"Raincoat?" Lei Er happily picked it up and turned it over to check, "This is a good thing."
Li Hezhu was in charge of the entire guerrilla general's mansion and quickly understood Ren Ning's thoughts. She looked at the exquisite embroidered shoes on her feet hesitantly, not quite believing in the practicality of the rubber shoes in front of her.
Most poor people don't have enough to eat, so they save on shoes and other items if they can. Either wear straw sandals and clogs or go barefoot.
As for dignitaries, men are more accustomed to wearing gorgeous leather boots; women are loyal to exquisite embroidered shoes. The rubber shoes looked cheap at first glance and they wouldn't consider them.
"Wait for the shoes first. We can make a batch of these raincoats first and try them out." Li Hezhu said thoughtfully.
The few people in front of me need to guard the border, at least they do.
"That's fine." Ren Ning nodded.
It takes time to accept a new thing. As a boudoir woman, it is very rare for Li Hezhu not to refuse her immediately.
He thought for a while, then turned and told the butler who had just come in: "Butler Li, go get the right wheel."
The butler looked at his master hesitantly.
Although Li Hezhu was confused, for the sake of his grandfather, he still nodded, "Go ahead."
Lei Er was curious: "Old Ren, what do you want a wheel for?"
Ren Ning smiled and pointed to the rubber shoes in his hand, "People have to wear shoes, and wheels can also wear shoes. Of course, the shoes of wheels are called tires."
"Too many wheels now have a layer of iron around them. The iron is too hard. Whenever the car hits a small object or encounters a bump on the road, it will be bumpy. For the sake of driving safety and the comfort of passengers, the car has to slow down. "
"We can add a layer of soft rubber outside the iron to make the car run more smoothly, make it more comfortable to sit in the future, and greatly increase the speed of the car."
Li Hezhu's eyes lit up.
Nobles all have one thing in common, that is, they love to enjoy themselves.
In the early years, they found riding a horse too tiring, so they took a ride instead. In order to reveal their identities, everyone made the appearance of their cars magnificent. At the same time, in order to prevent the car from being too bumpy when driving, the interior of the car is covered with thick cotton velvet and brocade.
If the tires proposed by Ren Ning can really improve the condition of the car, then there is no need to worry about no one wanting them. Nobles with too much money would not mind spending more money to install some tires on their cars.
Soon the housekeeper came back with the wheel.
Books share the same text, cars share the same track, and Yun Chui has unified his measurements a long time ago.
As for the size of the wheels, there are only three or four sizes. The butler brought the ones most commonly used by women.
Ren Ning didn't care and took it.
Adding rubber tires to wheels is even easier than making shoes before.
How to add iron rings to wheels in the past, now how to add multiple layers of rubber on the outside.
Ren Ning just reminded him a few words, and everyone already understood. He didn't need to say anything more, and the others started tinkering with interest.
Vulcanized natural rubber does not require much effort as long as you know the raw material ratio. But carving the mold takes some time.
Two tires were put on the wheels, and it was getting late.
"It's late, let's try it tomorrow." Ren Ning smiled and patted the car, which was a little taller. "If the car's rubber shoes are durable, then our shoes will naturally not be a problem."
Everyone was stunned.
It turns out that the reason why Ren Ning was messing with car tires was to sell his shoes to Li Hezhu.
The next morning, we had breakfast.
A group of people hugged Li Hezhu who was riding in the car and left the guerrilla general's house.
The wheels were rolling, and Li Hezhu opened the bead curtain and looked out.
The road was a road she was familiar with, and the speed was much faster than before. However, the car felt smoother than before, and it was very comfortable to sit on.
After a full circle around Nanshu City, everyone returned to the General's Mansion.
I checked the wheels carefully and found nothing unusual.
"What do you think, Miss Li?" Ren Ning asked haha.
"Exquisite, this kind of wheel definitely has a lot of potential." Li Hezhu nodded with satisfaction and looked back at the housekeeper, "Butler, how many of these rubber trees, also known as milk-white trees, do we have?"
Milky white sap will flow out when the bark is scratched. Guangxin and several small countries next door call this tree milky white tree.
The housekeeper wiped his sweat silently: "Back to the eldest lady, the General's Mansion owns three hills with a total of 2,800 acres of mountain land. As for the number of milk-white trees on the mountains, I really haven't counted them."
Li Hezhu was not surprised either.
There are trees everywhere in Guangxin. In the past, unless they were cut down to build houses, furniture or for sale, almost no one would care about such trees, so naturally there were no people there.
"Now let's do some statistics. In the future, the labor force in the house may have to be transferred from the farm to the woods."
The steward agreed and quickly ordered others to verify.
"There are only three hills, which is a bit too little." Uncle Zhongyong's mansion is an uncle's mansion after all. Xiao Gang has seen the big world. "Is there an owner of the nearby mountains? Do you want to buy more mountains and bring them back?"
Ren Ning and Lei Er looked at each other and immediately remembered the situation in Laigu County.
"Miss Li, you can buy mountains and land. But try not to drive away the original mountain people or villagers. Deal with them properly, for example, consider bringing them under your control."
The two talked about what they had seen and heard before, and everyone looked at each other in shock.
Li Hezhu nodded in agreement.
She looked embarrassed, "I would like to buy more mountain land, but the government often cannot make ends meet, and now I don't have much money on hand. Moreover, Guangxin's remote border is in turmoil, and there are very few caravans. These tires, shoes, etc. are made of , I still don’t know how to market it.”
The status of merchants was low, and she, a girl from a general's palace, had never had much contact with caravans. I was worried about what I would do if I couldn’t sell the thing after I actually made it.
Ren Ning chuckled: "Don't worry, let the veterans in the house make it first. This rubber product is not food and can be stored for a long time. It will not be a problem for ten or eight years. Whenever a caravan comes, it will be transported away. not late."
"As for the money," he wrote down Yingpan's name and address. "This is my wife's name. She has a lot of money. The girl can send someone to the imperial capital to get it from her."
lady?
When Li Hezhu reacted, his face turned pale and his body swayed.
If the nearby Wutong hadn't quickly reached out to support her master, she would have fallen down.
"It turns out that Mr. Ren is already married." Li Hezhu murmured the name above, "Ying Pan Kailun, he sounds like a charming person."
Guangxin County is located on the border, and she has never seen any ethnic minorities. Yingpan's relatively long name is not surprising to Li Hezhu at all.
Xiao Gang also wrote down his address and wrote a letter to his family explaining the situation here.
"If you need money, our Xiao family can also contribute a share. Not to mention too much, with my name as Xiao Er, my mother can still provide tens of thousands of taels. In addition, our Xiao family also has its own caravan."
Speaking of this, he asked: "Have Miss Li ever heard of the Gu family caravan?"
Li Hezhu was startled and nodded: "The famous Pinghai County Gu family caravan and the female business leader Gu Shengnan. Although I have lived in this remote Guangxin County for a long time, I have heard of it."
"That's good." Xiao Gang smiled and handed over the address of Uncle Zhongyong's mansion: "As long as the goods are good and profitable, the Gu family's caravan will probably take the north-south route from now on."
Li Hezhu took one look and was surprised. After realizing it, his confidence increased greatly.
