also received a lot of wealth.
However, Lin Mojun also said in his letter that as the thirty-six Fujian families regained power in Ryukyu, many Ryukyu people expressed dissatisfaction.
Su Ze picked up the pen and wrote a reply to Lin Mojun, telling her that the affairs of the Ryukyu people should be left to the King of Ryukyu. The current King of Ryukyu is obviously a smart man. He will know how to balance the relationship between the Ryukyu people and the Han people, and the Ryukyu royal family originally had Being of Han descent, this is actually a conflict of interests.
Thirty-six families of Fujian people have monopolized navigation technology, which is equivalent to controlling the largest income in Ryukyu today. Naturally, some people will be dissatisfied. The so-called Fujian and Ryukyu people are just targets for attack.
In the letter, Lin Mojun only talked about the war in Ryukyu and did not mention Su Ze's marriage, which actually made Su Ze feel even more guilty.
After closing the letter, Su Ze found a few more gifts brought back from Jiangnan and had them sent to Changning Guard.
There is also a letter from Mr. Tao of Fuzhou City. He also received an errand from the palace, asking him to collect Ganoderma lucidum and bring it to the palace.
Fujian has many mountains and Ganoderma lucidum is produced on a daily basis, but the production of this thing is random, and it is difficult to produce large Ganoderma lucidum.
Eunuch Tao naturally thought of Su Ze and wanted to ask Su Ze to help find a solution.
Ever since Su Ze got the ambergris, Eunuch Tao has completely trusted Su Ze. After hearing that Su Ze came back and sent congratulatory gifts on his wedding, he was busy writing letters asking for help.
However, artificial cultivation of something like Ganoderma lucidum also takes time. Su Ze could only apologize to Eunuch Tao and said that there was nothing he could do.
However, Su Ze still had an idea and wrote:
"Ganoderma lucidum is hard to find, but I heard there are unicorns overseas."
"When Emperor Yongle was in power, Zheng He purchased unicorns from the West during his voyages."
"Folangji people in the Zhengde year also paid tribute with unicorns, and were once awarded by Emperor Zhengde."
"Now that the emperor wants good luck, he can ask the Ryukyu envoy to contact the Buddha Langji people to purchase unicorns as tribute to His Majesty."
In the history of the Ming Dynasty, there are indeed many records of foreign envoys paying tribute to Kirin. In fact, this Kirin was a giraffe. Zheng He probably sailed to the coast of the Red Sea and purchased it from a local tribe.
Later, the Portuguese wanted to trade with the Ming Dynasty and once transported giraffes from Africa.
In fact, there is no need to go to Africa. Giraffes are indeed very popular among monarchs of various countries. The Portuguese colony in Goa should have a zoo where giraffes are raised.
As long as Eunuch Tao is willing to pay, Su Ze doesn't mind buying him a giraffe.
Su Ze dug out another letter to Lin Mojun and asked her to contact the Portuguese and bring a giraffe over. He knew that Emperor Jiajing, who loved auspiciousness, would definitely be satisfied, and Eunuch Tao would definitely support this plan.
Just when Su Ze closed the letter, Fang Aizhu said outside the study door:
"Mr. Sir, the lady has prepared lunch."
Su Ze then opened the door and asked Fang Aizhu:
"How's the search for the engraver going?"
Fang Aizhu said: "I found three engraving masters who fled from Jianyang. They are all masters of engraving. However, for the paintings you mentioned, they need original manuscripts to engrave them."
Su Ze naturally knew what kind of painting he wanted. He thought about it and said, "Can't you find a painter in the city?"
"Well, the painters in the city may not be able to paint well."
Su Ze thought about it. The paintings required for engraving pay more attention to lines, which is different from the popular freehand paintings nowadays.
But Su Ze's own painting skills were only Level 1. He thought for a while and said, "Go and ask Father Pierre to see how he can paint using Western techniques?"
Fang Aizhu naturally knew what the book Su Ze wanted to print, and he also knew Father Pierre.
Ask a Western monk to draw such a picture? Is this appropriate?
Fang Aizhu looked troubled, but he still agreed.
Because she was going out in the afternoon, Fang Ruolan refused Su Ze's fussiness during the meal. After the two of them finished eating, Fang Aizhu had prepared a carriage. Su Ze rode the horse and Fang Ruolan sat in the carriage and started to go to the Fang family's three shops in the city.
Because there was a rule in the Ming Dynasty that officials serving in the Ming Dynasty were not allowed to purchase acres of land in the local area, so Fang Wanghai did not purchase any land when he was the prefect of Yanping Prefecture.
But later, after he and Su Ze arranged their marriage, Fang Wanghai bought three shops in Nanping County for his daughter.
Fang Wanghai was considered honest and upright among Ming officials, and his shops were all purchased at market prices.
That is to say, these three shops were originally purchased as Fang Ruolan's dowry, and Mrs. Li sent several old servants of the Fang family to manage and operate them.
However, when Fang Ruolan checked the accounts yesterday, she still saw problems with the two shops, so she dragged Su Ze over to look at the shops.
The three shops of the Fang family in the city are all in excellent locations. The first one is a medicinal material shop. Su Ze still remembers this shop. When Huang Tiju of Huimin Pharmacy first started making sour plum soup, it was from this shop. Materials imported into the shop.
The shopkeeper and the waiter did not expect that Su Ze and Fang Ruolan would come so soon. After Su Ze and Fang Ruolan entered the shop, Fang Ruolan made a cold face and asked the healthy woman to put up the closed sign and lock the door of the shop.
Seeing Fang Ruolan's unkind approach, the shopkeeper also panicked.
In the past, Fang Ruolan was in charge of the family's property, but people always have a sense of luck, especially when Fang Ruolan is newly married. As long as he relaxes temporarily, the shopkeeper can get some profits from it.
Once some profits from this store are taken away, it will be difficult to find out when doing accounting later.
The reason why Yu Zongyuan's shop suffered serious losses was because Yu Zongyuan didn't know how to read the accounts, and the shopkeeper emptied the profits bit by bit.
This year's profit is about the same as last year's, and this month's profit is about the same as last month's. It's hard to see the problem with the account books.
Therefore, the most difficult part for cheating is the first month.
Unexpectedly, Fang Ruolan came to kill him after he had only made false accounts for a month.
"Madam, have mercy on me!" The medicine shop owner also knew how powerful Fang Ruolan was, and he knelt down to beg for mercy.
Fang Ruolan shouted loudly. She pointed out the problems in the account book to the clerk one by one. She also asked people to go through the inventory and found the medicinal materials that had been embezzled by the shopkeeper. Then she said:
"You are also an old man in the family, but if you do something like this, your family will no longer trust you in the future."
"This is your body deed. There are still five years left on the deed. In addition to the accounts that were not reconciled before, you pay ten taels of silver to the family and the old accounts will be written off."
The shopkeeper's expression changed, but no matter how he begged for mercy, Fang Ruolan still wouldn't let go.
The shopkeeper also knew that it was useless to beg for mercy, so he had to accept the contract obediently, then pack up his things and leave.
Fang Ruolan promoted another clerk to be the temporary shopkeeper on the spot, but also explained that if he did not do well, he would have to be replaced. There were three clerks in the store. Fang Ruolan encouraged the other two clerks to supervise, and then left the drug store.
Su Ze was too lazy to continue riding and squeezed into Fang Ruolan's carriage.
Thinking of Fang Ruolan's ladylike demeanor just now, Su Ze was a little shaken, but Su Ze still asked:
"Why didn't the lady send him to see the official? Why didn't she also give him the body deed?"
"If a villain like this is sent to an official position, he will definitely bite him randomly, and he will cause trouble when the time comes."
"His salary in the shop is ten taels a year, and with some gray income, he can earn more than twenty taels a year. Losing this job is the most painful thing for him."
"And I exposed his problem in front of the clerk. In the future, he will never be able to find a job as a shopkeeper in Nanping City. This is the biggest punishment."
Su Ze clapped his hands and said, "My wife is wise!"
"We are going to Nanjing after the New Year, and we need to give these people a good beating. It's okay to be greedy. If they use the name of their husband or father to cause trouble, that will be the real trouble."
"Everything my lady said is right! Let's go to the remaining two families!"
(End of chapter)
